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
a. Claims 1-18 in the present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, are being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
- claims 1, 7, 11, and 13 are amended
b. This is a second non final action on the merits based on Applicant’s claims submitted on 08/04/2026.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 08/04/2026 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Response to Arguments
Regarding claims 1-18 previously objected for informalities, claims 1-18 have been amended according to the examiner's recommendation and thus the previous objection has been withdrawn.
Regarding claims 7-12 previously rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 112(b), claims 7-12 have been amended according to the examiner's recommendation and thus the previous rejection has been withdrawn.
Regarding claims 1-3, 5, 7-9, 11, 13-15, and 17 previously rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103, Applicant's arguments, see “Applicant Arguments/Remarks Made in an Amendment” filed on 08/04/2026, with respect to Ng et al. US Pub 2006/0251087 (hereinafter “Ng”), and in view of Nagao et al. US Pub 2006/0179202 (hereinafter “Nagao”), have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the previous rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground of rejection is made in view of Microchip NPL “Creating a Multi-LUN USB Mass Storage Class Device Using the MPLAB Harmony USB Device Stack”, AN2554, October 25, 2017 (hereinafter “Microchip”), and in view of Yang et al. US Pub 2013/0007224 (hereinafter “Yang”). See section Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 below for complete details.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
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.
Claims 1-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Microchip NPL “Creating a Multi-LUN USB Mass Storage Class Device Using the MPLAB Harmony USB Device Stack”, AN2554, October 25, 2017 (hereinafter “Microchip”), and in view of Yang et al. US Pub 2013/0007224 (hereinafter “Yang”).
Regarding claim 1 (Currently Amended)
Microchip discloses a Bulk-Only Transfer (BOT) device (106) (“During enumeration the bInterfaceProtocol field will indicate to Host that the device supports BOT protocol” on page 7) comprising:
(i) receive a set of descriptors (see Fig. 4 on page 4) from a first device (102) (i.e. “USB MSD device” see Fig. 3 on page 4) and (ii) configure a second device (104) (i.e. “USB Host” see Fig. 3 on page 4) based on the set of descriptors (“A USB device uses Standard USB Descriptors to advertise its functional characteristics to a USB Host” on page 4); and
generate, upon configuration of the second device (104) (i.e. “Host” see Fig. 7 on page 10) by way of the query unit (110), a plurality of command block wrappers (CBWs) (“Table 7 provides the structure of the Command Block Wrapper (CBW). A CBW contains a 32-bit signature to identify it as a CBW packet, a tag to associate a CSW with its corresponding CBW, number of bytes to transfer in the Data Stage, direction of Data Stage, the LUN to which the command block is being sent, length of the Command Block and the Command Block (this is the SCSI command payload) itself.” On page 11) based on a command block descriptor (see Fig. 7, on page 10) received from a second device (104);
identify a direction of transfer of data between the first device (102) (i.e. “device”) and the second device (104) (i.e. “host”) based on the plurality of CBWs (“bmCBWFlags:
Bit 7:
1 = Data-In from device to Host (Host wants to read)
0 = Data-Out from Host to Device–(Host wants to write)” on page 11);
determine a status of a bulk-input endpoint (120) (“The bulk IN endpoint is used to transfer data and status from device to Host. Table 5 provides details of the Bulk IN Endpoint Descriptor for the MSD implemented in this application.” On page 7) and a bulk-output endpoint (122) (“The bulk OUT endpoint is used to receive command and data transferred from Host to device. Table 6 provides details of the Bulk OUT Endpoint Descriptor for the MSD implemented in this application.” On page 8) for the transfer of the data between the first device (102) and the second device (104) by way of a plurality of command status wrappers (CSWs) (“The MSD sends the status of the command to the Host in a Command Status Wrapper (CSW). Table 8 shows the structure of a CSW.” On page 12; see also Fig. 8 on page 13) received from the first device (102);
