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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
2. The information disclosure statement(s) (IDS) submitted on 04/25/2025 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement(s) is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Objections
3. Claim 26 is objected to because of the following informalities:
In Claim 26, at the end of the last limitation “cause the other resource management policy to be implemented for the different plurality of accounts” (emphasis added), a period should be added.
Appropriate correction is required.
Examiner Note
4. The term “resource management policy” as recited in Claim 21 and any other claim is interpreted as a “resource management plan” in light of the applicant’s disclosure as filed on 04/21/2025. Specifically, applicant’s disclosure recites “As used herein, in some embodiments, “data protection plan” and “backup plan” may be used interchangeably, and “plan” and “policy” may be used interchangeably” ¶ [0015] and “clients may automatically apply backup policies (in the form of a backup plan) across multiple accounts” ¶ [0022].
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
5. 35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefore, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
6. Claims 21-24, 26-31, 33-37 and 39-40 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to an abstract idea without significantly more. Claims 21, 28 and 35 recite the limitations “one or more processors to implement a service of a provider network, wherein the service is configured to: receive, from a client, an indication of a plurality of accounts that a resource management policy is to be implemented for; and subsequent to the indication of the plurality of accounts that the resource management policy is to be implemented for, cause the resource management policy to be implemented for the plurality of accounts.” As drafted, the claims recite a process that, under its broadest reasonable interpretation, covers a commercial interaction between a service provider and a client. These claims define a business process of providing general services based on management policies, which are longstanding commercial practices. Conventional management policies for services offered can range from operational rules to defined response times. Hence, the claims recite a certain method of organizing human activity, and the claims recite an abstract idea.
The additional elements and/or components do not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application. Claims 21, 28 and 35 merely recite generic computer components and conventional data processing methods to receive indications of a plurality of accounts and implement a resource management policy for the plurality of accounts. These additional elements do not impose a meaningful limit on the judicial exception as the claims do not recite an improvement to the functioning of the a computer or another technology. Therefore, the judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application, and the claims are directed to an abstract idea. Further, the claim(s) do not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception because as addressed above in the integration into a practical application analysis, these additional elements only recite the use of generic computer components to apply the abstract idea. Furthermore, the steps of: “implement a service of a provider network” and “receiving indications” are well‐understood, routine activities. See MPEP 2106.05(d).II.i.(Receiving or transmitting data over a network) and 2106.05(d).II.iv.(Storing and retrieving information in memory). Hence, claims 21, 28 and 35 are not patent eligible.
In addition, dependent claims 22-24, 26-27, 29-31, 33-34, 36-37 and 39-40 are not patent eligible. Claims 22, 29 and 36 recite steps to obtain identifiers of accounts and sending identifiers to the clients, which are directed to the abstract idea. Claims 23, 30 and 37 recite executing one or more jobs to implement the resource management policy, which merely uses conventional computer activity to implement the abstract idea. Claims 24 and 31 recite obtaining a status of one or more jobs, which is insignificant extra solution activity. Claims 26-27, 33-34 and 39-40 recite further steps to implement the policy management, which are directed to the abstract idea. Therefore, dependent claims 21-24, 26-31, 33-37 and 39-40 are not patent eligible.
Double Patenting
7. 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 §§ 706.02(l)(1) - 706.02(l)(3) 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 USPTO Internet website contains terminal disclaimer forms which may be used. Please visit www.uspto.gov/patent/patents-forms. The filing date of the application in which the form is filed determines what form (e.g., PTO/SB/25, PTO/SB/26, PTO/AIA /25, or PTO/AIA /26) should be used. A web-based eTerminal Disclaimer may be filled out completely online using web-screens. An eTerminal Disclaimer that meets all requirements is auto-processed and approved immediately upon submission. For more information about eTerminal Disclaimers, refer to www.uspto.gov/patents/process/file/efs/guidance/eTD-info-I.jsp.
8. Claims 21-40 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over Claims 1-3, 6-13 and 15-19 of U.S. Patent No. US 12, 301, 579 B1. Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because Claims 1-3, 6-13 and 15-19 of the conflicting patent anticipate the limitations of Claims 21-30 of the instant application. Although the claims are directed towards different statutory classes of invention, the claims are not patentably distinct because they encompass substantially the same subject matter.
Therefore, claims are not patentable. The table below sets forth exemplary claims.
Instant Application (19/185,105) Claim:
Conflicting Patent (US 12, 301, 579 B1) Claim:
21. (New) A system, comprising:
one or more processors; and
one or more memories, wherein the one or more memories have stored thereon instructions, which when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to implement a service of a provider network, wherein the service is configured to:
receive, from a client, an indication of a plurality of accounts that a resource management policy is to be implemented for; and
subsequent to the indication of the plurality of accounts that the resource management policy is to be implemented for, cause the resource management policy to be implemented for the plurality of accounts,
wherein at least one service of a plurality of services of the provider network that comprise resources for a first account of the plurality of accounts that the resource management policy is implemented for is not included in another plurality of services of the provider network that comprise resources for a second account of the plurality of accounts that the resource management policy is implemented for.
