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 .
Drawings
The drawings are objected to because the block pertaining elements (12C) shown in Figures 1 and 2need to have descriptive labels in conformance with 37 CFR 1.84(n), 1.84(o), and/or 1.84(p). For example, a descriptive label of “Inter-Integrated Circuit” should be inserted into Figure 1 to properly describe element (12C). Further, as shown in Figures 5A and 5B, the strike through texts should be removed from the drawings. Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Specification
The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities:
The “LiDAR” described in paragraphs [0022], [0027], [0046], [0062], and [0065] is undefined. Appropriate correction is required.
The specification is objected to as failing to provide proper antecedent basis for the claimed subject matter. See 37 CFR 1.75(d)(1) and MPEP § 608.01(o). Correction of the following is required: the “radar detector” and the “LiDAR detector” recited in both claims 8 and 20 fail to provide proper antecedent basis for the claimed subject matter.
The lengthy specification has not been checked to the extent necessary to determine the presence of all possible minor errors. Applicant’s cooperation is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant may become aware in the specification.
Claim Objections
Claims 1-20 are objected to because of the following informalities:
1. (Proposed Amendment) A method for managing serial communication between a serializer and a deserializer, the method comprising:
determining, by the serializer and the deserializer, one or more of (i) one or more calibration parameters and (ii) one or more adaptive equalization (AEQ) parameters to perform at least one of calibration and AEQ for a communication link between the serializer and the deserializer;
storing the one or more parameters into a retention memory;putting at least one of the serializer and the deserializer into a sleep mode; and
upon receiving a wakeup command at each of the serializer and the deserializer put into the sleep mode, performing, by the serializer and the deserializer, link lock of the communication link using the stored one or more parameters.
3. (Proposed Amendment) The method of claim 1, wherein the communication link is a Gigabit Multimedia Serial Link (GMSL), a GMSL-2 link, or a GMSL-3 link that supports multimedia serial communication.
4. (Proposed Amendment) The method of claim 1, wherein the determined parameters comprise one or more of: one or more parameters of a serializer transmitter (Tx); one or more parameters of a serializer receiver (Rx); one or more parameters of a deserializer Tx; one or more parameters of a deserializer Rx; one or more parameters of a serializer AEQ; or one or more parameters of a deserializer AEQ.
6. (Proposed Amendment) The method of claim 1, wherein the determined parameters comprise one or more of a capacitance, a receiver gain, or adaptation coefficients.
11. (Proposed Amendment) A system for managing serial communication, the system comprising:
a serializer comprising at least one processor;
a deserializer comprising at least one processor;
a communication link connecting the serializer and the deserializer;
a retention memory; and
program memory comprising instructions that when executed by processors of the system, cause the system to:
determine, for each of the serializer and the deserializer, one or more of (i) one or more calibration parameters and (ii) one or more adaptive equalization (AEQ) parameters to perform at least one of calibration and AEQ for the communication link;
store the one or more parameters into the retention memory;
put at least one of the serializer and the deserializer into a sleep mode; and
upon receiving a wakeup command at each of the serializer and the deserializer put into the sleep mode, performing, by the serializer and the deserializer, link lock of the communication link using the stored one or more parameters.
15. (Proposed Amendment) The system of claim 11, wherein the communication link is a Gigabit Multimedia Serial Link (GMSL), a GMSL-2 link, or a GMSL-3 link that supports multimedia serial communication.
16. (Proposed Amendment) The system of claim 11, wherein the determined parameters comprise one or more of: one or more parameters of a serializer transmitter (Tx); one or more parameters of a serializer receiver (Rx); one or more parameters of a deserializer Tx; one or more parameters of a deserializer Rx; one or more parameters of a serializer AEQ; or one or more parameters of a deserializer AEQ.
18. (Proposed Amendment) The system of claim 11, wherein the determined parameters comprise one or more of a capacitance, a receiver gain, or adaptation coefficients.
Claims 2, 5, and 7-10 depend from claim 1, therefore they are also objected.
