Response to Amendment
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 action is responsive to amendment filed on 12/31/25. Claims 1-17 and 19 are presented for examination.
Specification
Applicant is reminded of the proper language and format for an abstract of the disclosure.
The abstract should be in narrative form and generally limited to a single paragraph on a separate sheet within the range of 50 to 150 words in length. The abstract should describe the disclosure sufficiently to assist readers in deciding whether there is a need for consulting the full patent text for details.
The language should be clear and concise and should not repeat information given in the title. It should avoid using phrases which can be implied, such as, “The disclosure concerns,” “The disclosure defined by this invention,” “The disclosure describes,” etc. In addition, the form and legal phraseology often used in patent claims, such as “means” and “said,” should be avoided.
The abstract of the disclosure is objected to because it is not in narrative format and comprises claim format colons and semicolons. A corrected abstract of the disclosure is required and must be presented on a separate sheet, apart from any other text. See MPEP § 608.01(b).
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.
Claim(s) 1-17 and 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu et al (USPN. 2024/0411478) in view of Doshi et al (USPN. 2022/0224776).
Regarding claims 1 and 11, Liu discloses a method and system comprising (fig. 1):
a backend database configured to store data (fig. 1, Distributed File system, par. 34 “distributed database”; and
a distributed computing system comprising a plurality of computing systems geographically located within a same metropolitan area, the plurality of computing systems being communicatively coupled and in communication with the backend database (fig. 1, par. 34 “Distributed Cache Nodes communicate with the distributed file system”… “cache nodes receive a data read request”, Liu):
receive a first data request from a user device, the first data request comprising a request for first data stored in the backend database (fig. 1, pars. 34 and 38, cache node receive a data read request, Liu):
Liu further teaches that a non-designated computing system (cache node) retrieves the first data in any existing cache node (par. 76, “cache node can query the data amount of the target data in the local or distributed storage system of the cache node”, Liu), but Liu does not explicitly teach “determine whether the first data is stored in a first cache at the non-designated computing system”.
However, Doshi teaches “determine whether the first data is stored in a first storage (figs. 1 and 2, items 110 (Requestor), 220 and 230 (Storages), 201 (request for object), par. 43, “a request 201 for an object is sent to a local storage tier 220 by requestor 210, which misses in local storage tier 220”, the miss determines whether the first data is stored, Doshi). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the effective filing date to integrate Doshi storage request handling (fig. 2) into Liu Distributed Storage system Cache Node architecture (fig. 1, Liu). One would have been motivated to integrate Doshi to Liu system to improve Liu searching of requested data and migration using data popularity (pars. 74 and 77, trigger migration based and data popularity, Liu). One would have been motivated to integrate Lie and Doshi based on distance from the requestor to the storage (fig. 1 and 2, par. 41, based on “threshold distance and/or a threshold number of network hops away from the requestor, Doshi).
Modified Liu in view of Doshi teach,
wherein each computing system from the plurality of computing systems includes respective selection module configured to select one computing system from the plurality of computing systems as a designated computing system based at least in part on a respective geographic location of each computing system from the plurality of computing systems relative to other computing systems from the plurality of computing systems (figs. 2 and 5, pars. 40-41 and 68, nodes in Tier 220 are local and nodes in tier 240 are remote based on location, and process 500 used for selection of specific storage tiers for caching, Doshi),
wherein one or more computing systems from plurality of computing systems not selected as the designated computing system are non-designated computing systems, (figs 2 and 5, par. 68 and 74, selection process to select specific storage tiers for caching objects, note that the selected tiers may be local tiers 220 and unselected may be nearby tiers 230 or remote tier 240, Doshi),
wherein a non-designated computing system from the non-designated computing systems is configured to ((fig. 1, “Cache Node”, see the top Cache Node, Liu in view of fig. 2, Doshi):
receive a first data request from a user device, the first data request comprising a request for first data stored in the backend database (fig. 1, pars. 34 and 38, cache node receive a data read request from a plurality of clients, Liu),
“determine whether the first data is stored in a first cache at the non-designated computing system” (fig. 2, item 201, cache storage is a miss, par. 41, Doshi);
Responsive to determining that the first data is not stored in the first cache, send a second data request to the designated computing system, the second data request comprising a request for the first data stored in the backend database (fig. 2, item 230, request is satisfied at nearby storage 230, Doshi);
receive the first data from the designated computing system (fig. 2, item 201’, response comprises the requested object, Doshi);
send the first data to the user device (fig. 2, item 201’ sent to Requestor 110, pars. 38 and 43, Doshi); and
store the first data in the first cache, and wherein the designated computing system is configured to (fig. 1, par. 34, “A plurality of distributed cache nodes communicate with the distributed file system to cache original data in a data storage unit inside the cache node, modified Liu):
determine whether the first data is stored in a second cache at the designated computing system (fig. 2, items 220, 230, 240, par. 43, storage misses in different storages, Doshi); and
responsive to determining that the first data is stored in the second cache, send the first data to the non-designated computing system (fig. 1 and 2, item S103, migration, see par. 76, “cache node can query the data amount of the target data in the local or distributed storage system of the cache node” and “pars. 74 and 77, trigger migration between any nodes, Liu).