22. (New) The system as recited in claim 21, wherein the service is configured to:
obtain identifiers of the plurality of accounts that the resource management policy is applied to; and
send, to the client, identifiers of the plurality of accounts.
23. (New) The system as recited in claim 21, wherein to cause the resource management policy to be implemented for the plurality of accounts, the service is configured to:
execute one or more jobs to implement the resource management policy.
24. (New) The system as recited in claim 23, wherein the service is configured to:
obtain a status of the one or more jobs; and
send, to the client, the status of the one or more jobs.
25. (New) The system as recited in claim 21, wherein to cause the resource management policy to be implemented for the plurality of accounts, the service is further configured to: cause data backup operations to be implemented for the plurality of accounts.
26. (New) The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the service is configured to: receive, from the client, another indication of a different plurality of accounts that another resource management policy is to be implemented for; and cause the other resource management policy to be implemented for the different plurality of accounts
27. (New) The system as recited in claim 21, wherein to receive, from the client, the indication of the plurality of accounts that the resource management policy is to be implemented for, the service is further configured to: receive an indication of a group of a plurality of groups associated with the client, wherein the plurality of accounts are assigned to the group.
28. (New) A method, comprising: performing, by a service implemented by one or more computing devices of a provider network:
receiving, from a client, an indication of a plurality of accounts that a resource management policy is to be implemented for; and
subsequent to the indication of the plurality of accounts that the resource management policy is to be implemented for, causing the resource management policy to be implemented for the plurality of accounts, wherein at least one service of a plurality of services of the provider network that comprise resources for a first account of the plurality of accounts that the resource management policy is implemented for is not included in another plurality of services of the provider network that comprise resources for a second account of the plurality of accounts that the resource management policy is implemented for.
29. (New) The method as recited in claim 28, further comprising: obtaining identifiers of the plurality of accounts that the resource management policy is applied to; and sending, to the client, identifiers of the plurality of accounts.
30. (New) The method as recited in claim 28, wherein causing the resource management policy to be implemented for the plurality of accounts comprises: executing one or more jobs to implement the resource management policy.
31. (New) The method as recited in claim 30, further comprising: obtaining a status of the one or more jobs; and sending, to the client, the status of the one or more jobs.
32. (New) The method as recited in claim 28, wherein causing the resource management policy to be implemented for the plurality of accounts comprises: causing data backup operations to be implemented for the plurality of accounts.
33. (New) The method as recited in claim 28, further comprising: receiving, from the client, another indication of a different plurality of accounts that another resource management policy is to be implemented for; and causing the other resource management policy to be implemented for the different plurality of accounts.
34. (New) The method as recited in claim 28, wherein receiving, from the client, the indication of the plurality of accounts that the resource management policy is to be implemented for comprises: receiving an indication of a group of a plurality of groups associated with the client, wherein the plurality of accounts are assigned to the group.
35. (New) One or more non-transitory computer-accessible storage media storing program instructions that when executed on or across one or more processors of a provider network cause the one or more processors to implement a service to:
receive, from a client, an indication of a plurality of accounts that a resource management policy is to be implemented for; and
subsequent to the indication of the plurality of accounts that the resource management policy is to be implemented for, cause the resource management policy to be implemented for the plurality of accounts, wherein at least one service of a plurality of services of the provider network that comprise resources for a first account of the plurality of accounts that the resource management policy is implemented for is not included in another plurality of services of the provider network that comprise resources for a second account of the plurality of accounts that the resource management policy is implemented for.
36. (New) The one or more storage media as recited in claim 35, further comprising program instructions that when executed on or across the one or more processors cause the one or more processors to implement the service to: obtain identifiers of the plurality of accounts that the resource management policy is applied to; and send, to the client, identifiers of the plurality of accounts.
37. (New) The one or more storage media as recited in claim 35, wherein to cause the resource management policy to be implemented for the plurality of accounts, the program instructions when executed on or across the one or more processors cause the one or more processors to: execute one or more jobs to implement the resource management policy.
38. (New) The one or more storage media as recited in claim 35, wherein to cause the resource management policy to be implemented for the plurality of accounts, the program instructions when executed on or across the one or more processors cause the one or more processors to: cause data backup operations to be implemented for the plurality of accounts.
39. (New) The one or more storage media as recited in claim 35, further comprising program instructions that when executed on or across the one or more processors cause the one or more processors to implement the service to: receive, from the client, another indication of a different plurality of accounts that another resource management policy is to be implemented for; and cause the other resource management policy to be implemented for the different plurality of accounts.
