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 .
Response to Amendment
With respect to Applicant’s amendment to Claims 1, 8 and 15 in regards to 35 U.S.C. 101, rejections with respect to the same have been withdrawn.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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.
Claims 1, 4-5, 8-13, 15 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sharon et al. (US PGPUB 2020/0225852) in view of Seo et al. (US Patent 9,640,281) and Liu et al. (US PGPUB 2022/0147252).
With regard to Claim 1, Sharon teaches a method comprising:
receiving, from a host device, a read command to access data stored on the non-volatile memory device ([0035] “FIG. 1 depicts an illustrative example of a system 100 that includes a data storage device 102 and an access device 180 (e.g., a host device or another device).” [0037] “The data storage device 102 may include or correspond to a solid state drive (SSD).” [0041] “The access device 180 may issue one or more commands to the data storage device 102, such as one or more requests to erase data, read data from, or write data to the memory device 103 of the data storage device 102.”);
determining a read voltage based on the temperature associated with the non-volatile memory device ([0107] “FIG. 12 is a flow diagram of another particular example of a method 1200 of determining a read voltage value.” [0108] “The method 1200 may include, at 1202, determining a read voltage offset value based on data structure that maps read voltage offset values to differences between write temperatures and read temperatures. For example, the data structure may include the table 128 and temperature-based adjuster 122 may perform a lookup operation to read the table 128 to determine a read voltage offset value, such as the first read voltage offset value 152, that corresponds to a particular temperature difference, such as the first temperature difference 150,” wherein the determining of the “temperature” is taught below by Seo.);
performing, based on the read command, a read operation using the read voltage to access the data ([0032] “After generating adjusted read parameters based on the temperature difference and reading the data...”); and
providing the data to the host device ([0047] “the controller 120 may send data to the access device 180 via the first interface 124... The controller 120 is configured... to receive data from the memory 104... The controller 120 is configured to send a read command to the memory 104 to access data from a specified address of the memory 104,” wherein the “controller 120” sends read data to the “access device 180”, i.e. the “host”, after retrieving it from the “memory 104” in response to a read command.).
With further regard to claim 1, Sharon does not teach the determining of the block status and temperature as described in claim 1. Seo teaches
determining whether a block, of a non-volatile memory device, is closed (Col. 4 ll. 41-43: “the memory device 150 may be integrated into one semiconductor device configured as a solid state drive (SSD).” Col. 19 ll. 28-32: “The controller 130 may generate a command CMD for performing a restoration algorithm for an unprogrammed page of an open block using the open/closed block information, the operation temperature information and the read count.” Col. 23 ll. 47-50: “the processor 134 may determine whether the block... an open block or a closed block, based on open/closed block information.”); and
determining a temperature, associated with the non-volatile memory device, based on determining whether the block is closed (Col. 23 ll. 52-57: “When it is determined that the corresponding block is an open block (YES at S1740), the processor 134 generates a command CMD for performing a restoration algorithm for the unprogrammed page of the open block, based on the operation temperature information stored in the second region 144_B of the memory 144,” wherein Fig. 17 Step 1752 shows further details regarding the determination of “a temperature, associated with the non-volatile memory device”.).
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to have modified the method as disclosed by Sharon with the determining of the block status and temperature as taught by Seo so that “the reliability of a product may be enhanced” (Seo Col. 25 ll. 62-63).
With further regard to claim 1, Sharon in view of Seo does not teach the determining of the block status as it relates to a virtual block as described in claim 1. Liu teaches
wherein the block is a virtual block ([0013] “As used herein, the term ‘open block’ (e.g., an open virtual block, physical block, and/or logical block) generally refers to a memory block where some, but not all, of the pages of the memory block are programmed.” [0067] “In some embodiments, a closed virtual block can be identified from one or more virtual blocks responsive to determination of an occurrence of initiation of a power-up event.”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to have modified the method as disclosed by Sharon in view of Seo with the determining of the block status as it relates to a virtual block as taught by Liu so that “memory sub-system performance can be improved in comparison to approaches such as those which randomly select blocks (e.g., virtual blocks) and perform media management operations” (Liu [0024]) and “ to further improve the reliability of a memory sub-system” (Liu [0024]).
