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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55. Please consider the “Priority Document Exchange Failure Status Report” issued on 4/16/2025.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 4/9/2025 and 12/10/2025 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Response to Amendment
Claims 1, 3, 4, 6-9, 11-16 are amended. Claims 17-20 are new. Claims 1-20 are pending in the instant application.
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 1, 2, 6, 9, 10 and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over He et al. (US 2022/0035560), hereinafter He in view Lu et al. (US 2021/0365394), hereinafter Lu,
As for claim 1, He teaches a data processing method, wherein the method comprises comprising:
receiving, by an interface card of a computing node, a write request from an application (paragraph [0050] and [0055] describes an application triggers a data access request (i.e. a data write request or a data read request) by using a client on a computing node. A computing node’s interface card receives write requests from a host); and
sending, by the interface card, a network packet whose destination address is a first address (paragraph [0054] describes after receiving the write instruction, the network interface card parses the write instruction, and writes to-be-stored data onto a corresponding hard disk based on an access address carried in the write instruction; paragraph [0062] describes the data write request includes an address of the to-be-stored data), wherein the first address indicates a storage unit of the data in a storage node (paragraph [0054] describes after receiving the write instruction, the network interface card parses the write instruction, and writes to-be-stored data onto a corresponding hard disk based on an access address carried in the write instruction; paragraph [0062] describes the client receives a data write request, the data write request includes to-be-stored data and an address of the to-be-stored data includes a LUN ID, an LBA, and a length), wherein the network packet is associated with writing the data into the storage unit (paragraph [0072] describes the storage node receives the first write instruction through a network interface card, and the network interface card parses the first write instruction, to obtain the data fragment 0. The network interface then indicates the hard disk 1 to write the data fragment 0 into a corresponding location of the storage object), and wherein the interface card communicates with the storage node through a network (Fig. 2; paragraph [0050] describes the computing node sends a request to the storage node through the network interface card).
He fails to teach
wherein a write request carries to-be-processed data;
wherein a network packet carries the to-be-processed data;
wherein data is to-be-processed data.
Lu discloses
wherein a write request carries to-be-processed data (Fig. 8; step 801; paragraph [0233] describes a write request; paragraphs [0256]-[0276] describe steps of processing the write request);
wherein a network packet carries the to-be-processed data (Fig. 8; paragraphs [0232] describe a data processing method; paragraph [0251]-[0252] describe the network interface card generates a second request packet and sends the second request packet; paragraphs [0256]-[0276] describe the steps of processing the request packet sent by the network interface card);
wherein data is to-be-processed data (paragraph [0251]-[0252] describe the network interface card generates a second request packet and sends the second request packet; paragraphs [0256]-[0276] describe the steps of processing the request packet sent by the network interface card).
One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have recognized the ability to utilize the teachings of Lu for processing data in a write request. The teachings of Lu, when implemented in the He system, will allow one of ordinary skill in the art to write data to corresponding addresses of a storage device for processing. One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to utilize the teachings of Zhang in the Lu system in order to improve data transmission efficiency and reduce bandwidth resource usage and storage space usage of a network interface card’s memory) (Lu: paragraph [0006]).
As for claim 2, He teaches wherein the method further comprises:
allocating, by the interface card, the storage unit to the data in the storage node (He: paragraph [0066] describes the computing node allocates one or more storage objects to the to-be-stored data, and feeds back information about the allocated one or more storage objects (the information includes a quantity of storage objects and access address information of each storage object) to the client).
He fails to teach wherein data is to-be-processed data.
Lu discloses
wherein data is to-be-processed data (paragraph [0251]-[0252] describe the network interface card generates a second request packet and sends the second request packet; paragraphs [0256]-[0276] describe the steps of processing the request packet sent by the network interface card).
One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have recognized the ability to utilize the teachings of Lu for processing data in a write request. The teachings of Lu, when implemented in the He system, will allow one of ordinary skill in the art to write data to corresponding addresses of a storage device for processing. One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to utilize the teachings of Zhang in the Lu system in order to improve data transmission efficiency and reduce bandwidth resource usage and storage space usage of a network interface card’s memory) (Lu: paragraph [0006]).