40. (New) The one or more storage media as recited in claim 39, wherein to receive, from the client, the indication of the plurality of accounts that the resource management policy is to be implemented for, the program instructions when executed on or across the one or more processors cause the one or more processors to: receive an indication of a group of a plurality of groups associated with the client, wherein the plurality of accounts are assigned to the group.
1. A system, comprising:
one or more processors; and
one or more memories, wherein the one or more memories have stored thereon instructions, which when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to implement a cross-account data management service (CAM service) for a plurality of clients of a provider network, wherein the CAM service is configured to, for a given client:
assign a cross-account role to a primary account of an organization of the client, wherein the primary account is assigned permission, based on the cross-account role, to manage resource management plans for other accounts of the organization, and wherein the other accounts respectively enable permissions-based access to one or more resources of the account at the provider network, and wherein a given resource management plan implemented for a given account performs operations to manage data for at least one of the resources of the account;
specify, using the primary account, a resource management plan;
provide an indication, using the primary account, of a plurality of accounts of the organization that the resource management plan is to be implemented for, wherein the indicated plurality of accounts is a subset of the other accounts; and
subsequent to the indication, using the primary account, of the plurality of accounts that the resource management plan is to be implemented for, cause by the CAM service, based on the permission assigned to the primary account by the CAM service of the provider network, execution of a plurality of jobs to implement the resource management plan for the plurality of accounts,
wherein at least one service of a plurality of services of the provider network that implement resources for a first account of the plurality of accounts that data management operations are performed on to implement the resource management plan is not included in another plurality of services of the provider network that implement resources for a second account of the plurality of accounts that data management operations are performed on to implement the same resource management plan as for the first account.
2. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the CAM service is configured to:
request, using the primary account, an indication of accounts that the resource management plan is applied to; and in response to the request for an indication of accounts that the resource management plan is applied to:
obtain, based on the permission assigned to the primary account, identifiers of the plurality of accounts that the resource management plan is applied to; and
send, to the client, identifiers of the plurality of accounts that the resource management plan is applied to.
[See Claim 1]
3. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the CAM service is configured to:
request, using the primary account, a status of the respective jobs for the plurality of accounts; and
in response to the request for the status of the respective jobs for the plurality of accounts:
obtain, based on the permission assigned to the primary account, the status of the respective jobs for the plurality of accounts; and
send, to the client, the status of the respective jobs for the plurality of accounts.
[See Claim 10]
[See Claims 11, 18]
[See Claims 12, 19]
6. A method, comprising: performing, by one or more computing devices of a provider network that implement a CAM service:
assigning, to a primary account of an organization of a client of the provider network, permission to manage resource management plans for other accounts of the organization, wherein the other accounts respectively enable permissions-based access to one or more resources of the account at the provider network, and wherein a given resource management plan implemented for a given account performs operations to manage data for at least one of the resources of the account; specifying, using the primary account, a resource management plan;
providing an indication, using the primary account, of a plurality of accounts of the organization that the resource management plan is to be implemented for wherein the indicated plurality of accounts is a subset of the other accounts; and
subsequent to the indication, using the primary account, of the plurality of accounts that the resource management plan is to be implemented for, causing by the CAM service, based on the permission assigned to the primary account by the CAM service of the provider network, execution of a plurality of jobs to implement the resource management plan for the plurality of accounts, wherein at least one service of a plurality of services of the provider network that implement resources for a first account of the plurality of accounts that data management operations are performed on to implement the resource management plan is not included in another plurality of services of the provider network that implement resources for a second account of the plurality of accounts that data management operations are performed on to implement the same resource management plan as for the first account.
7. The method as recited in claim 6, further comprising: requesting, using the primary account, an indication of accounts that the resource management plan is applied to; and in response to the request: obtaining, based on the permission assigned to the primary account, identifiers of the plurality of accounts that the resource management plan is applied to; and sending, to the client, identifiers of the plurality of accounts.
8. The method as recited in claim 6, wherein causing, based on the permission assigned to the primary account, the resource management plan to be implemented for the plurality of accounts comprises: scheduling the jobs to implement the resource management plan for the plurality of accounts; and executing the jobs for the plurality of accounts according to the schedule.
[See also Claim 6]
9. The method as recited in claim 8, further comprising: requesting, using the primary account, a status of jobs for the plurality of accounts; and in response to the request: obtaining, based on the permission assigned to the primary account, the status of jobs for the plurality of accounts, wherein the status of jobs includes status of the jobs scheduled from the primary account and status of other jobs scheduled by the other accounts, and wherein status of a given job indicates completion of the job, execution of the job, or failure of the job; and sending, to the client, the status of the respective jobs.
