DETAILED ACTION
1. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
2. This action is in response to application filed on 4/3/2025, in which claims 1 – 20 was presented for examination.
3. Claims 1 – 20 are pending in the application.
Information Disclosure Statement
4. The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 4/3/2025 has been reviewed and entered into the record. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Double Patenting
The nonstatutory double patenting rejection is based on a judicially created doctrine grounded in public policy (a policy reflected in the statute) so as to prevent the unjustified or improper timewise extension of the “right to exclude” granted by a patent and to prevent possible harassment by multiple assignees. A nonstatutory double patenting rejection is appropriate where the conflicting claims are not identical, but at least one examined application claim is not patentably distinct from the reference claim(s) because the examined application claim is either anticipated by, or would have been obvious over, the reference claim(s). See, e.g., In re Berg, 140 F.3d 1428, 46 USPQ2d 1226 (Fed. Cir. 1998); In re Goodman, 11 F.3d 1046, 29 USPQ2d 2010 (Fed. Cir. 1993); In re Longi, 759 F.2d 887, 225 USPQ 645 (Fed. Cir. 1985); In re Van Ornum, 686 F.2d 937, 214 USPQ 761 (CCPA 1982); In re Vogel, 422 F.2d 438, 164 USPQ 619 (CCPA 1970); In re Thorington, 418 F.2d 528, 163 USPQ 644 (CCPA 1969).
A timely filed terminal disclaimer in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(c) or 1.321(d) may be used to overcome an actual or provisional rejection based on nonstatutory double patenting provided the reference application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with the examined application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement. See MPEP § 717.02 for applications subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA as explained in MPEP § 2159. See MPEP § 2146 et seq. for applications not subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . A terminal disclaimer must be signed in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(b).
The filing of a terminal disclaimer by itself is not a complete reply to a nonstatutory double patenting (NSDP) rejection. A complete reply requires that the terminal disclaimer be accompanied by a reply requesting reconsideration of the prior Office action. Even where the NSDP rejection is provisional the reply must be complete. See MPEP § 804, subsection I.B.1. For a reply to a non-final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.111(a). For a reply to final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.113(c). A request for reconsideration while not provided for in 37 CFR 1.113(c) may be filed after final for consideration. See MPEP §§ 706.07(e) and 714.13.
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5. Claims 1 – 2 and 5 – 18 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1 - 1 and 5 – 18 of U.S. Patent No. US 12,292,931 B1. Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because both claims are directed to transforming of vendor attributes, generate an answer file based on vendor-format attributes, answer file includes various attribute such as allocated space, used space, or non-allocated space, load vendors answer file into memory of management system, receive query, and return user query result using vendors answer file loaded into memory. However, the patent application discloses addition features of “tracking and logging events associated with the copying of the vendor data; validating the copied vendor data based on the logged events”. These additional features are not patentable different from instant application because the features includes part of vendors’ data that was disclosed in the instant application.
Instant Application #: 19/169,120
Patent #: US 12,292,931 B2
1. A method for monitoring and managing heterogeneous vendor storage systems, the method comprising: performing, by a processor of a management system, operations including: sending instructions to a vendor storage system among the heterogeneous vendor storage systems to cause the vendor storage system to automatically generate a vendor answer file on the vendor storage system, wherein the vendor answer file includes vendor data, wherein the sending instructions to the vendor storage system includes: sending first instructions to a first vendor storage system among the heterogeneous vendor storage systems to cause the first vendor storage system to retrieve first vendor-format attributes including data of usage and performance of the first vendor storage system, transform the retrieved first vendor-format attributes to a first standard-format data, and automatically generate a first vendor answer file based on the first standard-format data, the first vendor answer file
including one or more of: allocated space, used space, free space, or non-allocated space of the first vendor storage system, and sending second instructions, different from the first instructions, to a second vendor storage system among the heterogeneous vendor storage systems to cause the second vendor storage system to retrieve second vendor-format attributes including data of usage and performance of the second vendor storage system, transform the retrieved second vendor-format attributes to a second standard-format data, and automatically generate a second vendor answer file based on the second standard-format data, the second vendor answer file including one or more of: allocated space, used space, free space, or non-allocated space of the second vendor storage system; sending instructions to the vendor storage system to copy the vendor data from the
generated vendor answer file to memory of the management system; determining reporting data based on the copied vendor data; saving the reporting data in a data structure formatted for the heterogeneous vendor storage systems; receiving a user query regarding the saved reporting data; and displaying the saved reporting data in a user interface.
