Prosecution Insights
Last updated: April 19, 2026
Application No. 18/313,945

HARDWARE EVENT TRACE WINDOWING FOR A DATA PROCESSING ARRAY

Non-Final OA §102
Filed
May 08, 2023
Examiner
TAT, BINH C
Art Unit
2851
Tech Center
2800 — Semiconductors & Electrical Systems
Assignee
Xilinx, Inc.
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
87%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
2y 9m
To Grant
99%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 87% — above average
87%
Career Allow Rate
1052 granted / 1205 resolved
+19.3% vs TC avg
Moderate +14% lift
Without
With
+14.2%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 9m
Avg Prosecution
27 currently pending
Career history
1232
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
21.9%
-18.1% vs TC avg
§103
1.3%
-38.7% vs TC avg
§102
63.8%
+23.8% vs TC avg
§112
0.6%
-39.4% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 1205 resolved cases

Office Action

§102
OONotice 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 . 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. DETAILED ACTION This office action is in response to application 18/313945 filed on 05/08/23. Claims 1-20 are remain pending in the application. Oath/Declaration The oath/declaration filed on May 08th, 2023 is acceptable. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102 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. Claims 1-8, 10-18 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Schumacher et al. (U.S. Patent No. 10740210). As to claims 1 the prior art teaches a method, comprising: executing a user design using a plurality of active tiles of a data processing array disposed in an integrated circuit (see fig 13 col. 21 lines 12-58); detecting a trace start condition subsequent to a start of execution of the user design (see fig 2-3 col. 6 lines 25 to col. 7 lines 28); in response to the trace start condition, generating trace data using one or more of the plurality of active tiles of the data processing array (see fig 2-3 col. 10 lines 34 to col. 11 lines 67); detecting a trace stop condition during execution of the user design (see fig 3-4 col. 11 lines 26 to col. 12 lines 34); and in response to the trace stop condition, discontinuing the generating the trace data by the one or more of the plurality of active tiles (see fig 2-4 col. 12 lines 10 to col. 13 lines 30). As to claims 2 and 12 the prior art teaches wherein at least one of the trace start condition or the trace stop condition is broadcast from a first tile of the plurality of active tiles to a second tile of the plurality of active tiles, wherein the trace start condition or the trace stop condition, as received by the second tile, controls trace functionality in the second tile (see fig 2-3 col. 10 lines 55 to col. 12 lines 40). As to claims 3 and 13, the prior art teaches wherein at least one of the trace start condition or the trace stop condition is broadcast from a first portion of a first tile of the plurality of active tiles to a second portion of the first tile, wherein the trace start condition or the trace stop condition, as received by the second portion of the first tile, controls trace functionality in the second portion of the first tile (see fig 2-3 col. 11lines 30 to col. 13 lines 20). As to claim 4 and 14, the prior art teaches wherein two or more active tiles of the plurality of active tiles use at least one of a different trace start condition or a different trace stop condition (see fig 13 col. 21 lines 30 to col. 22 lines 40) As to claim 5 and 15, the prior art teaches wherein at least one of the trace start condition or the trace stop condition is specified by a user as a time after the start of execution of the user design (see fig 3-4 col. 13 lines 20 to col. 14 lines 20). As to claim 6 and 16, the prior art teaches wherein at least one of the trace start condition or the trace stop condition is specified by a user as a number of execution iterations of a graph of the user design (see fig 3-4 col. 13 lines 50 to col. 15 lines 30). As to claim 7 and 17 the prior art teaches wherein at least one of the trace start condition or the trace stop condition is specified by a user as a user-event inserted into program code of the user design (see fig 2-4 col. 14 lines 30 to col. 16 lines 45). As to claim 8 and 18, the prior art teaches wherein at least one of the trace start condition or the trace stop condition is specified by a user as a hardware event (see fig 2-3 col. 12 lines 40 to col. 13 lines 50). As to claim 10 and 20, the prior art teaches further comprising: receiving the trace data in a data processing system (see fig 3-4 col. 11 lines 26 to col. 12 lines 34) ; delaying writing of the trace data until a return of a function of the user design is detected (see fig 3-5 col. 12 lines 35 to col. 13 lines 50); and using the function that returned as a starting context of a trace report of the trace data (see fig 3-5 col. 13 lines 32 to col. 14 lines 60). As to claim 11 the prior art teaches a system, comprising: an integrated circuit having a data processing array, wherein the data processing array includes a plurality of active tiles configured to execute a user design (see fig 13 col. 21 lines 12-58); wherein each active tile of the plurality of active tiles includes trace circuitry and the trace circuitry of one or more of the plurality of active tiles is configured to perform trace operations including: detecting a trace start condition subsequent to a start of execution of the user design (see fig 2-3 col. 6 lines 25 to col. 7 lines 28); in response to the trace start condition, generating trace data using one or more of the plurality of active tiles of the data processing array (see fig 2-3 col. 10 lines 34 to col. 11 lines 67); detecting a trace stop condition during the execution of the user design (see fig 3-4 col. 11 lines 26 to col. 12 lines 34); and in response to the trace stop condition, discontinuing the generating the trace data by the one or more of the plurality of active tiles (see fig 2-4 col. 12 lines 10 to col. 13 lines 30). Allowable Subject Matter Claims 9 and 19 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. Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BINH C TAT whose telephone number is 571 272-1908. The examiner can normally be reached on flex 7:00Am-8PM. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Jack Chiang can be reached on 571 272-7483. 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. /BINH C TAT/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2851
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

May 08, 2023
Application Filed
Feb 27, 2026
Non-Final Rejection — §102 (current)

Precedent Cases

Applications granted by this same examiner with similar technology

Patent 12602530
Apparatus, Device, Method and Computer Program for Generating a Circuit Design of Polynomial Interpolation Hardware
2y 5m to grant Granted Apr 14, 2026
Patent 12603531
Systems And Methods For Wireless Power And Data Transfer Utilizing Multiple Antenna Receivers
2y 5m to grant Granted Apr 14, 2026
Patent 12596863
NANOFABRICATION AND DESIGN TECHNIQUES FOR 3D ICS AND CONFIGURABLE ASICS
2y 5m to grant Granted Apr 07, 2026
Patent 12591730
TEST PATTERN GENERATION SYSTEMS AND METHODS
2y 5m to grant Granted Mar 31, 2026
Patent 12585857
Method for Automated Standard Cell Design
2y 5m to grant Granted Mar 24, 2026
Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

AI Strategy Recommendation

Get an AI-powered prosecution strategy using examiner precedents, rejection analysis, and claim mapping.
Powered by AI — typically takes 5-10 seconds

Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
87%
Grant Probability
99%
With Interview (+14.2%)
2y 9m
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 1205 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allow rate.

Sign in with your work email

Enter your email to receive a magic link. No password needed.

Personal email addresses (Gmail, Yahoo, etc.) are not accepted.

Free tier: 3 strategy analyses per month