As for claim 6, He teaches a data processing method, wherein the method comprises comprising:
receiving, from a computing node, by an interface card of a storage node, a network packet whose destination address is a first address from a computing node (paragraphs [0071]-[0072] describe a client (see Fig. 3, the client belongs to a computing node) sends a first write instruction to a storage node, the storage node receives the first write instruction through a network interface card. And, the network interface card parses the first write instruction to obtain a data fragment, an identifier of a hard disk, and the access address of a storage object), and wherein the interface card communicates with the computing node through a network (Fig. 3; paragraphs [0071]-[0072] and [0075] describe the exchange of communication between the network interface card and the client of the computing node);
determining, by the interface card, a storage unit in the storage node corresponding to the first address (paragraphs [0072]-[0073] describe after receiving the first write instruction, the interface card stores the first write instruction into the network interface card receiving queue, and parses the first write instruction, to obtain the data fragment 0 and the information about the storage object. Then, the network interface card writes the first write instruction into a hard disk receiving queue of the corresponding hard disk based on the identifier of the hard disk, so that the hard disk executes the first write instruction); and
writing, by the interface card, the data into the storage unit (paragraph [0073] describes the network interface card writes the first write instruction into a hard disk receiving queue of the corresponding hard disk based the identifier of the hard disk, so that the hard disk executes the first write instruction).
He fails to teach
wherein the network packet carries to-be-processed data
wherein data is to-be-processed data.
wherein a network packet carries the to-be-processed data (Fig. 8; paragraphs [0232] describe a data processing method; paragraph [0251]-[0252] describe the network interface card generates a second request packet and sends the second request packet; paragraphs [0256]-[0276] describe the steps of processing the request packet sent by the network interface card);
wherein data is to-be-processed data (paragraph [0251]-[0252] describe the network interface card generates a second request packet and sends the second request packet; paragraphs [0256]-[0276] describe the steps of processing the request packet sent by the network interface card).
One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have recognized the ability to utilize the teachings of Lu for processing data in a write request. The teachings of Lu, when implemented in the He system, will allow one of ordinary skill in the art to write data to corresponding addresses of a storage device for processing. One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to utilize the teachings of Zhang in the Lu system in order to improve data transmission efficiency and reduce bandwidth resource usage and storage space usage of a network interface card’s memory) (Lu: paragraph [0006]).
As for claim 9, He teaches an interface card (Fig. 3, Network interface card 301) configured to
receive a write request from an application (paragraph [0050] and [0055] describes an application triggers a data access request (i.e. a data write request or a data read request) by using a client on a computing node. A computing node’s interface card receives write requests from a host), wherein the write request carries to-be-processed data; and
send a network packet whose destination address is a first address (paragraph [0054] describes after receiving the write instruction, the network interface card parses the write instruction, and writes to-be-stored data onto a corresponding hard disk based on an access address carried in the write instruction; paragraph [0062] describes the data write request includes an address of the to-be-stored data), wherein the first address indicates a storage circuit of the data in a storage node (paragraph [0054] describes after receiving the write instruction, the network interface card parses the write instruction, and writes to-be-stored data onto a corresponding hard disk based on an access address carried in the write instruction; paragraph [0062] describes the client receives a data write request, the data write request includes to-be-stored data and an address of the to-be-stored data includes a LUN ID, an LBA, and a length), wherein the network packet is associated with writing the data into the storage circuit (paragraph [0072] describes the storage node receives the first write instruction through a network interface card, and the network interface card parses the first write instruction, to obtain the data fragment 0. The network interface then indicates the hard disk 1 to write the data fragment 0 into a corresponding location of the storage object), and wherein the interface card communicates with the storage node through a network (Fig. 2; paragraph [0050] describes the computing node sends a request to the storage node through the network interface card).