10. The method as recited in claim 6, wherein the operations to manage data comprise backup operations that backup the data to a data store at the provider network, and wherein causing, based on the permission assigned to the primary account, the resource management plan to be implemented for the plurality of accounts comprises: causing the backup operations to be implemented for the plurality of accounts according to a predetermined frequency and according to a backup lifecycle.
11. The method as recited in claim 6, further comprising: specifying, using the primary account, another resource management plan; indicating, using the primary account, a different plurality of accounts of the organization that the other resource management plan is to be implemented for; and causing, based on the permission assigned to the primary account, the other resource management plan to be implemented for the different plurality of accounts.
12. The method as recited in claim 6, wherein indicating, using the primary account, a plurality of accounts of the organization that the resource management plan is to be implemented for comprises: indicating a group of the organization, wherein the plurality of accounts are assigned to the group, and wherein the organization is structured according to a hierarchy that includes the group and one or more other groups.
13. The method as recited in claim 6, wherein causing, based on the permission assigned to the primary account, the resource management plan to be implemented for the plurality of accounts comprises executing the jobs to implement the resource management plan for the plurality of accounts, and further comprising:
requesting, by an administrator using a particular one of the plurality of accounts, a status of the jobs for the particular account, wherein the administrator using the particular account is unable to make changes to the resource management plan from the particular account, and wherein other accounts of the plurality of accounts are inaccessible to the administrator using the particular account; and in response to the request: obtain, based on permission assigned to the particular account, the status of the jobs for the particular account, wherein the status of other jobs of other accounts of the plurality of accounts is inaccessible to the particular account; and send, to the client, the status of the jobs for the particular account.
15. One or more non-transitory computer-accessible storage media storing program instructions that when executed on or across one or more processors of a provider network cause the one or more processors to implement a CAM service to:
assign, to a primary account of an organization of a client of the provider network, permission to manage resource management plans for other accounts of the organization, wherein the other accounts respectively enable permissions-based access to one or more resources of the account at the provider network, and wherein a given resource management plan implemented for a given account performs operations to manage data for at least one of the resources of the account;
specify, using the primary account, a resource management plan;
provide an indication, using the primary account, a plurality of accounts of the organization that the resource management plan is to be implemented for, wherein the indicated plurality of accounts is a subset of the other accounts; and
subsequent to the indication, using the primary account, of the plurality of accounts that the resource management plan is to be implemented for, cause by the CAM service, based on the permission assigned to the primary account by the CAM service of the provider network, execution of a plurality of jobs to implement the resource management plan for the plurality of accounts, wherein at least one service of a plurality of services of the provider network that implement resources for a first account of the plurality of accounts that data management operations are performed on to implement the resource management plan is not included in another plurality of services of the provider network that implement resources for a second account of the plurality of accounts that data management operations are performed on to implement the same resource management plan as for the first account.
16. The one or more storage media as recited in claim 15, further comprising program instructions that when executed on or across the one or more processors cause the one or more processors to: request, using the primary account, an indication of accounts that the resource management plan is applied to; and in response to the request for an indication of accounts that the resource management plan is applied to: obtain, based on the permission assigned to the primary account, identifiers of the plurality of accounts that the resource management plan is applied to; and send, to the client, identifiers of the plurality of accounts that the resource management plan is applied to.
[See Claim 15]
[See Claim 15]
17. The one or more storage media as recited in claim 15, further comprising program instructions that when executed on or across the one or more processors cause the one or more processors to: request, using the primary account, a status of the respective jobs for the plurality of accounts; and in response to the request for the status of the respective jobs for the plurality of accounts: obtain, based on the permission assigned to the primary account, the status of the respective jobs for the plurality of accounts; and send, to the client, the status of the respective jobs for the plurality of accounts.
18. The one or more storage media as recited in claim 15, further comprising program instructions that when executed on or across the one or more processors cause the one or more processors to: specify, using the primary account, another resource management plan; indicate, using the primary account, a different plurality of accounts of the organization that the other resource management plan is to be implemented for; and cause, based on the permission assigned to the primary account, the other resource management plan to be implemented for the different plurality of accounts.
19. The one or more storage media as recited in claim 15, wherein to indicate, using the primary account, a plurality of accounts of the organization that the resource management plan is to be implemented for, the program instructions when executed on or across the one or more processors further cause the one or more processors to: indicating a group of the organization, wherein at least two or more of the plurality of accounts are assigned to the group, and wherein the organization is structured according to a hierarchy that includes the group.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
9. The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(d):
(d) REFERENCE IN DEPENDENT FORMS.—Subject to subsection (e), a claim in dependent form shall contain a reference to a claim previously set forth and then specify a further limitation of the subject matter claimed. A claim in dependent form shall be construed to incorporate by reference all the limitations of the claim to which it refers.
