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 .
Response to Amendment
Applicant’s response filed on 07/27/2026 in which claims 1, 3-4, 9, 16 were amended, claims 2, 10, 18 were canceled, and claims 21-22 are added has been entered of record.
Election/Restrictions
Newly submitted claim 22 directed to an invention that is independent or distinct from the invention originally claimed for the following reasons: Claim 22 is independent and comprises distinguished limitations of “subsequent to transmitting the indication of the glitch attack to the at least one of the plurality of processing units in addition to the processing unit to which the one of the plurality of glitch detectors corresponds, transmitting, via the at least one processing unit in addition to the processing unit to which the one of the plurality of glitch detectors corresponds, a glitch attack confirmation signal; and wherein the method includes, responsive to detecting the indication of the glitch attack, updating a status register, wherein the status register comprises a plurality of bits corresponding to respective statuses of the plurality of glitch detectors.”
Since applicant has received an action on the merits for the originally presented invention, this invention has been constructively elected by original presentation for prosecution on the merits. Accordingly, claim 22 is withdrawn from consideration as being directed to a non-elected invention. See 37 CFR 1.142(b) and MPEP § 821.03.
To preserve a right to petition, the reply to this action must distinctly and specifically point out supposed errors in the restriction requirement. Otherwise, the election shall be treated as a final election without traverse. Traversal must be timely. Failure to timely traverse the requirement will result in the loss of right to petition under 37 CFR 1.144. If claims are subsequently added, applicant must indicate which of the subsequently added claims are readable upon the elected invention.
Should applicant traverse on the ground that the inventions are not patentably distinct, applicant should submit evidence or identify such evidence now of record showing the inventions to be obvious variants or clearly admit on the record that this is the case. In either instance, if the examiner finds one of the inventions unpatentable over the prior art, the evidence or admission may be used in a rejection under 35 U.S.C. 103 or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) of the other invention.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 21 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Lyon et al. (US Pat. 4,545,013).
Regarding claim 21, Fig. 1 and Fig. 2 of Lyon discloses an apparatus, comprising:
a plurality of processing units [12, 22a to 22n, Fig. 1];
a plurality of glitch detectors [within 138, Fig. 2] that are configured to detect an indication of a glitch attack on the apparatus [col. 11, lines 28 to 37]; and
a connection matrix configured to provide respective signals from the plurality of glitch detectors to at least two of the plurality of processing units [as discloses in col. 11, lines 28 to 37, signals from glitch detectors are sent to the processing units. Therefore, a connection matrix is inherent], wherein the connection matrix is configured to provide respective signals from the plurality of glitch detectors to all of the plurality of processing units [as discloses in col. 11, lines 28 to 37, signals from detectors are applied to the processing units].
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1, 3-9, 11-17, and 19-20 are allowed.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance:
Regarding claims 1, 3-9, the prior art does not teach or suggest either alone or in combination an apparatus, comprising: a connection matrix configured to provide respective signals from the plurality of glitch detectors to at least two of the plurality of processing units, wherein the plurality of processing units each include at least one local glitch detector corresponding thereto.
Regarding claims 9, 11-15, the prior art does not teach or suggest either alone or in combination a method comprising: subsequent to transmitting the indication of the glitch attack to the at least one of the plurality of processing units in addition to the processing unit to which the one of the plurality of glitch detectors corresponds, transmitting, via the at least one processing unit in addition to the processing unit to which the one of the plurality of glitch detectors corresponds, a glitch attack confirmation signal;wherein detecting the indication of the glitch attack further comprises detecting a deviation in a clock signal, a deviation in a supply voltage signal, or both.
Regarding claims 16, 19-20, the prior art does not teach or suggest either alone or in combination an apparatus comprising: responsive to receiving the indication of the detected glitch attack, transmit signaling indicative of the detected glitch attack to the at least two of the plurality of processing units; wherein the plurality of glitch detectors comprises at least one voltage glitch detector and at least one clock signal glitch detector.
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.”
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 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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANTHAN T TRAN whose telephone number is (571)272-8709. The examiner can normally be reached MON-FRI, 9AM-5:00PM.
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, Alexander G Sofocleous can be reached at 571-272-0635. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ANTHAN TRAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2825