Claims 12-14, 17, 19 and 20 depend from claim 11, therefore they are also objected.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 1 (lines 7 and 11), claims 4-6 (line 1), claim 11 (lines 11 and 15), and claims 13-14 and 16-18 (line 1), the phrases “the one or more parameters”, “the stored one or more parameters”, and “the determined parameters” all lack antecedent basis. They are unclear whether “… parameters” reference to the “calibration parameters” of the “AEQ parameters” recited in each of the independent claims 1 and 11.
The claim subject matters recited in both claims 2 and 12 are vague and indefinite without clarifying the differences of the “sleep mode” three times in the claims,
and “a sleep mode” is already recited in each of the independent claims 1 and 11.
Clarification is required.
The phrase “LiDAR detector” recited in both claims 8 and 20 is also unclear without defining the meaning of “LiDAR”.
Claims 3, 7, 9, and 10 depend from claim 1, therefore they are also rejected.
Claims 15 and 19 depend from claim 11, therefore they are also rejected.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-20 would be allowable if rewritten or amended to overcome the objection(s) set forth in this Office action.
Claims 1-20 would be allowable if rewritten or amended to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Liu et al. (US 9,565,037 B1) relates to training operations of an adaptive SerDes receiver configured to determine FFE coefficients and DFE coefficients correspond to minimizing a cost function. The cost function is related to a difference, i.e., an error, between a determined digital output related to an analog input signal and a reference. In other words, during training, the adaptive SerDes receiver is configured to adjust the DFE coefficients and the FFE coefficients to minimize a difference between an equalized sample, i.e., the determined digital output, and the reference.
BABITCH et al. (US 2017/0024345 A1) relates to a Micro-Electromechanical System (MEMS) recorder includes a scheduler, a serializer, a multiplexer, a transmit/receive switch, a master clock generator, a deserializer, a comparator array to determine whether to generate a signal to wake up a controller and/or a location module from a sleep mode, and a First-In-First-Out (FIFO) memory to output data to be stored and wake up the controller and/or the location module from the sleep mode if a signal to wake up the controller and/or the location module is received or if the FIFO memory is full, wherein the controller and/or the location module is awakened directly by the MEMS recorder or via the controller.
Khan et al. (US2017/0220517 A1) illustrates a transceiver apparatus 200 in FIG.2 includes a link master 204 initiates a low-power mode in which the link master and a link slave 202 enters a low-power state. In the low-power state, SERDES transceivers 216 and 218 do not transmit, when the link slave 202 needs to wake up link master 204, the link slave may use a link request signal 226 that can be transmitted to the link master via a side-band (i.e. not via the serial link between the SERDES 216 and 218). Likewise, the link master 204 may use a link enable signal 228 (which may be an active low signal) to enable the inter-device link slave 202 to resume serial link communication.
Turbiner (US2017/0293018 A1) relates to the improvements of electromagnetic and other wave-based ranging systems, e.g., RADAR or LIDAR systems, of the type having transmit logic that transmits a pulse based on an applied analog signal. The improvements are characterized, in part, by a SERDES having a serializer (transmit side) that is coupled to the transmit logic. The serializer has (i) an input to which a pattern on which the pulse is based is applied and (ii) an output from which a serialization of the pattern is applied to the transmit logic. The improvements are further characterized in that the SERDES has deserializer logic (receive side) that is coupled to receive logic and that deserialize a received analog signal containing possible reflections of the pulse.
LEVIN et al. (US2021/0119835 A1) relates to a method of determining an equalizer setting and gain setting in a serializer/deserializer (SerDes) occurs by causing a mean-square error cost scheme tracking to lock to an offset from a minimum of a cost of the mean-square error cost scheme without pausing error cost tracking. In some examples, determining the equalizer setting comprises: applying increases or decreases to an equalizer setting, and an increase to the equalizer setting can be a different amount than an amount of decrease to the equalizer setting.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Young T. Tse whose telephone number is (571)272-3051. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 10:30am-7pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Chieh M Fan can be reached at 571-272-3042. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Young T. Tse/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2632
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