Prosecution Insights
Last updated: October 23, 2026
Application No. 19/017,232

SCALABLE LOG-BASED CONTINUOUS DATA PROTECTION FOR DISTRIBUTED DATABASES

Final Rejection §103
Filed
Jan 10, 2025
Priority
Dec 21, 2015 — continuation of 10/423,493 +1 more
Examiner
HO, ANDREW N
Art Unit
2169
Tech Center
2100 — Computer Architecture & Software
Assignee
Amazon Technologies Inc.
OA Round
2 (Final)
61%
Grant Probability
Moderate
3-4
OA Rounds
2y 1m
Est. Remaining
92%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 61% of resolved cases
61%
Career Allowance Rate
139 granted / 227 resolved
+6.2% vs TC avg
Strong +31% interview lift
Without
With
+31.0%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
3y 11m
Avg Prosecution
5 currently pending
Career history
247
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
21.4%
-18.6% vs TC avg
§103
61.3%
+21.3% vs TC avg
§102
9.8%
-30.2% vs TC avg
§112
6.1%
-33.9% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 227 resolved cases

Office Action

§103
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 . Claims 22-41 are pending in this office action. Response to Amendment This Office Action is in response to applicant’s communication filed on August 31st, 2026. The applicant’s remark and amendments to the claims were considered with the results that follow. In response to the last Office Action, 22, 29, and 36 have been amended. No claims are canceled or added. As a result, claims 21-41 are pending in this application. Response to Arguments Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 22, 29, and 36 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument. 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 22, 29, and 36 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S Patent Application Publication 2014/0089265 issued to Talagala et al. (hereinafter as "Talagala") in view of U.S Patent Application Publication 2012/0151273 issued to Ben Or et al. (hereinafter as “Ben Or”). Regarding claim 22, Talagala teaches receiving, via one or more programmatic interfaces (Talagala: [0106]; The time sequence interface module 306, in various embodiments, may directly or indirectly receive a time sequence request over an API, using a shared library, over a block I/O interface 131, over an SML interface 132, over another interface, from another module or device, and/or in another manner), an indication of a particular granularity indicating a time boundary at which a restoration target time for a data object is specified in restoration requests(Talagala: [0090]; In other embodiments, the temporal order module 304 may increment an epoch identifier automatically and/or periodically in response to a predetermined amount of time elapsing (e.g., a timer), a storage request, a write request invalidating data, and/or another epoch trigger. [0110]; In one embodiment, the time sequence interface module 306 may provide access to a snapshot of data at a block layer, using a block I/O interface 131 or the like, so that storage clients 116 may access data of a snapshot by LBA. [0119]; In another embodiment, a rollback request and/or an iterate request may include an epoch identifier or another indicator of a state to which the time sequence interface module 306 is to rollback or iterate the data. [0128]; In one embodiment, the time sequence interface module 306 supports a set epoch interval request from a client 116, allowing the client 116 to define how often and/or set an interval, in units of time, that the temporal order module 304 increments or updates an epoch identifier to create a new epoch, snapshot, and/or clone {Examiner correlates the set of the epoch interval request to define an interval of unit of time for the epoch identifier as indication of particular granularity indicating a time boundary. Thus, the user can request a rollback request to rollback to that specific indicator of state}); receiving, via one or more programmatic interfaces (Talagala: [0106]; The time sequence interface module 306, in various embodiments, may directly or indirectly receive a time sequence request over an API, using a shared library, over a block I/O interface 131, over an SML interface 132, over another interface, from another module or device, and/or in another manner), a particular restoration request for the data object, the restoration request indicating a particular restoration target time specified at the particular granularity (Talagala: [0086]; An epoch identifier may be absolute (e.g., a timestamp), relative (e.g., a sequence number), or may otherwise indicate a temporal and/or sequential order for data. [0119]-[0120]; In a further embodiment, the time sequence interface module 306 may rollback and/or iterate forward at a temporal range or epoch granularity, changing the state of data a temporal range or epoch at a time. By providing support for a rollback request and/or an iterate request, in certain embodiments, the time sequence interface module 306 may allow storage clients 116 to rollback or return data to a state prior to a failed operation or the like {Examiner correlates the particular restoration target time at that particular granularity as that timestamp in which the user request to rollback for that epoch granularity}); performing, in response to the particular restoration request, a restore operation for a time period, aligned to the time boundary, corresponding to the particular restoration target time, using at least one or more time marker records corresponding to the time period and stored in a particular change record journal associated with the data object (Talagala: [0061]; For example, the time sequence module 150 may support one or more time sequence requests over an interface such as the SML interface 132 described below, providing access to historical snapshots of data, allowing storage clients 116 to rollback or iterate through versions of data, allowing storage clients 116 to manage snapshots or epochs of data, or otherwise providing access to data in a temporal and/or chronological order. [0082]; The log storage module 302 may write data to the sequential, log-based writing structure in a temporal order in which the data is received from storage clients 116, in association with write requests or the like. [0088]-[0089]; For example, the temporal order module 304 may store an epoch identifier at a beginning, end, and/or another predefined location within a temporal range of data. In one embodiment, the temporal order module 304 may store an epoch identifier or marker at the beginning of each new temporal range of data or epoch, so that the data between epoch identifiers is associated with the beginning epoch identifier. The temporal order module 304, in one embodiment, marks a temporal range with an epoch identifier in a dedicated epoch metadata packet or the like, writing an epoch metadata packet to an append point of the sequential, log-based writing structure at the beginning and/or ending of a temporal range of data. [0119]-[0120]; In a further embodiment, the time sequence interface module 306 may rollback and/or iterate forward at a temporal range or epoch granularity, changing the state of data a temporal range or epoch at a time. By providing support for a rollback request and/or an iterate request, in certain embodiments, the time sequence interface module 306 may allow storage clients 116 to rollback or return data to a state prior to a failed operation or the like). Talagala does not explicitly teach a computer-implemented method, comprising: receiving, via one or more programmatic interfaces of a cloud computing environment, and stored at the cloud computing environment via the one or more programmatic interfaces. However, Ben Or teaches a computer-implemented method, comprising: receiving, via one or more programmatic interfaces of a cloud computing environment (Ben Or: [0113]; Cloud-based data services enable data center providers to service multiple enterprises at data centers that are remote from the enterprises. [0153]; The present invention may be implemented through an application programming interface (API), exposed as web service operations), stored at the cloud computing environment via the one or more programmatic interfaces (Ben Or: [0021]; The present invention provides bi-directional cloud-based data replication services; i.e., from the enterprise to the cloud, and from the cloud to the enterprise. Moreover, replication targets may be assigned to a pool of resources that do not expose the enterprise infrastructure, thus providing an additional layer of security and privacy between enterprises that share a target physical infrastructure. [0064]; The mirrors at Site B are updated at each checkpoint, so that they are mirrors of the corresponding virtual servers at Site A at the point of the last checkpoint). It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the invention, to modify Talagala (teaches an indication of a particular granularity indicating a time boundary at which a restoration target time for a data object is specified in restoration requests; receiving, a particular restoration request for the data object, the restoration request indicating a particular restoration target time specified at the particular granularity; performing, in response to the particular restoration request, a restore operation for a time period, aligned to the time boundary, corresponding to the particular restoration target time, using at least one or more time marker records corresponding to the time period and stored in a particular change record journal associated with the data object) with the teachings of Ben Or (teaches a computer-implemented method, comprising: receiving, via one or more programmatic interfaces of a cloud computing environment, and stored at the cloud computing environment). One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make such a combination is to provide near-zero recovery to the data in such information is protected and managed by the recovery site (See Ben Or [0068]). In addition, the references (Talagala and Ben Or) teach features that are directed to analogous art and they are directed to the same field of endeavor as Talagala and Ben Or are directed to data protection in obtaining a specific point in time for recovery. Regarding claim 29, Talagala teaches a system, comprising: one or more computing devices (Talagala: [0053]; The computer readable storage media 114 may comprise executable instructions configured to cause the computing device 110 (e.g., processor 111) to perform steps of one or more of the methods disclosed herein); wherein the one or more computing devices include instructions that upon execution on or across the one or more computing devices (Talagala: [0053]; The computer readable storage media 114 may comprise executable instructions configured to cause the computing device 110 (e.g., processor 111) to perform steps of one or more of the methods disclosed herein): receive, via one or more programmatic interfaces (Talagala: [0106]; The time sequence interface module 306, in various embodiments, may directly or indirectly receive a time sequence request over an API, using a shared library, over a block I/O interface 131, over an SML interface 132, over another interface, from another module or device, and/or in another manner), an indication of a particular granularity indicating a time boundary at which a restoration target time for a data object is specified in restoration requests (Talagala: [0090]; In