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 1-20 are now pending in the application under prosecution and have been examined.
The specification has not been checked to the extent necessary to determine the presence of all possible minor errors.
The specification should be amended to reflect the status of all related application, whether patented or abandoned. Therefore, applications noted by their serial number and/or attorney docket number should be updated with correct serial number and patent number if patented.
The first instance of all acronyms or abbreviation should be spelled out for clarity, whether or not considered well known in the art.
In the response to this Office action, the Examiner respectfully requests that support be shown for language added to any original claims on amendment and any new claims. That is, indicate support for newly added claim language by specifically pointing to page(s) and line numbers in the specification and/or drawing figure(s). This will assist the Examiner in prosecuting this application.
Examiner cites particular columns and line numbers in the references as applied to the claims below for the convenience of the applicant. Although the specified citations are representative of the teachings in the art and are applied to the specific limitations within the individual claim, other passages and figures may apply as well. It is respectfully requested that, in preparing responses, the applicant fully consider the references in 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.
37 C.F.R. § 1.83(a) requires the Drawings to illustrate or show all claimed features.
Applicant must clearly point out the patentable novelty that they think the claims present, in view of the state of the art disclosed by the references cited or the objections made, and must also explain how the amendments avoid the references or objections. See 37 C.F.R. § 1.111(c).
Double Patenting
The nonstatutory double patenting rejection is based on a judicially created doctrine grounded in public policy (a policy reflected in the statute) so as to prevent the unjustified or improper timewise extension of the “right to exclude” granted by a patent and to prevent possible harassment by multiple assignees. A nonstatutory double patenting rejection is appropriate where the claims at issue are not identical, but at least one examined application claim is not patentably distinct from the reference claim(s) because the examined application claim is either anticipated by, or would have been obvious over, the reference claim(s). See, e.g., In re Berg, 140 F.3d 1428, 46 USPQ2d 1226 (Fed. Cir. 1998); In re Goodman, 11 F.3d 1046, 29 USPQ2d 2010 (Fed. Cir. 1993); In re Longi, 759 F.2d 887, 225 USPQ 645 (Fed. Cir. 1985); In re Van Ornum, 686 F.2d 937, 214 USPQ 761 (CCPA 1982); In re Vogel, 422 F.2d 438, 164 USPQ 619 (CCPA 1970); and In re Thorington, 418 F.2d 528, 163 USPQ 644 (CCPA 1969).
A timely filed terminal disclaimer in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(c) or 1.321(d) may be used to overcome an actual or provisional rejection based on a nonstatutory double patenting ground provided the reference application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with this application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement. A terminal disclaimer must be signed in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(b).
The USPTO internet Web site contains terminal disclaimer forms which may be used. Please visit http://www.uspto.gov/forms/. The filing date of the application will determine what form should be used. A web-based eTerminal Disclaimer may be filled out completely online using web-screens. An eTerminal Disclaimer that meets all requirements is auto-processed and approved immediately upon submission. For more information about eTerminal Disclaimers, refer to http://www.uspto.gov/patents/process/file/efs/guidance/eTD-info-I.jsp.
Claims 1-20 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1-20 of U.S. Patent No. 12,216,582. Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because:
Claim 1 (Application)
Claim 1 (US Patent 12,216,582)
A method comprising:
identifying a first hash map and a second hash map, wherein the first hash map comprises a first set of index values corresponding to a first set of data values and a first set of hash values corresponding to the first set of data values, and wherein the second hash map includes a second set of index values corresponding to a second set of data values and a second set of hash values corresponding to the second set of data values;
comparing a first hash value from the first hash map with a second hash value from the second hash map;
identifying a lowest hash value between the first hash value and the second hash value based on the comparison;
storing the lowest hash value and its corresponding index value and data value in a combined hash map;
repeating the comparing, identifying the lowest hash value, and storing for both the first set of hash values and the second set of hash values, until the hash values from both the first set of hash values and the second set of hash values are stored in the combined hash map;
receiving a query; and
returning a result to the query, wherein the query was processed based on the combined hash map.
A method comprising:
identifying a first hash map and a second hash map, wherein the first hash map comprises a first set of index values corresponding to a first set of data values and a first set of hash values corresponding to the first set of data values, and wherein the second hash map includes a second set of index values corresponding to a second set of data values and a second set of hash values corresponding to the second set of data values;
comparing a first hash value from the first hash map, with a lowest index value of the first set of index values, with a second hash value from the second hash map, with a lowest index value of the second set of index values;
identifying a lowest hash value between the first hash value and the second hash value based on the comparison;
storing the lowest hash value and its corresponding index value and data value in a combined hash map;
repeating the comparing, identifying the lowest hash value, and storing for both the first set of hash values and the second set of hash values, until all of the hash values from both the first set of hash values and the second set of hash values are stored in the combined hash map;
receiving a query comprising one of a query data value or a query index value; and
returning a result to the query, wherein the query was processed based on the combined hash map.
(a) in the step of “comparing …”of the Patent 12,216,582, the feature “with a lowest index value of the first set of index values” is inherently featured in “the first hash map”, and “with a lowest index value of the second set of index values” is inherently featured in “the second hash map; as needed for the next feature “identifying …”; and
(b) the comparison follows the next feature, in both the patent and the application, which is: “identifying a lowest hash value between the first hash value and the second hash value based on the comparison”
As such Claim 1 of US Patent 12,216,582 anticipate claim 1 of the instant application.
Independent Claims 8 and 15 of US Patent 12,216,582, repeating the features of claim
1, as illustrated, correspondingly anticipate independent claims 8 and 15 respectively, of the instant application.
Dependent claims 2-7, 9-14, and 16-20 of US Patent 12,216,582 recite features either verbatim or corresponding in scope to features of Claims 2-7, 9-14, and 16-20 of the instant application, therefore, anticipate claims 2-7, 9-14, and 16-20 of the instant application.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
US 20170270119 A1 (KFIR et al) teaching systems and methods for distributively storing and accessing data across multiple optimized hash tables, such that a key associated with a value is split into two or more sub-keys and the sub-keys are inserted into respective hash tables with associated values.
US 20160154839 A1 (BEZAWADA et al) teaching method comprising receiving a first user hash value associated with data of a first user of a deduplication system, and comparing the first user hash value with each of a plurality of hash values stored in a first user hash store of the deduplication system, where: when it is determined that the first user hash value does not match one of the plurality of hash values stored in the first user hash store, first user hash value may be compared to each of a plurality of hash values stored in a global user hash store of the deduplication system associated with a plurality of users.
GB 2606526 A (ALEXANDRU et al) teaching computer-implemented method of generating a blockchain transaction, the transaction being for transferring an amount of a digital asset from a first party to one of a plurality of second parties, wherein a first blockchain transaction comprises a first locking script comprising a first shared hash value, the first shared hash value being generated by applying a first hash function to a second shared hash value, wherein the second shared hash value is generated by applying a second hash function to a combination of the respective public keys.
B. A. Jantkal and S. L. Deshpande, "Hybridization of B-tree and HashMap for optimized search engine indexing," 2017 International Conference On Smart Technologies For Smart Nation (SmartTechCon), Bengaluru, India, 2017, pp. 401-404.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to PIERRE MICHEL BATAILLE whose telephone number is (571)272-4178. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Thursday 7-6 ET.
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/PIERRE MICHEL BATAILLE/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2136