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 Amendment
Applicant’s amendments filed 12/15/2025 have been entered into the record.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, filed 12/15/2025, with respect to the rejection(s) of claim(s) 1 and 16-18 under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) have been fully considered and are persuasive. Applicant’s amendment to claim 1 includes a limitation not taught by Kawai, thus overcoming the rejection set out in the previous Office Action. In light of said amendment, the rejection is withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of Khlat et al. (U.S. Pub. No. US 2015/0117281 A1), a reference not relied upon in the previous office action.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1-3, 6, 9-10, and 16-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kawai (U.S. Pub. No. 2015/0070242 A1) in view of Khlat et al. (U.S. Pub. No. 2015/0117281 A1), hereinafter Khlat.
Regarding claim 1, Kawai teaches (note: what Kawai does not teach is struck through),
A Radio Frequency, RF, phase shifter (abs., “…both functions of a single-phase-differential conversion and a phase shifter are realized.”) comprising:
a first transformer (fig. 5, phase shifter 10) comprising:
a primary winding coupled to a first RF port of the RF phase shifter (fig. 5, winding 11); and
a secondary winding that is magnetically coupled to the primary winding (fig. 5, winding 12);
at least one capacitor circuit (fig. 5, phase shifter circuit 10) having:
a first terminal coupled to the secondary winding of the first transformer; and a second terminal coupled to a primary winding of a second transformer (fig. 5, capacitors 14 and 15 both have one terminal connected to secondary winding 12 and the other connected to the primary winding of balun 53); and
the second transformer (fig. 5, balun 53) comprising:
the primary winding coupled to the second terminal of the at least one capacitor circuit (fig. 5, capacitors 14 and 15 are both connected to the primary winding of balun 53); and
a secondary winding coupled to a second RF port of the RF phase shifter (fig. 5, right-hand winding of balun 53 is connected to output port N52); and wherein a phase shift at the second RF port of the RF phase shifter relative to the first RF port of the RF phase shifter is a function of an inductance of the secondary winding of the first transformer, a capacitance of the at least one capacitor circuit, and an inductance of the primary winding of the second transformer (para. 0044, “As described above, in the phase shifter 10 in the present embodiment, the variable capacitor 13 and the variable capacitors 14, 15 are connected in series with respect to the single-phase side and the differential side, respectively, of the balun using the transformer including the inductors 11, 12. By controlling a phase shift amount of an output signal by controlling the capacitance values of the variable capacitors 13, 14, 15 with the use of the control signal VCNT, a desired pass phase can be obtained, and it is possible to realize both functions of the single-phase-differential conversion and the phase shifter with the use of one balun.”),
Khlat teaches,
… wherein the phase shift at the second RF port of the RF phase shifter relative to the first RF port of the RF phase shifter is tunable by tuning the inductance of the primary winding of the second transformer (para. 0125, “The inductor 152B of the resonator R(2,1) and the inductor 156B of the resonator (2,2) form a differential transformer. The differential transformer provides the differential phase shift discussed above with respect to FIGS. 3A-3D. More specifically, the inductor portion 170B of the inductor 152B is magnetically coupled to the inductor portion 176B of the inductor 156B. The inductor portion 172B of the inductor 152B is magnetically coupled to the inductor portion 174B of the inductor 156B. As such, a differential RF signal having a positive side signal received at the end 160B of the inductor 152B and a negative side being transmitted out of the end 162B of the inductor 152B results in a filtered differential RF signal having a positive side transmitted into the end 166B of the inductor 156B and a negative side transmitted out of the end 164B of the inductor 156B. Providing the differential phase shift with the differential transformer formed by the inductor 152B and the inductor 156B improves the performance of the tunable RF diplexer 10 shown in FIG. 9 since the differential transformer has less dependency on common mode inductances.”).
Kawai and Khlat are both analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of endeavor. It would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Kawai with the tunable inductance of Khlat because the tunable inductance of Khlat reduces dependency on common mode inductances, improving its performance.