With regard to Claim 4, Sharon in view of Seo and Liu teaches all the limitations of Claim 1 as described above. Sharon further teaches wherein determining the read voltage comprise:
determining the read voltage based on a change between a program temperature and a read temperature ([0022] “Adjusting read thresholds may be performed based on the difference between the temperature measured during reading compared to the temperature logged during programming.” [0035] “The data storage device 102 includes a temperature-based adjuster 122 that is configured to perform compensation based on temperature differences between writing data to a memory 104 and reading the data from the memory 104.” [0089] “The temperature compensation operation may cause one or more memory access parameters (such as the read voltage 164 of FIG. 1) to be modified based on a temperature difference between a first temperature associated with writing the multiple codewords... and a second temperature associated with reading the multiple codewords.”).
With regard to Claim 5, Sharon in view of Seo and Liu teaches all the limitations of Claim 4 as described above. Sharon further teaches wherein determining the read voltage comprise:
adjusting a default read voltage, associated with the non-volatile memory device, based on the change between the program temperature and the read temperature ([0054] “the trim adjuster 136 may be configured to retrieve one or more offset values from the table 128 based on the difference between a temperature that the data is written to the memory 104 and a temperature at which the data is to be read from the memory 104... The trim adjuster 136 may be configured to adjust a default value of one or more trim parameters based on offset values retrieved from table 128”).
With regard to Claim 8, Sharon teaches a system comprising:
a controller, of a non-volatile memory device ([0051] “The controller 120 includes a temperature based adjuster 122”), to:
determine a temperature, associated with the non-volatile memory device ([0048] “Each of the temperature sensors 112 may be independently polled by the controller 120 to provide a respective temperature 162 for the associated memory die,” wherein the determining of the “temperature” is further taught below by Seo. [0037] “The data storage device 102 may include or correspond to a solid state drive (SSD).”);
determine, based on the temperature, a read voltage for accessing data stored by the non-volatile memory device ([0107] “FIG. 12 is a flow diagram of another particular example of a method 1200 of determining a read voltage value.” [0108] “The method 1200 may include, at 1202, determining a read voltage offset value based on data structure that maps read voltage offset values to differences between write temperatures and read temperatures. For example, the data structure may include the table 128 and temperature-based adjuster 122 may perform a lookup operation to read the table 128 to determine a read voltage offset value, such as the first read voltage offset value 152, that corresponds to a particular temperature difference, such as the first temperature difference 150.”); and
perform a read operation, using the read voltage, to access the data ([0032] “After generating adjusted read parameters based on the temperature difference and reading the data...”).
With further regard to claim 8, Sharon does not teach the determining of the block status and temperature as described in claim 8. Seo teaches
determine whether a block, of the non-volatile memory device, is closed (Col. 4 ll. 41-43: “the memory device 150 may be integrated into one semiconductor device configured as a solid state drive (SSD).” Col. 19 ll. 28-32: “The controller 130 may generate a command CMD for performing a restoration algorithm for an unprogrammed page of an open block using the open/closed block information, the operation temperature information and the read count.” Col. 23 ll. 47-50: “the processor 134 may determine whether the block... an open block or a closed block, based on open/closed block information.”); and
determine the temperature, associated with the non-volatile memory device, based on determining whether the block is closed (Col. 23 ll. 52-57: “When it is determined that the corresponding block is an open block (YES at S1740), the processor 134 generates a command CMD for performing a restoration algorithm for the unprogrammed page of the open block, based on the operation temperature information stored in the second region 144_B of the memory 144,” wherein Fig. 17 Step 1752 shows further details regarding the determination of “a temperature, associated with the non-volatile memory device”.).
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to have modified the system as disclosed by Sharon with the determining of the block status and temperature as taught by Seo so that “the reliability of a product may be enhanced” (Seo Col. 25 ll. 62-63).
With further regard to claim 8, Sharon in view of Seo does not teach the determining of the block status as it relates to a virtual block as described in claim 8. Liu teaches
wherein the block is a virtual block ([0013] “As used herein, the term ‘open block’ (e.g., an open virtual block, physical block, and/or logical block) generally refers to a memory block where some, but not all, of the pages of the memory block are programmed.” [0067] “In some embodiments, a closed virtual block can be identified from one or more virtual blocks responsive to determination of an occurrence of initiation of a power-up event.”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to have modified the system as disclosed by Sharon in view of Seo with the determining of the block status as it relates to a virtual block as taught by Liu so that “memory sub-system performance can be improved in comparison to approaches such as those which randomly select blocks (e.g., virtual blocks) and perform media management operations” (Liu [0024]) and “ to further improve the reliability of a memory sub-system” (Liu [0024]).
