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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 4/27/2022 is acknowledged. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97.
Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see page 2, filed 3/4/2025, with respect to the rejection(s) of claim(s) 1 – 19 under 35 U.S.C. § 102(a)(1) have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of Yamaguchi (US 11811435 B2).
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)(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.
Claims 1- 6 and 8 - 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being unpatentable over Yamaguchi (US 11811435 B2).
Regarding Independent Claim 1, Yamaguchi discloses,
A power amplifier module (221, Fig. 5) comprising:
an output switch (109 and 111, Fig. 5) that includes a plurality of input terminals and a plurality of output terminals (109 and 111 both have input and output terminals, Fig. 1) and that is configured to electrically connect each of the plurality of input terminals to at least one of the plurality of output terminals (the plurality of input terminals of 109 and 111 are connected to the plurality of input terminals of 109 and 111 respectively);
a first low noise amplifier (301, Fig. 5) configured to amplify a signal of a first frequency band (Frequency band of signal at 101, Fig. 5) and to output a first signal (signal from 301, Fig. 5) to a first input terminal among the plurality of input terminals (input terminal at 109, Fig. 5), the signal of the first frequency band being input through a first antenna (101, Fig. 5) that receives signals of a plurality of frequency bands;
a second low noise amplifier (302, Fig. 5) configured to amplify a signal of a second frequency band (Frequency band of signal at 102, Fig. 5) and to output a second signal (signal from 302, Fig. 5) to a second input terminal different from the first input terminal among the plurality of input terminals (input terminal at 111, Fig. 5), the signal of the second frequency band being input through a second antenna (102, Fig. 5) that receives signals of another plurality of frequency bands; and
wherein a filter (106, Fig. 5) is electrically connected between the second input terminal (111) and the second low noise amplifier (302), the filter being configured to attenuate a signal of a frequency band higher than the second signal.
Regarding claim 2,
The power amplifier module according to Claim 1, wherein the second frequency band is lower than the first frequency band [See column 3, lines 10 – 16, “Note that a frequency band of RF signals of the terrestrial digital broadcasting and a frequency band of RF signals of the cable digital broadcasting are close frequency bands, and substantially the same processing is performed on the RF signals of the terrestrial digital broadcasting and the RF signals of the cable digital broadcasting”], and wherein the second low noise amplifier is electrically connected to the second input terminal with the filter interposed therebetween.
Regarding claim 3,
The power amplifier module according to Claim 2,
wherein the signal of the first frequency band is of a first reception band included in the first frequency band, wherein the signal of the second frequency band is of a second reception band included in the second frequency band [See column 3, lines 10 – 16, “Note that a frequency band of RF signals of the terrestrial digital broadcasting and a frequency band of RF signals of the cable digital broadcasting are close frequency bands, and substantially the same processing is performed on the RF signals of the terrestrial digital broadcasting and the RF signals of the cable digital broadcasting”], wherein the second low noise amplifier is electrically connected to the second input terminal with the filter interposed therebetween, and wherein the filter is configured to attenuate a portion of the second signal in a frequency band that is an integral multiple of a transmission band, the transmission band being a frequency band of a signal output from a transmission amplifier and being included in the second frequency band, the signal attenuated being included in the second signal [See column 3, lines 51 – 58, “The RF filters 105-1 to 105-n include a plurality of RF filters corresponding to frequencies of channels of the terrestrial broadcasting. The RF filters 105-1 to 105-n corresponding to frequencies of channels tune the frequency of the RF signals supplied from the RFVGA 103 to the frequency of the channel, thereby performing filtering. The RF signals after the filtering performed by any of the RF filters 105-1 to 105-n are output to the MIX 107.”].
Regarding claim 4,
The power amplifier module according to Claim 2, further comprising the filter (105-1 – 105-n, Fig. 5).
Regarding claim 5,
The power amplifier module according to Claim 4, wherein the filter is configured to have a variable attenuation band [See column 3, lines 51 – 58, “The RF filters 105-1 to 105-n include a plurality of RF filters corresponding to frequencies of channels of the terrestrial broadcasting. The RF filters 105-1 to 105-n corresponding to frequencies of channels tune the frequency of the RF signals supplied from the RFVGA 103 to the frequency of the channel, thereby performing filtering. The RF signals after the filtering performed by any of the RF filters 105-1 to 105-n are output to the MIX 107.”].
Regarding claim 6,
The power amplifier module according to Claim 5,
wherein the filter comprises a first circuit element that is in a same module as the second low noise amplifier (306, Fig. 5), and a second circuit element that is in a module different from the module comprising the first circuit element and the second low noise amplifier (305, Fig. 5), and wherein the second circuit element is electrically connected to the first element with a predetermined terminal interposed therebetween.
Regarding claim 8,
The power amplifier module according to Claim 1,
wherein the first signal is of a third frequency band corresponding to a fourth-generation mobile communication system or a fourth frequency band corresponding to a fifth-generation mobile communication system [See column 3, lines 10 – 16, “Note that a frequency band of RF signals of the terrestrial digital broadcasting and a frequency band of RF signals of the cable digital broadcasting are close frequency bands, and substantially the same processing is performed on the RF signals of the terrestrial digital broadcasting and the RF signals of the cable digital broadcasting”], and wherein the second signal is of a frequency band different from the frequency band of the first signal among the third frequency band and the fourth frequency band.
Regarding claim 9,
The power amplifier module according to Claim 1, wherein the plurality of frequency bands received by the first antenna include one or more of the same frequency bands as the another plurality of frequency bands received by the second antenna [See column 3, lines 10 – 16, “Note that a frequency band of RF signals of the terrestrial digital broadcasting and a frequency band of RF signals of the cable digital broadcasting are close frequency bands, and substantially the same processing is performed on the RF signals of the terrestrial digital broadcasting and the RF signals of the cable digital broadcasting”].
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 7 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.
Claims 10 - 19 are allowed.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance:
The prior art, when taken alone, or, in combination, cannot be construed as reasonably teaching or suggesting all of the elements of the claimed invention as arranged, disposed, or provided in the manner as claimed by the Applicant.
Regarding claim 7,
The closest patent publication matches with the current invention is Yamaguchi et al. (US 11811435 B2). Yamaguchi teaches a power amplifier with an arrangement that matches closely with the power amplifier arrangement of the current invention; however, the arrangement in Yamaguchi fails to teach or disclose a demultiplexer interposed between the first low noise amplifier and the first antenna. Therefore, the power amplifier from Yamaguchi is not suitable for the application as claimed.
Regarding claim 10,
The closest patent publication matches with the current invention is Yamaguchi et al. (US 11811435 B2). Yamaguchi teaches a power amplifier with an arrangement that matches closely with the power amplifier arrangement of the current invention; however, the arrangement in Yamaguchi fails to teach or disclose the first and second input switches and the first and second demultiplexers. Therefore, the power amplifier from Yamaguchi is not suitable for the application as claimed.
Regarding claim 12,
The closest patent publication matches with the current invention is Yamaguchi et al. (US 11811435 B2). Yamaguchi teaches a power amplifier with an arrangement that matches closely with the power amplifier arrangement of the current invention; however, the arrangement in Yamaguchi fails to teach or disclose the first and second input switches and the first and second demultiplexers. Therefore, the power amplifier from Yamaguchi is not suitable for the application as claimed.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JOSE E PINERO whose telephone number is (703)756-4746. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM (ET).
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/JOSE E PINERO/Examiner, Art Unit 2843
/Jessica Han/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2843
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