DETAILED ACTION
Status of Application
Claims 1-24 are pending in the present application.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 12/15/2025 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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 .
Claim Objections
Claim 23 is objected to because of the following informalities: Claim 23 is missing a period. Appropriate correction is required.
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) 1-3 and 11-12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Minoo et al (hereinafter Minoo), US 20090061678 A1, in view of Chen et al (hereinafter Chen), US 20150326039 A1, in view of Paul et al (hereinafter Paul), US 20140032791 A1.
Referring to claim 1, Minoo discloses a cable [figs. 1, 3] comprising:
a microcontroller [fig. 2, element 210; paragraph 20];
a storage device coupled to the microcontroller [paragraph 23, micro-controller 210…may internally save that information in a register];
a first end to be coupled to one or more peripherals [fig. 3, end 120 coupled to element(s) 320]; and
a second end to be coupled to a media device [fig. 3, end 112/110 coupled to element 310];
wherein the microcontroller is to receive sideband signals from the one or more peripherals [paragraph 25, “According to this embodiment, micro-controller 210 can test whether a connection is made at the accessory end via any one or more of cables 140. This can be done, for example, by micro-controller 210 applying one or more test signals to pre-determined contact pins 112 that are designated to carry specific signal types when connected by cable apparatus 100 to one or more accessory devices 320. In an alternative embodiment, micro-controller 210 can apply the test signals directly to pre-determined wires in cable 130 via bus 260 (see FIG. 2). Based on the signal(s) returned to micro-controller 210 in response to the test signal(s), the micro-controller can determine how many and which connector end(s) 120 are in fact connected to an accessory. This will enable micro-controller 210 to identify the type of cable being used”], and to transmit connection topology information to the media device based at least in part on the sideband signals [paragraphs 25-26, “Based on the signal(s) returned to micro-controller 210 in response to the test signal(s), the micro-controller can determine how many and which connector end(s) 120 are in fact connected to an accessory. This will enable micro-controller 210 to identify the type of cable being used”; “Once the type of cable is determined (and, in some embodiments, after the cable is authenticated), micro-controller 210 can transmit the cable preferences for that particular cable type to the media device”].
Minoo does not explicitly disclose power conditioning circuitry to regulate an input voltage from a power supply and provide an output voltage to the microcontroller.
However, Chen discloses power conditioning circuitry to regulate an input voltage from a power supply and provide an output voltage to the microcontroller [fig. 1, see cable; paragraph 19, the power delivery controller 200 is applied to a universal serial bus (USB) cable; the power delivery controller 200 includes a detection unit 202, a regulation unit 204, and a control unit 206, wherein the regulation unit 204 is coupled to the detection unit 202 and an external power source, and the control unit 206 is coupled to the regulation unit 204, and the detection unit 202 has a detection pin 2022; the detection unit 202 can turn on the regulation unit 204 through an enable pin EP to make the regulation unit 204 generate an internal voltage VD (e.g. 5V DC voltage) to the control unit 206 according to the external power source. After the control unit 206 receives the internal voltage VD].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize the teachings of Chen in the cable of Minoo to implement, power conditioning circuitry to regulate an input voltage from a power supply and provide an output voltage to the microcontroller, in order to save more power than the prior art [Chen, paragraph 9].
The modified Minoo discloses peripherals but does not explicitly disclose one or more storage drives; and
a storage controller.
However, Paul discloses one or more storage drives [paragraph 12, fig. 1, see backplane end of cable 104 connected to one or more storage drives 110, 108]; and
a storage controller [paragraph 12, fig. 1, see storage controller end of cable 104 connected to storage controller 134].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize the teachings of Paul in the cable of the modified Minoo to implement, one or more storage drives; and a storage controller, in order to detect the presence of a drive and whether there is a misconfiguration [Paul, Abstract].
Referring to claim 2, the modified Minoo discloses the cable of claim 1, wherein the connection topology information includes at least one of a maximum number of storage drives that may be coupled to the first end, and a number of electrical links supported for the respective storage drives [Minoo, paragraph 25, “the micro-controller can determine how many and which connector end(s) 120 are in fact connected to an accessory. This will enable micro-controller 210 to identify the type of cable being used”; “It is also possible for micro-controller 210 to determine an erroneous connection (e.g., when only one of the three component connector ends is connected) and signal media device 310 to indicate the erroneous connection on its display. Accordingly, in this embodiment, the cable type is determined by the connection it is providing and therefore can vary from one application to the next”].
