Detailed Action
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
This application claims the priority benefit of China application serial no.
202410764362.1 filed on June 14, 2024.Claims 1-18 are pending for examination.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Specification
The lengthy specification has not been checked to the extent necessary to determine the presence of all possible minor errors. Applicant's cooperation is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant may become aware in the specification.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1, 9 and 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Yeh., US 2024/0192868 A1.
Regarding claim 1, Yeh teaches a data management method, for a host system, wherein the host system is electrically connected to a storage device (Fig.1 and section 0022; a memory storage device (also referred to as a memory storage system) includes a rewritable non-volatile memory module and a controller (also referred to as a control circuit). The memory storage device may be used together with a host system, so that the host system may write data to the memory storage device or read data from the memory storage device), the storage device comprises a memory module, the memory module comprises a plurality of physical units (Fig.4 and section 0035; Fig.6; section 0052-0053; it is taught as physical units 610(0)-610 (B)), and the data management method comprises:
sending a preparatory host data consolidation command to the storage device when the number of free physical units of the storage device is less than a predetermined threshold (section 0074; the spare physical units refer to the physical units 610(A+1) to 610(B) in the spare area 602 of FIG. 6. In an exemplary embodiment, in response to the total number of spare physical units being less than the threshold, a data consolidation operation may be triggered (that is, activated). For example, the data consolidation operation may include a garbage collection operation. Therefore, after detecting the target event, the memory management circuit 51 may execute the data consolidation operation based on the second operation mode);
receiving a mapping table sent by the storage device, the mapping table indicating a plurality of source physical units for a host data consolidation process (section 0074; the memory management circuit 51 may execute the data consolidation operation based on the second operation mode; section 0084; different types of data for data writing based on the second operation mode may include different types of table data. For example, the first type data 1101 in FIG. 11 may include a logical-to-physical mapping table corresponding to a certain logical range, the second type data 1102 may include a logical-to-physical mapping table corresponding to another logical range);
issuing a corresponding programming command to the storage device according to an attribute of valid data in the source physical units to reduce the valid data in the source physical units (section 0078; the memory management circuit 51 may send at least one write command sequence to the rewritable non-volatile memory module 43 to instruct the rewritable non-volatile memory module 43 to store the collected valid data in physical management units 1020(0) to 1020(K) serving as target units based on the second operation mode), and thereby the mapping table is updated to obtain a second mapping table (section 0083; In the second operation mode, the memory management circuit 51 may send a write command sequence to the rewritable non-volatile memory module 43 to instruct to respectively store the first type data 1101 and the second type data 1102 in physical management units 1120(0) and 1120(F)); and
the second mapping table is transmitted to the storage device for executing a device data consolidation process (section 0083; the first type data 1101 may be continuously stored in physical regions 1121(0) to 1121(M−1) in the physical management unit 1120(0) based on the second operation mode, and the second type data 1102 may be continuously stored in physical regions 1122(0) to 1122(M−1) in the physical management unit 1120(F) based on the second operation mode).
Regarding claim 9, Yeh teaches a data management method, for a storage device, wherein the storage device is electrically connected to a host system (Fig.1 and section 0022; a memory storage device (also referred to as a memory storage system) includes a rewritable non-volatile memory module and a controller (also referred to as a control circuit). The memory storage device may be used together with a host system, so that the host system may write data to the memory storage device or read data from the memory storage device), the storage device comprises a memory module, the memory module comprises a plurality of physical units (Fig.4 and section 0035; Fig.6; section 0052-0053; it is taught as physical units 610(0)-610 (B)), and the data management method comprises:
selecting a plurality of source physical units in the plurality of physical units in response to a preparatory host data consolidation command of the host system (section 0073-0074; detecting the target event and the target event may also reflect that the total number of spare physical units in the rewritable non-volatile memory module 43 is less than a threshold; the spare physical units refer to the physical units 610(A+1) to 610(B) in the spare area 602 of FIG. 6. In an exemplary embodiment, in response to the total number of spare physical units being less than the threshold, a data consolidation operation may be triggered (that is, activated));
searching a mapping table according to physical addresses of the source physical units, and transmitting the mapping table corresponding to the source physical units to the host system to execute a host data consolidation process (section 0074; the memory management circuit 51 may execute the data consolidation operation based on the second operation mode; section 0084; different types of data for data writing based on the second operation mode may include different types of table data. For example, the first type data 1101 in FIG. 11 may include a logical-to-physical mapping table corresponding to a certain logical range, the second type data 1102 may include a logical-to-physical mapping table corresponding to another logical range);
performing a corresponding programming operation on data corresponding to a programming command from the host system (section 0078; the memory management circuit 51 may send at least one write command sequence to the rewritable non-volatile memory module 43 to instruct the rewritable non-volatile memory module 43 to store the collected valid data in physical management units 1020(0) to 1020(K) serving as target units based on the second operation mode); and
after receiving an updated mapping table sent by the host system, a device data consolidation process is executed according to the updated mapping table (section 0083; the first type data 1101 may be continuously stored in physical regions1121(0) to 1121(M−1) in the physical management unit 1120(0) based on the second operation mode, and the second type data 1102 may be continuously stored in physical regions 1122(0) to 1122(M−1) in the physical management unit 1120(F) based on the second operation mode).
Regarding claim 11, Yeh teaches further comprising not starting the device data consolidation process after receiving the preparatory host data consolidation command (section 0074; the total number of spare physical units being less than the threshold, a data consolidation operation may be triggered (that is, activated); if the total number of spare physical units being greater than the threshold, a data consolidation operation Is not triggered).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 14-18 are allowed.
Claims 2-8, 10, 12-13 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance:
The limitations not found in the prior art of record include performing a corresponding programming operation on data corresponding to a programming command from the host system; wherein in response to the programming command being an update command, an update operation is performed on data corresponding to the update command, in response to the programming command being a delete command, a delete operation is performed on data corresponding to the delete command in combination with the other claimed limitations as described in the claim 14 (claims 15-18 are depended on claim 14).
The limitations not found in the prior art of record include sending a query command to the storage device at a preset frequency before sending the preparatory host data consolidation command to obtain a device status of the storage device; and receiving the device status from the storage device, wherein the device status comprises the number of free physical units of the storage device in combination with the other claimed limitations as described in the claim 2 (claim 3 is depended on claim 2).
The limitations not found in the prior art of record include the attribute indicates whether the valid data is periodically updated data, and the step of issuing the corresponding programming command to the storage device according to the attribute of the valid data in the source physical units comprises: when the valid data is the periodically updated data, issuing an update command in advance to the storage device by the host system to update the valid data in combination with the other claimed limitations as described in the claims 4.
The limitations not found in the prior art of record include the attribute indicates whether the valid data is deletable data, and the step of issuing the corresponding programming command to the storage device according to the attribute of the valid data in the source physical units by the host system comprises: when the valid data is the deletable data, issuing a delete command to the storage device by the host system to delete the valid data in combination with the other claimed limitations as described in the claim 5.
The limitations not found in the prior art of record include the step of issuing the corresponding programming command to the storage device according to the attribute of the valid data in the source physical units by the host system comprises: determining whether a command queue of the host system comprises a change command corresponding to a first logical unit recorded in the mapping table, wherein the change command comprises an update command or a delete command; determining whether there is a read command in the command queue sorted before the change command and corresponding to the first logical unit ; and advancing a sorting position of the change command in the command queue in a case that there is no read command corresponding to the first logical unit in the command queue sorted before the change command in combination with the other claimed limitations as described in the claim 6.
The limitations not found in the prior art of record include obtaining an update frequency of the valid data in the source physical units; and adjusting sorting positions of the source physical units in the mapping table according to the update frequency, wherein the sorting position of the source physical units having a smaller update frequency is given higher priority in combination with the other claimed limitations as described in the claim 7.
The limitations not found in the prior art of record include removing a first source physical unit and a corresponding logical unit from the mapping table in a case that the update frequency of the valid data of the first source physical unit is greater than a threshold in combination with the other claimed limitations as described in the claim 8.
The limitations not found in the prior art of record include receiving a query command from the host system; sending a current device status to the host system in response to the query command, wherein the device status comprises a current number of free physical units in combination with the other claimed limitations as described in the claim 10 (claim 12 is depended on claim 10).
The limitations not found in the prior art of record include the step of receiving the updated mapping table from the host system and executing the device data consolidation process comprises: executing the device data consolidation process according to sorting positions of the source physical units in the mapping table, wherein the source physical units having a smaller update frequency is preferentially executed with the device data consolidation process in combination with the other claimed limitations as described in the claim 13.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Alkalay et al., US 12,360,704 B1 teaches the techniques involve configuring the storage equipment to support storing data in reclaim units of the FDP drive according to an initial group of reclaim unit handles. The techniques further involve detecting that a number of currently available reclaim units of the FDP drive has fallen below a first predefined threshold. the techniques further involve, in response to detecting that the number of currently available reclaim units of the FDP drive has fallen below the first predefined threshold, reconfiguring the storage equipment to support storing data in reclaim units of the FDP drive according to a smaller group of reclaim unit handles.
When responding to the office action, Applicant is advised to clearly point out the patentable novelty which he or she thinks the claims present in view of the state of the art disclosed by the references cited or the objections made. He or she must also show how the amendments avoid such references or objections. See 37 C.F.R. 1.111 (c).
When responding to the office action, Applicants are advised to provide the examiner with the line numbers and page numbers in the application and/or references cited to assist examiner to locate the appropriate paragraphs.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HUA JASMINE SONG whose telephone number is (571)272-4213. The examiner can normally be reached on 9:00am to 5:30pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, ROCIO DEL MAR PEREZ-VELEZ can be reached on 571-270-5935. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/HUA J SONG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2133