Ex Parte Arroyo et alDownload PDFPatent Trial and Appeal BoardSep 24, 201814087330 (P.T.A.B. Sep. 24, 2018) Copy Citation UNITED STA TES p A TENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE APPLICATION NO. FILING DATE FIRST NAMED INVENTOR 14/087,330 11/22/2013 139308 7590 09/26/2018 IBM Corporation Intellectural Property Law Department Poughkeepsie 2455 South Road, MIS P386, Bldg. 008-2 Poughkeepsie, NY 12601 Jesse P. Arroyo 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 ATTORNEY DOCKET NO. CONFIRMATION NO. ROC920130185US1 3206 EXAMINER MILLS, PAUL V ART UNIT PAPER NUMBER 2196 NOTIFICATION DATE DELIVERY MODE 09/26/2018 ELECTRONIC 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. Notice of the Office communication was sent electronically on above-indicated "Notification Date" to the following e-mail address(es): poiplaw2@us.ibm.com jpenningtonatty@cs.com PTOL-90A (Rev. 04/07) UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD Ex parte JESSE P. ARROYO, BRIAN E. BAKKE, ELLEN M. BAUMAN, ROBERT GALBRAITH, CHARLES S. GRAHAM, and TIMOTHY J. SCHIMKE Appeal2017-011797 Application 14/087 ,330 Technology Center 2100 Before JASON V. MORGAN, JEREMY J. CURCURI, and IRVINE. BRANCH, Administrative Patent Judges. CURCURI, Administrative Patent Judge. DECISION ON APPEAL Appellants appeal under 35 U.S.C. § 134(a) from the Examiner's rejection of claims 12, 13, and 17-20. Final Act. 1. Appeal number 2017- 011857 (App. No. 14/840,351) is related. App. Br. 5. We have jurisdiction under 35 U.S.C. § 6(b). Claims 12, 13, and 17-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as obvious over Goggin et al. (US 2011/0179414 Al, published July 21, 2011) and Brownlow et al. (US 2012/0159245 Al, published June 21, 2012). See Appeal2017-011797 Application 14/087 ,330 Final Act. 6-7 (rejecting claims 13, 17-20), Advisory Act. 1 2---6 (rejecting claim 12). We affirm. STATEMENT OF THE CASE Appellants' invention relates to "implementing dynamic virtualization of a Single Root Input/Output Virtualization (SRIOV) capable Serial Attached Small-Computer System-Interface (SAS) adapter." Spec. ,r 1. Claim 12 is illustrative and reproduced below: 12. A system for implementing dynamic virtualization of a Single Root Input/Output Virtualization (SRIOV) capable Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) adapter comprising: the SRIOV SAS adapter provided in a computer system, the SRIOV SAS adapter comprising a plurality of virtual functions (VFs) for sharing by multiple system partitions, each VF enabled to be assigned to multiple system partitions and multiple VFs enabled to be assigned to a single system partition, a physical function (PF) for configuration and management of the VFs, and a plurality of Host Bus Adapter (HBA) resources to be assigned to a respective VF; a plurality of said system partitions sharing the SRIOV SAS adapter; each said system partition including at least one processor; and a VF driver; a hypervisor coupled to the plurality of system partitions and the PF, said hypervisor storing a configuration interface and including a PF driver associated with the PF wherein, when activating a system partition, said hypervisor first assigning associated resources with a respective VF in the SRIOV SAS adapter using the PF driver; and a resource manager and a partition supervisor for implementing dynamic virtualization of the SRIOV SAS 1 All references to "Advisory Act." are to the Advisory Action of March 6, 2017. 2 Appeal2017-011797 Application 14/087 ,330 adapter, said resource manager and said partition supervisor including control code tangibly embodied in a non-transitory machine readable medium; wherein said resource manager runs an assignment process each time the SRIOV SAS adapter is reset, assigns HBA resources to said VFs persistently remembers the assignments, and communicates the assignments to said partition supervisor, each of said plurality of said HBA resources being assigned to one or more of said VFs, and only respectively assigned VFs enabled to access an associated assigned HBA resource; wherein the SRIOV SAS adapter receives assignment configuration communicated from said resource manager via said PF, disables configuration and management Application Programming Interfaces (APis) on the VFs, and enables configuration and management Application Programming Interfaces (APis) only on the PF; and wherein said system partitions send Read and Write commands via respectively assigned VFs without any intermediary, and system partition read/write performance for each VF being substantially equivalent to performance achieved for a dedicated HBA. PRINCIPLES OF LAW We review the appealed rejections for error based upon the issues identified by Appellants, and in light of the arguments and evidence produced thereon. Ex parte Frye, 94 USPQ2d 1072, 107 5 (BP AI 2010) (precedential). ANALYSIS We have reviewed the Examiner's rejections in light of Appellants' arguments (see generally App. Br. and Reply Br.) contending that the Examiner has erred. 