Detailed Action
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
This is in response to amendment filed on 5/5/2026. Claims 1, 6, 8, 13, 15 and 19 have been amended, no claims have been cancelled, claims 1-20 are pending for examination.
Specification
The lengthy specification has not been checked to the extent necessary to determine the presence of all possible minor errors. Applicant's cooperation is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant may become aware in the specification.
Response to Applicant’s Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 5/5/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
In response to applicant’s argument that the reference Ahn does not anticipate “determining that the first LBA is within a predetermined number of LBAs from a first stored LBA in a cache” as recited in amended claims 1, 8 and 15 (see page 8-9 of remarks), however, it is noted that Ahn teaches a logic block address (LBA) of the data requested by the external apparatus 310 is searched for in a history of the non-volatile cache 322 (Fig.1, step 106-107 and section 0036), that means the determining step is performed. Ahn teaches the claimed limitation “determining that the first LBA is within a predetermined number of LBAs from a first stored LBA in a cache’.
In response to applicant’s argument that Ahn does not anticipate “removing the first stored LBA from the cache in response to the determination” as recited in amended claim 1, 8 and 15 (see page 9 of remarks), however, it is noted that Ahn teaches the external apparatus 310 can store a LBA in the non-volatile cache 322, remove a stored LBA from the non-volatile cache 322 (section 0019; 0039), that means Ahn teaches removing a stored LBA from the non-volatile cache 322 in response to determining the LBA is stored in the non-volatile cache 322. Further, the external apparatus 310 needs to know the stored LBA of the non-volatile 322 in order to remove it.
The rejection has been maintained as shown below.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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, 5-6, 8, 12-13, 15 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by AHN et al., US 2009/0089501 A1.
Regarding claims 1, 8 and 15, AHN teaches a method comprising:
receiving a first read command including a first logical block address (LBA) (section 0009; 0012; and Fig.1);
determining that the first LBA is within a predetermined number of LBAs from a first stored LBA in a cache (Fig.1, step 106-107 and section 0036);
removing the first stored LBA from the cache in response to the determination (section 0019; section 0039; storing one or more logical block addresses (LBAs) in the non-volatile cache, removing the one or more stored LBAs from the non-volatile cache, and checking a list of the one or more stored LBAs in the non-volatile cache); and
adding the first LBA to the cache (section 0039; a command used to store a LBA in the non-volatile cache 322 is "ADD LBA(S) TO NV CACHE PINNED SET DMA EXT" (hereinafter, referred to as an ADD LBA command). The ADD LBA command transmitted from the external apparatus 310 to the hard disk drive 320 includes information about interconnectivity of LBAs. That is, the external apparatus 310 stores LBAs having similar purposes in the non-volatile cache 322 through at least one continuous ADD LBA command).
Regarding claims 5 and 12, AHN teaches each stored LBA in the cache is paired with an access pattern (section 0009; the hard disk drive performs prefetching when data, which is requested to be read by the host, i.e. sectors have continuous logical block addresses (LBAs), and when a number of sectors is equal to or greater than a predetermined number. Data that is to be prefetched is also determined based on a spatial locality. That is, continuous pieces of data in the last LBA that is requested to be read by the host are read and stored in the buffer).
Regarding claims 6, 13 and 19, AHN teaches further comprising: receiving a read command including a second LBA; determining that the second LBA and the first stored LBA in the cache share the spatial locality; determining that the second LBA and a second stored LBA in the cache share a spatial locality; and mapping the second LBA to the second stored LBA using a first thread access pattern (Fig.1; section 0031; When the buffer 321 is used as a read buffer, the buffer 321 stores data that is transmitted to the external apparatus 310, and when the same data is requested to be read, the data is read from the buffer 321 instead of a hard disk 323. When the buffer 321 is used as a prefetch buffer, data that is expected to be requested by the external apparatus 310 in the near future is pre-read from the hard disk 323 or a non-volatile cache 322, and stored in the buffer 321. When the external apparatus 310 requests such stored data, the data can be quickly read from the buffer 321).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-4, 7, 9-11, 14, 16-18 and 20 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 an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance:
The limitations not found in the prior art of record include the cache is a first-in-first-out (FIFO) cache, the method further comprising: receiving a second read command including a second LBA; determining a difference between the second LBA and each stored LBA in the FIFO cache; responsive to determining that the difference between the second LBA and each stored LBA in the FIFO cache does not satisfy a threshold, removing an oldest stored LBA in the FIFO cache; and adding the second LBA to the FIFO cache in combination with the other claimed limitations as described in the claims 2, 9 and 16 (claims 3, 10 and 17 are depended on claims 2, 9 and 16 respectively).
The limitations not found in the prior art of record include the cache is a first-in-first-out (FIFO) cache, the method further comprising: receiving a second read command including a second LBA; determining a difference between the second LBA and each stored LBA in the FIFO cache; responsive to determining that the difference between the second LBA and the first stored LBA in the FIFO cache satisfies a threshold range and the difference between the second LBA and a second stored LBA in the FIFO cache satisfies the threshold range, removing the first stored LBA from the FIFO cache and removing the second stored LBA from the FIFO cache; and adding the second LBA to the cache in combination with the other claimed limitations as described in the claims 4, 11 and 18.
The limitations not found in the prior art of record include mapping the second LBA to the second stored LBA using the first thread access pattern further comprises: determining the first thread access pattern by combining a weighted average of a plurality of stride sizes of a plurality of read commands to obtain an expected LBA issued by a first thread; and matching the expected LBA to the second LBA in combination with the other claimed limitations as described in the claims 7, 14 and 20.
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.
When responding to the office action, Applicant is advised to clearly point out the patentable novelty which he or she thinks the claims present in view of the state of the art disclosed by the references cited or the objections made. He or she must also show how the amendments avoid such references or objections. See 37 C.F.R. 1.111 (c).
When responding to the office action, Applicants are advised to provide the examiner with the line numbers and page numbers in the application and/or references cited to assist examiner to locate the appropriate paragraphs.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HUA JASMINE SONG whose telephone number is (571)272-4213. The examiner can normally be reached on 9:00am to 5:30pm.
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/HUA J SONG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2133
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