Obviousness

Obviousness Analysis of US Patent 7120832 under 35 U.S.C. § 103

To determine the obviousness of US Patent 7120832, the analysis will follow the framework established in Graham v. John Deere Co. and reiterated in KSR International Co. v. Teleflex Inc. This involves:

1. Determining the scope and content of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering secondary considerations of non-obviousness (though none are presented here).

The pertinent art for US7120832 is computer system performance monitoring, particularly for storage devices, and data management techniques like backup and defragmentation. A person having ordinary skill in this art would be a software engineer or systems administrator with experience in operating systems, storage device interfaces, and performance optimization.

Identified Prior Art References

The "Prior art keywords" section of the patent lists: "storage device", "communications", "performance", "program code", and "data". The "Cited By" and "Citations" sections on Google Patents for US7120832 provide a list of relevant prior art references. For this analysis, we will focus on the patent citations provided, as they represent what the examiner considered relevant during prosecution.

Key Prior Art Patents:

• US5506955A (IBM): "System and method for monitoring and optimizing performance in a data processing system" (Priority date: 1992-10-23). This patent teaches monitoring system performance and optimizing it.
• US5566317A (IBM): "Method and apparatus for computer disk drive management" (Priority date: 1994-06-14). This patent relates to managing disk drives.
• US5684945A (IBM): "System and method for maintaining performance data in a data processing system" (Priority date: 1992-10-23). This patent describes maintaining performance data.
• US5802069A (Intel): "Implementing mass storage device functions using host processor memory" (Priority date: 1995-11-13). This patent deals with mass storage device functions.
• US5859823A (Toshiba): "Optical disk device method for detecting and replacing a defective sector within a block containing recording data and error correction data on an optical disk" (Priority date: 1996-03-25). This patent teaches detecting and replacing defective sectors.
• US5956750A (Hitachi): "Apparatus and method for reallocating logical to physical disk devices using a storage controller, with access frequency and sequential access ratio calculations and display" (Priority date: 1996-04-08). This patent discloses reallocating data based on access frequency and other metrics.
• US6101619A (Samsung): "Method for improving access performance on track with re-allocation sector in a hard disk drive" (Priority date: 1996-12-31). This patent focuses on improving access performance through sector reallocation.
• US6249887B1 (Gray): "Apparatus and method for predicting failure of a disk drive" (Priority date: 1998-09-21). This patent explicitly addresses predicting disk drive failure.
• US6401214B1 (IBM): "Preventive recovery action in hard disk drives" (Priority date: 1999-03-04). This patent discusses preventive recovery actions for hard drives.
• US6460151B1 (Microsoft): "System and method for predicting storage device failures" (Priority date: 1999-07-26). This patent also covers predicting storage device failures.

Obviousness Combinations

The core inventive concepts of US7120832 revolve around:

1. Intercepting communications between a computer system and a storage device.
2. Analyzing these communications against a threshold or predicted failure.
3. Responding to a decline in performance prior to a predicted failure by performing actions like data reallocation, backup, or defragmentation.

A person of ordinary skill in the art (POSA) at the time of the invention (priority date 2001-09-27) would have been familiar with techniques for monitoring computer system components, managing storage devices, and performing data maintenance.

Combination 1: US6249887B1 (Gray) + US5956750A (Hitachi) + US6401214B1 (IBM)

Gray (US6249887B1) teaches an apparatus and method for predicting failure of a disk drive. This directly addresses the concept of predicting storage device failure as a basis for action. It monitors various parameters to predict when a disk drive is likely to fail.

Hitachi (US5956750A) teaches an apparatus and method for reallocating logical to physical disk devices using a storage controller, with access frequency and sequential access ratio calculations. This reference provides a mechanism for analyzing access patterns (frequency, location) and performing data reallocation to optimize performance.

IBM (US6401214B1) teaches preventive recovery action in hard disk drives. This reference explicitly discusses taking proactive measures to prevent data loss or system failure.

