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 .
This communication is in response to the application filed on 07/29/2024.
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d). The certified copy has been filed in parent Application No. CN202210114823.1, filed on 1/30/2022.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 10/16/2024 was filed. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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 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.
Claims 1-6, 8-10, and 12-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over HE et al. (US 20200319812 A1 ), hereafter HE in view of SAMPATHKUMAR (US 20220046058 A1), hereafter Sampathkumar .
Regarding claim 1, HE teaches a packet processing method, comprising:
receiving, by a gateway device, a first non-volatile memory express (NVMe) over fabrics (NOF) request packet from a client, wherein the first NOF request packet carries an NVMe instruction instructing to perform a read/write operation on a first destination address ([0098],fig. 19, Non-Volatile Memory Express over Fabrics (NVMe-oF) initiator 1920 can receive NVMe commands (e.g., admin, read, or write) from NVMe driver 1908 and act as an intermediary between NVMe driver 1908 and an RDMA-enable NIC 1950 by copying a new NVMe Submission Queue Entry; [0099] RDMA-enabled NIC 1950 can transmit the NVMe command to the target device via a network or fabric using a packet in accordance with any available protocol);
obtaining, by the gateway device, information about a first remote direct memory access (RDMA)storage node based on the first destination address ([0099] For responses, NVMe-oF initiator 1920 can copy an RDMA response from an RDMA Receive Queue (RQ) to an NVMe Completion Queue for access by VEE 1904, or the NVMe response contained in an RDMA response from an RDMA Receive Queue (RQ) can be directly referenced by the NVMe Completion Queue for access by VEE 1904); and
sending, by the gateway device, a first RDMA request packet to the first RDMA storage node, wherein the first RDMA request packet carries an RDMA instruction corresponding to the NVMe instruction ([0100] NVMe-oF stack 1926 can transfer a new NVMe Submission Queue Entry to an RDMA Send Queue (SQ) or RDMA response from an RDMA CQ to an NVMe Completion Queue for access by VEE 1904).
HE does not explicitly teach a gateway device.
Sampathkumar teaches
a gateway device ([0019], fig.1 the API gateway 111 manages the configuration settings for the NVMe devices connected to and that are part of the SDN 120).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention made to include in the HE disclosure, an intermediary gateway to receive request from a client to transmit to a destination, as taught by Sampathkumar. One would be motivated to do so to receive and manage the various configurations, and forward the various configurations to destination.
Regarding claims 2 and 14, HE and Sampathkumar teach all limitations of parent claims 1 and 13, wherein HE further teaches obtaining the information about the first RDMA storage node comprises:
obtaining, by the gateway device, the information about the first RDMA storage node by querying a first correspondence between the first destination address and the information about the first RDMA storage node ([0099] For responses, NVMe-oF initiator 1920 can copy an RDMA response from an RDMA Receive Queue (RQ) to an NVMe Completion Queue for access by VEE, or the NVMe response contained in an RDMA response from an RDMA Receive Queue (RQ) can be directly referenced by the NVMe Completion Queue for access by VEE).
Regarding claims 3 and 15, HE and Sampathkumar teach all limitations of parent claims 1 and 13, wherein HE further teaches the information about the first RDMA storage node comprises at least one of: a second destination address, network location information of the first RDMA storage node, identifiers of one or more queue pairs (QPs) in the first RDMA storage node, and a remote key (R_Key), wherein the second destination address points to a memory space of the first RDMA storage node, and the R_Key indicates permission to access a memory of the first RDMA storage node ([0106] To setup the connection, the cloud administrator can specify at least one storage pool address and storage pool internal NVMe Qualified Name in a similar manner as those described with respect to Discovery and Connect commands).
Regarding claim 4, HE and Sampathkumar teach the method according to claim 3, wherein HE further teaches the network location information comprises at least one of a medium access control (MAC) address, an internet protocol (IP) address, a multi-protocol label switching (MPLS) label, or a segment identifier (SID) ([0084] storage pool address can be an IP address).
