Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application is being examined under the pre-AIA first to invent provisions.
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on March 6, 2025 has been entered.
DETAILED ACTION
Claims 1-20 were previously examined.
Claims 1-6, 8, , 10-15, and 19-20 have been amended on March 6, 2026.
Claims 1-20 are pending in this action.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see under “Claim Rejections 35 USC101”, filed March 6, 2026, with respect to claims 1-20 have been fully considered and are persuasive. The rejection for claims 1-20 has been withdrawn due amendments.
Applicant’s arguments, see under “Claim Rejections 35 USC102/103”, filed March 6, 2026, with respect to claims 1-20 have been fully considered. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of Xu (US 2018/0,004,409)
Upon further review, Examiner found:
Xu (US 2018/0,004,409) discloses the newly added limitation “initial operation period based on a number of writes to the storage device and then increasing the amount redundancy based on a number of write for that storage.
(Xu, Fig. 1, Detect a first writing amount per time unit of service data…in target storge during a preset length of time 101)
(Xu, [0028] … writing amount per time unit may also be the number of writes per time unit. For example, the number of writes of the target network service in the target storage per minute is 200,000, or the number of writes of the target network service in the target storage per minute is 500,000)
(Xu, [0056] … the first writing amount per time unit of the service data of the target network service in the target storage during the predetermined time period is detected, the first amount of the redundant storage corresponding to the first writing amount per time unit is determined … when the writing amount per time unit increases, the amount of the redundant storage may be increased automatically … thereby prolonging the service life of the target storage)
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Yoon et al. (US 8,429,492) discloses the newly added limitation “initial operation period based on a number of writes to the storage device and then increasing the amount redundancy based on a number of write for that storage
(Yoon, Column 4, memory controller 110 can track the number of times an active memory block is written and compare the usage to a set of threshold values. Memory controller 110 can then use a stronger ECC to protect data written to that block. The stronger ECC can supplant either a default-strength ECC or the ECC most recently used for that block)
(Abstract, adjusting the strength of the error correction coding can include increasing a number of parity bits that are stored with the information)
(Yoon, Figs 4, 5, 6)
See updated rejection below.
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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 1-3, 6, 8-12, 15, 17-20 is/are rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Park et al. (US 2025/0,181,450), in view of Shalvi et al. (US 2008/0,282,106), in further view of Xu (US 2018/0,004,409)
As per claim 1: (Currently Amended)
As per claim 10: (Currently Amended)
As per claim 19: (Currently Amended)
Park discloses:
A method comprising:
A storage system comprising a memory, a processing device operably coupled to the memory configured to:
A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed, cause a processing device:
(Park, Figs 1-9)
(Park, Fig. 1, ECC Engine 150, Parity Controller 160, Memory Device)
(Park, Fig. 4, Parity Data PD1, PD2, PD3 and PD4)
(Park, [0037] The processor 110 may include a central processing unit (CPU) or a microprocessor and may control the overall operation of the memory controller 100. The processor 110 may include one or more processor cores capable of executing an instruction set of program code configured to perform a specific operation. For example, the processor 110 may execute command codes of firmware stored in the memory 130)
determining whether a storage device of a plurality of storage devices is in an initial operation period
(Park, [0048] … in an initial state after data is written to the memory region, the reliability of the memory region is very high. … only parity data having a size less than the size of parity data having the lowest error correction capability previously considered in the related art may be required)
in response to determining that the storage device is in the initial operation period,
(Park, [0048] … in an initial state after data is written to the memory region, the reliability of the memory region is very high. … only parity data having a size less than the size of parity data having the lowest error correction capability previously considered in the related art may be required)
increasing an amount of
(Park, Fig. 4, Parity Data PD1, PD2, PD3 and PD4)
(Park, [0028] parity controller 160 may adjust the size of parity data of data to be written during a write operation of the first memory region 230_1 to the N-th memory region 230_N based on the reliability information for the first memory region 230_1 to the N-th memory region 230_N)
Park discloses parity data. However, Park does not disclose redundancy data.
Shalvi discloses a method of adjusting redundancy data after initial operation.