Motivation for Combination: A POSA, faced with the problem of storage device failures leading to data loss and system downtime, would have been motivated to combine the predictive failure capabilities of Gray with the data reallocation capabilities of Hitachi and the preventive recovery actions of IBM. Gray provides the "when" (predicting failure), Hitachi provides the "what" (identifying data for reallocation based on usage), and IBM provides the "why" (taking preventive measures). It would be obvious to use the prediction of a declining performance (Gray) as a trigger to initiate the data reallocation (Hitachi) as a preventive recovery action (IBM) before an actual failure occurs. This directly addresses the core claim elements of intercepting communications, analyzing against a predicted failure, and responding by reallocating data prior to failure. For instance, if Gray predicts a sector is degrading, and Hitachi identifies frequently accessed data in that sector, a POSA would naturally move that data as a preventive recovery.

Combination 2: US6460151B1 (Microsoft) + US6101619A (Samsung) + US5506955A (IBM)

Microsoft (US6460151B1) teaches a system and method for predicting storage device failures. Similar to Gray, this reference provides the predictive component for anticipating storage device degradation.

Samsung (US6101619A) teaches a method for improving access performance on track with re-allocation sector in a hard disk drive. This reference specifically details how to reallocate sectors to improve access performance, which is a form of data management.

IBM (US5506955A) teaches a system and method for monitoring and optimizing performance in a data processing system. This broad reference encompasses the general concept of performance monitoring and optimization, including interception of communications to gather performance data.

Motivation for Combination: A POSA aiming to enhance storage device reliability and performance would find it obvious to combine these references. Microsoft provides the foresight (failure prediction). Samsung offers a specific solution for performance improvement through reallocation. IBM provides the overarching framework of monitoring and optimizing system performance. By integrating Microsoft's failure prediction into IBM's performance monitoring system, and triggering Samsung's sector reallocation method when a decline in performance is predicted, a POSA could achieve the claimed invention. For example, if Microsoft predicts a track on a hard drive is likely to fail soon, the IBM monitoring system would detect this and initiate Samsung's reallocation method to move critical data off the problematic track, thereby preventing data loss and maintaining performance.

Combination 3: US5566317A (IBM) + US5859823A (Toshiba) + US5684945A (IBM)

IBM (US5566317A) teaches a method and apparatus for computer disk drive management. This reference covers general management of disk drives, which would include aspects of performance and health.

Toshiba (US5859823A) teaches an optical disk device method for detecting and replacing a defective sector within a block containing recording data and error correction data. While focused on optical disks, the underlying principle of detecting and responding to defective sectors by reallocation is directly applicable to other storage devices, which a POSA would recognize. The patent explicitly states that the "nature of the storage device 150 is immaterial to the teachings of the invention."

IBM (US5684945A) teaches a system and method for maintaining performance data in a data processing system. This involves collecting and logging performance data over time.

Motivation for Combination: A POSA seeking to improve disk drive reliability would naturally combine a general disk management system (IBM '317) with a mechanism for handling defective sectors (Toshiba) and a system for tracking performance over time (IBM '945). The IBM '945 patent provides the logging of communications, and the IBM '317 patent provides a management system that could utilize this data. The Toshiba patent, even though for optical disks, demonstrates the concept of identifying and responding to degraded areas on a storage medium. A POSA would understand that a decline in performance metrics logged by IBM '945 (e.g., increased access time, reported errors) could indicate impending sector failure, similar to what Toshiba addresses. This would motivate the POSA to integrate Toshiba's sector replacement/reallocation logic into the IBM disk management system, triggered by the performance data.

Conclusion on Obviousness

The combinations of prior art references discussed above would render the independent claims of US7120832 obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention. The individual elements of intercepting communications, analyzing performance against thresholds or predicted failures, and responding with data management actions like reallocation or backup were known in the prior art. The motivation to combine these elements stems from the inherent desire to improve storage device reliability, prevent data loss, and optimize performance, all of which are common goals in data processing systems. The KSR decision emphasizes that a teaching, suggestion, or motivation does not necessarily require explicit statements in the prior art; predictable results from combining known elements are often sufficient to establish obviousness. In this case, combining existing predictive failure mechanisms with known data reallocation and preventive recovery techniques would yield predictable improvements in storage device management.