Obviousness

Obviousness Analysis of US Patent 7426633 Under 35 U.S.C. § 103

This analysis identifies combinations of prior art references that would render the independent claims of US patent 7426633 obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art (PHOSITA) at the time the invention was made. A PHOSITA in this context would likely be a computer hardware or firmware engineer with expertise in storage systems, RAID technology, and system boot processes, familiar with various interfaces, embedded systems, and firmware update procedures. The primary motivation for combining these references would be to achieve more efficient, reliable, and less disruptive disk drive firmware updates, particularly in multi-drive and server environments.

Claim 1 (Method for Reflashing During POST)

Claim Elements:

1. Storing a firmware flash image in a storage area on a first disk drive.
2. Initiating power-on self test (POST) operations for the computer.
3. Reflashing firmware associated with a second disk drive using the firmware flash image stored on the first disk drive.
4. Reflashing occurs during POST operations.

Prior Art Combination & Rationale:
A combination of US20040076043A1 (Phoenix Technologies Ltd.) and US20040030877A1 (Aleksandr Frid) would render Claim 1 obvious.

• US20040076043A1 ("Reliable and secure updating and recovery of firmware from a mass storage device") teaches the concept of storing a firmware flash image on a mass storage device, such as a disk drive, and using it for updating or recovery. It would be a straightforward application for a PHOSITA to store a firmware image for a second drive on a first drive in a multi-drive system.
• US20040030877A1 ("Using system BIOS to update embedded controller firmware") discloses updating firmware during the system's boot process, typically overlapping with or immediately following POST operations.

Motivation to Combine:
A PHOSITA would be motivated to combine these references to create a more efficient and less disruptive firmware update process. Conventionally, firmware updates often required booting from specialized media (e.g., CDs), leading to significant system downtime and requiring physical access, which was problematic for "headless servers." By storing the firmware image directly on a disk drive (as per US20040076043A1), the need for specialized media is eliminated, simplifying the process. Furthermore, performing the update during POST (as taught by US20040030877A1) allows the reflash to occur before the main operating system loads, thereby minimizing the "downtime" of the computer system. This combination directly addresses the problem of reducing system downtime and eliminating the need for physical access, which are key advantages highlighted by US7426633.

Claim 8 (Computer System for Deferred Reflashing)

Claim Elements:

1. A disk drive comprising firmware configured to be reflashed.
2. A host computer coupled to the disk drive and configured to copy an update request package (firmware flash image + instructions) to the disk drive before a reboot.
3. A disk drive controller coupled to the host computer and the disk drive, configured to reflash the firmware using the update request package while the host computer is rebooted.

Prior Art Combination & Rationale:
A combination of US6728833B2 (International Business Machines Corporation), US6179492B1 (Intelligent Computer Solutions, Inc.), and US20040030877A1 (Aleksandr Frid) would render Claim 8 obvious.

• US6728833B2 ("Upgrading firmware on disks of the raid storage system without deactivating the server") teaches upgrading firmware on disk drives in a RAID system while minimizing server deactivation, explicitly targeting reduced downtime. This implies a system with a host, controller, and disk drives where updates are performed to maintain system availability.
• US6179492B1 ("Method of and apparatus for duplicating, upgrading and configuring hard disk drives") discloses methods for upgrading hard disk drives, encompassing the general concept of a host computer initiating an update and a disk drive being configured for reflashing. It suggests the transfer and storage of an update package.
• US20040030877A1 (as discussed for Claim 1) teaches performing firmware updates during the boot (POST) sequence.

Motivation to Combine:
A PHOSITA would be motivated to combine these references to build an integrated system for efficient, low-downtime disk drive firmware updates. The core problem addressed by US7426633 is reducing system downtime during firmware reflashing. US6728833B2 directly addresses this by teaching firmware upgrades "without deactivating the server." To achieve this, a host computer preparing an "update request package" (firmware image and instructions) and copying it to the disk drive before a reboot is a logical preparatory step, as generally supported by US6179492B1. The critical timing of the actual reflash, "while the host computer is rebooted" (i.e., during POST), as illuminated by US20040030877A1, is a direct means to minimize operational downtime and is performed by the disk drive controller in an operating system-independent manner. This combination leads to a system that explicitly addresses the stated problems and achieves the benefits of the claimed invention.

Claim 15 (Method for RAID-specific Reflashing)

Claim Elements:

1. Identifying a subset of disk drives with a pending status.
2. Determining whether fast mode reflashing is enabled.
3. If fast mode enabled, simultaneously reflashing all of the disk drives from the subset.
4. If fast mode not enabled, simultaneously reflashing a recoverable number of disk drives from the subset.

Prior Art Combination & Rationale:
A combination of US6675258B1 (Lsi Logic Corporation) and US6728833B2 (International Business Machines Corporation), in view of general knowledge of RAID principles (e.g., US20050262390A1 (Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba) and US5809224A (Compaq Computer Corporation)), would render Claim 15 obvious.