(Shalvi, [0060] The methods and systems … apply error correction in an incremental manner. In the disclosed schemes, MSP 40 encodes the data for storage in the memory cells with an Error Correction Code (ECC) that lends itself to incremental decoding, i.e., an ECC that is decodable using varying amounts of redundancy. When retrieving data from the memory cells, the MSP initially attempts to decode the ECC using a certain amount of redundancy, and increases the amount of redundancy if the initial decoding attempt fails)
(Shalvi, Fig. 2, Redundancy Set #1, #2, #3)
(Shalvi, Fig. 7, Encode page Using Baseline Redundancy 180)
(Shalvi, Fig. 7, Encode page to produce additional redundancy bits and store in redundancy storage area 196)
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed to a person having ordinary skill in the art to incorporate Shalvi’s method of adjusting amount of redundancy after initial operation fails to decoding in order to improve error decoding capability.
Park-Shalvi does not disclose:
an initial operation period based on a number of writes to the storage device
Xu discloses:
increasing redundancy during an initial operation period based on a number of writes to the storage device
(Xu, [0028] Optionally, the writing amount per time unit may also be the number of writes per time unit. For example, the number of writes of the target network service in the target storage per minute is 200,000, or the number of writes of the target network service in the target storage per minute is 500,000)
(Xu, [0056] … the first writing amount per time unit of the service data of the target network service in the target storage during the predetermined time period is detected, the first amount of the redundant storage corresponding to the first writing amount per time unit is determined according .. correspondence between the writing amount per time unit and the amount of the redundant storage, and the redundant storage of the target network service in the target storage is set according to the first amount of the redundant storage. In this way, when the writing amount per time unit increases, the amount of the redundant storage may be increased automatically … thereby prolonging the service life of the target storage)
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed to a person having ordinary skill in the art to incorporate Xu’s method of determining number of write to the storage during initial period in order to increase the amount of redundant storage from default setting in order to improve the storage protection based on amount of number of write and thereby prolonging the service life of the target storage.
(Xu, [0056] … the first writing amount per time unit of the service data of the target network service in the target storage during the predetermined time period is detected, the first amount of the redundant storage corresponding to the first writing amount per time unit is determined according .. correspondence between the writing amount per time unit and the amount of the redundant storage, and the redundant storage of the target network service in the target storage is set according to the first amount of the redundant storage. In this way, when the writing amount per time unit increases, the amount of the redundant storage may be increased automatically … thereby prolonging the service life of the target storage)
As per claim 2: (Currently Amended)
As per claim 11: (Currently Amended)
As per claim 20: (Currently Amended)
Park-Shalvi-Xu further discloses:
wherein the
(Park, Fig. 4, Parity Data PD1, PD2, PD3 and PD4)
(Park, [0028] parity controller 160 may adjust the size of parity data of data to be written during a write operation of the first memory region 230_1 to the N-th memory region 230_N based on the reliability information for the first memory region 230_1 to the N-th memory region 230_N)
Shalvi further discloses a method of adjusting redundancy.
(Shalvi, [0060] The methods and systems … apply error correction in an incremental manner. In the disclosed schemes, MSP 40 encodes the data for storage in the memory cells with an Error Correction Code (ECC) that lends itself to incremental decoding, i.e., an ECC that is decodable using varying amounts of redundancy. When retrieving data from the memory cells, the MSP initially attempts to decode the ECC using a certain amount of redundancy, and increases the amount of redundancy if the initial decoding attempt fails)
(Shalvi, Fig. 2, Redundancy Set #1, #2, #3)
(Shalvi, Fig. 7, Encode page Using Baseline Redundancy 180)
(Shalvi, Fig. 7, Encode page to produce additional redundancy bits and store in redundancy storage area 196)
In view of motivation previously stated, the claim is rejected.
As per claim 3: (Currently Amended)
As per claim 12: (Currently Amended)
Park-Shalvi-Xu further discloses:
increasing the amount of redundancy data further comprises:
(Shalvi, [0060] The methods and systems … apply error correction in an incremental manner. In the disclosed schemes, MSP 40 encodes the data for storage in the memory cells with an Error Correction Code (ECC) that lends itself to incremental decoding, i.e., an ECC that is decodable using varying amounts of redundancy. When retrieving data from the memory cells, the MSP initially attempts to decode the ECC using a certain amount of redundancy, and increases the amount of redundancy if the initial decoding attempt fails)
(Shalvi, Fig. 2, Redundancy Set #1, #2, #3)
(Shalvi, Fig. 7, Encode page Using Baseline Redundancy 180)
(Shalvi, Fig. 7, Encode page to produce additional redundancy bits and store in redundancy storage area 196)
increasing a number of storage devices that store the redundancy data.