other embodiments, the temporal order module 304 may increment an epoch identifier automatically and/or periodically in response to a predetermined amount of time elapsing (e.g., a timer), a storage request, a write request invalidating data, and/or another epoch trigger. [0110]; In one embodiment, the time sequence interface module 306 may provide access to a snapshot of data at a block layer, using a block I/O interface 131 or the like, so that storage clients 116 may access data of a snapshot by LBA. [0119]; In another embodiment, a rollback request and/or an iterate request may include an epoch identifier or another indicator of a state to which the time sequence interface module 306 is to rollback or iterate the data. [0128]; In one embodiment, the time sequence interface module 306 supports a set epoch interval request from a client 116, allowing the client 116 to define how often and/or set an interval, in units of time, that the temporal order module 304 increments or updates an epoch identifier to create a new epoch, snapshot, and/or clone {Examiner correlates the set of the epoch interval request to define an interval of unit of time for the epoch identifier as indication of particular granularity indicating a time boundary. Thus, the user can request a rollback request to rollback to that specific indicator of state}); receive, via the one or more programmatic interfaces (Talagala: [0106]; The time sequence interface module 306, in various embodiments, may directly or indirectly receive a time sequence request over an API, using a shared library, over a block I/O interface 131, over an SML interface 132, over another interface, from another module or device, and/or in another manner), a particular restoration request for the data object, indicating a particular restoration target time specified at the particular granularity (Talagala: [0086]; An epoch identifier may be absolute (e.g., a timestamp), relative (e.g., a sequence number), or may otherwise indicate a temporal and/or sequential order for data. [0119]-[0120]; In a further embodiment, the time sequence interface module 306 may rollback and/or iterate forward at a temporal range or epoch granularity, changing the state of data a temporal range or epoch at a time. By providing support for a rollback request and/or an iterate request, in certain embodiments, the time sequence interface module 306 may allow storage clients 116 to rollback or return data to a state prior to a failed operation or the like {Examiner correlates the particular restoration target time at that particular granularity as that timestamp in which the user request to rollback for that epoch granularity}); and perform, in response to the particular restoration request, a restore operation for a time period, aligned to the time boundary, corresponding to the particular restoration target time, using at least one or more time marker records corresponding to the time period and stored in a particular change record journal associated with the data object (Talagala: [0061]; For example, the time sequence module 150 may support one or more time sequence requests over an interface such as the SML interface 132 described below, providing access to historical snapshots of data, allowing storage clients 116 to rollback or iterate through versions of data, allowing storage clients 116 to manage snapshots or epochs of data, or otherwise providing access to data in a temporal and/or chronological order. [0082]; The log storage module 302 may write data to the sequential, log-based writing structure in a temporal order in which the data is received from storage clients 116, in association with write requests or the like. [0088]-[0089]; For example, the temporal order module 304 may store an epoch identifier at a beginning, end, and/or another predefined location within a temporal range of data. In one embodiment, the temporal order module 304 may store an epoch identifier or marker at the beginning of each new temporal range of data or epoch, so that the data between epoch identifiers is associated with the beginning epoch identifier. The temporal order module 304, in one embodiment, marks a temporal range with an epoch identifier in a dedicated epoch metadata packet or the like, writing an epoch metadata packet to an append point of the sequential, log-based writing structure at the beginning and/or ending of a temporal range of data. [0119]-[0120]; In a further embodiment, the time sequence interface module 306 may rollback and/or iterate forward at a temporal range or epoch granularity, changing the state of data a temporal range or epoch at a time. By providing support for a rollback request and/or an iterate request, in certain embodiments, the time sequence interface module 306 may allow storage clients 116 to rollback or return data to a state prior to a failed operation or the like). Talagala does not explicitly teach receiving, via one or more programmatic interfaces of a cloud computing environment, and stored at the cloud computing environment. However, Ben Or teaches receive, via one or more programmatic interfaces of a cloud computing environment (Ben Or: [0113]; Cloud-based data services enable data center providers to service multiple enterprises at data centers that are remote from the enterprises. [0153]; The present invention may be implemented through an application programming interface (API), exposed as web service operations) and stored at the cloud computing environment (Ben Or: [0021]; The present invention provides bi-directional cloud-based data replication services; i.e., from the enterprise to the cloud, and from the cloud to the enterprise. Moreover, replication targets may be assigned to a pool of resources that do not expose the enterprise infrastructure, thus providing an additional layer of security and privacy between enterprises that share a target physical infrastructure. [0064]; The mirrors at Site B are updated at each checkpoint, so that they are mirrors of the corresponding virtual servers at Site A at the point of the last checkpoint). It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the invention, to modify Talagala (teaches an indication of a particular granularity indicating a time boundary at which a restoration target time for a data object is specified in restoration requests; receiving, a particular restoration request for the data object, the restoration request indicating a particular restoration target time specified at the particular granularity; performing, in response to the particular restoration request, a restore operation for a time period, aligned to the time boundary, corresponding to the particular restoration target time, using at least one or more time marker records corresponding to the time period and stored in a particular change record journal associated with the data object) with the teachings of Ben Or (teaches a computer-implemented method, comprising: receiving, via one or more programmatic interfaces of a cloud computing environment, and stored at the cloud computing environment). One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make such a combination is to provide near-zero recovery to the data in such information is protected and managed by the recovery site (See Ben Or [0068]). In addition, the references (Talagala and Ben Or) teach features that are directed to analogous art and they are directed to the same field of endeavor as Talagala and Ben Or are directed to data protection in obtaining a specific point in time for recovery. Regarding claim 36, Talagala teaches one or more non-transitory computer-accessible storage media storing program instructions that when executed on or across one or more processors (Talagala: [0053]; The computing device 110 may further comprise a non-transitory, computer readable storage media 114. The computer readable storage media 114 may comprise executable instructions configured to cause the computing device 110 (e.g., processor 111) to perform steps of one or more of the methods disclosed herein): receive, via one or more programmatic interfaces (Talagala: [0106]; The time sequence interface module 306, in various embodiments, may directly or indirectly receive a time sequence request over an API, using a shared library, over a block I/O interface 131, over an SML interface 132, over another interface, from another module or device, and/or in another manner), an indication of a particular granularity indicating a time boundary at which a restoration target time for a data object stored is specified in restoration requests (Talagala: [0090]; In other embodiments, the temporal order module 304 may increment an epoch identifier automatically and/or periodically in response to a predetermined amount of time elapsing (e.g., a timer), a storage request, a write request invalidating data, and/or another epoch trigger. [0110]; In one embodiment, the time sequence interface module 306 may provide access to a snapshot of data at a block layer, using a block I/O interface 131 or the like, so that storage clients 116 may access data of a snapshot by LBA. [0119]; In another embodiment, a rollback request and/or an iterate request may include an epoch identifier or another indicator of a state to which the time sequence interface module 306 is to rollback or iterate the data. [0128]; In one embodiment, the time sequence interface module 306 supports a set epoch interval request from a client 116, allowing the client 116 to define how often and/or set an interval, in units of time, that the temporal order module 304 increments or updates an epoch identifier to create a new epoch, snapshot, and/or clone); receive, via the one or more programmatic interfaces (Talagala: [0106]; The time sequence interface module 306, in various embodiments, may directly or indirectly receive a time sequence request over an API, using a shared library, over a block I/O interface 131, over an SML interface 132, over another interface, from another module or device, and/or in another manner), a particular restoration request for the data object, indicating a particular restoration target time specified at the particular granularity (Talagala: [0086]; An epoch identifier may be absolute (e.g., a timestamp), relative (e.g., a sequence number), or may otherwise indicate a temporal and/or sequential order for data. [0119]-[0120]; In a further embodiment, the time sequence interface module 306 may rollback and/or iterate forward at a temporal range or epoch granularity, changing the state of data a temporal range or epoch at a time. By providing support for a rollback request and/or an iterate request, in certain embodiments, the time sequence interface module 306 may allow storage clients 116 to rollback or return data to a state prior to a failed operation or the like {Examiner correlates the particular restoration target time at that particular granularity as that timestamp in which the user request to rollback for that epoch granularity}); and perform, in response to the particular restoration request, a restore operation for a time period, aligned to the time boundary, corresponding ding to the particular restoration target time, using at least one or more time marker records corresponding to the time period and stored in a particular change record journal associated with the data object (Talagala: [0061]; For example, the time sequence module 150 may support one or more time sequence requests over an interface such as the SML