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 .
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, 7, 8, 14, 15, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102a1 as being anticipated by Emerson et al (US Pat. 6,353,914; hereinafter referred to as Emerson).
As per claims 1, 8, 15:
Emerson teaches a system, circuit, and method, comprising:
a writer circuit (Fig. 6, 152) configured to:
receive differential input signals from a System on Chip (SoC) (Fig. 6, 142 and 144), and generate write currents (Fig. 1, 30) through a magnetic recording head (Fig. 1, 22) based on the differential input signals (Fig. 1, 24 and 26); and
a fault detection circuit (Fig. 6, 198 and 208) comprising:
a detector and stretcher circuit (Fig. 6, 130) configured to:
monitor the differential input signals received by the writer circuit (Fig. 6, 164); and
generate differential output signals having asymmetric rise and fall times (Fig. 3, CX and CY), and a
timer circuit coupled to the detector and stretcher circuit and configured to:
monitor the differential output signals (Fig. 6, 190 and 200);
generate a reset signal in response to the differential output signals being in a low state (col. 5, line 65-col. 6, line 1; differential output signals both being in a low state cause XOR to output zero, which can be labeled a reset signal); and
generate a fault signal (col. 6, lines 2-3) in response to a time between reset signals exceeding a threshold (col. 5, lines 43-59).
As per claims 7, 14, 20:
Emerson teaches the system, circuit, and method of claims 1, 8, and 15 above, wherein the fault signal indicates that: a frequency of transitions in the differential input signals has dropped below a predetermined threshold; or the differential input signals have stopped transitioning (Fig. 3, 80; col. 2, lines 53-56).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-6, 9-13, 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. The prior art are directed to various techniques for detecting read and write errors in hard drives.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to STEVE N NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)272-7214. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9-5.
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/STEVE N NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2111
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