With regard to Claim 9, Sharon in view of Seo and Liu teaches all the limitations of Claim 8 as described above. Sharon further teaches wherein, to determine the temperature, the controller is to:
determine the temperature based on an average temperature of the non-volatile memory device since the data was written to a virtual block of the non-volatile memory device ([0094] “The controller may be configured to receive multiple indicators from the memory device 103 and to determine an average based on the multiple indicators.” [0117] “The average temperature may be associated with a memory access, such as indicating a temperature condition prior to, during, or upon completion of reading data from the memory 104 or writing data to the memory 104.”).
With regard to Claim 10, Sharon in view of Seo and Liu teaches all the limitations of Claim 9 as described above. Sharon further teaches wherein the read operation is a first read operation and the read voltage is a first read voltage, and
wherein the controller is to:
determine that the first read operation is unsuccessful ([0032] “After generating adjusted read parameters based on the temperature difference and reading the data, a BER [bit error rate] for the data may be determined. If the BER is above a threshold (e.g., exceeds an error correction capacity of the ECC scheme that encodes the data), then the original read condition may be inadequate, or the offset may be inadequate.”); and
determine a second read voltage based on a change between a program temperature and a read temperature; and perform a second read operation using the second read voltage ([0032] “In this case, read parameters may be calibrated via CVD tracking or BES and data may be read again with the calibrated parameters with a reduced number of errors.” [0020] “One or more memory access parameters, such as read threshold voltages, may be adjusted based on tracking the CVD, based on BER, based on tables that are based on the difference between the write temperature and the read temperature”).
With regard to Claim 11, Sharon in view of Seo and Liu teaches all the limitations of Claim 10 as described above. Sharon further teaches wherein, to determine the second read voltage, the controller is to:
adjust the first read voltage based on the change between the program temperature and the read temperature ([0054] “the trim adjuster 136 may be configured to retrieve one or more offset values from the table 128 based on the difference between a temperature that the data is written to the memory 104 and a temperature at which the data is to be read from the memory 104... The trim adjuster 136 may be configured to adjust a default value of one or more trim parameters based on offset values retrieved from table 128”).
With regard to Claim 12, Sharon in view of Seo and Liu teaches all the limitations of Claim 10 as described above. Sharon further teaches wherein the controller is to:
determine that the second read operation is successful ([0020] “during reading data, a ‘read temperature’ for each read block or WL may be measured. One or more memory access parameters, such as read threshold voltages, may be adjusted”); and
store information regarding the second read voltage ([0062] “In response to the range adjustment 250 determining that the distribution of newer historical temperature measures 232 includes a portion of measurements, the range adjuster 138 may adjust one or more of the thresholds 210-214. For example, as depicted in the second graph 204, the range adjustment 250 may result in the first threshold 210 being increased to a first updated threshold 260.”).
With regard to Claim 13, Sharon in view of Seo and Liu teaches all the limitations of Claim 10 as described above. Sharon further teaches wherein the temperature includes a temperature associated with a portion of the non-volatile memory device ([0115] “The method 1400 includes, at 1402, receiving a first indicator of a first temperature from a first temperature sensor of a first die of the non-volatile memory. For example, the memory device 103 may include a stack 820 of memory die as in FIG. 8.” [0116] “The method 1400 includes, at 1404, receiving a second indicator of a second temperature from a second temperature sensor of a second die of the non-volatile memory.” [0117] “The method 1400 also includes, at 1406, determining a temperature range based on an average of the first temperature and the second temperature.”).
With regard to Claim 15, Sharon teaches a computer program product comprising:
one or more non-transitory computer-readable medium, and program instructions collectively stored on the one or more non-transitory computer-readable medium ([0119] “one or more aspects of the data storage device 102 may be implemented using a microprocessor or microcontroller programmed (e.g., by executing instructions) to perform one or more operations described herein, such as one or more operations of the methods 900-1400. In a particular embodiment, the data storage device 102 includes a processor executing instructions (e.g., firmware) retrieved from the memory device 103. Alternatively or in addition, instructions that are executed by the processor may be retrieved from memory separate from the memory device 103, such as at a read-only memory (ROM) that is external to the memory device 103.”),
the program instructions comprising:
program instructions to determine a temperature associated with the non-volatile memory device ([0037] “The data storage device 102 may include or correspond to a solid state drive (SSD).” [0020] “during reading data, a ‘read temperature’ for each read block or WL may be measured.” [0117] “The average temperature may be associated with a memory access, such as indicating a temperature condition prior to, during, or upon completion of reading data from the memory 104 or writing data to the memory 104,” wherein the determining of the “temperature” is further taught below by Seo.).;
program instructions to determine, based on the temperature, a read voltage for accessing data stored by the non-volatile memory device ([0107] “FIG. 12 is a flow diagram of another particular example of a method 1200 of determining a read voltage value.” [0108] “The method 1200 may include, at 1202, determining a read voltage offset value based on data structure that maps read voltage offset values to differences between write temperatures and read temperatures. For example, the data structure may include the table 128 and temperature-based adjuster 122 may perform a lookup operation to read the table 128 to determine a read voltage offset value, such as the first read voltage offset value 152, that corresponds to a particular temperature difference, such as the first temperature difference 150.”); and
program instructions to perform a read operation, using the read voltage, to access the data ([0032] “After generating adjusted read parameters based on the temperature difference and reading the data...”).