interface 132 described below, providing access to historical snapshots of data, allowing storage clients 116 to rollback or iterate through versions of data, allowing storage clients 116 to manage snapshots or epochs of data, or otherwise providing access to data in a temporal and/or chronological order. [0082]; The log storage module 302 may write data to the sequential, log-based writing structure in a temporal order in which the data is received from storage clients 116, in association with write requests or the like. [0088]-[0089]; For example, the temporal order module 304 may store an epoch identifier at a beginning, end, and/or another predefined location within a temporal range of data. In one embodiment, the temporal order module 304 may store an epoch identifier or marker at the beginning of each new temporal range of data or epoch, so that the data between epoch identifiers is associated with the beginning epoch identifier. The temporal order module 304, in one embodiment, marks a temporal range with an epoch identifier in a dedicated epoch metadata packet or the like, writing an epoch metadata packet to an append point of the sequential, log-based writing structure at the beginning and/or ending of a temporal range of data. [0119]-[0120]; In a further embodiment, the time sequence interface module 306 may rollback and/or iterate forward at a temporal range or epoch granularity, changing the state of data a temporal range or epoch at a time. By providing support for a rollback request and/or an iterate request, in certain embodiments, the time sequence interface module 306 may allow storage clients 116 to rollback or return data to a state prior to a failed operation or the like). Talagala does not explicitly teach a cloud computing environment and stored at the cloud computing environment. However, Ben Or teaches receive, via one or more programmatic interfaces of a cloud computing environment (Ben Or: [0113]; Cloud-based data services enable data center providers to service multiple enterprises at data centers that are remote from the enterprises. [0153]; The present invention may be implemented through an application programming interface (API), exposed as web service operations) and stored at the cloud computing environment (Ben Or: [0021]; The present invention provides bi-directional cloud-based data replication services; i.e., from the enterprise to the cloud, and from the cloud to the enterprise. Moreover, replication targets may be assigned to a pool of resources that do not expose the enterprise infrastructure, thus providing an additional layer of security and privacy between enterprises that share a target physical infrastructure. [0064]; The mirrors at Site B are updated at each checkpoint, so that they are mirrors of the corresponding virtual servers at Site A at the point of the last checkpoint). It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the invention, to modify Talagala (teaches an indication of a particular granularity indicating a time boundary at which a restoration target time for a data object is specified in restoration requests; receiving, a particular restoration request for the data object, the restoration request indicating a particular restoration target time specified at the particular granularity; performing, in response to the particular restoration request, a restore operation for a time period, aligned to the time boundary, corresponding to the particular restoration target time, using at least one or more time marker records corresponding to the time period and stored in a particular change record journal associated with the data object) with the teachings of Ben Or (teaches a computer-implemented method, comprising: receiving, via one or more programmatic interfaces of a cloud computing environment, and stored at the cloud computing environment). One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make such a combination is to provide near-zero recovery to the data in such information is protected and managed by the recovery site (See Ben Or [0068]). In addition, the references (Talagala and Ben Or) teach features that are directed to analogous art and they are directed to the same field of endeavor as Talagala and Ben Or are directed to data protection in obtaining a specific point in time for recovery. Claims 23, 30, and 37 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S Patent Application Publication 2014/0089265 issued to Talagala et al. (hereinafter as "Talagala") in view of U.S Patent Application Publication 2012/0151273 issued to Ben Or et al. (hereinafter as “Ben Or”) in further view of U.S Patent Application Publication 2007/0260645 issued to Augenstein et al. (hereinafter as “Augenstein”). Regarding claim 23, the modification of Talagala and Ben Or teaches claimed invention substantially as claimed, however, the modification of Talagala and Ben Or does not explicitly teach the particular granularity comprises one of: (a) an hour granularity or (b) a minute granularity. Augenstein teaches the particular granularity comprises one of: (a) an hour granularity or (b) a minute granularity (Augenstein: [0008]; Instead of creating a continuous undo-log journal, i.e. an undo-log journal containing every single data modification, an undo-log journal is created such that only certain points in time can be recovered, as e.g. hourly or event triggered recovery points. [0051]; In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 2 the Timer 208, generating the timestamps Time for Journal j 0 210, is incremented only on request. Thus, a user can trigger an event to increment the Timer 208. If the Timer 208 receives this event it increments the internal timestamp Time and returns the new, higher timestamp value Time upon all succeeding calls of getTime. Consequently, only those points in time can be recovered at which an event was triggered. It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the invention, to modify Talagala (teaches an indication of a particular granularity indicating a time boundary at which a restoration target time for a data object is specified in restoration requests; receiving, a particular restoration request for the data object, the restoration request indicating a particular restoration target time specified at the particular granularity; performing, in response to the particular restoration request, a restore operation for a time period, aligned to the time boundary, corresponding to the particular restoration target time, using at least one or more time marker records corresponding to the time period and stored in a particular change record journal associated with the data object) with the teachings of Ben Or (teaches a computer-implemented method, comprising: receiving, via one or more programmatic interfaces of a cloud computing environment, and stored at the cloud computing environment) with the further teachings of Augenstein (teaches the particular granularity comprises one of: (a) an hour granularity or (b) a minute granularity). One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make such a combination is to find an efficient way to restore data only certain point in time based on the trigged recovery (See Augenstein [0051]). In addition, the references (Talagala, Ben Or, and Augenstein) teach features that are directed to analogous art and they are directed to the same field of endeavor as Talagala, Ben Or, and Augenstein are directed to data protection in obtaining a specific point in time for recovery. Regarding claim 30, the modification of Talagala and Ben Or teaches claimed invention substantially as claimed, however, the modification of Talagala and Ben Or does not explicitly teach the particular granularity comprises one of: (a) an hour granularity or (b) a minute granularity. Augenstein teaches the particular granularity comprises one of: (a) an hour granularity or (b) a minute granularity (Augenstein: [0008]; Instead of creating a continuous undo-log journal, i.e. an undo-log journal containing every single data modification, an undo-log journal is created such that only certain points in time can be recovered, as e.g. hourly or event triggered recovery points. [0051]; In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 2 the Timer 208, generating the timestamps Time for Journal j 0 210, is incremented only on request. Thus, a user can trigger an event to increment the Timer 208. If the Timer 208 receives this event it increments the internal timestamp Time and returns the new, higher timestamp value Time upon all succeeding calls of getTime. Consequently, only those points in time can be recovered at which an event was triggered). It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the invention, to modify Talagala (teaches an indication of a particular granularity indicating a time boundary at which a restoration target time for a data object is specified in restoration requests; receiving, a particular restoration request for the data object, the restoration request indicating a particular restoration target time specified at the particular granularity; performing, in response to the particular restoration request, a restore operation for a time period, aligned to the time boundary, corresponding to the particular restoration target time, using at least one or more time marker records corresponding to the time period and stored in a particular change record journal associated with the data object) with the teachings of Ben Or (teaches a computer-implemented method, comprising: receiving, via one or more programmatic interfaces of a cloud computing environment, and stored at the cloud computing environment) with the further teachings of Augenstein (teaches the particular granularity comprises one of: (a) an hour granularity or (b) a minute granularity). One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make such a combination is to find an efficient way to restore data only certain point in time based on the trigged recovery (See Augenstein [0051]). In addition, the references (Talagala, Ben Or, and Augenstein) teach features that are directed to analogous art and they are directed to the same field of endeavor as Talagala, Ben Or, and Augenstein are directed to data protection in obtaining a specific point in time for recovery. Regarding claim 37, the modification of Talagala and Ben Or teaches claimed invention substantially as claimed, however, the modification of Talagala and Ben Or does not explicitly teach the particular granularity comprises one of: (a) an hour granularity or (b) a minute granularity. Augenstein teaches the particular granularity comprises one of: (a) an hour granularity or (b) a minute granularity (Augenstein: [0008]; Instead of creating a continuous undo-log journal, i.e. an undo-log journal containing every single data modification, an undo-log journal is created such that only certain points in time can be recovered, as e.g. hourly or event triggered recovery points. [0051]; In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 2 the Timer 208, generating the timestamps Time for Journal j 0 210, is incremented only on request. Thus, a user can trigger an event to increment the Timer 208. If the Timer 208 receives this event it increments the internal timestamp Time and returns the new, higher timestamp value Time upon all succeeding calls of getTime. Consequently, only those points in time can be recovered at which an event was triggered). It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the