DETAILED ACTION
Claims 1-22 are pending.
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 the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claims 1, 9 and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claims contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
Regarding claims 1 and 13, both recite “[…] wherein the retry response is provided from the hardware accelerator directly to the client application over a data path that bypasses a driver”.
A review of the specification shows support for the following language:
[0003] “[…] where the hardware accelerator is configured to provide the retry response directly to the client application after determining that the hardware accelerator is unable to meet the performance expectation” Similar language in [0007], [0058], [0062], and [0071].
[00027] “[…] As an example, the client applications executing in the user space can directly submit offloaded workloads to the hardware accelerators via data path 174. ”
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[00028] “Commands for performing workloads may be submitted by client applications via data path 174.”
The underlined portion of [0003] was part of the original claim and previously rejected. Applicant directs attention to paragraphs [00021-22] and Figure 1 for support. Paragraphs [00021-22] do not provide support for the amended limitations. Figure 1 shows a bidirectional arrow for data path 174 on the right side, which according to [00027-28] it is used for submitting offloaded workloads.
There is no mention of a data path that bypasses a driver for communicating a retry response. As such, the amended limitation is not supported by the specification as originally filed and constitutes new matter.
Regarding claim 9, it recites “wherein the client application bypasses a driver when accessing the accelerator portal” Similar to claims 1 and 13 above, there is no mention of bypassing a driver when accessing the accelerator portal. Fig. 1 shows the Client Applications N in communication with Accelerator portal 110, then Accelerator drivers N, then Bus Drivers, then Bus system to reach the Accelerators M.
The specification in at least [00027] does recite “Similarly, host OS 120 can directly submit offloaded workloads to the hardware accelerators via data path 172. In one example, the workloads may be submitted using commands that can perform memory mapped I/O operations directly on the hardware accelerators.” When looking at Fig 1 it appears that the Host OS 120 bypasses the Bus Drivers 118. However, the amended claim does not mention accessing a Host OS via the Accelerator Portal to use path 172 and effectively bypass the bus drivers. Accordingly, the amended limitation is not supported by the specification as originally filed and constitutes new matter.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new grounds of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JORGE A CHU JOY-DAVILA whose telephone number is (571)270-0692. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday, 6:00am-5:00pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Aimee J Li can be reached at (571)272-4169. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JORGE A CHU JOY-DAVILA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2195
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