3 Appeal2017-011797 Application 14/087 ,330 We disagree with Appellants' arguments as to the obviousness rejection of claims 12, 13, and 17-20 over Goggin and Brownlow. We adopt as our own ( 1) the findings and reasons set forth by the Examiner in the action from which this appeal is taken and (2) the reasons set forth by the Examiner in the Examiner's Answer in response to Appellants' Appeal Brief. We concur with the conclusions reached by the Examiner. We highlight the following for emphasis. In particular, the Examiner finds Goggin teaches all limitations of claim 12 except for "wherein said resource manager runs an assignment process each time the SRIOV SAS adapter is reset"; the Examiner finds Brownlow teaches "wherein said resource manager runs an assignment process each time the SRIOV SAS adapter is reset." See Advisory Act. 2---6; see also Ans. 3-14, 16. The Examiner reasons "[i]t would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to modify the SR-IOV implementation of Goggin in accordance with the teachings of Brownlow to improve its error handling and recovery capabilities." Advisory Act. 6 (citing Brownlow ,r,r 12-13, 143, and 150); see also Ans. 16. In particular, Appellants argue the following: 1. Applicant respectively submits that the Examiner incorrectly maintains that Goggin discloses a physical function (PF) for configuration and management of the VFs a hypervisor (virtualization intermediary) storing a configuration interface and including a PF driver associated with the PF citing FIGS. 2, 3, 4A and 4B, and paragraphs 0015, 0030, 0041 and 0047. App. Br. 20; see also App. Br. 20-21, Reply Br. 3. 11. 4 Appeal2017-011797 Application 14/087 ,330 Applicant does not require construction of such a VF driver 321 as taught by Goggin. Only Applicant teaches and claims a system including a physical function (PF) for configuration and management of the VFs and said hypervisor storing a configuration interface and including a PF driver associated with the PF wherein, when activating a system partition, said hypervisor first assigning associated resources with a respective VF in the SRIOV SAS adapter using the PF driver, and the total teachings of Goggin and the Brownlow fail to suggest such a system. App. Br. 22; see also Reply Br. 3--4. 111. For the limitations that said resource manager, runs an assignment process each time the SRIOV SAS adapter is reset, assigning HBA resources to said VFs persistently remembering the assignments, and communicating the assignments to said partition supervisor, the Examiner cites FIGS. 3, 4A-4D, paragraphs 0045, 0050, 0051, 0056, 0059, and 0062 of Goggin. Applicant respectfully submits that the virtualization intermediary mapping information created by Goggin with the SCSI target emulation module 322 that maps virtual SCSI logical units to physical SCSI targets and physical SCSI logical units located in storage 308 providing the mapping information resident on the VF 316, does not suggest, and is not equivalent to said resource manager that runs an assignment process each time the SRIOV SAS adapter is reset, assigning HBA resources to said VFs persistently remembering the assignments, as taught and claimed by Applicant. App. Br. 24; see also Reply Br. 4--6. iv. "Applicant respectfully submits that only Applicants teach disabling configuration and management Application Programming Interfaces (APis) on the VFs, and enabling configuration and management Application Programming Interfaces (APis) only on the PF." App. Br. 24; see also App. Br. 24--26, Reply Br. 7-10. 5 Appeal2017-011797 Application 14/087 ,330 V. The total teachings of Goggin and Brownlow provide no motivation, suggestion or teaching to support the Examiner's proposed modification to provide a resource manager, that runs an assignment process each time the SRIOV SAS adapter is reset, assigns HBA resources to said VFs persistently remembers the assignments, and communicates the assignments to said partition supervisor, as taught and claimed by Applicant. The combined total teachings of Goggin and the Brownlow references provide no motivation, suggestion or teaching to support the Examiner's proposed modification and would not achieve these claimed features of disabling configuration and management Application Programming Interfaces (APis) on the VFs, and enabling configuration and management Application Programming Interfaces (APis) only on the PF. App. Br. 27. We are persuaded by the Examiner's findings, which we have adopted as our own. The Examiner's findings with respect to the argued limitations are supported by evidence drawn from the record. Appellants' arguments characterize the cited prior art, but fail to adequately explain why the Examiner's findings are incorrect. Thus, we do not see any errors in the Examiner's findings. For example, Goggin discloses a physical function for configuration and management of multiple virtual functions. See Advisory Act. 2 ( citing Goggin ,r,r 29--32, 36, 39--41, 45, Figs. 2, 3). Goggin discloses "A PF is used to control the physical services of the device and to manage individual VFs." Goggin ,r 31. Goggin discloses "A physical function, such as PF 222 in this example that is associated with a virtual function 228 is responsible for allocating, resetting, and de-allocating that virtual function and the PCI resources required by that virtual function." Goggin ,r 32. 