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
1. This office action is responsive to communication(s) filed on .
2. Claims 1-8, 15, 17-23 and 26-27 are presented for examination.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. Claims 22-23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Kondo US Pub. No. 20230084863 (previous cited).
As per claim 22, Fig. 3 and a paragraph 53 of Kondo are directed to a device comprising: multi-pillar memory cells (MPs, par. 53); and a bitline (BL, par. 53) configured to access the multi-pillar memory cells.
As per claim 23, Fig. 3 or 5 of Kondo discloses wherein the bitline includes bitline segments (between MPs) that are electrically connected.
Allowable Subject matter
6. Claims 1-8, 15 and 17-21 are allowed.
Claims 26-27 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
7. The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: See the arguments in Applicant’s remark for these allowed claims.
Response to Arguments
8. Applicants’ arguments have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant argues, “[e]ach memory cell includes a respective first transistor from the first pillar and a respective second transistor from the second pillar a single memory cell formed from transistors of multiple pillars.” The examiner respectfully disagrees with this statement, because this limitation is not recited in the claimed invention.
For the above reasons, it is believed that the rejections of claims 22-23 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.
9. 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.
10. 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 Thursday and Friday of the first week of a bi-week and Tuesday and Wednesday of the second week.
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.
Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free).
/HOAI V HO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2827
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