transfer the plurality of CBWs to the first device (102) (“Each transfer begins with the Host sending a (SCSI) command wrapped in a CBW to the device on a Bulk-OUT endpoint.” On page 10; see also Fig. 7); and
transfer the data between the first device (102) and the second device (104) based on the identified direction (“Depending on the command, there may or may not be a Data stage. If there is a Data stage, the Device receives data from the USB Host on the Bulk-OUT endpoint and transmits data to the USB Host on the Bulk-IN endpoint. After the Data stage is complete (or if there is no Data stage), the USB Host requests status from the Device. The Device returns the status wrapped in a CSW to the Host on the Bulk-IN endpoint, which marks the end of the transfer.” On page 10; see also Fig. 7);
wherein the query unit (110) and the control unit (112) are implemented on at least one of, a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) and Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs) (“Hardware Requirements
• PIC32MZ EF Curiosity Development Board
• microSD Click board and SD card
• MPLAB REAL ICE Debugger (optional)
• USB Type-A to micro-B cables.” On page 29)
Microchip does not specifically teach a query unit (110) configured to (i) receive a set of descriptors from a first device (102) and (ii) configure a second device (104) based on the set of descriptors; a control unit (112) configured to: generate, upon configuration of the second device (104) by way of the query unit (110), a plurality of command block wrappers (CBWs).
In an analogous art, Yang discloses (“To USB host, i.e., the controlled computer 100 (i.e. functionally equivalent to the claimed query unit (110); “The USB host begins to quiz the USB device for as many details as the USB host feels it needs. Some requests involved here are: Get Device Descriptor, Get Configuration Descriptor, and Get String Descriptor (S115).” [0136]), the USB storage mirror 300 is a real USB mass storage device. However, the data content is not on local CD/DVD disk or flash, but mapped remotely to a specified CD/DVD image file, or a specified area of disk on remote console which contains diagnostic tools, installation packages, bootable images, or writable disk area. In this exemplary embodiment, the type of data transfer between USB host i.e. the controlled computer 100 and the USB storage mirror 300, is using, but not restricted to, bulk-only transport. In bulk-only transport, there are three types of data, Command Block Wrapper (CBW), Command Status Wrapper (CSW), and the content of data. CBW is command from USB host to the USB storage mirror 300 (i.e. functionally equivalent to the claimed a control unit (112)); while CSW is report of the execution result from the USB storage mirror 300 to USB host.” [0071-0072])
Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Microchip’s BOT descriptors, to include Yang’s method for transferring bulk only data, in order to faciliate data exchange between a USB host and a USB device (Yang [0055]). Thus, a person of ordinary skill would have appreciated the ability to incorporate Yang’s method for transferring bulk only data into Microchip’s BOT descriptors since the claimed invention is merely a combination of old elements, and in the combination each element merely would have performed the same function as it did separately, and one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that the results of the combination were predictable.
Regarding claim 2
Microchip, as modified by Yang, previously discloses the BOT device (106) as claimed in claim 1,
Microchip further discloses wherein the BOT device (106) is further coupled to a protocol unit (108) (“In the USB Protocol, the USB Host typically uses Control Transfers to send standard and class specific requests to the device. Control transfers are typically sent on the default endpoint, Endpoint 0.” On page 1) such that the BOT device (106) by way of the control unit (112) receives a set of Mass Storage Class (MSC) protocols for the transfer of the data between the first device (102) and the second device (104), from the protocol unit (108) (“The Universal Serial Bus (USB) protocol is widely used to interface storage devices to a USB Host computer. Such devices use a set of standards called the USB Mass Storage Class (MSC). Any Device that allows access to its internal storage using the Mass Storage Class protocol can be connected as a Mass Storage Device (MSD) to the Host computer over the USB interface.” Introduction, on page 1).
