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 § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim 14 recites the limitation "the first driver and the second driver" in claim 14. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 15 recites the limitation "the single driver" and “the first temperature range” in claim 15. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
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, 2, 6, 10, 11, and 17-19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Quevy et al (Pub 2006/0261703, further referred to as Quevy).
As to claim 1, Quevy teaches an apparatus (fig 1), comprising:
a set of resonators (12) having different turnover temperatures (paragraph 20);
at least one driver (10);
a set of switches (switches in 10, paragraph 17) to couple the at least one driver to the set of resonators; and
a control circuit (16 and 18) coupled to the set of switches, wherein the control circuit is to obtain a temperature from a temperature sensor (14), classify the temperature into a selected temperature range of a plurality of temperature ranges (paragraphs 18-20) and control the set of switches to couple the at least one driver to a first selected resonator of the set of resonators having a turnover temperature in the selected temperature range (paragraph 18 and claim 1).
As to claim 2, Quevy teaches wherein each of the resonators has a turnover temperature
in a different temperature range of the plurality of temperature ranges (paragraph 20 and claim 7).
As to claim 6, Quevy teaches wherein each resonator of the set of resonators comprises
a Microelectromechanical Systems (MEMS) resonator (claim 4), and a doping concentration is different for each MEMS resonator (paragraph 20, different PPM between each resonator over the range).
As to claim 10, Quevy teaches at least one of an integrated circuit (abstract, paragraph 7), a System on Chip, a System in Package or a computing device in which the set of resonators, the at least one driver, the set of switches and the control circuit are provided.
As to claim 11, Quevy teaches an apparatus (fig 1), comprising:
a set of resonators (12) having different turnover temperatures (paragraph 20);
at least one driver (10) to drive a first resonator having a first turnover temperature and a second resonator having a second turnover temperature (12, having a plurality of resonators each with different turnover temperatures, paragraph 20), different than the first turnover temperature;
a set of switches (switches in 10, paragraph 17) to couple the at least one driver to the set of resonators; and
a control circuit (16 and 18) coupled to the set of switches, wherein the control circuit is to obtain a temperature from a temperature sensor (14), classify the temperature into a selected temperature range of a plurality of temperature ranges (paragraphs 18-20) and control the set of switches to couple the at least one driver to the first resonator when the temperature is in a first temperature range corresponding to the first turnover temperature (paragraphs 18-20); and
when the temperature changes to a second temperature range corresponding to the
second turnover temperature, control the set of switches to couple the at least one driver to
the second resonator (paragraphs 18-20 and claim 1)..
As to claim 17, Quevy teaches an apparatus (fig 1), comprising:
a memory to store instructions (16); and
a processor (18) to execute the instructions to :
obtain a temperature from a temperature sensor (14);
determine that the temperature is in a first temperature range (paragraphs 18-20); and
and control a set of switches (paragraph 17) to couple the at least one driver (10) to a first selected resonator of the set of resonators having a turnover temperature in the selected temperature range (paragraph 18 and claim 1).
As to claim 18, Quevy teaches wherein each of the resonators has a turnover temperature
in a different temperature range of the plurality of temperature ranges (paragraph 20 and claim 7).
As to claim 19, Quevy teaches control the set of switches to couple the at least one driver to a second resonator of the set of resonators when the temperature changes to a second temperature range, wherein the second resonator has a turnover temperature in the second temperature range (paragraphs 17-20).
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) 3-5 and 7-9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Quevy.
As to claim 3, Quevy teaches an apparatus (fig 1), comprising:
a set of resonators (12) having different turnover temperatures (paragraph 20);
at least one driver (10);
a set of switches (switches in 10, paragraph 17) to couple the at least one driver to the set of resonators; and
a control circuit (16 and 18) coupled to the set of switches, wherein the control circuit is to obtain a temperature from a temperature sensor (14), classify the temperature into a selected temperature range of a plurality of temperature ranges (paragraphs 18-20) and control the set of switches to couple the at least one driver to a first selected resonator of the set of resonators having a turnover temperature in the selected temperature range (paragraph 18 and claim 1), with each resonator set by the user of a desired range (paragraph 20).
Quevy does not explicitly teach the temperature range unequal in width and include a narrowest temperature range adjacent to wider temperature ranges.
As would have been recognized by a person of ordinary skill in the art the choosing of the temperature ranges and ranges in which they cover is merely a matter of design choice to choosing a user desired temperature range and resonators used from the teaching of Quevy (Quevy teaches using switched resonators to cover a temperature range, a person of ordinary skill would recognize that the range can be covered with or without overlaps depending the number of user desired resonators used in the switching array). As such it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the invention to modify the resonators in Quevy such that the temperature range unequal in width and include a narrowest temperature range adjacent to wider temperature ranges as doing so would be a mere matter of design choice to choosing a user desired setting for the resonators and the amount of resonators used.
As to claim 4, Quevy teaches a driver circuit (10), with automatic gain compensation. It would be obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to use a set of drivers and a different driver for each resonator as it would be mere matter of design choice to choosing a tuning method to have automatic gain of the oscillator tuned for each resonator.
As to claim 5, Quevy teaches switch when the temperature reaches a switch over temperature (paragraph 20). It would be obvious to a person ordinary skill in the art to have it be during the hysteresis as it would be a mere matter of design choice to choosing a user desired timing switch resonators.
As to claim 7, Quevy teaches that each resonator operates in a different temperature range (paragraph 20) where dimensions of the resonator is affected by temperature (paragraph 31). It would be obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to have the crystals have different cut angles as doing so would be a mere matter of design choice to choosing the crystal dimension to different temperature tolerances.
As to claim 8 and 9, Quevy teaches that each resonator operates in a different temperature range (paragraph 20) where dimensions of the resonator is affected by temperature (paragraph 31). As would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art having the resonators be different thickness is done merely as a design choice to different resonators operating over a temperature range.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 12-16 and 20 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.
None of the cited prior art teach or suggest first and second drivers and switching taught in claim 12, injecting signals and time period of start up in claims 13, 14, 16; and connected the driver to both first and second resonators at the same time recited claims 15 and 20.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Matsumoto (pub 2016/0087583) teaches selectively switching power to oscillator circuits.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JEFFREY M SHIN whose telephone number is (571)270-7356. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9am-6pm PST.
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/JEFFREY M SHIN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2836
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