Prior art

Prior Art Analysis for US Patent 7,784,058

An analysis of the prior art cited in US Patent 7,784,058, "Computing system having user mode critical system elements as shared libraries," reveals several key patents and publications that are relevant to its claims. This report details the most pertinent prior art and assesses their potential for anticipating the patent's claims under 35 U.S.C. § 102. The analysis is based on the "References Cited" section of the patent and additional prior art identified in related litigation.

Overview of US Patent 7,784,058

Issued on August 24, 2010, with a priority date of September 22, 2003, US Patent 7,784,058 describes a computing system architecture where "critical system elements" (CSEs), traditionally part of the operating system kernel, are implemented as shared libraries that run in the user mode, within the context of an application. This approach aims to provide each application with a unique instance of a CSE, avoiding conflicts that can arise from a single, shared system service. The independent claims (1 and its dependents) describe a system with an operating system kernel having its own CSEs (OSCSEs), and a shared library with "functional replicas" of these CSEs (SLCSEs) for use by software applications in user mode. A key aspect is that an instance of an SLCSE provided to a first application runs in that application's context without being shared with other applications, and a second application can simultaneously run a unique instance of a corresponding CSE.

Prior Art Cited in US Patent 7,784,058

The following are the most relevant prior art references cited on the face of the '058 patent, and their potential impact on the patent's claims.

US Patent 6,212,574 B1: "User mode proxy of kernel mode operations in a computer operating system"

• Full Citation: US Patent 6,212,574 B1
• Publication Date: April 3, 2001
• Filing Date: April 4, 1997
• Brief Description: This patent discloses a system where a user-mode application can access kernel-mode operations through a user-mode proxy. This proxy communicates with a kernel-mode driver, which then interacts with the operating system kernel. The goal is to allow applications to access kernel-level services without needing to run in kernel mode.
• Potential Anticipation of Claims: This patent is highly relevant and could potentially anticipate the core concepts of claim 1. It describes a mechanism for user-mode components to interact with kernel-level functionality. While it uses the term "proxy" rather than "functional replica," the underlying concept of providing kernel-like services in the user space is similar. The '574 patent's disclosure of user-mode proxies for kernel operations could be argued to teach the "SLCSEs" that are "functional replicas of OSCSEs" as claimed in the '058 patent. The degree to which these proxies operate within the "context" of a specific application and are "without being shared" would be a key point of analysis.

US Patent 5,481,706: "System and method for creating thread-safe shared libraries"

• Full Citation: US Patent 5,481,706
• Publication Date: January 2, 1996
• Filing Date: November 1, 1993
• Brief Description: This patent addresses the issue of making shared libraries safe for use in multi-threaded applications. It describes a method for managing data within a shared library so that multiple threads can access the library's functions without causing data corruption or conflicts.
• Potential Anticipation of Claims: While not directly addressing the concept of moving critical system elements to user mode, this patent is relevant to the implementation details of the '058 patent's invention. The '058 patent relies on shared libraries to deliver its user-mode CSEs. The '706 patent's teachings on making shared libraries robust in a multi-application, multi-threaded environment are foundational to enabling the system described in the '058 patent. It could be argued that the '706 patent, in combination with other prior art, would make the implementation of the '058 patent's system obvious. However, on its own, it is less likely to anticipate the broader architectural claims of the '058 patent.

US Published Patent Application 2004/0025165 A1: "Systems and methods for extending operating system functionality for an application"

• Full Citation: US Published Patent Application 2004/0025165 A1
• Publication Date: February 5, 2004
• Filing Date: August 5, 2002
• Brief Description: This application describes a system for extending the functionality of an operating system on a per-application basis. It discloses a mechanism where an "extension module" can be loaded into an application's process space to provide additional or modified OS services to that specific application.
• Potential Anticipation of Claims: This reference is highly relevant as it describes extending OS functionality for individual applications, which is a core concept of the '058 patent. The "extension module" could be seen as directly corresponding to the "shared library having shared library critical system elements (SLCSEs)" of claim 1. The fact that these extensions are loaded on a per-application basis strongly suggests that they run in the context of that application and are not shared with others, directly aligning with the limitations of claim 1. The earlier priority date of this application makes it a significant piece of prior art.

Additional Prior Art Identified in Litigation

Legal proceedings involving the '058 patent have identified other prior art not cited on the patent's face. These include:

US Patent 6,529,985 ("Deianov")

• Full Citation: US Patent 6,529,985
• Publication Date: May 6, 2003
• Brief Description: This patent, identified as a primary reference in an Inter Partes Review (IPR) proceeding, is likely relevant to the networking aspects of the '058 patent, as it deals with network protocol processing. A detailed analysis of its claims would be necessary to determine the extent of overlap.

US Published Patent Application 2003/0041118 (“Elnozahy”)

• Full Citation: US Published Patent Application 2003/0041118
• Publication Date: February 27, 2003
• Brief Description: Also cited in legal challenges, this application likely pertains to system architecture and resource management in a way that could be seen as anticipating the '058 patent's approach to application-specific services.

Conclusion

Based on this analysis, US Published Patent Application 2004/0025165 A1 and US Patent 6,212,574 B1 appear to be the most relevant prior art with the potential to anticipate the independent claims of US Patent 7,784,058. Both documents describe architectures where operating system-like functionalities are provided in the user space on a per-application basis, which is the central inventive concept of the '058 patent. The other cited patents and the references from litigation further strengthen the argument that the concepts of user-mode drivers, application-specific OS extensions, and robust shared libraries were known in the art prior to the '058 patent's priority date. A thorough invalidity contention would likely combine these references to argue that the claimed invention would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention.