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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 7/28/2026 has been entered.
Response to Amendment
This Office Action has been issued in response to RCE filed 7/282026. Claims 1, 8, and 15 have been amended. Claims 1-20 remain pending and are ready for examination.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 7/28/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
With respect to Applicant’s arguments in Page 1 of the Remarks, stating “Claims 1-3, 8-10, 15-17 were rejected over Bains (2019/0129656) and WO 2017/145223, relying on relevant sections of the PE2E English Machine Translation. The rejections are respectfully traversed. Claims 4-7, 11-14, 18-20 were rejected over Bains (2019/0129656), WO 2017/145223, and Okamoto (CN100422920). The rejections are respectfully traversed. The independent claims have been amended to include allowable claimed elements.”
Applicant's arguments do not comply with 37 CFR 1.111(c) because they do not clearly point out the patentable novelty which he or she thinks the claims present in view of the state of the art disclosed by the references cited or the objections made. Further, they do not show how the amendments avoid such references or objections.
Double Patenting
The nonstatutory double patenting rejection is based on a judicially created doctrine grounded in public policy (a policy reflected in the statute) so as to prevent the unjustified or improper timewise extension of the “right to exclude” granted by a patent and to prevent possible harassment by multiple assignees. A nonstatutory double patenting rejection is appropriate where the conflicting claims are not identical, but at least one examined application claim is not patentably distinct from the reference claim(s) because the examined application claim is either anticipated by, or would have been obvious over, the reference claim(s). See, e.g., In re Berg, 140 F.3d 1428, 46 USPQ2d 1226 (Fed. Cir. 1998); In re Goodman, 11 F.3d 1046, 29 USPQ2d 2010 (Fed. Cir. 1993); In re Longi, 759 F.2d 887, 225 USPQ 645 (Fed. Cir. 1985); In re Van Ornum, 686 F.2d 937, 214 USPQ 761 (CCPA 1982); In re Vogel, 422 F.2d 438, 164 USPQ 619 (CCPA 1970); In re Thorington, 418 F.2d 528, 163 USPQ 644 (CCPA 1969).
A timely filed terminal disclaimer in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(c) or 1.321(d) may be used to overcome an actual or provisional rejection based on nonstatutory double patenting provided the reference application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with the examined application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement. See MPEP § 717.02 for applications subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA as explained in MPEP § 2159. See MPEP § 2146 et seq. for applications not subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . A terminal disclaimer must be signed in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(b).
The filing of a terminal disclaimer by itself is not a complete reply to a nonstatutory double patenting (NSDP) rejection. A complete reply requires that the terminal disclaimer be accompanied by a reply requesting reconsideration of the prior Office action. Even where the NSDP rejection is provisional the reply must be complete. See MPEP § 804, subsection I.B.1. For a reply to a non-final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.111(a). For a reply to final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.113(c). A request for reconsideration while not provided for in 37 CFR 1.113(c) may be filed after final for consideration. See MPEP §§ 706.07(e) and 714.13.
The USPTO Internet website contains terminal disclaimer forms which may be used. Please visit www.uspto.gov/patent/patents-forms. The actual filing date of the application in which the form is filed determines what form (e.g., PTO/SB/25, PTO/SB/26, PTO/AIA /25, or PTO/AIA /26) should be used. A web-based eTerminal Disclaimer may be filled out completely online using web-screens. An eTerminal Disclaimer that meets all requirements is auto-processed and approved immediately upon submission. For more information about eTerminal Disclaimers, refer to www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/applying-online/eterminal-disclaimer.
Claims 1-20 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1-20 of U.S. Patent No. 11,074,007 in view of Bains (US Pub. 2019/0129656).
Instant Application: 18/624,796
Patent: 11,074,007
Claim 1. A method, comprising:
maintaining a count representative of an amount of available capacity of a buffer in a memory sub-system;
sending a write command to the memory sub-system to store data, wherein the data is to be queued in the buffer in the memory sub-system prior to execution of the write command in the memory sub-system;
updating the count by deducting, from the amount of available capacity of the buffer, an amount of buffer capacity used by the data to be queued in the buffer for the execution of the write command in the memory sub-system; and
controlling sending write commands to the memory sub-system based on the count.
