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 .
Specification
In view of Applicant’s amendment, the previous objection is withdrawn.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
In view of Applicant’s amendment, the previous 112b rejection is withdrawn.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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, 2, 6-8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Uchikawa et al. (U.S. Patent Application Publication 2006/0161755), hereinafter “Uchikawa”.
As per claim 1, Uchikawa discloses a data management method, adapted to a data management device (abstract), comprising: in response to a first data type of first data to be written into a memory medium, obtaining a space size of a first write space of the first data, wherein the memory medium is configured with a plurality of memory spaces, the memory spaces respectively correspond to a plurality of data types, the data types comprise the first data type, and the first data type corresponds to a first memory space among the memory spaces; determining whether the space size of the first write space of the first data is less than or equal to a total free space of the memory medium; in response to determining that the space size of the first write space of the first data is not less than or equal to the total free space of the memory medium, determining whether there is an excess data type among the data types, wherein a space size occupied by at least one second data belonging to the excess data type in the memory medium is greater than a pre-allocated memory space corresponding to the excess data type among the memory spaces; in response to determining that there is the excess data type, deleting a part of the at least one second data belonging to the excess data type, updating the total free space of the memory medium, and determining whether the space size of the first write space of the first data is less than or equal to the updated total free space; in response to determining that the space size of the first write space of the first data is less than or equal to the updated total free space, writing the first data into the memory medium; in response to determining that the space size of the first write space of the first data is not less than or equal to the updated total free space, deleting data belonging to the first data type until the space size of the first write space of the first data is less than or equal to the total free space of the memory medium, and writing the first data into the memory medium; and wherein the updated total free space is greater than the total free space before updating, wherein the part of the at least one second data belonging to the excess data type comprises at least one of oldest data, and unlocked data in the at least one second data, wherein after the step of determining whether there is the excess data type among the data types, the data management method further comprises: in response to determining that there is no excess data type, deleting data belonging to the first data type until the space size of the first write space of the first data is less than or equal to the total free space of the memory medium, and writing the first data into the memory medium, and wherein the excess data type is different from the first data type (Claim 1 is a method claim and the remaining limitations recited after the preamble in claim 1 are contingent limitations upon the condition precedent of a first data type of first data to be written into a memory medium. However, claim 1 does not positively recite that a first data type of first data to be written into a memory medium actually occurs. Therefore, the broadest reasonable interpretation (BRI) of claim 1 is that the contingent limitations in claim 1 are not required to be performed because the condition precedent is not required to occur. See MPEP 2111.04(II) CONTINGENT LIMITATIONS.).
As per claims 2 and 6-8, they are method claims and find condition precedent (as well as antecedent basis) in claim 1. Since all the contingent limitations in claim 1 are not required to be performed as discussed above, it follows that the BRI of claims 2 and 6-8 is that the limitations in those claims are also not required to be performed. Therefore, claims 2 and 6-8 are also disclosed by Uchikawa’s abstract.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1, 2, and 6-8 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 9 is allowed.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Arpan P. Savla whose telephone number is (571)272-1077. The examiner can normally be reached M-F, 10AM-6PM ET.
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/Arpan P. Savla/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2137
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