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 .
Response to Amendment
This office action is responsive to communication(s) filed on 2/10/2026.
Information Disclosure Statement (IDS) was considered.
Claims 1-5 and 7-20 are presented for examination.
Applicant's arguments with respect to the remarks have been considered but have not been found persuasive. Therefore, all claims, except claims 7-9 and 18-20, that are still rejected for the same reason as set forth in the previous Office action that are provided below for your convenience
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
4. 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 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.
5. 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)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
6. Claims 1, 5, 10-11 and 16 –17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Shin et al. US Pub. No. 20190333573 (previous cited).
As per claims 1, 10-11, and 17, Fig. 1 of Shin is directed to an apparatus comprising: a terminal (connecting to CA, Fig. 2 or 10, par. 23) configured to receive a controller-identified aggressor address (CA, par. 23) from a controller (200-2, Fig. 10, par. 89), an aggressor detector circuit (16) configured to determine if a sampled row address is an aggressor address (par. 26), wherein the aggressor detector circuit is included in a refresh control circuit (11, par. 30) separate from the controller; an aggressor address storage structure (16) configured to store a plurality of aggressor addresses (HRA1, 2, par. 26) including aggressor addresses identified by the aggressor detector circuit (par. 26) and the controller-identified aggressor address: and a refresh address generator (18, par. 27) configured to provide a refresh address (hra) based on a selected one of the stored plurality of aggressor addresses as part of a targeted refresh operation (REF).
As per claims 5 and 16, Fig. 1 and a paragraph 24 of Shin disclose further comprising a row controller (12) configured to refresh at least one word line associated with the refresh address as part of the targeted refresh operation.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
7. The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
(a) A patent may not be obtained though the invention is not identically disclosed or described as set forth in section 102 of this title, if the differences between the subject matter sought to be patented and the prior art are such that the subject matter as a whole would have been obvious at the time the invention was made to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which said subject matter pertains. Patentability shall not be negatived by the manner in which the invention was made.
8. Claim 2-4 and 12-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as being unpatentable over Shin et al. US Pub. No. 20190333573 in view of Wu et al. US Pub. No. 20210057021.
Shin fails to disclose the limitations in claim 2. However, Fig. 2, paragraphs 15 and 54 and the abstract of Wu discloses the limitations of the claim 2 further comprising a prioritization control logic (236) configured to determine the selected one of the stored plurality of aggressor addresses (by a priority flag, abstract, or par. 15). It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time invention was made to modify Shin’s refresh control circuit which utilizes the prioritization control logic as taught by Wu in order to refresh in an order based on the priority flags set (par. 15).
Allowable Subject matter
9. Claims 7-9 and 18-20 are allowed.
10. The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Claims include allowable subject matter since the prior art made of record and considered pertinent to the applicants’ disclosure, taken individually or in combination, does not teach or suggest the claimed invention having wherein the refresh control circuit includes a sample Liming circuit configured to provide a sampling signa! at an active level based on first timing logic of the sample tinting circuit, and wherein the sample timing circuit is configured to provide the sampling signal at the active level based on second timing logic of the controller in claim 7; and further comprising: providing a sample timing signal at an active level based on first timing logic of a sample timing circuit; and providing the sample timing signal at the active level based on second timing logic of the controller in claim 18; and a combination of other limitations thereof as recited in claims.
Response to Arguments
11. Applicant argues, “Amended claim 1 is allowable at least because the Office cannot show that the references disclose both "a controller-identified aggressor address from a controller" and "an aggressor detector circuit configured to determine if a sampled row address is an aggressor address, wherein the aggressor detector circuit is included in a refresh control circuit separate from the controller.” The examiner respectfully disagrees with this statement, because Fig. 10 discloses a controller-identified aggressor address (CA) from a controller (200-2) and wherein the aggressor detector circuit (16, Fig. 1) is included in a refresh control circuit (11, Fig. 1) separate from the controller (200-2, Fig. 10).
For the above reasons, it is believed that the rejections should be sustained. Feature of an invention not found in the claims can be given no patentable weight in distinguishing the claimed invention over the prior art.
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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 extension fee 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.
12. When responding to the office action, Applicants are advised to provide the examiner with the line numbers and page numbers in the application and/or references cited to assist the examiner to locate the appropriate paragraphs.
13. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Hoai V. Ho whose telephone number is (571) 272-1777. The examiner can normally be reached 7:00 AM -- 5:30 PM from Monday through Thursday.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Amir Zarabian can be reached on (571) 272-1852. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is (571)-273-8300.
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/HOAI V HO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2827