1. A method for monitoring and managing heterogeneous vendor storage systems, the method comprising: performing, by a processor of a management system, operations including: sending instructions to a vendor storage system among the heterogeneous vendor storage systems to cause the vendor storage system to automatically generate a vendor answer file on the vendor storage system, wherein the vendor answer file includes vendor data defining vendor-format attributes including one or more of allocated space, used space, free space, or non-allocated space for one or more storage devices of the vendor storage system,
wherein the sending instructions to the vendor storage system includes: sending first instructions to a first vendor storage system among the heterogeneous vendor storage systems to cause the first vendor storage system to retrieve first vendor-format attributes including data of usage and performance of the first vendor storage system, transform the retrieved first vendor-format attributes to a first standard-format data, and automatically generate a first vendor answer file based on the first standard-format data, wherein the first vendor answer file includes the data of usage and performance of the first vendor storage system, and the data of usage and performance of the first vendor storage system includes one or more of allocated space, used space, free space, or non-allocated space of the first storage system, and sending second instructions, different from the first instructions, to a second vendor storage system among the heterogeneous vendor storage systems to cause the second vendor storage system to retrieve second vendor-format attributes including data of usage and performance of the second vendor storage system, transform the retrieved second vendor-format attributes to a second standard-format data, and automatically generate a second vendor answer file based on the second standard-format data, wherein the second vendor answer file includes the data of usage and performance of the second vendor storage system, and the data of usage and performance of the second vendor storage system includes one or more of allocated space, used space, free space, or non-allocated space of the second storage system; sending instructions to the vendor storage system to automatically copy the vendor data from the generated vendor answer file to memory of the management system; tracking and logging events associated with the copying of the vendor data; validating the copied vendor data based on the logged events; determining standardized reporting data from the validated vendor data in the memory of the management system; saving the standardized reporting data in a data structure formatted for the heterogeneous vendor storage systems; receiving a user query regarding the saved standardized reporting data; and displaying the saved standardized reporting data in a user interface.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first vendor answer file contains different header information from the second vendor answer file.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first vendor answer file contains different header information from the second vendor answer file.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein the operations further include: tracking and logging events associated with the copying of the vendor data; and generating an alert based on the tracking and logging events.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein the operations further include: generating an alert based on the tracking and logging events.
6. The method of claim 5, wherein the alert is generated on a ticketing tool separate from the management system.
6. The method of claim 5, wherein the alert is generated on a ticketing tool separate from the management system.
7. The method of claim 6, wherein the operations further include: performing automated self-healing to address the alert, and providing a signal to the ticketing tool for review.
7. The method of claim 6, wherein the operations further include: performing automated self-healing to address the alert, and providing a signal to the ticketing tool for review.
8. The method of claim 1, wherein the operations further include: applying an automated configuration change to the vendor storage system from the user interface.
8. The method of claim 1, wherein the operations further include: applying an automated configuration change to the vendor storage system from the user interface.
9. The method of claim 1, wherein the operations further include: scheduling automatic reports.
9. The method of claim 1, wherein the operations further include: scheduling automatic reports.
10. A management system for monitoring and managing heterogeneous vendor storage systems, the management system comprising: a memory to store instructions; and a processor to execute the stored instructions enabling: a data collector to: send instructions to a vendor storage system among the heterogeneous vendor storage systems to cause the vendor storage system to automatically generate a vendor answer file on the vendor storage system, wherein the data collector is further configured to send instructions to the vendor storage system by: sending first instructions to a first vendor storage system among the heterogeneous vendor storage systems to cause the first vendor storage system to retrieve first vendor-format attributes including data of usage and performance of the first vendor storage system, transform the retrieved first vendor-format attributes to a first standard-format data, and automatically generate a first vendor answer file based on the first standard-format data, wherein the first vendor answer file includes the data of usage and performance of the first vendor storage system, and the data of usage and performance of the first vendor storage system includes one or more of allocated space, used space, free space, or non-allocated space of the first storage system, and sending second instructions, different from the first instructions, to a second vendor storage system among the heterogeneous vendor storage systems to cause the second vendor storage system to retrieve second vendor-format attributes including data of usage and performance of the second vendor storage system, transform the retrieved second vendor-format attributes to a second standard-format data, and automatically generate a second vendor answer file based on the second standard-format data, wherein the second vendor answer file includes the data of usage and performance of the second vendor storage system, and the data of usage and performance of the second vendor storage system includes one or more of allocated space, used space, free space, or non-allocated space of the second storage system, and send instructions to the vendor storage system to automatically copy the vendor data from the generated vendor answer file to memory of the management system; a business logic data converter to: determine reporting data based on the copied vendor data, and save the reporting data in a data structure formatted for the heterogeneous vendor storage systems; and a user interface to: receive a user query regarding the saved reporting data; and display the saved reporting data.