He fails to teach
an interface card comprises a processing circuit, and a communication circuit;
wherein a network packet carries the to-be-processed data;
wherein data is to-be-processed data.
Lu discloses
an interface card comprises a processing circuit (Fig. 2, Network interface card 220; processor 2221; paragraph [0119] describes a network interface card and its processor), and a communication circuit (Fig. 10; paragraphs [0328]-[0331] describe a network interface card and its units to perform communications);
wherein a network packet carries the to-be-processed data (Fig. 8; paragraphs [0232] describe a data processing method; paragraph [0251]-[0252] describe the network interface card generates a second request packet and sends the second request packet; paragraphs [0256]-[0276] describe the steps of processing the request packet sent by the network interface card);
wherein data is to-be-processed data (paragraph [0251]-[0252] describe the network interface card generates a second request packet and sends the second request packet; paragraphs [0256]-[0276] describe the steps of processing the request packet sent by the network interface card).
One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have recognized the ability to utilize the teachings of Lu for processing data in a write request. The teachings of Lu, when implemented in the He system, will allow one of ordinary skill in the art to write data to corresponding addresses of a storage device for processing. One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to utilize the teachings of Zhang in the Lu system in order to improve data transmission efficiency and reduce bandwidth resource usage and storage space usage of a network interface card’s memory) (Lu: paragraph [0006]).
As for claim 10, the combined system of He and Lu teaches wherein the processing circuit is further configured to allocate the storage circuit to the to-be-processed data in the storage node (He: paragraph [0066] describes the computing node allocates one or more storage objects to the to-be-stored data, and feeds back information about the allocated one or more storage objects (the information includes a quantity of storage objects and access address information of each storage object) to the client; Lu: paragraph [0233] describes the data processing request includes a write request).
One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have recognized the ability to utilize the teachings of Lu for processing data in a write request. The teachings of Lu, when implemented in the He system, will allow one of ordinary skill in the art to write data to corresponding addresses of a storage device for processing. One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to utilize the teachings of Zhang in the Lu system in order to improve data transmission efficiency and reduce bandwidth resource usage and storage space usage of a network interface card’s memory) (Lu: paragraph [0006]).
As for claim 14, He teaches an interface card (Fig. 3, Network interface card 301), wherein the interface card is used in a storage node in a storage system (Fig. 3; Storage node 20 and Network interface card 301),
configured to receive, from a computing node, a network packet whose destination address is a first address from a computing node (paragraphs [0071]-[0072] describe a client (see Fig. 3, the client belongs to a computing node) sends a first write instruction to a storage node, the storage node receives the first write instruction through a network interface card. And, the network interface card parses the first write instruction to obtain a data fragment, an identifier of a hard disk, and the access address of a storage object), and wherein the interface card communicates with the computing node through a network (Fig. 3; paragraphs [0071]-[0072] and [0075] describe the exchange of communication between the network interface card and the client of the computing node), and wherein the interface card communicates with the computing node through a network (Fig. 3; paragraphs [0071]-[0072] and [0075] describe the exchange of communication between the network interface card and the client of the computing node);
determine a storage circuit in a storage node of a storage system (paragraphs [0072]-[0073] describe after receiving the first write instruction, the interface card stores the first write instruction into the network interface card receiving queue, and parses the first write instruction, to obtain the data fragment 0 and the information about the storage object. Then, the network interface card writes the first write instruction into a hard disk receiving queue of the corresponding hard disk based on the identifier of the hard disk, so that the hard disk executes the first write instruction), wherein the storage node corresponds to the first address (paragraph [0054] describes after receiving the write instruction, the network interface card parses the write instruction, and writes to-be-stored data onto a corresponding hard disk based on an access address carried in the write instruction), wherein the interface card is further configured to write the data into the storage circuit (paragraph [0073] describes the network interface card writes the first write instruction into a hard disk receiving queue of the corresponding hard disk based the identifier of the hard disk, so that the hard disk executes the first write instruction).
