CTNF 18/194,709 CTNF 89200 DETAILED ACTION 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. 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 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. Foreign Priority Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers submitted under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d), which papers have been placed of record in the file, as electronically retrieved 01/05/2022. Information Disclosure Statement The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 06/03/2024 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statemen is being considered by the examiner. Election/Restrictions Claims 18-20 have been amended to be directed to elected Group I. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 02/20/2026. 08-25-01 AIA Applicant’s election without traverse of Group I in the reply filed on 02/20/2026 . is acknowledged. 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 Claim (s) 1-5 and 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102( a)(1 ) as being anticipated by Lee et al. (PG Pub 2009/0218664; hereinafter Lee) . PNG media_image1.png 772 616 media_image1.png Greyscale Regarding claim 1 , refer to the Examiner’s mark-up of Fig. 1 provided above, Lee teaches a semiconductor device 100, comprising a set of external connectors 112,122 arranged in a plurality of columns (“column-n”) and a plurality of rows ( “row-n”), wherein the set of external connectors comprises a plurality of receiver connectors 122 and a plurality of transmitter connectors 112 correspondingly configured to input and output information into and from the semiconductor device (see Fig. 1), the plurality of receiver connectors comprises: a first receiver connector group (“tg-1”) of first consecutive receiver connectors among the plurality of receiver connectors, and a second receiver connector group (“tg-2”) of second consecutive receiver connectors among the plurality of receiver connectors (see Fig. 1), the plurality of transmitter connectors comprises: a first transmitter connector group (“rg-1”) of first consecutive transmitter connectors among the plurality of transmitter connectors, and a second transmitter connector group (“rg-2”) of second consecutive transmitter connectors among the plurality of transmitter connectors (see Fig. 1), the first receiver connector group, the second receiver connector group, the first transmitter connector group, and the second transmitter connector group are arranged with respect to each other along a column direction of the plurality of columns (see Fig. 1). Regarding claim 2 , refer to the Examiner’s mark-up of Fig. 1 provided above, Lee teaches the plurality of rows (annotated “rows”) comprises: a first set of rows in which the first consecutive receiver connectors (associated with tg-1) are arranged (see Fig. 1), a second set of rows in which the second consecutive receiver connectors are arranged (associated with tg-2), a third set of rows in which the first consecutive transmitter connectors are arranged (horizontal row of rg-1), and a fourth set of rows in which the second consecutive transmitter connectors are arranged (horizontal row of rg-1), and the first through fourth sets of rows are non-overlapping with each other (see Fig. 1). Regarding claim 3 , refer to the Examiner’s mark-up of Fig. 1 provided above, Lee teaches the first consecutive receiver connectors (tg-1) correspond to the first consecutive transmitter connectors, and the second consecutive receiver connectors (tg-2) correspond to the second consecutive transmitter connectors (see Fig. 1). Regarding claim 4 , refer to the Examiner’s mark-up of Fig. 1 provided above, Lee teaches the second transmitter connector group (rg-1), the first transmitter connector group (rg-2), the first receiver connector group (tg-1), and the second receiver connector group (tg-2) are arranged in the recited order along the column direction (vertical direction) (see Fig. 1). Regarding claim 5 , refer to the Examiner’s mark-up of Fig. 1 provided above, Lee teaches the second consecutive receiver connectors (tg-2) are consecutive to the first consecutive receiver connectors (tg-2), and the second consecutive transmitter connectors (rg-2) are consecutive to the first consecutive transmitter connectors (rg-1) (consecutive =one after another) (see Fig. 1). Regarding claim 9 , refer to the Examiner’s mark-up of Fig. 1 provided above, Lee teaches the second consecutive receiver connectors (tg-2) and the second consecutive transmitter connectors (rg-1) are disabled. The recited “the second consecutive receiver connectors and the second consecutive transmitter connectors are disabled” (i.e., function) does not structurally distinguish an apparatus claim from the prior art apparatus see In re Danly , 263 F.2d 844, 838 (CCPA 1959) (apparatus claims must distinguish in terms of structure rather than function). The only structural limitation that appears to be required for the prior art apparatus to be capable of performing the aforementioned function is having second consecutive receiver connectors and second consecutive transmitter connectors, which Lee clearly shows or in other words, the prior art appears to inherently possess the capability of performing the recited functions. "[T]he discovery of a previously unappreciated property of a prior art composition, or of a scientific explanation for the prior art’s functioning, does not render the old composition patentably new to the discoverer." Atlas Powder Co. v. IRECO Inc ., 190 F.3d 1342, 1347, 51 USPQ2d 1943, 1947 (Fed. Cir. 1999). Thus, the claiming of a new use, new function or unknown property which is inherently present in the prior art does not necessarily make the claim patentable. In re Best , 562 F.2d 1252, 1254, 195 USPQ 430, 433 (CCPA 1977). See In re Swinehart , 439 F.2d 210 (CCPA 1971) to emphasize that “where the Patent [and Trademark] Office has reason to believe that a functional limitation asserted to be critical for establishing novelty in the claimed subject matter may, in fact be an inherent characteristic of the prior art, it possesses the authority to require the applicant to prove that the subject matter shown to be in the prior art does not possess the characteristic relied on."). Prior Art 07-96 AIA 2. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure : a. Qian et al. (PG Pub 2021/0398906) teaches scalable and interoperable phyless die-to-die io solution. b. Kanar et al. (PG Pub 2019/0089048) teaches a semiconductor device . Allowable Subject Matter 3. Claims 11-20 are allowable. 