Ex Parte Hempelmann et al

Patent Trial and Appeal BoardSep 25, 2014

12724121 (P.T.A.B. Sep. 25, 2014)

UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE United States Patent and Trademark Office Address: COMMISSIONER FOR PATENTS P.O. Box 1450 Alexandria, Virginia 22313-1450 www.uspto.gov APPLICATION NO. FILING DATE FIRST NAMED INVENTOR ATTORNEY DOCKET NO. CONFIRMATION NO. 12/724,121 03/15/2010 Henrik Hempelmann 2005P00858US01 6700 52025 7590 09/26/2014 SAP SE c/o BUCKLEY, MASCHOFF & TALWALKAR LLC 50 LOCUST AVENUE NEW CANAAN, CT 06840 EXAMINER YEN, SYLING ART UNIT PAPER NUMBER 2166 MAIL DATE DELIVERY MODE 09/26/2014 PAPER Please find below and/or attached an Office communication concerning this application or proceeding. The time period for reply, if any, is set in the attached communication. PTOL-90A (Rev. 04/07) UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE ____________ BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD ____________ Ex parte HENRIK HEMPELMANN and TORSTEN STRAHL ____________ Appeal 2012-004565 Application 12/724,121 Technology Center 2100 ____________ Before JEAN R. HOMERE, CARLA M. KRIVAK, and JEFFREY S. SMITH, Administrative Patent Judges. SMITH, Administrative Patent Judge. DECISION ON APPEAL Appeal 2012-004565 Application 12/724,121 2 STATEMENT OF THE CASE This is an appeal under 35 U.S.C. § 134(a) from the Examiner’s final rejection of claims 1–29, which are all the claims pending in the application. We have jurisdiction under 35 U.S.C. § 6(b). We affirm. Representative Claim 1. A method for managing a data volume of a data area, the method comprising: storing a plurality of data pages into a cache, wherein each of the stored plurality of data pages is a copy of a respective one of a plurality of data pages of the data volume; preventing writing of data pages to the data volume; designating each of the plurality of data pages stored in the cache as modified with respect to a respective data page stored in the data volume, wherein each one of a plurality of the data pages stored in the cache is identical to the respective data page stored in the data volume when the designating of that one as modified with respect to the respective data page stored in the data volume is initiated; writing all data pages in the cache that are designated as modified to a respective location in one or more other data volumes of the data area; and for each of the written data pages, updating a converter page of the cache to associate the written data page with its respective location in the one or more other data volumes. Appeal 2012-004565 Application 12/724,121 3 Prior Art Stringer 5,341,429 Aug. 23, 1994 Mohan 5,455,942 Oct. 3, 1995 Kanai US 2004/0210713 A1 Oct. 21, 2004 Mogi US 6,944,711 B2 Sept. 13, 2005 Examiner’s Rejections Claims 1–3, 5, 8–10, 12, 15–17, 19, and 22–29 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as unpatentable over Kanai and Mohan. Claims 4, 6, 11, 13, 18, and 20 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as unpatentable over Kanai, Mohan, and Mogi. Claims 7, 14, and 21 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as unpatentable over Kanai, Mohan, and Stringer. ANALYSIS Double patenting rejection Because Appellants do not appeal the Examiner’s double patenting rejection of claims 1–29 made in the Final Rejection, we summarily affirm the rejection. Section 103 rejections of claims 1–29 We adopt the findings of fact made by the Examiner in the Final Rejection and Examiner’s Answer as our own. We concur with the decision by the Examiner to reject claims 1–29 as obvious for the reasons given in the Answer. We highlight the following for emphasis. Appeal 2012-004565 Application 12/724,121 4 Appellants contend the combination of Kanai and Mohan does not teach “each one of a plurality of the data pages stored in the cache is identical to the respective data page stored in the data volume when the designating of that one as modified with respect to the respective data page stored in the data volume is initiated,” as recited in claim 1. App. Br. 7–11; Reply Br. 6–12. The scope of “designating [a data page stored in cache] as modified with respect to the respective data page stored in the data volume is initiated,” when read in light of Appellants’ Specification, encompasses performing some type of “designating” when the data page stored in cache is not modified. Spec. 8:17-18, 12:23-25. Mohan teaches setting a change bit to 1 when corresponding data in cache is changed, and setting the bit to 0 when corresponding data in cache is not changed. Col. 4, ll. 26–35. Appellants have not presented persuasive evidence or argument to distinguish setting the change bit to 0 when data in cache is not changed as taught by Mohan, from “each one of a plurality of the data pages stored in the cache is identical to the respective data page stored in the data volume when the designating of that one as modified with respect to the respective data page stored in the data volume is initiated,” as recited in claim 1. We therefore sustain the rejection of claim 1 under 35 U.S.C. § 103. Appellants present arguments for the patentability of independent claims 8, 15, and 22 similar to those presented for claim 1, which we find unpersuasive. Appellants do not present arguments for separate patentability of dependent claims 2–7, 9–14, 16–21, and 23–29, which fall with their corresponding independent claims. Appeal 2012-004565 Application 12/724,121 5 DECISION The rejection of claims 1–3, 5, 8–10, 12, 15–17, 19, and 22–29 under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as unpatentable over Kanai and Mohan is affirmed. The rejection of claims 4, 6, 11, 13, 18, and 20 under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as unpatentable over Kanai, Mohan, and Mogi is affirmed. The rejection of claims 7, 14, and 21 under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as unpatentable over Kanai, Mohan, and Stringer is affirmed. No time period for taking any subsequent action in connection with this appeal may be extended under 37 C.F.R. § 1.136(a). See 37 C.F.R. § 41.50(f). AFFIRMED dw