He fails to teach
an interface card comprising: a processing circuit; a communication circuit
wherein the network packet carries to-be-processed data;
wherein data is to-be-processed data.
Lu discloses
an interface card comprising:
a processing circuit (Fig. 2, Network interface card 220; processor 2221; paragraph [0119] describes a network interface card and its processor), and a communication circuit (paragraphs [0132] describes the network interface card includes a plurality of processors which perform data processing method, thus, the processor is construed to include a communication circuit);
wherein the network packet carries to-be-processed data (Fig. 8; paragraphs [0232] describe a data processing method; paragraph [0251]-[0252] describe the network interface card generates a second request packet and sends the second request packet; paragraphs [0256]-[0276] describe the steps of processing the request packet sent by the network interface card);
wherein the storage node corresponds to the first address (paragraph [0233] describes a write request includes a storage address; paragraph [0273] describes the network interface card of the second device receives the data packet, and writes the second data in the data packet into the second destination storage area);
wherein data is to-be-processed data (paragraph [0251]-[0252] describe the network interface card generates a second request packet and sends the second request packet; paragraphs [0256]-[0276] describe the steps of processing the request packet sent by the network interface card).
One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have recognized the ability to utilize the teachings of Lu for processing data in a write request. The teachings of Lu, when implemented in the He system, will allow one of ordinary skill in the art to write data to corresponding addresses of a storage device for processing. One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to utilize the teachings of Zhang in the Lu system in order to improve data transmission efficiency and reduce bandwidth resource usage and storage space usage of a network interface card’s memory) (Lu: paragraph [0006]).
Claim 13 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over He (US 2022/0035560) in view Lu (US 2021/0365394) further in view of Bashandy et al. (US 2019/0020583), hereinafter Bashandy.
As for claim 13, the combined system of He and Lu fails to teach wherein the first address is an internet protocol version 6 (IPv6) address.
Bashandy discloses
wherein a first address is an internet protocol version 6 (IPv6) address (paragraph [0021] describes packets are received via a hardware interface with a first particular value encoded with a first destination address, the first particular value is a IPv6 address field of the packet).
One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have recognized the ability to utilize the teachings of Bashandy for including an IPv6 destination address in an address field of a packet. The teachings of Bashandy, when implemented in the He and Lu system, will allow one of ordinary skill in the art to forward data to a destination. One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to utilize the teachings of Bashandy in the He and Lu system in order to forward packets in a network based on values representing network nodes.
Allowable Subject Matter
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: prior art fails to teach every limitations recites in claims 3-5, 7-8, 11-12 and 15-20.
As for claim 3, the claim recites the limitations “The method according to claim 1, wherein the first address comprises at least one of a first address field, a second address field, or a third address field, wherein the first address field identifies the storage node, wherein the second address field identifies a hard disk that is in the storage node and that is configured to store the to-be- processed data, and wherein the third address field identifies the storage unit that is in the hard disk and that is configured to store the to-be-processed data.”
As for claim 4, the claim recites the limitations “The method according to claim 1, wherein the first address comprises a fourth address field, and wherein the fourth address field indicates to write the to- be-processed data into the storage unit.”
Su (US 2020/0351703) discloses indication information being added to a specified location in a packet includes three fields, a first field is used to indicate a destination address of the packet, a second field is used to indicate a port number, and a third field is used to identify a packet flow identifier of the packet flow to which the packet belongs (see paragraph [0155]). Su discloses a packet includes three fields but fails to teach each field identifies address of a storage component.
Rokugo (US 6,947,427) discloses a method of packet transmission comprises transmitting a plurality of packets in multiplexing manner, the header in each packet includes six fields, each of the fields holding signal indicative of a specific parameter (see col. 1, lines 48-62). Rokugo discloses packet header fields but fails to teach packet header address field, and each of the field includes an address of a target storage of data packet.
As for claim 5, the claim recites the limitation “The method according to claim 4, wherein the first address is an internet protocol version 6 (IPv6) address.”
Claim 5 is objected to due to its dependency to claim 4.