Referring to claim 3, the modified Minoo discloses the cable of claim 2, wherein the maximum number of storage drives that may be coupled to the first end is eight storage drives [Minoo, fig. 2, paragraphs 17-18, “one or more connector ends 120”].
Referring to claim 11, the modified Minoo discloses the cable of claim 1, wherein the power conditioning circuitry provides an output voltage to at least one of the one or more storage drives [Chen, fig. 1, see cable; paragraphs 19, 21, the power delivery controller 200 is applied to a universal serial bus (USB) cable; the power delivery controller 200 includes a detection unit 202, a regulation unit 204, and a control unit 206, wherein the regulation unit 204 is coupled to the detection unit 202 and an external power source, and the control unit 206 is coupled to the regulation unit 204, and the detection unit 202 has a detection pin 2022; the detection unit 202 can turn on the regulation unit 204 through an enable pin EP to make the regulation unit 204 generate an internal voltage VD (e.g. 5V DC voltage) to the control unit 206 according to the external power source. After the control unit 206 receives the internal voltage VD, the control unit 206 is turned on, and the control unit 206 can control the power source unit 1302 of the power delivery provider 130 to charge the power delivery consumer device 120 according to a power delivery protocol”; Paul, fig. 1, storage drives] and the storage controller.
Referring to claim 12, the modified Minoo discloses the cable of claim 1, wherein the microcontroller is disposed within a shell of a plug connector of the cable [Minoo, fig. 1, see 110].
Claim(s) 5-6 and 9-10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Minoo, in view of Chen, in view of Paul, as applied to claims 1 and 2 above, and further in view of Mondal et al (hereinafter Mondal), US 20180260349 A1.
Referring to claim 5, the modified Minoo does not explicitly disclose the cable of claim 2, wherein the connection topology information includes one or more drive types for the respective one or more storage drives coupled to the first end.
However, Mondal discloses wherein the connection topology information includes one or more drive types for the respective one or more storage drives coupled to the first end [Abstract, fig. 1, paragraphs 65, 67, “In operation, the controller receives a voltage from each of the N analog pins, and determines the drive type of each of the two of the 2*N storage drives based on the voltage received from each of the N analog pins”].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize the teachings of Mondal in the cable of the modified Minoo to implement, wherein the connection topology information includes one or more drive types for the respective one or more storage drives coupled to the first end, in order to efficiently manage drives with a limited number of pins on the controller [Mondal, paragraph 41].
Referring to claim 6, the modified Minoo discloses the cable of claim 5, wherein the one or more drive types include a nonvolatile memory express (NVMe) protocol, a serial AT attachment (SATA) protocol, and a serial attached small computer systems interface (SAS) protocol [Mondal, Abstract, paragraph 9].
Referring to claim 9, the modified Minoo does not explicitly disclose the cable of claim 1, further comprising one or more indicators to indicate a connection between the one or more storage drives and the storage controller.
However, Mondal discloses one or more indicators to indicate a connection between the one or more storage drives and the storage controller [paragraph 52].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize the teachings of Mondal in the cable of the modified Minoo to implement, one or more indicators to indicate a connection between the one or more storage drives and the storage controller, in order to efficiently manage drives with a limited number of pins on the controller [Mondal, paragraph 41].
Referring to claim 10, the modified Minoo discloses the cable of claim 9, wherein the one or more indicators are light emitting diodes (LEDs) [Mondal, paragraph 52].
Claim(s) 8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Minoo, in view of Chen, in view of Paul, as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Liao et al (hereinafter Liao), US 20240393948 A1.
Referring to claim 8, the modified Minoo does not explicitly disclose the cable of claim 1, wherein the microcontroller is to communicate with the storage controller via a Universal Backplane Management protocol.
However, Liao discloses wherein the microcontroller [fig. 1, element 110] is to communicate with the storage controller [fig. 1, element 104] via a Universal Backplane Management protocol [paragraph 20, “UBM protocol”].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize the teachings of Liao in the cable of the modified Minoo to implement, wherein the microcontroller is to communicate with the storage controller via a Universal Backplane Management protocol, in order to provide enhanced signal integrity between storage components in a backplane while avoiding the disadvantages of prior designs [Liao, paragraph 13].
Claim(s) 13-15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Minoo et al (hereinafter Minoo), US 20090061678 A1, in view of Paul et al (hereinafter Paul), US 20140032791 A1.