invention, to modify Talagala (teaches an indication of a particular granularity indicating a time boundary at which a restoration target time for a data object is specified in restoration requests; receiving, a particular restoration request for the data object, the restoration request indicating a particular restoration target time specified at the particular granularity; performing, in response to the particular restoration request, a restore operation for a time period, aligned to the time boundary, corresponding to the particular restoration target time, using at least one or more time marker records corresponding to the time period and stored in a particular change record journal associated with the data object) with the teachings of Ben Or (teaches a computer-implemented method, comprising: receiving, via one or more programmatic interfaces of a cloud computing environment, and stored at the cloud computing environment) with the further teachings of Augenstein (teaches the particular granularity comprises one of: (a) an hour granularity or (b) a minute granularity). One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make such a combination is to find an efficient way to restore data only certain point in time based on the trigged recovery (See Augenstein [0051]). In addition, the references (Talagala, Ben Or, and Augenstein) teach features that are directed to analogous art and they are directed to the same field of endeavor as Talagala, Ben Or, and Augenstein are directed to data protection in obtaining a specific point in time for recovery. Claims 24-27, 31-34, and 38-41 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S Patent Application Publication 2014/0089265 issued to Talagala et al. (hereinafter as "Talagala") in view of U.S Patent Application Publication 2012/0151273 issued to Ben Or et al. (hereinafter as “Ben Or”) in further view of U.S Patent Application Publication 2009/0240743 issued to Kenji Yamagami (hereinafter as “Yamagami”). Regarding claim 24, the modification of Talagala and Ben Or teaches claimed invention substantially as claimed, however, the modification of Talagala and Ben Or does not explicitly teach a particular time marker record of the one or more time marker records comprises a timestamp, and wherein the particular time marker record does not include data of the data object. Yamagami teaches a particular time marker record of the one or more time marker records comprises a timestamp, and wherein the particular time marker record does not include data of the data object (Yamagami: [0046]; A journal type field (JH_TYPE) 218 identifies the type of journal entry. The value contained in this field indicates a type of MARKER or INTERNAL. If the type is MARKER, then the journal is a marker journal. The purpose of a MARKER type of journal will be discussed below. If the type is INTERNAL, then the journal records the data that is the subject of the write operation issued from the host 110. [0116]; The following information from the retrieved marker journals can be obtained, although it is understood that any information associated with the marker journal can be obtained sequence number timestamp other information in journal data area 225). It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the invention, to modify Talagala (teaches an indication of a particular granularity indicating a time boundary at which a restoration target time for a data object is specified in restoration requests; receiving, a particular restoration request for the data object, the restoration request indicating a particular restoration target time specified at the particular granularity; performing, in response to the particular restoration request, a restore operation for a time period, aligned to the time boundary, corresponding to the particular restoration target time, using at least one or more time marker records corresponding to the time period and stored in a particular change record journal associated with the data object) with the teachings of Ben Or (teaches a computer-implemented method, comprising: receiving, via one or more programmatic interfaces of a cloud computing environment, and stored at the cloud computing environment) with the further teachings of Yamagami (teaches a particular time marker record of the one or more time marker records comprises a timestamp, and wherein the particular time marker record does not include data of the data object). One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make such a combination is to apply a series of journal entries to the appropriate snap shot in which allows the user to recover to any point of data (See Yamagami [0049]). In addition, the references (Talagala, Ben Or, and Yamagami) teach features that are directed to analogous art and they are directed to the same field of endeavor as Talagala, Ben Or, and Yamagami are directed to data protection in obtaining a specific point in time for recovery. Regarding claim 25, the modification of Talagala and Ben Or teaches claimed invention substantially as claimed, however, the modification of Talagala and Ben Or does not explicitly teach the data object is stored at a first set of storage devices of the cloud computing environment, and wherein the particular change record journal is stored at a second set of storage devices, wherein the second set does not include a storage device of the first set. Yamagami teaches the data object is stored at a first set of storage devices of the cloud computing environment, and wherein the particular change record journal is stored at a second set of storage devices, wherein the second set does not include a storage device of the first set (Yamagami: [0032]; The journal data produced by the journaling activity can be stored in one or more journal volumes(JVOL) 106. [0034]; The storage system 100 provides a snapshot (SS) 105 of the data volumes comprising a journal group. For example, the snapshot 105 is representative of the data volumes 101 in the journal group 106 at the point in time that the snapshot was taken. One or more snapshot volumes (SVOL) 107 are provided in the storage system which contain the snapshot data. A snapshot can be contained in one or more snapshot volumes. Though the disclosed embodiment illustrates separate storage components for the journal data and the snapshot data, it can be appreciated that other implementations can provide a single storage component for storing the journal data and the snapshot data). It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the invention, to modify Talagala (teaches an indication of a particular granularity indicating a time boundary at which a restoration target time for a data object is specified in restoration requests; receiving, a particular restoration request for the data object, the restoration request indicating a particular restoration target time specified at the particular granularity; performing, in response to the particular restoration request, a restore operation for a time period, aligned to the time boundary, corresponding to the particular restoration target time, using at least one or more time marker records corresponding to the time period and stored in a particular change record journal associated with the data object) with the teachings of Ben Or (teaches a computer-implemented method, comprising: receiving, via one or more programmatic interfaces of a cloud computing environment, and stored at the cloud computing environment) with the further teachings of Yamagami (teaches a particular time marker record of the one or more time marker records comprises a timestamp, and wherein the particular time marker record does not include data of the data object). One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make such a combination is to apply a series of journal entries to the appropriate snap shot in which allows the user to recover to any point of data (See Yamagami [0049]). In addition, the references (Talagala, Ben Or, and Yamagami) teach features that are directed to analogous art and they are directed to the same field of endeavor as Talagala, Ben Or, and Yamagami are directed to data protection in obtaining a specific point in time for recovery. Regarding claim 26, the modification of Talagala and Ben Or teaches claimed invention substantially as claimed, however, the modification of Talagala and Ben Or does not explicitly teach performing the restore operation comprises using one or more write records of the data object, wherein the one or more write records are stored in the particular change record journal. Yamagami teaches performing the restore operation comprises using one or more write records of the data object, wherein the one or more write records are stored in the particular change record journal (Yamagami: [0029]; Depending on system requirements, implementation, and so on, the snapshot can be of the entire data volume, or some portion or portions of the data volume(s). During the normal course of operation of the system in accordance with the invention, a journal entry is made for every write operation issued from the host to the data volumes. [0037]; When a write request from the host 110 arrives at the storage system 100, a journal is generated in response. The journal comprises a Journal Header 219 and Journal Data 225. The Journal Header 219 contains information about its corresponding Journal Data 225. The Journal Data 225 comprises the data (write data) that is the subject of the write operation. [0074]-[0075]; Recovering data typically requires recover the data state of at least a portion of the data volumes 101 at a specific time. Generally, this is accomplished by applying one or more journal entries to a snapshot that was taken earlier in time relative to the journal entries. The selected snapshot is incrementally updated by applying each journal entry, one at a time, to the snapshot in sequential order, thus reproducing the sequence of write operations. This continues as long as the time field JH_TIME 214 of the journal entry is prior to the target time). It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the invention, to modify Talagala (teaches an indication of a particular granularity indicating a time boundary at which a restoration target time for a data object is specified in restoration requests; receiving, a particular restoration request for the data object, the restoration request indicating a particular restoration target time specified at the particular granularity; performing, in response to the particular restoration request, a restore operation for a time period, aligned to the time boundary, corresponding to the particular restoration target time, using at least one or more time marker records corresponding to the time period and stored in a particular change record journal associated with the data object) with the teachings of Ben Or (teaches a computer-implemented method, comprising: receiving, via one or more programmatic interfaces of a cloud computing environment, and stored at the cloud computing environment) with the further teachings of Yamagami (teaches a particular time marker record of the one or more time marker records comprises a timestamp, and wherein the particular time marker record does not include data of the data object). One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make such a combination is to apply a series of journal entries to the appropriate snap shot in which allows the user to