DETAILED ACTION
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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 12/05/2024 and 12/08/2025, are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are being considered by the examiner.
Claim Status
Claims 1-20 are pending
Claims 4, 6-7 and 14, 16-17 are objected to
Claims 1, 11 and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102
Claims 2, 3, 5, 8-10, 12, 13, 15 and 19-20 are rejected under 35 USC § 103
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 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.
Claims 1, 11 and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by ZHANG, LEI et al. (CN 117492907 A)[Zhang]
Regarding Claim 1, Zhang discloses:
monitoring, by the storage device, a migration queue associated with a migration process of a virtual machine that is associated with the storage device (Applicant did not provide any details about a migration queue. Examiner interprets it as the data remaining to be migrated. Zhang: abstract, claim 1: teaches a virtual machine migration method, belonging to the virtual machine migration technology, the method comprises: monitoring the current network state, wherein the network state comprises the network bandwidth and delay condition between the source host and the target host; according to the network state and the size of the data to be migrated, calculating the migration rate, and dynamically adjusting the migration rate according to the change condition of the bandwidth and the delay. So, monitoring the delay condition between the source host and the target host and monitoring the data still remaining to be migrated is similar to monitoring a migration queue associated with a migration process because a migration queue retains the data to be migrated.);
determining, by the storage device, a rate of migration based on the monitoring (Zhang: abstract, claim 1: teaches calculating the migration rate according to the monitored network state and the size of the data to be migrated);
applying, by the storage device and based on the rate of migration, a migration rate limit on a controller of the storage device (Zhang: abstract, claim 1: teaches dynamically adjusting the migration rate based on calculated migration rate, wherein migration rate is calculated based on the monitored network state and the size of the data to be migrated and assessed change condition of the bandwidth and the delay of the network).
Regarding claim 18, it is a computer-readable medium claim corresponding to the method claim 1 and is rejected for the same reason mutatis mutandis.
Regarding claim 11, Zhang discloses:
A device comprising:
at least one memory (Zhang: claim 7: teaches an electronic device comprising: a memory, a processor and a computer program stored on the memory and capable of running on the processor, when the processor executes the computer program, realizing the virtual machine migration method based on cloud computing platform according to any one of claims 1 to 5); and
at least one processor coupled with the at least one memory (Zhang: claim 7: teaches an electronic device comprising: a memory, a processor and a computer program stored on the memory and capable of running on the processor, when the processor executes the computer program, realizing the virtual machine migration method based on cloud computing platform according to any one of claims 1 to 5) configured to:
The remaining limitations of this device claim 11 corresponds to the limitations in method claim 1 and is rejected for the same reasons mutatis mutandis.
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.
Claims 2, 3, 5, 12, 13, 15 and 19-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over ZHANG, LEI et al. (CN 117492907 A)[Zhang] in view of Zhang; Hui et al. (US 20200272352 A1)[Zhang1]
Regarding Claim 2 Zhang discloses:
The method of claim 1, wherein applying the migration rate limit further comprises at least one of:
applying a first rate limit based on an occupancy of the migration queue being less than a first threshold, applying a second rate limit based on the occupancy of the migration queue being greater than the first threshold and less than a second threshold, or applying a third rate limit based on the occupancy of the migration queue being greater than the second threshold (Zhang: abstract, claim 1: teaches a virtual machine migration method based on cloud computing platform, wherein it comprises: monitoring the current network state, wherein the network state comprises the network bandwidth and delay condition between the source host and the target host; according to the network state and the size of the data to be migrated, calculating the migration rate, and dynamically adjusting the migration rate according to the change condition of the bandwidth and the delay; adjusting the data transmission speed in the migration process according to the calculated migration speed; continuously monitoring the network state in the migration process, calculating the migration efficiency, taking the maximum migration efficiency as the target, and adjusting the migration speed in real time. Zhang's teachings of dynamically adjusting the migration rate in real time according to the change condition of the network bandwidth and the delay and the size of remaining data to be migrated is similar to applying(adjusting) first/second/third rate limit based on an occupancy of the migration queue (size of data remaining to be migrated) being less than a first/second threshold or greater than second threshold. Adding some data size values or rate limits along the process of dynamically adjusting rate limit does not add any new inventive feature.).
Zhang's teachings of dynamically adjusting the migration rate in real time according to the change condition of the network bandwidth and the delay and the size of remaining data to be migrated is similar to applying(adjusting) first/second/third rate limit based on an occupancy of the migration queue (size of data remaining to be migrated) being less than a first/second threshold or greater than second threshold. However, Zhang did not explicitly use any threshold values.
