DETAILED ACTION
This Office action is responsive to the following communication: Preliminary Amendment filed on 11 September 2026.
Claim(s) 1-21 is/are pending and present for examination. Claim(s) 1 and 10 is/are in independent form.
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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 15 August 2025 and 12 May 2026 is/are being considered by the examiner.
Drawings
The drawings were received on 29 July 2025. These drawings are accepted.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1, 2, 6, 10, 11, 20, 21 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Singh, USPGPUB No. 2019/0332300, filed on 30 April 2018, and published on 31 October 2019.
As per independent claims 1 and 20, Singh teaches:
A data reading method, comprising:
obtaining a first key corresponding to to-be-read data {See Singh, [0024], wherein this reads over “In some embodiments of the invention, leaf nodes of the fingerprint trie are keyed by fingerprints, and a value of each leaf node is a reference to the physical storage location of the data portion from which the fingerprint was generated.”};
searching a learned index model for a first leaf node corresponding to the first key {See Singh, [0025], wherein this reads over “A fingerprint trie may be searched, for example by traversing multiple nodes of the trie according to pointers provided by the nodes, to determine whether there is any matching fingerprint specified in the fingerprint trie. If a matching fingerprint is found in the fingerprint trie, an entry in a physical address reference table for the data portion from which the fingerprint being searched was generated may be updated to reference a storage location specified at a node in the fingerprint trie for the matching fingerprint, and the fingerprint trie may remain unchanged”};
determining, according to a first model algorithm corresponding to the first leaf node, a first storage unit corresponding to the first key, wherein the first storage unit corresponds to one or more pieces of user data {See Singh, [0051], wherein this reads over “Each node also may have a value field specifying a value of the node (i.e., a value for the key represented by the node). In some embodiments of the invention, only leaf nodes have non-null values, for example, a physical address reference for the physical storage at which the data portion from which the fingerprint was generated is stored. Thus, a fingerprint can be used as a key to the leaf node that identifies a physical storage location of a data portion uniquely identified by the fingerprint.”}, wherein when the first storage unit corresponds to a plurality of pieces of the user data, the first storage unit stores a first pointer pointing to a collision array1, or when the first storage unit corresponds to one piece of the user data, the first storage unit stores the user data {See Singh, [0059], wherein this reads over “Returning to the method 400, in the step 408, the data portion from which the fingerprint “ABC” was generated is stored in the data storage system, and in the step 410, the fingerprint trie 600 is modified as illustrated in FIGS. 6B and 7B, to include nodes 602, 606 and 612 for each of characters “A,” “B” and “C,” respectively, nodes 602 and 606 being internal nodes specifying null values 621 and 651, and node 612 being a leaf node specifying a physical address reference (PAR) 629 for the data portion from which the fingerprint “ABC” was generated.”}; and
searching the collision array to which the first pointer points for the to-be-read data2, or determining the user data stored in the first storage unit as the to-be-read data {See Singh, [0025], wherein this reads over “When an I/O operation, for example, a write operation originating from a host, is received, a fingerprint may be generated for each of one or more data portions included in the I/O operation. A fingerprint trie may be searched, for example by traversing multiple nodes of the trie according to pointers provided by the nodes, to determine whether there is any matching fingerprint specified in the fingerprint trie. If a matching fingerprint is found in the fingerprint trie, an entry in a physical address reference table for the data portion from which the fingerprint being searched was generated may be updated to reference a storage location specified at a node in the fingerprint trie for the matching fingerprint, and the fingerprint trie may remain unchanged.”}.
As per dependent claim 2, Singh teaches:
The method according to claim 1, wherein the first storage unit comprises a first field, and the first field indicates whether the first storage unit stores the user data {See Singh, [0051], wherein this reads over “Each node also may have a value field specifying a value of the node (i.e., a value for the key represented by the node). In some embodiments of the invention, only leaf nodes have non-null values, for example, a physical address reference for the physical storage at which the data portion from which the fingerprint was generated is stored. Thus, a fingerprint can be used as a key to the leaf node that identifies a physical storage location of a data portion uniquely identified by the fingerprint.”}.
As per dependent claim 6, Singh teaches:
The method according to claim 2, wherein determining the user data stored in the first storage unit as the to-be-read data comprises: when it is determined, based on the first field, that the first storage unit stores the user data, determining the user data stored in the first storage unit as the to-be-read data {See Singh, [0025], wherein this reads over “When an I/O operation, for example, a write operation originating from a host, is received, a fingerprint may be generated for each of one or more data portions included in the I/O operation. A fingerprint trie may be searched, for example by traversing multiple nodes of the trie according to pointers provided by the nodes, to determine whether there is any matching fingerprint specified in the fingerprint trie. If a matching fingerprint is found in the fingerprint trie, an entry in a physical address reference table for the data portion from which the fingerprint being searched was generated may be updated to reference a storage location specified at a node in the fingerprint trie for the matching fingerprint, and the fingerprint trie may remain unchanged.”}.