Regarding claims 5 and 16, HE and Sampathkumar teach all limitations of parent claims 1 and 13, wherein HE further teaches after sending the first RDMA request packet to the first RDMA storage node, the method further comprises:
receiving, by the gateway device, an RDMA response packet from the first RDMA storage node, wherein the RDMA response packet is for the first RDMA request packet ([0107] NVMe-oF stack can transfer a new NVMe Submission Queue Entry to an RDMA Send Queue (SQ) or RDMA response from an RDMA CQ to an NVMe Completion Queue for access by VEE);
generating, by the gateway device, a first NOF response packet based on the RDMA response packet, wherein the first NOF response packet is for the first NOF request packet ([0112] the NVMe-oF target sends a response to the RDMA Device and the RDMA Device receives the responses from the NVMe-oF target); and
sending, by the gateway device, the first NOF response packet to the client (0107] NVMe-oF stack can transfer a new NVMe Submission Queue Entry to an RDMA Send Queue (SQ) or RDMA response from an RDMA CQ to an NVMe Completion Queue for access by VEE).
Regarding claims 6 and 17, HE and Sampathkumar teach all limitations of parent claims 5 and 16, wherein HE further teaches generating the first NOF response packet based on the RDMA response packet comprises:
obtaining, by the gateway device, RDMA status information based on the RDMA response packet, wherein the RDMA status information indicates a correspondence between the RDMA response packet and the first RDMA request packet ([0119] an RDMA response can be provided in an RDMA completion queue. The intermediary layer can copy the RDMA response to a queue accessible to a VEE such as a VEE that issued the NVMe command);
obtaining, by the gateway device, NOF status information by querying a second correspondence based on the RDMA status information, wherein the second correspondence comprises a correspondence between the RDMA status information and the NOF status information, and the NOF status information indicates a correspondence between the first NOF response packet and the first NOF request packet ([0116] the remote NVMe-oF target can send a response to the RDMA Device to indicate all data was written via an RDMA Write command. The RDMA Device copies the response to a NVMe Completion Queue); and
generating, by the gateway device, the first NOF response packet based on the NOF status information (0115] the NVMe-oF target sends a response to the RDMA Device and the RDMA Device receives the RDMA Write command with data from the NVMe-oF target).
Regarding claim 8, HE and Sampathkumar teach the method according to claim 5, wherein HE further teaches generating the first NOF response packet based on the RDMA response packet comprises:
generating, by the gateway device, the first NOF response packet based on NOF status information in the RDMA response packet ([0099] For responses, NVMe-oF initiator 1920 can copy an RDMA response from an RDMA Receive Queue (RQ) to an NVMe Completion Queue for access by VEE 1904, or the NVMe response contained in an RDMA response from an RDMA Receive Queue (RQ) can be directly referenced by the NVMe Completion Queue for access by VEE).
Regarding claim 9, HE and Sampathkumar teach the method according to claim 5, wherein HE further teaches the first RDMA request packet includes a first NOF packet header, the RDMA response packet includes a second NOF packet header generated by the first RDMA storage node based on the first NOF packet header, and the first NOF response packet includes the second NOF packet header ([0124] Direct memory access (DMA) engine can copy a packet header, packet payload, and/or descriptor directly from host memory to the network interface or vice versa, instead of copying the packet to an intermediate buffer at the host and then using another copy operation from the intermediate buffer to the destination buffer).
Regarding claim 10, HE and Sampathkumar teach the method according to claim 2, wherein HE further teaches the first correspondence further comprises information about a second RDMA storage node, the method further comprising:
in association with the NVMe instruction indicating the write operation, sending, by the gateway device, a second RDMA request packet to the second RDMA storage node, wherein the second RDMA request packet carries the RDMA instruction corresponding to the NVMe instruction ([0106] VEE can communicate with NVMe-oF initiator 1920 via driver 1908 to issue an NVMe command to read data from a storage medium, write data to a storage medium, an administration command, or any NVMe command).