recover to any point of data (See Yamagami [0049]). In addition, the references (Talagala, Ben Or, and Yamagami) teach features that are directed to analogous art and they are directed to the same field of endeavor as Talagala, Ben Or, and Yamagami are directed to data protection in obtaining a specific point in time for recovery. Regarding claim 27, the modification of Talagala and Ben Or teaches claimed invention substantially as claimed, however, the modification of Talagala and Ben Or does not explicitly teach performing the restore operation comprises using a particular snapshot of the data object. Yamagami teaches performing the restore operation comprises using a particular snapshot of the data object (Yamagami: [0007]; Then, as changes are made to the data, a journal of the changes is maintained. Recovery of data is accomplished by applying the journal to an appropriate image to recover data at any point in time. Typical database systems, such as Oracle, can perform journaling. [0074]-[0075]; Recovering data typically requires recover the data state of at least a portion of the data volumes 101 at a specific time. Therefore, it is a simple matter to identify which journal entries can be applied to a selected snapshot; i.e., those journal entries whose associated sequence numbers (JH_SEQ, 215) are greater than the sequence number (SS_SEQ, 351) associated with the selected snapshot. For example, the administrator may specify some point in time, presumably a time that is earlier than the time (the “target time”) at which the data in the data volume was lost or otherwise corrupted. The selected snapshot is incrementally updated by applying each journal entry, one at a time, to the snapshot in sequential order, thus reproducing the sequence of write operations. This continues as long as the time field JH_TIME 214 of the journal entry is prior to the target time. The update ceases with the first journal entry whose time field 214 is past the target time. [0134]; A suitable snapshot is obtained and updated with journal entries of type INTERNAL, up to the latest journal entry. At that point, the data state of the volume reflects the time just before the file was deleted). It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the invention, to modify Talagala (teaches an indication of a particular granularity indicating a time boundary at which a restoration target time for a data object is specified in restoration requests; receiving, a particular restoration request for the data object, the restoration request indicating a particular restoration target time specified at the particular granularity; performing, in response to the particular restoration request, a restore operation for a time period, aligned to the time boundary, corresponding to the particular restoration target time, using at least one or more time marker records corresponding to the time period and stored in a particular change record journal associated with the data object) with the teachings of Ben Or (teaches a computer-implemented method, comprising: receiving, via one or more programmatic interfaces of a cloud computing environment, and stored at the cloud computing environment) with the further teachings of Yamagami (teaches a particular time marker record of the one or more time marker records comprises a timestamp, and wherein the particular time marker record does not include data of the data object). One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make such a combination is to apply a series of journal entries to the appropriate snap shot in which allows the user to recover to any point of data (See Yamagami [0049]). In addition, the references (Talagala, Ben Or, and Yamagami) teach features that are directed to analogous art and they are directed to the same field of endeavor as Talagala, Ben Or, and Yamagami are directed to data protection in obtaining a specific point in time for recovery. Regarding claim 31, the modification of Talagala and Ben Or teaches claimed invention substantially as claimed, however, the modification of Talagala and Ben Or does not explicitly teach a particular time marker record of the one or more time marker records comprises a timestamp, and wherein the particular time marker record does not include data of the data object. Yamagami teaches a particular time marker record of the one or more time marker records comprises a timestamp, and wherein the particular time marker record does not include data of the data object (Yamagami: [0046]; A journal type field (JH_TYPE) 218 identifies the type of journal entry. The value contained in this field indicates a type of MARKER or INTERNAL. If the type is MARKER, then the journal is a marker journal. The purpose of a MARKER type of journal will be discussed below. If the type is INTERNAL, then the journal records the data that is the subject of the write operation issued from the host 110. [0116]; The following information from the retrieved marker journals can be obtained, although it is understood that any information associated with the marker journal can be obtained sequence number timestamp other information in journal data area 225). It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the invention, to modify Talagala (teaches an indication of a particular granularity indicating a time boundary at which a restoration target time for a data object is specified in restoration requests; receiving, a particular restoration request for the data object, the restoration request indicating a particular restoration target time specified at the particular granularity; performing, in response to the particular restoration request, a restore operation for a time period, aligned to the time boundary, corresponding to the particular restoration target time, using at least one or more time marker records corresponding to the time period and stored in a particular change record journal associated with the data object) with the teachings of Ben Or (teaches a computer-implemented method, comprising: receiving, via one or more programmatic interfaces of a cloud computing environment, and stored at the cloud computing environment) with the further teachings of Yamagami (teaches a particular time marker record of the one or more time marker records comprises a timestamp, and wherein the particular time marker record does not include data of the data object). One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make such a combination is to apply a series of journal entries to the appropriate snap shot in which allows the user to recover to any point of data (See Yamagami [0049]). In addition, the references (Talagala, Ben Or, and Yamagami) teach features that are directed to analogous art and they are directed to the same field of endeavor as Talagala, Ben Or, and Yamagami are directed to data protection in obtaining a specific point in time for recovery. Regarding claim 32, the modification of Talagala and Ben Or teaches claimed invention substantially as claimed, however, the modification of Talagala and Ben Or does not explicitly teach the data object is stored at a first set of storage devices of the cloud computing environment, and wherein the particular change record journal is stored at a second set of storage devices, wherein the second set does not include a storage device of the first set. Yamagami teaches the data object is stored at a first set of storage devices of the cloud computing environment, and wherein the particular change record journal is stored at a second set of storage devices, wherein the second set does not include a storage device of the first set (Yamagami: [0032]; The journal data produced by the journaling activity can be stored in one or more journal volumes(JVOL) 106. [0034]; The storage system 100 provides a snapshot (SS) 105 of the data volumes comprising a journal group. For example, the snapshot 105 is representative of the data volumes 101 in the journal group 106 at the point in time that the snapshot was taken. One or more snapshot volumes (SVOL) 107 are provided in the storage system which contain the snapshot data. A snapshot can be contained in one or more snapshot volumes. Though the disclosed embodiment illustrates separate storage components for the journal data and the snapshot data, it can be appreciated that other implementations can provide a single storage component for storing the journal data and the snapshot data). It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the invention, to modify Talagala (teaches an indication of a particular granularity indicating a time boundary at which a restoration target time for a data object is specified in restoration requests; receiving, a particular restoration request for the data object, the restoration request indicating a particular restoration target time specified at the particular granularity; performing, in response to the particular restoration request, a restore operation for a time period, aligned to the time boundary, corresponding to the particular restoration target time, using at least one or more time marker records corresponding to the time period and stored in a particular change record journal associated with the data object) with the teachings of Ben Or (teaches a computer-implemented method, comprising: receiving, via one or more programmatic interfaces of a cloud computing environment, and stored at the cloud computing environment) with the further teachings of Yamagami (teaches a particular time marker record of the one or more time marker records comprises a timestamp, and wherein the particular time marker record does not include data of the data object). One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make such a combination is to apply a series of journal entries to the appropriate snap shot in which allows the user to recover to any point of data (See Yamagami [0049]). In addition, the references (Talagala, Ben Or, and Yamagami) teach features that are directed to analogous art and they are directed to the same field of endeavor as Talagala, Ben Or, and Yamagami are directed to data protection in obtaining a specific point in time for recovery. Regarding claim 33, the modification of Talagala and Ben Or teaches claimed invention substantially as claimed, however, the modification of Talagala and Ben Or does not explicitly teach the restore operation comprises using one or more write records of the data object, wherein the one or more write records are stored in the particular change record journal. Yamagami teaches performing the restore operation comprises using one or more write records of the data object, wherein the one or more write records are stored in the particular change record journal (Yamagami: [0029]; Depending on system requirements, implementation, and so on, the snapshot can be of the entire data volume, or some portion or portions of the data volume(s). During the normal course of operation of the system in accordance with the invention, a journal entry is made for every write operation issued from the host to the data volumes. [0037]; When a write request from the host 110 arrives at the storage system 100, a journal is generated in response. The journal comprises a Journal Header 219 and Journal Data 225. The Journal Header 219 contains information about its corresponding Journal Data 225. The Journal Data 225 comprises the data (write data) that is the subject of the write operation. [0074]-[0075]; Recovering data typically requires recover the