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 .
This is response to Application 18/244326 filed on 09/11/2023. Claims 1-20 are pending the office action.
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d). The certified copy has been filed in parent Application No. TW112107302, filed on 03/01/2023.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement filed 11/13/2023 fails to comply with 37 CFR 1.98(a)(3)(i) because it does not include a concise explanation of the relevance, as it is presently understood by the individual designated in 37 CFR 1.56(c) most knowledgeable about the content of the information, of each reference listed that is not in the English language. It has been placed in the application file, but the information referred to therein has not been considered.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claim 19 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is not supported by either a specific and substantial asserted utility or a well-established utility.
The claim recited “A computer-readable medium” is generally considered a composition of matter if it is a tangible, physical substrate (e.g., a disk, tape, or memory chip) that can store data. However, if the medium is without a processor and is merely a passive storage device, it may not meet the “machine” category because it lacks the functional integration of parts that define a machine. Also notice that the Application’s specification does not describe/include such as a computer system, processor, CPU, or any other means that is integrated with the passive storage medium which may not qualify as a machine.
The claim 19 also does not fall in other categories: composition of matter or manufacture because there is no tangible or physical objection, nor as process category because the method (data) contained in the passive storage medium may not execute.
Claim 19 is also rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, first paragraph. Specifically, because the claimed invention is not supported by either a specific and substantial asserted utility or a well-established utility for the reasons set forth above, one skilled in the art clearly would not know how to use the claimed invention.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-18 and 20 are allowed.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance: the prior art of record does not teach the limitation of claims 1 and 20, a layout method used with an integrated circuit comprising Q circuit blocks, wherein the layout method comprises steps of:
placing K gate-controlled elements and (K-1) buffers on an edge of a qth circuit block among the Q circuit blocks, wherein each of the K gate-controlled elements comprises a first terminal, a second terminal, and a control terminal, and each of the (K-1) buffers comprises an input terminal and an output terminal;
connecting the first terminals of the K gate-controlled elements to a supply voltage terminal;
connecting the second terminals of the K gate-controlled elements to the qth circuit block;
selecting, among the K gate-controlled elements, (K-1) gate-controlled elements comprising an SEL[1]-th gate-controlled element as (K-1) source nodes, wherein the control terminal of the SEL[1]-th gate-controlled element receives a qth enabling signal corresponding to the qth circuit block;
selecting, among the K gate-controlled elements, another (K-1) gate-controlled elements other than the SEL[1]-th gate-controlled element as (K-1) destination nodes; and
routing the (K-1) buffers as (K-1) delayed gating lines connected between the (K-1) source nodes and the (K-1) destination nodes, respectively,
wherein Q, q, K, and SEL[1] are positive integers, SEL[1] is smaller than K, and q is smaller than or equivalent to Q.
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 NGHIA M DOAN whose telephone number is (571)272-5973. The examiner can normally be reached Mon - Fri 7:00 AM - 5:00 PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Jack Chiang can be reached at 571-272-7483. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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NGHIA M. DOAN
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2851
/NGHIA M DOAN/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2851
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