Claim 11. A method, comprising:
storing, in a host system coupled to a memory sub-system via a communication channel, information identifying an amount of available capacity of a buffer of the memory sub-system;
transmitting, through the communication channel to the memory sub-system, one or more write commands to store data in memory components of the memory sub-system, wherein the memory sub-system queues the one or more write commands in the buffer;
updating the information by deducting, from the amount of available capacity, an amount of buffer capacity used by the one or more write commands to calculate a current amount of available capacity of the buffer;
controlling generation of an information request to the memory sub-system based at least in part on a time interval and the current amount of available capacity; and postponing the generation of the information request until elapsed time from a previous communication between the host system and the memory sub-system is longer than the time interval, and the current amount of available capacity is less than a threshold.
Claims 1-20 of 11,074,007 teach the limitations of Instant Claim 1 except controlling sending write commands to the memory sub-system based on the count. However, Bains teaches controlling sending write commands to the memory sub-system based on the count (Bains [0031] when WC counter reaches a value of 0, memory controller may be configured to stop or prevent any further XWRITE or PWRITE command being issued. See also Bains [0024] using WC to track and limit the number of outstanding write commands which may be issued to the NVM.)
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine the teachings of Instant Claim 1 with those of Bain to recite controlling sending write commands to the memory sub-system based on the count in order to prevent buffer overflow.
Claims 1-20 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1-20 claims 1-21 of U.S. Patent No. 11,983,435 in view of Bains (US Pub. 2019/0129656).
Instant Application: 18/624,796
Patent: 11,983,435
Claim 1. A method, comprising:
maintaining a count representative of an amount of available capacity of a buffer in a memory sub-system;
sending a write command to the memory sub-system to store data, wherein the data is to be queued in the buffer in the memory sub-system prior to execution of the write command in the memory sub-system;
updating the count by deducting, from the amount of available capacity of the buffer, an amount of buffer capacity used by the data to be queued in the buffer for the execution of the write command in the memory sub-system; and
controlling sending write commands to the memory sub-system based on the count.
Claim 12. A method, comprising:
storing, in a host system coupled to a memory sub-system via a communication channel, information identifying an amount of available capacity of a buffer of the memory sub-system;
transmitting, through the communication channel to the memory sub-system, one or more write commands to store data in memory components of the memory sub-system; and
updating the information by deducting, from the amount of available capacity, an amount of buffer capacity used by the one or more write commands.
Claims 1-20 of 11,983,435 teach the limitations of Instant Claim 1 except controlling sending write commands to the memory sub-system based on the count. However, Bains teaches controlling sending write commands to the memory sub-system based on the count (Bains [0031] when WC counter reaches a value of 0, memory controller may be configured to stop or prevent any further XWRITE or PWRITE command being issued. See also Bains [0024] using WC to track and limit the number of outstanding write commands which may be issued to the NVM.)
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine the teachings of Instant Claim 1 with those of Bain to recite controlling sending write commands to the memory sub-system based on the count in order to prevent buffer overflow.
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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-3, 8-10, and 15-17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Bains (US Pub. 2019/0129656).
Regarding claim 1, Bains discloses a method, comprising:
maintaining a count representative of an amount of available capacity of a buffer in a memory sub-system (Bains [0036] discloses maintaining a total write buffer space available in a write buffer);
sending a write command to the memory sub-system to store data (Bains [0002] discloses write operations directed to non-volatile memory. Bains [0027] write data for write operations received from host to be written to NVM.)
wherein the data is to be queued in the buffer in the memory sub-system prior to execution of the write command in the memory sub-system (Bains [0027] discloses write data for write operations received from host to be written to NVM may be temporarily stored in the write buffer before the write data is transferred to VNM);
updating the count by deducting, from the amount of available capacity of the buffer, an amount of buffer capacity used by the data to be queued in the buffer, for the execution of the write command in the memory subsystem (Bains [0029] wherein the information in WC counter is updated by increasing or decreasing the count in WC counter as the available write buffer space changes. [0029] Upon initialization, host 120 may be configured to query memory system 130 to determine the available write buffer space and use this information to preset WC counter 124 to reflect the available write buffer space (e.g., the number oflines ( or blocks) available in write buffer 134 may be converted to a proportional number which may be tracked by presetting WC counter 124 to the proportional number) and correspondingly increasing or decreasing the count in WC counter 124 as the available write buffer space changes, and wherein the changes in the available write buffer space may be tracked as follows. [0031] Upon obtaining the available write buffer space in the above-described manner, host 120, or specifically, memory controller 122 may be configured to set or preset WC counter 124 with the corresponding value. Subsequently upon each XWRITE or PWRITE command being issued to memory system 130, memory controller 122 may be configured to decrement WC counter 124 in correspondence (e.g., by "1"). When WC counter 124 reaches a value of"0", memory controller 122 may be configured to stop or prevent any further XWRITE or PWRITE command being issued on CA 114 from host 120 to memory system 130.)
and controlling sending write commands to the memory sub-system based on the count (Bains [0031] when WC counter reaches a value of 0, memory controller may be configured to stop or prevent any further XWRITE or PWRITE command being issued. See also Bains [0024] using WC to track and limit the number of outstanding write commands which may be issued to the NVM.)
