DETAILED ACTION
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 1-21 are presented for examination.
Claims 22-25 are withdrawn.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group I, claims 1-21, in the reply filed on April 8, 2026 is acknowledged.
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.
Claims 1, 11, 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Shin U.S. Patent Application Publication Number 2018/0011635 A1 (hereinafter Shin).
As per claims 1, 11, 16, Shin discloses a computer-implemented method comprising:
transmitting, by a control program executing on a computing device (see semiconductor memory device 100, or computing device as claimed, in Figure 1 receiving external command from controller 100) of a computing environment to an adapter module (see controller 200, or adaptor module as claimed, on page 2 section [0037] and Figure 1 and see controller 100 on page 9 section [0120]) executing within the computing environment (see memory system 10 on page 2 section [0037] and Figure 1), control request information (see control information request command, or control request information as claimed, on page 9 section [0120] and see semiconductor memory device 100, or computing device as claimed, receiving external commands from controller 100, or adapter module as claimed, on page 9 section [0120]), the transmitting using a control plane transmit queue of a set of queues (see receiving commands and storing in first command queue 121 on page 9 section [0121] and see internal command is for queues for plurality of planes, or set of queues as claimed, on page 9 section [0124]), the control plane transmit queue identifying a location to store the control request information to be retrieved by the adapter module (see input external command in queue have a tag, or location as claimed, for the controller 100 on page 9 section [0121]);
receiving, by the control program from the adapter module, an indication of another location (see tag including plane address on page 9 section [0123]) storing control reply information replying to the control request information (see storing commands on second command queue 123 on page 9 section [0123]), the indication obtained from a control plane receive queue of the set of queues (see internal command is for queues for plurality of planes, or set of queues as claimed, on page 9 section [0124]);
retrieving, by the control program from the another location, the control reply information (see generate an internal command from commands using information inputted to second command queue, or another location as claimed, on page 9 section [0124]); and
performing processing, by the control program, based on the control reply information (see using generated internal command for operation for plurality of planes on page 9 section [0124]).
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.
Claims 2-3, 5, 13, 17, 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shin U.S. Patent Application Publication Number 2018/0011635 A1 (hereinafter Shin), and further in view of Ekis et al. U.S. Patent Application Publication Number 2004/0249957 A1 (hereinafter Ekis).
As per claims 2, 17, Shin do not disclose expressly: the computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the control request information comprises an address resolution protocol request.
Ekis discloses: wherein the control request information comprises an address resolution protocol request (see use of Address Resolution Protocol on page 4 section [0046] for replacing function commands on page 4 section [0047]).
Shin and Ekis are analogous art because they are from the same field of endeavor, system function command management systems. Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to use Address Resolution Protocol to perform replacement function commands. The motivation for doing so would have been to replace functions required for TCP/IP processing (see page 4 section [0048]). Therefore, it would have been obvious to combine Shin and Ekis for the benefit of using Address Resolution Protocol request to obtain the invention as specified in claims 2, 17.
As per claim 3, Shin and Ekis disclose the computer program product of claim 2, wherein the address resolution protocol request is an address resolution protocol offload request (see request for TCP offload on page 4 section [0040] in Ekis). The motivation to combine is same as above.
As per claim 5, 13, 19, Shin and Ekis disclose the computer program product of claim 2, wherein the address resolution protocol request is an address resolution protocol filter request to be used to filter address resolution protocol requests (see filter requests on page 1 section [0008] in Ekis). The motivation to combine is same as above.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4, 6-10, 12, 14-15, 18, 20-21 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.
Ryu et al. U.S. Patent Application Publication Number 2023/0031131 A1. Address Resolution Protocol request (see section [0070]).
Rao P U.S. Patent Application Publication Number 2025/0260596 A1. Address Resolution Protocol (see section [0018]). Control plane updates and ARP entry update (see section [0103]).
Ratcliff et al. U.S. Patent Number 11,979,459 B1. Issuing control commands using control queue (see Abstract).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ALAN S CHOU whose telephone number is (571)272-5779. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9:00-5:00 EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Chris L Parry can be reached at (571)272-8328. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ALAN S CHOU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2451
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