Prosecution Insights
Last updated: July 17, 2026
Application No. 17/743,340

APPLICATION PROGRAMMING INTERFACE TO DECOMPRESS DATA

Final Rejection §102§112
Filed
May 12, 2022
Priority
May 13, 2021 — provisional 63/188,406
Examiner
BIRKHIMER, CHRISTOPHER D
Art Unit
2138
Tech Center
2100 — Computer Architecture & Software
Assignee
NVIDIA Corporation
OA Round
2 (Final)
74%
Grant Probability
Favorable
3-4
OA Rounds
0m
Est. Remaining
82%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 74% — above average
74%
Career Allowance Rate
377 granted / 506 resolved
+19.5% vs TC avg
Moderate +7% lift
Without
With
+7.1%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
3y 1m
Avg Prosecution
23 currently pending
Career history
535
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
0.7%
-39.3% vs TC avg
§103
72.1%
+32.1% vs TC avg
§102
12.2%
-27.8% vs TC avg
§112
12.4%
-27.6% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 506 resolved cases

Office Action

§102 §112
CTFR 17/743,340 CTFR 82450 DETAILED ACTION The current Office Action is in response to the papers submitted 02/26/2026. Claims 1 - 31 are pending. Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status 07-03-aia AIA 15-10-aia The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA. Specification 06-31 AIA The lengthy specification has not been checked to the extent necessary to determine the presence of all possible minor errors. Applicant’s cooperation is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant may become aware in the specification. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112 07-36 AIA The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(d): (d) REFERENCE IN DEPENDENT FORMS.—Subject to subsection (e), a claim in dependent form shall contain a reference to a claim previously set forth and then specify a further limitation of the subject matter claimed. A claim in dependent form shall be construed to incorporate by reference all the limitations of the claim to which it refers. The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, fourth paragraph: Subject to the following paragraph [i.e., the fifth paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112], a claim in dependent form shall contain a reference to a claim previously set forth and then specify a further limitation of the subject matter claimed. A claim in dependent form shall be construed to incorporate by reference all the limitations of the claim to which it refers. 07-36-01 AIA Claim 27 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(d) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, 4th paragraph, as being of improper dependent form for failing to further limit the subject matter of the claim upon which it depends, or for failing to include all the limitations of the claim upon which it depends. Claim 27 recites generating the one or more second instructions based on the one or more first instructions to decompress the one or more matrices. Claim 27 is dependent on claim 26. Claim 26 recites in response to an API call indicating one or more first instructions to decompress one or more matrices the first instructions are converted to second instructions. This shows claim 26 already contains the limitation of the second instructions are based on the first instructions since the first instructions are converted into the second instructions in claim 26. Claim 27 does not add anything more to what is in claim 26 already . Applicant may cancel the claim(s), amend the claim(s) to place the claim(s) in proper dependent form, rewrite the claim(s) in independent form, or present a sufficient showing that the dependent claim(s) complies with the statutory requirements. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102 07-06 AIA 15-10-15 In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status. 07-07-aia AIA 07-07 The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action: A person shall be entitled to a patent unless – 07-08-aia AIA (a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention. 07-15-aia AIA Claim(s) 1 - 31 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102 (a)(1) as being anticipated by Frumkin et al. (Pub. No.: US 2020/0342632) referred to as Frumkin . Regarding claim 1 , Frumkin teaches one or more processors [140’, Fig 1B; Paragraph 0060] , comprising: circuitry [20, Figs 1A and 1B] to, in response to an application programming interface (API) call [Paragraphs 0283, 0306, and 0346; The processes performed are in response to calls to an API that enable applications to perform the requested processes] , decompress one or more matrices of data [104, Figs 1A and 1B; Paragraphs 0046 – 0047; The decompressor circuit in the processor decompresses a compressed matrix data array] . Claims 10 and 18 are corresponding system and medium claims of claim 1 and are rejected using the same prior art and similar reasoning. Frumkin teaches the system [100, Fig 1] comprising memory to store instructions [Paragraph 0017; The instructions of how the system operates are stored in memory] . Claim 26 is a corresponding method of claims 1 and 2 and is rejected using the same prior art and similar reasoning. Frumkin teaches the method [Paragraph 0017] . Regarding claims 2, 11, 19, and 27 , Frumkin teaches the circuitry [20, Figs 1A and 1B] is to generate one or more first instructions based, at least in part, on one or more second instructions [Paragraph 0283; The decompressor circuit generates one or more first instructions to call the API to perform the decompression based on a second initial instruction to decompress the data] to decompress one or more matrices [104, Figs 1A and 1B; Paragraphs 0046 – 0047; The decompressor circuit in the processor decompresses a compressed matrix data array] . Regarding claims 3, 20, and 28 , Frumkin teaches in response to the API call [Paragraphs 0283, 0306, and 0346] , the circuitry [20, Figs 1A and 1B] is to decompress the one or more matrices as a part of a library of APIs [Paragraphs 0300; Multiple APIs is a library of APIs] to perform one or more sparse matrix multiplication operations [Paragraphs 0073 and 0193; The matrix operations include matrix multiplication] . Regarding claims 4, 12, 21, and 29 , Frumkin teaches the circuitry is to decompress the one or more matrices of data in response to performing a sparse matrix multiplication operation with one or more graphics processing cores [140’, Fig 1B; Paragraphs 0059 and 0193; The decompression is based in part on the stored matrix. The decompression is based