Regarding claim 3, Kawai in view of Khlat teaches the RF phase shifter of claim 1. Kawai further teaches,
…wherein at least one parameter of the RF phase shifter is configurable, the at least one parameter comprising: a) the inductance of the secondary winding of the first transformer; b) the capacitance of the at least one capacitor circuit; c) the inductance of the primary winding of the second transformer; or d) a combination of any two or more of (a)-(c) (para. 0034-0035, “Capacitance values of the variable capacitors 13, 14, 15 are controlled in accordance with a control signal VCNT input from the control terminal 19…the phase shifter 10 includes a balun using a transformer converting a single-phase signal into a differential signal or converting a differential signal into a single-phase signal with the use of a coupling of magnetic fluxes of the mutual inductors 11, 12. The variable capacitor 13 and the variable capacitors 14, 15 are connected in series with respect to the single-phase side and the differential side, respectively, of this balun.”).
Regarding claim 6, Kawai in view of Khlat teaches the RF phase shifter of claim 1. Kawai further teaches,
…wherein a capacitance of the at least one capacitor circuit is configurable (para. 0034, “Capacitance values of the variable capacitors 13, 14, 15 are controlled in accordance with a control signal”).
Regarding claim 9, Kawai in view of Khlat teaches the RF phase shifter of claim 1. Kawai further teaches,
…wherein the first RF port of the RF phase shifter is a single-ended first RF port (para. 0049, “single-phase signal input from the input end N51”).
Regarding claim 10, Kawai in view of Khlat teaches the RF phase shifter of claim 9. Kawai further teaches,
…wherein one tap of the primary winding of the first transformer is coupled to the single-ended first RF port (fig. 5, top tap of primary winding is connected to single-ended first RF port N51).
Regarding claim 16, Kawai teaches (note: what Kawai does not teach is struck through),
A phased-array transceiver system (abs., “…both functions of a single-phase-differential conversion and a phase shifter are realized.”) comprising: a plurality of antennas (para. 0060, “The phased array antenna includes arrayed plurality of antennas”) and a plurality of transmit or receive branches (para. 0060, “The phased array antenna can distribute a signal from a single signal source at a time of transmission, control an excitation phase of each antenna by changing each pass phase of the phase shifter, and control a maximum gain direction (main beam direction). The phased array antenna can receive, at a time of reception, only a signal from the maximum gain direction by shifting phases of signals received by the respective antennas in the respective phase shifters and combining the resultants, and can control a reception direction by changing the pass phase of the phase shifter.”); and a Radio Frequency, RF, phase shifter (abs., “…both functions of a single-phase-differential conversion and a phase shifter are realized.”) comprising: a first transformer (fig. 5, phase shifter 10) comprising: a primary winding coupled to a first RF port of the RF phase shifter (fig. 5, winding 11); and a secondary winding that is magnetically coupled to the primary winding (fig. 5, winding 12); at least one capacitor circuit (fig. 5, phase shifter circuit 10) having: a first terminal coupled to the secondary winding of the first transformer; and a second terminal coupled to a primary winding of a second transformer (fig. 5, capacitors 14 and 15 both have one terminal connected to a secondary winding 12 and the other connected to the primary winding of balun 53); and the second transformer (fig. 5, balun 53) comprising: the primary winding coupled to the second terminal of the at least one capacitor circuit (fig. 5, capacitors 14 and 15 are both connected to the primary winding of balun 53); and a secondary winding coupled to a second RF port of the RF phase shifter (fig. 5, right-hand winding of balun 53 is connected to output port N52); and wherein a phase shift at the second RF port of the RF phase shifter relative to the first RF port of the RF phase shifter is a function of an inductance of the secondary winding of the first transformer, a capacitance of the at least one capacitor circuit, and an inductance of the primary winding of the second transformer (para. 0044, “As described above, in the phase shifter 10 in the present embodiment, the variable capacitor 13 and the variable capacitors 14, 15 are connected in series with respect to the single-phase side and the differential side, respectively, of the balun using the transformer including the inductors 11, 12. By controlling a phase shift amount of an output signal by controlling the capacitance values of the variable capacitors 13, 14, 15 with the use of the control signal VCNT, a desired pass phase can be obtained, and it is possible to realize both functions of the single-phase-differential conversion and the phase shifter with the use of one balun. .”),
