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 .
This action is in response to the communication filed on December 17, 2024.
Claims 1-20 are pending in this action.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-5, 11-15, and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Fehlis et al. (US 2026/0093960).
As per claim 1, Fehlis discloses, a method comprising:
splitting an input dataset into a first set and a second set for speculative decoding using a draft model that generates look ahead tokens for a target model (Paragraph 0034);
with the first set:
computing an expected number of look ahead tokens accepted by the target model per call based on a first value indicative of a quantity of look ahead tokens generated by the draft model (Paragraph 0034); and
modifying the quantity of look ahead tokens generated by the draft model to a second value based on the expected number of look ahead tokens accepted by the target model (Paragraphs 0034-0035); and
with the second set, performing speculative decoding with a look ahead window size based on the second value (Paragraph 0034, “number of look ahead tokens” is claimed “look ahead window size”).
As per claim 2, Fehlis discloses, further comprising: selecting the first value based on a historical data distribution of accepted tokens per call to the target model (Paragraph 0025).
As per claim 3, Fehlis discloses, wherein the first value is selected to minimize clipping of the historical data distribution (Paragraph 0025).
As per claim 4, Fehlis discloses, wherein computing the expected number of look ahead tokens accepted by the target model per call based on the first value comprises: computing an average number of look ahead tokens that are accepted by the target model based on the historical data distribution of accepted tokens per call to the target model (Paragraphs 0031-0036)
As per claim 5, Fehlis discloses, wherein computing the expected number of look ahead tokens accepted by the target model per call based on the first value comprises: computing a percentage of look ahead tokens that are accepted by the target model based on the historical data distribution of accepted tokens per call to the target model (Paragraph 0025).
As per claim 11, Fehlis discloses, wherein performing the speculative decoding with the look ahead window size based on the second value comprises multiple speculative decoding iterations (Paragraphs 0031-0036).
As per claims 12-15 and 20, they are analyzed and thus rejected for the same reasons set forth in the rejections of claims 1-5 and 11, because the corresponding claims have similar limitations.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 6-10 and 16-19 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Lott et al. (US 2024/0320433) discloses, Speculative decoding in autoregressive generative artificial intelligence model.
Lee et al. (US 12,572,745) discloses, Suffix-based speculative token decoding for artificial intelligence model.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Abul K. Azad whose telephone number is (571) 272-7599. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner's supervisor, Bhavesh Mehta, can be reached at (571) 272-7453.
Any response to this action should be mailed to:
Commissioner for Patents
P.O. Box 1450
Alexandria, VA 22313-1450
Or faxed to: (571) 273-8300.
Hand-delivered responses should be brought to 401 Dulany Street, Alexandria, VA-22314 (Customer Service Window).
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July 6, 2026
/ABUL K AZAD/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2656
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