Regarding claim 3
Microchip, as modified by Yang, previously discloses the BOT device (106) as claimed in claim 1,
Microchip further discloses wherein, upon the transfer of the data between the first device (102) and the second device (104), the control unit (112) is configured to determine and mitigate one or more errors in the transfer of the data (“error handling” on page 24) based on at least one of (i) the plurality of CBWs (“Not a valid CBW - If the size of CBW packet is greater than 31 bytes or if the dCBWSignature field in CBW is not equal to the valid signature (0x43425355), the device will send STALL condition on both IN and OUT endpoints and CSW is not sent.”, “• Not a meaningful CBW - For a SCSI READ 10 or SCSI WRITE 10 request, if the dCBWDataTransferLength field in CBW is not equal to TRANSFER LENGTH field of CBWCB, the command is failed (bCSWStatus = 0x01)
• Not a meaningful CBW - For SCSI READ 10 or SCSI WRITE 10 request, if the direction of data transfer (indicated by bmCBWFlags) is incorrect, the command is failed.” On page 24),
(ii) the plurality of CSWs (“The USB Host issues the TEST UNIT READY command to check whether the media device is ready. The Host can also issue this command when the sense data indicates that the media is not ready. This command does not have a data stage. If the device is not ready, the bCSWStatus field in CSW is set to 0x01 (command failed). The Host can retry sending the TEST UNIT READY command until the device reports 00h in the bCSWStatus field in CSW, which indicates that media is ready.” On page 16), and
(iii) the direction of the transfer of the data between the first device (102) and the second device (104) (“bmCBWFlags: Bit 7:
1 = Data-In from device to Host (Host wants to read)
0 = Data-Out from Host to Device–(Host wants to write)).
Note: The device will ignore this bit if the dCBWDataTranferLength is set to zero.” On page 11)
Regarding claim 4
Microchip, as modified by Yang, previously discloses the BOT device (106) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the set of descriptors comprising:
Microchip further discloses a device descriptor (see Fig. 4 on page 4) comprising Universal Serial Bus (USB) specification information of the first device (102) (“Table 1 provides details of the Device Descriptor for the MSD implemented in this application.” On page 5);
a string descriptor (“string descriptor” in Table 1, on page 5) comprising a serial number of the first device (102), wherein the serial number comprising at least 12 digits (“iSerialNumber” in Table 1). One skilled in the art can decide on how many digits will be needed for a specific implementation;
a configuration descriptor (see Fig. 4 on page 4) comprising configuration information of the first device (102) (“TABLE 2: CONFIGURATION DESCRIPTOR
When the device receives a Get Configuration Descriptor request, it will return the configuration descriptor, Interface Descriptor and endpoint descriptors to the USB Host. During enumeration, the USB Host will issue Set Configuration request to the device, thereby asking the device to set this configuration as active.” On page 5);
an interface descriptor (see Fig. 4 on page 4) comprising information of one or more interfaces of the first device (102) (“Table 3 provides details of the Interface Descriptor for the MSD implemented in this application. The value of bNumEndpoints is 0x02. This indicates that the device contains two endpoints.” On page 6); and
an endpoint descriptor (see Fig. 4 on page 4) comprising information of one or more endpoints of the first device (102) (“The bulk IN endpoint is used to transfer data and status from device to Host. Table 5 provides details of the Bulk IN Endpoint Descriptor for the MSD implemented in this application. The wMaxPacketSize field is set to 512 bytes.” On page 7) and (“The bulk OUT endpoint is used to receive command and data transferred from Host to device. Table 6 provides details of the Bulk OUT Endpoint Descriptor for the MSD implemented in this application. The wMaxPacketSize field is set to 512 bytes.” On page 8).
Regarding claim 5
Microchip, as modified by Yang, previously discloses the BOT device (106) as claimed in claim 1,
Microchip further discloses wherein, to identify the direction of the transfer of the data, the control unit (112) is configured to identify a bit value (i.e. “Bit 7”) of a direction bit (i.e. “bmCBWFlags”) of each command block wrapper of the plurality of CBWs (“bmCBWFlags:
Bit 7:
1 = Data-In from device to Host (Host wants to read)
0 = Data-Out from Host to Device–(Host wants to write)” on page 11,
wherein a size of each command block wrapper of the plurality of CBWs is 31 bytes (“Not a valid CBW - If the size of CBW packet is greater than 31 bytes” on page 24).
