Office Action Predictor
Last updated: April 15, 2026
Application No. 18/218,478

POWER AMPLIFIER WITH PROGRAMMABLE BANDWIDTH

Non-Final OA §102§103
Filed
Jul 05, 2023
Examiner
CHOE, HENRY
Art Unit
2843
Tech Center
2800 — Semiconductors & Electrical Systems
Assignee
Apple INC.
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
92%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
1y 10m
To Grant
91%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 92% — above average
92%
Career Allow Rate
1238 granted / 1339 resolved
+24.5% vs TC avg
Minimal -2% lift
Without
With
+-1.5%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Fast prosecutor
1y 10m
Avg Prosecution
29 currently pending
Career history
1368
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
0.5%
-39.5% vs TC avg
§103
37.3%
-2.7% vs TC avg
§102
47.2%
+7.2% vs TC avg
§112
3.8%
-36.2% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 1339 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. Claim(s) 1 and 2 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by [Mao et al (Fig. 4); 11,108,372]. Regarding claim 1, Mao et al discloses an electronic device comprising a first branch (INP, 302, 304, OUT) comprising a first capacitor (318), a second branch (INN, 302, 304, 310) comprising a second capacitor (320), an impedance matching circuit (312, 316, 314, 324, 322, 326, 328, 306, 308) comprising a programmable primary inductor circuit (312, 316, 314, 324, 326) coupled to the first branch (INP, 302, 304, OUT) and the second branch (INN, 302, 304, 310) and wherein the programmable primary inductor circuit (312, 316, 314, 324, 326) comprising a fixed inductor (326) and a switching circuit (316, 324) coupled to the fixed inductor (326) and the switching circuit (316, 324) comprising a plurality of switches, and a switchable inductor (312, 314) coupled to the switching circuit (316, 324), and a secondary inductor (328). Regarding claim 2, wherein the switchable inductor (314) is configured to couple to the fixed inductor (326) via the switching circuit (316). 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) 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over [Mao et al (Fig. 4); 11,108,372] in view of [Hamparian (Fig. 1); 8,335,542]. Mao et al discloses all the limitations in claim 7 except for that the further comprising a digital to analog converter coupled to the first branch and second branch and wherein the digital to analog converter configured to receive outgoing data. Hamparian discloses an amplifier circuit comprising a digital to analog converter (124a, 124b) coupled to the first branch (121a) and second branch (121b) and wherein the digital to analog converter (124a, 124b) configured to receive outgoing data (S1, S2). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made would have found it obvious to have employed the digital to analog converter at the input terminals of the first branch and second branch of Mao et al (Fig. 4), such as taught by Hamparian (Fig. 1) in order to provide the advantageous benefit of improving the transmission signals of the amplifier circuit. Allowable Subject Matter Claims 3-6 and 8 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. Allowable Subject Matter Claims 9-20 are allowed. Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Henry Choe whose telephone number is (703)774-4614. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 6:00 AM- 6:00 PM EST. 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/interview practice. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Andrea J Lindgren Baltzell can be reached on (571)272-5918. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. /HENRY CHOE/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2843 #2935
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Prosecution Timeline

Jul 05, 2023
Application Filed
Feb 19, 2025
Response after Non-Final Action
Dec 15, 2025
Non-Final Rejection — §102, §103
Apr 02, 2026
Response Filed

Precedent Cases

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Patent 12580545
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2y 5m to grant Granted Mar 17, 2026
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
92%
Grant Probability
91%
With Interview (-1.5%)
1y 10m
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 1339 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allow rate.

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