Regarding claim 12, HE and Sampathkumar teach the method according to claim 2, HE further teaches:
in association with the NVMe instruction indicating the read operation, selecting, by the gateway device, the first RDMA storage node from a plurality of RDMA storage nodes according to a load balancing algorithm ([0078] The orchestrator server may determine the differences based on the telemetry data stored in the hierarchical model and factor the differences into a prediction of future resource utilization of a workload if the workload is reassigned from one managed node to another managed node, to accurately balance resource utilization in the data center).
Regarding claim 13, HE teaches a gateway device, comprising:
a processor ([0089] one or more processors); and
a network interface, wherein the processor is coupled to a memory ([0089] network interface card),
the network interface is configured to receive or send a packet ([0089] network interface card (NIC) to communicate with a remote target device at least in connection with NVMe-oF transactions), and
the memory is configured to store one or more computer readable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the gateway device to:
receive a first non-volatile memory express (NVMe) over fabrics (NOF) request packet from a client, wherein the first NOF request packet carries an NVMe instruction instructing to perform a read/write operation on a first destination address ([0098],fig. 19, Non-Volatile Memory Express over Fabrics (NVMe-oF) initiator 1920 can receive NVMe commands (e.g., admin, read, or write) from NVMe driver 1908 and act as an intermediary between NVMe driver 1908 and an RDMA-enable NIC 1950 by copying a new NVMe Submission Queue Entry; [0099] RDMA-enabled NIC 1950 can transmit the NVMe command to the target device via a network or fabric using a packet in accordance with any available protocol);
obtain information about a first remote direct memory access (RDMA) storage node based on the first destination address ([0099] For responses, NVMe-oF initiator 1920 can copy an RDMA response from an RDMA Receive Queue (RQ) to an NVMe Completion Queue for access by VEE 1904, or the NVMe response contained in an RDMA response from an RDMA Receive Queue (RQ) can be directly referenced by the NVMe Completion Queue for access by VEE 1904); and
send a first RDMA request packet to the first RDMA storage node, wherein the first RDMA request packet carries an RDMA instruction corresponding to the NVMe instruction ([0100] NVMe-oF stack 1926 can transfer a new NVMe Submission Queue Entry to an RDMA Send Queue (SQ) or RDMA response from an RDMA CQ to an NVMe Completion Queue for access by VEE 1904).
HE teaches an intermediary but does not explicitly teach a wording ”a gateway device.”
Sampathkumar teaches
a gateway device ([0019], fig.1 the API gateway 111 manages the configuration settings for the NVMe devices connected to and that are part of the SDN 120).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention made to include in the HE disclosure, an intermediary gateway to receive request from a client to transmit to a destination, as taught by Sampathkumar. One would be motivated to do so to receive and manage the various configurations, and forward the various configurations to destination.
Regarding claim 18, HE and Sampathkumar teach a storage system, comprising one or more RDMA storage nodes and the gateway device ([0097] an intermediary) according to claim 13.
Regarding claim 19, HE teaches a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having one or more computer readable instructions that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to provide execution comprising ([0144] at least one computer-readable medium):
receiving, by a gateway device, a first non-volatile memory express (NVMe) over fabrics (NOF) request packet from a client, wherein the first NOF request packet carries an NVMe instruction instructing to perform a read/write operation on a first destination address ([0098],fig. 19, Non-Volatile Memory Express over Fabrics (NVMe-oF) initiator 1920 can receive NVMe commands (e.g., admin, read, or write) from NVMe driver 1908 and act as an intermediary between NVMe driver 1908 and an RDMA-enable NIC 1950 by copying a new NVMe Submission Queue Entry; [0099] RDMA-enabled NIC 1950 can transmit the NVMe command to the target device via a network or fabric using a packet in accordance with any available protocol);
obtaining, by the gateway device, information about a first remote direct memory access (RDMA) storage node based on the first destination address ([0099] For responses, NVMe-oF initiator 1920 can copy an RDMA response from an RDMA Receive Queue (RQ) to an NVMe Completion Queue for access by VEE 1904, or the NVMe response contained in an RDMA response from an RDMA Receive Queue (RQ) can be directly referenced by the NVMe Completion Queue for access by VEE 1904); and
sending, by the gateway device, a first RDMA request packet to the first RDMA storage node, wherein the first RDMA request packet carries an RDMA instruction corresponding to the NVMe instruction ([0100] NVMe-oF stack 1926 can transfer a new NVMe Submission Queue Entry to an RDMA Send Queue (SQ) or RDMA response from an RDMA CQ to an NVMe Completion Queue for access by VEE 1904).
