Prosecution Insights
Last updated: April 18, 2026
Application No. 18/084,158

Techniques For Synchronous Accesses To Storage Circuits

Non-Final OA §102
Filed
Dec 19, 2022
Examiner
ROJAS, MIDYS
Art Unit
2133
Tech Center
2100 — Computer Architecture & Software
Assignee
Intel Corporation
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
88%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
2y 9m
To Grant
96%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 88% — above average
88%
Career Allow Rate
713 granted / 815 resolved
+32.5% vs TC avg
Moderate +8% lift
Without
With
+8.0%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 9m
Avg Prosecution
22 currently pending
Career history
837
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
4.0%
-36.0% vs TC avg
§103
34.3%
-5.7% vs TC avg
§102
29.0%
-11.0% vs TC avg
§112
25.3%
-14.7% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 815 resolved cases

Office Action

§102
DETAILED ACTION Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA. Information Disclosure Statement The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 12/19/2022 was considered by the examiner. Drawings The drawings received on 12/19/2022 have been accepted by the examiner. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102 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 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 – (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. Claim s 1-21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102 (a)(1) as being anticipated by Khodabandehlou et al. [US 2012/0096301] . Claim 1 , Khodabandehlou et al. discloses a memory interface circuit [400, par. 0030] comprising: first and second memory controller circuits [elements as described, par. 0032] that asynchronously receive requests for memory accesses to first and second storage circuits [first and second arrays 420 and 430, par. 0032 and par. 0035-0036] ; and first and second clock gate circuits [450 and 460] that disable and then reenable first and second clock signals in response to a clock enable signal [control logic synchronizes the asynchronous control signal to a high speed clock ( par. 0038 ); synchronized update logic generates a one shot signal to prevent data updates from propagating (par. 0040 ); multiplexer selects data from either clock domain (par. 0041 ) , wherein the first and the second memory controller circuits perform the memory accesses to the first and the second storage circuits synchronously in response to the first and the second clock signals that have been reenabled by the first and the second clock gate circuits [data register supplies output data in synchronization with clock_1 (par. 0046 and 0049); control logic synchronizes Adv_n to high speed clock (par. 0038); synchronized update logic prevents propagation until pulse is deasserted (par. 0040)] . Claim 2 , Khodabandehlou et al. discloses t he memory interface circuit of claim 1 further comprising: a first control circuit that generates the clock enable signal and that asynchronously generates a first one of the requests for accessing the first storage circuit [control logic synchronizes the asynchronous control signal to the high-speed control signal generating the control signal Adv_sync_o (par. 0038-0039); address latch 410A latches address under control of asynchronous control signal Adv_n (par. 0036 and 0045)] . Claim 3 , Khodabandehlou et al. discloses t he memory interface circuit of claim 2 further comprising: a second control circuit that asynchronously generates a second one of the requests for accessing the second storage circuit [two independent asynchronous requests paths are shown, par. 0036 and 0033] . Claim 4 , Khodabandehlou et al. discloses t he memory interface circuit of claim 1, wherein the first memory controller circuit asynchronously receives a first one of the requests for a first one of the memory accesses to the first storage circuit, and wherein the second memory controller circuit asynchronously receives a second one of the requests for a second one of the memory accesses to the second storage circuit [two storage array plus interface paths are shown, each receiving asynchronous requests wherein each path is interpreted as a memory controller circuit, par. 0033-0034 and 0036 and 0045] . Claim 5 , Khodabandehlou et al. discloses t he memory interface circuit of claim 1, wherein the first memory controller circuit performs a first one of the memory accesses to the first storage circuit in response to a first one of the requests; and wherein the second memory controller circuit performs a second one of the memory accesses to the second storage circuit in response to a second one of the requests [first storage array accessed via address latch/register to data latch/register (par. 0032, 0036-0037); second storage array accessed via its own clock domain and synchronized update logic (par. 0033, 0040)] . Claim 6 , Khodabandehlou et al. discloses t he memory interface circuit of claim 1, wherein the first memory controller circuit comprises a first register that stores a first one of the requests in response to a third clock signal and a second register that receives the first one of the requests from the first register and stores the first one of the requests in response to the first clock signal [latches, par. 0045-0046] Claim 7 , Khodabandehlou et al. discloses t he memory interface circuit of claim 6, wherein the second memory controller circuit comprises a third register that stores a second one of the requests in response to a fourth clock signal and a fourth register that receives the second one of the requests from the third register and stores the second one of the requests in response to the second clock signal [latches, par. 0048 and 0049] . Claim 8 , Khodabandehlou et al. discloses t he memory interface circuit of claim 1 further comprising: a first clock generator circuit that generates a third clock signal, wherein the first clock gate circuit generates the first clock signal based on the third clock signal; and a second clock generator circuit that generates a fourth clock signal, wherein the second clock gate circuit generates the second clock signal based on the fourth clock signal [see par. 0033-0034 and 0039] . Claim 9 , Khodabandehlou et al. discloses t he memory interface circuit of claim 1 further comprising: a first calibration control circuit that asserts the clock enable signal to disable the first and the second clock gate circuits in response to a first control signal generated by programmable logic circuits in a fabric region of an integrated circuit; and a second calibration control circuit that asynchronously generates one of the requests for accessing the second storage circuit in response to a second control signal generated by the programmable logic circuits [par. 0038-0040] . Claims 10-21 are rejected using the same rationale as Claims 1-9. Conclusion The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Lethin et al. [US 11,500,621]; Methods and Apparatus for Data Transfer Optimization. See Claims 1, 20-21, 25. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to FILLIN "Examiner name" \* MERGEFORMAT MIDYS ROJAS whose telephone number is FILLIN "Phone number" \* MERGEFORMAT (571)272-4207 . The examiner can normally be reached FILLIN "Work Schedule?" \* MERGEFORMAT 7:00am -3:00pm M-F . 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, FILLIN "SPE Name?" \* MERGEFORMAT Rocio del Mar Perez-Velez can be reached at FILLIN "SPE Phone?" \* MERGEFORMAT (571) 270-5935 . 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. /MIDYS ROJAS/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2133
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Dec 19, 2022
Application Filed
Jun 22, 2023
Response after Non-Final Action
Mar 20, 2026
Non-Final Rejection — §102 (current)

Precedent Cases

Applications granted by this same examiner with similar technology

Patent 12572288
COORDINATED STORAGE TIERING ACROSS SITES
2y 5m to grant Granted Mar 10, 2026
Patent 12561092
MEMORY DEVICE AND STORAGE DEVICE INCLUDING THE SAME
2y 5m to grant Granted Feb 24, 2026
Patent 12547311
MEMORY CONTROL SYSTEM AND MEMORY CONTROL METHOD
2y 5m to grant Granted Feb 10, 2026
Patent 12536108
STORAGE DEVICE, OPERATION METHOD OF THE STORAGE DEVICE, AND ELECTRONIC SYSTEM INCLUDING THE STORAGE DEVICE
2y 5m to grant Granted Jan 27, 2026
Patent 12536102
PURPOSED DATA TRANSFER USING MULTIPLE CACHE SLOTS
2y 5m to grant Granted Jan 27, 2026
Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

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Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
88%
Grant Probability
96%
With Interview (+8.0%)
2y 9m
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 815 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allow rate.

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