DETAILED ACTION
Claims 1-20 remain pending in the present application.
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application is being examined under the pre-AIA first to invent provisions.
Response to Arguments
Based on the amendment to claims 5 and 14 the 35 U.S.C. § 112 rejections pertaining to the ‘masking circuit’ have been withdrawn.
Applicant's arguments filed 2/28/26 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. As per applicant’s arguments pertaining to the 35 U.S.C. § 112 rejections pertaining to terminology in claim language that is not used in the specification. As applicant has pointed out which items were intended to be representative in the specification, the examiner suggests applicant use the terminology from the specification in the claims.
Examiner respectfully reminds Applicant that claim language should be consistent with Applicant's original disclosure. (see 37 CFR 1.75 (a), (d) (1) The claim or claims must conform to the invention as set forth in the remainder of the specification and the terms and phrases used in the claims must find clear support or antecedent basis in the description so that the meaning of the terms in the claims may be ascertainable by reference to the description).
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 1-20 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.
Examiner respectfully notes that Applicant’s disclosure does not appear to include language which can be readily mapped to the claimed features. For example, the disclosure does not appear to include the terms "compressor" (claims 1, 5, 6, 12, 14, 16 and 19), "first shift register" (claims 1-3, 14 and 15), or "second shift register" (claims 1, 3, 14 and 15).
While it appears that applicant is attempting to claim features of Figure 6 the used terminology is not consistent with the detailed description.
Claims 3, 4, and 15 recite “external interface” also not mentioned in the specification, although there are mentions of an external tester.
Claims 2-13 and 15-20 depend either directly or indirectly on the independent claims 1 and 14 rejected above and as such inherit the 35 U.S.C. 112 issues of the parent claims. Therefore these claims are rejected for the same reasoning. Clarification of the claim language is required in order to perform a proper search and comparison with the prior arts, and to understand the claim language with respect to the present specification.
Conclusion
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 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.
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
US 20070260953 to Armagnat teach decompression means receiving the test input data, and compression means at the output of the tested part (Fig 3-4).
US 7818644 to Rajski et al teaches a compactor architecture (an X-Press compactor architecture) comprising a first test response compactor and a second test response compactor in an embedded deterministic test environment having n scan chains. Compressed test stimuli can be provided to the scan chains via a decompressor through one or more input channels (or input paths). These channels can also be used in conjunction with input channels to deliver mask bits.
US 7487419 to Mukherjee et al. circuit includes a decompressor configured to receive compressed test pattern data on one or more input pins, decompress the compressed test pattern into decompressed test pattern data, and output the decompressed test pattern data to the one or more boundary scan cells and to the one or more internal scan chains of the circuit-under-test. The circuit can also include a compactor configured to receive test response data from the one or more boundary scan cells and from the one or more internal scan chains of the circuit-under-test, compress the test response data into compacted test response data, and output the compacted test response data on one or more output pins.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CYNTHIA H BRITT whose telephone number is (571)272-3815. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Thursday 8-5.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Mark Featherstone can be reached at (571)270-3750. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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CYNTHIA H. BRITT
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2111
/CYNTHIA BRITT/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2111
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