Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
DETAILED ACTION
Applicant’s amendment filed on 1/29/2026 has been entered. Applicant has amended claim 5 and canceled claims 1-4. Currently claims 5-8 are pending in this application.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments with respect to claim 8 have been considered but are moot in view of the new ground(s) of rejection.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102 of this title, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 5-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Park (US 2020/0201617 A1), hereinafter, “Park” in view of Pant et al. (US 2020/0348946 A1), hereinafter, “Pant”.
Regarding Claim 5, Park discloses a magnetic disk device comprising:
a host operated by a user (See, Fig. 1, Numeral 50, “Host”);
a nonvolatile memory (See, Fig. 1, Numeral 110, “Semiconductor memory device” and Paragraph 0037) including a firmware area in which first firmware and second firmware are stored (See, Paragraph 0006); and
a controller (See, Fig. 1, Numeral 120 and Paragraph 0036) determining whether or not the first firmware and the second firmware are normal for each arbitrary period (See, Paragraphs 0050, 0102 and 0103).
Park does not explicitly disclose if determining that at least one of the first firmware and the second firmware are not normal, notifying the user of the information on whether or not the first firmware and the second firmware are normal, via the host. wherein if determining that both the first firmware and the second firmware are not normal, the controller notifies the user that the first firmware and the second firmware are not normal, via the host, or the controller notifies the user that the first firmware is not normal, via the host, or if determining that the first firmware is normal and that the second firmware is not normal, the controller notifies the user that the second firmware is not normal, via the host.
Pant discloses determining that at least one of a first firmware and a second firmware are not normal, notifying the user of the information on whether or not the first firmware and the second firmware are normal, via a host, wherein if determining that both the first firmware and the second firmware are not normal, the controller notifies the user that the first firmware and the second firmware are not normal, via the host, or the controller notifies the user that the first firmware is not normal, via the host, or if determining that the first firmware is normal and that the second firmware is not normal, the controller notifies the user that the second firmware is not normal, via the host (See, Paragraphs 0005, 0010, 0014, 0017, 0061 and 0068).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to notify, when the first or second firmware are not normal in the system of Park, the user of the information on whether or not the first firmware and the second firmware are normal, via a host, wherein if determining that both the first firmware and the second firmware are not normal, the controller notifies the user that the first firmware and the second firmware are not normal, via the host, or the controller notifies the user that the first firmware is not normal, via the host, or if determining that the first firmware is normal and that the second firmware is not normal, the controller notifies the user that the second firmware is not normal, via the host as taught by Pant in order to request user consent to retrieve and download the missing component(s) from a remotely located system (See, Pant, Paragraph 0068).
Regarding Claim 6, the rejection of claim 5 is incorporated and the combination of Park and Pant further discloses wherein the controller performs error correction using ECC and detection of corruption for the first firmware and the second firmware, for each arbitrary period, determines that the first firmware is normal if the error correction is operable for the first firmware or no corruption is detected in the first firmware, and determines that the second firmware is normal if the error correction is operable for the second firmware or no corruption is detected in the second firmware (See, Park, Paragraphs 0101, 0102 and 0135).
Regarding Claim 7, the rejection of claim 5 is incorporated and the combination of Park and Pant further discloses wherein the controller performs error correction using ECC and detection of corruption for the first firmware and the second firmware, for each arbitrary period, determines that the first firmware is not normal if the error correction is inoperable for the first firmware and a corruption is detected in the first firmware, and determines that the second firmware is not normal if the error correction is inoperable for the second firmware and a corruption is detected in the second firmware (See, Park, Paragraphs 0101, 0102, 0105 and 0135).
Regarding Claim 8, the rejection of claim 5 is incorporated and the combination of Park and Pant further discloses wherein if determining that the first firmware is normal and that the second firmware is not normal, the controller copies the first firmware to the second firmware (See, Park, Paragraphs 0006 and 0122).
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to YOGESH PALIWAL whose telephone number is (571)270-1807. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:00AM-5:00PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Amir Mehrmanesh can be reached at (571)270-3351. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/YOGESH PALIWAL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2435