As per independent claims 10 and 21, Singh teaches:
A data storage method, comprising:
obtaining to-be-written data and a first key corresponding to the to-be-written data {See Singh, [0024], wherein this reads over “In some embodiments of the invention, leaf nodes of the fingerprint trie are keyed by fingerprints, and a value of each leaf node is a reference to the physical storage location of the data portion from which the fingerprint was generated.”};
searching a learned index model for a first leaf node corresponding to the first key {See Singh, [0025], wherein this reads over “A fingerprint trie may be searched, for example by traversing multiple nodes of the trie according to pointers provided by the nodes, to determine whether there is any matching fingerprint specified in the fingerprint trie. If a matching fingerprint is found in the fingerprint trie, an entry in a physical address reference table for the data portion from which the fingerprint being searched was generated may be updated to reference a storage location specified at a node in the fingerprint trie for the matching fingerprint, and the fingerprint trie may remain unchanged”};
determining, according to a first model algorithm corresponding to the first leaf node, a first storage unit corresponding to the first key, wherein the first storage unit corresponds to one or more pieces of user data {See Singh, [0051], wherein this reads over “Each node also may have a value field specifying a value of the node (i.e., a value for the key represented by the node). In some embodiments of the invention, only leaf nodes have non-null values, for example, a physical address reference for the physical storage at which the data portion from which the fingerprint was generated is stored. Thus, a fingerprint can be used as a key to the leaf node that identifies a physical storage location of a data portion uniquely identified by the fingerprint.”}, wherein when the first storage unit corresponds to a plurality of pieces of the user data, the first storage unit stores a first pointer pointing to a collision array3, or when the first storage unit corresponds to one piece of the user data, the first storage unit stores the user data {See Singh, [0059], wherein this reads over “Returning to the method 400, in the step 408, the data portion from which the fingerprint “ABC” was generated is stored in the data storage system, and in the step 410, the fingerprint trie 600 is modified as illustrated in FIGS. 6B and 7B, to include nodes 602, 606 and 612 for each of characters “A,” “B” and “C,” respectively, nodes 602 and 606 being internal nodes specifying null values 621 and 651, and node 612 being a leaf node specifying a physical address reference (PAR) 629 for the data portion from which the fingerprint “ABC” was generated.”}; and
storing the to-be-written data into the collision array to which the first pointer points4, or storing the to-be-written data into the first storage unit {See Singh, [0025], wherein this reads over “When an I/O operation, for example, a write operation originating from a host, is received, a fingerprint may be generated for each of one or more data portions included in the I/O operation. A fingerprint trie may be searched, for example by traversing multiple nodes of the trie according to pointers provided by the nodes, to determine whether there is any matching fingerprint specified in the fingerprint trie. If a matching fingerprint is found in the fingerprint trie, an entry in a physical address reference table for the data portion from which the fingerprint being searched was generated may be updated to reference a storage location specified at a node in the fingerprint trie for the matching fingerprint, and the fingerprint trie may remain unchanged.”}.
As per dependent claim 11, Singh teaches:
The method according to claim 10, wherein the first storage unit comprises a first field, and the first field indicates whether the first storage unit stores the user data {See Singh, [0051], wherein this reads over “Each node also may have a value field specifying a value of the node (i.e., a value for the key represented by the node). In some embodiments of the invention, only leaf nodes have non-null values, for example, a physical address reference for the physical storage at which the data portion from which the fingerprint was generated is stored. Thus, a fingerprint can be used as a key to the leaf node that identifies a physical storage location of a data portion uniquely identified by the fingerprint.”}.
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.
Claim(s) 8 and 17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Singh, in view of Bourbonnais et al, USPGPUB No. 2014/0372374, filed on 13 September 2013, and published on 18 December 2014.
As per dependent claim 8, Singh, in combination with Bourbonnais, discloses:
The method according to claim 1, wherein searching the collision array to which the first pointer points for the to-be-read data comprises: searching, through binary search, the collision array to which the first pointer points for the to-be-read data {See Bourbonnais, [0056], wherein this reads over “In one embodiment, for each difference in the difference queue, the reporter thread 304 performs a binary search against the CCRC array 502 and the collision array 504 to determine if the difference exists in the current difference table 406. If the difference exists, the reporter thread 304 updates the persistence type to "persistent"; otherwise, the persistence type is updated to "transient".”}.
The prior art of Singh fails to disclose the features of the instant claim. Bourbonnais is directed to the invention of difference determination in a database environment. Specifically, Bourbonnais discloses that “the reporter thread 304 performs a binary search against the CCRC array 502 and the collision array 504 to determine if the difference exists in the current difference table 406.” See Bourbonnais, [0054]. Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill at the time of the effective filing date of the instant application to improve the prior art of Singh with that of Bourbonnais such that a collision array may be search via a binary search. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make the aforementioned combination such that overlapping hash values may be detected.
As per dependent claim 17, Singh, in combination with Bourbonnais, discloses:
The method according to claim 10, wherein the method further comprises: determining, through binary search, a storage location of the to-be-written data in the collision array to which the first pointer points {See Bourbonnais, [0056], wherein this reads over “In one embodiment, for each difference in the difference queue, the reporter thread 304 performs a binary search against the CCRC array 502 and the collision array 504 to determine if the difference exists in the current difference table 406. If the difference exists, the reporter thread 304 updates the persistence type to "persistent"; otherwise, the persistence type is updated to "transient".”}.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-5, 7, 9, 12-16, 18, 19 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.
Conclusion
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/Paul Kim/
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2166
/PK/
1 The Examiner notes that the claimed feature of “the first storage unit stores a first pointer pointing to a collision array” is optionally recited and lacks patentable weight in the instance when the claimed feature of “when the first storage unit corresponds to one piece of the user data, the first storage unit stores the user data” is elected.
2 The Examiner notes that the claimed feature of “searching the collision array to which the first pointer points for the to-be-read data” is optionally recited and lacks patentable weight in the instance when the claimed feature of “determining the user data stored in the first storage unit as the to-be-read data” is elected.
3 The Examiner notes that the claimed feature of “the first storage unit stores a first pointer pointing to a collision array” is optionally recited and lacks patentable weight in the instance when the claimed feature of “when the first storage unit corresponds to one piece of the user data, the first storage unit stores the user data” is elected.
4 The Examiner notes that the claimed feature of “searching the collision array to which the first pointer points for the to-be-read data” is optionally recited and lacks patentable weight in the instance when the claimed feature of “determining the user data stored in the first storage unit as the to-be-read data” is elected.
Prosecution Insights