Patent 7721282

Prior art

Earlier patents, publications, and products that may anticipate or render the claims unpatentable.

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Prior art

Earlier patents, publications, and products that may anticipate or render the claims unpatentable.

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Prior Art Analysis for US Patent 7721282

To identify the most relevant prior art for US patent 7721282, we will examine the patent citations listed within the patent itself. Prior art is typically considered under 35 U.S.C. § 102, which generally addresses novelty and statutory bars. For each cited patent, we will provide a full citation, publication/filing date, a brief description, and which claim(s) it potentially anticipates.

Accessing USPTO Database:

The USPTO provides a Patent Public Search tool that offers enhanced access to prior art.

Cited Patent References:

US7721282B1 directly references a related patent application: "BRANCING STORE FILE SYSTEM" filed Dec. 30, 2004, patent application Ser. No. 11/026,622, which is expressly incorporated by reference. This indicates a foundational relationship.

The patent also lists numerous "Patent Citations" and "Cited By" documents. For the purpose of identifying prior art that anticipates claims under 35 U.S.C. § 102, we focus on documents with a priority or filing date before December 30, 2004 (the priority date of US7721282B1).

Here's an analysis of the most relevant prior art cited within US7721282B1, prioritizing those with the earliest dates:

  1. US5113523A

    • Full Citation: US5113523A, "High performance computer system"
    • Priority Date: May 6, 1985
    • Publication Date: May 12, 1992
    • Brief Description: This patent describes a high-performance computer system. While general, its early date suggests it could lay foundational groundwork for multi-computer systems and data processing.
    • Potential Anticipated Claims (35 U.S.C. § 102): Given its broad title, it's difficult to pinpoint specific anticipation without a detailed claim-by-claim comparison. However, it might generally address aspects of a "compute node comprising a computer system" (Claim 1, Claim 15) in a broad sense, or the concept of a "multi-computer system" mentioned in the background of US7721282B1. Further analysis would be needed to determine if it discloses the specific combination of a root/leaf image and UBD.

  2. US5127104A

    • Full Citation: US5127104A, "Method and product involving translation and execution of programs by automatic partitioning and data structure allocation"
    • Priority Date: December 29, 1986
    • Publication Date: June 30, 1992
    • Brief Description: This patent focuses on translating and executing programs through automatic partitioning and data structure allocation. This could be relevant to how application environments are managed and distributed.
    • Potential Anticipated Claims (35 U.S.C. § 102): This reference might potentially anticipate elements related to the storage and management of program data, which is a core part of the "root image" (Claim 1, Claim 15) and "application environment" (Claim 1, Claim 15). The "data structure allocation" could touch upon how blocks of data are handled.

  3. US5764902A

    • Full Citation: US5764902A, "Conditional insert or merge in a data conference"
    • Priority Date: September 29, 1995
    • Publication Date: June 9, 1998
    • Brief Description: This patent describes a method for conditional insertion or merging in a data conference. The concept of "merging" data is directly relevant to US7721282B1's core function.
    • Potential Anticipated Claims (35 U.S.C. § 102): This patent directly addresses "merging" data, which is a central feature of both independent claims in US7721282B1. Specifically, it could anticipate the "merging the blocks of the root image stored on the first storage unit with the blocks of the leaf image stored on the second storage unit to create the application environment" recited in Claim 1 and Claim 15. The context of a "data conference" would need to be examined to see if the merging mechanism is analogous to the block-level merging of root and leaf images.

  4. US6018747A

    • Full Citation: US6018747A, "Method for generating and reconstructing in-place delta files"
    • Priority Date: November 26, 1997
    • Publication Date: January 25, 2000
    • Brief Description: This patent describes a method for generating and reconstructing "in-place delta files." The concept of delta files is highly analogous to the "leaf image" storing "changes to the blocks of the root image" in US7721282B1.
    • Potential Anticipated Claims (35 U.S.C. § 102): This reference is highly relevant to the concept of a "leaf image comprising new data blocks and changes to the blocks of the root image" (Claim 1, Claim 15). The "generating and reconstructing in-place delta files" could be seen as anticipating the storage and utilization of a leaf image to represent modifications to a base (root) image.

  5. US6292941B1

    • Full Citation: US6292941B1, "Operating system installation"
    • Priority Date: April 30, 1996
    • Publication Date: September 18, 2001
    • Brief Description: This patent concerns operating system installation. The root image in US7721282B1 can comprise an operating system.
    • Potential Anticipated Claims (35 U.S.C. § 102): This reference broadly relates to the subject matter of an "operating system" (Claim 4, Claim 20) as part of the application environment. However, it's unlikely to anticipate the specific block-level, root-leaf, and UBD architecture without further detail.

