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 .
1. This office acknowledges receipt of the following item(s) from the Applicant:
Information Disclosure Statement (IDS) was considered.
2. Claims 1-20 are presented for examination.
Double Patenting
3. The nonstatutory double patenting 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 timewise extension of the "right to exclude" granted by a patent and to prevent possible harassment by multiple assignees. See 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) may be used to overcome an actual or provisional rejection based on a nonstatutory double patenting ground provided the conflicting application or patent is shown to be commonly owned with this application. See 37 CFR 1.130(b).
Effective January 1, 1994, a registered attorney or agent of record may sign a terminal disclaimer. A terminal disclaimer signed by the assignee must fully comply with 37 CFR 3.73(b).
The USPTO Internet website contains terminal disclaimer forms which may be used. Please visit www.uspto.gov/patent/patents-forms. The filing date of the application in which the form is filed determines what form (e.g., PTO/SB/25, PTO/SB/26, PTO/AIA /25, or PTO/AIA /26) should be used. A web-based eTerminal Disclaimer may be filled out completely online using web-screens. An eTerminal Disclaimer that meets all requirements is auto-processed and approved immediately upon submission. For more information about eTerminal Disclaimers, refer to
www.uspto.gov/patents/process/file/efs/guidance/eTD-info-I.jsp.
4. Claims 1-20 are rejected under the judicially created doctrine of obviousness-type double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1-20 of U.S. Patent No. 12080350. Although the conflicting claims are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because the examined application claim is either anticipated by, or would have been obvious over, the reference claims as follows:
Claims 1-5 and 9 of the examined application are anticipated and the same scope of invention by claims 1-9 of the reference such as an apparatus, comprising: a memory having a group of memory cells, wherein each respective memory cell of the group is programmable to one of three possible data states; and circuitry configured to balance data programmed to the group of memory cells between the three possible data states by: applying a first type of algorithm to the data programmed to the group of memory cells until the data is balanced for any one of the three possible data states; and applying a second type of algorithm to the data of the group of memory cells programmed to the two of the three possible data states that were not balanced by the first type of algorithm.
Claim 6 is obvious to a claim 17 of the reference.
Claim 7 is obvious to a claim 22 of the reference.
Claim 8 is obvious to a claim 23 of the reference.
Claims 10-12 and 14-17 of the examined application are anticipated and the same scope of invention by claims 10-15 of the reference such as a method of operating memory, comprising: programming data to a group of memory cells, wherein each respective memory cell of the group is programmed to one of three possible data states; and balancing the data programmed to the group of memory cells between the three possible data states by: applying a first type of algorithm to the data programmed to the group of memory cells until the data is balanced for any one of the three possible data states; and applying a second type of algorithm to the data of the group of memory cells programmed to the two of the three possible data states that were not balanced by the first type of algorithm.
Claim 13 is obvious to a claim 6 of the reference.
Claims 18-19 of the examined application are anticipated and the same scope of invention by claims 16-19 of the reference such as an apparatus, comprising: a memory having a group of memory cells, wherein each respective memory cell of the group is programmable to one of three possible data states; and circuitry configured to balance data programmed to the group of memory cells between the three possible data states by: determining whether the data programmed to the group of memory cells is balanced for any one of the three possible data states; and upon determining the data programmed to the group of memory cells is balanced for any one of the three possible data states, apply a Knuth algorithm to the data of the group of memory cells programmed to the two of the three possible data states that were not determined to be balanced.
Claim 20 is obvious to a claim 9 of the reference.
5. When responding to the office action, Applicants are advised to provide the examiner with the line numbers and page numbers in the application and/or references cited to assist the examiner to locate the appropriate paragraphs.
6. A shortened statutory period for response to this action is set to expire 3 (three) months and 0 (zero) day from the date of this letter. Failure to respond within the period for response will cause the application to become abandoned (see MPEP 710.02 (b)).
7. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HOAI V HO whose telephone number is (571) 272-1777. The examiner can normally be reached 7:00 AM -- 5:30 PM from Thursday and Friday of the first week of a bi-week and Tuesday and Wednesday of the second week.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Amir Zarabian can be reached on (571) 272-1852. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is (571)-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free).
/HOAI V HO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2827
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