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 § 103
1. 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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
2. Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ahmed et al. (Pub. No. US20060050726) in view of Hopgood et al. (Pub. No. US20130067127)
As per claim 1, Ahmed discloses a method implemented by a second device (fig.1, Node B 104), wherein the method comprises:
establishing, through a high-speed interface (paragraph 76, line 3, Fibre Channel interface) in a first device (fig.1, Node A 102), a communication link (fig.1, transmission medium or links 105) between the first device and the second device;
detecting, that the communication link is idle (paragraph 71-72, periodically monitors the quality of signals, link between devices is idle); and
performing, based on detecting that the communication link is idle, a transmitter (fig.1, transmitter 102T) equalization parameter evaluation process of the high-speed interface. (paragraph 72, periodic readjustments of the Node A transmitter equalization parameters may be carried out during periods of time for which the serial data link between Node A and Node B is otherwise idle.)
Ahmed discloses all the limitations as the above but does not explicitly disclose “wherein the method further comprises: continuing the transmitter equalization parameter evaluation process when the communication link remains idle; and exiting the transmitter equalization parameter evaluation process when detecting that the communication link will not be idle. However, Hopgood discloses this, (paragraph 25, During initial boot sequence, the computer system will not be affected when the PCIe link is idle during the equalization training. Furthermore, at paragraph 27, Hopgood discloses burst link training that allows equalization training to be interleaved with lower speed data transactions, such that the desired PCIe link equalization training at the desired speed (e.g. PCIe Gen3) can be periodically performed for a predetermined period of time followed by the PCIe link transitioning back to a lower speed to allow queued traffic (e.g. data transactions))
It would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention was made to consider the teachings of Hopgood with the teaching of Ahmed so as to yield the predicatable result so as to control efficiently, thus enhance the system performance.
As per claim 11, Ahmed discloses a computing device, comprising:
a non-transitory memory storage (paragraph 75, stored in memory) configured to store instructions; and
a processor (paragraph 75, stored in memory and run on a processor) in communication with the non-transitory memory storage, and configured to execute the instructions to cause the computing device to: establish, through a high-speed interface (paragraph 76, line 3, Fibre Channel interface) in a first device (fig.1, Node A 102), a communication link (fig.1, transmission medium or links 105) between the first device and the computing device;
detect that communication link is idle (paragraph 71-72, periodically monitors the quality of signals, link between devices is idle); and
perform, based on detecting that the communication link is idle, a transmitter (fig.1, transmitter 102T) equalization parameter evaluation process of the high-speed interface (paragraph 72, periodic readjustments of the Node A transmitter equalization parameters may be carried out during periods of time for which the serial data link between Node A and Node B is otherwise idle.)
Ahmed discloses all the limitations as the above but does not explicitly disclose “continuing the transmitter equalization parameter evaluation process when the communication link remains idle; and exiting the transmitter equalization parameter evaluation process when detecting that the communication link will not be idle. However, Hopgood discloses this, (paragraph 25, During initial boot sequence, the computer system will not be affected when the PCIe link is idle during the equalization training. Furthermore, at paragraph 27, Hopgood discloses burst link training that allows equalization training to be interleaved with lower speed data transactions, such that the desired PCIe link equalization training at the desired speed (e.g. PCIe Gen3) can be periodically performed for a predetermined period of time followed by the PCIe link transitioning back to a lower speed to allow queued traffic (e.g. data transactions))
It would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention was made to consider the teachings of Hopgood with the teaching of Ahmed so as to yield the predicatable result so as to control efficiently, thus enhance the system performance.
As per claim 12, Ahmed discloses a computer program product comprising computer-executable instructions that are stored on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium (paragraph 75, stored in memory) and that executed by a processor (paragraph 75, stored in memory and run on a processor), cause a computing device to:
establish, through a high-speed interface in a first device (paragraph 76, line 3, Fibre Channel interface), a communication link between the first device and the computing device;
detect that the communication link is idle (paragraph 71-72, periodically monitors the quality of signals, link between devices is idle); and
perform, based on detecting that the communication link is idle, a transmitter equalization parameter evaluation process of the high-speed interface (paragraph 72, periodic readjustments of the Node A transmitter equalization parameters may be carried out during periods of time for which the serial data link between Node A and Node B is otherwise idle.)
Ahmed discloses all the limitations as the above but does not explicitly disclose “continuing the transmitter equalization parameter evaluation process when the communication link remains idle; and exiting the transmitter equalization parameter evaluation process when detecting that the communication link will not be idle. However, Hopgood discloses this, (paragraph 25, During initial boot sequence, the computer system will not be affected when the PCIe link is idle during the equalization training. Furthermore, at paragraph 27, Hopgood discloses burst link training that allows equalization training to be interleaved with lower speed data transactions, such that the desired PCIe link equalization training at the desired speed (e.g. PCIe Gen3) can be periodically performed for a predetermined period of time followed by the PCIe link transitioning back to a lower speed to allow queued traffic (e.g. data transactions))
It would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention was made to consider the teachings of Hopgood with the teaching of Ahmed so as to yield the predicatable result so as to control efficiently, thus enhance the system performance.
