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 § 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 1-14 and 21-25 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.
Claims 1 and 15 are indefinite for being misdescriptive. The claims recite that “a controller coupled to the switch to selectively connect one or more tunable filters…”. However, the claims also recite that “a reactive element in series with a switch” in previous lines. The switch, reactive element and resonator form a tunable filter, see figures 4A-7E. Therefore, “the switch” is a part of a tunable filter and is not selectively connected to one or more tunable filters.
Claims 2-14 and 22-25 are rejected for including the indefiniteness of claim 1 and 15.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
Claim(s) 1-14 and 21-25 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mori (US 20230163803).
Insofar as understood to claim 1, Mori et al.’s figure 3A(d) shows a device comprising: a first resonator (21. ¶0061 teaches that “[T]he circuit elements 21 and 22 are constituted by at least one inductor, capacitor, and an acoustic wave resonator.” Therefore, selecting 21 and 22 to be resonators is seen as an obvious design preference to ensure optimum performance); a second resonator (22) directly coupled to the first resonator at a first node; a third resonator (28) directly coupled to the first node and ground terminal; and a reactive element (29. Since Mori et al. suggests that “circuit element” 21 and 22 constituted by at least one of an inductor, a capacitor, and an acoustic wave resonator. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to constitute circuit element with one of an inductor and a capacitor for the purpose of achieving desired resonance frequency to ensure optimum performance) in series with a switch (27), wherein the reactive element includes at least one of a capacitor or an inductor, wherein the reactive element in series with the switch is connected in parallel with the resonator, wherein switching a state of the switch modifies at least one resonance frequency of the third resonator, a controller (not shown that controls switch 27, ¶0026) coupled to the switch to selectively connect the reactive element for selecting frequency responses associated with different lower and upper frequency limits, wherein: the first, second, and third resonators form at least a portion of a tunable filter; the tunable filter is configured to selectively modify a frequency response based on the state of the switch; and the tunable filter is operatively coupled between a radio-frequency (RF) transmitter (40 in figure 1, ¶0023) or RF receiver (50 in figure 1) and an antenna (2 in figure 1) in the communication device. Mori et al.’s figure 3B shows that switches 64 and 65 selectively connect one or more filters 61 and 62. One skilled in the art would have motivated to use filter circuit in figure 3 for each of the filter 61 and 62 for in order to achieve desired bandwidths, MPEP 2144.04.V.D. Therefore, the figures further show that the controller coupled to the switch (64 and 65) to selectively connect one or more tunable filters (61 and 62), the one or more tunable filters comprising resonators, the frequency responses comprising a first bandwidth corresponding to a first set of tunable filters and a second bandwidth corresponding to a second set of tunable filters (filter circuit comprising plurality of stages connected in parallel or series is well known in the art. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to include plurality of stages as shown in figure 3 in each of filter circuit 61 and 62 for the purpose achieving desired bandwidth).
As to claim 2, figure 3A(d) shows that the reactive element comprises: a capacitor (when capacitor is constituted for 29).
As to claims 3 and 4, figure 3A(d) fails to show that the capacitor is formed on a common die with the resonator or formed on a common die with the switch. However, electronic elements formed on a common die is well known in the art. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to form the capacitor and the resonator or form the capacitor and with switch on a common die for the purpose of saving space (further see ¶0066).
As to claim 5, figure 3A(d) shows that the reactive element comprises: an inductor (when inductor is constituted for 29).
As to claim 6, figure 3A(d) shows that modifying the at least one resonance frequency of the resonator by switching the state of the switch comprises: modifying at least one of a series resonance frequency or a parallel resonance frequency by switching the state of the switch.
Claims 7-11 recite similar limitations in claims above. Therefore, they are rejected for the same reasons. As further regarding claim 7, figure 1 further shows an antenna (2); a switching network (30 and switches shown in figure 3a-4b) connected as claimed.
As to claim 12, figure 3A(d) shows that the frequency response comprises at least one of a bandpass frequency response or a bandstop frequency response having a high-frequency cut-off or a low-frequency cut-off, wherein switching the state of the switch in the particular switchable resonator modifies at least one of the high-frequency cut-off or the low-frequency cut-off of the frequency response.
As to claim 13, figure 3A(d) shows that the one or more resonators are arranged in a ladder filter configuration.
As to claim 14, figures 3A(d) and 3A(c) shows an additional one of the one or more switchable resonators (figure 3A(c). Cascading plurality of filter circuit in series is well known in the art. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to cascade figures 3A(d) with additional circuit figure 3A(c)/3A(d) or more resonator circuit for the purpose of achieving desired filtered frequency) comprises: an additional one of the one or more resonators (P1) in series with an additional reactive element (Cp1), wherein the additional reactive element includes at least one of an additional capacitor or an additional inductor; and an additional switch (SWp1) in parallel with the additional reactive element, wherein switching a state of the additional switch modifies the frequency response of the filter by modifying at least one resonance frequency of the additional one of the one or more resonators.
As to claim 21, the figures show a communication device, comprising: a transmitter (40 in figure 1); a receiver (50 in figure 1); an antenna (2 in figure 1); a plurality of filters (20, 10 and ¶0052 or figures 3B) coupled between the transmitter, the receiver, and the antenna, wherein at least one filter of the plurality of filters comprises: a resonator; and a reactive element in series with a switch, wherein the reactive element includes at least one of a capacitor or an inductor, wherein the reactive element in series with the switch is connected in parallel with the resonator, wherein switching a state of the switch modifies at least one resonance frequency of the resonator; and a controller (not shown that controls switch 27 and switches 64 and 64 shown in figure 3B, ¶0026) coupled to the switch to selectively connect one or more tunable filters and the reactive element for selecting frequency responses associated with different lower and upper frequency limits, the one or more tunable filters comprising resonators, the frequency response comprising a first bandwidth corresponding to a first set of tunable filters and a second bandwidth corresponding to a second set of tunable filters; a plurality of switches configured to route signals between the transmitter, the receiver, the antenna, and the plurality of filters; and a controller (not shown that controls the switches) coupled to the switch of the at least one filter, wherein the controller is configured to control the state of the switch to modify a frequency response of the at least one filter (see the rejection of claim 1).
As to claim 22, the figures show that the reactive element comprises a capacitor (when capacitor is constituted for 29).
As to claim 23, the figures show that the reactive element comprises an inductor (when inductor is constituted for 29).
As to claim 24, the figures show that the step of modifying the at least one resonance frequency of the resonator by switching the state of the switch comprises modifying at least one of a series resonance frequency or a parallel resonance frequency.
As to claim 25, the figures show that the at least one filter comprises a ladder filter configuration.
Conclusion
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/QUAN TRA/
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2842