(Shalvi, Fig. 2, additional storage area 68, Set #2, #3)
As per claim 6: (Currently Amended)
As per claim 15: (Currently Amended)
Park-Shalvi-Xu further discloses:
defining, for the storage device, the initial operation period based on a characteristic of the storage device that is shared with at least one other storage device, current workload conditions, or service level requirements.
(Park, [0048] … in an initial state after data is written to the memory region, the reliability of the memory region is very high. … only parity data having a size less than the size of parity data having the lowest error correction capability previously considered in the related art may be required)
(Park, Fig. 4, Parity Data PD1, PD2, PD3 and PD4)
(Park, [0028] parity controller 160 may adjust the size of parity data of data to be written during a write operation of the first memory region 230_1 to the N-th memory region 230_N based on the reliability information for the first memory region 230_1 to the N-th memory region 230_N)
As per claim 8: (Currently Amended)
As per claim 17: (Currently Amended)
Park-Shalvi-Xu further discloses:
determining that the amount of redundancy data should not be reduced after the initial operation period has elapsed; and based on the determination, keeping the amount of redundancy data unchanged after the initial operation period has elapsed.
(Park, [0048] … in an initial state after data is written to the memory region, the reliability of the memory region is very high. … only parity data having a size less than the size of parity data having the lowest error correction capability previously considered in the related art may be required)
(Park, Fig. 4, Parity Data PD1, PD2, PD3 and PD4)
(Park, [0028] parity controller 160 may adjust the size of parity data of data to be written during a write operation of the first memory region 230_1 to the N-th memory region 230_N based on the reliability information for the first memory region 230_1 to the N-th memory region 230_N)
As per claim 9: (Original)
As per claim 18: (Original)
Park-Shalvi-Xu further discloses:
wherein keeping the amount of redundancy data unchanged after the initial operation period has elapsed further comprises: detecting, in the storage device, a manufacturing defect; and in response to the detection, maintaining an unchanged amount of redundancy data for a second period.
(Park, [0048] … in an initial state after data is written to the memory region, the reliability of the memory region is very high. … only parity data having a size less than the size of parity data having the lowest error correction capability previously considered in the related art may be required)
(Park, Fig. 4, Parity Data PD1, PD2, PD3 and PD4)
(Park, [0028] parity controller 160 may adjust the size of parity data of data to be written during a write operation of the first memory region 230_1 to the N-th memory region 230_N based on the reliability information for the first memory region 230_1 to the N-th memory region 230_N)
Claims 4, 5, 7, 13, 14 and 16 is/are rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Park et al. (US 2025/0,181,450), in view of Shalvi et al. (US 2008/0,282,106), in further view of Xu (US 2018/0,004,409), in view Meir et al (US 2015/0,339,073)
As per claim 4: (Currently Amended)
As per claim 13: (Currently Amended)
Park-Shalvi-Xu further discloses:
determining that the initial operation period has elapsed; and based on the determination, reducing the amount of
(Park, [0048] … in an initial state after data is written to the memory region, the reliability of the memory region is very high. … only parity data having a size less than the size of parity data having the lowest error correction capability previously considered in the related art may be required)
Shalvi further discloses a method of reducing redundancy.
(Shalvi, [0060] The methods and systems … apply error correction in an incremental manner. In the disclosed schemes, MSP 40 encodes the data for storage in the memory cells with an Error Correction Code (ECC) that lends itself to incremental decoding, i.e., an ECC that is decodable using varying amounts of redundancy. When retrieving data from the memory cells, the MSP initially attempts to decode the ECC using a certain amount of redundancy, and increases the amount of redundancy if the initial decoding attempt fails)
(Shalvi, Fig. 2, Redundancy Set #1, #2, #3)
(Shalvi, Fig. 7, Encode page Using Baseline Redundancy 180)
(Shalvi, Fig. 7, Encode page to produce additional redundancy bits and store in redundancy storage area 196)
Park-Shalvi-Xu does not disclose:
reducing a number of storage devices that store the redundancy data.
