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 .
This is a NON-FINAL OFFICE ACTION in response to the present Application filed 01/16/2025. Claims 1-20 are pending in the Application, of which Claims 1, 12 and 19 are independent.
Continuity/ Priority Information
The present Application 19023789 filed 01/16/2025
is a Continuation of 18060431, filed 11/30/2022, now U.S. Patent No.12,223,166
is a Continuation of 16732530, filed 01/02/2020 ,now U.S. Patent No.11,543,963
is a Continuation of 15900525, filed 02/20/2018, now abandoned
is a Continuation in Part of 15345172, filed 11/07/2016, now U.S. Patent No.9,927,976
is a Divisional of 14307625 , filed 06/18/2014 ,now U.S. Patent No. 9,495,118
14307625 Claims Priority from Provisional Application 61860498, filed 07/31/2013.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 01/16/2025 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the IDS has been considered by the examiner.
Claim Objections
Claims 1-18 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 1, “determining to generate” change to “generating”.
Claim 18, change to The method of claim 12, wherein the version number includes a unique version identifier.
Claim 12, “the version number” change to “a version number” due to lack of antecedent basis.
Any Claims not specifically mentioned above are objected due to their dependency on an objected claim. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Lanzatella et al. (U.S. Patent No. 7,533,133) Pub. Date: 2009-05-12.
Regarding independent Claims 1, 12 and 19, Lanzatella discloses externally managing frozen file images in shared storage environments utilizing sparse data objects, comprising:
generating a version number associated with a data object stored in the storage network, wherein the data object is dispersed storage error encoded to produce a set of encoded data slices;
In FIG. 2, three file versions are shown, according to one embodiment, and each file version may add one data object to the chain of data objects from the previous versions. Version 210 includes Object ID 215 that may reference Data Object 277 on Storage Device 270. Data Object 277 may store the oldest data in this embodiment.
identifying a number of versions associated with the data object; and based on the number of versions associated with the data object, generating metadata associated with the data object;
Metadata Server 200 may then map Version 210 to Data Object 277 on Storage Device 270 through Object ID 215. Metadata Server 200 may then provide metadata information for Version 210 and an access token for Data Object 277 to Client 250.
issuing a write request for one or more encoded data slices of the set of encoded data slices to the set of storage units.
Client 250 may then write the original version of data for the file to Data Object 277 through Storage Device 270.
Regarding Claims 2, 3, 5, 14, 15, 20, Lanzatella discloses wherein the metadata includes associated with the data object, and at least one of: a time stamp, a specific version identifier, or a user detail. In response to Client 250's request, Metadata Server 200 may set I/O permissions of Version 210, and correspondingly Data Object 277, to read-only, thereby freezing Version 210 “versioning information”. Additionally, Metadata Server 200 may create a new, empty, Data Object 275, also on Storage Device 270, and use Object ID 225 to link Data Object 275 with Version 220. In some embodiments, Data Object 275 may be a sparse data object storing file changes or additions that may be included in Version 220. Metadata Server 200 may set I/O permissions for Data Object 275 and Version 230 to allow reading and writing, in one embodiment.
Regarding Claim 4, 6-9, 16-18, Lanzatella discloses wherein the write request for the set of encoded data slices includes an updated encoded data slice. FIG. 3 also illustrates means for setting I/O permissions for all sparse data objects “encoded data slices” in the chain to allow reading only, generating an empty sparse object on a first storage device, attaching the empty sparse object to the beginning of the chain, and setting I/O permissions for the empty sparse object to allow reading and writing. Such means for creating a new version of a file be provided by a metadata server, such as Metadata Server 300, or by a client, such as Client 110 or Client 120, illustrated in FIG. 1.
Regarding Claim 13, Lanzatella discloses in response to a determination that the version number does not match the read request, identifying metadata associated with another version; As illustrated in FIG. 6, If the client determines that there are additional objects in the chain to process, it may set the next object in the chain as the current object, as shown in block 640, and then loop back to trying to read the data from the current block, as shown in block 610. If the client has reached the end of the object chain without finding the data, it may continue normal read operations, as shown in block 650, perhaps reporting a data read error, as shown in block 645, according to some embodiments.
Regarding Claims 10,11, Lanzatella discloses wherein the write request and the metadata are stored in a same storage unit, and wherein the data object is associated with an object key, wherein the write request includes the object key. FIG. 5 is a flowchart for generating a frozen file image. A metadata server may set the I/O permissions of the newly created, empty data object to allow both reading and writing, as illustrated in block 530. According to some embodiments, new data written to the file may be stored in the front object and the new front object may rely upon the remainder of the objects in the chain to provide all the data for reading the new version of the file.
Prior Art References Cited
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. See References Cited on PTO-892 form.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JAMES C KERVEROS whose telephone number is (571)272-3824. The examiner can normally be reached 9-5.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, MARK FEATHERSTONE can be reached at (571) 270-3750. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JAMES C KERVEROS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2111
Date: June 23, 2026
Non-Final Rejection 20260618
JAMES C. KERVEROS
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2111
James.Kerveros@USPTO.GOV
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