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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 07/09/2026 has been entered.
Response to Amendment
This office action is in response to the amendment filed on 07/09/2026. Claims 1-20 are pending. Claims 1, 3-6, 8-9, 11, 13-16, 18 and 20 are amended.
Response to Arguments
Examiner notes that since the amendments filed 07/09/2026 raise 112(b) issues, a rejection under 112(b) is presented below.
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 8-20 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 8 recites “each of the set of processing engines completes its MAC operations” in lines 43-44. However, the claim does not previously introduce MAC operations for each of the set of processing engines. Examiner suggests the following amendment “each of the set of processing engines completes respective MAC operations” to clarify this limitation.
Claim 9 recites “first MAC operations” in line 6. It is unclear whether this is the same as the corresponding first MAC operations introduced in claim 8 line 13-14 or if they are different. For purposes of examination, they will be interpreted as the same. Examiner suggests amending this limitation to refer to the corresponding first MAC operations previously introduced to clarify this limitation.
Claim 18 recites “each of the set of processing engines completes its ALU operations” in line 35-36. However, the claim does not previously introduce ALU operations for each of the set of processing engines. Examiner suggests the following amendment “each of the set of processing engines completes respective ALU operations” to clarify this limitation.
Claims dependent on a rejected base claim are further rejected based on their dependence.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-7 are allowed.
While no prior art rejection is given for claims 8-20, these claims are currently rejected under 112(b) and are not allowable at the current point.
The prior art considerations for claims 8-20 and the reasons for allowance for claims 1-7 are the same as the reasons set forth in the Notice of Allowance dated 04/09/2026.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KASIM ALLI whose telephone number is (571)270-1476. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 9am 5pm.
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/KASIM ALLI/Examiner, Art Unit 2183
/ANDREW CALDWELL/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2182
