DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
This Office action is in response to the Preliminary Amendment dated 5/22/2025.
Claims 1, 3-7, and 9-13 are amended.
Claims 14-18 are added.
Claims 1-18 are pending.
Claims 1-18 are rejected.
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant's claim for foreign priority based on an application filed in the People’s Republic of China on 11/1/2022.
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 6/12/2025 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the Examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor, or for pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention. Independent claim 1 recites “An object storage-based storage method, wherein the method is applied to an object storage server, and the method comprises: obtaining an object to be stored in a bucket, wherein the bucket comprises a plurality of logical partitions; selecting a target logical partition from the plurality of logical partitions based on a configuration parameter and a name string of the object, wherein the configuration parameter comprises a target distribution manner, and the target distribution manner is selected from a plurality of distribution manners; and storing the object in the target logical partition” (independent claim 1, lines 1-9).
The Examiner is uncertain if recitations of “the object” refer to any of the following possible interpretations:
“an object” or “storage service-based method”;
:an object to be stored in a bucket”; or
some other possible, unconsidered interpretation.
Un addition, the Examiner is uncertain if “the plurality of logical partitions” refers to any of the following possible interpretations:
“a plurality of logical partitions” that are part of “a bucket”; or
some other possible, unconsidered interpretation.
For the sake of examination, the Examiner has interpreted “An object storage-based storage method, wherein the method is applied to an object storage server, and the method comprises: obtaining an object to be stored in a bucket, wherein the bucket comprises a plurality of logical partitions; selecting a target logical partition from the plurality of logical partitions based on a configuration parameter and a name string of the object, wherein the configuration parameter comprises a target distribution manner, and the target distribution manner is selected from a plurality of distribution manners; and storing the object in the target logical partition” to read “An object storage-based storage method, wherein the object storage-based storage method is applied to an object storage server, and the object storage-based storage method comprises: obtaining an object to be stored in a bucket, wherein the bucket comprises a plurality of logical partitions; selecting a target logical partition of the bucket from the plurality of logical partitions of the bucket based on a configuration parameter and a name string of the object to be stored in the bucket, wherein the configuration parameter comprises a target distribution manner, and the target distribution manner is selected from a plurality of distribution manners; and storing the object to be stored in the bucket in the target logical partition of the bucket.”
Dependent claims 2-6, which ultimately depend from independent claim 1, are rejected for carrying the same deficiencies.
Claims 7-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor, or for pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention. Independent claim 7 recites “A computing device cluster, comprising at least one computing device, wherein each computing device comprises at least one processor and at least one memory coupled to the at least one processor and storing programming instructions for execution by the at least one processor to enable the computing device cluster to : obtain an object to be stored in a bucket, wherein the bucket comprises a plurality of logical partitions; select a target logical partition from the plurality of logical partitions based on a configuration parameter and a name string of the object, wherein the configuration parameter comprises a target distribution manner, and the target distribution manner is selected from a plurality of distribution manners; and store the object in the target logical partition” (independent claim 7, lines 1-13).
The Examiner is uncertain if recitations of “the object” refer to any of the following possible interpretations:
“an object” or “storage service-based method”;
:an object to be stored in a bucket”; or
some other possible, unconsidered interpretation.
Un addition, the Examiner is uncertain if “the plurality of logical partitions” refers to any of the following possible interpretations:
“a plurality of logical partitions” that are part of “a bucket”; or
some other possible, unconsidered interpretation.
For the sake of examination, the Examiner has interpreted “A computing device cluster, comprising at least one computing device, wherein each computing device comprises at least one processor and at least one memory coupled to the at least one processor and storing programming instructions for execution by the at least one processor to enable the computing device cluster to : obtain an object to be stored in a bucket, wherein the bucket comprises a plurality of logical partitions; select a target logical partition from the plurality of logical partitions based on a configuration parameter and a name string of the object, wherein the configuration parameter comprises a target distribution manner, and the target distribution manner is selected from a plurality of distribution manners; and store the object in the target logical partition” to read “A computing device cluster, comprising at least one computing device, wherein each computing device comprises at least one processor and at least one memory coupled to the at least one processor and storing programming instructions for execution by the at least one processor to enable the computing device cluster to: obtain an object to be stored in a bucket, wherein the bucket comprises a plurality of logical partitions; select a target logical partition of the bucket from the plurality of logical partitions of the bucket based on a configuration parameter and a name string of the object to be stored in the bucket, wherein the configuration parameter comprises a target distribution manner, and the target distribution manner is selected from a plurality of distribution manners; and store the object to be stored in the bucket in the target logical partition of the bucket.”