6 Appeal2017-011797 Application 14/087 ,330 For example, Goggin discloses a hypervisor storing a configuration interface and including a PF driver associated with the PF. See Advisory Act. 3 (citing Goggin ,r,r 15, 30, 41, 47, Figs. 2, 3, 4A--4B). Goggin discloses "A PF driver 318 communicates information between the PF 314 and the virtualization intermediary 31 O." Goggin ,r 41. For example, Goggin discloses when activating a system partition, the hypervisor first assigns associated resources with a respective VF in the SRIOV SAS adapter using the PF driver. See Advisory Act. 3 ( citing Goggin ,r,r 60-62, Fig. 4C). Goggin discloses "the HSA 320 requests to the virtual SCSI target emulation module 322 to forward a virtual target emulation mapping 317 comprising the first and second mapping metadata 361 and 363 to the VF 316 corresponding to the VM 304 that is being instantiated." Goggin ,r 62. For example, Goggin discloses wherein the resource manager assigns HBA resources to the VFs, persistently remembers the assignments, and communicates the assignments to the partition supervisor. See Advisory Act. 3 (citing Goggin ,r,r 50-51, 56, 59, 62, Figs. 3, 4A--4D). Goggin discloses "during the resource provisioning phase, the above-mentioned virtual port is allocated and persistently associated with the VF 316." Goggin ,r 54; see also Ans. 8 (citing Goggin ,r 54). For example, Brownlow discloses the resource manager runs an assignment process each time the SRIOV SAS adapter is reset. See Advisory Act. 5---6 (citing Brownlow ,r,r 145-146, 161-162, 166, 171). Brownlow discloses "[i]f recovery involves a physical function or virtual function function level reset (FLR), or an adapter reset, the physical function reconfigures the SRIOV capabilities of each physical function, rebinds, and 7 Appeal2017-011797 Application 14/087 ,330 reinitializes resources previously bound to the physical functions and virtual functions." Brownlow ,r 171. For example, Goggin discloses disabling configuration and management Application Programming Interfaces (APis) on the VFs, and enabling configuration and management Application Programming Interfaces (APis) only on the PF. See Advisory Act. 3--4 (citing Goggin ,r,r 42--43, 65, 70-71, Figs. 4C--4D). Goggin discloses "the SCSI target emulation located on the VF 316 can be simplified does not have to service nonread/write commands." Goggin ,r 71. The Examiner's reasons to combine the references are rational and supported by evidence drawn from the record. Appellants' arguments fail to adequately explain why the Examiner's reasons are incorrect. Thus, we do not see any errors in the Examiner's reasons to combine the references. See Advisory Act. 6 (citing Brownlow ,r,r 12-13, 143, 150); see also Ans. 16. Brownlow discloses "Embodiments of the invention provide for simpler and less error prone error handling." Brownlow ,r 143. We, therefore, sustain the obviousness rejection of claim 12. We also sustain the obviousness rejections of claims 13, 18, and 19, which are not separately argued with particularity. Regarding claim 17, claim 1 7 recites "Read/Write Application Programming Interfaces (APis) being enabled on respective VFs of the SRIOV SAS adapter." The Examiner finds Goggin teaches the subject matter of claim 17. Final Act. 7 ( citing Goggin ,r,r 43, 70-71 ); see also Ans. 15. Appellants argue Goggin and Brownlow do not teach the subject matter of claim 17. See App. Br. 27-29; see also Reply Br. 10-11. 8 Appeal2017-011797 Application 14/087 ,330 We are persuaded by the Examiner's findings, which we have adopted as our own. Appellants' arguments fail to adequately explain why the Examiner's findings are incorrect. Goggin discloses "[i]n particular SCSI Read Commands and SCSI Write Commands with Command Data Blocks (CDBs), forms of IO access requests, having byte sizes of 6, 10, 12 or 16 are directed to the VF 316 via the first HSA PCI memory space 311 for direct access to the storage adapter" Goggin ,r 71. Thus, Goggin teaches the subject matter of claim 17. We, therefore, sustain the obviousness rejection of claim 17. Regarding claim 20, claim 20 recites "said hypervisor persistently storing correlation data associating HBA resources with a specific system partition." The Examiner finds Goggin teaches the subject matter of claim 20. Final Act. 7 (citing Goggin ,r,r 50-51, 54, 59---60); see also Ans. 15-16. Appellants argue Goggin and Brownlow do not teach the subject matter of claim 20. See App. Br. 31-32; see also Reply Br. 11. We are persuaded by the Examiner's findings, which we have adopted as our own. Appellants' arguments fail to adequately explain why the Examiner's findings are incorrect. Goggin discloses Also, in the course of instantiating (i.e. creating) a new virtual machine 304, the provisioning utility 350, allocates one or more previously created virtual disks (i.e. virtual SCSI logical units) to such new virtual machine 304. Many, perhaps hundreds of virtual disks can be allocated to a given virtual machine 304. Each virtual disk that is allocated to the given virtual machine 304 is assigned a unique virtual address represented by second 363 mapping. Goggin ,r 59. Thus, Goggin teaches the subject matter of claim 20. We, therefore, sustain the obviousness rejection of claim 20. 9 Appeal2017-011797 Application 14/087 ,330 ORDER The Examiner's decision rejecting claims 12, 13, and 17-20 is affirmed. No time period for taking any subsequent action in connection with this appeal maybe extended under 37 C.F.R. § 1.136(a)(l). AFFIRMED 10 Copy with citationCopy as parenthetical citation