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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant's election with traverse of claims 1-20 in the reply filed on February 17, 2026 is acknowledged. The traversal is on the ground(s) that Applicants submit that the search and examination of all the claims may be made without serious burden. This is found persuasive and the restriction is withdrawn.
Specification
The title of the invention is not descriptive. A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed.
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.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 19 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, 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.
Referring to claim 19, the claim as written, recites, a system-on-chip “configured to transmit a training pattern to the DRAM device” and then “the processing circuitry further configured to determine whether a state of connection to the DRAM device is poor, based on a training pattern received from the DRAM device and the training pattern stored in the system-on-chip, during a connection state checking operation”. It’s not clear if each instance of the claimed “a training pattern” recited in line 3 should be interpreted as the same “a training pattern” in line 7 or different.
Allowable Subject Matter
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: Regarding claims 1-18, the prior art of record has not taught, either individually or in combination, and together with all other claimed features: a storage device comprising a first chip and a second chip are configured to align a plurality of data signals using a training command during a training operation, and the first chip and the second chip are configured to check whether a connection state between first data input/output pins of the first chip and second data input/output pins of the second chip is poor, by utilizing the training command, during a connection state checking operation; or setting a frequency of a clock signal transmitted from the first chip to the second chip, to be lower than a frequency in a training operation; determining a connection relationship between the first chip and the second chip based on a training pattern stored in the first chip and the training pattern transmitted from the second chip, wherein the training command and the training pattern stored in the first chip are a command and a pattern used for the training operation, respectively.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Justin Knapp whose telephone number is (571)270-3008. The examiner can normally be reached 8:00 am - 4:30 pm (ET).
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Justin R. Knapp
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2112
/JUSTIN R KNAPP/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2112
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