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 .
Status of claim(s) to be treated in this office action:
a. Independent: 1, 18 and 20
b. Pending: 1-20
Per MPEP 2111 and 2111.01, the claims are given their broadest reasonable interpretation and the words of the claims are given their plain meaning consistent with the specification without importing claim limitations from the specification.
Information Disclosure Statement
No information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted has been submitted.
Claim Objections
Claim 2 is objected to because of the following informalities:
“the current value of the individual RD counter transgresses the threshold value”. Examiner suggests to use the term “exceeds” instead of the term “transgresses”.
Appropriate correction is required.
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 1-5, 7-10 and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yoshimoto et al. (US 20170345490) in view of Boehm et al. (US 20230065593).
Regarding independent claim 1, Yoshimoto discloses a system (Figs. 8-20, 23) comprising:
a set of memory components of a memory sub-system (Fig. 9 and [0071]-[0072] describes memory cell array 90 divided into memory region 92 and 93 with plurality of memory cells 91); and
a processing device operatively coupled to the set of memory components ([0073] describes control device 94 coupled to region 92 and 93), the processing device being configured to perform operations comprising:
receiving a request to read data from an individual memory component of the set of memory components (Figs. 13 and 15 starts with read request);
in response to receiving the request to read the data, determining a current temperature associated with the memory sub-system;
selecting an individual multiplier for an individual read disturb (RD) counter associated with the individual memory component (Fig. 19 shows selection circuit for read circuit) based on the current temperature associated with the memory sub-system; and
incrementing the individual RD counter based on the individual multiplier to control performance of an individual media management operation (Fig. 19 and [0147]-[0148] describes multiplier 202 multiplies the output of the up-down counter 201 by a predetermined coefficient and outputs the result).
Yoshimoto does not disclose determining a current temperature associated with the memory sub-system;
However, Boehm teaches determining a current temperature associated with the memory sub-system ([0107] describes incrementing the counter for each time the type of access operation is performed on the memory device is based at least in part on determining that the temperature of the memory device satisfies a threshold);
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the earliest effective filing date to apply the teachings of Boehm to Yoshimoto in order to provide with sensors that measure temperature, currents (e.g., supply currents), path speed degradation, impedance drift, or setup/hold timing degradation, among other examples. The traffic monitoring or the parameters measured by the sensors may be represented by a characteristic related to access operations for the memory device as taught by Boehm ([0015]).
Regarding claim 2, Yoshimoto and Boehm together disclose all the elements of claim 1 as above and through Yoshimoto further operations comprising: comparing a current value of the individual RD counter to a threshold value in response to incrementing the individual RD counter (Fig. 13 at step S6 compares value with a threshold. Fig. 17 shows same mechanism of comparing counter value at terminal a with another value at terminal b); and
performing the individual media management operation on the individual memory component in response to determining that the current value of the individual RD counter transgresses the threshold value (Fig. 17 and [0130] describes that data generation circuit 135 generates digital data from counter 32, and is provided with a comparator 35).
Regarding claim 3, Yoshimoto and Boehm together disclose all the elements of claim 1 as above and through Yoshimoto further the individual memory component comprises one or more memory dies (Fig. 9 and [0071]-[0072] describes memory cell array 90 divided into memory region 92 and 93 with plurality of memory cells 91. Here each memory region represents a die).
Regarding claim 4, Yoshimoto and Boehm together disclose all the elements of claim 1 as above and through Yoshimoto further the individual memory component comprises one or more memory blocks or one or more word lines (0123] describes that user data region 7 corresponds to the word lines WL0, WL1, WL2, . . . WLm-k-1, and the digital ID data region 8 corresponds to the word lines WLm-k, . . . WLm).
Regarding claim 5, Yoshimoto and Boehm together disclose all the elements of claim 1 as above and through Yoshimoto further the individual media management operation comprises a RD scan operation comprising: reading data from the individual memory component; and computing a read bit error rate (RBER) for the data read from the individual memory component (FIG. 22 and [0165] describes graph depicting error rates when digital ID data is reproduced in a high-temperature accelerated deterioration experiment).
Regarding claim 7, Yoshimoto and Boehm together disclose all the elements of claim 5 as above and through Yoshimoto further identifying a subset of word lines (WLs) of the individual memory component that are associated with increased temperature sensitivity relative to other WLs of the individual memory component (Fig. 22 and [0165]).
Regarding claim 8, Yoshimoto and Boehm together disclose all the elements of claim 7 as above and through Yoshimoto further reading the data from only the subset of WLs to compute the RBER for a read disturb operation (Fig. 16 and [0118] describes that memory main body unit 22 has a user data region 7 and a digital ID data region 8 as storage regions divided based on wordlines).
Regarding claim 9, Yoshimoto and Boehm together disclose all the elements of claim 1 as above and through Yoshimoto further determining the current temperature comprises accessing a temperature measurement from a sensor of the set of memory components (Figs. 6, 22 show that temperature sensors are inherently present).