With further regard to claim 15, Sharon does not teach the determining of the block status and temperature as described in claim 15. Seo teaches
program instructions to determine whether a block, of a non-volatile memory device, is closed (Col. 4 ll. 41-43: “the memory device 150 may be integrated into one semiconductor device configured as a solid state drive (SSD).” Col. 19 ll. 28-32: “The controller 130 may generate a command CMD for performing a restoration algorithm for an unprogrammed page of an open block using the open/closed block information, the operation temperature information and the read count.” Col. 23 ll. 47-50: “the processor 134 may determine whether the block... an open block or a closed block, based on open/closed block information.”); and
program instructions to determine a temperature associated with the non- volatile memory device based on determining whether the block is closed (Col. 23 ll. 52-57: “When it is determined that the corresponding block is an open block (YES at S1740), the processor 134 generates a command CMD for performing a restoration algorithm for the unprogrammed page of the open block, based on the operation temperature information stored in the second region 144_B of the memory 144,” wherein Fig. 17 Step 1752 shows further details regarding the determination of “a temperature, associated with the non-volatile memory device”.).
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to have modified the computer program product as disclosed by Sharon with the determining of the block status and temperature as taught by Seo so that “the reliability of a product may be enhanced” (Seo Col. 25 ll. 62-63).
With further regard to claim 15, Sharon in view of Seo does not teach the determining of the block status as it relates to a virtual block as described in claim 15. Liu teaches
wherein the block is a virtual block ([0013] “As used herein, the term ‘open block’ (e.g., an open virtual block, physical block, and/or logical block) generally refers to a memory block where some, but not all, of the pages of the memory block are programmed.” [0067] “In some embodiments, a closed virtual block can be identified from one or more virtual blocks responsive to determination of an occurrence of initiation of a power-up event.”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to have modified the computer program product as disclosed by Sharon in view of Seo with the determining of the block status as it relates to a virtual block as taught by Liu so that “memory sub-system performance can be improved in comparison to approaches such as those which randomly select blocks (e.g., virtual blocks) and perform media management operations” (Liu [0024]) and “ to further improve the reliability of a memory sub-system” (Liu [0024]).
With regard to Claim 19, this claim is equivalent in scope to Claims 4-5 rejected above, merely having a different independent claim type, and as such Claim 19 is rejected under the same grounds and for the same reasons as discussed above with regard to Claims 4-5.
Claims 2-3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sharon in view of Seo and Liu as applied to Claim 1 above, and further in view of Fackenthal (US PGPUB 2018/0101204).
With regard to Claim 2, Sharon in view of Seo and Liu teaches all the limitations of Claim 1 as described above. Sharon further teaches wherein determining the read voltage comprise:
determining the read voltage based on an average temperature associated with the non-volatile memory device ([0094] “The controller may be configured to receive multiple indicators from the memory device 103 and to determine an average based on the multiple indicators.”),
wherein the average temperature is based on a first temperature associated with a first read and a second temperature ([0020] “during reading data, a ‘read temperature’ for each read block or WL may be measured.” [0117] “The average temperature may be associated with a memory access, such as indicating a temperature condition prior to, during, or upon completion of reading data from the memory 104 or writing data to the memory 104.”).
With further regard to claim 2, Sharon in view of Seo and Liu does not teach the measuring of temperature during reliability reads as described in claim 2. Fackenthal teaches
the second temperature performing reliability reads ([0014] “at least a part of (e.g., a subset of) a refresh cycle (e.g., a second type of interval) may be used to access the temperature sensor, sample the temperature, and perform other operations to facilitate a temperature update,” wherein the “refresh cycle” is a type of “reliability read”.).
