DETAILED ACTION
This action is in response to claims filed for Application 19/309721 on August 26, 2025, in which Claims 1-20 are presented for examination.
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Status of Claims
Claims 1-20 are pending, of which Claims 1, 3 and 15-20 are allowed. Claims 2, 4-7, 9 and 10 are rejected under 112b. Claims 8 and 11-14 are objected to. Claims 1-20 do not include a prior art rejection.
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 2, 4-7, 9 and 10 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 applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 2 recites the limitation "the backup content" in Line 3. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 4 recites the limitation "the checked content" in Lines 6 and 7. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 5 recites the limitation "the at least one register value" in Lines 6 and 12. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 5 recites the limitation "the register value" in Line 10. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 5 recites the limitation "the checked address" in Line 15. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 6 recites the limitation "the backup content" in Lines 15-16. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 7 recites the limitation "the ECC code" in Lines 4 and 9. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 9 recites the limitation "the backup content" in Line 2. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 10 recites the limitation "the backup content" in Lines 3-4. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1, 3 and 15-20 are allowable in light of the Applicant's argument and in light of the prior art made of record.
Claims 8 and 11-14 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.
Reasons for Indicating Allowable Subject Matter
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: Upon searching a variety of databases, the examiner considers “a first NVM having a faster read and write speed than the second NVM and serving as a main memory for storing content necessary for operation of a system; a second memory controller, coupled to the first memory controller and configured to: cooperate with the first memory controller to back up content in the first NVM to the second NVM; and according to configuration information, read corresponding backup content from the second NVM and transfer the corresponding backup content to the system bus, or write the corresponding backup content from the second NVM to the first NVM through the first memory controller for content repair”, in Claim 1; in conjunction with all other limitations of the dependent and independent claims are not taught or suggested by the prior art of record (PTO-892). Therefore, claims 1, 3 and 15-20 are hereby allowed.
Prior Art Made of Record
From a search of the prior art, one reference was found and considered by the Examiner to be the most-related prior art with regards to the claimed invention of the instant application:
Bensinger et al. (U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2008/0016387), hereinafter “Bensinger”. Bensinger is cited on PTO-892 filed 8/16/2026.
Bensinger: Paragraph 14 teaches information may be transferred between the primary and backup data storage system controllers synchronously, when a primary host computer requests writing of data to a primary data storage device, or asynchronously with the primary host computer requesting the writing of data to the primary data storage system, in which case the remote data copying or mirroring is independent of and largely transparent to the primary computer system. Data may also be similarly transferred between the primary or NAS and a remote storage server, thus providing an additional layer of failure protection.
Although conceptually similar to the claimed invention of the instant application, Bensinger does not teach “a first NVM having a faster read and write speed than the second NVM and serving as a main memory for storing content necessary for operation of a system; a second memory controller, coupled to the first memory controller and configured to: cooperate with the first memory controller to back up content in the first NVM to the second NVM; and according to configuration information, read corresponding backup content from the second NVM and transfer the corresponding backup content to the system bus, or write the corresponding backup content from the second NVM to the first NVM through the first memory controller for content repair”.
Additional Prior Art Made of Record
Karr et al. (US Patent Application No. 2023/0115293) teaches newer forms of non-volatile memory may be used, such as 3D Xpoint or MRAM, and to ensure that this staging memory can be used for recovering incomplete updates in the face of storage system controller failures, this memory can either be dual ported so that a second storage system controller can read its content if a first storage system controller fails, or the content written to staging memory can be copied by a first storage system controller over some interconnect to a second storage system controller and persisted on that controller as well as on the first before any updates can be considered durable and acknowledged.
Jeansonne et al. (US Patent Application No. 2016/0055069) teaches in response to determining that the system data in the primary non-volatile memory is compromised, the embedded controller and/or system firmware can repair the compromised system data in the primary non-volatile memory by using the redundant copy of system data in the secondary non-volatile memory.
Kim et al. (US Patent No. 8,984,242) teaches a computing system which includes a first and second non-volatile memories, and a storage management unit receiving backup data and write addresses generated according to data being executed at a hibernation and generating conversion addresses corresponding to the first non-volatile memory when the write addresses correspond to the second non-volatile memory, where the backup data is stored in at least one of the first non-volatile memory according to either one of the write addresses and the conversion addresses.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SARAI E BUTLER whose telephone number is (571)270-3823. The examiner can normally be reached 8 am to 4 pm.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ashish Thomas can be reached at 571-272-0631. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/SARAI E BUTLER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2114
Prosecution Insights