data state of at least a portion of the data volumes 101 at a specific time. Generally, this is accomplished by applying one or more journal entries to a snapshot that was taken earlier in time relative to the journal entries. The selected snapshot is incrementally updated by applying each journal entry, one at a time, to the snapshot in sequential order, thus reproducing the sequence of write operations. This continues as long as the time field JH_TIME 214 of the journal entry is prior to the target time). It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the invention, to modify Talagala (teaches an indication of a particular granularity indicating a time boundary at which a restoration target time for a data object is specified in restoration requests; receiving, a particular restoration request for the data object, the restoration request indicating a particular restoration target time specified at the particular granularity; performing, in response to the particular restoration request, a restore operation for a time period, aligned to the time boundary, corresponding to the particular restoration target time, using at least one or more time marker records corresponding to the time period and stored in a particular change record journal associated with the data object) with the teachings of Ben Or (teaches a computer-implemented method, comprising: receiving, via one or more programmatic interfaces of a cloud computing environment, and stored at the cloud computing environment) with the further teachings of Yamagami (teaches a particular time marker record of the one or more time marker records comprises a timestamp, and wherein the particular time marker record does not include data of the data object). One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make such a combination is to apply a series of journal entries to the appropriate snap shot in which allows the user to recover to any point of data (See Yamagami [0049]). In addition, the references (Talagala, Ben Or, and Yamagami) teach features that are directed to analogous art and they are directed to the same field of endeavor as Talagala, Ben Or, and Yamagami are directed to data protection in obtaining a specific point in time for recovery. Regarding claim 34, the modification of Talagala and Ben Or teaches claimed invention substantially as claimed, however, the modification of Talagala and Ben Or does not explicitly teach performing the restore operation comprises using a particular snapshot of the data object. Yamagami teaches performing the restore operation comprises using a particular snapshot of the data object (Yamagami: [0007]; Then, as changes are made to the data, a journal of the changes is maintained. Recovery of data is accomplished by applying the journal to an appropriate image to recover data at any point in time. Typical database systems, such as Oracle, can perform journaling. [0074]-[0075]; Recovering data typically requires recover the data state of at least a portion of the data volumes 101 at a specific time. Therefore, it is a simple matter to identify which journal entries can be applied to a selected snapshot; i.e., those journal entries whose associated sequence numbers (JH_SEQ, 215) are greater than the sequence number (SS_SEQ, 351) associated with the selected snapshot. For example, the administrator may specify some point in time, presumably a time that is earlier than the time (the “target time”) at which the data in the data volume was lost or otherwise corrupted. The selected snapshot is incrementally updated by applying each journal entry, one at a time, to the snapshot in sequential order, thus reproducing the sequence of write operations. This continues as long as the time field JH_TIME 214 of the journal entry is prior to the target time. The update ceases with the first journal entry whose time field 214 is past the target time. [0134]; A suitable snapshot is obtained and updated with journal entries of type INTERNAL, up to the latest journal entry. At that point, the data state of the volume reflects the time just before the file was deleted). It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the invention, to modify Talagala (teaches an indication of a particular granularity indicating a time boundary at which a restoration target time for a data object is specified in restoration requests; receiving, a particular restoration request for the data object, the restoration request indicating a particular restoration target time specified at the particular granularity; performing, in response to the particular restoration request, a restore operation for a time period, aligned to the time boundary, corresponding to the particular restoration target time, using at least one or more time marker records corresponding to the time period and stored in a particular change record journal associated with the data object) with the teachings of Ben Or (teaches a computer-implemented method, comprising: receiving, via one or more programmatic interfaces of a cloud computing environment, and stored at the cloud computing environment) with the further teachings of Yamagami (teaches a particular time marker record of the one or more time marker records comprises a timestamp, and wherein the particular time marker record does not include data of the data object). One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make such a combination is to apply a series of journal entries to the appropriate snap shot in which allows the user to recover to any point of data (See Yamagami [0049]). In addition, the references (Talagala, Ben Or, and Yamagami) teach features that are directed to analogous art and they are directed to the same field of endeavor as Talagala, Ben Or, and Yamagami are directed to data protection in obtaining a specific point in time for recovery. Regarding claim 38, the modification of Talagala and Ben Or teaches claimed invention substantially as claimed, however, the modification of Talagala and Ben Or does not explicitly teach a particular time marker record of the one or more time marker records comprises a timestamp, and wherein the particular time marker record does not include data of the data object. Yamagami teaches a particular time marker record of the one or more time marker records comprises a timestamp, and wherein the particular time marker record does not include data of the data object (Yamagami: [0046]; A journal type field (JH_TYPE) 218 identifies the type of journal entry. The value contained in this field indicates a type of MARKER or INTERNAL. If the type is MARKER, then the journal is a marker journal. The purpose of a MARKER type of journal will be discussed below. If the type is INTERNAL, then the journal records the data that is the subject of the write operation issued from the host 110. [0116]; The following information from the retrieved marker journals can be obtained, although it is understood that any information associated with the marker journal can be obtained sequence number timestamp other information in journal data area 225). It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the invention, to modify Talagala (teaches an indication of a particular granularity indicating a time boundary at which a restoration target time for a data object is specified in restoration requests; receiving, a particular restoration request for the data object, the restoration request indicating a particular restoration target time specified at the particular granularity; performing, in response to the particular restoration request, a restore operation for a time period, aligned to the time boundary, corresponding to the particular restoration target time, using at least one or more time marker records corresponding to the time period and stored in a particular change record journal associated with the data object) with the teachings of Ben Or (teaches a computer-implemented method, comprising: receiving, via one or more programmatic interfaces of a cloud computing environment, and stored at the cloud computing environment) with the further teachings of Yamagami (teaches a particular time marker record of the one or more time marker records comprises a timestamp, and wherein the particular time marker record does not include data of the data object). One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make such a combination is to apply a series of journal entries to the appropriate snap shot in which allows the user to recover to any point of data (See Yamagami [0049]). In addition, the references (Talagala, Ben Or, and Yamagami) teach features that are directed to analogous art and they are directed to the same field of endeavor as Talagala, Ben Or, and Yamagami are directed to data protection in obtaining a specific point in time for recovery. Regarding claim 39, the modification of Talagala and Ben Or teaches claimed invention substantially as claimed, however, the modification of Talagala and Ben Or does not explicitly teach the data object is stored at a first set of storage devices of the cloud computing environment, and wherein the particular change record journal is stored at a second set of storage devices, wherein the second set does not include a storage device of the first set. Yamagami teaches the data object is stored at a first set of storage devices of the cloud computing environment, and wherein the particular change record journal is stored at a second set of storage devices, wherein the second set does not include a storage device of the first set (Yamagami: [0032]; The journal data produced by the journaling activity can be stored in one or more journal volumes(JVOL) 106. [0034]; The storage system 100 provides a snapshot (SS) 105 of the data volumes comprising a journal group. For example, the snapshot 105 is representative of the data volumes 101 in the journal group 106 at the point in time that the snapshot was taken. One or more snapshot volumes (SVOL) 107 are provided in the storage system which contain the snapshot data. A snapshot can be contained in one or more snapshot volumes. Though the disclosed embodiment illustrates separate storage components for the journal data and the snapshot data, it can be appreciated that other implementations can provide a single storage component for storing the journal data and the snapshot data). It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the invention, to modify Talagala (teaches an indication of a particular granularity indicating a time boundary at which a restoration target time for a data object is specified in restoration requests; receiving, a particular restoration request for the data object, the restoration request indicating a particular restoration target time specified at the particular granularity; performing, in response to the particular restoration request, a restore operation for a time period, aligned to the time boundary, corresponding to the particular restoration target time, using at least one or more time marker records corresponding to the time period and stored in a particular change record journal associated with the data object) with the teachings of Ben Or (teaches a computer-implemented method, comprising: receiving, via one or more programmatic interfaces of a cloud computing environment, and stored at the cloud computing environment) with the further teachings of Yamagami (teaches a particular time marker record of the one or more time marker records comprises a timestamp, and wherein the