DETAILED ACTION
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 .
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 – 14 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.
Claim 1, 3, and 8 – 14 include language considered to be Product and Process in the same claim. A single claim which claims both an apparatus and the method steps of using the apparatus is indefinite under 35 USC 112(b). See MPEP section 2173.05(p), II.
Presently, claim 1 is drawn to a system, comprising a set of memory components and at least one processing device. The claim also includes methods steps of “identifying…”, “determining…”, “determining…”, and “generating…”. The LANGUAGE of the operation steps that the processing device performs is considered method steps language.
Applicant is suggested to amend the claims (as example in claim 1) to include language as follow,
… the at least one processing device being configured to:
identify a region…;
determine that …;
determine that …;
generate a virtual block….
Similarly, claims 3 and 8 – 14 also need to be amended.
Claims 2 and 4 – 7 are also rejected for being dependent to rejected claim 1.
Appropriate corrections/revisions are required in order to overcome this type of rejection.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 15 – 20 are allowed.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
The prior arts of record fail to teach or reasonably suggest a method comprising, in combination:
identifying a region of a set of memory components, the region comprising a plurality of planes across a plurality of decks of the set of memory components;
determining that a first memory block within a first deck of the plurality of decks of the region associated with a first plane of the plurality of planes is a first partial good block (PGB), the first PGB including a first portion categorized as being defective and a second portion categorized as being non-defective;
determining that a second memory block within the region associated with a second plane of the plurality of planes is a full block (FB), the FB being categorized as non-defective; and
generating a virtual block using the first PGB of the first memory block associated with the first plane and a portion of the FB of the second memory block associated with the second plane.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
See additional cited references for related disclosures to the claimed invention.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LY D PHAM whose telephone number is (571)272-1793. The examiner can normally be reached M-F: 8am-5pm.
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, Amir Zarabian can be reached at 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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LY D. PHAM
Examiner
Art Unit 2827
/LY D PHAM/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2827 February 18, 2026
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