The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, fourth paragraph:
Subject to the following paragraph [i.e., the fifth paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112], a claim in dependent form shall contain a reference to a claim previously set forth and then specify a further limitation of the subject matter claimed. A claim in dependent form shall be construed to incorporate by reference all the limitations of the claim to which it refers.
10. Claim 26 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(d) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, 4th paragraph, as being of improper dependent form for failing to further limit the subject matter of the claim upon which it depends, or for failing to include all the limitations of the claim upon which it depends. Claim 26 is dependent on cancelled Claim 1. (For examination purpose, the examiner is interpreting that Claim 26 depends on Claim 21).
Applicant may cancel the claim(s), amend the claim(s) to place the claim(s) in proper dependent form, rewrite the claim(s) in independent form, or present a sufficient showing that the dependent claim(s) complies with the statutory requirements.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
11. 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.
12. The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
13. This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
14. Claims 21-23, 25-26, 28-30, 32-33 and 35-39 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Fiducci (US 2016/0266981 A1, hereinafter Fiducci) in view of Bansod et al. (US 2020/0351345 A1, hereinafter Bansod).
Regarding Claim 21,
Fiducci discloses a system (Fiducci: ¶ [0017] the data backup storage and retrieval system, method and computer program product, ¶¶ [0052-0054, Abstract]), comprising:
one or more processors (Fiducci: ¶ [0018] computer executable instructions stored
on a system computer readable medium that when read causes one or more computers to execute, ¶¶ [0017, 0020, 0052]); and
one or more memories, wherein the one or more memories have stored thereon instructions, which when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to implement a service of a provider network, wherein the service is configured to (Fiducci: ¶ [0017] system storage device for storing and selectively retrieving data for each respective account, ¶ [0018] computer executable instructions stored on a system computer readable medium that when read causes one or more computers to execute, ¶ [0054] System computer 12 includes least one storage device 20 that can store account user data and selectively retrieve data applicable to a specific account only…, System computer 12 also hosts the software that operates the backup, storage and retrieval system of the invention, ¶¶ [0055, 0061-0062, 0085]):
receive, from a client, an indication of a plurality of accounts that a resource management policy is to be implemented for (Fiducci: ¶ [0014] an account administrator could manage the access levels of multiple sub-accounts, each sub-account corresponding to a single user, ¶ [0071] in an office environment where a single employee maintains schedules for multiple professionals, the employee could create a separate scheduler for each professional. In an environment with multiple schedulers, an entry may be made on a single scheduler (e.g. an appointment for a specific professional), and ¶ [0085] a primary user controls the respective properties of each sub-account, Also see Figs. 18 and 23 which are showing account administrator's screens, Fig. 23—add user 502, User 1, 2, 3 506, update file rights, and respective user schedulers), ¶¶ [0071, 0086-0088]); and
subsequent to the indication of the plurality of accounts that the resource management policy is to be implemented for, cause the resource management policy to be implemented for the plurality of accounts (Fiducci: ¶ [0054] System computer 12 also hosts the software that
operates the backup, storage and retrieval system of the invention,¶ [0086] primary user may set different types of access (read only, save only, delete-and-change) to groups or types of files for each subaccount user. For example, a sub-account user may only be able to see his/her own files on the system computer, ¶ [0071] an entry may be made on a single scheduler (e.g. an appointment for a specific professional) or on all of the schedulers (e.g. a staff meeting), see Figs. 18 and 23 which are showing account administrator's screens, Fig. 23—add user 502, User 1, 2, 3 506, update file rights, respective user schedulers, and a “save” button, ¶¶ [0014, 0017-0021, 0085, 0087-0088]), wherein at least one service of a plurality of services of the provider network that comprise resources for a first account of the plurality of accounts that the resource management policy is implemented for is not included in another plurality of services of the provider network that comprise resources for a second account of the plurality of accounts that the resource management policy is implemented for (Fiducci: ¶ [0085] a primary user controls the respective properties of each sub-account, ¶ [0086] Each account may have shared files that are equally accessible to the primary user and the subaccount users, unless the access of the subaccount users has been restricted
by the primary user, ¶¶[0087-0088]).
Fiducci does not explicitly disclose:
wherein at least one service of a plurality of services of the provider network that comprise resources for a first account of the plurality of accounts that the resource management policy is implemented for is not included in another plurality of services of the provider network that comprise resources for a second account of the plurality of accounts that the resource management policy is implemented for.
