DETAILED ACTION
This is in response to the application filed on August 12, 2024 in which claims 1 – 20 are presented for examination.
Status of Claims
Claims 1 – 20 are pending, of which claims 1, 10, and 17 are in independent form.
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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on 8/12/2024 and 3/7/2025 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claims 1 – 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention. Independent claims 1 and 17 describe an interface configured to select a request and independent claim 10 describes an interface determining whether a second set of stream circuitry has provided a memory request. However, applicant’s specification and drawings show 'interfaces' 2733/2734 that don't select or determine. The arbiters 2731/2732 do the selecting and determining. See Figs. 27 and 30 along with Applicant's Abstract and [0006] "The arbiters permit one stream to borrow the other's interface when the other interface is idle." Claims 2 – 5 also describe an interface configured to select a request and/or an interface configured to select stream circuitry. Applicant’s claim language of an interface configured to select a request and an interface determining whether a second set of stream circuitry has provided a memory request is not described in Applicant’s specification. As above, the arbiters 2731/2732 do the selecting and determining. All other claims inherit this rejection based on their dependencies.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1 – 20 contain allowable subject matter (if the above issues are corrected).
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for indicating allowable subject matter: The primary reason for the indication of allowability of the claims in this application is the inclusion of the specific details of a first set of stream circuitry and a second set of stream circuitry, both the first set of stream circuitry and the second set of stream circuitry connecting to a memory via both the first and second interface, the second set of stream circuitry providing a first and second memory request by the first and second interface, selecting [via an arbiter] a memory request from the first and second memory requests based on a number of credits of the second interface, and accessing the memory based on the selected memory request, as are now included in independent claim 1, in combination with the other elements recited, which is not found in the prior art of record.
The primary reason for the indication of allowability of the claims in this application is the inclusion of the specific details of a first set of stream circuitry and a second set of stream circuitry, the first set of stream circuitry connecting to a memory via both the first and second interface, the first set of stream circuitry providing a first and second memory request by the first and second interface, determining [via an arbiter] whether a second set of stream circuitry has provided a memory request, if the second set of stream circuitry has not provided a memory request, selecting a memory request from the first and second memory requests based on a credit count of the second interface, and accessing the memory based on the selected memory request using the first interface, as are now included in independent claim 10, in combination with the other elements recited, which is not found in the prior art of record.
The primary reason for the indication of allowability of the claims in this application is the inclusion of the specific details of a first set of stream circuitry and a second set of stream circuitry, both the first set of stream circuitry and the second set of stream circuitry connecting to a cache memory via both the first and second interface, the second set of stream circuitry providing a first and second memory request by the first and second interface based on a stream open instruction, selecting [via an arbiter] a memory request from the first and second memory requests based on a number of credits of the second interface, and accessing the cache memory based on the selected memory request, as are now included in independent claim 17, in combination with the other elements recited, which is not found in the prior art of record.
Any comments considered necessary by applicant must be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee. Such submissions should be clearly labeled “Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance.”
Prior art teaches memory/cache with multiple ports for accessing the memory (for example the NPL to Loi from Applicant’s IDS and the WIPO Publication WO 2011/149482). Other art teaches multiple links connecting to a cache and credits/tokens for selecting next memory access (for example U.S. 20200410323, U.S. 20180157606, and U.S. Patent 10802974). However, neither of these documents is prior to Applicant’s priority date. Further, no art teaches the full combined citations of limitations in the above ‘Allowable Subject Matter’ section.
Again, the examiner recommends amending the claims to include the arbiters, which accomplish the determining and selecting steps.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
U.S. Patent Applications 20200410323 and 20180157606 along with Patent 11037050 teach multiple links connecting to a cache and credits/tokens for selecting next memory access.
U.S. Patent 10802974 teaches an arbiter for receiving memory access requests and selecting between the memory requests based on credits.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to STEVEN G SNYDER whose telephone number is (571)270-1971. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 8:00am-4:30pm (flexible).
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/STEVEN G SNYDER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2184