• US6675258B1 ("Methods and apparatus for seamless firmware update and propagation in a dual raid controller system") addresses firmware updates within a RAID system and aims for "seamless" updates, suggesting mechanisms to manage updates across multiple drives in an array.
• US6728833B2 further reinforces the concept of "upgrading firmware on disks of the raid storage system" with reduced downtime, highlighting the context of updating multiple RAID drives while maintaining system availability.
• US20050262390A1 and US5809224A provide background on constructing and reconfiguring RAID systems, which inherently involves understanding data redundancy and recovery. The concept of a "recoverable number" of drives is fundamental to RAID data integrity (e.g., RAID 5 allows one failure, RAID 6 allows two).

Motivation to Combine:
A PHOSITA would be motivated to combine these references to optimize firmware updates in RAID environments, balancing the need for speed with data integrity. When updating multiple drives in a RAID, there's a clear trade-off:

• "Fast mode" (simultaneous update of all drives): For situations where speed is paramount, or redundancy is not a concern (e.g., RAID 0), updating all drives concurrently is an obvious choice for efficiency.
• "Recoverable number" (non-fast mode): For data-critical RAID levels (e.g., RAID 5, RAID 6), updating only a "recoverable number" of drives simultaneously is a well-known technique to ensure data integrity. If one updated drive fails, data can be rebuilt from the remaining operational drives, preserving redundancy. This selective updating, inherent to RAID maintenance, would be an obvious engineering decision to maintain system robustness during firmware updates. The "seamless" updates of US6675258B1 and reduced deactivation from US6728833B2 would naturally lead a PHOSITA to consider these modes of operation for RAID systems.

Claim 21 (Hard Disk Drive with Self-Reflashing Capability)

Claim Elements:

1. A processor.
2. A read-only memory (ROM) storing firmware.
3. A disk having a storage area configured to store a firmware flash image and instructions for the processor to follow to reflash the firmware.
4. The processor is configured to use the stored firmware flash image to reflash the firmware on the ROM according to the stored instructions.

Prior Art Combination & Rationale:
A combination of US6179492B1 (Intelligent Computer Solutions, Inc.) and US20040076043A1 (Phoenix Technologies Ltd.) would render Claim 21 obvious.

• US6179492B1 ("Method of and apparatus for duplicating, upgrading and configuring hard disk drives") discloses methods for upgrading hard disk drives, which are known to contain processors and firmware in ROM. The process of "upgrading" inherently means reflashing the firmware.
• US20040076043A1 ("Reliable and secure updating and recovery of firmware from a mass storage device") teaches storing a firmware image on a mass storage device (the disk itself) and using this image for updating the firmware.

Motivation to Combine:
A PHOSITA would be motivated to combine these concepts to create a more autonomous and efficient firmware update mechanism directly within the disk drive. Integrating the firmware update capability within the disk drive itself (where the drive's processor uses an image stored on its own disk) simplifies the update process by reducing reliance on external components or host operating system intervention. The patent acknowledges that "each of the disk drives 20 may be configured to determine for itself whether it has a pending update and to reflash its own disk drive firmware 39 automatically if there is a pending update." This self-contained approach, where the drive accesses its own storage for the update image (as taught by US20040076043A1) and then uses its internal processor to reflash its firmware (as implied by US6179492B1's upgrading functionality), would be an obvious design for enhancing manageability and reducing external dependencies for firmware maintenance.

Claim 23 (Method for Staggered Reflashing During POST)

Claim Elements:

1. Storing a firmware flash image in a storage area on a plurality of disk drives.
2. Initiating power-on self test (POST) operations for a computer associated with the plurality of disk drives.
3. Reflashing firmware associated with the plurality of disk drives using the firmware flash image stored in the storage area, wherein the reflashing occurs during the POST operations.
4. Each one of the plurality of disk drives begins the reflashing at different starting times.

Prior Art Combination & Rationale:
A combination of US20040076043A1 (Phoenix Technologies Ltd.), US20040030877A1 (Aleksandr Frid), and general knowledge in power management for multi-component computer systems would render Claim 23 obvious.

• US20040076043A1 and US20040030877A1 establish the basis for storing firmware images on disk drives and performing updates during POST, respectively, as discussed for Claim 1.
• General knowledge in power management: A PHOSITA in computer hardware, especially for servers or systems with multiple spinning disk drives (like RAID arrays), would be well aware of the phenomenon of "power inrush." Spinning up or resetting many disk drives simultaneously can lead to a large, instantaneous power draw that may overload power supplies or cause system instability. Staggering the startup or activation of components, including disk drives, to mitigate these power spikes is a known engineering practice.

Motivation to Combine:
A PHOSITA would be motivated to apply the known power management technique of staggered startup to the context of firmware reflashing during POST to ensure system stability and reliability. When multiple disk drives are being reflashed during POST, they might undergo power cycles or reset procedures that could collectively strain the power supply if initiated simultaneously. The patent explicitly identifies this problem and solution: "By staggering the number of drives that are spinning up simultaneously, the disk drive controller can reduce the instantaneous power used, which may reduce the chances of a power supply overload." Therefore, combining the method of updating firmware from disk during POST (from US20040076043A1 and US20040030877A1) with the known engineering practice of staggering disk drive operations to manage power consumption would be an obvious design choice for a PHOSITA.