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to have modified the method as disclosed by Sharon in view of Seo and Liu with the measuring of temperature during reliability reads as taught by Fackenthal so that “the memory array or a memory cell may be designed to compensate for temperature to maximize performance and minimize power” (Fackenthal [0015]).
With regard to Claim 3, Sharon in view of Seo, Liu and Fackenthal teaches all the limitations of Claim 2 as described above. Sharon further teaches wherein determining the read voltage comprise:
adjusting a default read voltage, associated with the non-volatile memory device, based on the average temperature ([0054] “The trim adjuster 136 may be configured to adjust a default value of one or more trim parameters based on offset values retrieved from table 128 and to provide the adjusted values to the memory device 103 for use during data retrieval from memory 104.” [0067] “An adjusted read voltage may be generated by or based on... a default value of the read voltage 301”).
Claims 6-7, 14 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sharon in view of Seo and Liu as applied to Claims 1, 10 and 15 above, and further in view of Palmer (US PGPUB 2022/0229580).
With regard to claim 6, Sharon in view of Seo and Liu teaches all the limitations of claim 1 as described above. Sharon in view of Seo and Liu does not teach the temperature associated with a virtual block as described in claim 6. Palmer teaches
wherein the temperature includes a temperature associated with the data in a virtual block ([0011] “According to the techniques described herein, temperature data may be stored for a set of partitions (e.g., ... a set of virtual block...) corresponding to one or more memory devices.” [0085] “The temperature tracking table 405 may be one example of a set of temperature ranges 410 and corresponding sets of partitions 415... a memory system may implement additional or alternative data structures to track temperature data for partitions (e.g., blocks or virtual blocks) of the memory system.”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to have modified the method as disclosed by Sharon in view of Seo and Liu with the temperature associated with a virtual block as taught by Palmer in order to “mitigate the negative effects of temperature on data retention and reading accuracy, effectively reducing the bit-error rate associated with read operations” (Palmer [0067]).
With regard to claim 7, Sharon in view of Seo and Liu teaches all the limitations of claim 1 as described above. Sharon in view of Seo and Liu does not teach periodically updating the temperature information as described in claim 7. Palmer teaches comprising:
periodically updating the temperature associated with the non-volatile memory device ([0062] “a temperature sensor 275 may periodically or aperiodically perform temperature readings (e.g., based on a timer or a counter).”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to have modified the method as disclosed by Sharon in view of Seo and Liu with the periodic updating of temperature information as taught by Palmer in order to “mitigate the negative effects of temperature on data retention and reading accuracy, effectively reducing the bit-error rate associated with read operations” (Palmer [0067]).
With regard to Claim 14, this claim is equivalent in scope to Claim 6 rejected above, merely having a different independent claim type, and as such Claim 14 is rejected under the same grounds and for the same reasons as discussed above with regard to Claim 6.
With regard to claim 20, Sharon in view of Seo and Liu teaches all the limitations of claim 15 as described above. Sharon in view of Seo and Liu does not teach periodically updating the temperature information as described in claim 20. Palmer teaches wherein the program instructions comprise:
program instructions to periodically update the temperature associated with the data on the portion of the non-volatile memory device ([0062] “a temperature sensor 275 may periodically or aperiodically perform temperature readings (e.g., based on a timer or a counter).”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to have modified the method as disclosed by Sharon in view of Seo and Liu with the periodic updating of temperature information as taught by Palmer in order to “mitigate the negative effects of temperature on data retention and reading accuracy, effectively reducing the bit-error rate associated with read operations” (Palmer [0067]).
With further regard to Claim 20, Sharon further teaches wherein the program instructions comprise:
program instructions to update the temperature associated with the data on the portion of the non-volatile memory device based on performing the read operation ([0020] “during reading data, a ‘read temperature’ for each read block or WL may be measured.” [0117] “The average temperature may be associated with a memory access, such as indicating a temperature condition prior to, during, or upon completion of reading data from the memory 104 or writing data to the memory 104.”).
Claims 16-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sharon in view of Seo and Liu as applied to Claim 15 above, and further in view of Lee (US PGPUB 2021/0247932) and Cariello (US PGPUB 2020/0333976).