Khlat teaches,
… wherein the phase shift at the second RF port of the RF phase shifter relative to the first RF port of the RF phase shifter is tunable by tuning the inductance of the primary winding of the second transformer (para. 0125, “The inductor 152B of the resonator R(2,1) and the inductor 156B of the resonator (2,2) form a differential transformer. The differential transformer provides the differential phase shift discussed above with respect to FIGS. 3A-3D. More specifically, the inductor portion 170B of the inductor 152B is magnetically coupled to the inductor portion 176B of the inductor 156B. The inductor portion 172B of the inductor 152B is magnetically coupled to the inductor portion 174B of the inductor 156B. As such, a differential RF signal having a positive side signal received at the end 160B of the inductor 152B and a negative side being transmitted out of the end 162B of the inductor 152B results in a filtered differential RF signal having a positive side transmitted into the end 166B of the inductor 156B and a negative side transmitted out of the end 164B of the inductor 156B. Providing the differential phase shift with the differential transformer formed by the inductor 152B and the inductor 156B improves the performance of the tunable RF diplexer 10 shown in FIG. 9 since the differential transformer has less dependency on common mode inductances.”).
Kawai and Khlat are both analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of endeavor. It would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Kawai with the tunable inductance of Khlat because the tunable inductance of Khlat reduces dependency on common mode inductances, improving its performance.
Regarding claim 17, Kawai teaches (note: what Kawai does not teach is struck through),
A wireless communication device (para. 0060, “The phased array antenna is used for a mobile communication, a radar and the like, for example”) comprising a phased-array transceiver system (para. 0060, “The phased array antenna includes arrayed plurality of antennas, and can electrically control a directivity. The phased array antenna is used for a mobile communication, a radar and the like, for example. The phased array antenna can distribute a signal from a single signal source at a time of transmission, control an excitation phase of each antenna by changing each pass phase of the phase shifter, and control a maximum gain direction (main beam direction). The phased array antenna can receive, at a time of reception, only a signal from the maximum gain direction by shifting phases of signals received by the respective antennas in the respective phase shifters and combining the resultants, and can control a reception direction by changing the pass phase of the phase shifter.”), the phase array transceiver system comprising: a plurality of antennas and a plurality of transmit or receive branches; and a Radio Frequency, RF, phase shifter (abs., “…both functions of a single-phase-differential conversion and a phase shifter are realized.”) comprising: a first transformer (fig. 5, phase shifter 10) comprising: a primary winding coupled to a first RF port of the RF phase shifter (fig. 5, winding 11); and a secondary winding that is magnetically coupled to the primary winding (fig. 5, winding 12); at least one capacitor circuit (fig. 5, phase shifter circuit 10) having: a first terminal coupled to the secondary winding of the first transformer; and a second terminal coupled to a primary winding of a second transformer (fig. 5, capacitors 14 and 15 both have one terminal connected to a secondary winding 12 and the other connected to the primary winding of balun 53); and the second transformer (fig. 5, balun 53) comprising: the primary winding coupled to the second terminal of the at least one capacitor circuit (fig. 5, capacitors 14 and 15 are both connected to the primary winding of balun 53); and a secondary winding coupled to a second RF port of the RF phase shifter (fig. 5, right-hand winding of balun 53 is connected to output port N52); and wherein a phase shift at the second RF port of the RF phase shifter relative to the first RF port of the RF phase shifter is a function of an inductance of the secondary winding of the first transformer, a capacitance of the at least one capacitor circuit, and an inductance of the primary winding of the second transformer (para. 0044, “As described above, in the phase shifter 10 in the present embodiment, the variable capacitor 13 and the variable capacitors 14, 15 are connected in series with respect to the single-phase side and the differential side, respectively, of the balun using the transformer including the inductors 11, 12. By controlling a phase shift amount of an output signal by controlling the capacitance values of the variable capacitors 13, 14, 15 with the use of the control signal VCNT, a desired pass phase can be obtained, and it is possible to realize both functions of the single-phase-differential conversion and the phase shifter with the use of one balun. .”),
