Prosecution Insights
Last updated: April 18, 2026
Application No. 18/735,239

METHOD, APPARATUS AND A NON-TRANSITORY MACHINE-READABLE STORAGE MEDIUM INCLUDING FIRMWARE FOR A CXL MEMORY DEVICE

Final Rejection §112
Filed
Jun 06, 2024
Examiner
ABRAHAM, ESAW T
Art Unit
2112
Tech Center
2100 — Computer Architecture & Software
Assignee
Intel Corporation
OA Round
2 (Final)
94%
Grant Probability
Favorable
3-4
OA Rounds
2y 4m
To Grant
97%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 94% — above average
94%
Career Allow Rate
1008 granted / 1071 resolved
+39.1% vs TC avg
Minimal +3% lift
Without
With
+3.2%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 4m
Avg Prosecution
26 currently pending
Career history
1097
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
18.6%
-21.4% vs TC avg
§103
10.4%
-29.6% vs TC avg
§102
14.7%
-25.3% vs TC avg
§112
34.7%
-5.3% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 1071 resolved cases

Office Action

§112
DETAILED ACTION This action is responsive to the Applicant's amendments filed on 01/20/2026. Claims 1, 2, 4, 8, 12, 15-17, 19, and 20 are amended and claims 3 and 18 are cancelled. Claims 1, 2, 4-17, 19, and 20 remain pending in the application. Response to Arguments Applicant's arguments filed 01/20/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Applicant's arguments are summarized below: Applicant submits that claims 1-20 are patent eligible under 35 U.S.C. 101. Applicant requests the withdrawal of 112(b) rejection in light of the amendment. Applicant requests to the withdrawal of 102 rejection in light of the argument/amendment. The Examiner respectfully disagrees with B. The rejection of claims 1-20 under 35 U.S.C. § 101 is withdrawn in view of applicant's amendments. The rejection of claims 1-20 under 35 U.S.C. § 112, second paragraph, is maintained. "See the rejection explained in detail below." Applicant's arguments, with respect to the rejections under 35 U.S.C. 102 (a) (2) havebeen fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. 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 1,2, 4-17, 19 and 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 pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention. Claim 1 recites the limitation “obtaining information about a detected memory error in a memory device, the memory device being connected to a first host via a compute express link (CXL) interface, wherein the first host communicates with the memory device based on a data object exchange (DOE) interface; and recording the memory error information into a firmware of the memory device”. The term “based on” does not narrow the claim because it does not indicate any step performed. Overall, the claim appears to have many missing elements among the limitations stated. There isn't a complete thought process or flow throughout the claim. Essential elements appear to be missing from the claims that are necessary to make the claim complete and clear as a whole. Thus, it is respectfully submitted that the claim language has some issues as described above that needed amends. Further, there is not clear criteria of communication between the first host with the memory device based on a data object exchange (DOE) interface. What specifically does the “data object exchange (DOE) interface”? Is it reporting or injecting errors into the CXL memory device? Furthermore, interconnections between the two interfaces (compute express link (CXL) and the data object exchange (DOE)) and further with the step of recording the memory error information into a firmware of the memory device are extremely confusing and for the most part not detailed or mentioned in the claim. It is difficult to translate the claim and follow what processes are taking place. Independent claims 16 and 20 include similar limitations of independent claim 1 andtherefore are rejected for similar reasons. Dependent claims depend from the base claims and inherently include limitations therein and therefore are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph as well. Conclusion 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 /ESAW T ABRAHAM/ 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 THREF-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. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Esaw T. Abraham whose telephone number is (571) 272-3812. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 8am-4PM. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner'ssupervisor, Albert DeCady can be reached on (571) 272-3819. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is (703) 872-9306. 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). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /ESAW T ABRAHAM/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2112
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Jun 06, 2024
Application Filed
Oct 09, 2024
Response after Non-Final Action
Oct 16, 2025
Non-Final Rejection — §112
Jan 20, 2026
Response Filed
Apr 01, 2026
Final Rejection — §112
Apr 08, 2026
Interview Requested

Precedent Cases

Applications granted by this same examiner with similar technology

Patent 12602287
STORAGE SYSTEM UTILIZING INDEPENDENT ERASURE CODES
2y 5m to grant Granted Apr 14, 2026
Patent 12597949
HAMMING CODE ENCODING AND ARRANGING METHOD AND STORAGE DEVICE DETECTION METHOD
2y 5m to grant Granted Apr 07, 2026
Patent 12591484
TRACKING MEMORY DEFECTS USING A SHARED MEMORY DEFECT LIST
2y 5m to grant Granted Mar 31, 2026
Patent 12592296
BUFFER CIRCUIT WITH ADAPTIVE REPAIR CAPABILITY
2y 5m to grant Granted Mar 31, 2026
Patent 12580590
COLUMN REDUNDANCY CIRCUIT AND MEMORY DEVICE INCLUDING SAME
2y 5m to grant Granted Mar 17, 2026
Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

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Prosecution Projections

3-4
Expected OA Rounds
94%
Grant Probability
97%
With Interview (+3.2%)
2y 4m
Median Time to Grant
Moderate
PTA Risk
Based on 1071 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allow rate.

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