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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 11/15/2024 is being considered by the examiner.
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 1-20 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 1 line 8, and claim 11 line 10 recite “high degree column zone”, it is unclear how high is defined for “high degree”. FIG.8, [0152] recites “high/median/low degree column zone”, In order to further exam on the merits of the claim, the examiner interprets it as any degree.
Claim 6, 16 recite “the high degree column zone, a median degree column zone, and a low degree column zone”, it is unclear how median/low is defined.
Any claim not specifically mentioned above, is rejected due to its dependency on the rejected claim.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claim(s) 1-5, 7-15 and 17-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhang et al., US 20220231700, hereinafter Zhang, in view of Steiner et al., US 20240313806, hereinafter Steiner.
As per claim 11, Zhang teaches A memory system, comprising:
a storage (Fig.1, 120, [0049] storage system 120); and
a decoder (FIG. 1, 130, Detector,140 LDPC Decoder) coupled to the storage, wherein the decoder is configured to:
receive the data read from the memory as a read sequence of bits ri; ([0030] a detector 130 receives data from the storage system 120)
decode the read sequence using an irregular low density parity check (LDPC) matrix to produce a decoded sequence of bits di;
(Fig.1, Parity-Check Matrix H 142; Decoded bits; [0055])
EXCEPT
detect with a deep neural network (DNN) convergence of t bits of the decoded sequence of bits di from a high degree column zone of the LDPC matrix; and
establish channel log likelihood ratios (LLRs) by modifying initial LLRs to the LLRs estimated by a channel estimator using the t decoded bits in the high degree column zone of the LDPC matrix once the convergence is detected by the DNN.
Steiner teaches
detect with a deep neural network (DNN) convergence of t bits of the decoded sequence of bits di from a high degree column zone of the LDPC matrix; and (Fig. 8, 802, 804; 710 Iterative Soft DNN Solver; [0130])
establish channel log likelihood ratios (LLRs) by modifying initial LLRs to the LLRs estimated by a channel estimator using the t decoded bits in the high degree column zone of the LDPC matrix once the convergence is detected by the DNN.
(Fig. 7, 715; Fig.8, 804, 810)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling data of the claimed invention to have modified Zhang to incorporate the teaching of from Steiner as indicated above, in order to improve the decoding performance. (Steiner, [0099])
As per claim 12, Zhang- Steiner teaches The memory system applied above in claim 11, Steiner further teaches wherein the decoder is configured to, after the establishing of the channel LLRs, decode the bits ri with the established channel LLRs. (Fig. 15, 1580)
As per claim 13, Zhang- Steiner teaches The memory system applied above in claim 11, Steiner further teaches wherein the decoder is configured to utilize a pre-trained DNN. ([0049] DNN is trained on a database created by performing iterative decoding with previously trained DNN configurations; [0211])
As per claim 14, Zhang- Steiner teaches The memory system applied above in claim 13, Zhang further teaches wherein the decoder is configured to input to the pretrained DNN a checksum of the decoded sequence of bits di. (Fig.8, 820, Checksums)
As per claim 15, Zhang- Steiner teaches The memory system applied above in claim 13, Steiner further teaches wherein the decoder is configured to input to the pretrained DNN a number of bit flips (NoBF) between the read sequence of bits ri and the decoded sequence of bits di. ([0095], [0093]; Fig. 7, [0177]; Fig. 6, [0102] To generate a plurality of candidate locations (block 602) for error correction......This candidate location is a bit-flip candidate)
As per claim 17, Zhang- Steiner teaches The memory system applied above in claim 14, Zhang further teaches wherein the decoder is configured to hard read the data from memory. (Fig. 7, [0075] At 710, these data recovery steps can include a hard decoding process and a soft decoding process.)
As per claim 18, Zhang- Steiner teaches The memory system applied above in claim 17, Steiner further teaches wherein the decoder is configured to:
determine a number of positions B00 in the sequences di and ri such that di=0 and ri=0, i=0, 1, . . . , . . . , t−1;
determine a number of positions B01in the sequences di and ri such that di=0 and ri=1, i=0, 1, . . . , . . . , t−1;
determine a number of positions B10 in the sequences di and ri such that di=1 and ri=0, i=0, 1, . . . , . . . , t−1;
determine a number of positions B11 in the sequences di and ri such that di=1 and ri=1, i=0, 1, . . . , . . . , t−1; and
calculate for the channel LLRs updated LLRs based on B00, B01, B10, and B11.
(Fig. 3, Fig. 4, [0075]-[0078].)
As per claim 19, Zhang- Steiner teaches The memory system applied above in claim 11, Zhang further teaches wherein the decoder is configured to soft read the data from memory. (Fig. 7, [0075] At 710, these data recovery steps can include a hard decoding process and a soft decoding process. [0078])
As per claim 20, Zhang- Steiner teaches The memory system applied above in claim 19, Steiner further teaches wherein the decoder is configured to:
divide a range of a read voltage threshold distribution for the soft reading of the data from the memory into bins spanning the range;
set the initial LLRs for each bin;
apply the initial LLRs to the soft read data to generate the decoded sequence of bits di;
determine a number of positions B0k in the sequences di and si such that di=0 and si=k, i=0, 1, . . . , . . . , t−1;
determine a number of positions B1k in the sequences di and si such that di=1 and si=k, i=0, 1, . . . , . . . , t−1; and
calculate for the channel LLRs updated LLRs based on the numbers B0k and B1k.
(Fig. 3, Fig. 4, [0075]-[0078].)
Claim(s) 16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhang et al., US 20220231700, hereinafter Zhang, in view of Steiner et al., US 20240313806, hereinafter Steiner. In further view of KAYNAK et al., US 20260088832, hereinafter KAYNAK.
As per claim 16, Zhang- Steiner teaches The memory system applied above in claim 11, EXCEPT wherein the LDPC matrix comprises degree groups including the high degree column zone, a median degree column zone, and a low degree column zone.
KAYNAK teaches wherein the LDPC matrix comprises degree groups including the high degree column zone, a median degree column zone, and a low degree column zone. (Fig. 3A, 312 CW=A, 320 CW-B, 324 CW=C; [0051]; [0073]-[0075])
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling data of the claimed invention to have modified Zhang- Steiner to incorporate the teaching of from KAYNAK as indicated above, in order to improve the decoding performance. (Steiner, [0099])
Claims 1-10 are the method claim of claims 11-20, they are the same respectively, thus they are rejected under the same reason as indicated above.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Vojcic et al., US 20190068320, SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR ADVANCED ITERATIVE DECODING AND CHANNEL ESTIMATION OF CONCATENATED CODING SYSTEMS
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to RONG TANG whose telephone number is (469)295-9106. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 7:30-5.
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/RONG TANG/Examiner, Art Unit 2111
/MARK D FEATHERSTONE/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2111
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