Regarding claim 2, Bains discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the sending of the write command is in response to a determination that the amount of available capacity of the buffer as represented by the count is sufficient for queuing the data to be stored via the execution of the write command (Bains [0036], [0029]: preventing further write request if there is no available buffer space; generate the information request based at least in part on a time interval wherein the WC counter can be updated periodically].
Regarding claim 3, Bains discloses the method of claim 2, further comprising: sending an information request to the memory sub-system based at least in part on the amount of available capacity of the buffer as represented by the count and receiving, from the memory sub-system, a response to the information request (Bains [0029]: wherein the information in WC counter is updated by increasing or decreasing the count in WC counter as the available write buffer space changes. Bains [0030] discloses reading the available write buffer space using a command such as READ_STATUS command. Bains [0032] providing incremental write credit feedback to the host.)
Regarding claims 8 and 15, the rationale in the rejection of claim 1 is herein incorporated. Bains further discloses an apparatus, comprising: a host system [FIG. 3]; a memory sub-system having a buffer [FIG. 14, 15]; a plurality of buses connected between the host system and the memory sub-system, the plurality of buses including: a command bus [FIG. 4]; a data bus [FIG. 1]; a transaction bus [FIG. 1]; and a metadata bus [FIG. 1].
Regarding claims 9 and 16, the rationale in the rejection of claim 2 is herein incorporated.
Regarding claims 10 and 17, the rationale in the rejection of claim 3 is herein incorporated.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
Claim(s) 4-7, 11-14, and 18-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bains (US Pub. 2019/0129656), in view of OKAMOTO (US 20050069292).
Regarding claim 4, Bains discloses the method of claim 3, but does not explicitly disclose wherein the sending of the information request is in response to a determination that the amount of available capacity of the buffer as represented by the count is lower than a threshold.
Okamoto, however, discloses wherein the sending of the information request is in response to a determination that the amount of available capacity of the buffer as represented by the count is lower than a threshold [Okamoto [0381]: if the buffer data in the storage falls below the lower limit, if the determination process that data storage capacity in the buffer falls below the lower limit reference value, reading the record data from the buffer to pause writing data to hard disk so as to calculate the data amount from the current data storage capacity].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, at the time of invention, to have postpone generation of the information request until the current amount of available capacity is less than a threshold in order to calculate the data amount from the current data storage capacity (English Translation).
Regarding claim 5, Bains discloses the method of claim 4, wherein the sending of the information request is further in response to a determination that the memory sub-system has no pending read command [Bains [0036], [0029]: preventing further write request if there is no available buffer space; generate the information request based at least in part on a time interval wherein the WC counter can be updated periodically].
Regarding claim 6, Okamoto discloses the method of claim 5, wherein the sending of the information request is further in response to a determination that a time period from a prior communication from the memory sub-system about available capacity of the buffer is longer than a threshold time period [Okamoto: if the buffer data in the storage falls below the lower limit, if the determination process that data storage capacity in the buffer falls below the lower limit reference value, reading the record data from the buffer to pause writing data to hard disk so as to calculate the data amount from the current data storage capacity].
Regarding claim 7, Bains discloses the method of claim 5, wherein the response from the memory sub-system identifies available capacity of the buffer as determined by the memory sub-system in response to the information request (Bains [0036] as discussed.).
Regarding claims 11 and 18, the rationale in the rejection of claim 4 is herein incorporated.
Regarding claims 12 and 19, the rationale in the rejection of claim 5 is herein incorporated.
Regarding claims 13 and 20, the rationale in the rejection of claim 6 is herein incorporated.
Regarding claim 14, the rationale in the rejection of claim 7 is herein incorporated.
Conclusion
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ROCIO DEL MAR PEREZ-VELEZ
Supervisory Patent Examiner
Art Unit 2133
/ROCIO DEL MAR PEREZ-VELEZ/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2133
