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 .
Other Refs: Hahn (US 20190294350) - 0087 - memory controller 122 may request the host controller 180 to release some of the host memory 160 that was for the exclusive use of the memory controller 122.
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.
Claims 1-4,7,8-11,14,15,16,17,19,20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Muchherla (US 10915400) and in view of Poosapalli (US 20250028671) and further in view of Jain (US 20240411469)
Claim 1. Muchherla discloses A memory device (eg., Fig. 1A col 6:61-65 - memory components 112A to 112N ), comprising:
memory; and one or more components (eg., col 6:61-65 - a media controller (e.g., media controller 130A and media controller 130N) to manage the memory cells of the memory component 112) configured to:
allocate, during an initialization process, memory blocks in a memory for a set of features to be supported by the memory device, (eg., col 9:28-47 - dynamically allocating one or more blocks from a pool of storage area blocks for use as purposed blocks. In some embodiments, one or more blocks from a pool of storage area blocks of the memory component are allocated as an initial set of purposed blocks); and
Muchherla does not disclose, but Poosapalli discloses
reallocate, during the initialization process, remaining memory blocks that are pre-allocated in the memory for non-selected features to a pool of memory blocks (eg.,. 0015 - OEM-defined agnostic memory allocation firmware includes delivering signed memory headers that securely redefine the virtual interface for the allocated reserved portions of the memory device for each of the plural stages of the boot module execution through pre-boot; 0020 - the original equipment manufacturer of the information handling system may predefine the OEM-defined agnostic memory allocation module such that the customization of the memory allocation as described in the memory map maintained at the SPI chip described herein can be accomplished during stages of pre-boot, boot, and runtime.).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the filing date of the claimed invention to modify the memory components that dynamic allocation during initialization as disclosed by Muchherla, with Poosapalli, providing the benefit of hardware processor executing plural stages of boot modules during a boot process of the information handling system to allocate reserved portions of the memory device for each stage of boot module executed in pre-boot, boot, and runtime (see Poosapalli, 0013).
Muchherla in view of Poosapalli does not disclose, but Jain discloses
at a beginning of life of the memory device, … wherein an allocation is based on a user selection of the set of features (eg., 0040 FIG. 2 illustrates a user interface screen 200 for creating partitions with different performance levels… the user interface screen 200 provides options for a user to select partition options when formatting a data storage device 100; disclosed formatting would have rendered obvious the beginning of life).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the filing date of the claimed invention to modify the memory components that dynamic allocation during initialization as disclosed by Muchherla, with Poosapalli, with Jain, providing the benefit of configuring partitions on a storage device (see Jain, 0002) t enables for the separation of data into different categories or projects, and can be useful for setting up dual-boot systems or separating the operating system and programs from user data (0003).
Claim 2. Muchherla does not disclose, but Poosapalli discloses
wherein the remaining memory blocks for the non-selected features are pre-allocated in the memory during a manufacturing phase of the memory device (eg., 0020 - the original equipment manufacturer of the information handling system may predefine the OEM-defined agnostic memory allocation module such that the customization of the memory allocation as described in the memory map maintained at the SPI chip described herein can be accomplished during stages of pre-boot, boot, and runtime. The inclusion of the OEM-defined agnostic memory allocation module execution by the CPU to set allocations at the SPI chip allows for a scalable memory layout that allows the pre-boot, boot, and runtime allocation portions of the memory device to meet dynamic requirements during the pre-boot, boot time, and runtime processes with memory scaling services and dynamic reallocation)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the filing date of the claimed invention to modify the memory components that dynamic allocation during initialization as disclosed by Muchherla, with Poosapalli, providing the benefit of hardware processor executing plural stages of boot modules during a boot process of the information handling system to allocate reserved portions of the memory device for each stage of boot module executed in pre-boot, boot, and runtime (see Poosapalli, 0013).
Claim 3. Muchherla does not disclose, but Poosapalli discloses
wherein the pool of memory blocks is available for general purpose usage (eg., 0019 - pre-boot, boot, and runtime memory trialing may be used to search for given allocated memory within the memory device for those memory locations that do not include successful given address locations. These unaddressed memory locations may be freed for use by other processes during the pre-boot, boot time, and runtime processes).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the filing date of the claimed invention to modify the memory components that dynamic allocation during initialization as disclosed by Muchherla, with Poosapalli, providing the benefit of hardware processor executing plural stages of boot modules during a boot process of the information handling system to allocate reserved portions of the memory device for each stage of boot module executed in pre-boot, boot, and runtime (see Poosapalli, 0013).
Claim 4. Muchherla discloses
wherein the allocation is based on a command that is selected from a list of predefined commands, wherein each command on the list of predefined commands is associated with a predefined combination of features that are able to be supported by the memory device (eg., col 3:1-10 - A “purposed block” can refer to a block that is used for a specific purpose. Examples of purposed blocks can include parity blocks, blocks that store temporary data for an application, such as a scratch pad application, or temporary system data. In some embodiments, the number of purposed blocks that are allocated for a specific purpose are not dictated by instantaneous use (e.g., at any given time) but are dictated by the number of blocks used to accommodate X amount of data written to the purposed blocks during the lifetime of the memory sub-system.).