However, Bansod from the same field of endeavor as the claimed invention discloses storage policies, schedule policies, retention policies, destinations for copies, deduplication preferences, recovery point objective (RPO) (Bansod: ¶ [0357]), perform storage management operations upon
the application entity, resulting in a point-in-time set of copies of application assets. Operations include one or more backups, replication, live synchronization (Bansod: ¶ [0358]), operation may be a "push" performed from the cloud service account configured with a backup destination (Bansod: ¶ [0362], ¶ [0367]), Cloud service providers such as Amazon, Microsoft, Alibaba, Google, Salesforce, Cisco, etc. provide access to their particular cloud services via cloud service accounts…, subscribing entity might have multiple accounts with a cloud service provider, such as an account for the Engineering department, an account for the Finance department, an account for the Human Resources department, other accounts for individual company users, etc., without limitation. Each cloud service account carries different authentication, even though the services subscriber is the same entity (Bansod: ¶ [0320]), and different cloud service accounts might differ not just in service level guarantees, but might include different services…, one account might include long-term storage resources, whereas another account might be limited to ordinary data storage…, some accounts might have access to data processing functions supplied by the cloud service provider, such as machine learning algorithms, statistical analysis packages, etc., whereas other accounts might lack such features…, the resources available to the user(s) of cloud service accounts can vary as between accounts, even if the accounts have the same subscriber and the same cloud service provider (Bansod: ¶ [0321]).
Thus, 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 teachings of Bansod in the teachings of Fiducci. A person having ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to do so to allow backup plan to accommodate different accounts in a cloud provider as the resources available to the user(s) of cloud service accounts can vary between accounts (See Bansod: ¶ [0321]).
Regarding Claim 22,
Claim 22 is dependent on Claim 21, and the combination of Fiducci and Bansod discloses all the limitations of Claim 21. Fiducci further discloses wherein the service is configured to:
obtain identifiers of the plurality of accounts that the resource management policy is applied to (Fiducci: ¶ [0085] user account is divided into a plurality of sub-accounts. Preferably,
a primary user controls the respective properties of each sub-account, ¶ [0086] primary user may set different types of access (read only, save only, delete-and- change) to groups or types of files for each subaccount user), ¶ [0087] After adding the basic account
information for a subuser 506, such as the name of the subuser, the administrator grants file permissions through a single entry of an input device, such as a mouse click, on the
desired features, using the file rights buttons 510 (i.e. Fig. 23 shows account management display with user account identifiers), ¶ [0088] the administrator may change the permissions associated with a subuser at any time…, All sub-account files can be accessed by the system administrator); and send, to the client, identifiers of the plurality of accounts (Fiducci: ¶ [0087] After adding the basic account information for a subuser 506, such as the name of the subuser, the administrator grants file permissions through a single entry of an input device, such as a mouse click, on the desired features, using the file rights buttons 510, ¶¶ [0085-0086, 0088] See Fig 23 (i.e. Fig. 23 shows administrator’s view of account management with user account identifiers)).
Regarding Claim 23,
Claim 23 is dependent on Claim 21, and the combination of Fiducci and Bansod discloses all the limitations of Claim 21. Fiducci further discloses wherein to cause the resource management policy to be implemented for the plurality of accounts (Fiducci: ¶ [0054] System computer 12 also hosts the software that operates the backup, storage and retrieval system of the invention, ¶ [0071] an entry may be made on a single scheduler (e.g. an appointment for a specific professional) or on all of the schedulers (e.g. a staff meeting), see Figs. 18 and 23 which are showing account administrator's screens, Fig. 23—add user 502, User 1, 2, 3 506, update file rights, respective user schedulers, and a “save” button, ¶¶ [0014, 0017-0021, 0085-0088]), the service is configured to: execute one or more jobs to implement the resource management policy (Fiducci: ¶ [0054] System computer 12 also hosts the software that operates the backup, storage and retrieval system of the invention, ¶ [0093] determines which computer is the originating computer for the requested file transfer. If the user computer is the originating computer then the selected files are copied from at least one storage device 18 on the user's computer 10 to the destination location of the storage device 20 on the system computer 12 as shown at step 294, ¶ [0019] operatively connecting a first computer to the system website via the Internet; communicating account user identification; verifying account user identification and if verified, operatively connecting the system computer and the first computer; uploading selected data from the user first computer and storing the data on the system computer storage device, ¶ [0020] data backup, storage and retrieval functions described above in regard to the system, program and method embodiments enable an account user to store and retrieve data between his/her computer and a system computer connected to the account user computer over the Internet, ¶¶ [0017-0018, 0093-0094]).