2. Modified Liu in view of Doshi teach,
system of claim 1, wherein the non-designated computing system is further configured to (fig. 1, “Cache Node”, see the top Cache Node, Liu): receive a third data request from a second user device, the third data request comprising a request for second data stored in the backend database (fig. 1, pars. 34 and 38, cache node receive a data read request from a plurality of clients, Liu); determine that the second data is stored in the first cache (figs. 1 and 2, items 110 (Requestor), 220 (Storages), 202 (request for object), par. 43, Doshi) ; and based on determining that the second data is stored in the first cache: send the second data to the designated computing system; and send the second data to the second user device (fig. 1, par. 34, A plurality of distributed cache nodes communicate with the distributed file system to cache original data in a data storage unit inside the cache node, modified Liu, Note that Liu in view of Doshi teach querying all of the storage nodes and migrating between any combination of the nodes in the distributed system).
3. Modified Liu in view of Doshi teach,
the system of claim 1, wherein: the non-designated computing system is further configured to (fig. 1, “Cache Node”, see the top Cache Node, Liu): receive a third data request from a second user device, the third data request comprising a request for second data stored in the backend database (fig. 1, pars. 34 and 38, cache node receive a data read request from a plurality of clients, Liu); determine that the second data is not stored in the first cache (fig. 2, item 201, cache storage is a miss, par. 41, note plurality of clients, Doshi); based on determining that the second data is not stored in the first cache, send a fourth data request to the designated computing system, the fourth data request comprising a request for the second data stored in the backend database (fig. 2, item 230, request is satisfied at nearby storage 230, Doshi); and receive the second data from the designated computing system and the designated computing system is further configured to (fig. 2, item 201’, response comprises the requested object, Doshi):
determine that the second data is not stored in the second cache (fig. 2, not in Storage Node 230, Doshi); based on determining that the second data is not stored in the second cache, send a fifth data request to a backend database server associated with the backend database, the fifth data request comprising a request for the second data stored in the backend database (fig. 1, par. 34, A plurality of distributed cache nodes communicate with the distributed file system to cache original data in a data storage unit inside the cache node, modified Liu, Note that Liu in view of Doshi teach querying all of the storage nodes and migrating between any combination of the nodes in the distributed system); receive the second data from the backend database server and send the second data to the non-designated computing system (fig. 1, par. 34, A plurality of distributed cache nodes communicate with the distributed file system to cache original data in a data storage unit inside the cache node, migrating between any combination of the nodes in the distributed system or providing response to user/requester see figs. 1 and 2, Liu as modified).
4. Modified Liu in view of Doshi teach,
The system of claim 3, wherein: the non-designated computing system is further configured to store the second data in the first cache (fig. 1, pars. 34 and 38, data is stored in any cache node over the distributed cache nodes, Liu); and the designated computing system is further configured to store the second data in the second cache (fig. 1, pars. 34 and 38, data is stored in any cache node over the distributed cache nodes comprising first cache node and second cache node, Liu);
5. Modified Liu in view of Doshi teach,
the system of claim 1, wherein the designated computing system is configured to: receive a third data request from a second user device, the third data request comprising a request for second data stored in the backend database, determine that the second data is not stored in the second cache, based on determining that the second data is not stored in the second cache: send a fourth data request to a backend database server associated with the backend database, the fourth data request comprising a request for the second data stored in the backend database, receive the second data from the backend database server, and store the second data in the second cache, and send the second data to the second user device (similar functionality to claimed subject matter of claims 3-4 above, fig. 1, pars. 34 and 38, cache node receive a data read request from a plurality of clients, Liu, fig. 2, item 201, cache storage is a miss, par. 41, note plurality of clients is supported, Doshi, further in view of Liu fig. 1 cache storages communicate and migrate/store any data between any cache nodes, wherein Doshi teaches in fig. 2 any combination of direct storage nodes being searched/accessed or going sequentially until a hit is made and returning the desired result set/object, see pars. 43 and 49, Doshi).