Meir discloses:
reducing a number of storage devices that store the redundancy data.
(Meir, [0036] … ECC encoders and decoders can be configured to modify the code rate such that the memory controller can reduce the size of the encoded data in memory in step 110 if the evaluated available memory space in step 100 is below a predefined threshold. Alternatively, the memory controller can change the coding scheme in step 110 to make an effective change in the code rate in order to change the size of the redundancy information written to memory in step 130 in response to the available memory space in step 100)
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed to a person having ordinary skill in the art to incorporate Meir’s method of adjusting the ECC code rate in order to reduce the size of the encoded data based on available memory space of the storage system.
(Meir, [0036] … ECC encoders and decoders can be configured to modify the code rate such that the memory controller can reduce the size of the encoded data in memory in step 110 if the evaluated available memory space in step 100 is below a predefined threshold. Alternatively, the memory controller can change the coding scheme in step 110 to make an effective change in the code rate in order to change the size of the redundancy information written to memory in step 130 in response to the available memory space in step 100)
As per claim 5: (Currently Amended)
As per claim 14: (Currently Amended)
Park-Shalvi-Xu further discloses:
wherein readjusting the amount of redundancy data further comprises:
(Park, [0048] … in an initial state after data is written to the memory region, the reliability of the memory region is very high. … only parity data having a size less than the size of parity data having the lowest error correction capability previously considered in the related art may be required)
(Park, Fig. 4, Parity Data PD1, PD2, PD3 and PD4)
(Park, [0028] parity controller 160 may adjust the size of parity data of data to be written during a write operation of the first memory region 230_1 to the N-th memory region 230_N based on the reliability information for the first memory region 230_1 to the N-th memory region 230_N)
Park-Shalvi-Xu does not disclose:
reducing a number of storage devices that store the redundancy data.
Meir discloses:
reducing a number of storage devices that store the redundancy data.
(Meir, [0036] … ECC encoders and decoders can be configured to modify the code rate such that the memory controller can reduce the size of the encoded data in memory in step 110 if the evaluated available memory space in step 100 is below a predefined threshold. Alternatively, the memory controller can change the coding scheme in step 110 to make an effective change in the code rate in order to change the size of the redundancy information written to memory in step 130 in response to the available memory space in step 100)
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed to a person having ordinary skill in the art to incorporate Meir’s method of adjusting the ECC code rate in order to reduce the size of the encoded data based on available memory space of the storage system.
(Meir, [0036] … ECC encoders and decoders can be configured to modify the code rate such that the memory controller can reduce the size of the encoded data in memory in step 110 if the evaluated available memory space in step 100 is below a predefined threshold. Alternatively, the memory controller can change the coding scheme in step 110 to make an effective change in the code rate in order to change the size of the redundancy information written to memory in step 130 in response to the available memory space in step 100)
As per claim 7: (Original)
As per claim 16: (Original)
Park-Shalvi-Xu-Mier further discloses:
wherein the plurality of storage devices is used for storing portions of a
(Park, Fig. 4, Parity Data PD1, PD2, PD3 and PD4)
(Park, [0028] parity controller 160 may adjust the size of parity data of data to be written during a write operation of the first memory region 230_1 to the N-th memory region 230_N based on the reliability information for the first memory region 230_1 to the N-th memory region 230_N)
Park-Shalvi does not disclose a method of storing in RAID stripe.
Meir discloses a method of storing in RAID stripe.
(Meir, [0032], a RAID stripe comprises N blocks: N-1 data blocks and a parity (redundancy) block)
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed to a person having ordinary skill in the art to incorporate Meir’s method of storing parity or redundancy in a RAID stripe of the storage device.
(Meir, [0032], a RAID stripe comprises N blocks: N-1 data blocks and a parity (redundancy) block)
As per claims 10-20:
Claims 10-20 recite similar limitations of claims 1-9. Therefore, see claims 1-9 above.