Zhang1 discloses:
applying a first rate limit based on an occupancy of the migration queue being less than a first threshold, applying a second rate limit based on the occupancy of the migration queue being greater than the first threshold and less than a second threshold, or applying a third rate limit based on the occupancy of the migration queue being greater than the second threshold (Zhang1: [0076-0078], [0082-0084], Fig.4, Fig. 5 and Fig. 6: teaches migration manager 102 determining if the number of tracks to be migrated is above a first (or high, or maximum) threshold or below a second threshold and based on the determination/checking takes different migration action and moves the migration pointer(extent) to the head or tail of the migration queue.
Both Zhang and Zhang1 represent works within the same field of endeavor, namely information processing devices focusing on virtual machine migration. It would therefore have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the claimed invention was effectively filed to apply Zhang in view of Zhang1 as it represents a combination of known prior art elements according to known methods (virtual machine migration method of Zhang using threshold values indicating number of tracks to be migrated and taking different migration actions based on determining if the number of tracks to be migrated is above or below some threshold values as used in Zhang1’s system) to develop a less compute intensive virtual machine migration process leading to a more efficient data processing system by freeing up the CPU to do more data processing (see also Zhang1 [0076-0078], [0082-0084], Fig.4, Fig. 5 and Fig. 6).
Regarding claim 3 Zhang/Zhang1 discloses:
The method of claim 2, wherein the first rate limit is based on a default rate limit (Zhang: abstract, claim 1: teaches dynamically adjusting the migration rate in real time according to the change condition of the network bandwidth and the delay and the size of remaining data to be migrated is similar to applying(adjusting) first/second/third rate limit based on an occupancy of the migration queue(size of data remaining to be migrated) being less than a first/second threshold or greater than second threshold. Dynamically adjusting migration rate includes starting rate (similar to default rate) and other rates based on other changes in the migration system).
Regarding claim 5 Zhang/Zhang1 discloses:
The method of claim 2, wherein applying the migration rate limit further comprises at least one of:
removing the second rate limit and applying the first rate limit based on the occupancy of the migration queue being less than the first threshold, or removing the third rate limit and applying the second rate limit based on the occupancy of the migration queue being less than the second threshold (Zhang: abstract, claim 1: teaches dynamically adjusting the migration rate in real time according to the change condition of the network bandwidth and the delay and the size of remaining data to be migrated is similar to applying(adjusting) first/second/third rate limit based on an occupancy of the migration queue(size of data remaining to be migrated) being less than a first/second threshold or greater than second threshold. Dynamically adjusting migration rate depending on change condition of the network bandwidth and the delay and the size of remaining data to be migrated covers different migration rates mentioned in the claim. Zhang1: [0076-0078], [0082-0084], Fig.4, Fig. 5 and Fig. 6: teaches migration manager 102 determining if the number of tracks to be migrated is above a first (or high, or maximum) threshold or below a second threshold and based on the determination/checking takes different migration action and moves the migration pointer(extent) to the head or tail of the migration queue.).
Regarding claims 12, 13 and 15, these are device claims corresponding to the method claim 2, 3 and 5 and are rejected for the same reason mutatis mutandis.
Regarding claims 19-20, these are computer-readable medium claims corresponding to the method claim 2-3 and are rejected for the same reason mutatis mutandis.
Claims 8-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over ZHANG, LEI et al. (CN 117492907 A)[Zhang] in view of Tsirkin; Michael (US 20140215459 A1)[Tsirkin]
Regarding claim 8 Zhang discloses all the limitation of claim 1. However, Zhang did not explicitly disclose the virtual machine being associated with a source host that is communicatively coupled to a storage device even though the concept of virtual includes this feature.
Tsirkin discloses:
The method of claim 1, wherein the virtual machine is associated with a source host that is communicatively coupled to the storage device (Tsirkin: [0016]: teaches that a source host 101 can include one or more virtual machines 110a and run an operating system 105 ("host OS") to manage its resources. A virtual machine 110a can run a guest operating system. The source host 101a runs a source hypervisor 115a to virtualize access to the underlying source host hardware, making the use of the source virtual machine 110a transparent to the guest OS running on virtual machine 110a and users (e.g., a system administrator) of the source host 101a. Initially, as shown in FIG. 1, the source virtual machine 110a is managed by the source hypervisor 115a. In one embodiment, a process is provided wherein the source virtual machine 110a is migrated from the source hypervisor 115a residing on a source host OS 105a to a destination host 101b using at least one storage device 102. Tsirkin: [0027] FIG. 2: teaches a method 200 for live-migration of a virtual machine from a source host to a destination host using a storage device. The method 200 of FIG. 2 may also be applied to migration of a virtual machine between any two hosts (101a-101n) over the network 103 or residing on the same host machine (e.g., source host 101a))
Both Zhang and Tsirkin represent works within the same field of endeavor, namely information processing devices focusing on virtual machine migration. It would therefore have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the claimed invention was effectively filed to apply Zhang in view of Tsirkin as it represents a combination of known prior art elements according to known methods (virtual machine migration method of Zhang using source and destination host and using a storage device during migration that is communicatively coupled to the source host as used in Tsirkin’s system) to yield a more efficient virtual machine migration leading to a more efficient data processing system (see also Tsirkin [0016], [0027], Fig. 1 and Fig. 2).