in part on the matrix multiplication since the matrix multiplication operation was used in generating the stored matrix that is decompressed after it is compressed] . Regarding claims 5, 13, 22, 30 , Frumkin teaches decompressing includes converting a compressed matrix [10, Figs 1A and 1B] to a sparse matrix [106a, Figs 1A and 1B] based on indications of non-zero values [102, Figs 1A and 1B] stored in memory [Paragraph 0048] accessible to one or more graphics processing cores [140 and 140’, Fig 1B; Either processor can be a GPU and the stored non-zero value is accessible by the GPUs] . The generating a zero as a value based on stored indices values of non-zero values in claim 13 is covered by the converting a compressed matrix to a sparse matrix based on indications of non-zero values in claim 5. A sparse matrix is a matrix with zero values. The zero values are based on indications of non-zero values which are the same as the indices values of non-zero values. Regarding claims 6, 14, 23, and 31 , Frumkin teaches decompressing includes storing zero as a value of one or more matrix values based, at least in part, on stored indices values of non-zero values [Paragraphs 0004, 0011, 0044, 0047, 0049, 0051; The result of the decompression is a matrix that contains nonzero and zero values based on stores indices of nonzero values in a matrix] . Regarding claims 7, 15, and 24 , Frumkin teaches decompressing [20, Fig 1A and 1B] includes generating a product matrix [106a – 106d, Figs 1A and 1B] based on a result of a sparse matrix multiplication operation [140’, Fig 1B; Paragraphs 0059 and 0193; The decompression is based in part on the stored matrix. The decompression is based in part on the matrix multiplication since the matrix multiplication operation was used in generating the stored matrix that is decompressed] and index values of non-zero values of compressed matrix [10, Figs 1A and 1B; Paragraphs 0004, 0011, 0044, 0047, 0049, 0051; The result of the decompression is a matrix that contains nonzero and zero values based on stored indices of nonzero values in a compressed matrix] . Regarding claims 8, 16, and 25 , Frumkin teaches decompressing includes using a scatter vector to generate a product matrix that includes zero values of a sparse matrix [104, Figs 1A and 1B; Paragraphs 0207 – 0209; A matrix is comprised of zero and nonzero values. The decompression includes obtaining the compressed matrix for decompression. The compressed matrix is scattered across registers including zero and nonzero values resulting in a 16x8 matrix] . Regarding claims 9 and 17 , Frumkin teaches one or more outputs of an API [Paragraphs 0283, 0306, and 0346; The processes performed are in response to calls to an API that enable applications to perform the requested processes] are to cause the one or more processors [140’, Fig 1B; Paragraph 0060] to convert a result of a compressed matrix multiplication [104, Figs 1A and 1B; Paragraphs 0059 and 0193; The decompression is based in part on the stored matrix. The decompression is based in part on the matrix multiplication since the matrix multiplication operation was used in generating the stored matrix that is decompressed after it is compressed] into a sparse matrix [106a, Figs 1A and 1B] based, at least in part, on index values of non-zero elements of an input matrix [10, Figs 1A and 1B; Paragraphs 0004, 0011, 0044, 0047, 0049, 0051; The result of the decompression is a matrix that contains nonzero and zero values based on stored indices of nonzero values in a compressed matrix] of the compressed matrix multiplication [104, Figs 1A and 1B; Paragraphs 0059 and 0193; The decompression is based in part on the stored matrix. The decompression is based in part on the matrix multiplication since the matrix multiplication operation was used in generating the stored matrix that is decompressed after it is compressed] . Response to Arguments 07-37 AIA Applicant's arguments filed 02/26/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. The applicant argues on pages 7 – 11 that the claims are allowable since the amendments overcome the previous rejections. After careful consideration of the applicant’s arguments the examiner respectfully disagrees. The applicant’s arguments are moot in view of the new grounds of rejection. The amendments have changed the scope of the claims requiring further search and consideration of the prior art. The new grounds of rejection are a result of the further search and consideration of the prior art. The examiner suggests amending the claims to include further details defining the inventive concept from the specification to overcome the cited prior art and further advance prosecution. Conclusion 07-39 AIA THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a). A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHRISTOPHER D BIRKHIMER whose telephone number is (571)270-1178. The examiner can normally be reached 8-5 Hoteling. Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Tim Vo can be reached at 571-272-3642. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /Christopher D Birkhimer/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2138 Application/Control Number: 17/743,340 Page 2 Art Unit: 2138 Application/Control Number: 17/743,340 Page 3 Art Unit: 2138 Application/Control Number: 17/743,340 Page 4 Art Unit: 2138 Application/Control Number: 17/743,340 Page 5 Art Unit: 2138 Application/Control Number: 17/743,340 Page 6 Art Unit: 2138 Application/Control Number: 17/743,340 Page 7 Art Unit: 2138 Application/Control Number: 17/743,340 Page 8 Art Unit: 2138 Application/Control Number: 17/743,340 Page 9 Art Unit: 2138 Application/Control Number: 17/743,340 Page 10 Art Unit: 2138
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Prosecution Timeline

May 12, 2022
Application Filed
Aug 29, 2025
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §102, §112
Oct 07, 2025
Applicant Interview (Telephonic)
Oct 09, 2025
Examiner Interview Summary
Feb 26, 2026
Response Filed
Jun 03, 2026
Final Rejection mailed — §102, §112 (current)

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Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

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Prosecution Projections

3-4
Expected OA Rounds
74%
Grant Probability
82%
With Interview (+7.1%)
3y 1m (~0m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Moderate
PTA Risk
Based on 506 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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