DETAILED ACTION The instant application having Application No. 19/035,032 filed on 01/23/2025 is presented for examination by the Examiner.
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 .
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 1-2, 5, 7-8, 11, 13-14, 17 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Liu et al. (US 2017/0010884 A1-hereinafter Liu).
Liu discloses a computer-implementable method for performing a firmware management operation, comprising:
providing an information handling system with a distributed unified BIOS (at least figure 1, [0019][0023], handling information system with Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) BIOS is provided);
identifying a processor environment installed on an information handling system from a plurality of processor environments, the processor environment comprising a processor architecture (at least figure 1, [0019], i.e.: processing device such as AMD, intel-based CPU or any other type of suitable host processing device is identified); and,
performing a microcode component management operation, the microcode component management operation managing updating of a microcode component of the distributed unified BIOS with an updated microcode component (at least [0024]-[0027][0030]-[0031], updating CIM/microcode of the BIOS is performed).
Regarding claim 2, Liu discloses the method of claim 1. Liu also discloses the microcode component management operation uses a digital certificate to authenticate the updated microcode component prior to updating the microcode component with the updated microcode component (at least [0009][0030]-[0031], it is inherent that digital certificate is used to authenticate CIM/executable image/microcode, because the CIM/executable image/microcode is signed).
Regarding claim 5, Liu discloses the method of claim 1. Liu also discloses the information handling system includes an embedded controller (at least figure 1, element 125, remote access controller);
the microcode component management operation includes an advanced calling interface operation (a least [0024], i.e.: operation of determining whether there is a pending CIM/executable image/microcode); and,
the embedded controller is used to perform the advanced calling interface operation (at least [0024], if a pending CIM/executable image/microcode is found, the remote access controller exposes a USB partition to the host/BIOS).
Claim 7 is rejected for the same rationale as claim 1 above. In addition, Liu also discloses a processor (figure 1, [0019], i.e.: element 106, host processor), a data bus coupled to the processor (figure 1, [0019], one or more data buses); and a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium (at least [0036], non-transitory tangible computer readable medium).
Claims 8 & 14 are rejected for the same rationale as claim 2 above.
Claims 11 & 17 are rejected for the same rationale as claim 5 above.
Claim 13 is rejected for the same rationale as claim 1 above.
Regarding claim 19, Liu discloses the non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium of claim 13. Liu also discloses the computer executable instructions are deployable to a client system from a server system at a remote location (at least figure 1, [0023], update server is at a remote location).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 3-4, 9-10 and 15-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu and in view of Wang et al. (US 2022/0027145 A1-hereinafter Wang).
Regarding claim 3, Liu discloses the method of claim 1. Liu also discloses disclose the microcode component management operation establishes a tunnel between the information handling system and a server computing environment (at least figure 1, [0023]-[0024], a tunnel is established between the information handling system (IHS) and update server), and the microcode component management operation uses the tunnel to obtain a microcode component payload for the information handling system (at least [0023]-[0024], the tunnel is used to obtain update CIM/executable image/microcode for the IHS).
Liu does not explicitly disclose the tunnel is secure and the information handling the server computing environment being a cloud computing environment.
However, Wang discloses a secure tunnel is established between the information handling system and a cloud computing environment (at least [0033], cloud-based secure channel is established between manufacturer and customer site/IHS).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include the teachings of Wang into the method of Liu to provide scalability, enhanced data security and seamless global collaboration to the method.
Regarding claim 4, Liu and Wang disclose the method of claim 3. Liu and Wang also disclose the microcode component payload includes a trusted microcode component (Liu-at least [0009][0024]-[0025], CIM/executable image/microcode is signed/trusted; Wang-at least [0035], patch is access-controlled and audited); and,
the trusted microcode component is inserted into a boot path of the information handling system (Liu-at least [0024][0025], CIM/executable image/microcode is inserted/copied to persistent storage and i.e.: become a permanent part of the image of the existing BIOS of the IHS).
Claims 9 & 15 are rejected for the same rationale as claim 3 above.
Claim 10 & 16 are rejected for the same rationale as claim 4 above.
Claims 6, 12 and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu and in view of Vidyadhara et al. (US 2021/0240484 A1-hereinafter Vidya).
Regarding claim 6, Liu discloses the method of claim 5. Liu also discloses the information handing system includes other Non-Volatile Memory boot partition (at least [0021][0024], i.e.: USB partition or other types of non-volatile random access memory); and
the advanced calling interface operation updates the USB partition with updated microcode component (at least [0024], CIM/executable image/microcode is updated/stored in USB partition).
Liu does not explicitly disclose the Non-Volatile Memory includes a Non-Volatile Memory Express (NVMe) boot partition.
However, Vidya discloses a NVMe (at least [0020], i.e.: NVMe namespace).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the feature discloses by Vidya into the method of Liu to maximize speed and minimize latency to the method.
Claims 12 & 18 are rejected for the same rationale as claim 6 above.
Claim 20 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu and in view of Pal (US 2011/0138374 A1-hereinafter Pal).
Liu discloses the non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium of claim 13. Liu does not explicitly disclose the computer executable instructions are provided by a service provider to a user on an on-demand basis.
However, Pal disclose providing instructions by a service provider to a user on an on-demand basis (at least [0111], metadata is downloaded and presented to user base on an on-demand basis).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include the teachings of Pal into the medium of Liu to provide efficiency to the medium.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to PHY ANH TRAN VU whose telephone number is (571)270-7317. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 7 am-1 pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Taghi T Arani can be reached at (571) 272-3787. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/PHY ANH T VU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2438
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