6. Modified Liu in view of Doshi teach,
The system of claim 1, wherein the designated computing system is further configured to: receive a third data request from a second user device, the third data request comprising a request for second data stored in the backend database; determine that the second data is stored in the second cache; and based on determining that the second data is stored in the second cache, send the second data to the second user device (similar functionality to claimed subject matter of claims 2-4 above, fig. 1, pars. 34 and 38, cache node receive a data read request from a plurality of clients, Liu, fig. 2, item 201, cache storage is not a miss, par. 41 and 43, note plurality of clients is supported, Doshi, further in view of Liu fig. 1 cache storages communicate and migrate/store any data between any cache nodes, wherein Doshi teaches in fig. 2 any combination of direct storage nodes being searched/accessed or going sequentially until a hit is made and returning the desired result set/object, see pars. 43 and 49, Doshi).
7. Modified Liu in view of Doshi teach,
The system of claim 6, wherein the designated computing system is further configured to refresh a status of the second data in the second cache (par. 40, data is periodically checked and updated to hot data or cold data, Liu).
8. Modified Liu in view of Doshi teach,
The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of communicatively-coupled computing systems are geographically located within a same metropolitan area (fig. 1, pars. 40-41, all Nodes are within threshold distance, Doshi).
9. Modified Liu in view of Doshi teach,
The system of claim 1, wherein each computing system of the plurality of computing systems comprises one or more of: a physical computing resource; a virtual computing resource; or a data center, the data center comprising a plurality of computing resources (fig. 1, Distributed Storage system of Liu and fig. 1, cloud 140, par. 1 data centers, Doshi).
10. Modified Liu in view of Doshi teach,
The system of claim 1, wherein each computing system of the plurality of computing systems comprises a selection module configured to collectively select a first computing system of the plurality of computing systems as the designated computing system (fig. 5, par. 68, selection process to select specific storage tiers for caching objects, Doshi).
Regarding method claims 12-17 and 19, they comprise substantially the same subject matter as rejected system claims 2-10 above and are therefore rejected on the merits.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 12/31/25 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Please see response below:
Applicant alleges that the prior art does not teach “computing systems geographically located within a same metropolitan area… select… computing systems as a designated computing system based at least in part on a respective geographic location”.
Examiner disagrees.
The relevant portion of the office action reads,
“Modified Liu in view of Doshi teach,
wherein each computing system from the plurality of computing systems includes respective selection module configured to select one computing system from the plurality of computing systems as a designated computing system based at least in part on a respective geographic location of each computing system from the plurality of computing systems relative to other computing systems from the plurality of computing systems (figs. 2 and 5, pars. 40-41 and 68, nodes in Tier 220 are local and nodes in tier 240 are remote based on location, and process 500 used for selection of specific storage tiers for caching, Doshi),
wherein one or more computing systems from plurality of computing systems not selected as the designated computing system are non-designated computing systems, (figs 2 and 5, par. 68 and 74, selection process to select specific storage tiers for caching objects, note that the selected tiers may be local tiers 220 and unselected may be nearby tiers 230 or remote tier 240, Doshi)”.
Liu in view of Doshi teach a plurality of distributed storage tiers within different distance/location proximity from client systems comprising local Tier 220, nearby Tier 230 and remote/cloud Tier 240 (Doshi, fig. 2). Local storage Tier 220 at least comprises a plurality of storages considered local to the client (par. 38, Doshi). The local storages are at least within the same metro location, still in one example, the nearby storages can also be considered within the same metro location.
Process 500 further clearly teaches selecting specific storage tiers for caching and prioritizing local storage tiers for caching as preference for different storage tiers (see figs. 2 and 5 and par. 62, Doshi). Caching is considered based on “figure of merit” (par. 44, Doshi). Doshi specifically teaches selecting storage tiers based on distance location to switch from storage tiers (par. 77, Doshi). Since local storage tiers are based on location it is believed that the allegation is moot. If applicant believes his storage systems, cache or metropolitan area carry more weight he is invited to claim more details and further define the believed novel concepts. However, Liu in view of Doshi are shown to select storage devices for caching based on location as part of the criteria (par. 77, Doshi). As such, all allegations are believed moot.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MARCIN R FILIPCZYK whose telephone number is (571)272-4019. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 7-4 EST.
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April 13, 2026
/MARCIN R FILIPCZYK/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2153
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