Prosecution Insights
Last updated: April 19, 2026
Application No. 18/138,496

POWER SUPPLY CIRCUIT AND ELECTRONIC DEVICE COMPRISING SAME

Non-Final OA §102§103
Filed
Apr 24, 2023
Examiner
GRANT, ROBERT J
Art Unit
2859
Tech Center
2800 — Semiconductors & Electrical Systems
Assignee
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
76%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
3y 0m
To Grant
94%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 76% — above average
76%
Career Allow Rate
587 granted / 771 resolved
+8.1% vs TC avg
Strong +17% interview lift
Without
With
+17.4%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
3y 0m
Avg Prosecution
30 currently pending
Career history
801
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
0.9%
-39.1% vs TC avg
§103
60.6%
+20.6% vs TC avg
§102
31.5%
-8.5% vs TC avg
§112
5.6%
-34.4% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 771 resolved cases

Office Action

§102 §103
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 § 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 person shall be entitled to a patent unless – (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 1-2, 4, 12-13, and 15-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Yu (USPUB 2019/0181667). As to Claim 1, Yu discloses an electronic device comprising: a battery; a power supply circuit electrically connected to the battery; and a processor configured to: receive power through the power supply circuit, wherein the power supply circuit is further configured to, based on a ship mode command received from the processor at a first time, switch an operation mode of the electronic device to a ship mode of the electronic device by shutting off power supplied to the processor by the battery at a second time that is delayed from the first time by a preset time (Paragraph 17 and Figure 2, S06). As to Claim 2, Yu discloses the electronic device of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to, based on a command to power off the electronic device being received, generate the ship mode command and transmit the ship mode command to the power supply circuit (Paragraph 17). As to Claim 4, Yu discloses the electronic device of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to perform sequences of powering off the electronic device before the second time (Figure 2). As to Claim 12, Yu discloses a method performed by an electronic device, the method comprising: receiving, by a power supply circuit of the electronic device, a ship mode command from a processor of the electronic device at a first time; and switching, by the power supply circuit, an operation mode of the electronic device to a ship mode by shutting off power supplied to the processor by a battery at a second time that is delayed from the first time by a preset time (Paragraph 17, Figure 2, S06). As to Claim 13, Yu discloses the method of claim 12, further comprising: receiving, by the processor, a command to power off the electronic device; based on the command to power off being received, generating, by the processor, the ship mode command; and transmitting, by the processor, the generated ship mode command to the power supply circuit (Paragraph 17). circuit of the power supply circuit and the battery based on the ship mode command. As to Claim 15, Yu disclose the method of claim 12, wherein a voltage value of power supplied to the processor by the power supply circuit is less than or equal to a preset voltage value after the second time (Paragraph 17). As to Claim 16, Yu discloses an electronic device comprising: a battery; a power supply circuit electrically connected to the battery; and a processor configured to: receive power through the power supply circuit, wherein, when the processor generates a transportation mode command for switching the operation mode of the electronic device to the transportation mode at a first time, a voltage value of power supplied to the processor by the power supply circuit after a second time delayed by a predetermined time from the first time indicates a preset voltage value or less (Paragraph 17, Figure 2, S06). 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 3 and 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yu in view of El Markhi et al. (USPUB 2019/0348846). As to Claim 3, Yu discloses the electronic device of claim 1, but does not expressly disclose wherein the processor is further configured to, based on a voltage of the battery, the voltage being less than or equal to a preset voltage, generate the ship mode command and transmit the generated ship mode command to the power supply circuit. El Markhi discloses wherein the processor is further configured to, based on a voltage of the battery, the voltage being less than or equal to a preset voltage, generate the ship mode command and transmit the generated ship mode command to the power supply circuit (Paragraph 24). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of this invention to take the teachings of El Markhi and add it to the device of Yu so that when the voltage is less than or equal to a preset voltage, the device moves into ship mode to preserve battery power. As to Claim 11. Yu discloses the electronic device of claim 1, but does not expressly disclose wherein the electronic device is a mobile communication terminal, a smartwatch, or smart glasses. El Markhi discloses wherein the electronic device is a mobile communication terminal, a smartwatch, or smart glasses (Parargraph 14). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of this invention to use the circuitry of Yu, in an electronic device as disclosed by El Markhi, in order to preserve battery power in the device. Allowable Subject Matter Claims 5-10 and 14 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 Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ROBERT J GRANT whose telephone number is (571)270-5820. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 9am - 5:30pm. Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Drew Dunn can be reached at (571)272-2312. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /ROBERT GRANT/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2859
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Apr 24, 2023
Application Filed
Mar 07, 2026
Non-Final Rejection — §102, §103 (current)

Precedent Cases

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Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

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Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
76%
Grant Probability
94%
With Interview (+17.4%)
3y 0m
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 771 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allow rate.

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