Dependent claims 8-12, which ultimately depend from independent claim 7, are rejected for carrying the same deficiencies.
Claims 13-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor, or for pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention. Independent claim 13 recites “A non-transitory computer program product comprising instructions, wherein when the instructions are run by a computing device cluster, the computing device cluster is enable to perform operations comprising: obtaining an object to be stored in a bucket, wherein the bucket comprises a plurality of logical partitions; selecting a target logical partition from the plurality of logical partitions based on a configuration parameter and a name string of the object, wherein the configuration parameter comprises a target distribution manner, and the target distribution manner is selected from a plurality of distribution manners; and storing the object in the target logical partition” (independent claim 13, lines 1-10).
The Examiner is uncertain if recitations of “the object” refer to any of the following possible interpretations:
“an object” or “storage service-based method”;
:an object to be stored in a bucket”; or
some other possible, unconsidered interpretation.
In addition, the Examiner is uncertain if “the plurality of logical partitions” refers to any of the following possible interpretations:
“a plurality of logical partitions” that are part of “a bucket”; or
some other possible, unconsidered interpretation.
For the sake of examination, the Examiner has interpreted “A non-transitory computer program product comprising instructions, wherein when the instructions are run by a computing device cluster, the computing device cluster is enable to perform operations comprising: obtaining an object to be stored in a bucket, wherein the bucket comprises a plurality of logical partitions; selecting a target logical partition from the plurality of logical partitions based on a configuration parameter and a name string of the object, wherein the configuration parameter comprises a target distribution manner, and the target distribution manner is selected from a plurality of distribution manners; and storing the object in the target logical partition” to read “A non-transitory computer program product comprising instructions, wherein when the instructions are run by a computing device cluster, the computing device cluster is enable to perform operations comprising: obtaining an object to be stored in a bucket, wherein the bucket comprises a plurality of logical partitions; selecting a target logical partition of the bucket from the plurality of logical partitions of the bucket based on a configuration parameter and a name string of the object to be stored in the bucket, wherein the configuration parameter comprises a target distribution manner, and the target distribution manner is selected from a plurality of distribution manners; and storing the object to be stored in the bucket in the target logical partition of the bucket.”
Dependent claims 14-18, which ultimately depend from independent claim 13, are rejected for carrying the same deficiencies.
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 of this title, 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.
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(a) 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.
Claims 1, 7, and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over the attached machine translation of CN109299190A (“Xie”) in view of the attached machine translation of CN102541470A (“Zhang”).
As per claim 1, Xie substantially teaches an object storage service-based storage method, wherein the method is applied to an object storage server (Xie, page 1, section “Summary of the invention,” paragraphs 1-4), and the method comprises:
an object storage server; obtaining an object to be stored in a bucket, wherein the bucket comprises a plurality of logical partitions; selecting a target logical partition from the plurality of logical partitions based on a name string of the object; and storing the object in the target logical partition: (Xie, page 1, section “Summary of the invention,” paragraph 1, to page 2, paragraph beginning with “Optionally, in another possible implementation manner of the application, the number of initial partitions of the distributed storage system…”, where the system of Xie comprises a method for processing metadata of an object in a distribute storage system that includes buckets for storage of objects within the distributed storage system. The Examiner notes that a distributed storage system that stores objects within buckets by definition includes at least one object storage server to manage storage of objects within buckets of the distributed storage system. The system of Xie stores objects within buckets in accordance with requests based on a name of an object to be stored and a name of a bucket into which the object is to be stored. Each bucket of Xie comprises sub-buckets (i.e., target logical partitions) into which objects may be stored. This means that a bucket and associated sub-bucket for storage of an object to be stored is selected based on a name string of the object. Xie therefore substantially teaches an object storage server; obtaining an object to be stored in a bucket, wherein the bucket comprises a plurality of logical partitions; selecting a target logical partition from the plurality of logical partitions based on a name string of the object; and storing the object in the target logical partition).