10. A management system for monitoring and managing heterogeneous vendor storage systems, the management system comprising: a memory to store instructions; and a processor to execute the stored instructions enabling: a data collector to: send instructions to a vendor storage system among the heterogeneous vendor storage systems to cause the vendor storage system to automatically generate a vendor answer file on the vendor storage system, wherein the vendor answer file includes vendor data defining vendor-format attributes including one or more of allocated space, used space, free space, or non-allocated space for one or more storage devices of the vendor storage system, wherein the data collector is further configured to send instructions to the vendor storage system by: sending first instructions to a first vendor storage system among the heterogeneous vendor storage systems to cause the first vendor storage system to retrieve first vendor-format attributes including data of usage and performance of the first vendor storage system, transform the retrieved first vendor-format attributes to a first standard-format data, and automatically generate a first vendor answer file based on the first standard-format data, wherein the first vendor answer file includes the data of usage and performance of the first vendor storage system, and the data of usage and performance of the first vendor storage system includes one or more of allocated space, used space, free space, or non-allocated space of the first storage system, and sending second instructions, different from the first instructions, to a second vendor storage system among the heterogeneous vendor storage systems to cause the second vendor storage system to retrieve second vendor-format attributes including data of usage and performance of the second vendor storage system, transform the retrieved second vendor-format attributes to a second standard-format data, and automatically generate a second vendor answer file based on the second standard-format data, wherein the second vendor answer file includes the data of usage and performance of the second vendor storage system, and the data of usage and performance of the second vendor storage system includes one or more of allocated space, used space, free space, or non-allocated space of the second storage system, send instructions to the vendor storage system to automatically copy the vendor data from the generated vendor answer file to volatile memory of the management system, and track and log events associated with the copying of the vendor data; a business logic data converter to: validate the copied vendor data based on the logged events, determine standardized reporting data from the validated vendor data in the volatile memory of the management system, and save the standardized reporting data in a data structure formatted for the heterogeneous vendor storage systems; and a user interface to: receive a user query regarding the saved standardized reporting data; and display the saved standardized reporting data.
11. The management system of claim 10, wherein the first vendor answer file contains different header information from the second vendor answer file.
11. The management system of claim 10, wherein the first vendor answer file contains different header information from the second vendor answer file.
12. The management system of claim 11, wherein the business logic data converter is further configured to determine the
reporting data based on the copied vendor data by: determining first reporting data from first validated vendor data from the first vendor answer file, and determining second reporting data from second validated vendor data from the second vendor answer file, wherein standardized header information of the first reporting data matches standardized header information of the second reporting data.
12. The management system of claim 11, wherein the business logic data converter is further configured to determine the standardized reporting data from the validated vendor data in the volatile memory of the management system by:
determining first standardized reporting data from first validated vendor data from the first vendor answer file, and determining second standardized
reporting data from second validated vendor data from the second vendor answer file, wherein standardized header information of the first standardized reporting data matches standardized header information of the second standardized reporting data.
13. The management system of claim 12, wherein the standardized header information includes total storage space, free storage space, and used storage space.
13. The management system of claim 12, wherein the standardized header information includes total storage space, free storage space, and used storage space.
14. The management system of claim 10, wherein the processor is further configured to: track and log events associated with the copying of the vendor data; and generate an alert based on the tracking and logging events.
14. The management system of claim 10, wherein the processor is further configured to: generate an alert based on the tracking and logging events.
15. The management system of claim 14, wherein the processor is further configured to generate the alert on a ticketing tool separate from the management system.
15. The management system of claim 14, wherein the processor is further configured to generate the alert on a ticketing tool separate from the management system.