  6. US6502238B1

    • Full Citation: US6502238B1, "System for constructing and distributing block-based fragments"
    • Priority Date: December 31, 1998
    • Publication Date: December 31, 2002
    • Brief Description: This patent describes a system for constructing and distributing "block-based fragments." This is highly relevant as US7721282B1 operates at the "block-level."
    • Potential Anticipated Claims (35 U.S.C. § 102): This reference is very strong for anticipating the "storing blocks of a root image" (Claim 1, Claim 15) and the general "block-level" operation described in US7721282B1. The distribution of "block-based fragments" could also anticipate the merging and delivery aspects of the application environment. The difference would likely hinge on the specific "union block device" and the root/leaf image structure.

  7. US6606744B1

    • Full Citation: US6606744B1, "Providing collaborative installation management in a network-based supply chain environment"
    • Priority Date: November 22, 1999
    • Publication Date: August 12, 2003
    • Brief Description: This patent describes collaborative installation management in a network-based environment, which touches upon distributing application environments to multiple nodes.
    • Potential Anticipated Claims (35 U.S.C. § 102): This could potentially anticipate the broader concept of distributing an application environment to multiple compute nodes (Claim 5, Claim 21), particularly in a networked context. However, it's unlikely to detail the specific block-level merging via a UBD.

  8. US6779177B1

    • Full Citation: US6779177B1, "Mechanism for cross channel multi-server multi-protocol multi-data model thin clients"
    • Priority Date: October 28, 1999
    • Publication Date: August 17, 2004
    • Brief Description: This patent describes a mechanism for thin clients in a multi-server environment, which is relevant as US7721282B1 mentions "thin-client workstation" as a type of compute node.
    • Potential Anticipated Claims (35 U.S.C. § 102): This reference could potentially anticipate the use of a "thin-client workstation" as a compute node (Claim 3, Claim 19). However, it is unlikely to disclose the specific block-level I/O subsystem.

  9. US6990513B2

    • Full Citation: US6990513B2, "Distributed computing services platform"
    • Priority Date: June 22, 2000
    • Publication Date: January 24, 2006
    • Brief Description: This patent details a distributed computing services platform. While the publication date is after US7721282B1's priority date, the priority date itself is relevant. Distributed computing is the broad field of US7721282B1.
    • Potential Anticipated Claims (35 U.S.C. § 102): This patent might broadly relate to systems operating in a "high performance computing cluster" (Claim 11, Claim 27) or "grid computing cluster" (Claim 12, Claim 28). Specific anticipation would depend on whether it details a similar block-level storage and merging mechanism for application environments.

  10. US7127712B1

    • Full Citation: US7127712B1, "System and method for providing a java code release infrastructure with granular code patching"
    • Priority Date: February 14, 2001
    • Publication Date: October 24, 2006
    • Brief Description: This patent describes a system for granular code patching, which is related to updating application environments.
    • Potential Anticipated Claims (35 U.S.C. § 102): The concept of "granular code patching" is similar to updating a "root image" (as described in the description of US7721282B1, where the first storage device 140 may be refreshed with a new operating system patch). This could potentially anticipate the update mechanism implied by the root/leaf structure, though not necessarily the specific UBD implementation.

  11. US7150015B2

    • Full Citation: US7150015B2, "Method and system for deploying an asset over a multi-tiered network"
    • Priority Date: September 1, 2000
    • Publication Date: December 12, 2006
    • Brief Description: This patent describes deploying assets over a multi-tiered network, which is a form of distributing application environments.
    • Potential Anticipated Claims (35 U.S.C. § 102): This reference could broadly anticipate the idea of "distributing an application environment to a compute node" (Claim 1, Claim 15), especially in a networked context.

  12. US7155714B2

    • Full Citation: US7155714B2, "Network distributed product manager system"
    • Priority Date: June 12, 2002
    • Publication Date: December 26, 2006
    • Brief Description: This patent describes a network-distributed product manager system, which involves managing and distributing software.
    • Potential Anticipated Claims (35 U.S.C. § 102): Similar to US7150015B2, this could broadly anticipate aspects of distributing an application environment, but it's unlikely to contain the specific block-level implementation of US7721282B1.

