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
This final Office action is in response to the amendment filed 5/8/26 which amended claims 1, 2, 8, 9, 15, and 16. Claims 1-20 remain pending. All objections and rejections not repeated below are withdrawn.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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.
Claims 1, 8, 10-13, 15, and 17-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by U.S. Patent Application Publication 2023/0273750 to KANNO.
Regarding claims 1, 8, and 15, KANNO shows the claimed device in Fig. 2, for example. There he shows the claimed memory cells as NAND flash memory 5, configured as a plurality of superblocks as shown in Fig. 4. He shows the claimed controller as controller 4, configured, as claimed, to receive write requests as a plurality of streams as shown in Figs. 5, 7, 9, 13, and 15, for example.
Regarding claim 10, KANNO shows the claimed plurality of stream cursors for the different streams as the plural next pointers and entrance pointers in Fig. 7.
Regarding claims 11 and 17, KANNO’s pointers identify different superblocks as claimed.
Regarding claims 12 and 18, KANNO’s device allocates storage space for writing by the streams as claimed (see the abstract and paragraphs 0024, 0025, 0037, 0038, 0063, 0065, and elsewhere).
Regarding claims 13 and 19, KANNO’s device identifies a next free space using stream cursors (next pointers) as claimed (see Fig. 7).
Double Patenting
The nonstatutory double patenting rejection is based on a judicially created doctrine grounded in public policy (a policy reflected in the statute) so as to prevent the unjustified or improper timewise extension of the “right to exclude” granted by a patent and to prevent possible harassment by multiple assignees. A nonstatutory double patenting rejection is appropriate where the conflicting claims are not identical, but at least one examined application claim is not patentably distinct from the reference claim(s) because the examined application claim is either anticipated by, or would have been obvious over, the reference claim(s). See, e.g., In re Berg, 140 F.3d 1428, 46 USPQ2d 1226 (Fed. Cir. 1998); In re Goodman, 11 F.3d 1046, 29 USPQ2d 2010 (Fed. Cir. 1993); In re Longi, 759 F.2d 887, 225 USPQ 645 (Fed. Cir. 1985); In re Van Ornum, 686 F.2d 937, 214 USPQ 761 (CCPA 1982); In re Vogel, 422 F.2d 438, 164 USPQ 619 (CCPA 1970); In re Thorington, 418 F.2d 528, 163 USPQ 644 (CCPA 1969).
A timely filed terminal disclaimer in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(c) or 1.321(d) may be used to overcome an actual or provisional rejection based on nonstatutory double patenting provided the reference application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with the examined application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement. See MPEP § 717.02 for applications subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA as explained in MPEP § 2159. See MPEP § 2146 et seq. for applications not subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . A terminal disclaimer must be signed in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(b).
The filing of a terminal disclaimer by itself is not a complete reply to a nonstatutory double patenting (NSDP) rejection. A complete reply requires that the terminal disclaimer be accompanied by a reply requesting reconsideration of the prior Office action. Even where the NSDP rejection is provisional the reply must be complete. See MPEP § 804, subsection I.B.1. For a reply to a non-final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.111(a). For a reply to final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.113(c). A request for reconsideration while not provided for in 37 CFR 1.113(c) may be filed after final for consideration. See MPEP §§ 706.07(e) and 714.13.
The USPTO Internet website contains terminal disclaimer forms which may be used. Please visit www.uspto.gov/patent/patents-forms. The actual filing date of the application in which the form is filed determines what form (e.g., PTO/SB/25, PTO/SB/26, PTO/AIA /25, or PTO/AIA /26) should be used. A web-based eTerminal Disclaimer may be filled out completely online using web-screens. An eTerminal Disclaimer that meets all requirements is auto-processed and approved immediately upon submission. For more information about eTerminal Disclaimers, refer to www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/applying-online/eterminal-disclaimer.
Claims 1-20 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over the claims of U.S. Patent No. 12,197,754. Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because the differences are not material to patentability. The similarities between the claims are shown in the table below where instant claim 16 and patented claim 17 are compared. The differences amount to nothing more than rewording the claims, and removing and/or adding limitations. It is obvious to remove limitations from patented claims and to add limitations to patented claims.
Instant claim 16 (including parent claim 15)
Patented claim 17
15. A non-transitory computer storage medium storing instructions which, when executed by a device, cause the device to perform a method, comprising:
17. A non-transitory computer storage medium storing instructions which, when executed in a computing system, causes the computing system to perform a method, the method comprising:
configuring memory cells in the device as a plurality of superblocks; receiving, in the device, requests to write data to a storage space provided by the memory cells, the requests configured as a plurality of streams; and (claim 16) aggregating, by the device, placement of data of different streams into different superblocks,
sending, by a host system to a memory sub-system, a stream of write commands, without an identification of a zone having a predetermined size in a namespace, to cause the memory sub-system to store data of the write commands into superblocks in the memory sub-system; determining, by the host system, a superblock size in the memory sub-system; identifying, by the host system and based on the superblock size, logical addresses; and sending, by the host system to the memory sub-system, commands to erase data from the logical addresses identified according to the superblock size to be sufficient to free at least one superblock,
wherein the device is configured not to reclaim a superblock that is to be partially erased according to commands received in the device; receive, during booting up of a system containing the device, a query; and providing, in response to the query, a superblock size of the plurality of superblocks.
wherein the memory sub-system is configured to not reclaim a superblock partially erased by the host system.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-7, 9, 14, 16, and 20 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
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 Office action should be directed to the Examiner by phone at (571) 272-4214.
Any response to this Office action should be labeled appropriately (including serial number, Art Unit 2132, and type of response) and mailed to Commissioner for Patents, P.O. Box 1450, Alexandria, VA 22313-1450; hand-carried or delivered to the Customer Service Window at the Knox Building, 501 Dulany Street, Alexandria, VA 22314; faxed to (571) 273-8300; or filed electronically using the Patent Center.
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/Kevin Verbrugge/
Kevin Verbrugge
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2132
Prosecution Insights