As per claim 2 and 13, Srivastava discloses wherein exiting the transmitter equalization parameter evaluation process when detecting that the communication link will not be idle comprises exiting the transmitter equalization parameter evaluation process when an evaluation exit condition is met, and wherein the evaluation exit condition comprises the second device needs to communicate with the first device (paragraph 53, when the link is idle, the link taken from the L0 state to a standby state L0s, which is accessible only through the L0 state. In PCIe, L0s 408 is a power saving state accessible from L0. In the recovery state, the devices using the link can exchange training sequences to negotiate various link parameters, including for example lane polarity, link/lane numbers, equalization parameters, data rate, and so on.)
As per claims 3 and 14, Ahmed discloses wherein the evaluation exit condition comprises:
the second device needs to communicate with the first device (paragraph 15, the transmitter of the first node configured for communication with the receiver of the second node);
a quantity of evaluated transmitter equalization parameters reaches a threshold (paragraph 17, specifying an adjustment to the equalization parameters for particular one of a plurality of tap coefficients); and/or obtaining a transmitter equalization parameter that passes evaluation process (paragraph 71, based on the signal quality determines whether the transmitter of Node A should modify its equalization parameters.)
As per claims 4, 15, Ahmed discloses wherein that the communication link is idle indicates that no service data is transmitted on the communication link (paragraph 36, provides feedback mechanisms which utilize the link services functions of the existing Fibre Channel standard to communicate equalization messages)
As per claims 5 and 16, Ahmed discloses wherein detecting that the communication link is idle comprises: that the second device does not send first service data or does not receive second service data over the communication link; or in that the second device does not comprise to-be-sent service data (paragraph 55, Basic Accept (BA_ACC) or Basic Reject (BA_RJT) with an option of providing additional information on the current set of coefficient values.)
As per claims 6 and 17, Ahmed discloses wherein performing the transmitter equalization parameter evaluation process comprises: interacting, based on the communication link, with the first device to evaluate one group of transmitter equalization parameters or groups of transmitter equalization parameters. (paragraph 62, a determination is made based on an evaluation of the quality of the received signal as to whether or not equalization adjustment is required.)
As per claims 7 and 18, (Ahmed discloses wherein the groups of transmitter equalization parameters comprise all the-transmitter equalization parameters of the high-speed interface. (paragraph 34, The equalization parameter(s) of the first node transmitter are then adjusted in accordance with the received information)
As per claims 8 and 19, Ahmed discloses the method further comprising:
selecting, based on an evaluation result of the one group of transmitter equalization parameters or the plurality of groups of transmitter equalization parameters (paragraph 34, The equalization parameter(s) of the first node transmitter are then adjusted in accordance with the received information), a selected group of transmitter equalization parameters comprising a transmitter equalization parameter, (paragraph 72, periodic readjustments of the Node A transmitter equalization parameters may be carried out during periods of time for which the serial data link between Node A and Node B is otherwise idle); and
sending, to the first device, the selected group of transmitter equalization parameters, to indicate that the transmitter equalization parameter is available (paragraph 72, periodic readjustments of the Node A transmitter equalization parameters may be carried out during periods of time for which the serial data link between Node A and Node B is otherwise idle.)
As per claims 9 and 20, Ahmed discloses the method further comprising performing the transmitter equalization parameter evaluation process at one or more transmission rates, of data in the communication link (paragraph 20, periodic re-evaluation of signal quality and additional equalization parameter adjustments as needed in the course of normal operation.)
As per claim 10, Ahmed discloses the method further comprising:
sending, to the first device, notification message indicating a transmission rate of the one or more transmission rates (paragraph 60, the transmitter 102T of Node A exchanges information with receiver 104R of Node B relating to speed negotiation, primitives, and other functions); and
further performing, at the transmission rate, the transmitter equalization parameter evaluation process. (paragraph 20, periodic re-evaluation of signal quality and additional equalization parameter adjustments as needed in the course of normal operation.)
Response to Amendment
3. Applicant's amendment filed on 2/2/2026 have been fully considered but are moot in view of the new ground(s) of rejection.
4. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant’s disclosure.
Hopgood [Pub. No. US 20130067127] discloses new parameter combination settings are selected based on the previous parameters settings and results from the first equalization training quantum.
Conclusion
5. Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) 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.
Contact Information
6. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KIM T HUYNH whose telephone number is (571)272-3635 or via e-mail addressed to [kim.huynh3@uspto.gov]. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 7.00AM- 4:00PM. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Tsai Henry can be reached at (571)272-4176 or via e-mail addressed to [Henry.Tsai@USPTO.GOV].
The fax phone numbers for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned are (571)273-8300 for regular communications and After Final communications. Any inquiry of a general nature or relating to the status of this application or proceeding should be directed to the receptionist whose telephone number is (571)272-2100.
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/K. T. H./
Examiner, Art Unit 2184
/HENRY TSAI/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2184