HE does not explicitly teach a gateway device.
Sampathkumar teaches
a gateway device ([0019], fig.1 the API gateway 111 manages the configuration settings for the NVMe devices connected to and that are part of the SDN 120).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention made to include in the HE disclosure, an intermediary gateway to receive request from a client to transmit to a destination, as taught by Sampathkumar. One would be motivated to do so to receive and manage the various configurations, and forward the various configurations to destination.
Regarding claim 20, HE and Sampathkumar teach a computer program product comprising one or more computer program instructions ([0144] programs, applications) that, when loaded and run by a computer, enable the computer to perform the method according to claim 1.
Claim 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over HE et al. (US 20200319812 A1 ), hereafter HE in view of SAMPATHKUMAR (US 20220046058 A1), hereafter Sampathkumar and further in view of Kachare (US 20180307650 A1).
Regarding claim 7, HE and Sampathkumar teach the method according to claim 6, HE does not explicitly teach wherein before obtaining the NOF status information by querying the second correspondence based on the RDMA status information, the method further comprises:
obtaining, by the gateway device, the NOF status information based on the first NOF request packet; and
establishing, by the gateway device, the second correspondence, wherein the second correspondence is between the NOF status information and the RDMA status information.
Kachare teaches
obtaining, by the gateway device, the NOF status information based on the first NOF request packet ([0047] An NVMe-oF host driver utilizes RDMA SEND requests to send commands to the eSSD. The eSSD utilizes RDMA READ and RDMA WRITE requests for data transfers. The eSSD also utilizes RDMA SEND requests to post completions (e.g., acknowledgements of data persistence) to the host); and
establishing, by the gateway device, the second correspondence, wherein the second correspondence is between the NOF status information and the RDMA status information ([0048] LL-DAX utilizes the same RDMA interface present in the eSSD 101. LL-DAX utilizes one or more separate and dedicated queue pairs (QPs) 110 for LL-DAX access.).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention made to include in the HE disclosure, the acknowledge message to the host to indicate status of data transferred, as taught by Kachare. One would be motivated to do so to provide lower latency and reduce the complexity and cost of existing storage software stacks.
Claim 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over HE et al. (US 20200319812 A1 ), hereafter HE in view of SAMPATHKUMAR (US 20220046058 A1), hereafter Sampathkumar and further in view of Kachare (US 20180307650 A1).
Regarding claim 11, HE and Sampathkumar teach the method according to claim 10, HE does not explicitly teach wherein the first RDMA request packet and the second RDMA request packet are multicast packets; or the first RDMA request packet and the second RDMA request packet are unicast packets.
Chang teaches
the first RDMA request packet and the second RDMA request packet are multicast packets; or the first RDMA request packet and the second RDMA request packet are unicast packets ([0234] the multicast RDMA uses unicast notifications from the data target to manage retransmissions).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention made to include in the HE disclosure, multicast RDMA operations, as taught by Change. One would be motivated to do so to improve transmission bandwidth by taking advantage of the fact that the transport protocol now permits data packets to be transmitted across multiple paths at the same time.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANH NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)270-0657. The examiner can normally be reached M-F.
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/ANH NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2458
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