Regarding claim 9 Zhang/Tsirkin discloses:
The method of claim 8, wherein the migration queue holds migration tasks for migrating the virtual machine from the source host to a target host (Tsirkin: [0027] FIG. 2: teaches a method 200 for live-migration of a virtual machine from a source host to a destination host using a storage device. Teaches that tThe method 200 of FIG. 2 is also applicable to migration of a virtual machine between any two hosts (101a-101n) over the network 103 or residing on the same host machine (e.g., source host 101a)).
Regarding claim 10 Zhang discloses all the limitation of claim 1. However, Zhang did not explicitly disclose that the storage device is a solid-state drive.
Tsirkin discloses:
The method of claim 1, wherein the storage device comprises a solid-state drive storing data associated with the virtual machine (Tsirkin: [0044]: teaches the term "machine-readable storage medium" shall accordingly be taken to include, but not be limited to, solid-state memories, and optical and magnetic media.).
Both Zhang and Tsirkin represent works within the same field of endeavor, namely information processing devices focusing on virtual machine migration. It would therefore have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the claimed invention was effectively filed to apply Zhang in view of Tsirkin as it represents a combination of known prior art elements according to known methods (virtual machine migration method of Zhang using solid-state drive for storing data as used in Tsirkin’s system) to yield a reliable virtual machine migration leading to a reliable data processing system (see also Tsirkin [0044], Fig. 1).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4, 6-7, 14 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 following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Claim 4 recites, ‘The method of claim 2, wherein:
the second rate limit is based on an average rate of head pointer movement of the migration queue that is determined based on the monitoring, and the third rate limit is based on scaling the average rate of head pointer movement according to a scaling factor’.
Regarding claim 4 prior arts ZHANG, LEI et al. (CN 117492907 A)[Zhang] and Zhang; Hui et al. (US 20200272352 A1)[Zhang1] discloses -
Zhang: abstract, claim 1: teaches dynamically adjusting the migration rate in real time according to the change condition of the network bandwidth and the delay and the size of remaining data to be migrated is similar to applying(adjusting) first/second/third rate limit based on an occupancy of the migration queue(size of data remaining to be migrated) being less than a first/second threshold or greater than second threshold. An average rate of head pointer movement of the migration queue simply indicates a speed at which data migration is progressing. Dynamically adjusting migration rate depending on change condition of the network bandwidth and the delay and the size of remaining data to be migrated covers different migration rate including average migration rate and other scaled rates. Zhang1: [0076-0078], [0082-0084], Fig.4, Fig. 5 and Fig. 6: teaches migration manager 102 determining if the number of tracks to be migrated is above a first (or high, or maximum) threshold or below a second threshold and based on the determination/checking takes different migration action and moves the migration pointer(extent) to the head or tail of the migration queue.).
Even though Zhang's system incorporates the same action as part of 'Dynamically adjusting migration rate depending on change condition of the network bandwidth and the delay and the size of remaining data to be migrated' - Zhang does not specifically teach head pointer of the migration queue.
Zhang1 teaches head and tail pointer of the migration queue but Zhang1 does not teach determining average rate of head pointer movement and does not teach limiting/adjusting data migration speed/rate based on the average rate of head pointer movement.
No, known prior arts taken alone or in combination teaches limiting/adjusting data migration speed/rate based on the average rate of head pointer movement of the migration queue.
Claim 14 is a device claim corresponding to the method claim 4 and is allowable for the same reason.
Claim 6 recites, ‘The method of claim 1, further comprising determining a command insertion rate of a submission queue of the virtual machine, wherein applying the migration rate limit further comprises modifying the migration rate limit based on the command insertion rate’. No known prior arts taken alone or in combination teach - modifying the migration rate limit based on the command insertion rate.
Claim 7 is dependent on claim 6 and is allowable due at least to this dependence.
Claim 16 is a device claim corresponding to the method claim 6 and is allowable for the same reason.
Claim 17 is dependent on claim 16 and is allowable due at least to this dependence.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure is recorded in pe2e_search_note.pdf and is attached as OA.APPENDIX.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MOHAMMAD S HASAN whose telephone number is (571)270-1737 and email address is mohammad.hasan@uspto.gov. The examiner can normally be reached on Mon-Fri 8-5.
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, Tim Vo can be reached on 571-272-3642. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see https://ppair-my.uspto.gov/pair/PrivatePair. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/M.S.H/Examiner, Art Unit 2138
/SHAWN X GU/
Primary Examiner, AU2138