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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see pages 2-3 of the remarks, filed 3/30/2026, with respect to the prior art not teachings the limitation of intercept VSS freeze and thaw events to control when to pause and resume tracking changes to the virtual hard disk file, has been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of Atkisson (US 2012/0198175).
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.
Claim(s) 1-17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Austruy (US 2009/0240904) in view of Chopra (US 11,099,946) and Atkisson (US 2012/0198175).
In regards to claims 1 and 10, Austruy teaches
one or more devices comprising one or more processors, wherein the one or more processors are configured to: (fig. 1 CPU(s) 110)
receive a first write operation generated by a virtual machine to store data in a first sector, (¶16 and fig. 1 teaches the VM or application within a VM can modify (i.e. write) data to the virtual disk 101, i.e. to a first location/block/sector)
wherein the virtual machine (VM) is executed using a hypervisor and comprises a virtual hard disk file; (¶28 and fig. 1 shows virtual machine monitor (i.e. hypervisor) implements virtual machine 103, which comprises virtual disk 101)
determine an identity of the first sector based on the first write operation; (¶16 teaches that a bitmap can keep track of which blocks have been written (i.e. the block/sector can be determined/identified/located)
record that data in the first sector has changed; (¶16 teaches that a modification bitmap can keep track of which blocks have been written (i.e. record which blocks/sectors have been changed/modified)
receive an instruction to execute an incremental backup operation of the virtual machine, (¶17 teaches the user can perform an incremental backup of the virtual disk)
in response to receiving the instruction to execute the incremental backup operation:
performing the incremental backup operation as a snapshot operation using a volume snapshot service (¶17 teaches the user can perform an incremental backup of the virtual disk and this causes the system to perform the synchronization operation by using synchronization component 107 of the virtualization component 108 (i.e. a volume snapshot service). The synchronization operation is further described in ¶23-25 where the modified blocks (identified by the modification bitmap) are copied to the target copy of the virtual disk (i.e. the backup)
Austruy may not explicitly teach
intercept VSS freeze and thaw events to control when to pause and resume tracking changes to the virtual hard disk file,
wherein the instruction to execute the incremental backup operation was initiated according to a schedule specified in an information management policy assigned to the virtual machine, wherein the information management policy comprises a set of parameters for performing backup operations on data assigned to the information management policy;
upon completion of the incremental backup operation of the VM, generate a change block data structure to track disk changes made after the incremental backup operation was initiated.
However, Chopra teaches at least C3:31-61 a backup agent 120 may perform backup operations, such as incremental backups according to backup schedule information (i.e. according to a schedule). The backup schedule, configuration information, and/or other backup-related information (i.e. collectively an information management policy) is stored in the backup data repository and is used by the backup server to direct the backup agent. Fig. 5 and C7:12-39 and also C3:1-24 shows that the tracked blocks changed 540 are tracked are in relation to the last backup operation.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have incorporated the teachings of Chopra to modify the system of Austruy in order to perform incremental backups according to a schedule which is part of a backup configuration information (i.e. an information management policy) associated with the system and/or virtual machine, and to have include change block tracking (CBT) structures associated with each backup (full and incremental). The motivation for such modification is that these enhance the performance of the system by making periodic scheduled backups and tracking the changes made with each backup, and that one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective fillings date could have made these modifications and obtained predictable results.
the combination of Austruy and Chopra may not explicitly teach
intercept VSS freeze and thaw events to control when to pause and resume tracking changes to the virtual hard disk file,
However, Atkisson in ¶242 teaches that freeze/thaw commands can be intercepted such that storage access can be suspended (i.e. tracking is paused) while a snapshot is taking place, and once the snapshot is completed normal use of the storage can be resumed.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have incorporated the teachings of Atkisson to improve the system of Austruy and Chopra, such that the interception of freeze/thaw commands could be used to suspend/resume storage access. One of ordinary skill in the art could have implemented this modification with a high probability of success, and would have been motivated to make this modification to improve the integrity of the snapshots being made.