Regarding claim 6
Microchip, as modified by Yang, previously discloses the BOT device (106) as claimed in claim 1,
Microchip further discloses wherein, to determine the status of the transfer of the data between the first device (102) and the second device (104), the control unit (112) is configured to determine, for each command status wrapper of the plurality of CSWs, (i) a status of a stall condition (“The Host upon attempting to read the CSW will receive a STALL on the IN endpoint from the device. After receiving a STALL, the Host will issue a Clear Feature (Endpoint Halt) control request (with the Bulk-IN endpoint's address) to clear the STALL condition on the Bulk-IN endpoint. Once the STALL condition is cleared, the device will send the CSW to the Host. If for a valid and a meaningful CBW, the command execution is failed (bCSWStatus = 0x01, Command Failed), where the Host expects to receive or send data from/to the device (dCBWDataTransferLength > 0), the MSD Function Driver will stall the IN endpoint if the Host is reading (bmCBWFlags = 1) data from the device, and will stall the OUT endpoint if the Host is writing (bmCBWFlags = 0) data to the device (CSW is sent). When the IN endpoint is stalled, the device will wait for the Host to clear the STALL condition on the bulk IN endpoint by issuing a CLEAR FEATURE request (for Bulk IN endpoint) on the Control endpoint, before sending the CSW.” On page 25), (ii) a validity (“Valid CBW - A Device considers a CBW valid if:
• The CBW was received after the Device had sent a CSW or after a reset
• The CBW is 31 (0x1F) bytes in length
• The dCBWSignature is equal to 0x43425355” and furthermore “Not a valid CBW - If the size of CBW packet is greater than 31 bytes or if the dCBWSignature field in CBW is not equal to the valid signature (0x43425355), the device will send STALL condition on both IN and OUT endpoints and CSW is not sent. The device will remain in this state until the Host performs a reset recovery by sending BOMSR command followed by Clear Feature (Endpoint Halt) command for both the endpoints to the device.” On page 24), and (iii) a value of a phase error (“Phase Error indicates that the device has encountered an internal error, for which it has no reliable means of recovering, other than a reset. Upon receiving a Phase Error, the USB Host should perform a reset recovery on the device by issuing the following commands in order on the Control endpoint.” On page 12), wherein a size of each command status wrapper of the plurality of CSWs is 13 bytes (“Table 8 CSW structure” on page 12).
Regarding claim 7 (Currently Amended)
Microchip discloses a system (100) (see Fig. 3) comprising:
a first device (102) (i.e. “USB MSD device” see Fig. 3 on page 4) configured to transfer a set of descriptors and a plurality of command status wrappers (CSWs) to a BOT device (106) (“During enumeration the bInterfaceProtocol field will indicate to Host that the device supports BOT protocol” on page 7);
a second device (104) (i.e. “USB Host” see Fig. 3 on page 4) is configured to transfer a command block descriptor to the BoT device (106); and
the BOT device (106) that is coupled to the first device (102) and the second device (104), the BOT device (106) comprising:
a query unit (112) configured to (i) receive the set of descriptors from the first device (102), and (ii) configure the second device (104) based on the set of descriptors; and
a control unit (112) that is coupled to the query unit (110) and configured to:
generate, upon configuration of the second device (104) by way of the query unit (110), a plurality of command block wrappers (CBWs) based on the command block descriptor received by the second device (104);
identify a direction of transfer of data between the first device (102) and the second device (104) based on the plurality of CBWs;
determine a status of a bulk-input endpoint (120) and a bulk-output endpoint (122) for the transfer of the data between the first device (102) and the second device (104) by way of a plurality of command status wrappers received from the first device (102);
transfer the plurality of CBWs to the first device (102); and
transfer the data between the first device (102) and the second device (104) based on the identified direction;
wherein the query unit (110) and the control unit (112) are implemented on at least one of, a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) and Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs).
