DETAILED ACTION
1. The present application 19/247,130 filed on 06/24/2025, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . Claims 1-20 are pending.
Drawings
2. The drawings received on 06/24/2025 are accepted by the Examiner.
Priority
3. Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for continuation of Application No: 18/085,559, filed on 12/20/2022 (now patent 12,353,291)
Review under 35 USC § 101
4. Claims 1-20 are directed to a process, a machine and an article of manufacture have been reviewed. Claims 1-17 are appeared to be in one of the statutory categories [e.g., a process], the process is a method for initiating full backups based in part on the quantity of objects. Claims 1-17 do not fall within at least one of the groupings of abstract ideas enumerated in the 2019 PEG. Claims 18 and 19 are appeared to be in one of the statutory categories [e.g., Machine], the machine is an apparatus comprising a processor; a memory coupled to at least one processor and instructions stored in the memory and executable by at least one processor to cause the apparatus to initiate full backups based in part on the quantity of objects. Claims 18 and 19 do not fall within at least one of the groupings of abstract ideas enumerated in the 2019 PEG. Claim 20 is appeared to be in one of the statutory categories [e.g., an article of manufacture], the computer-readable medium storing code, the code comprising instructions executable by processor to initiate full backups based in part on the quantity of objects. Claim 20 does not fall within at least one of the groupings of abstract ideas enumerated in the 2019 PEG. Therefore, 1-20 are qualified as eligible subject Matter under 35 USC 101.
Double Patenting
5. 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 obviousness-type 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); and 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 a nonstatutory double patenting ground provided the conflicting application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with this application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement. Effective January 1, 1994, a registered attorney or agent of record may sign a terminal disclaimer. A terminal disclaimer signed by the assignee must fully comply with 37 CFR 3.73(b).
6. Claims 1-20 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory obvious double patenting over claims 1-20 of Patent No.: US 12,353,291 B2. The subject matter claimed in the instant application is disclosed in the Patent No.: US 12,353,291 B2. For example:
Patent No.: US 12,353,291 B2
Instant Application: 19/247,130
1. A method, comprising:
activating, by a data management system, a first storage engine;
scheduling, by the data management system, a plurality of objects for full backups by the data management system based at least in part on activating the first storage engine, wherein scheduling the plurality of objects for full backups is further based at least in part on the first storage engine being associated with a first snapshot format that is incompatible with a second snapshot format associated with a previously activated second storage engine;
acquiring, by the data management system, a first set of full snapshots of a first batch of objects from among the plurality of objects, wherein acquisition of the first set of full snapshots is initiated at a first time based at least in part on the plurality of objects exceeding a threshold quantity as of a time of the scheduling of the plurality of objects for full backups; and acquiring, by the data management system, a second set of full snapshots of a second batch of objects from among the plurality of objects, the second batch of objects different than and exclusive of the first batch of objects, wherein acquisition of the second set of full snapshots is initiated at a second time subsequent to the first time based at least in part on the plurality of objects exceeding the threshold quantity as of the time of the scheduling of the plurality of objects for full backups.
15. An apparatus, comprising: at least one processor; memory coupled with the at least one processor; and instructions stored in the memory and executable by the at least one processor to cause the apparatus to: activate, by a data management system, a first storage engine; schedule, by the data management system, a plurality of objects for full backups by the data management system based at least in part on activating the first storage engine, wherein scheduling the plurality of objects for full backups is further based at least in part on the first storage engine being associated with a first snapshot format that is incompatible with a second snapshot format associated with a previously activated second storage engine; acquire, by the data management system, a first set of full snapshots of a first batch of objects from among the plurality of objects, wherein acquisition of the first set of full snapshots is initiated at a first time based at least in part on the plurality of objects exceeding a threshold quantity as of a time of the scheduling of the plurality of objects for full backups; and acquire, by the data management system, a second set of full snapshots of a second batch of objects from among the plurality of objects, the second batch of objects different than and exclusive of the first batch of objects, wherein acquisition of the second set of full snapshots is initiated at a second time subsequent to the first time based at least in part on the plurality of objects exceeding the threshold quantity as of the time of the scheduling of the plurality of objects for full backups.
18. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing code, the code comprising instructions executable by at least one processor to: activate, by a data management system, a first storage engine; schedule, by the data management system, a plurality of objects for full backups by the data management system based at least in part on activating the first storage engine, wherein scheduling the plurality of objects for full backups is further based at least in part on the first storage engine being associated with a first snapshot format that is incompatible with a second snapshot format associated with a previously activated second storage engine; acquire, by the data management system, a first set of full snapshots of a first batch of objects from among the plurality of objects, wherein acquisition of the first set of full snapshots is initiated at a first time based at least in part on the plurality of objects exceeding a threshold quantity as of a time of the scheduling of the plurality of objects for full backups; and
acquire, by the data management system, a second set of full snapshots of a second batch of objects from among the plurality of objects, the second batch of objects different than and exclusive of the first batch of objects, wherein acquisition of the second set of full snapshots is initiated at a second time subsequent to the first time based at least in part on the plurality of objects exceeding the threshold quantity as of the time of the scheduling of the plurality of objects for full backups.
1. A method, comprising:
acquiring, by a data management system, a first plurality of full snapshots of a plurality of objects, wherein the first plurality of full snapshots are associated with a first snapshot format; scheduling, by the data management system and after acquisition of the first plurality of full snapshots, a second plurality of full snapshots of the plurality of objects, wherein the second plurality of full snapshots are associated with a second snapshot format that is different than the first snapshot format; acquiring, by the data management system, a first subset of full snapshots of the second plurality of full snapshots for a first batch of objects from among the plurality of objects, wherein acquisition of the first subset of full snapshots is initiated at a first time based at least in part on the plurality of objects exceeding a threshold quantity as of a time of the scheduling of the second plurality of full snapshots; and acquiring, by the data management system, a second subset of full snapshots of the second plurality of full snapshots for a second batch of objects from among the plurality of objects, wherein acquisition of the second subset of full snapshots is initiated at a second time subsequent to the first time based at least in part on the plurality of objects exceeding the threshold quantity as of the time of the scheduling of the second plurality of full snapshots.
