DETAILED ACTION
1. Claims 1-13 are pending in the application.
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
2. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
3. The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
4. Claims 1-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) as being directed to unclear subject matter.
Claim 1 recites the limitation "the number of bits" in line 13. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. It is unclear if this limitation is to refer to a different number of bits or is supposed to have antecedence on “a number of bits omitted” as in line 9.
Claim 2 recites the limitation "the number of bits" in lines 3-4. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 4 recites the limitation "the number of bits of the input data" in lines 2. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claims 3 and 5-13 are similarly rejected for failing to overcome the deficiencies found in the claims from which they depend.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
5. 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.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
6. Claim(s) 1-5 and 12-13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Takayama et al (hereafter Takayama)(US Pub. 2021/0141601) in view of Cornea-Hasegan (US Pub. 2007/0266072).
Takayama was cited in the IDS filed 06/08/2022.
7. As to claim 1, Takayama discloses a computing device that performs a predetermined operation (abstract) comprising:
a numerical value operation unit including a first computing unit that performs a predetermined operation based on input data and a second computing unit that performs a predetermined operation using an operation result from the first computing unit ([0006] first and second computing units performing multiplication and then addition based on results of the multiplication.); and
an operation stop signal generation unit that determines whether operations on the input data and the number of bits, and outputs a stop signal according to a result of the determination ([0035] and [0042], stopping operations of first and second computation units based on control signal).
8. Takayama does not disclose a rounding operation unit that performs a rounding operation on an output of the numerical value operation unit; and a parameter storage unit that stores a number of bits omitted by the rounding operation in the rounding operation unit.
However, Cornea-Hasegan discloses a rounding operation unit that performs a rounding operation on an output of the numerical value operation unit ([0013]-[0015], [0040]-[0041], rounding module, rounding a result, thus rounding operation on an output); and a parameter storage unit that stores a number of bits omitted by the rounding operation in the rounding operation unit ([0030]-[0036] values stored).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Takayama by rounding and storing, as taught by Cornea-Hasegan for the benefit of faster multiplication results so that the overall performance of a computing system can be improved (Cornea-Hasegan, [0005]).
9. As to claim 2, the combination of Takayama and Cornea-Hasegan discloses wherein the operation stop signal generation unit determines whether the operation on the first computing unit needs to be stopped, using the input data and the number of bits, and determines whether the operation on the second computing unit needs to be stopped according to the result of the determination (Takayama [0035] and [0042]).
10. As to claim 3, the combination of Takayama and Cornea-Hasegan discloses wherein when it is determined that the operation on the first computing unit needs to be stopped, the operation stop signal generation unit determines whether the operation on the second computing unit on the second computing unit needs to be stopped (Takayama [0035] and [0042] if the result of the determination by the determination unit 3 is YES, the first calculation unit 5 performs the calculation processing on the basis of a control signal provided by the control unit 4 (step ST203 to step ST207). In parallel with this, a control signal from the control unit 4 causes the clock for operating the second calculation unit 6 to stop, so that the operation of the second calculation unit 6 stops.).
11. As to claim 4, the combination of Takayama and Cornea-Hasegan discloses wherein when the number of bits of the input data, in a case where the operation result from the first computing unit is rounded by the rounding operation unit, is less than or equal to a predetermined value, the operation stop signal generation unit determines that the operation on the first computing unit needs to be stopped (Takayama [0050] less than or equal to a value).
12. As to claim 5, the combination of Takayama and Cornea-Hasegan discloses wherein when it is determined that the operation on the first computing unit needs to be stopped and an operation result from the first computing unit is 0, the operation stop signal generation unit determines that the operation on the second computing unit needs to be stopped (Takayama [0041]).
13. As to claims 12 and 13, the combination of Takayama and Cornea-Hasegan discloses external environment information acquired from an external environment acquisition device is used as the input data, and situation of an external environment is recognized using the external environment information (Takayama [0006]) and wherein result of the predetermined operation is output as a control signal for a target according to the recognized situation of the external environment (Takayama [0035]-[0036] control signal).
14. Claims 6-11 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
15. The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Claim 6 recites at least wherein the numerical value operation unit further includes a third computing unit that performs a predetermined operation based on the input data, the third computing unit being connected in parallel with the first computing unit; and the operation stop signal generation unit independently executes the determination on whether respective operations on the first computing unit and the third computing unit need to be stopped.
The closest prior art of record US Pub. 2021/0141601 teaches the computing device that performs a predetermined operation of claim 1; however, the prior art of record does not teach or suggest at least wherein the numerical value operation unit further includes a third computing unit that performs a predetermined operation based on the input data, the third computing unit being connected in parallel with the first computing unit; and the operation stop signal generation unit independently executes the determination on whether respective operations on the first computing unit and the third computing unit need to be stopped.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MICHAEL D YAARY whose telephone number is (571)270-1249. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 9-5:30.
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/MICHAEL D. YAARY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2151