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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant contends in page 8 of the remarks:
Applicant notes that Pehlke does not describe the switch 566 or Zo in any detail. However, as shown in FIG. 5, the switch 566 is labeled as a 5-throw (ST) switch. The four ports on the right side of the illustrated switch 566 and the port on the top (connected to Zo) of the illustrated switch are all on the same "side" of the switch (e.g., they are the five throws of the switch). The two ports on the left side of the illustrated switch 566 can be connected to any of the five ports on the right/top of the switch 566. However, the switch 566 is neither illustrated nor described as being able to connect any of the ports on the right side of the illustrated switch 566 (which is where the "receiver node" in claim 1 would be disposed according to the Office) to Zo (e.g., the port on the top of the illustrated switch 566). Therefore, Pehlke fails to describe or make obvious, at least, "a second switch coupled between the receiver node and a first terminal of a matched load having a second terminal coupled to ground," as claimed.
Examiner respectfully disagrees.
Claim 1 requires “a second switch coupled between the receiver node and a first terminal of a matched load having a second terminal coupled to ground”. The claim does NOT specify how the second switch is “coupled”. In Fig. 5A of Pehlke, second switch 566 is unambiguously “coupled” between the receiver node (right side of 500) and a first terminal A (as depicted in reproduced Fig. 5 below, under claim rejections).
Nevertheless, the bottom-most port of Pehlke’s 5-throw switch 566 has a “MATCH” with “B29Rx”, which a skilled artisan would appreciate is for “coupling” with a receive node/band.
As such, absent specific structural limitations recited to clearly discern the invention, prior art reads well on the breadth of claim 1.
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.
Claims 1 and 6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over “Pehlke” (US 2017/0195106).
Claim 1: Pehlke discloses an apparatus for wireless communication, comprising:
a plurality of antennas including a first antenna 130a (Fig. 1) and a second antenna 130b;
a first antenna tuner 120a coupled to the first antenna;
a second antenna tuner 120b coupled to the second antenna;
a transmitter 180;
a receiver 180;
an antenna switch array 320 (Fig. 3) having a first configuration in which the transmitter is coupled through the antenna switch array to drive the first antenna through the first antenna tuner and in which the second antenna tuner is coupled to a receiver node 302 and having a second configuration in which the transmitter is coupled through the antenna switch array to drive the second antenna through the second antenna tuner and in which the receiver node is coupled to the first antenna tuner (see Figs. 1 and 3 and ¶¶ 35-38);
a first switch 570 (SP2T, Fig. 5A reproduced below) coupled between the receiver node and a receive path in the receiver; and
a second switch 566 coupled between the receiver node and a first terminal A of a matched load (Zo) having a second terminal B coupled to ground.
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Claim 6: Pehlke teaches the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the apparatus comprises a user equipment (abstract).
Claim 2 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Pehlke (cited above) in view of Greene (US 2018/0026664).
Claim 2: Pehlke discloses the apparatus of claim 1, further comprising: a controller 140.
Pehlke is silent regarding the controller configured to adjust the second antenna tuner through a plurality of load values while the antenna switch array is in the first configuration, the first switch is open, and the second switch is closed to determine a first coupling factor between the first antenna and the second antenna; and a directional coupler coupled to a transmit path of the transmitter and configured to sample a forward signal directed through the transmit path towards the antenna switch array and further configured to detect a reverse signal directed through the transmit path from the antenna switch array.
Greene discloses a controller 106 (Fig. 1) configured to adjust the second antenna tuner 122 (¶ 48) through a plurality of load values while the antenna switch array 602 (Fig. 6) is in the first configuration, the first switch is open, and the second switch is closed to determine a first coupling factor between the first antenna and the second antenna (¶ 66); and a directional coupler 124 coupled to a transmit path of the transmitter 102 and configured to sample a forward signal directed through the transmit path towards the antenna switch array and further configured to detect a reverse signal directed through the transmit path from the antenna switch array (¶ 49).
Greene teaches in ¶ 49, “the tuning sensors 124 can utilize any suitable sensing technology such as directional couplers, voltage dividers, or other sensing technologies to measure signals at any stage of the transceiver 102. The digital samples of the measured signals can be provided to the controller 106 by way of analog-to-digital converters included in the tuning sensors 124. Data provided to the controller 106 by the tuning sensors 124 can be used to measure, for example, scalar and/or complex reflection coefficient, transmit power, transmitter efficiency, receiver sensitivity, power consumption of the communication device 100, frequency band selectivity by adjusting filter passbands, linearity and efficiency of power amplifiers, specific absorption rate (SAR) requirements, and so on. The controller 106 can be configured to execute one or more tuning algorithms to determine desired tuning states of the tunable circuit 122 based on the foregoing measurements. The controller 106 can also switch the primary and diversity antennas via RF switch 150 based on data obtained from the tuning sensors 124, including based on reflection measurements.”
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to modify Pehlke’s invention such that the controller configured to adjust the second antenna tuner through a plurality of load values while the antenna switch array is in the first configuration, the first switch is open, and the second switch is closed to determine a first coupling factor between the first antenna and the second antenna, and employ a directional coupler coupled to a transmit path of the transmitter and configured to sample a forward signal directed through the transmit path towards the antenna switch array and further configured to detect a reverse signal directed through the transmit path from the antenna switch array, in order to facilitate diversity switching between the first and antenna the second antenna.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-5, 8-9 and 22-25 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.
Claim 26 is allowed.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Regarding claim 26, none of the prior art shows, teaches or fairly suggests the features of “a controller configured to adjust the first antenna tuner to a load value that matches an impedance of the first antenna tuner to an impedance of the transmitter.”
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Itkin (US 10938425)
Alberth (US 8611829)
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HASAN ISLAM whose telephone number is (571)270-1719. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Thu 9AM-7PM EST.
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/HASAN ISLAM/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2845