Claim 7. Muchherla discloses wherein the memory device is associated with a vehicle (eg., col 5:10-11 - embedded computer (e.g., one included in a vehicle,).
Claim 8. Muchherla discloses A method (eg., Fig. 1A col 6:61-65 - memory components 112A to 112N ), comprising:
allocating, during an initialization process, memory blocks in a memory for a set of features to be supported by a memory device, wherein an allocation is (eg., col 9:28-47 - dynamically allocating one or more blocks from a pool of storage area blocks for use as purposed blocks. In some embodiments, one or more blocks from a pool of storage area blocks of the memory component are allocated as an initial set of purposed blocks); and
Muchherla does not disclose, but Poosapalli discloses
reallocating, during the initialization process, remaining memory blocks that are pre-allocated in the memory for non-selected features to a pool of memory blocks (eg.,. 0015 - OEM-defined agnostic memory allocation firmware includes delivering signed memory headers that securely redefine the virtual interface for the allocated reserved portions of the memory device for each of the plural stages of the boot module execution through pre-boot; 0020 - the original equipment manufacturer of the information handling system may predefine the OEM-defined agnostic memory allocation module such that the customization of the memory allocation as described in the memory map maintained at the SPI chip described herein can be accomplished during stages of pre-boot, boot, and runtime.).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the filing date of the claimed invention to modify the memory components that dynamic allocation during initialization as disclosed by Muchherla, with Poosapalli, providing the benefit of hardware processor executing plural stages of boot modules during a boot process of the information handling system to allocate reserved portions of the memory device for each stage of boot module executed in pre-boot, boot, and runtime (see Poosapalli, 0013).
Muchherla in view of Poosapalli does not disclose, but Jain discloses
at a beginning of life of the memory device, … wherein an allocation is based on a user selection of the set of features (eg., 0040 FIG. 2 illustrates a user interface screen 200 for creating partitions with different performance levels… the user interface screen 200 provides options for a user to select partition options when formatting a data storage device 100).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the filing date of the claimed invention to modify the memory components that dynamic allocation during initialization as disclosed by Muchherla, with Poosapalli, with Jain, providing the benefit of configuring partitions on a storage device (see Jain, 0002) t enables for the separation of data into different categories or projects, and can be useful for setting up dual-boot systems or separating the operating system and programs from user data (0003).
Claim 9 is rejected for reasons similar to Claim 2 above.
Claim 10 is rejected for reasons similar to Claim 3 above.
Claim 11 is rejected for reasons similar to Claim 4 above.
Claim 14 is rejected for reasons similar to Claim 7 above.
Claim 15. Muchherla discloses A system (eg., Fig. 1A col 6:61-65 - memory components 112A to 112N ), comprising:
memory; and one or more components (eg., col 6:61-65 - a media controller (e.g., media controller 130A and media controller 130N) to manage the memory cells of the memory component 112) configured to:
allocate, during a setup process of the memory device and based on the command, memory blocks in the memory device for the set of features; (eg., col 9:28-47 - dynamically allocating one or more blocks from a pool of storage area blocks for use as purposed blocks. In some embodiments, one or more blocks from a pool of storage area blocks of the memory component are allocated as an initial set of purposed blocks); and
Muchherla does not disclose, but Poosapalli discloses
reallocate, during the setup process, remaining memory blocks that are pre-allocated in the memory for non-selected features to a pool of memory blocks (eg.,. 0015 - OEM-defined agnostic memory allocation firmware includes delivering signed memory headers that securely redefine the virtual interface for the allocated reserved portions of the memory device for each of the plural stages of the boot module execution through pre-boot; 0020 - the original equipment manufacturer of the information handling system may predefine the OEM-defined agnostic memory allocation module such that the customization of the memory allocation as described in the memory map maintained at the SPI chip described herein can be accomplished during stages of pre-boot, boot, and runtime.).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the filing date of the claimed invention to modify the memory components that dynamic allocation during initialization as disclosed by Muchherla, with Poosapalli, providing the benefit of hardware processor executing plural stages of boot modules during a boot process of the information handling system to allocate reserved portions of the memory device for each stage of boot module executed in pre-boot, boot, and runtime (see Poosapalli, 0013).
Muchherla in view of Poosapalli does not disclose, but Jain discloses
a host processor configured to: send a command associated with a user selection of a set of features (eg., [0055] At block 408, the host system receives the storage media data and initiates a partitioning process with a user. For example, the OS of the host system can run a partitioning tool that opens a user interface prompt or screen that provides partitioning options to the user.); and
a memory device configured to: receive, from the host processor, the command (eg., 0058-0059 - [0059] At block 416, the data storage device 100 receives and saves the partition settings.; [0062] At block 504, the host system determines availability of memory blocks with different performance levels in the data storage device 100.)
at a beginning of life of the memory device, … for the set of features (eg., 0040 FIG. 2 illustrates a user interface screen 200 for creating partitions with different performance levels… the user interface screen 200 provides options for a user to select partition options when formatting a data storage device 100).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the filing date of the claimed invention to modify the memory components that dynamic allocation during initialization as disclosed by Muchherla, with Poosapalli, with Jain, providing the benefit of configuring partitions on a storage device (see Jain, 0002) t enables for the separation of data into different categories or projects, and can be useful for setting up dual-boot systems or separating the operating system and programs from user data (0003).