  13. US7200715B2

    • Full Citation: US7200715B2, "Method for writing contiguous arrays of stripes in a RAID storage system using mapped block writes"
    • Priority Date: March 21, 2002
    • Publication Date: April 3, 2007
    • Brief Description: This patent focuses on writing data in a RAID storage system using "mapped block writes." The concept of "mapped block writes" is highly relevant to how the UBD handles write requests in US7721282B1.
    • Potential Anticipated Claims (35 U.S.C. § 102): This is a strong reference for the "union block device, upon receiving a write request from the compute node for a sector X, creates an appropriate persistent mapping for sector X" and "writing sector X on the second storage unit" (Claim 1, Claim 15). The concept of "mapped block writes" directly anticipates this aspect of the UBD's functionality.

  14. US7246351B2

    • Full Citation: US7246351B2, "System and method for deploying and implementing software applications over a distributed network"
    • Priority Date: February 20, 2001
    • Publication Date: July 17, 2007
    • Brief Description: This patent describes a system and method for deploying and implementing software applications over a distributed network.
    • Potential Anticipated Claims (35 U.S.C. § 102): This reference broadly covers the "distributing an application environment to a compute node" (Claim 1, Claim 15) in a distributed network context.

  15. US7331047B2

    • Full Citation: US7331047B2, "Deterministic system and method for implementing software distributed between a desktop and a remote device"
    • Priority Date: November 25, 2003
    • Publication Date: February 12, 2008
    • Brief Description: This patent describes implementing software distributed between a desktop and a remote device.
    • Potential Anticipated Claims (35 U.S.C. § 102): This could potentially anticipate the distribution of an application environment from a remote storage unit (Claim 6, Claim 7, Claim 22, Claim 23) to a compute node.

  16. US7467293B2

    • Full Citation: US7467293B2, "Method and computing system for transparence computing on the computer network"
    • Priority Date: November 12, 2004
    • Publication Date: December 16, 2008
    • Brief Description: This patent describes transparent computing on a computer network. The priority date is very close to US7721282B1's priority date (December 30, 2004).
    • Potential Anticipated Claims (35 U.S.C. § 102): This patent's priority date of November 12, 2004, means it could be prior art to US7721282B1. The concept of "transparence computing" could potentially touch upon how the merged root and leaf images appear as "one cohesive image" to the compute node, giving the appearance of a unique version of an application (as described in the detailed description of US7721282B1).

  17. US7475274B2

    • Full Citation: US7475274B2, "Fault tolerance and recovery in a high-performance computing (HPC) system"
    • Priority Date: November 17, 2004
    • Publication Date: January 6, 2009
    • Brief Description: This patent addresses fault tolerance and recovery in HPC systems. US7721282B1 mentions implementation in HPC clusters and scalability/redundancy.
    • Potential Anticipated Claims (35 U.S.C. § 102): Similar to US7467293B2, this patent has a priority date (November 17, 2004) preceding US7721282B1. It could anticipate aspects of operating in a "high performance computing cluster" (Claim 11, Claim 27) and the scalability and redundancy features mentioned in the description of US7721282B1.

  18. US7496739B1

    • Full Citation: US7496739B1, "System and related methods for automatically configuring a computing system"
    • Priority Date: June 30, 2000
    • Publication Date: February 24, 2009
    • Brief Description: This patent describes automatically configuring computing systems.
    • Potential Anticipated Claims (35 U.S.C. § 102): This could generally relate to the setup and management of compute nodes, but it's unlikely to disclose the specific block-level root/leaf architecture.

Note on 35 U.S.C. § 102:
For a prior art reference to "anticipate" a claim under 35 U.S.C. § 102, it must disclose every limitation of the claim, either explicitly or inherently. A detailed claim chart comparing each element of US7721282B1's independent claims against the full text of these prior art references would be necessary for a definitive anticipation analysis. The descriptions provided above are based on the titles and brief summaries, highlighting areas of potential overlap.

Other Related Patents/Applications:
The patent US7721282B1 is a Continuation-in-Part of application Ser. No. 11/026,622, titled "BRANCING STORE FILE SYSTEM" filed December 30, 2004. This parent application is highly relevant as it describes the branching store file system concept that US7721282B1 builds upon. US7721282B1 also has related applications, US11/709,477 (US8332844B1) and US11/712,728 (US8065737B1), but these have later filing dates (Feb 21, 2007 and Feb 28, 2007, respectively) and are therefore not prior art to US7721282B1 itself, but rather claim priority from it.

Generated 5/25/2026, 12:47:30 PM