Regarding Claim 25,
Claim 25 is dependent on Claim 21, and the combination of Fiducci and Bansod discloses all the limitations of Claim 21. Fiducci further discloses wherein to cause the resource management policy to be implemented for the plurality of accounts (Fiducci: ¶ [0054] System computer 12 also hosts the software that operates the backup, storage and retrieval system of the invention, ¶ [0071] an entry may be made on a single scheduler (e.g. an appointment for a specific professional) or on all of the schedulers (e.g. a staff meeting), see Figs. 18 and 23 which are showing account administrator's screens, Fig. 23—add user 502, User 1, 2, 3 506, update file rights, respective user schedulers, and a “save” button, ¶¶ [0014, 0017-0021, 0085-0088]), the service is further configured to: cause data backup operations to be implemented for the plurality of accounts (Fiducci: ¶ [0014] an account administrator could manage the access levels of multiple sub-accounts, each sub-account corresponding to a single
user, ¶ [0054] System computer 12 also hosts the software that operates the backup, storage and retrieval system of the invention, ¶¶ [0017-0020]).
Regarding Claim 26,
Claim 26 is dependent on Claim 21, and the combination of Fiducci and Bansod discloses all the limitations of Claim 21. (Note: Examiner interprets that Claim 26 depends on Claim 21). Fiducci further discloses wherein the service is configured to: receive, from the client, another indication of a different plurality of accounts that another resource management policy is to be implemented for (Fiducci: ¶ [0071] where a single employee maintains schedules for multiple professionals, the employee could create a separate scheduler for each professional, ¶¶ [0085-0088]); and
cause the other resource management policy to be implemented for the different plurality of accounts (Fiducci: ¶ [0071] where a single employee maintains schedules for multiple professionals, the employee could create a separate scheduler for each professional, ¶ [0086] primary user may set different types of access (read only, save only, delete-and-change) to groups or types of files for each subaccount user. For example, a sub-account user may only be able to see his/her own files on the system computer, ¶¶ [0014, 0085, 0087-0088])
Regarding Claim 28,
Fiducci discloses a method (Fiducci: ¶ [0017] the data backup storage and retrieval system, method and computer program product, ¶ [0018] computer executable instructions stored on a system computer readable medium that when read causes one or more computers to execute, ¶¶ [0019-0020, 0051, 0054 Abstract]), comprising: performing, by a service implemented by one or more computing devices of a provider network (Fiducci: ¶ [0018] computer executable instructions stored on a system computer readable medium that when read causes one or more computers to execute, ¶¶ [0019-0020, 0054, 0062-0063]) and discloses, in combination with Bansod, all the limitations of Claim 28 as discussed in Claim 21. Therefore, Claim 28 is rejected using the same rationales as discussed in Claim 21.
Regarding Claims 29-30 and 32-33,
Claims 29-30 and 32-33 are dependent on Claim 28, and the combination of Fiducci and Bansod discloses all the limitations of Claim 28. The combination of Fiducci and Bansod discloses all the limitations of Claims 29-30 and 32-33 as discussed in Claims 22-23 and 25-26. Therefore, Claims 29-30 and 32-33 are rejected using the same rationales as discussed in Claims 22-23 and 25-26.
Regarding Claim 35,
Fiducci discloses one or more non-transitory computer-accessible storage media storing program instructions that when executed on or across one or more processors of a provider network cause the one or more processors to implement a service to (Fiducci: ¶ [0017] the data backup storage and retrieval system, method and computer program product, ¶ [0018] computer program product embodiment of the invention comprises computer executable instructions stored on a system computer readable medium that when read causes one or more computers to execute, ¶¶ [0020, 0051, 0054, 0061-0062, 0085, Abstract]) and discloses, in combination with Bansod, all the limitations of Claim 35 as discussed in Claim 21. Therefore, Claim 35 is rejected using the same rationales as discussed in Claim 21.
Regarding Claims 36-39,
Claims 36-39 are dependent on Claim 35, and the combination of Fiducci and Bansod discloses all the limitations of Claim 35. The combination of Fiducci and Bansod discloses all the limitations of Claims 36-39 as discussed in Claims 22-23 and 25-26. Therefore, Claims 36-39 are rejected using the same rationales as discussed in Claims 22-23 and 25-26.
15. Claims 24 and 31 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Fiducci (US 2016/0266981 A1, hereinafter Fiducci) in view of Bansod et al. (US 2020/0351345 A1, hereinafter Bansod) and further in view of Clark et al. (US 2007/0198789 Al, hereinafter Clark).
Regarding Claim 24,
Claim 24 is dependent on Claim 23, and the combination of Fiducci and Bansod discloses all the limitations of Claim 23. The combination of Fiducci and Bansod does not explicitly disclose wherein the service is configured to:
obtain a status of the one or more jobs; and
send, to the client, the status of the one or more jobs.