Claim 16. Muchherla in view of Poosapalli does not disclose, but Jain discloses
wherein the host processor is configured to: provide, via a user interface, a listing of possible settings, wherein each setting is associated with a predefined set of features and a corresponding endurance factor, wherein the endurance factor is associated with a total bytes written metric (eg., [0040] FIG. 2 illustrates a user interface screen 200 for creating partitions with different performance levels that can be displayed by a partitioning tool that can be displayed by a partitioning tool ; [0058] If the host system determines that the data storage device 100 supports performance-based partitioning (YES path), the process proceeds to block 414. At block 414, the host system provides performance-based partitioning options to the user. Such options may include setting a size for the partition, setting a desired performance level (e.g., read/write and/or endurance) for the partition, or otherwise creating multiple partitions with different performance levels.).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the filing date of the claimed invention to modify the memory components that dynamic allocation during initialization as disclosed by Muchherla, with Poosapalli, , with Jain, providing the benefit of configuring partitions on a storage device (see Jain, 0002).
Claim 17 is rejected for reasons similar to Claim 4 above.
Claim 19 is rejected for reasons similar to Claim 2 above.
Claim 20 is rejected for reasons similar to Claim 3 above.
Claims 5, 12, 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Muchheria (US 10915400) and in view of Poosapalli (US 20250028671) and further in view of Jain (cited above) and McKelvie (US 10216949)
Claim 5. Muchherla in view of Poosapalli and Jain does not disclose, but McKelvie discloses
wherein the set of features includes one or more features, and the one or more features are associated with one or more of: encryption, boot partitions, performance logs, or health logs (eg., col 22:48-55 - SSD storage space 600 stores an SSD header and other fixed metadata in the portion of the space labeled 610. It stores log pages in the portion of the space labeled 620, and includes a space labeled 630 that is initialized and reserved for additional log pages. One portion of SSD storage space 600 (shown as 640) is initialized, but unassigned, and another portion of the space (shown as 650) is uninitialized and unassigned).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the filing date of the claimed invention to modify the memory components that dynamic allocation during initialization as disclosed by Muchherla, with Poosapalli, and Jain with McKelvie, providing the benefit of Dynamic protection group changes may provide various examples of changes to the state of a quorum-based model across a distributed system. In some of these examples, a distributed storage system may implement multiple storage nodes storing a replica or version of data that are available for access to a storage system client (see McKelvie, col 3:20-27).
Claim 12 is rejected for reasons similar to Claim 5 above.
Claim 18 is rejected for reasons similar to Claim 5 above.
Claims 6 and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Muchheria (US 10915400) and in view of Poosapalli (US 20250028671) and further in view of Jain (cited above) and McLachan (US 20140095812)
Claim 6. Muchherla in view of Poosapalli and Jain does not disclose, but McLachan discloses
wherein the one or more components are configured to: restrict modifications to a memory block allocation associated with the set of features after a completion of the initialization process (eg., 0036 Fig. 5 - a dedicated Static Stack Pool 522, which is pre-allocated in the system address space 520. The dedicated Static Stack Pool 522 can be pre-allocated at system boot time, or can be allocated for the process at load time, or at some time in between system startup and application load.).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the filing date of the claimed invention to modify the memory components that dynamic allocation during initialization as disclosed by Muchherla, with Poosapalli, and Jain, with McLachan, providing the benefit of One manner of protecting a program's local variables against reverse engineers is to use data obfuscation to make the reverse engineering of program data structures more difficult (see McLachan, 0003).
Claim 13 is rejected for reasons similar to Claim 6 above.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 5/8/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
For claims 1, 8 and 15, Applicant argues that that the cited references do not disclose the amended limitations. The Office disagrees.
In the present OA, the updated combination of references render the amended limitations as obvious.
Specifically, Muchherla in view of Poosapalli does not disclose, but Jain discloses
at a beginning of life of the memory device, … wherein an allocation is based on a user selection of the set of features (eg., 0040 FIG. 2 illustrates a user interface screen 200 for creating partitions with different performance levels… the user interface screen 200 provides options for a user to select partition options when formatting a data storage device 100).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the filing date of the claimed invention to modify the memory components that dynamic allocation during initialization as disclosed by Muchherla, with Poosapalli, with Jain, providing the benefit of configuring partitions on a storage device (see Jain, 0002) t enables for the separation of data into different categories or projects, and can be useful for setting up dual-boot systems or separating the operating system and programs from user data (0003).
Applicant’s arguments for dependent claims 2-7, 9-14, 16-20 are based on their respective base independent claims 1, 8, 15, which are addressed above.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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 GAUTAM SAIN whose telephone number is (571)270-3555. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9-5.
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/GAUTAM SAIN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2135
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