DETAILED ACTION
The current Office Action is in response to the papers submitted 05/28/2026. Claims 1 – 4 and 6 - 20 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 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 1 – 4 and 6 - 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.
Claim 1 recites the limitation “writing the written data to the flash memory” in line 9. The written data is first disclosed in lines 5 – 6 where the claim defines the written as “the written data being input data received by the storage apparatus”. This makes it unclear if the written data is actually data that is written to memory or just data that is received by the storage apparatus. Writing the written data to the flash memory in line 9 indicates the written data is not actually written until the writing process. That is to say is the writing in line 9 re-writing data that is already written since the writing writes written data or is it writing the input data that is received by the storage apparatus.
This also puts into question the meaning of written data being input data received by the storage apparatus. Does receiving the input data write the input data into the storage apparatus and that is why the received input data is considered written data. This puts into question when the written data is actually written to memory making it written data. For these reasons the limitations of the written data and the receiving step are indefinite making the claim indefinite.
Claims 10 and 18 contain similar language rejected in claim 1 above and are rejected based on the same reasoning as claim 1.
All remaining claims are rejected for being dependent on a rejected base claim.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1 – 4 and 6 - 20 would be allowable if rewritten or amended to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action.
Response to Arguments
The applicant indicates claims 4, 7, 13 – 14, and 17 are amended while claims 5 and 21 are cancelled. The examiner acknowledges the amendments and cancellation of the claims. After further consideration of the claim limitations additional 112 rejections have been identified as indicated in the rejections above.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHRISTOPHER D BIRKHIMER whose telephone number is (571)270-1178. The examiner can normally be reached 8-5 Hoteling.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Tim Vo can be reached at 571-272-3642. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Christopher D Birkhimer/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2138
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