Obviousness

The search results provide general information about prior art searches at the USPTO, but do not list the specific prior art documents cited in US8280987. Without these specific documents, I cannot perform a proper obviousness analysis under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as requested, which requires identifying combinations of prior art references.

Therefore, I must explicitly state that the necessary specific prior art documents are not available from the provided text or the initial search.

Obviousness Analysis under 35 U.S.C. § 103

To perform an obviousness analysis for US patent 8280987 under 35 U.S.C. § 103, specific prior art references are required. The provided patent text includes "Prior art keywords" (server, data, data objects, data object, request) and a "Prior art date" (2010-07-01). However, it does not list any specific prior art documents (e.g., other patents, publications, or journal articles). A search for "US8280987 references cited" also did not yield the list of cited prior art documents.

Without concrete prior art references to analyze in combination, it is not possible to determine what would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention (i.e., before the priority date of July 1, 2010). A proper obviousness analysis requires:

1. Identifying the scope and content of the prior art: This involves examining specific prior art documents.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art: This requires comparing the claims of US8280987 to the disclosures of the prior art.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art: The patent describes "cloud-based computer processing" and "distribution, storage, and retrieval of data on a cloud networking arrangement," suggesting a person of ordinary skill would have expertise in distributed systems, networking, and data management.
4. Considering objective indicia of non-obviousness: Such as commercial success, long-felt but unsolved needs, or failure of others.

Since the first two steps cannot be completed without specific prior art documents, a detailed obviousness analysis, including identifying combinations of references and motivations to combine them, cannot be provided at this time.