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
This is a first office action in response to application filed, with the above serial number, on 27 March 2024 in which claims 1-17, 19-21 are presented for examination. Claims 1-17, 19-21 are therefore pending in the application.
Drawings
Figures 3-4 should be designated by a legend such as --Prior Art-- because only that which is old is illustrated. See MPEP § 608.02(g). Corrected drawings in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. The replacement sheet(s) should be labeled “Replacement Sheet” in the page header (as per 37 CFR 1.84(c)) so as not to obstruct any portion of the drawing figures. If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
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, 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.
Claim(s) 1-17, 19-21 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu et al (hereinafter “Liu”, 2023/0004508) in view of Jreij et al (hereinafter “Jreij”, 2022/0091859).
As per Claim 1, Liu discloses a method for initializing a smart network interface card by a server, comprising steps as follows:
establishing communication between a baseboard management controller (BMC) of the server and a smart network interface card (at least paragraph 30-32, 37-38, 42, 48; BMC 130 may determine that smart NIC 170 is installed in, or otherwise communicably coupled to, a device slot (e.g., PCI device slot, PCIe device slot, and the like) of information handling system 100; requesting BMC 130 to identify that OS 180 of smart NIC 170 has completed the booting process. In response, BMC 130 may receive the request and may identify that OS 180 has completed the booting process. Upon identifying that OS 180 has completed the booting process, BMC 130 may send a signal (e.g., assert a general purpose I/O (GPIO) signal, assert an interrupt signal, and the like) to BIOS 110 indicating that smart NIC 170 is in the ready state; BMC 130 may instead wait until an operating system of information handling system 100 has completed a booting process and may then notify BIOS 110 of the actual resource requirements (e.g., assert a GPIO signal, assert an interrupt signal, and the like));
configuring an integrated I/O module (IIO) of a central processing unit (CPU) by a server host in response to starting up the server, wherein the smart network interface card initializes in response to starting up the server (at least paragraph 20-21, 27; initializing system resources for a smart NIC by BIOS; information handling system 100, processor subsystem 120 may comprise a system, device, or apparatus operable to interpret and/or execute program instructions and/or process data, and may include a microprocessor,);
determining in response to configuration of the IIO of the CPU by the server host is completed, by the BMC of the server through the communication with the smart network interface card, whether the smart network interface card is completely initialized (at least paragraph 30-32, 37-38, 42, 48; BMC 130 may determine that smart NIC 170 is installed in, or otherwise communicably coupled to, a device slot (e.g., PCI device slot, PCIe device slot, and the like) of information handling system 100; requesting BMC 130 to identify that OS 180 of smart NIC 170 has completed the booting process. In response, BMC 130 may receive the request and may identify that OS 180 has completed the booting process. Upon identifying that OS 180 has completed the booting process, BMC 130 may send a signal (e.g., assert a general purpose I/O (GPIO) signal, assert an interrupt signal, and the like) to BIOS 110 indicating that smart NIC 170 is in the ready state); and
connecting the IIO of the CPU to the smart network interface card by the server host, and continuing executing a startup process in response to initialization of the smart network interface card is completed (at least paragraph 42-44, 48; once Smart NIC is in ready state, BIOS continues configuration).
Liu fails to explicitly disclose BMC of the smart network interface card. However, the use and advantages for using such a system was well known to one skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention as evidenced by the teachings of Jreij. Jreij discloses, in an analogous art, a server / information handling system HIS with subsystems including a SmartNIC device subsystem SCP, wherein the HIS and SCP have BMS that communicate, and as the HIS boots, monitoring SCP initialization operation progress such that the HIS waits for a Smart NIC services ready indication before proceeding with other boot operations (at least Jreij paragraph 25, 29, 38). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to incorporate the use of Jreij’s SmartNIC BMC with Liu as the art conventionally has a server BMC communicate with other device BMCs, or users, etc in order to determine management settings and configuration and Liu’s server BMC does not explicitly offer which part of the Smart NIC is being communicated with and a SmartNIC having a BMC to communicate would be an obvious if not inherent module for the server BMC to communicate.
As per Claim 2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the initializing the smart network interface card comprises: starting a basic input output system (BIOS) of the smart network interface card; configuring parameters of the smart network interface card; and setting an initialization completion flag bit in the BMC of the smart network interface card in response to configuration of the smart network interface card is completed (at least Jreij paragraph 25, 29, 38, 42; BIOS of subsystem; Liu par. 42; Smart NIC ready state signal).
As per Claim 3. The method as claimed in claim 2, wherein the determining, by the BMC of the server through the communication with the BMC of the smart network interface card, whether the smart network interface card is completely initialized comprises: inspecting a state of the smart network interface card by the BMC of the server through the communication with the BMC of the smart network interface card, and determining whether the smart network interface card is completely initialized (at least paragraph 42; BIOS 110 may determine that OS 180 of smart NIC 170 has completed the booting process (i.e., smart NIC 170 is in ready state)).
As per Claim 4. The method as claimed in claim 3, wherein the inspecting the state of the smart network interface card by the BMC of the server through the communication with the BMC of the smart network interface card, and determining whether the smart network interface card is completely initialized comprise: accessing the BMC of the smart network interface card by the BMC of the server, and acquiring initialization information, wherein the initialization information is information configured to determine whether the smart network interface card is completely initialized (at least paragraph 42; BIOS 110 may determine that OS 180 of smart NIC 170 has completed the booting process (i.e., smart NIC 170 is in ready state)).
