DETAILED ACTION
The current Office Action is in response to the papers submitted 05/07/2024. Claims 1 - 20 are pending.
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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(d):
(d) REFERENCE IN DEPENDENT FORMS.—Subject to subsection (e), a claim in dependent form shall contain a reference to a claim previously set forth and then specify a further limitation of the subject matter claimed. A claim in dependent form shall be construed to incorporate by reference all the limitations of the claim to which it refers.
The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, fourth paragraph:
Subject to the following paragraph [i.e., the fifth paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112], a claim in dependent form shall contain a reference to a claim previously set forth and then specify a further limitation of the subject matter claimed. A claim in dependent form shall be construed to incorporate by reference all the limitations of the claim to which it refers.
Claim 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
Claim 7 recites executing independently compression and writing operations. Operations occurring independently is only mentioned once in the original specification in paragraph 0030. Sub-processes are indicated as being executed in parallel and independently for transferring memory buckets to compressed dump file. There is no mention of what the sub-processes actual include or that the claimed compression and writing is what is performed independently or are part of the sub-processes. Also, the writing is to write compressed memory chunks which is the result of the compression of the memory buckets. This shows the writing is dependent on the compression of the memory buckets and not independent of the compression of the memory buckets.
Claim 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 7 recites the limitation of executing independently compression of a memory buckets and writing of the compressed memory chunks. As recited in claim 1 the memory chunks are the result of the compression of the memory buckets. This shows the writing of the compressed memory chunks is directly dependent on the compression of the memory buckets. Without the compression of the memory buckets the compressed memory chunks are not available to be written. This makes the independent limitation unclear and indefinite since it is unclear how writing of compressed data is independent of the compression operation that generates the compressed data that is written.
Claim 19 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(d) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, 4th paragraph, as being of improper dependent form for failing to further limit the subject matter of the claim upon which it depends, or for failing to include all the limitations of the claim upon which it depends.
Claim 19 recites the limitation of scanning a header causes the processor to access a dedicated dump file including the header. Base claim 18 already recites the limitation of the processor scanning a header of a compressed dump file. This shows the dump file includes the header. Scanning a header of a dump file shows the dump file that is scanned is dedicated to the scanning process. Applicant may cancel the claim(s), amend the claim(s) to place the claim(s) in proper dependent form, rewrite the claim(s) in independent form, or present a sufficient showing that the dependent claim(s) complies with the statutory requirements.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1 – 6, 8 – 18, and 20 are allowed.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance:
The prior art teaches the use of dump filed, compression of data, and dividing memory into sections or regions. However, the prior art fails to teach individually or in combination the limitations of…
(Claim 1) “…group memory regions in a virtual address space of a target process into one or more memory buckets, wherein the one or more memory buckets comprise respective memory regions;
spawn parallel threads that execute parallel operations, wherein the parallel threads cause:
the one or more memory buckets to be compressed into one or more compressed memory chunks; and
the one or more compressed memory chunks to be written to at least one dump file; and
generate a header for the at least one dump file, wherein the header includes metadata regarding at least the respective memory regions and the one or more memory buckets.
Any comments considered necessary by applicant must be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee. Such submissions should be clearly labeled “Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance.”
Claim 14 is a method claim corresponding to claim 1 and are allowed for similar reasons.
(Claim 18) “…scan a header of a compressed dump file, wherein the header includes at least a memory region array and a memory bucket array;
identify, from the memory region array, a memory region ID corresponding to a given compressed memory chunk;
obtain, from the memory bucket array, a memory bucket ID of a memory bucket including a memory region corresponding to the memory region ID, wherein the memory bucket includes a plurality of memory regions;
determine an offset of the compressed memory chunk from the memory bucket…”
All remaining claims are dependent on an allowed base claim and thus incorporate the allowable subject matter.
Claim 19 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHRISTOPHER D BIRKHIMER whose telephone number is (571)270-1178. The examiner can normally be reached 8-5 Hoteling.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Kenneth M Lo can be reached at 571-272-9774. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Christopher D Birkhimer/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2136