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 .
Detailed Action
This office action is response to the application 18/767,843 filed on 07/09/2024. Claims 1-20 are pending in this communication.
Allowable subject matter
Claims 1-20 are allowable if the applicant overcomes the double patenting rejection.
Double Patenting
The non-statutory obviousness type double patenting (ODP) rejection is based on a judicially created doctrine grounded in public policy (a policy reflected in the statute) so as to prevent the unjustified or improper time wise extension of the “right to exclude” granted by a patent and to prevent possible harassment by multiple assignees. A non-statutory obviousness-type double patenting rejection is appropriate where the conflicting claims are not identical, but at least one examined application claim is not patentably distinct from the reference claim(s) because the examined application claim is either anticipated by, or would have been obvious over, the reference claim(s). See, e.g., In re Berg, 140 F.3d 1428, 46 USPQ2d 1226 (Fed. Cir. 1998); In re Goodman, 11 F.3d 1046, 29 USPQ2d 2010 (Fed. Cir. 1993); In re Longi, 759 F.2d 887, 225 USPQ 645 (Fed. Cir. 1985); In re Van Ornum, 686 F.2d 937, 214 USPQ 761 (CCPA 1982); In re Vogel, 422 F.2d 438, 164 USPQ 619 (CCPA 1970); and In re Thorington, 418 F.2d 528, 163 USPQ 644 (CCPA 1969).
A timely filed terminal disclaimer in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(c) or 1.321(d) may be used to overcome an actual or provisional rejection based on a non-statutory double patenting ground provided the reference application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with this application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement. A terminal disclaimer must be signed in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(b).
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The following table shows anticipated respective claims of the instant application against the claims of US Patent No. US 12,068,038.
Table 1
Instant Application
Patent US 12,068,038
1. A method of evaluating a physical unclonable function (PUP) generator, the method comprising: generating a first physical unclonable function (PUP) output from a plurality of bit cells in a PUP cell array under a first set of operation conditions;
storing the first PUP output in a memory;
comparing the first PUP output stored in the memory with a PUP output previously stored in the memory to identify at least one unstable first bit cell in the plurality of bit cells;
generating a first masking map that comprises an address of the at least one unstable first
bit cell;
generating a second PUP output from the plurality of bit cells in the PUP cell array under
a second set of operation conditions different than the first set of operation conditions;
storing the second PUP output in the memory;
comparing the second PUP output with the PUP output previously stored in the memory
to identify at least one unstable second bit cell in the plurality of bit cells;
generating a second masking map that comprises an address of the at least one unstable second bit cell; and
comparing the first masking map to the second masking map to generate a third map that identifies a first set bit sells that are stable in both the first and second operation conditions, a second set of bit sells that are stable in the first operation condition but unstable in the second operation condition, and a third set of bit sells that are unstable in the first operation condition but stable in the second operation condition.
1. A method comprising:
verifying a functionality of a physical unclonable function (PUF) generator by writing preconfigured logical states to and reading output logical states from a plurality of bit cells in a PUF cell array;
determining a first number of first bit cells in the PUF cell array, wherein the output logical states of the first bit cells are different from the preconfigured logical states;
generating a first map under a first set of operation conditions using the PUF generator and a masking circuit;
generating a second map under a second set of operation conditions, different from the first set of operation conditions, using the PUF generator and the masking circuit;
determining a second number of second bit cells, wherein the second bit cells are stable in the first map and unstable in the second map;
when the second number of second bit cells is determined to be zero, determining a third number of third bit cells, wherein the third bit cells are stable in the first map and
stable in the second map; and
when the third number of third bit cells are greater than a second preconfigured number, the PUF generator is determined as a qualified PUF generator that meets a predefined quality criterion.
Independent claims 1, 8 and 14 are rephrased of claims 1, 8 and 15, respectively of Patent US 12,068,038.
Claims 1, 8 & 14 are rejected in view of US 12,068,038 and further in view of TRIMBERGER; Stephen M. (US 9,584,329 B1).
TRIMBERGER discloses “comparing the first masking map to the second masking map to generate a third map that identifies a first set bit sells that are stable in both the first and second operation conditions, a second set of bit sells that are stable in the first operation condition but unstable in the second operation condition” {[ABSTRACT], “Approaches for using a physically unclonable function (PUF) are described. A selector map is used to indicate stable and unstable bits in a PUF value that is generated by a PUF circuit. The stable bits of the PUF value generated by the PUF circuit may be selected for use by an application, and the unstable bits ignored”}.
It is well settled that broadening the scope of claims would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art in view of the narrower issued claims. In re Van Ornum, 686 F.2d 937, 214 USPQ 761 (CCPA 1982) and In re Goodman, 11 F.3d 1046, 29 USPQ2d 2010 (Fed. Cir. 1993). Therefore claim 1 of US Patent US 12,068,038 anticipate claims 1, 8 & 14 of the instant application.
Claims 1-20 are provisionally rejected on the ground of nonstatutory obviousness-type double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1, 8 & 15 of the Patent US 12,068,038 in view of prior art TRIMBERGER. Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other over Patent US 12,068,038 in view of TRIMBERGER.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the invention of claims 1, 8 & 15 of the US 12,068,038 to include TRIMBERGER inventions to obtain predictable results. The motivation is -
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to QUAZI FAROOQUI whose telephone number is (571) 270-1034 or Quazi.farooqui@uspto.gov. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday 9:00 am to 5:30 pm, EST. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Bill Korzuch can be reached on (571) -272-7589 or William.Korzuch@USPTO.GOV. The fax phone number for Examiner Farooqui assigned is 571-270-2034.
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/QUAZI FAROOQUI/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2491