As per Claim 5. The method as claimed in claim 4, wherein the accessing the BMC of the smart network interface card by the BMC of the server comprises: accessing the BMC of the smart network interface card by the BMC of the server in response to that the server is started up to an assigned stage (at least Jreij paragraph 25, 29, 38, 42; Fig. 7E- BIOS boot progress code 718).
As per Claim 6. The method as claimed in claim 2, wherein the determining, by the BMC of the server through the communication with the BMC of the smart network interface card, whether the smart network interface card is completely initialized comprises: acquiring the initialization completion flag bit in the BMC of the smart network interface card by the BMC of the server through the communication with the BMC of the smart network interface card; and determining whether the smart network interface card is completely initialized according to whether the initialization completion flag bit is acquired (at least paragraph 42; identifying that OS 180 has completed the booting process, BMC 130 may send a signal (e.g., assert a general purpose I/O (GPIO) signal, assert an interrupt signal, and the like) to BIOS 110 indicating that smart NIC 170 is in the ready state).
As per Claim 7. The method as claimed in claim 6, wherein the determining, by the BMC of the server through the communication with the BMC of the smart network interface card, whether the smart network interface card is completely initialized further comprises: determining that the smart network interface card is completely initialized in a case that the BMC of the server acquires the initialization completion flag bit (at least paragraph 42; identifying that OS 180 has completed the booting process, BMC 130 may send a signal (e.g., assert a general purpose I/O (GPIO) signal, assert an interrupt signal, and the like) to BIOS 110 indicating that smart NIC 170 is in the ready state).
As per Claim 8. The method as claimed in claim 6, wherein the determining, by the BMC of the server through the communication with the BMC of the smart network interface card, whether the smart network interface card is completely initialized further comprises: determining that the smart network interface card is not completely initialized in a case that the BMC of the server does not acquire the initialization completion flag bit (at least paragraph 42; may not send a signal (e.g., assert a general purpose I/O (GPIO) signal, assert an interrupt signal, and the like) to BIOS 110 indicating that smart NIC 170 is not in the ready state).
As per Claim 9. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising: re-determining in response to initialization of the smart network interface card is not completed, by the server every preset time, whether the smart network interface card is completely initialized (at least Jreij paragraph 45-48; timeout of progress codes, pausing and trying again after timeout).
As per Claim 10. The method as claimed in claim 9, wherein in response to initialization of the smart network interface card is not completed, the method further comprises: stopping the server from executing other startup processes (at least Jreij paragraph 45-48; timeout of progress codes, pausing dependencies (other) and trying again after timeout).
As per Claim 11. The method as claimed in claim 10, wherein after the re-determining, by the server every preset time, whether the smart network interface card is completely initialized, the method further comprises: continuing executing a startup process by the server in a case that after preset time, the server re-determines that the smart network interface card is completely initialized (at least Jreij paragraph 45-48; timeout of progress codes, pausing and trying again after timeout, after smart NIC services ready continuing booting).
As per Claim 12. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein before the establishing communication between the BMC of the server and the BMC of the smart network interface card, the method further comprises: connecting the BMC of the server to the BMC of the smart network interface card by using a connection line (at least Jreij paragraph 25, 29, 38; a Baseboard Management Controller (BMC) subsystem 310 that is coupled to the SCP subsystem 304 and the BIOS subsystem 308).
As per Claim 13. The method as claimed in claim 12, wherein the connection line comprises one of an inter-integrated circuit (I2C) and a network cable, and the connecting the BMC of the server to the BMC of the smart network interface card by using the connection line comprises: connecting the BMC of the server to the BMC of the smart network interface card by using the I2C or the network cable (at least Jreij paragraph 25, 29, 38; Fig. 3).
As per Claim 14. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the configuring the IIO of the CPU by the server host, and initializing the smart network interface card in response to starting up the server comprise: powering on the server and the smart network interface card simultaneously, configuring the IIO of the CPU by the server host, and initializing the smart network interface card in response to starting up the server (at least paragraph 27-29; pre-boot sequence and booting process of smart NIC).
As per Claim 15. The method as claimed in claim 2, wherein after the setting the initialization completion flag bit in the BMC of the smart network interface card, the method further comprises: storing the initialization completion flag bit in the BMC of the smart network interface card (at least Jreij paragraph 35, 25, 29, 38; a Baseboard Management Controller (BMC) subsystem 310; Fig. 5 BMC database).
As per Claim 16. The method as claimed in claim 15, wherein the initialization completion flag bit is configured to indicate that the smart network interface card is completely initialized (at least Jreij paragraph 35; a Baseboard Management Controller (BMC) subsystem 310; Fig. 5 BMC database storing any of the information utilized by the BMC engine 504 discussed).
As per Claim 17. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the connecting the IIO of the CPU to the smart network interface card by the server host, and continuing executing the startup process comprise: connecting the IIO of the CPU to the smart network interface card by the server host, and continuing executing the startup process until the server is completely started up (at least paragraph 28, 48; information handling system to complete the booting process with smart NIC ready state).
Claims 19-21 do not, in substance, add or define any additional limitations over claims 1-2 and therefore are rejected for similar reasons, supra.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure is indicated in PTO form 892.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to GREGORY G TODD whose telephone number is (303)297-4763. The examiner can normally be reached 8:30-5 MST.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor Nicholas Taylor can be reached on (571)272-3889. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/GREGORY TODD/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2443
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