The scope and subject matter of apparatus claim 7 are similar to the scope and subject matter as claimed in apparatus claim 1. Therefore apparatus claim 7 corresponds to apparatus claim 1 and is rejected for the same reasons of obviousness as used in claim 1 rejection above.
Regarding claim 8
The system (100) as claimed in claim 7, wherein the control unit (112) further comprising a protocol unit (108) that is coupled to the control unit (112) such that the control unit (112) is configured to receive a set of Mass Storage Class (MSC) protocols for the transfer of the data between the first device (102) and the second device (104) from the protocol unit (108).
The scope and subject matter of apparatus claim 8 are similar to the scope and subject matter as claimed in apparatus claim 2. Therefore apparatus claim 8 corresponds to apparatus claim 2 and is rejected for the same reasons of obviousness as used in claim 2 rejection above.
Regarding claim 9
The system (100) as claimed in claim 7, wherein, upon the transfer of the data, the control unit (112) is configured to determine and mitigate one or more errors in the transfer of the data based on (i) the plurality of CBWs, (ii) the plurality of CSWs, and (iii) the direction of the transfer of the data between the first device (102) and the second device (102).
The scope and subject matter of apparatus claim 9 are similar to the scope and subject matter as claimed in apparatus claim 3. Therefore apparatus claim 9 corresponds to apparatus claim 3 and is rejected for the same reasons of obviousness as used in claim 3 rejection above.
Regarding claim 10
The system (100) as claimed in claim 7, wherein the set of descriptors comprising: a device descriptor comprising Universal Serial Bus (USB) specification information of the first device (102);
a string descriptor comprising a serial number of the first device (102), such that the serial number comprising at least 12 digits;
a configuration descriptor comprising configuration information of the first device (102);
an interface descriptor comprising information of one or more interfaces of the first device (102); and
an endpoint descriptor comprising information of one or more endpoints of the first device (102).
The scope and subject matter of apparatus claim 10 are similar to the scope and subject matter as claimed in apparatus claim 4. Therefore apparatus claim 10 corresponds to apparatus claim 4 and is rejected for the same reasons of obviousness as used in claim 4 rejection above.
Regarding claim 11 (Currently Amended)
The system (100) as claimed in claim 7, wherein, to identify the direction of the transfer of the data the control unit (112) is configured to identify a bit value of a direction bit of each command block wrapper of the plurality of CBWs, wherein a size of each command block wrapper of the plurality of CBWs is 31 bytes.
The scope and subject matter of apparatus claim 11 are similar to the scope and subject matter as claimed in apparatus claim 5. Therefore apparatus claim 11 corresponds to apparatus claim 5 and is rejected for the same reasons of obviousness as used in claim 5 rejection above.
Regarding claim 12
The system (100) as claimed in claim 7, wherein to determine the status of the transfer of the data between the first device (102) and the second device (104), the control unit (112) is configured to determine, for each command status wrapper of
the plurality of CSWs (i) a status of a stall condition, (ii) a validity, and (iii) a value of a phase error, wherein a size of each command status wrapper of the plurality of CSWs is 13 bytes.
The scope and subject matter of apparatus claim 12 are similar to the scope and subject matter as claimed in apparatus claim 6. Therefore apparatus claim 12 corresponds to apparatus claim 6 and is rejected for the same reasons of obviousness as used in claim 6 rejection above.