12-151-08 AIA 07-43 12-51-08 Claim s 6-8 and 10 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims. 13-03-01 AIA The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: Claim 6 contains allowable subject matter, because the prior art of record, either singularly or in combination, fails to disclose or suggest, in combination with the other elements in claim 6 , the set of external connectors further comprises a plurality of power external connectors, and the plurality of power external connectors comprises, among the plurality of rows, at least one row of power external connectors between each pair of adjacent groups among the first receiver connector group, the second receiver connector group, the first transmitter connector group, and the second transmitter connector group, and two end rows of power external connectors between which the first receiver connector group, the second receiver connector group, the first transmitter connector group, and the second transmitter connector group are arranged. Claim 7 contains allowable subject matter, because the prior art of record, either singularly or in combination, fails to disclose or suggest, in combination with the other elements in claim 7 , a plurality of power supply external connectors, and a plurality of ground external connectors, the plurality of power supply external connectors comprises, among the plurality of rows, at least one full row of power supply external connectors between each pair of adjacent groups among the first receiver connector group, the second receiver connector group, the first transmitter connector group, and the second transmitter connector group, and two end rows of power supply external connectors between which the first receiver connector group, the second receiver connector group, the first transmitter connector group, and the second transmitter connector group are arranged, and the plurality of ground external connectors comprises, among the plurality of rows, in at least one full row of ground external connectors between each said pair of adjacent groups, and two end rows of ground external connectors between which the first receiver connector group, the second receiver connector group, the first transmitter connector group, and the second transmitter connector group are arranged. Claim 8 contains allowable subject matter, because the prior art of record, either singularly or in combination, fails to disclose or suggest, in combination with the other elements in claim 8 , set of external connectors further comprises a plurality of clock external connectors arranged along one or more central columns among the plurality of columns. Claim 10 contains allowable subject matter, because the prior art of record, either singularly or in combination, fails to disclose or suggest, in combination with the other elements in claim 10 , the set of external connectors corresponds to the Universal Chiplet Interconnect Express (UCIe) protocol, and each of the first receiver connector group, the second receiver connector group, the first transmitter connector group, and the second transmitter connector group includes exactly 32 consecutive main band data external connectors. Claim 11 contains allowable subject matter, because the prior art of record, either singularly or in combination, fails to disclose or suggest, in combination with the other elements in claim 11 , a first die and a second die, wherein each of the first die and the second die comprises a set of external connectors arranged in a plurality of columns and a plurality of rows, the set of external connectors comprises a plurality of receiver connectors, a plurality of transmitter connectors, and a plurality of power external connectors, the plurality of receiver connectors comprises a first receiver connector group of first receiver connectors among the plurality of receiver connectors, the plurality of transmitter connectors comprises a first transmitter connector group of first transmitter connectors among the plurality of transmitter connectors, and the plurality of power external connectors comprises, among the plurality of rows, a first full row of power external connectors between the first receiver connector group and the first transmitter connector group, the first receiver connectors of the first die are correspondingly coupled to the first transmitter connectors of the second die, and the first transmitter connectors of the first die are correspondingly coupled to the first receiver connectors of the second die. Claims 12-17 would be allowable, because they depend on allowable claim 11 . Claim 18 contains allowable subject matter, because the prior art of record, either singularly or in combination, fails to disclose or suggest, in combination with the other elements in claim 18 , a first die and a second die, wherein the first die comprises a first input/output (I/O) port corresponding to a first bump map, the second die comprises a second I/O port corresponding to a second bump map, the first bump map comprises a set of bumps arranged in a plurality of columns and a plurality of rows, the set of bumps comprises a plurality of receiver bumps and a plurality of transmitter bumps, the plurality of receiver bumps comprises: a first receiver bump group of first receiver bumps among the plurality of receiver bumps, and a second receiver bump group of second receiver bumps among the plurality of receiver bumps, the plurality of transmitter bumps comprises: a first transmitter bump group of first transmitter bumps among the plurality of transmitter bumps, and a second transmitter bump group of second transmitter bumps among the plurality of transmitter bumps, the plurality of rows comprises: a first set of rows in which the first receiver bumps are arranged, a second set of rows in which the second receiver bumps are arranged, a third set of rows in which the first transmitter bumps are arranged, and a fourth set of rows in which the second transmitter bumps are arranged, the first through fourth sets of rows are non-overlapping with each other the second bump map of the second I/O port is identical to the first bump map of the first I/O port, and the second receiver bumps and the second transmitter bumps in the second bump map are disabled, the first receiver bumps in the first I/O port of the first die are correspondingly coupled to the first transmitter bumps in the second 11O port of the second die, and the first transmitter bumps in the first 11O port of the first die are correspondingly coupled to the first receiver bumps in the second 11O port of the second die.. Claims 19-20 would be allowable, because they depend on allowable claim 18 . Any comments considered necessary by applicant must be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee. Such submissions should be clearly labeled “Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance.” Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Christina A Sylvia whose telephone number is (571)272-7474. The examiner can normally be reached on 8am-4pm (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, Marlon Fletcher can be reached on 571-272-2063. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /CHRISTINA A SYLVIA/Examiner, Art Unit 2817 /MARLON T FLETCHER/Supervisory Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2817 Application/Control Number: 18/194,709 Page 2 Art Unit: 2817 Application/Control Number: 18/194,709 Page 3 Art Unit: 2817 Application/Control Number: 18/194,709 Page 4 Art Unit: 2817 Application/Control Number: 18/194,709 Page 5 Art Unit: 2817 Application/Control Number: 18/194,709 Page 6 Art Unit: 2817 Application/Control Number: 18/194,709 Page 7 Art Unit: 2817 Application/Control Number: 18/194,709 Page 8 Art Unit: 2817 Application/Control Number: 18/194,709 Page 9 Art Unit: 2817
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