particular time marker record does not include data of the data object). One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make such a combination is to apply a series of journal entries to the appropriate snap shot in which allows the user to recover to any point of data (See Yamagami [0049]). In addition, the references (Talagala, Ben Or, and Yamagami) teach features that are directed to analogous art and they are directed to the same field of endeavor as Talagala, Ben Or, and Yamagami are directed to data protection in obtaining a specific point in time for recovery. Regarding claim 40, the modification of Talagala and Ben Or teaches claimed invention substantially as claimed, however, the modification of Talagala and Ben Or does not explicitly teach performing the restore operation comprises using one or more write records of the data object, wherein the one or more write records are stored in the particular change record journal. Yamagami teaches performing the restore operation comprises using one or more write records of the data object, wherein the one or more write records are stored in the particular change record journal (Yamagami: [0029]; Depending on system requirements, implementation, and so on, the snapshot can be of the entire data volume, or some portion or portions of the data volume(s). During the normal course of operation of the system in accordance with the invention, a journal entry is made for every write operation issued from the host to the data volumes. [0037]; When a write request from the host 110 arrives at the storage system 100, a journal is generated in response. The journal comprises a Journal Header 219 and Journal Data 225. The Journal Header 219 contains information about its corresponding Journal Data 225. The Journal Data 225 comprises the data (write data) that is the subject of the write operation. [0074]-[0075]; Recovering data typically requires recover the data state of at least a portion of the data volumes 101 at a specific time. Generally, this is accomplished by applying one or more journal entries to a snapshot that was taken earlier in time relative to the journal entries. The selected snapshot is incrementally updated by applying each journal entry, one at a time, to the snapshot in sequential order, thus reproducing the sequence of write operations. This continues as long as the time field JH_TIME 214 of the journal entry is prior to the target time). It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the invention, to modify Talagala (teaches an indication of a particular granularity indicating a time boundary at which a restoration target time for a data object is specified in restoration requests; receiving, a particular restoration request for the data object, the restoration request indicating a particular restoration target time specified at the particular granularity; performing, in response to the particular restoration request, a restore operation for a time period, aligned to the time boundary, corresponding to the particular restoration target time, using at least one or more time marker records corresponding to the time period and stored in a particular change record journal associated with the data object) with the teachings of Ben Or (teaches a computer-implemented method, comprising: receiving, via one or more programmatic interfaces of a cloud computing environment, and stored at the cloud computing environment) with the further teachings of Yamagami (teaches a particular time marker record of the one or more time marker records comprises a timestamp, and wherein the particular time marker record does not include data of the data object). One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make such a combination is to apply a series of journal entries to the appropriate snap shot in which allows the user to recover to any point of data (See Yamagami [0049]). In addition, the references (Talagala, Ben Or, and Yamagami) teach features that are directed to analogous art and they are directed to the same field of endeavor as Talagala, Ben Or, and Yamagami are directed to data protection in obtaining a specific point in time for recovery. Regarding claim 41, the modification of Talagala and Ben Or teaches claimed invention substantially as claimed, however, the modification of Talagala and Ben Or does not explicitly teach restore operation comprises using a particular snapshot of the data object. Yamagami teaches performing the restore operation comprises using a particular snapshot of the data object (Yamagami: [0007]; Then, as changes are made to the data, a journal of the changes is maintained. Recovery of data is accomplished by applying the journal to an appropriate image to recover data at any point in time. Typical database systems, such as Oracle, can perform journaling. [0074]-[0075]; Recovering data typically requires recover the data state of at least a portion of the data volumes 101 at a specific time. Therefore, it is a simple matter to identify which journal entries can be applied to a selected snapshot; i.e., those journal entries whose associated sequence numbers (JH_SEQ, 215) are greater than the sequence number (SS_SEQ, 351) associated with the selected snapshot. For example, the administrator may specify some point in time, presumably a time that is earlier than the time (the “target time”) at which the data in the data volume was lost or otherwise corrupted. The selected snapshot is incrementally updated by applying each journal entry, one at a time, to the snapshot in sequential order, thus reproducing the sequence of write operations. This continues as long as the time field JH_TIME 214 of the journal entry is prior to the target time. The update ceases with the first journal entry whose time field 214 is past the target time. [0134]; A suitable snapshot is obtained and updated with journal entries of type INTERNAL, up to the latest journal entry. At that point, the data state of the volume reflects the time just before the file was deleted). It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the invention, to modify Talagala (teaches an indication of a particular granularity indicating a time boundary at which a restoration target time for a data object is specified in restoration requests; receiving, a particular restoration request for the data object, the restoration request indicating a particular restoration target time specified at the particular granularity; performing, in response to the particular restoration request, a restore operation for a time period, aligned to the time boundary, corresponding to the particular restoration target time, using at least one or more time marker records corresponding to the time period and stored in a particular change record journal associated with the data object) with the teachings of Ben Or (teaches a computer-implemented method, comprising: receiving, via one or more programmatic interfaces of a cloud computing environment, and stored at the cloud computing environment) with the further teachings of Yamagami (teaches a particular time marker record of the one or more time marker records comprises a timestamp, and wherein the particular time marker record does not include data of the data object). One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make such a combination is to apply a series of journal entries to the appropriate snap shot in which allows the user to recover to any point of data (See Yamagami [0049]). In addition, the references (Talagala, Ben Or, and Yamagami) teach features that are directed to analogous art and they are directed to the same field of endeavor as Talagala, Ben Or, and Yamagami are directed to data protection in obtaining a specific point in time for recovery. Claims 28 and 35 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S Patent Application Publication 2014/0089265 issued to Talagala et al. (hereinafter as "Talagala") in view of U.S Patent Application Publication 2012/0151273 issued to Ben Or et al. (hereinafter as “Ben Or”) in view of U.S Patent Application Publication 2009/0240743 issued to Kenji Yamagami (hereinafter as “Yamagami”) in further view of U.S Patent Application Publication 2007/0112893 issued to Okada et al. (hereinafter as “Okada”). Regarding claim 28, the modification of Talagala, Ben Or, and Yamagami teaches claimed invention substantially as claimed, however the modification of Talagala, Ben Or, and Yamagami does not explicitly teach receiving, via the one or more programmatic interfaces, an indication of a targeted maximum time for completing restorations of the data object; and scheduling creation of one or more snapshots of the data object based at least in part on the targeted maximum time, wherein the one or more snapshots include the particular snapshot. Okada teaches receiving, via the one or more programmatic interfaces, an indication of a targeted maximum time for completing restorations of the data object (Okada: [0005]; The worst value of the time required for data recovery is called “recovery time objective (RTO)”. [0034]; The configuration program registers, in the snapshot management information, an RTO requested by an administrator, an RTO threshold that triggers the start of RTO adjustment, and an RTO target to which an RTO is to be reduced by the RTO adjustment. If it has been determined that the data cannot be recovered within the RTO threshold, a journal is applied to the latest snapshot such that data at every recovery point can be recovered within the RTO target.[0107]; A Requested RTO 11204 is a field for entering an RTO requested by the administrator. A Requested-RTO Application Period 11205 is a field for entering the hours, up to the current time, during which the requested RTO in the Requested-RTO Application Period 11205 is to be applied. An RTO-Adjustment Start Threshold 11206 is a field for entering a threshold that triggers the updating of the latest snapshot for meeting the requested RTO); and scheduling creation of one or more snapshots of the data object based at least in part on the targeted maximum time, wherein the one or more snapshots include the particular snapshot (Okada: [0034]-[0035]; The configuration program registers, in the snapshot management information, an RTO requested by an administrator, an RTO threshold that triggers the start of RTO adjustment, and an RTO target to which an RTO is to be reduced by the RTO adjustment. The snapshot management program periodically obtains journal storage information and snapshot storage information and determines, with respect to every recovery point after the recovery point of the latest snapshot, whether data is recoverable within the RTO threshold, on the basis of the data length of a journal having the recovery point and on the application speed of the journal. If it has been determined that the data cannot be recovered within the RTO threshold, a journal is applied to the latest snapshot such that data at every recovery point can be recovered within the RTO target. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 19, journal and snapshot storage information is checked periodically (e.g., every minute), and the latest snapshot is updated when the total amount of data written after the latest snapshot exceeds a threshold. Specifically, as shown, since the total amount of data written during the period from 18:00 to 0:00 reaches 9T, which exceeds the threshold (8T), three hours of journal (3T) is applied to a snapshot taken at 18:00. Thus, the snapshot taken at 18:00 is updated to a newer snapshot taken at 21:00. Then, the total amount of data written during the period from 21:00 to 0:00 is reduced to 6T (given by 9T−3T), which is below the threshold (8T). In this case, since the total amount of data written during the period from 12:00 to 21:00 reaches 11T (given by 8T+3T), which exceeds both the threshold (8T) and RTO (10T), three hours of journal (3T) is applied to a snapshot taken at 12:00. Thus, the snapshot taken at 12:00 is updated to a newer snapshot taken at 15:00. [0100]; The RTO Adjustment Start Threshold 9008 holds thresholds that trigger the updating of the latest snapshots for meeting the requested RTOs. The latest snapshot is updated when a recovery point after the latest snapshot exceeds a threshold). It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the invention, to modify Talagala (teaches an indication of a particular granularity indicating a time boundary at which a restoration target time for a data object is specified in restoration requests; receiving, a particular restoration request for the data object, the restoration request indicating a particular restoration target time specified at the particular granularity; performing, in response to the particular restoration request, a restore operation for a time period, aligned to the time boundary, corresponding to the particular restoration target time, using at least one or more time marker records corresponding to the time period and stored in a particular change record journal associated with the data object) with the teachings of Ben Or (teaches a computer-implemented method, comprising: receiving, via one or more programmatic interfaces of a cloud computing environment, and stored at the cloud computing environment) with the teachings of Yamagami teaches (performing, in response to the particular restoration request, a restore operation corresponding to the particular restoration target time, using at least one or more time marker records stored in a particular change record journal associated with the data object) with the further teachings of Okada teaches receive, via the one or more programmatic interfaces, an indication of a targeted maximum time for completing restorations of the data object; and schedule creation of one or more snapshots of the data object based at least in part on the targeted maximum time, wherein the one or more snapshots include the particular snapshot). One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make such a combination to determine a recovery point not exceeding the threshold to ensure that the latest snapshot is updated to data in such that can be recovered (See Okada [0034]). In addition, the references (Talagala, Ben Or, Yamagami, and Okada) teach features that are directed to analogous art and they are directed to the same field of endeavor as Talagala, Ben Or, Yamagami, and Okada are directed to data protection in obtaining a specific point in time for recovery. Regarding claim 35, the modification of Talagala, Ben Or, and Yamagami teaches claimed invention substantially as claimed, however the modification of Talagala, Ben Or, and Yamagami does not explicitly teach the one or more computing devices include further instructions that upon execution on or across the one or more computing devices: receive, via the one or more programmatic interfaces, an indication of a targeted maximum time for completing restorations of the data object; and schedule creation of one or more snapshots of the data object based at least in part on the targeted maximum time, wherein the one or more snapshots include the particular snapshot. Okada teaches the one or more computing devices include further instructions that upon execution on or across the one or more computing devices: receive, via the one or more programmatic interfaces, an indication of a targeted maximum time for completing restorations of the data object (Okada: [0005]; The worst value of the time required for data recovery is called “recovery time objective (RTO)”. [0034]; The configuration program registers, in the snapshot management information, an RTO requested by an administrator, an RTO threshold that triggers the start of RTO adjustment, and an RTO target to which an RTO is to be reduced by the RTO adjustment. If it has been determined that the data cannot be recovered within the RTO threshold, a journal is applied to the latest snapshot such that data at every recovery point can be recovered within the RTO target.[0107]; A Requested RTO 11204 is a field for entering an RTO requested by the administrator. A Requested-RTO Application Period 11205 is a field for entering the hours, up to the current time, during which the requested RTO in the Requested-RTO Application Period 11205 is to be applied. An RTO-Adjustment Start Threshold 11206 is a field for entering a threshold that triggers the updating of the latest snapshot for meeting the requested RTO); and schedule creation of one or more snapshots of the data object based at least in part on the targeted maximum time, wherein the one or more snapshots include the particular snapshot (Okada: [0034]-[0035]; The configuration program registers, in the snapshot management information, an RTO requested by an administrator, an RTO threshold that triggers the start of RTO adjustment, and an RTO target to which an RTO is to be reduced by the RTO adjustment. The snapshot management program periodically obtains journal storage information and snapshot storage information and determines, with respect to every recovery point after the recovery point of the latest snapshot, whether data is recoverable within the RTO threshold, on the basis of the data length of a journal having the recovery point and on the application speed of the journal. If it has been determined that the data cannot be recovered within the RTO threshold, a journal is applied to the latest snapshot such that data at every recovery point can be recovered within the RTO target. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 19, journal and snapshot storage information is checked periodically (e.g., every minute), and the latest snapshot is updated when the total amount of data written after the latest snapshot exceeds a threshold. Specifically, as shown, since the total amount of data written during the period from 18:00 to 0:00 reaches 9T, which exceeds the threshold (8T), three hours of journal (3T) is applied to a snapshot taken at 18:00. Thus, the snapshot taken at 18:00 is updated to a newer snapshot taken at 21:00. Then, the total amount of data written during the period from 21:00 to 0:00 is reduced to 6T (given by 9T−3T), which is below the threshold (8T). In this case, since the total amount of data written during the period from 12:00 to 21:00 reaches 11T (given by 8T+3T), which exceeds both the threshold (8T) and RTO (10T), three hours of journal (3T) is applied to a snapshot taken at 12:00. Thus, the snapshot taken at 12:00 is updated to a newer snapshot taken at 15:00. [0100]; The RTO Adjustment Start Threshold 9008 holds thresholds that trigger the updating of the latest snapshots for meeting the requested RTOs. The latest snapshot is updated when a recovery point after the latest snapshot exceeds a threshold). It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the invention, to modify Talagala (teaches an indication of a particular granularity indicating a time boundary at which a restoration target time for a data object is specified in restoration requests; receiving, a particular restoration request for the data object, the restoration request indicating a particular restoration target time specified at the particular granularity; performing, in response to the particular restoration request, a restore operation for a time period, aligned to the time boundary, corresponding to the particular restoration target time, using at least one or more time marker records corresponding to the time period and stored in a particular change record journal associated with the data object) with the teachings of Ben Or (teaches a computer-implemented method, comprising: receiving, via one or more programmatic interfaces of a cloud computing environment, and stored at the cloud computing environment) with the teachings of Yamagami teaches (performing, in response to the particular restoration request, a restore operation corresponding to the particular restoration target time, using at least one or more time marker records stored in a particular change record journal associated with the data object) with the further teachings of Okada teaches receive, via the one or more programmatic interfaces, an indication of a targeted maximum time for completing restorations of the data object; and schedule creation of one or more snapshots of the data object based at least in part on the targeted maximum time, wherein the one or more snapshots include the particular snapshot). One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make such a combination to determine a recovery point not exceeding the threshold to ensure that the latest snapshot is updated to data in such that can be recovered (See Okada [0034]). In addition, the references (Talagala, Ben Or, Yamagami, and Okada) teach features that are directed to analogous art and they are directed to the same field of endeavor as Talagala, Ben Or, Yamagami, and Okada are directed to data protection in obtaining a specific point in time for recovery. Conclusion The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. U.S Patent 9,846,698 issued to Panidis et al. (hereinafter as “Panidis”) teaches maintaining granular backups where the backup windows are defined and policies are associated to the windows. The deduplicated storage maintained data journals and metadata journals for each backup snapshots. U.S Patent 10,261,867 issued to Terry, II et al. (hereinafter as “Terry”) teaches selecting point-in-time copies of data objects for restore operations. The user selects a point-in-time backup to restore operations where the backup server maintains backup copies of the multiple data objects. U.S Patent Application Publication 2013/0212068 issued to Talius et al. (hereinafter as “Talius”) teaches a database system that is queried to provide access to a version of a database by rollbacking to a previous version of a database content based on the point in time. Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). 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. Contact Information Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANDREW N HO whose telephone number is (571)270-0590. The examiner can normally be reached Tuesday and Thursday 10:00-6:00. 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, Sherief Badawi can be reached at (571) 272-9782. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. 10/9/2026 /ANDREW N HO/Examiner Art Unit 2169 /SHERIEF BADAWI/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2169
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Prosecution Timeline

Jan 10, 2025
Application Filed
Jun 02, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §103
Aug 31, 2026
Response Filed
Oct 13, 2026
Final Rejection mailed — §103 (current)

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3-4
Expected OA Rounds
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92%
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3y 11m (~2y 1m remaining)
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