As for claim 7, the claim recites the limitations “The method according to claim 6, wherein the determining, by the interface card, the storage unit in the storage node corresponding to the first address comprises:
determining, by the interface card based on a first address field in the first address, that the network packet is a network packet sent to the storage node;
determining, by the interface card based on a second address field in the first address, a hard disk that is in the storage node and that is configured to store the to-be-processed data; and
determining, by the interface card based on a third address field in the first address, the storage unit that is in the hard disk and that is configured to store the to-be-processed data.”
As for claim 8, the claim recites the limitations “The method according to claim 6, wherein the method further comprises:
determining, by the interface card based on a fourth address field in the first address, that the network packet is used to write associated with writing the to-be-processed data into the storage unit.”
As for claim 11, the claim recites the limitations “The interface card according to claim 9, wherein the first address comprises at least one of a first address field, a second address field, [[and]] or a third address field, wherein the first address field identifies the storage node, wherein the second address field identifies a hard disk that is in the storage node and that is configured to store the to-be- processed data, and wherein the third address field identifies the storage circuit that is in the hard disk and that is configured to store the to-be-processed data.”
As for claim 12, the claim recites the limitation “The interface card according to claim 9, wherein the first address comprises a fourth address field, and wherein the fourth address field indicates to write the to- be-processed data into the storage circuit.”
The above claims are dependences of claims 6 and 9, however, the claims recite limitations similar to limitations recited in claims 3 and 4. Therefore, the claims are objected to.
As for claim 15, the claim recites the limitations “The interface card according to claim 14, wherein that a the processing circuit being configured to determine the storage circuit in the storage node corresponding to the first address comprises:
the processing circuit being configured to determine, based on a first address field in the first address, that the network packet is a network packet sent to the storage node;
the processing circuit being configured to determine, based on a second address field in the first address, a hard disk that is in the storage node and that is configured to store the to-be-processed data; and
the processing circuit being configured to determine, based on a third address field in the first address, the storage circuit that is in the hard disk and that is configured to store the to-be-processed data.”
Rokugo (US 6,947,427) discloses a method of packet transmission comprises transmitting a plurality of packets in multiplexing manner, the header in each packet includes six fields, each of the fields holding signal indicative of a specific parameter (see col. 1, lines 48-62). Rokugo discloses packet header fields but fails to teach packet header address field, and each of the field includes an address of a target storage of data packet.
As for claim 16, the claim recites the limitations “The interface card according to claim 15, wherein the processing circuit is further configured to determine, based on a fourth address field in the first address, that the network packet is used to write associated with writing the to-be-processed data into the storage circuit.”
As for claim 17, the claim recites the limitation “The method of Claim 3, wherein the third address field identifies a disk offset of the storage unit.”
As for claim 18, the claim recites the limitation “The method of Claim 7, wherein the third address field identifies a disk offset of the storage unit.”
As for claim 19, the claim recites the limitation “The interface card of Claim 11, wherein the third address field identifies a disk offset of the storage unit.”
As for claim 20, the claim recites the limitation “The interface card of Claim 15, wherein the third address field identifies a disk offset of the storage unit.”
Muralimanhar et al. (US 2015/0095601) discloses an address field includes one or more addresses and address offset information indicative of storage locations from which data is to be read or to which data is to be written (see paragraph [0035]). Muralimanhar discloses address offset information indicating storage locations for read/write data. Muralimanhar, however fails to suggest or teach what was claimed in claims 17-20.
Claims 16, 17, 18, 19 and 20 are dependent claims of objected claims 15, 3, 7, 11, 15, respectively. The claims are objected to due to their dependency.
The above claims 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.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Lin et al. (US 2024/0348686) teach remote data access and apparatus
Isoda et al. (US 6,701,386) teach identifier based data communication
Shaylor (US 2007/0156729) teaches data structure describing logical data spaces.
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/L. T. N/
Examiner, Art Unit 2459
/TONIA L DOLLINGER/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2459
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