Khlat teaches,
… wherein the phase shift at the second RF port of the RF phase shifter relative to the first RF port of the RF phase shifter is tunable by tuning the inductance of the primary winding of the second transformer (para. 0125, “The inductor 152B of the resonator R(2,1) and the inductor 156B of the resonator (2,2) form a differential transformer. The differential transformer provides the differential phase shift discussed above with respect to FIGS. 3A-3D. More specifically, the inductor portion 170B of the inductor 152B is magnetically coupled to the inductor portion 176B of the inductor 156B. The inductor portion 172B of the inductor 152B is magnetically coupled to the inductor portion 174B of the inductor 156B. As such, a differential RF signal having a positive side signal received at the end 160B of the inductor 152B and a negative side being transmitted out of the end 162B of the inductor 152B results in a filtered differential RF signal having a positive side transmitted into the end 166B of the inductor 156B and a negative side transmitted out of the end 164B of the inductor 156B. Providing the differential phase shift with the differential transformer formed by the inductor 152B and the inductor 156B improves the performance of the tunable RF diplexer 10 shown in FIG. 9 since the differential transformer has less dependency on common mode inductances.”).
Kawai and Khlat are both analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of endeavor. It would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Kawai with the tunable inductance of Khlat because the tunable inductance of Khlat reduces dependency on common mode inductances, improving its performance.
Claims 7-8 and 12-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kawai in view of Khlat as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Hageman et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 9093984 B1).
Regarding claim 7, Kawai discloses (note: what Kawai does not disclose is struck through),
The RF phase shifter of claim 1
Hageman et al. discloses,
…wherein the first RF port of the RF phase shifter is a differential first RF port (fig. 1b, differential RF input signal 102. See also col. 2, lines 13-14, “The RF signal received at RF port 102 is a differential RF input signal”).
Kawai and Hageman et al. are both analogous to the claimed invention because both references disclose phase shifters. It would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the RF phase shifter of Kawai with the differential first port of Hageman et al. because a differential input path allows for separate modulation of the I and Q components (see Hageman et al., col. 1, lines 14-20).
Regarding claim 8, Kawai further discloses,
The RF phase shifter of claim 7 wherein one tap of the primary winding of the first transformer is coupled to a positive port of the differential first RF port and another tap of the primary winding of the first transformer is coupled to a negative port of the differential first RF port (para. 0044, “As described above, in the phase shifter 10 in the present embodiment, the variable capacitor 13 and the variable capacitors 14, 15 are connected in series with respect to the single-phase side and the differential side, respectively, of the balun using the transformer including the inductors 11, 12.”).
Regarding claim 12, Kawai further discloses,
The RF phase shifter of claim 7 wherein: two taps of the secondary winding of the first transformer serve as a differential port of the first transformer (fig. 5, para. 048, “A predistorter 50 in the present embodiment disposed at a previous stage of a differential amplifier 52, converts a single-phase signal input from an input end N51 into a differential signal, and outputs the differential signal after giving, to the signal, a phase distortion whose characteristic is opposite to that of a phase distortion of the differential amplifier 52.”); and the at least one capacitor circuit comprises: a first capacitor circuit having a first terminal that is coupled to a positive port of the differential port of the first transformer and a second terminal coupled to a tap of the primary winding of the second transformer that serves as a positive port of a differential port of the second transformer; and a second capacitor circuit having a first terminal that is coupled to a quadrature-phase port of the differential port of the first transformer and a second terminal coupled to a tap of the primary winding of the second transformer that serves as a quadrature-phase port of the differential port of the second transformer.
Regarding claim 13, Kawai further discloses,
The RF phase shifter of claim 7 wherein the second RF port of the RF phase shifter is a single-ended second RF port (fig. 5, N52).