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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 pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
(a) A patent may not be obtained though the invention is not identically disclosed or described as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the subject matter sought to be patented and the prior art are such that the subject matter as a whole would have been obvious at the time the invention was made to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which said subject matter pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claim(s) 1-2, 6, 8-11, 15, 17, 19-20 is/are rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim et al. (US 2015/0,178,155), in further view of Xu (US 2018/0,004,409)
As per claim 1: (Currently Amended)
As per claim 19: (Currently Amended)
As per claim 10: (Currently Amended)
Kim discloses:
A method comprising:
A storage system comprising a memory, a processing device operably coupled to the memory configured to:
A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed, cause a processing device:
(Kim, Figs 1-19)
determining whether a storage device of a plurality of storage devices is in an initial operation period
(Kim, [0049] A storage device …may improve data reliability by changing the size of CRC (cyclic redundancy check) parity if necessary … at an initial ECC decoding operation)
(Kim, [0064] …storage device 10 may change the size of CRC parity to increase an error detection capacity … at the initial decoding operation of the iteration code to decrease the UEP. Thus, reliability of data stored in the nonvolatile memory device 10 may be improved)
(Kim, [0153] … reliability and a life time … may be improved by changing the size of CRC parity ….CRC … at an initial ECC decoding operation)
in response to determining that the storage device is in the initial operation period,
(Kim, [0049] A storage device …may improve data reliability by changing the size of CRC (cyclic redundancy check) parity if necessary … at an initial ECC decoding operation)
(Kim, [0064] …storage device 10 may change the size of CRC parity to increase an error detection capacity … at the initial decoding operation of the iteration code to decrease the UEP. Thus, reliability of data stored in the nonvolatile memory device 10 may be improved)
(Kim, [0153] … reliability and a life time … may be improved by changing the size of CRC parity ….CRC … at an initial ECC decoding operation)
increasing an amount of redundancy data for data in one or more storage device of the plurality of storage devices that is stored within the storage device.
(Kim, [0049] A storage device …may improve data reliability by changing the size of CRC (cyclic redundancy check) parity if necessary … at an initial ECC decoding operation)
(Kim, [0064] …storage device 10 may change the size of CRC parity to increase an error detection capacity … at the initial decoding operation of the iteration code to decrease the UEP. Thus, reliability of data stored in the nonvolatile memory device 10 may be improved)
(Kim, [0153] … reliability and a life time … may be improved by changing the size of CRC parity ….CRC … at an initial ECC decoding operation)
Kim does not disclose:
an initial operation period based on a number of writes to the storage device
Xu discloses:
increasing redundancy during an initial operation period based on a number of writes to the storage device
(Xu, [0028] Optionally, the writing amount per time unit may also be the number of writes per time unit. For example, the number of writes of the target network service in the target storage per minute is 200,000, or the number of writes of the target network service in the target storage per minute is 500,000)
(Xu, [0056] … the first writing amount per time unit of the service data of the target network service in the target storage during the predetermined time period is detected, the first amount of the redundant storage corresponding to the first writing amount per time unit is determined according .. correspondence between the writing amount per time unit and the amount of the redundant storage, and the redundant storage of the target network service in the target storage is set according to the first amount of the redundant storage. In this way, when the writing amount per time unit increases, the amount of the redundant storage may be increased automatically … thereby prolonging the service life of the target storage)
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed to a person having ordinary skill in the art to incorporate Xu’s method of determining number of write to the storage during initial period in order to increase the amount of redundant storage from default setting in order to improve the storage protection based on amount of number of write and thereby prolonging the service life of the target storage.
(Xu, [0056] … the first writing amount per time unit of the service data of the target network service in the target storage during the predetermined time period is detected, the first amount of the redundant storage corresponding to the first writing amount per time unit is determined according .. correspondence between the writing amount per time unit and the amount of the redundant storage, and the redundant storage of the target network service in the target storage is set according to the first amount of the redundant storage. In this way, when the writing amount per time unit increases, the amount of the redundant storage may be increased automatically … thereby prolonging the service life of the target storage)
As per claim 2: (Currently Amended)
As per claim 11: (Currently Amended)
As per claim 20: (Currently Amended)
Kim-Xu further discloses:
wherein the redundancy data includes parity information for the data, and wherein increasing t the amount of redundancy data further comprises: increasing t the amount of parity information stored within one or more storage devices of the plurality of storage devices.
