DETAILED ACTION
Claims 1-20 are pending.
This is a response to the amendment, filed 6/11/26.
Claims 1-20 are pending.
Response to Arguments
Applicant has amended the claims with new limitations. The amended claims are addressed below.
Applicant's arguments filed 6/11/26 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant argues that Moyer does not teach an “instruction that indicates high priority”. This argument is not persuasive. The Examiner interprets the above limitation to mean that the claimed instruction is a type of instruction that is recognized as a high priority instruction. Moyer defines a high priority operation, such as a prefetch operation, as a load/store operation in the critical path of the application (0034, 0036). Therefore, a prefetch type operation is considered a high priority operation. Moyer teaches recognizing that prefetch operations as a high priority type operation because it is a load/store operation in the critical path of the application, and avoiding the eviction of cache lines utilized by high priority operation (0034, 0036). Therefore, as currently claimed, and under the interpretation above, Moyer teaches the above limitation. Applicant should further amend the claims to more clearly define the invention over the prior art of record.
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)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Moyer (US20210182214).
As to claim 1, 10, 19:
Moyer teaches a method (abstract, 0010, 0060-0067), associated system (Fig. 1; 0011, 0017-0019) having a cache storage (0011-0016) and cache controller (0013-0016, 0022, 0024, 0041-0047) to perform the method , and associated system (Fig. 1; 0011, 0017-0019) having a processing unit (processor; 0022, 0023, 0025, 0026) and cache (cache with controller, 0011-0016, 0022, 0024, 0041-0047) to perform the method comprising: executing a software instruction that is a memory access request, wherein the software instruction indicates high priority (interpretation: executing an instruction that is recognized as a high priority instruction (type); receive prefetch request; prefetch operations is type of a load/store operation in the critical path of the application; this type of operation is considered a high priority operation; 0034; therefore, a prefetch operation instruction is considered an instruction that indicates high priority; 0034; a prefetch request for data /instruction that will be used by high priority operations are considered as high priority instruction; 0036);
setting priority of a cache line in a cache to high priority based on a memory access request (assign high cache priority to request based on high priority operations; 0034, 0036) with high priority; detecting an eviction event (detect eviction event; 0015, 0025, 0029, 0030, 0032-0034, 0039; as a result of cache misses; 0014, 0029, 0030, 0052); and selecting a cache line for eviction based on the eviction event, wherein any cache line marked as high priority are excluded from being evicted (perform eviction, avoid evicting cache lines utilized by high priority operations; 0033, 0034).
As to claim 2, 11, 20:
Moyer teaches the memory access request includes an instruction having an opcode or operand that specifies the high priority (identify instruction as a prefetch instruction from opcode; prefetch instruction is type of a load/store operation in the critical path of the application; this type of operation is identified as a high priority operation; 0020, 0034, 0036).
As to claim 3, 12:
Moyer teaches the eviction event comprises a miss (detect/monitor cache misses; 0014, 0029, 0030, 0052).
As to claim 4, 13:
Moyer teaches the miss occurs in a cache set in which the cache line is stored (detect/track miss in cache line; 0029, 0030, 0052).
As to claim 5, 14:
Moyer teaches evicting the cache line selected for eviction (evict upon cache miss condition; 0029).
As to claim 6, 15:
Moyer teaches downgrading the cache line to normal priority in response to a high priority eviction condition (assign lower cache priority if prior prefetches have not been accurate or timely; 0013, 0036).
As to claim 7, 16:
Moyer teaches the memory access request results in a miss and the cache line having the priority set to high priority is stored into the cache based on the memory access request and in response to the miss (upon miss, fetch from a different source based on high priority; 0036-0037, 0029, 0035, 0052, 0014).
As to claim 8, 17:
Moyer teaches executing an instruction to reserve a portion of the cache for high priority cache lines (store to high priority cache lines; 0016, 0034).
As to claim 9, 18:
Moyer teaches ignoring a priority hint of a second memory access request in response to an ignore condition occurring (when miss buffer or victim buffer are full, demote prefetches to lower level cache, or ignoring some high priority request and accepting only a portion of the high priority requests; 0035, 0038).
Conclusion
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 THAN NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)272-4198. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 7:00am -4:00pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Tim Vo can be reached at (571)272-3642. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/THAN NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2138
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