Regarding claim 14, Kawai discloses (note: what Kawai does not disclose is struck through),
The RF phase shifter of claim 7
Hageman et al. discloses,
… wherein the second RF port of the RF phase shifter is a differential second RF port (fig. 1B, differential output signals after phase shifters 106a, 106b. See also col. 2, lines 35-46, “First TTD device 106a and second TTD device 106b phase shift the differential signals from power splitter 104 on each output path 103 and 105 relative to the differential RF input signal at RF port 102. One of first TTD device 106a and second TTD device 106b also phase shifts the differential signals from power splitter 104 ninety degrees relative to each other to generate the Q-signal.”).
It would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the phase shifter of Kawai with the differential second RF port of Hageman et al. because a differential output RF port allows for four-quadrant control over the differential signal, as well as modification of the I/Q amplification ratio (see Hageman et al., col. 3, lines 12-45).
Claim 15 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kawai in view of Khlat as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Ku et al. (U.S. Pub. No. 2019/0081399 A1).
Regarding claim 15, Kawai discloses (note: what Kawai does not disclose is struck through),
The RF phase shifter of claim 1 wherein: (fig. 5, capacitors 12 and 15 are connected through amp 52 to the primary winding of second transformer 53);
Ku et al. discloses,
…the RF phase shifter is an RF phase shifter and combiner/splitter (para. 0076, “FIG. 7 illustrates an exemplary system 700 including a configurable power combiner and splitter according to aspects of the present disclosure.”), the first RF port is a first split RF port (fig. 7, RF port entering phase shifter 708 is a split RF part); the second RF port is a combined RF port (fig. 7, RF port leaving phase shifter is power combiners 710)…and the RF phase shifter and combiner/splitter further comprises: a third transformer comprising (fig. 4A discloses two transformers that are connected in a combiner/splitter): a primary winding coupled to a second split RF port of the RF a secondary winding that is magnetically coupled to the primary winding (fig. 4A, transformer 412); and at least one second capacitor circuit having: a first terminal coupled to the secondary winding of the third transformer; and a second terminal coupled to a second separate portion of the primary windings of the second transformer (capacitor C1 is connected to both the primary winding of transformer 410 and secondary winding of transformer 412).
Ku et al. is analogous to the claimed invention because it discloses an RF device that includes phase shifters. It would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the RF phase shifter of Kawai with the combiner/splitter of Ku et al. because Ku et al. discloses a phase shifter as part of the combiner/splitter network of fig. 7. Using Kawai’s phase shifter as the particular phase shifter 708 in Ku et al.’s network is a simple substitution of one known element for another with predictable results. See MPEP 2143.
Claim 18 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kawai in view of Khlat and further in view of Ku et al. (U.S. Pub. No. 2019/0081399 A1).
Regarding claim 18, Kawai discloses (note: what Kawai does not disclose is struck through),
(para. 0060, “The phased array antenna includes arrayed plurality of antennas, and can electrically control a directivity. The phased array antenna is used for a mobile communication, a radar and the like, for example. The phased array antenna can distribute a signal from a single signal source at a time of transmission, control an excitation phase of each antenna by changing each pass phase of the phase shifter, and control a maximum gain direction (main beam direction). The phased array antenna can receive, at a time of reception, only a signal from the maximum gain direction by shifting phases of signals received by the respective antennas in the respective phase shifters and combining the resultants, and can control a reception direction by changing the pass phase of the phase shifter.”), the phase array transceiver system comprising: a plurality of antennas and a plurality of transmit or receive branches; and a Radio Frequency, RF, phase shifter (abs., “…both functions of a single-phase-differential conversion and a phase shifter are realized.”) comprising: a first transformer (fig. 5, phase shifter 10) comprising: a primary winding coupled to a first RF port of the RF phase shifter (fig. 5, winding 11); and a secondary winding that is magnetically coupled to the primary winding (fig. 5, winding 12); at least one capacitor circuit (fig. 5, phase shifter circuit 10) having: a first terminal coupled to the secondary winding of the first transformer; and a second terminal coupled to a primary winding of a second transformer (fig. 5, capacitors 14 and 15 both have one terminal connected to a secondary winding 12 and the other connected to the primary winding of balun 53); and the second transformer (fig. 5, balun 53) comprising: the primary winding coupled to the second terminal of