(Kim, [0049] A storage device …may improve data reliability by changing the size of CRC (cyclic redundancy check) parity if necessary … at an initial ECC decoding operation)
(Kim, [0064] …storage device 10 may change the size of CRC parity to increase an error detection capacity … at the initial decoding operation of the iteration code to decrease the UEP. Thus, reliability of data stored in the nonvolatile memory device 10 may be improved)
(Kim, [0153] … reliability and a life time … may be improved by changing the size of CRC parity ….CRC … at an initial ECC decoding operation)
As per claim 3: (Currently Amended)
As per claim 12: (Currently Amended)
Kim-Xu further discloses:
increasing the amount of redundancy data further comprises: increasing a number of storage devices that store the redundancy data.
(Kim, [0049] A storage device …may improve data reliability by changing the size of CRC (cyclic redundancy check) parity if necessary … at an initial ECC decoding operation)
(Kim, [0064] …storage device 10 may change the size of CRC parity to increase an error detection capacity … at the initial decoding operation of the iteration code to decrease the UEP. Thus, reliability of data stored in the nonvolatile memory device 10 may be improved)
(Kim, [0153] … reliability and a life time … may be improved by changing the size of CRC parity ….CRC … at an initial ECC decoding operation)
As per claim 6: (Currently Amended)
As per claim 15: (Currently Amended)
Kim-Xu further discloses:
defining, for the storage device, the initial operation period, further comprising defining the initial operation period based on a characteristic of the storage device that is shared with at least one other storage device, current workload conditions, or service level requirements.
((Kim, [0049] A storage device …may improve data reliability by changing the size of CRC (cyclic redundancy check) parity if necessary … at an initial ECC decoding operation)
(Kim, [0064] …storage device 10 may change the size of CRC parity to increase an error detection capacity … at the initial decoding operation of the iteration code to decrease the UEP. Thus, reliability of data stored in the nonvolatile memory device 10 may be improved)
(Kim, [0153] … reliability and a life time … may be improved by changing the size of CRC parity ….CRC … at an initial ECC decoding operation)
As per claim 8: (Currently Amended)
As per claim 17: (Currently Amended)
Kim-Xu further discloses:
determining that the amount of redundancy data should not be adjusted
(Kim [0064] may change that means it may not change)
after the initial operation period has elapsed; and based on the determination, keeping the amount of redundancy data unchanged after the initial operation period has elapsed.
(Kim, [0049] A storage device …may improve data reliability by changing the size of CRC (cyclic redundancy check) parity if necessary … at an initial ECC decoding operation)
(Kim, [0064] …storage device 10 may change the size of CRC parity to increase an error detection capacity … at the initial decoding operation of the iteration code to decrease the UEP. Thus, reliability of data stored in the nonvolatile memory device 10 may be improved)
(Kim, [0153] … reliability and a life time … may be improved by changing the size of CRC parity ….CRC … at an initial ECC decoding operation)
As per claim 9: (Original)
As per claim 18: (Original)
Kim-Xu further discloses:
wherein keeping the amount of redundancy data unchanged
(Kim [0064] may change that means it may not change)
after the initial operation period has elapsed further comprises: detecting, in the storage device, a manufacturing defect; and in response to the detection, maintaining an unchanged amount of redundancy data for a second period.
(Kim, [0064] …storage device 10 may change the size of CRC parity to increase an error detection capacity … at the initial decoding operation of the iteration code to decrease the UEP. Thus, reliability of data stored in the nonvolatile memory device 10 may be improved)
(Kim, [0153] … reliability and a life time … may be improved by changing the size of CRC parity ….CRC … at an initial ECC decoding operation)
Claims 4-5, 7, 13-14 and 16 is/are rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Kim et al. (US 2015/0,178,155), in view Meir et al (US 2015/0,339,073)
As per claim 4:
As per claim 13:
Kim further discloses:
determining that the initial operation period has
(Kim, [0049] A storage device …may improve data reliability by changing the size of CRC (cyclic redundancy check) parity if necessary … at an initial ECC decoding operation)
(Kim, [0064] …storage device 10 may change the size of CRC parity to increase an error detection capacity … at the initial decoding operation of the iteration code to decrease the UEP. Thus, reliability of data stored in the nonvolatile memory device 10 may be improved)
(Kim, [0153] … reliability and a life time … may be improved by changing the size of CRC parity ….CRC … at an initial ECC decoding operation)
Kim-Xu does not clearly disclose:
reducing the amount of redundancy data after the initial operation period has elapsed.
