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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
The factual inquiries 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.
Claims 1, 2, 6, 10, 11, 15, 19, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shah et al. (202/0379857) in view of Nayak et al. (NPL).
Regarding claim 1:
Shah teaches:
detecting a first anomaly related to a first node in a plurality of nodes of the storage device that manage a storage [par 29 detecting a failed node]; and
sending, to a host, a notification message in response to detecting the first anomaly [par 29, 33 – issuing a message to the host indicating the failed node and a list of IP addresses indicating alternate paths the host can use],
wherein the notification message indicates that a first anomaly has occurred on a first path on which the first node is located [par 29, 33 – message indicates the failed node/path]
to enable the host to access the storage through a second path on which a second node in the plurality of nodes is located [par 29, 33 – indicates alternative paths to use to successfully serve requests].
Shah does not explicitly teach the method implemented with a network interface card in a storage device. Shah does, however, teach the method implemented using a SAN Volume Controller.
Nayak teaches a SAN Volume Controller utilizing network interface cards for communications [page 9 table 1-1, page 11 table 1-2 for host SAS interfaces].
It would have been obvious one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date to combine the network interface cards of Nayak with the SVC of Shah.
One of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date would have been motivated to make combination because Shah explicitly teaches performing the method using an SVC and Nayak provides details of the hardware included in one such SVC.
Regarding claim 2:
The combination teaches:
The method of claim 1, wherein the notification message comprises path status information [Shah par 29, 33], and
wherein the path status information indicates that the first anomaly has occurred on the first path [Shah par 29, 33].
Regarding claim 6:
The combination teaches:
The method of claim 1, further comprising further sending the notification message through a transport layer or an application layer [Shah par 21, 25, 29, 33].
Regarding claims 10, 11, and 15:
See the teachings above with respect to claims 1, 2, and 6.
Shah further teaches an interface to communicate with the storage device and one or more processors [fig 1; par 21].
Regarding claim 19;
See the teachings above with respect to claim 1.
Shah further teaches a storage configured to store data and a plurality of nodes [fig 1; par 21].
Regarding claim 20:
The combination teaches wherein the storage cluster is a centralized storage device or a distributed storage system [Shah par 20, 21].
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-5, 7-9, 12-14, and 16-18 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Other Pertinent Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
‘049 to Bali et al. discloses the use of NICs in the storage controllers of an array for managing connections to storage and hosts, wherein the storage controllers can perform failover operations.
‘453 to Bunker et al. discloses identifying optimal paths in response to a storage system detachment due to failure and presenting the optimal paths to a host to complete storage transactions.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MARC M DUNCAN whose telephone number is (571)272-3646. The examiner can normally be reached M-F: 730am-9am, 10am-4:30pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Bryce Bonzo can be reached at 571-272-3655. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MARC DUNCAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2113
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