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 .
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d). The certified copy has been filed in parent Application No. IN 202341014366, filed on 03/03/2023. Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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(s) 17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) and (a)(2) as being anticipated by US 20230396260 by Dempsey et al.
Regarding claim 17, Dempsey teaches a method (Fig. 4a, Fig. 6a), comprising:
receiving an input voltage (Fig. 4a, 6a Vin) and a tuning code (Fig. 4a #410, Fig. 6a Rin can receive digital signals, par. 41, 54, 73);
modifying an impedance of a programmable impedance circuit (Fig. 4a #410, Fig. 6a Rin) based on the tuning code (Par. 41, 54, 73); and
providing an output current (Fig. 4a, 6a Iout) based on a value of the input voltage (Vin) and a value of the tuning code (Par. 54, the variable resistor controls output current level or gain).
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) 18-19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 20230396260 by Dempsey et al.
Regarding claim 18, Dempsey teaches the method of claim 17, and while the linear relationship between output current and the resistance value which changes based on the tuning code is not explicitly stated, the relationship between current and resistance is linear according to Ohm’s law V=IR, and by changing the value of the tuning code (and therefore the value of the variable resistance) the current also varies linearly.
Regarding claim 19, Dempsey teaches the method of claim 17, wherein modifying the impedance of the programmable impedance circuit includes switching one or more segments of a resistor ladder into a path of current flow in the programmable impedance circuit (Fig. 6a Iin flows into programmable impedance Rin, Par. 76).
Dempsey cites another patent US 9583241 by Dempsey in par. 41 which teaches a programmable impedance device that can be used for the programmable impedance in the primary reference. This secondary reference (Fig. 6) shows a ladder type structure of switches and resistors that can be digitally controlled to vary the resistance of a circuit.
Resistor ladders are also very well known in the art as taught in Fig. 8 of another reference US 20180191312 by Mu. It would be easy to incorporate this type of structure as well into the programmable impedance circuit of primary reference Dempsey.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-16 are allowed.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
The prior art search failed to teach first and second resistors (a voltage divider) that are coupled to the input voltage and ground respectively, along with a programmable impedance circuit with a first terminal coupled to the first resistor, a tuning input terminal, and a third terminal which is coupled to a non-inverting input of an amplifier, the amplifier having an inverting input coupled to ground, and having an output terminal coupled to a current mirror, with the current mirror being coupled to the programmable impedance circuit and an output current terminal.
Therefore, independent claims 1 and 11, along with their dependent claims, are allowable.
Claim 20 is 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
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/NAREH SHAMIRYAN/Examiner, Art Unit 2843
/ANDREA LINDGREN BALTZELL/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2843