Meir discloses:
reducing the amount of redundancy data after the initial operation period has elapsed.
(Meir, [0036] … ECC encoders and decoders can be configured to modify the code rate such that the memory controller can reduce the size of the encoded data in memory in step 110 if the evaluated available memory space in step 100 is below a predefined threshold. Alternatively, the memory controller can change the coding scheme in step 110 to make an effective change in the code rate in order to change the size of the redundancy information written to memory in step 130 in response to the available memory space in step 100)
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed to a person having ordinary skill in the art to incorporate Meir’s method of adjusting the ECC code rate in order to reduce the size of the encoded data based on available memory space of the storage system.
(Meir, [0036] … ECC encoders and decoders can be configured to modify the code rate such that the memory controller can reduce the size of the encoded data in memory in step 110 if the evaluated available memory space in step 100 is below a predefined threshold. Alternatively, the memory controller can change the coding scheme in step 110 to make an effective change in the code rate in order to change the size of the redundancy information written to memory in step 130 in response to the available memory space in step 100)
As per claim 5: (Currently Amended)
As per claim 14: (Currently Amended)
Kim further discloses:
wherein readjusting the amount of redundancy data further comprises:
(Kim, [0049] A storage device …may improve data reliability by changing the size of CRC (cyclic redundancy check) parity if necessary … at an initial ECC decoding operation)
(Kim, [0064] …storage device 10 may change the size of CRC parity to increase an error detection capacity … at the initial decoding operation of the iteration code to decrease the UEP. Thus, reliability of data stored in the nonvolatile memory device 10 may be improved)
(Kim, [0153] … reliability and a life time … may be improved by changing the size of CRC parity ….CRC … at an initial ECC decoding operation)
Kim does not disclose:
reducing a number of storage devices that store the redundancy data.
Meir discloses:
reducing a number of storage devices that store the redundancy data.
(Meir, [0036] … ECC encoders and decoders can be configured to modify the code rate such that the memory controller can reduce the size of the encoded data in memory in step 110 if the evaluated available memory space in step 100 is below a predefined threshold. Alternatively, the memory controller can change the coding scheme in step 110 to make an effective change in the code rate in order to change the size of the redundancy information written to memory in step 130 in response to the available memory space in step 100)
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed to a person having ordinary skill in the art to incorporate Meir’s method of adjusting the ECC code rate in order to reduce the size of the encoded data based on available memory space of the storage system.
(Meir, [0036] … ECC encoders and decoders can be configured to modify the code rate such that the memory controller can reduce the size of the encoded data in memory in step 110 if the evaluated available memory space in step 100 is below a predefined threshold. Alternatively, the memory controller can change the coding scheme in step 110 to make an effective change in the code rate in order to change the size of the redundancy information written to memory in step 130 in response to the available memory space in step 100)
As per claim 7: (Original)
As per claim 16: (Original)
Kim does not disclose
wherein the plurality of storage devices is used for storing portions of a RAID stripe, wherein the plurality of storage devices include data that is written as data blocks in a plurality of RAID stripes, and wherein the redundancy data includes parity information for the RAID stripe.
Meir discloses:
wherein the plurality of storage devices is used for storing portions of a RAID stripe, wherein the plurality of storage devices include data that is written as data blocks in a plurality of RAID stripes, and wherein the redundancy data includes parity information for the RAID stripe.
(Meir, [0032], a RAID stripe comprises N blocks: N-1 data blocks and a parity (redundancy) block)
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed to a person having ordinary skill in the art to incorporate Meir’s method of storing parity or redundancy in a RAID stripe of the storage device.
(Meir, [0032], a RAID stripe comprises N blocks: N-1 data blocks and a parity (redundancy) block)
As per claims 10-20:
Claims 10-20 recite similar limitations of claims 1-9. Therefore, see claims 1-9 above under Kim et al and Mier et al above.
Conclusion
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/Thien Nguyen/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2111