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 .
1.This office action is in response to the RCE filed on November 04,2025.
2. Claims 1-4,6,8-9 and 11-24 are pending and has been examined.
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
3. A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 11/04/2025 has been entered.
Drawings
4. Drawings submitted on 04/27/2023 are acceptable.
Claim objection
5. Claim 8 is objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 8 depend from claim 1 is improper. Claim 8 should be depend from claim 2 because of the claim languages of “the droop compensation circuit” and “the voltage source terminal” recites in claim 2. For this reason, examiner is unable to examine claim 8. Appropriate action is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
6. 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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) (a)(2)as being anticipated by Harriman “CN108336895”
In re to claim 1, Harriman discloses a voltage regulator (Figs. 6-7 shows a DC-DC converter configured to regulate a voltage at the output) , comprising:
a power converter (420 and 422 are configured to convert power from input to output) having a control input (voltage output from capacitor 626 and 636) and a power output (output power from amplifier 622 and 632) : and
a control circuit (620 and 630) having a feedback input (negative terminals of amplifier 622 and 632 are fed back from the output of 622 and 632 as a feedback input) , a reference input (624 and 634) , and a control output (output of 622 and 632) , the feedback input coupled to the power output (negative terminals of 622 and 632 are coupled the output of opamp), the control output coupled to the control input (output of 622 and 632 are coupled to the capacitor 626 and 636 output voltage, respectively), the control circuit configurable to: provide a control signal (driving control signals of TG/652 and BG/654) to set a first voltage at the power output responsive to a second voltage at the reference input responsive to the first voltage dropping to or below a value, provide the control signal to cause the first voltage to stay at the value (see page 12 lines 4-30)
Allowable Subject Matter
7. Claims 2-6 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:
Claim 2, the prior art of record fails to disclose or suggest the voltage regulator including the limitation of “a control generation circuit coupled between the output of the PI controller and the control output of the control circuit; a droop compensation circuit having a terminal coupled to a reference supply terminal, the droop compensation circuit including a second amplifier having an input and an output, the input of the second amplifier coupled to a voltage source terminal, the output of the second amplifier coupled to the second terminal of the PI controller, and the PI controller includes a resistor coupled in series with a capacitor between the output of the transconductance amplifier and the reference supply terminal. ”
Claims 2-4 and 6 depend on claim 1, thus are also objected because of their dependency.
8. Claims 9 and 11-24 are allowed.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance:
Claim 9 is allowed because the prior art of record fails to disclose or suggest a voltage regulator including the limitation of “ a droop compensation circuit having a first terminal coupled to the second terminal of the resistor and a second terminal coupled to the reference supply terminal, the droop compensation circuit capable of sinking a current from the output of the transconductance amplifier to the reference supply terminal.”
Claim 16 is allowed because the prior art of record fails to disclose or suggest a voltage regulator including the limitation of “a buffer having an input and an output; and a second resistor coupled between the first resistor and the output of the buffer.”
Claim 21 is allowed because the prior art of record fails to disclose or suggest a voltage regulator including the limitation of “ a second resistor having first and second terminals, the first terminal coupled to the second terminals of the first resistor and the second capacitor; a second amplifier having a voltage supply input, a reference input, a third input, and an output, the voltage supply input coupled to the reference supply terminal, the third input coupled to the output of the second amplifier and to the second terminal of the second resistor; control circuitry having first and second inputs and an output, the first input coupled to the output of the transconductance amplifier, the second input coupled to the second transistor, and the output coupled to the input of the driver circuitry.”
Claim 23 is allowed because the prior art of record fails to disclose or suggest voltage regulator including the limitation of “a current source having first and second terminals, and a control terminal, the first terminal coupled to the second terminals of the resistor and the second capacitor, the second terminal coupled to the reference supply terminal; a second amplifier having a reference input, a second input, and an output, the second input coupled to the output of the transconductance amplifier, the output coupled to the control terminal of the current source; control circuitry having first and second inputs and an output, the first input coupled to the output of the transconductance amplifier, the second input coupled to the second transistor, and the output coupled to the input of the driver circuitry.”
The closest art is Gou “78638875” and the present art to discloses a voltage regulator (Fig. 8) , comprising: a transconductance amplifier (241) having an input and an output (FB, Vout and output of 241 ), the input coupled to a voltage regulator output (Vout); a resistor having first and second terminals (R42) , the first terminal coupled to the output of the transconductance amplifier (241) ;a capacitor having first and second terminals (C43) , the first terminal coupled to the second terminal of the resistor (R42), the second terminal coupled to a reference supply terminal (ground); and a droop compensation circuit (244) having a first terminal coupled to the second terminal of the resistor (302) and a second terminal coupled to the reference supply terminal (ground via 301) . However, Gou fails to discloses the limitation listed above.
The art of record does not disclose the above limitations, nor would it be obvious to modify the art of record so as to include either of the above limitations.
Claims 11-15 depend from claim 9, thus are also allowed because of their dependency.
Claims 17-20 depend from claim 16, thus are also allowed because of their dependency.
Claim 22 depend from claim 21, thus is also allowed because of its dependency.
Claim 24 depend from claim 23, thus is also allowed because of its dependency.
Conclusion
9. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Xu “20230299675” the present invention is designed to prevent the voltage at the output of the error amplifier from going either above or below a skip clamp voltage when the DC-DC voltage converter is in a skip mode.
Sahu “20140084887” the switching regulator further includes a comparator responsive to the droop voltage and a current sense signal. The comparator is configured to initiate switching in the switching regulator.
Du “20170322575” the present disclosure generally relates to power management systems. More specifically, aspects of the present disclosure relate to headroom control in a voltage regulator system.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SISAY G TIKU whose telephone number is (571)272-6898. The examiner can normally be reached 8:30AM-6:00PM. 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, Tran, Thienvu Vu can be reached on (571) 270-1276. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/SISAY G TIKU/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2838