However, Clark from the same field of endeavor as the claimed invention discloses that administrator system 24 shown is within the enterprise network 12…, the user may be an ordinary or individual user, who accesses the GBS 10 to request that one of his or her files be restored from backup storage. Such a user may also be a system administrator who is responsible for managing backup system in one or more enterprise networks 12 or for managing all or part of the GBS 10 (Clark: ¶ [0045]), the communication paths and methods used between the SCS 14 and the users of an enterprise's computers, servers and networks. The user 60, who may be a system administrator or who may simply be interested in requesting the restoration of some of his or her own files, uses a computerized device 62 including a web browser 64 to interact with the SC software 52 via the SC web portal 50 (Clark: ¶ [0069]), and user 60 may initiate a status request and in response receive the appropriate backup meta data from the SCS 14…, request may be for backup events that include a specific file, files included in a specific backup event, or summary status information including but not limited to a report (Clark: ¶ [0071], ¶ [0085, 0209]).
Thus, 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 teachings of Clark in the teachings of Fiducci. A person having ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to do so as the system can send e-mail messages describing the failure to one or more designated e-mail address (i.e. notify administrators in case of failure) (Clark: ¶ [0209]) and the schedule of time intervals to be used between the retries, can be configured (Clark: ¶ [0208]).
Regarding Claim 31,
Claim 31 is dependent on Claim 30, and the combination of Fiducci and Bansod discloses all the limitations of Claim 30. The combination of Fiducci, Bansod and Clark discloses all the limitations of Claim 31 as discussed in Claim 24. Therefore, Claim 31 is rejected using the same rationales as discussed in Claim 24.
16. Claims 27, 34 and 40 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Fiducci (US 2016/0266981 A1, hereinafter Fiducci) in view of Bansod et al. (US 2020/0351345 A1, hereinafter Bansod) and further in view of Vibhor et al. (US 2014/0025796 A1, hereinafter Vibhor).
Regarding Claim 27,
Claim 27 is dependent on Claim 21, and the combination of Fiducci and Bansod discloses all the limitations of Claim 21. Fiducci further discloses wherein to receive, from the client, the indication of the plurality of accounts that the resource management policy is to be implemented for (Fiducci: ¶ [0054] System computer 12 also hosts the software that operates the backup, storage and retrieval system of the invention, ¶ [0071] an entry may be made on a single scheduler (e.g. an appointment for a specific professional) or on all of the schedulers (e.g. a staff meeting), see Figs. 18 and 23 which are showing account administrator's screens, Fig. 23—add user 502, User 1, 2, 3 506, update file rights, respective user schedulers, and a “save” button, ¶¶ [0014, 0017-0021, 0085-0088]), the service is further configured to:
Fiducci and Bansod do not explicitly disclose:
receive an indication of a group of a plurality of groups associated with the client, wherein the plurality of accounts are assigned to the group.
However, Vibhor from the same field of endeavor as the claimed invention discloses systems and methods are provided for grouping clients together in a networked data storage environment (Vibhor: [Abstract]), companies may schedule backups of data from different computers at different times or with varying frequency. For example, members of the research and development department may have their systems backed up more frequently than members of the marketing department (Vibhor: ¶ [0008]), assigns the one or more clients ( or other devices, systems, or grouped components) identified at the block 304 to the client group created at the block 306. Assigning a client to the client group can include storing the name of the client and/or a reference to the client in a data structure or an entry in a database associated with the client group (Vibhor: ¶ [0325]), and configuration rules can include any type of rule for configuring a client. For example, the configuration rules can include: specifying software for installation on a client…, the frequency an operation is performed in relation to a client (e.g., how often data stored on the client is backed up (Vibhor: ¶ [0326], also see ¶¶ [0329-0330]).
Thus, 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 teachings of Vibhor in the teaching of Fiducci. A person having ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to do so to enforce and/or executes policies and/or configuration rules associated with the client group (Vibhor: ¶ [0325]).
Regarding Claim 34,
Claim 34 is dependent on Claim 28, and the combination of Fiducci and Bansod discloses all the limitations of Claim 28. The combination of Fiducci, Bansod and Vibhor discloses all the limitations of Claim 34 as discussed in Claim 27. Therefore, Claim 34 is rejected using the same rationales as discussed in Claim 27.
Regarding Claim 40,
Claim 40 is dependent on Claim 39, and the combination of Fiducci and Bansod discloses all the limitations of Claim 39. The combination of Fiducci, Bansod and Vibhor discloses all the limitations of Claim 40 as discussed in Claim 27. Therefore, Claim 40 is rejected using the same rationales as discussed in Claim 27.
Conclusion
17. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
US-8676622-B1
US-20160048426-A1
US-20140038650-A1
US-9477530-B2
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SAMEERA WICKRAMASURIYA whose telephone number is (571)272-1507. The examiner can normally be reached on MON-FRI 8AM-4:30PM EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, JUNG W. KIM can be reached on (571)272-3804. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/SAMEERA WICKRAMASURIYA/
Examiner, Art Unit 2494
/JUNG W KIM/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2494
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