18. An apparatus, comprising: at least one processor; memory coupled with the at least one processor; and instructions stored in the memory and executable by the at least one processor to cause the apparatus to: acquire, by a data management system, a first plurality of full snapshots of a plurality of objects, wherein the first plurality of full snapshots are associated with a first snapshot format; schedule, by the data management system and after acquisition of the first plurality of full snapshots, a second plurality of full snapshots of the plurality of objects, wherein the second plurality of full snapshots are associated with a second snapshot format that is different than the first snapshot format; acquire, by the data management system, a first subset of full snapshots of the second plurality of full snapshots for a first batch of objects from among the plurality of objects, wherein the instructions are executable by the at least one processor to cause the apparatus to initiate acquisition of the first subset of full snapshots at a first time based at least in part on the plurality of objects exceeding a threshold quantity as of a time of the scheduling of the second plurality of full snapshots; and acquire, by the data management system, a second subset of full snapshots of the second plurality of full snapshots for a second batch of objects from among the plurality of objects, wherein the instructions are executable by the at least one processor to cause the apparatus to initiate acquisition of the second subset of full snapshots at a second time subsequent to the first time based at least in part on the plurality of objects exceeding the threshold quantity as of the time of the scheduling of the second plurality of full snapshots.
20. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing code, the code comprising instructions executable by at least one processor to:
acquire, by a data management system, a first plurality of full snapshots of a plurality of objects, wherein the first plurality of full snapshots are associated with a first snapshot format;
schedule, by the data management system and after acquisition of the first plurality of full snapshots, a second plurality of full snapshots of the plurality of objects, wherein the second plurality of full snapshots are associated with a second snapshot format that is different than the first snapshot format;
acquire, by the data management system, a first subset of full snapshots of the second plurality of full snapshots for a first batch of objects from among the plurality of objects, wherein the instructions are executable by at least one processor to initiate acquisition of the first subset of full snapshots at a first time based at least in part on the plurality of objects exceeding a threshold quantity as of a time of the scheduling of the second plurality of full snapshots; and acquire, by the data management system, a second subset of full snapshots of the second plurality of full snapshots for a second batch of objects from among the plurality of objects, wherein the instructions are executable by at least one processor to initiate acquisition of the second subset of full snapshots at a second time subsequent to the first time based at least in part on the plurality of objects exceeding the threshold quantity as of the time of the scheduling of the second plurality of full snapshots.
REASONS FOR ALLOWANCE
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance:
The closest prior art Agarwal et al. (US 2019/0213267 A1) discloses a method, comprising: acquiring, by a data management system, a first plurality of full snapshots of a plurality of objects (See para. [0050], a data management system manages one or more versions of a virtual machine, each version of the virtual machine is corresponding a full image snapshot of the virtual machine stored within a distributed file system, the data management system acquires a full image from a first storage device), wherein the first plurality of full snapshots are associated with a first snapshot format (See para. [0050], the full snapshots are associated with the first storage device of a first type [e.g., HDD]); scheduling, by the data management system and after acquisition of the first plurality of full snapshots, a second plurality of full snapshots of the plurality of objects (See para. [0110] and Figure 3B, scheduling a new snapshot chain can be either a full image snapshot or an incremental snapshot), wherein the second plurality of full snapshots are associated with a second snapshot format that is different than the first snapshot format (See para. [0050], the full snapshots are associated with the second storage device of a second type [e.g., SDD]). The Agrawal et al. reference discloses scheduling a full image snapshot when a first virtual machine exceeds a maximum incremental chain length for snapshot chain (See para. [0100] and Figure 3). However, the Agrawal et al. reference does not explicitly disclose acquisition a first subset of full snapshots is initiated at a first time based at least in part on the plurality of objects exceeding a threshold quantity as of a time of the scheduling of a second plurality of full snapshots and acquisition of the second subset of full snapshots is initiated at a second time subsequent to the first time based at least in part on the plurality of objects exceeding the threshold quantity as of the time of the scheduling of the second plurality of full snapshots.
Another reference Srinivasan et al. (US 2021/0124648 A1) discloses the process of moving the full image snapshot for the set of virtual machine snapshots to correspond with the most recent snapshot version may be performed in order to shorten or reduce the chain lengths for the newest or most recent snapshots, which may comprise the snapshots of Virtual Machine A that are the most likely to be accessed. In some cases, a rebasing operation (e.g., that moves the full image snapshot for a set of virtual machine snapshots to correspond with the most recent snapshot version) may be triggered when a number of forward incremental files is greater than a threshold number of forward incremental files for a snapshot chain (e.g., more than 200 forward incremental files). However, the Srinivasan et al. reference does not explicitly disclose acquisition a first subset of full snapshots is initiated at a first time based at least in part on the plurality of objects exceeding a threshold quantity as of a time of the scheduling of a second plurality of full snapshots and acquisition of the second subset of full snapshots is initiated at a second time subsequent to the first time based at least in part on the plurality of objects exceeding the threshold quantity as of the time of the scheduling of the second plurality of full snapshots.
The prior art fails to anticipate or render obvious the amended features in the instant claims 1, 18 and 20. The amended features in independent claims 1, 18 and 20 are novel and non-obvious over closest prior art. The dependent claims 2-17 and 19 are being definite, enabled by the specification, and further limiting to the independent claims, are also allowable.
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/YUK TING CHOI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2164
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