Xie does not appear to explicitly teach the other limitations of this claim beyond those taught above; however, in an analogous art, Zhang teaches data object processing method and device.
As per claim 1, Zhang particularly teaches:
a configuration parameter, wherein the configuration parameter comprises a target distribution manner, and the target distribution manner is selected from a plurality of distribution manners: (Zhang, page 1, section “Summary of the invention,” paragraph 1, to page 2, paragraph beginning with “The method and device for processing data objects according to the embodiments of the present invention...”, where the system of Zhang may select a manner of distributing logical volumes within a storage system that maximizes utilization of resources in the storage system. The Examiner notes that utilization of resources in a storage system is a configuration parameter of the storage system. The Examiner further notes that selecting a manner of distributing logical volumes in order to maximize utilization of resources of the storage system implies that multiple possible manners of distributing logical volumes are considered in order to choose a manner that maximizes utilization of resources of the storage system. Zhang therefore particularly teaches a configuration parameter, wherein the configuration parameter comprises a target distribution manner, and the target distribution manner is selected from a plurality of distribution manners).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art, having the teachings of Zhang and Xie before them before the instant application was effectively filed, to modify the system of Xie to include the principles of Zhang of maximizing storage system resource utilization.
The modification would have been obvious because a person having ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to increase system performance and resource utilization by implementing techniques that solve defects in prior art solutions by ensuring that storage resources and data objects in a storage system are distributed in a manner that causes resources in the storage system to be fully utilized (Zhang, page 1, section “Background technique,” paragraph 3, and section “Summary of the invention,” paragraph 1).
As per claim 7, Xie substantially teaches a computing device cluster, comprising at least one computing device, wherein each computing device comprises at least one processor and at least one memory coupled to the at least one processor and storing programming instructions for execution by the at least one processor to enable the computing device cluster to (Xie, page 1, section “Summary of the invention,” paragraphs 1-4):
obtain an object to be stored in a bucket, wherein the bucket comprises a plurality of logical partitions; select a target logical partition from the plurality of logical partitions based on a name string of the object; and store the object in the target logical partition: (Xie, page 1, section “Summary of the invention,” paragraph 1, to page 2, paragraph beginning with “Optionally, in another possible implementation manner of the application, the number of initial partitions of the distributed storage system…”, where the system of Xie comprises a method for processing metadata of an object in a distribute storage system that includes buckets for storage of objects within the distributed storage system. The Examiner notes that a distributed storage system that stores objects within buckets by definition includes at least one object storage server to manage storage of objects within buckets of the distributed storage system. The system of Xie stores objects within buckets in accordance with requests based on a name of an object to be stored and a name of a bucket into which the object is to be stored. Each bucket of Xie comprises sub-buckets (i.e., target logical partitions) into which objects may be stored. This means that a bucket and associated sub-bucket for storage of an object to be stored is selected based on a name string of the object. Xie therefore substantially teaches obtain an object to be stored in a bucket, wherein the bucket comprises a plurality of logical partitions; select a target logical partition from the plurality of logical partitions based on a name string of the object; and store the object in the target logical partition).
Xie does not appear to explicitly teach the other limitations of this claim beyond those taught above; however, in an analogous art, Zhang teaches data object processing method and device.
As per claim 7, Zhang particularly teaches:
a configuration parameter, wherein the configuration parameter comprises a target distribution manner, and the target distribution manner is selected from a plurality of distribution manners: (Zhang, page 1, section “Summary of the invention,” paragraph 1, to page 2, paragraph beginning with “The method and device for processing data objects according to the embodiments of the present invention...”, where the system of Zhang may select a manner of distributing logical volumes within a storage system that maximizes utilization of resources in the storage system. The Examiner notes that utilization of resources in a storage system is a configuration parameter of the storage system. The Examiner further notes that selecting a manner of distributing logical volumes in order to maximize utilization of resources of the storage system implies that multiple possible manners of distributing logical volumes are considered in order to choose a manner that maximizes utilization of resources of the storage system. Zhang therefore particularly teaches a configuration parameter, wherein the configuration parameter comprises a target distribution manner, and the target distribution manner is selected from a plurality of distribution manners).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art, having the teachings of Zhang and Xie before them before the instant application was effectively filed, to modify the system of Xie to include the principles of Zhang of maximizing storage system resource utilization.
