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 .
Claims 1-20 have been examined.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claims 19-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to non-statutory subject matter.
Claim 19 reciting a “non-transitory, computer-readable medium”, is not limited to tangible storage devices in view of par. 0124, in the instant specification, which suggests that such a medium may be a carrier wave or transmission medium (intangible). Accordingly, claim 19 does not recite tangible manufactures, and are non-statutory subject matter.
As per claim 20, this claim is rejected for failing to cure the deficiencies of the above rejected base claim 19.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-3, 14-15 and 19-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Butt (US 7,827,544).
Per Claim 1:
Butt teaches:
- instantiating a first state machine that is associated with updating a cluster of a plurality of nodes and is configured to monitor an update procedure at a cluster level that spans the plurality of nodes; instantiating one or more second state machines that are associated with updating the cluster of the plurality of nodes and are configured to monitor the update procedure at a node level (“… FIG. 4 illustrates an update flow process. The flow process of FIG. 4 provides a summary of the information presented in FIG. 3, but with reference to the physical updateable elements rather than the code packages. As mentioned, states S-1 to S-8 can be considered package states, relating to distribution of a code package, and states S-9 to S-17 can be considered activate states, relating to the activation of a distributed code package. The power component is the first element that is updated. The package states are traversed for the power component, and then the activate states. The service processor groups are processed next. The package states are traversed, and then the activate states. The HDDs are processed next. The package states are traversed, and then the activate states. Further details regarding the activate states for the HDD are provided in FIG. 5. …” in column 7, line 55 to column 8, line 3)
- and performing, based at least in part on instantiating the first state machine and the one or more second state machines, the update procedure for the cluster of the plurality of nodes, wherein: a state of the first state machine reflects a state of the cluster of the plurality of nodes, and one or more states of the one or more second state machines reflect respective one or more states of respective one or more nodes of the plurality of nodes (“… FIG. 5 illustrates activation states for the update flow process of FIG. 5, for servers S0 and S1. In particular, FIG. 5 provides further details regarding the activate states for the HDDs. The process shown represents the details of the actions referred to by the notation "Activate states S-9 to S-17" in FIG. 4. Recalling that states S-9 to S-17 are considered activate states, the actions of the first of these states (S-9) is carried out to activate the code package for AIX for S0, then the code package for AIX PTF for S0, then the code package for AIX EFIX for S0, then the code package for AIX for S1, then the code package for AIX PTF for S1, then the code package for AIX EFIX for S1, then the code package for the SFI for S0, and finally the code package for the SFI for S1. The process is repeated accordingly until the last activate state (S-17) is reached. Again, the actions of the state S-17 are carried out, thereby completing the activation of the HDDs on S0 and S1. The process of FIG. 5 can be modified to include additional severs accordingly. …” in column 8, lines 21-38).
Per Claim 2:
Butt teaches:
- wherein the update procedure comprises serially updating subsets of the plurality of nodes from a first version to a second version (column 8, lines 21-38).
Per Claim 3:
Butt teaches:
- designating one or more synchronization points in the update procedure (column 8, lines 21-38).
Per Claims 14-15:
These are system versions of the claimed method discussed above (claims 1 and 3, respectively), wherein all claim limitations also have been addressed and/or covered in cited areas as set forth above. Thus, accordingly, these claims are also anticipated by Butt.
Per Claims 19-20:
These are medium versions of the claimed method discussed above (claims 1 and 3, respectively), wherein all claim limitations also have been addressed and/or covered in cited areas as set forth above. Thus, accordingly, these claims are also anticipated by Butt.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4-13 and 16-18 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Excoffier (US 2012/0222026) teaches a method for updating elements in a data storage using predefined state machine.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to QAMRUN NAHAR whose telephone number is (571)272-3730. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 8-4pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Lewis Bullock can be reached on (571)272-3759. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/QAMRUN NAHAR/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2199
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