Regarding claim 13 (Currently Amended)
A method (300) comprising:
receiving, by way of a query unit (110), a set of descriptors from a first device (102);
configuring, by way of the query unit (110), a second device (104) based on the set of descriptors;
generating, by way of a control unit (112), a plurality of command block wrappers (CBWs) based on a command block descriptor received from a second device (104);
identifying, by way of the control unit (112), a direction of transfer of data between the first device (102) and the second device (104) based on the plurality of CBWs;
determining, by way of the control unit (112), a status of a bulk-input endpoint (120) and a bulk-output endpoint (122) for the transfer of the data between the first device (102) and the second device (104) based on a plurality of command status wrappers (CSWs) received from the first device (102);
transferring, by way of the control unit (112), the plurality of CBWs to the first device (102);
transferring, by way of the control unit (112), the data between the first device (102) and the second device (104) based on the identified direction of the transfer of the data; and
wherein the query unit (110) and the control unit (112) are implemented on at least one of, a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) and Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs).
The scope and subject matter of method claim 13 is drawn to the method of using the corresponding apparatus claimed in claim 1. Therefore method claim 13 corresponds to apparatus claim 1 and is rejected for the same reasons of obviousness as used in claim 1 rejection above.
Regarding claim 14
The method (300) as claimed in claim 13, wherein, prior to transferring the data between the first device (102) and the second device (104), the method (300) comprising receiving, by way of the control unit (112), a set of Mass Storage Class (MSC) protocols for the transfer of the data between the first device (102) and the second device (104), from the protocol unit (108).
The scope and subject matter of method claim 14 is drawn to the method of using the corresponding apparatus claimed in claim 2. Therefore method claim 14 corresponds to apparatus claim 2 and is rejected for the same reasons of obviousness as used in claim 2 rejection above.
Regarding claim 15
The method (300) as claimed in claim 13, wherein, upon determining the status of the transfer of the data, the method (300) comprising determining and mitigating, by way of the control unit (112), one or more errors in the transfer of the data
based on the plurality of CBWs, the plurality of CSWs, and the direction of the transfer of the data.
The scope and subject matter of method claim 15 is drawn to the method of using the corresponding apparatus claimed in claim 3. Therefore method claim 15 corresponds to apparatus claim 3 and is rejected for the same reasons of obviousness as used in claim 3 rejection above.
Regarding claim 16
The method (300) as claimed in claim 13, wherein the set of descriptors comprising: a device descriptor comprising Universal Serial Bus (USB) specification information of the first device (102);
a string descriptor comprising a serial number of the first device (102), such that the serial number comprising at least 12 digits;
a configuration descriptor comprising configuration information of the first device (102);
an interface descriptor comprising information of one or more interfaces of the first device (102); and
an endpoint descriptor comprising information of one or more endpoints of the first device (102).
The scope and subject matter of method claim 16 is drawn to the method of using the corresponding apparatus claimed in claim 4. Therefore method claim 16 corresponds to apparatus claim 4 and is rejected for the same reasons of obviousness as used in claim 4 rejection above.
Regarding claim 17
The method (300) as claimed in claim 13, wherein, to identify the direction of the transfer of the data, the method (300) comprising identifying, by way of the control unit (112), a bit value of a direction bit of each command block wrapper of the
plurality of CBWs, wherein a size of each command block wrapper of the plurality of CBWs is 31 bytes.
The scope and subject matter of method claim 17 is drawn to the method of using the corresponding apparatus claimed in claim 5. Therefore method claim 17 corresponds to apparatus claim 5 and is rejected for the same reasons of obviousness as used in claim 5 rejection above.
Regarding claim 18
The method (300) as claimed in claim 13, wherein, to determine the status of the transfer of the data between the first device (102) and the second device (104), the method (300) comprising determining, by way of the control unit (112), for each
command status wrapper of the plurality of CSWs, (i) a status of a stall condition, (ii) a validity, and (iii) a value of a phase error, wherein a size of each command status wrapper of the plurality of CSWs is 13 bytes.
The scope and subject matter of method claim 18 is drawn to the method of using the corresponding apparatus claimed in claim 6. Therefore method claim 18 corresponds to apparatus claim 6 and is rejected for the same reasons of obviousness as used in claim 6 rejection above.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHUONG M NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)272-8184. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 10:00am - 6:30pm.
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/CHUONG M NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2411
