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 .
Priority
1. Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
2. Claim 23 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 as being directed to non-statutory subject matter because a computer-readable medium to store computer-readable code thereon would normally be considered statutory unless the specification defines “computer-readable medium” as including transient media such as signals, carrier waves, transmissions, optical waves, transmission media or other media incapable of being touched or perceived absent the non-transitory medium through which they are conveyed.
Claim 23 is not limited to non-transitory embodiments. Specifically, in view of the specification (¶89, Page 17 Columns 1-3) the computer readable medium is not limited to non-transitory embodiments, instead it has been defined/exemplified as including both non-transitory embodiments [e.g. removable storage drive, hard disk] and transitory embodiments [e.g. signals or transmission or carrier medium/media]. As such the claim is not limited to statutory subject matter and is therefore non statutory. Examiner suggests amending the claims using term "non-transitory computer-readable medium".
3. Claim 24 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to non-statutory subject matter. The claim does not fall within at least one of the four categories of patent eligible subject matter because the claim is directed toward a computer program per se, which is not considered to be one of the four categories of statutory subject matter.
Examiner suggests amending the claims to recite “A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer-readable medium”.
Allowable Subject Matter
4. Claims 1-4, 6-8, 10-17, 19-20, and 22 are allowed.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
The present invention is directed toward a vector processor that decodes a vector extract and merge instruction and generates signals to control the execution of said instruction which specify a control parameter, source registers, and a destination register. The processor performs multiple stages of processing each corresponding to a section of one of the source registers and the destination register and sets status information indicating when a stage has been completed. Each processing stage includes extracting bits specified by the control parameter from a specific portion of a source register and concatenating the bits with bits from the second source register or carryover bits from a previous processing stage to be stored in the corresponding portion of the destination register. The closest prior arts of record are Sebot (US 2003/0123748), Chen (US 2005/0108312), and Mahurin (US 2016/0364147).
The references, taken in combination, teach a vector processor to execute a merge instruction that combines portions of data from source registers into a destination register according to the instruction, including concatenating bits from the source registers into corresponding portions of the destination register.
However, the references, when taken alone or in combination, do not teach the instruction being executed in explicit stages that each concatenate the bits being stored into the destination register with either bits from the second source register or carryover bits from an immediately previous processing stage in combination with each of the other elements of the claims.
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
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MICHAEL J METZGER whose telephone number is (571)272-3105. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8:30-5.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Jyoti Mehta can be reached at 571-270-3995. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MICHAEL J METZGER/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2183
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