the at least one capacitor circuit (fig. 5, capacitors 14 and 15 are both connected to the primary winding of balun 53); and a secondary winding coupled to a second RF port of the RF phase shifter (fig. 5, right-hand winding of balun 53 is connected to output port N52); and wherein a phase shift at the second RF port of the RF phase shifter relative to the first RF port of the RF phase shifter is a function of an inductance of the secondary winding of the first transformer, a capacitance of the at least one capacitor circuit, and an inductance of the primary winding of the second transformer (para. 0044, “As described above, in the phase shifter 10 in the present embodiment, the variable capacitor 13 and the variable capacitors 14, 15 are connected in series with respect to the single-phase side and the differential side, respectively, of the balun using the transformer including the inductors 11, 12. By controlling a phase shift amount of an output signal by controlling the capacitance values of the variable capacitors 13, 14, 15 with the use of the control signal VCNT, a desired pass phase can be obtained, and it is possible to realize both functions of the single-phase-differential conversion and the phase shifter with the use of one balun.”),
Khlat teaches,
… wherein the phase shift at the second RF port of the RF phase shifter relative to the first RF port of the RF phase shifter is tunable by tuning the inductance of the primary winding of the second transformer (para. 0125, “The inductor 152B of the resonator R(2,1) and the inductor 156B of the resonator (2,2) form a differential transformer. The differential transformer provides the differential phase shift discussed above with respect to FIGS. 3A-3D. More specifically, the inductor portion 170B of the inductor 152B is magnetically coupled to the inductor portion 176B of the inductor 156B. The inductor portion 172B of the inductor 152B is magnetically coupled to the inductor portion 174B of the inductor 156B. As such, a differential RF signal having a positive side signal received at the end 160B of the inductor 152B and a negative side being transmitted out of the end 162B of the inductor 152B results in a filtered differential RF signal having a positive side transmitted into the end 166B of the inductor 156B and a negative side transmitted out of the end 164B of the inductor 156B. Providing the differential phase shift with the differential transformer formed by the inductor 152B and the inductor 156B improves the performance of the tunable RF diplexer 10 shown in FIG. 9 since the differential transformer has less dependency on common mode inductances.”).
Kawai and Khlat are both analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of endeavor. It would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Kawai with the tunable inductance of Khlat because the tunable inductance of Khlat reduces dependency on common mode inductances, improving its performance.
Ku et al. discloses,
A base station for a radio access network (para. 0024, “Alternatively, the antenna may be a base station antenna tile with a patch array configuration, also shown in FIG. 6.”)
It would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the RF phase shifter of Kawai in the base station of Ku et al. because Kawai suggests using the disclosed phased array antenna for mobile communication, and a base station is a common element of a mobile communication system.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4-5 and 11 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Regarding claim 4, Kawai does not disclose a transformer with multiple taps. Babaie et al. (U.S. Pub. No. 2016/0099685 A1) discloses a transformer with multiple taps (fig. 4, ideal transformer 124). However, Babaie et al. does not disclose switching circuitry that selectively couples at least one of the multiple taps of ground to thereby configure the secondary winding of the first transformer to have one of a plurality of inductance values.
Therefore, the prior art of record fails to anticipate or render obvious, individually or in combination, the limitations of claim 4.
Claim 5 would be allowable because it depends on claim 4, and therefore contains all the limitations of claim 4.
Regarding claim 11, Kawai discloses a capacitor circuit having a first terminal that is coupled to the single-ended port of the first transformer and a second terminal coupled to a tap of the primary winding of the second transformer that serves as a single-ended port of the second transformer (fig. 5, capacitors 12 and 15). However, Kawai does not disclose a tap of the secondary winding of the first transformer serves as a single-ended port of the first transformer.
Therefore, the prior art of record fails to anticipate or render obvious, individually or in combination, the limitations of claim 11.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Mori (U.S. Pat. No. 4725767) discloses a phase shifter that uses transformers and capacitor circuits to alter the phase of an RF signal
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/Anna K. Gosling/Examiner, Art Unit 3648
/VLADIMIR MAGLOIRE/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3648