Regarding claim 10, Yoshimoto and Boehm together disclose all the elements of claim 1 as above and through Boehm further storing a separate RD counter for each of the set of memory components (Fig. 3 and [0066[ describes that counter 332 may be configured per memory row, per memory section, per memory bank, or any combination thereof).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the earliest effective filing date to apply the teachings of Boehm to modified Yoshimoto in order to provide with sensors that measure temperature, currents (e.g., supply currents), path speed degradation, impedance drift, or setup/hold timing degradation, among other examples. The traffic monitoring or the parameters measured by the sensors may be represented by a characteristic related to access operations for the memory device as taught by Boehm ([0015]).
Regarding claim 17, Yoshimoto and Boehm together disclose all the elements of claim 1 as above and through Boehm further the individual RD counter is incremented by different amounts for different requests to read the data from the individual memory component based on a temperature associated with the memory sub-system when each respective one of the different requests is received ([0107] describes incrementing the counter for each time the type of access operation is performed on the memory device is based at least in part on determining that the temperature of the memory device satisfies a threshold);
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the earliest effective filing date to apply the teachings of Boehm to modified Yoshimoto in order to provide with sensors that measure temperature, currents (e.g., supply currents), path speed degradation, impedance drift, or setup/hold timing degradation, among other examples. The traffic monitoring or the parameters measured by the sensors may be represented by a characteristic related to access operations for the memory device as taught by Boehm ([0015]).
Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yoshimoto et al. (US 20170345490) in view of Boehm et al. (US 20230065593) and Syu et al. (US 20140059405).
Regarding claim 6, Yoshimoto and Boehm together disclose all the elements of claim 5 as above and through Syu further comparing the RBER to an RBER threshold; and refreshing or folding the data stored in the individual memory component in response to comparing the RBER to the RBER threshold (Fig. 3 shows comparing, calculating bit error rate and performing scrubbing/refreshing afterwards).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the earliest effective filing date to apply the teachings of Syu to modified Yoshimoto in order to increase the efficiency and/or accuracy of data retention evaluations, which improves performance of the data storage system as taught by Syu ([0022]).
Claims 11-13 and 15-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yoshimoto et al. (US 20170345490) in view of Boehm et al. (US 20230065593) and Campbell (US 20130293111).
Regarding claim 11, Yoshimoto and Boehm together disclose all the elements of claim 1 as above and through Campbell further storing a table that associates different temperature ranges with respective multipliers (Fig. 3 shows temperature range with corresponding multiplier. [0057] describes a table a corresponding multiplier associated with the indirectly measured internal temperature).
It would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the earliest effective filing date to apply the teachings of Campbell to modified Yoshimoto in order to look up a corresponding multiplier associated with internal temperature as taught by Campbell ([0019]).
Regarding claim 12, Yoshimoto, Boehm and Campbell together disclose all the elements of claim 11 as above and through Campbell further the table comprises a first temperature range associated with a first multiplier and a second temperature range associated with a second multiplier, the second multiplier being greater than the first multiplier (Fig. 3 shows second multiplier being greater than the first multiplier).
It would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the earliest effective filing date to apply the teachings of Campbell to modified Yoshimoto in order to look up a corresponding multiplier associated with internal temperature as taught by Campbell ([0019]).
Regarding claim 13, Yoshimoto, Boehm and Campbell together disclose all the elements of claim 12 as above and through Campbell further determining that the current temperature corresponds to the second temperature range; and in response to determining that the current temperature corresponds to the second temperature range, setting the individual multiplier to a value of the second multiplier that is associated in the table with the second temperature range (Fig. 3 and [0057]).
It would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the earliest effective filing date to apply the teachings of Campbell to modified Yoshimoto in order to look up a corresponding multiplier associated with internal temperature as taught by Campbell ([0019]).
Regarding claim 15, Yoshimoto, Boehm and Campbell together disclose all the elements of claim 12 as above and through Campbell further the first temperature range comprises temperatures below a first temperature, the second temperature range comprises temperatures between the first temperature and a second temperature, and a third temperature range associated with a third multiplier comprises temperatures above the second temperature (Fig. 3 shows the sequence).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the earliest effective filing date to apply the teachings of Campbell to modified Yoshimoto in order to look up a corresponding multiplier associated with internal temperature as taught by Campbell ([0019]).
Regarding claim 16, Yoshimoto, Boehm and Campbell together disclose all the elements of claim 11 as above and through Campbell further the multipliers for the different temperature ranges are generated based on characteristics of a silicon device implementing the memory sub-system ([0009]
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the earliest effective filing date to apply the teachings of Campbell to modified Yoshimoto in order to look up a corresponding multiplier associated with internal temperature as taught by Campbell ([0019]).
Claims 18-19 are drafted in method format but does not recite any additional limitations other than device claims 1-13 and henceforth rejected the same way as above.
Claim 20 recites a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed by a processing device, cause the processing device to perform operations comprising the same steps of device claim 1 but drafted in method format.
Claim 28 of Campbell recites a computer program product, tangibly embodied in a non-transitory information carrier, the computer program product including instructions being operable to cause a data processing apparatus to perform same hardware functions. This is common and known in technology. Henceforth claim 20 is rejected similarly as device claim 1.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 14 is 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
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SULTANA BEGUM whose telephone number is (571)431-0691. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8 am - 5 pm.
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/SULTANA BEGUM/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2824 10/8/2026