In regards to claims 2 and 11, Austruy further teaches and/or makes obvious
wherein the first write operation causes a request for a translation between a virtual location in the virtual hard disk file and a physical location in a local hard disk to perform where to write the data in the local hard disk. (¶32 teaches “Executable files will be accessed by the guest OS from virtual disk 101 or virtual memory 230, which will be portions of the actual physical disk 140 or memory 130 allocated to that virtual machine. Once an application is installed within the virtual machine, the guest OS retrieves files from the virtual disk just as if the files had been pre-stored as the result of a conventional installation of the application. The design and operation of virtual machines are well known in the field of computer science.”) As such, it is well known that virtual devices use virtual addresses that are then translated (either directly or via logical addresses) to then access physical addresses of real physical hardware to read/write data.
In regards to claims 3 and 13, Austruy further teaches and/or makes obvious
parse the change block data structure; identify each entry in the change block data structure that indicates that data in a sector associated with a respective entry has changed; for each identified entry, determine an associated sector and read data from the associated sector in the virtual hard disk file; and for each identified entry, include the read data in an incremental backup. (¶23 teaches that synchronization manager iterates (i.e. parses) over all the dirty blocks referenced by the modification bitmap (i.e. the change block structure) and copies blocks that were modified as part of the synchronization (incremental backup). Note that the changed blocks would need to be read and copied to the target copy of the virtual disk during synchronization as ¶15 teaches that the backup copy can be located on another hard disk or physical computer)
In regards to claims 4, and 14 Austruy further teaches and/or makes obvious
wherein the virtual hard disk file and the change block data structure are stored in a volume of the VM. (¶32 files will be accessed by the guest OS from virtual disk 101 or virtual memory 230, which will be portions of the actual physical disk 140 or memory 130 allocated to that virtual machine. Once an application is installed within the virtual machine, the guest OS retrieves files from the virtual disk just as if the files had been pre-stored as the result of a conventional installation of the application. The design and operation of virtual machines are well known in the field of computer science.) as such, files and associated data of a VM can be stored in a volume associated the VM. Furthermore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill to be able to store data in any location that is capable of storing data and achieve predictable results)
In regards to claims 5 and 12, Chopra further teaches and/or makes obvious
intercept an open operation generated by the VM to open the virtual hard disk file; and
initiating a monitoring operation of the virtual hard disk file in response to intercepting the open operation. (C6:20-40 teaches that driver 350 can allow for the functionality to intercept writes to a file (i.e. the opening of a file) and to initiate change block tracking/monitoring)
In regards to claim 6, Chopra further teaches and/or makes obvious
wherein the change block data structure is associated with a first period of time. (see fig. 5 and C7:12-39 each change block event can be associated with a timestamp (period of time)
In regards to claims 7 and 15, Austruy further teaches and/or makes obvious
wherein the one or more processors is further configured to store the change block data in the VM. (¶16 teaches the VMM/hypervisor may maintain the modification bitmap (change block data). ¶33 teaches that the VMM/hypervisor may be incorporated into a virtual machine)
In regards to claims 8 and 16, Austruy further teaches and/or makes obvious
determine, an identity of the first sector based on the first write operation; determine, an entry in a change block data structure that corresponds with the first sector; and modify, the entry in the change block data structure to indicate that data in the first sector has changed. (¶16 teaches that a modification bitmap can keep track of which blocks have been written (i.e. record which blocks/sectors have been changed/modified), as such the blocks/sectors can be identified and entries in the modification bitmap modified accordingly)
In regards to claims 9 and 17, Chopra further teaches and/or makes obvious
gather data for use in performance of a second incremental backup operation at a time after the incremental backup operation. (see fig. 5 and C7:12-39 each change block event can be associated with a timestamp (period of time), which occur after a first incremental backup and are then used to perform a second incremental backup.)
EXAMINER’S NOTE
Examiner has cited particular paragraphs, figures, and/or columns and line numbers in the references applied to the claims above for the convenience of the Applicants. Although the specified citations are representative of the teachings of the art and are applied to specific limitations within the individual claim, other passages and figures may apply as well. It is respectfully requested from the Applicants in preparing responses, to fully consider the references in their entirety as potentially teaching all or part of the claimed invention, as well as the context of the passage as taught by the prior art or disclosed by the Examiner.
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 JASON W BLUST whose telephone number is (571)272-6302. The examiner can normally be reached 12-8:30 EST.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Hosain Alam can be reached at (571) 272-3978. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/JASON W BLUST/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2132
Prosecution Insights