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 .
Claims 1-20 are active in this application.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 08/06/2025 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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.
Claim 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 pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention.
Regarding claims 1, 16 and 20, there is insufficient antecedent basis for “the quantized initial model”.
Claims 2-15, and 17-19 depend on rejected claims thus rejected on the same ground.
Examiner's Note
The Examiner respectfully requests of the Applicants in preparing responses, to fully consider the entirety of the references as potentially teaching all or part of the claimed invention.
It is noted, REFERENCES ARE RELEVANT AS PRIOR ART FOR ALL THEY CONTAIN. "The use of patents as references is not limited to what the patentees describe as their own inventions or to the problems with which they are concerned. They are part of the literature of the art, relevant for all they contain." In re Heck, 699 F.2d 1331, 1332-33, 216 USPQ 1038, 1039 (Fed. Cir. 1983) (quoting In re Lemelson, 397 F.2d 1006, 1009, 158 USPQ 275, 277 (CCPA 1968)). A reference may be relied upon for all that it would have reasonably suggested to one having ordinary skill the art, including non-preferred embodiments (see MPEP 2123).
The Examiner has cited particular locations in the reference(s) as applied to the claims below for the convenience of the Applicants. Although the specified citations are representative of the teachings of the art and are applied to the specific limitations within the individual claims, typically other passages and figures will apply as well.
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 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 1-5, 16-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Yu (US 2024/0160919).
Regarding claims 1, 16 and 20, Yu discloses a data processing method, a computer device comprising: one or more processors, a memory, and a network interface, and a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium containing a computer program, comprising:
performing, when obtaining an initial model, structure search on the initial model to obtain a model structure diagram of the initial model ([0093]-[0095]);
quantizing, based on a type of a target structure in the model structure diagram of the initial model, the target structure of the initial model by applying a fake operator for quantization, the fake operator comprising a quantization operator and a dequantization operator ([0093]-[0096], fake quant operator, and [0104]-[0106]); and
obtaining, based on the quantized initial model, a service model for service processing ([0095]-[0096], inference behavior or actual model deployment).
Regarding claims 2 and 17, Yu discloses wherein quantizing the target structure by applying the fake operator for quantization comprises: adding, in response to the target structure in the model structure diagram comprising a first network layer with a weight, the fake operator to an input location of the first network layer with a weight, and quantizing a weight of the first network layer by using the fake operator ([0094]-[0096]).
Regarding claims 3 and 18, Yu discloses adding, in response to the first network layer with a weight having a plurality of output locations, fake operators separately to the plurality of output locations of the first network layer with a weight ([0094]-[0097]).
Regarding claims 4 and 19, Yu discloses adding, in response to the first network layer with a weight having one output location and no activation layer is connected to the output location of the first network layer with a weight, the fake operator to the output location of the first network layer with a weight ([0081]-[0082], and [0094]-[0096]).
Regarding claim 5, Yu discloses skipping adding, in response to the first network layer with a weight having one output location and an activation layer is connected to the output location of the first network layer with a weight, the fake operator to the output location of the first network layer with a weight ([0094]-[0096] and [0104]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 6-15 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.
Ding (US 20230298569) discloses 4-bit Conformer With Accurate Quantization Training For Speech Recognition.
Gao (US 20240095078) discloses method and apparatus for accelerating inference of neural network model, electronic device, and medium.
Fok (US 20220012575) discloses methods and apparatus for localized processing within multicore neural networks.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MERILYN P NGUYEN whose telephone number is 571-272-4026. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Kavita Stanley can be reached on (571) 272-8352. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MERILYN P NGUYEN/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2153
September 9, 2026
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