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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
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.
Claims 2-10 and 15-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b), as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
For claims 2 and 4, the term “the FSMs” is inconsistent and thus indefinite because the claims toggle between “The FSMs” and “the plurality of FSMs”, suggesting there might be more than one plurality. It is suggested the claims be amended to “the plurality of FSMs”.
For claim 3, the term “the testing” is unclear and thus indefinite because two types of testing were declared earlier (testing transmit lanes and testing clusters), and so it is unclear to which the claim refers to.
For claim 4, the term “the individual ones of the plurality of FSMs” is unclear and thus indefinite because a set of transmit lanes was declared earlier. A set may contain a plurality which can be grouped into subsets in many ways, and so it is unclear to which subgrouping “the transmit lanes” refers to.
For claim 4-5, 7, and 9, the terms “the other transmit lanes” and “the sets of transmit lanes” lack sufficient antecedent basis in the claim. It is suggested the claim be amended to “[[the]] other transmit lanes” and “the [[sets]] set of transmit lanes”.
For claim 6, the term “the individual ones of the plurality of FSMs” lacks sufficient antecedent basis in the claim. It is suggested the claim be amended to “[[the[[ individual ones of the plurality of FSMs”.
For claim 7, the terms “the first comparator”, “the transmit lane”, and “the transmit lane under test” lack sufficient antecedent basis in the claim.
For claim 8, the terms “the transmit lanes” is unclear and thus indefinite because multiple declarations were made earlier.
For claim 10, the term “the set of receive lanes” lacks sufficient antecedent basis in the claim. It is suggested the claim be amended to “[[the[[ a set of receive lanes”.
For claim 15, the terms “the second sets of transmits lanes” and “the first sets of receives lanes” lack sufficient antecedent basis in the claim. It is suggested the claim be amended to “the second sets of [[transmits]] transmit lanes” and “the first sets of [[receives]] receive lanes”.
For claim 16, the term “the first set of transmit lanes” lack sufficient antecedent basis in the claim. It is suggested the claim be amended to “[[the]] a first set of transmit lanes”.
Dependent claims inherit rejections.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1, 11-14, and 17-20 are allowed over the prior art.
Claims 2-10 and 15-16 would be allowable if all 35 USC § 112 rejections were overcome.
Reasons for Allowability
For Independent claims 1, 11, and 18,
The claim is allowable because although prior art has been found to teach testing generators in multi-dies chips, no prior art was found to teach grouping transmit lanes into clusters and a separate response generator, as it pertains to the other portions of the claim, in a manner that would motivate a person of ordinary skill in the art to combine it as an obvious inclusion.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Choi (US 2020/0286798 A1) is the closest art to teach testing generator transmitting through lanes but does not have other limitations of the claim.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to YAIR LEIBOVICH whose telephone number is (571)270-3796. The examiner can normally be reached 8:00am-5:00pm.
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, Ashish Thomas can be reached at 571-272-0631. 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.
/YAIR LEIBOVICH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2114