With regard to claim 16, Sharon in view of Seo and Liu teaches all the limitations of claim 15 as described above. Sharon in view of Seo and Liu does not teach determining whether a block is idle as described in claim 16. Lee teaches wherein the program instructions comprise:
program instructions to determine whether the virtual block is idle when the virtual block is closed ([0111] “the idle determiner 210 may determine a predicted idle period PI whenever an open block is closed. In various embodiments, the idle determiner 210 may determine the predicted idle period PI at regular cycles.”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to have modified the method as disclosed by Sharon in view of Seo and Liu with the step of determining whether a block is idle as taught by Lee as this results in “a memory controller having improved write performance” (Lee [0217]).
With further regard to claim 16, Sharon in view of Seo, Liu and Lee does not teach determining the temperature based on whether the block is idle as described in claim 16. Cariello teaches wherein the program instructions comprise:
program instructions to determine the temperature based on determining whether the virtual block is idle ([0043] “The statistical measures of temperature information can be determined using a temperature circuit... a single measure of temperature information can be determined and stored for each block, aggregating temperature information across each written page in a block with the single measure, such as a mean temperature. The mean temperature can be determined for each written page in the block in separate measures, such as during idle time”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to have modified the method as disclosed by Sharon in view of Seo, Liu and Lee with the step of determining the temperature based on whether the block is idle as taught by Cariello in order to “improve the success of operations involving read operations” (Cariello [0050]).
With regard to Claim 17, Sharon in view of Seo, Liu, Lee and Cariello teaches all the limitations of Claim 16 as described above. Sharon further teaches wherein the program instructions to determine the read voltage comprise:
program instructions to determine the temperature based on an average temperature of the non-volatile memory device associated with the data in the virtual block measured since the data was written to the virtual block ([0094] “The controller may be configured to receive multiple indicators from the memory device 103 and to determine an average based on the multiple indicators.” [0117] “The average temperature may be associated with a memory access, such as indicating a temperature condition prior to, during, or upon completion of reading data from the memory 104 or writing data to the memory 104.”).
With regard to Claim 18, Sharon in view of Seo, Liu, Lee and Cariello teaches all the limitations of Claim 17 as described above. Sharon further teaches wherein the program instructions to determine the read voltage comprise:
adjust a default read voltage based on the average temperature ([0035] “The temperature-based adjuster 122 is also configured to perform compensation based on a programming temperature (e.g., a temperature of the memory 104 that is measured just before, during, or after data is written into the memory 104) being outside of a ‘normal’ temperature range.” [0117] “The method 1400 also includes, at 1406, determining a temperature range based on an average of the first temperature and the second temperature.” [0054] “The trim adjuster 136 may be configured to adjust a default value of one or more trim parameters based on offset values retrieved from table 128 and to provide the adjusted values to the memory device 103 for use during data retrieval from memory 104.” [0067] “An adjusted read voltage may be generated by or based on... a default value of the read voltage 301”).).
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments, see Pages 9-10 of the Remarks filed 4/8/2026, with respect to the rejections under 35 U.S.C. 102/103 of Claims 1-20 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
With respect to the Applicant’s argument that the newly amended language of Claims 1, 8 and 15 is not taught by the previously cited prior art, this argument has been fully considered but is moot in view of the newly cited Seo et al. (US Patent 9,640,281) and Liu et al. (US PGPUB 2022/0147252) references as discussed above in the respective rejections.
With respect to the Applicant’s argument that the newly amended language of Claims 16-18 is not taught by the previously cited prior art, this argument has been fully considered but is moot in view of the newly cited Lee (US PGPUB 2021/0247932) and Cariello (US PGPUB 2020/0333976) references as discussed above in the respective rejections.
With respect to the Applicant’s further arguments that the features of the remaining claims are not taught by the cited prior art, the Office respectfully disagrees. These arguments rely upon the arguments as presented in relation to Claim 1, 8 and 15-18, and as such the Office directs the Applicant to the response above regarding these arguments.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure is as follows:
Confalonieri et al. (US Patent 10,339,983) discloses apparatuses, methods, and devices that can be utilized to provide temperature-based memory operations, including determining an open block of the memory device on which to write data based on a determined operating temperature of the apparatus.
Gal et al. (“Algorithms and Data Structures for Flash Memories,” 2005) discusses algorithms and data structures to support efficient not-in-place updates of data, reduce the number of erasures, and level the wear of the blocks in the device, including discussion regarding the concept of block temperature.
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). 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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to NICHOLAS J SIMONETTI whose telephone number is (571)270-7702. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Thursday 10AM-6PM EST.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Arpan Savla can be reached at (571) 272-1077. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/NICHOLAS J SIMONETTI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2137 June 17, 2026
Prosecution Insights