16. The management system of claim 15, wherein the processor is further configured to: perform self-healing to address the alert, and provide a signal to the ticketing tool for review.
16. The management system of claim 15, wherein the processor is further configured to: perform automated self-healing to address the alert, and provide a signal to the ticketing tool for review.
17. The management system of claim 10, wherein the processor is further configured to: apply a configuration change to the vendor storage system from the user interface.
17. The management system of claim 10, wherein the processor is further configured to: apply an automated configuration change to the vendor storage system from the user interface.
18. A management system for monitoring and managing heterogeneous vendor storage systems, the management system comprising: a memory to store instructions; and a processor to execute the stored instructions enabling: a data collector to: send instructions to a vendor storage system among the heterogeneous vendor storage systems
to cause the vendor storage system to automatically generate a vendor answer file on the vendor storage system, wherein the data collector is further configured to send instructions to the vendor storage system by: sending first instructions to a first vendor storage system among the heterogeneous vendor storage systems to cause the first vendor storage system to retrieve first vendor-format attributes including data of usage and performance of the first vendor storage system, transform the retrieved first vendor-format attributes to a first standard-format data, and automatically generate a first vendor answer file based on the first standard-format data,
wherein the first vendor answer file includes the data of usage and performance of the first vendor storage system, and the data of usage and performance of the first vendor storage system includes one or more of allocated space, used space, free space, or non-allocated space of the first storage system, and sending second instructions, different from the first instructions, to a second vendor storage system among the heterogeneous vendor storage systems to cause the second vendor storage system to retrieve second vendor-format attributes including data of usage and performance of the second vendor storage system, transform the retrieved second vendor-format attributes to a second standard-format data, and automatically generate a second vendor answer file based on the second standard-format data, wherein the second vendor answer file includes the data of usage and performance of the second vendor storage system, and the data of usage and performance of the second vendor storage system includes one or more of allocated space, used space, free space, or non-allocated space of the second storage system, and send instructions to the vendor storage system to copy the vendor data from the generated vendor answer file to memory of the management system.
18. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by a processor of a management system, cause the management system to perform a method for monitoring and managing heterogeneous vendor storage systems, the method comprising: sending instructions to a vendor storage system among the heterogeneous vendor storage systems to cause the vendor storage system to automatically generate a vendor answer file on the vendor storage system, wherein the vendor answer file includes vendor data defining vendor-format attributes including one or more of allocated space, used space, free space, or non-allocated space for one or more storage devices of the vendor storage system, wherein the sending instructions to the vendor storage system includes: sending first instructions to a first vendor storage system among the heterogeneous vendor storage systems to cause the first vendor storage system to retrieve first vendor-format attributes including data of usage and performance of the first vendor storage system, transform the retrieved first vendor-format attributes to a first standard-format data, and automatically generate a first vendor answer file based on the first standard-format data, wherein the first vendor answer file includes the data of usage and performance of the first vendor storage system, and the data of usage and performance of the first vendor storage system includes one or more of allocated space, used space, free space, or non-allocated space of the first storage system, and sending second instructions, different from the first instructions, to a second vendor storage system among the heterogeneous vendor storage systems to cause the second vendor storage system to retrieve second vendor-format attributes including data of usage and performance of the second vendor storage system, transform the retrieved second vendor-format attributes to a second standard-format data, and automatically generate a second vendor answer file based on the second standard-format data, wherein the second vendor answer file includes the data of usage and performance of the second vendor storage system, and the data of usage and performance of the second vendor storage system includes one or more of allocated space, used space, free space, or non-allocated space of the second storage system; sending instructions to the vendor storage system to automatically copy the vendor data from the generated vendor answer file to volatile memory of the management system; tracking and logging events associated with the copying of the vendor data; validating the copied vendor data based on the logged events; determining standardized reporting data from the validated vendor data in the volatile memory of the management system; saving the standardized reporting data in a data structure formatted for the heterogeneous vendor storage systems; receiving a user query regarding the saved standardized reporting data; and displaying the saved standardized reporting data in a user interface.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
TITLE: Storage resources utilization analytics in a heterogeneous storage system environment using metadata tags, US 2019/0018869 A1 authors: Bhagwat et al.
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/AUGUSTINE K. OBISESAN/
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2156
2/21/2026