The modification would have been obvious because a person having ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to increase system performance and resource utilization by implementing techniques that solve defects in prior art solutions by ensuring that storage resources and data objects in a storage system are distributed in a manner that causes resources in the storage system to be fully utilized (Zhang, page 1, section “Background technique,” paragraph 3, and section “Summary of the invention,” paragraph 1).
As per claim 13, Xie substantially teaches a non-transitory computer program product comprising instructions, wherein when the instructions are run by a computing device cluster (Xie, page 1, section “Summary of the invention,” paragraphs 1-4), the computing device cluster is enabled to perform operations comprising:
obtaining an object to be stored in a bucket, wherein the bucket comprises a plurality of logical partitions; selecting a target logical partition from the plurality of logical partitions based on a name string of the object; and storing the object in the target logical partition: (Xie, page 1, section “Summary of the invention,” paragraph 1, to page 2, paragraph beginning with “Optionally, in another possible implementation manner of the application, the number of initial partitions of the distributed storage system…”, where the system of Xie comprises a method for processing metadata of an object in a distribute storage system that includes buckets for storage of objects within the distributed storage system. The Examiner notes that a distributed storage system that stores objects within buckets by definition includes at least one object storage server to manage storage of objects within buckets of the distributed storage system. The system of Xie stores objects within buckets in accordance with requests based on a name of an object to be stored and a name of a bucket into which the object is to be stored. Each bucket of Xie comprises sub-buckets (i.e., target logical partitions) into which objects may be stored. This means that a bucket and associated sub-bucket for storage of an object to be stored is selected based on a name string of the object. Xie therefore substantially teaches obtaining an object to be stored in a bucket, wherein the bucket comprises a plurality of logical partitions; selecting a target logical partition from the plurality of logical partitions based on a name string of the object; and storing the object in the target logical partition).
Xie does not appear to explicitly teach the other limitations of this claim beyond those taught above; however, in an analogous art, Zhang teaches data object processing method and device.
As per claim 13, Zhang particularly teaches:
a configuration parameter, wherein the configuration parameter comprises a target distribution manner, and the target distribution manner is selected from a plurality of distribution manners: (Zhang, page 1, section “Summary of the invention,” paragraph 1, to page 2, paragraph beginning with “The method and device for processing data objects according to the embodiments of the present invention...”, where the system of Zhang may select a manner of distributing logical volumes within a storage system that maximizes utilization of resources in the storage system. The Examiner notes that utilization of resources in a storage system is a configuration parameter of the storage system. The Examiner further notes that selecting a manner of distributing logical volumes in order to maximize utilization of resources of the storage system implies that multiple possible manners of distributing logical volumes are considered in order to choose a manner that maximizes utilization of resources of the storage system. Zhang therefore particularly teaches a configuration parameter, wherein the configuration parameter comprises a target distribution manner, and the target distribution manner is selected from a plurality of distribution manners).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art, having the teachings of Zhang and Xie before them before the instant application was effectively filed, to modify the system of Xie to include the principles of Zhang of maximizing storage system resource utilization.
The modification would have been obvious because a person having ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to increase system performance and resource utilization by implementing techniques that solve defects in prior art solutions by ensuring that storage resources and data objects in a storage system are distributed in a manner that causes resources in the storage system to be fully utilized (Zhang, page 1, section “Background technique,” paragraph 3, and section “Summary of the invention,” paragraph 1).
Conclusion
The following prior art is made of record and is not relied upon for any rejection but is considered pertinent to Applicant's disclosure:
USPGPUB 2016/0098455: teaches an object storage system that stores objects within tiers of storage; and
USPGPUB 2020/0250080: teaches a storage server that stores objects within partitions of storage devices.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Daniel C. Chappell whose telephone number is (571)272-5003. The examiner can normally be reached 1000-1800, Eastern.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Jared I. Rutz can be reached at (571)272-5535. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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Daniel C. Chappell
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2135
/Daniel C. Chappell/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2135
Prosecution Insights