Referring to claim 13, Minoo discloses a method comprising:
transmitting and receiving sideband signals to and from one or more peripherals [paragraph 25, “According to this embodiment, micro-controller 210 can test whether a connection is made at the accessory end via any one or more of cables 140. This can be done, for example, by micro-controller 210 applying one or more test signals to pre-determined contact pins 112 that are designated to carry specific signal types when connected by cable apparatus 100 to one or more accessory devices 320. In an alternative embodiment, micro-controller 210 can apply the test signals directly to pre-determined wires in cable 130 via bus 260 (see FIG. 2). Based on the signal(s) returned to micro-controller 210 in response to the test signal(s), the micro-controller can determine how many and which connector end(s) 120 are in fact connected to an accessory. This will enable micro-controller 210 to identify the type of cable being used”] that are coupled to a first end of a cable [figs. 1, 3; see peripheral(s) side of cable]; and
transmitting connection topology information to a media device [paragraphs 25-26, “Based on the signal(s) returned to micro-controller 210 in response to the test signal(s), the micro-controller can determine how many and which connector end(s) 120 are in fact connected to an accessory. This will enable micro-controller 210 to identify the type of cable being used”; “Once the type of cable is determined (and, in some embodiments, after the cable is authenticated), micro-controller 210 can transmit the cable preferences for that particular cable type to the media device”] that is coupled to a second end of the cable [fig. 3, see media device end of cable] to enable communication between the one or more peripherals and the media device [paragraph 28, communication via the cable apparatus may be authorized].
Minoo discloses peripherals but does not explicitly disclose one or more storage drives; and
a storage controller.
However, Paul discloses one or more storage drives [paragraph 12, fig. 1, see backplane end of cable 104 connected to one or more storage drives 110, 108]; and
a storage controller [paragraph 12, fig. 1, see storage controller end of cable 104 connected to storage controller 134].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize the teachings of Paul in the method of Minoo to implement, one or more storage drives; and a storage controller, in order to detect the presence of a drive and whether there is a misconfiguration [Paul, Abstract].
Referring to claim 14, the modified Minoo discloses the method of claim 13, wherein the connection topology information includes at least one of a maximum number of storage drives that may be coupled to the first end, and a number of electrical links supported for the respective storage drives [Minoo, paragraph 25, “the micro-controller can determine how many and which connector end(s) 120 are in fact connected to an accessory. This will enable micro-controller 210 to identify the type of cable being used”; “It is also possible for micro-controller 210 to determine an erroneous connection (e.g., when only one of the three component connector ends is connected) and signal media device 310 to indicate the erroneous connection on its display. Accordingly, in this embodiment, the cable type is determined by the connection it is providing and therefore can vary from one application to the next”].
Referring to claim 15, the modified Minoo discloses the method of claim 14, wherein the maximum number of storage drives that may be coupled to the first end is eight storage drives [Minoo, fig. 2, paragraphs 17-18, “one or more connector ends 120”].
Claim(s) 18-19 and 21-22 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Minoo, in view of Paul, as applied to claim 13 above, and further in view of Mondal et al (hereinafter Mondal), US 20180260349 A1.
Referring to claim 18, the modified Minoo does not explicitly disclose the method of claim 13, wherein the connection topology information includes one or more drive types for the respective one or more storage drives coupled to the first end.
However, Mondal discloses wherein the connection topology information includes one or more drive types for the respective one or more storage drives coupled to the first end [Abstract, fig. 1, paragraphs 65, 67, “In operation, the controller receives a voltage from each of the N analog pins, and determines the drive type of each of the two of the 2*N storage drives based on the voltage received from each of the N analog pins”].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize the teachings of Mondal in the method of the modified Minoo to implement, wherein the connection topology information includes one or more drive types for the respective one or more storage drives coupled to the first end, in order to efficiently manage drives with a limited number of pins on the controller [Mondal, paragraph 41].
Referring to claim 19, the modified Minoo discloses the method of claim 18, wherein the one or more drive types include a nonvolatile memory express (NVMe) protocol, a serial AT attachment (SATA) protocol, and a serial attached small computer systems interface (SAS) protocol [Mondal, paragraph 9].
Referring to claim 21, the modified Minoo does not explicitly disclose the method of claim 13, further comprising indicating a connection between the one or more storage drives and the storage controller.
However, Mondal discloses indicating a connection between the one or more storage drives and the storage controller [paragraph 52].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize the teachings of Mondal in the method of the modified Minoo to implement, indicating a connection between the one or more storage drives and the storage controller, in order to efficiently manage drives with a limited number of pins on the controller [Mondal, paragraph 41].
Referring to claim 22, the modified Minoo discloses the method of claim 21, wherein one or more light emitting diodes (LEDs) are used to indicate the connection between the one or more storage drives and the storage controller [Mondal, paragraph 52].
