DETAILED ACTION
This office action is in response to the reply filed on 12/31/2025.
Claims 1, 4-5, 8-12, and 15-20 are pending in the application and have been examined.
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.
Claims 1, 4-5, 8-12, and 15-20 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.
The claims recite the limitations “first-stage pipelining”, “second-stage pipelining”, “third-stage pipelining”, and “fourth-stage pipelining”. The meaning of these terms is indefinite, as the terminology is inconsistent with that normally used in the art and no description of the terms can be found in the specification. If the terms are simply intended to refer to stages of a pipeline, applicant should clarify this and use language consistent with the normal meaning of these terms.
Claim 1 recites the limitation “the second-stage pipelining is a pipelining except the first-stage pipelining in the multi-stage pipelining”. Claims 5, 12, 16, and 19 recite similar limitations. It is unclear what a “pipelining” is in the context of this limitation. Is it simply a different word to describe a pipeline? Is it a stage of a pipeline? Appropriate clarification is required.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 12/31/2025 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Applicant argues that the claim terminology is clearly defined in the specification, but the cited portions of the specification do not clarify the intended scope of the terms. The argument is therefore not persuasive.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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.
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/COREY S FAHERTY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2183
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