Claim(s) 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Minoo, in view of Paul, as applied to claim 13 above, and further in view of Liao et al (hereinafter Liao), US 20240393948 A1.
Referring to claim 20, the modified Minoo does not explicitly disclose the method of claim 13, wherein the communication between the one or more storage drives and the storage controller is via a Universal Backplane Management protocol.
However, Liao discloses wherein the communication between the one or more storage drives and the storage controller is via a Universal Backplane Management protocol [fig. 1, element 104] via a Universal Backplane Management protocol [paragraph 20, “UBM protocol”].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize the teachings of Liao in the method of the modified Minoo to implement, wherein the communication between the one or more storage drives and the storage controller is via a Universal Backplane Management protocol, in order to provide enhanced signal integrity between storage components in a backplane while avoiding the disadvantages of prior designs [Liao, paragraph 13].
Claim(s) 23-24 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Minoo, in view of Paul, as applied to claim 13 above, and further in view of Chen et al (hereinafter Chen), US 20150326039 A1.
Referring to claim 23, the modified Minoo does not explicitly disclose the method of claim 13, further comprising:
regulating an input voltage from a power supply to generate an output voltage; providing the output voltage to a microcontroller.
However, Chen discloses regulating an input voltage from a power supply to generate an output voltage; providing the output voltage to a microcontroller [fig. 1, see cable; paragraph 19, the power delivery controller 200 is applied to a universal serial bus (USB) cable; the power delivery controller 200 includes a detection unit 202, a regulation unit 204, and a control unit 206, wherein the regulation unit 204 is coupled to the detection unit 202 and an external power source, and the control unit 206 is coupled to the regulation unit 204, and the detection unit 202 has a detection pin 2022; the detection unit 202 can turn on the regulation unit 204 through an enable pin EP to make the regulation unit 204 generate an internal voltage VD (e.g. 5V DC voltage) to the control unit 206 according to the external power source. After the control unit 206 receives the internal voltage VD].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize the teachings of Chen in the method of the modified Minoo to implement, regulating an input voltage from a power supply to generate an output voltage; providing the output voltage to a microcontroller, in order to save more power than the prior art [Chen, paragraph 9].
Referring to claim 24, the modified Minoo discloses the method of claim 23, further comprising:
providing the output voltage to at least one of the one or more storage drives [Chen, fig. 1, see cable; paragraphs 19, 21, the power delivery controller 200 is applied to a universal serial bus (USB) cable; the power delivery controller 200 includes a detection unit 202, a regulation unit 204, and a control unit 206, wherein the regulation unit 204 is coupled to the detection unit 202 and an external power source, and the control unit 206 is coupled to the regulation unit 204, and the detection unit 202 has a detection pin 2022; the detection unit 202 can turn on the regulation unit 204 through an enable pin EP to make the regulation unit 204 generate an internal voltage VD (e.g. 5V DC voltage) to the control unit 206 according to the external power source. After the control unit 206 receives the internal voltage VD, the control unit 206 is turned on, and the control unit 206 can control the power source unit 1302 of the power delivery provider 130 to charge the power delivery consumer device 120 according to a power delivery protocol”; Paul, fig. 1, storage drives] and the storage controller.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4, 7, and 16-17 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.
The prior art of record taken alone or in combination fails to teach and/or fairly suggest wherein at least one of the maximum number of storage drives that may be coupled to the first end, and the number of electrical links supported for the respective storage drives are stored in the storage device, in combination with other recited limitations in claim 4.
The prior art of record taken alone or in combination fails to teach and/or fairly suggest wherein the number of electrical links supported for the respective storage drives includes information indicating that four electrical links are used per storage drive for storage drives using the NVMe protocol, one electrical link is used per storage drive for storage drives using the SATA protocol, and one or two electrical links are used per
storage drive for storage drives using the SAS protocol, in combination with other recited limitations in claim 7.
The prior art of record taken alone or in combination fails to teach and/or fairly suggest wherein at least one of the maximum number of storage drives that may be coupled to the first end, and the number of electrical links supported for the respective storage drives are stored in the storage device, in combination with other recited limitations in claim 16.
Claim 17 is objected to by virtue of its dependency.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Le et al, US 20200328676 A1, discloses the cable is therefore “smart” because it can deliver power as well as convert and regulate power [paragraph 87].
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to FARLEY J ABAD whose telephone number is (571)270-3425. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 8:30 AM - 7 PM.
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/Farley Abad/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2181