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, 2, 10, 11, 22, and 23 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102a(1) as being anticipated by Wang et al. (US 2023/0118004).
Referring to Claim 1, Wang teaches an apparatus for causing a power amplifier (PA) to act as an idealized power amplifier (iPA), comprising:
a fixed digital predistortion (DPD) circuit (see DPD circuit in paragraphs 43 and 44 where paragraph 44 specifically indicates no reconfiguration to the circuit itself and no other mention is made regarding the controlling or adapting of the DPD circuit implying the circuit as a fixed DPD circuit);
a PA coupled to the DPD circuit (see paragraph 43 which shows signals from the DPD passed to the PA);
at least one sensor adapted to determine at least one condition related to of the power amplifier (see paragraph 40 which shows sensed temperature and power information of the PA); and
a neural network adapted to control a level of amplification provided by the power amplifier based on a measurement of the at least one condition as measured by the at least one sensor (see paragraph 44 which shows neural network controlling the transfer function into the amplifier to vary amplification of the PA where paragraph 53 shows in more detail how the PA is adaptable).
Claim 22 has similar limitations as claim 1.
Referring to Claims 2 and 23, Wang also teaches the neural network receiving control parameters from a remote source (see paragraphs 40 which shows temperature parameters which are from the environment, which is a remote source).
Referring to Claim 10, Wang also teaches an output of the PA coupled to at least one antenna (see fig. 1 which shows the PA connected to an antenna).
Referring to Claim 11, Wang also teaches the fixed DPD coupled to a plurality of PAs (see paragraph 43 which shows the DPD coupled to the PA and fig. 1 which shows multiple PAs).
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) 4, 5, 25, and 26 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang in view of Drogi et al. (US 2023/0088109).
Referring to Claims 4 and 25, Wang does not teach wherein the control parameters are received from the remote source over a communications link. Drogi teaches wherein the control parameters are received from the remote source over a communications link (see paragraph 116 which shows parameters from a sample of an RF signal). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to provide the teachings of Drogi to the device of Wang in order to better provide proper amplification of the signal.
Referring to Claims 5 and 26, Drogi also teaches an indication of the at least one condition determined by the at least one sensor supplied to the remote source (see paragraph 121 which shows the sensing taking place before adjusted transmission of the amplified signal which is implied to be received by the remote source). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to provide the teachings of Drogi to the device of Wang in order to better provide proper amplification of the signal.
Claim(s) 3 and 24 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang in view of Chen et al. (US 2023/0006611).
Referring to Claims 3 and 24, Wang does not teach the control parameters as weights to be employed by the neural network. Chen teaches the control parameters as weights to be employed by the neural network (see paragraph 36 which shows neural network weights). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to provide the teachings of Chen to the device of Wang in order to better compensate for PA distortion.
Claim(s) 6-8 and 27-29 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang in view of Jung et al. (US 2022/0385317).
Referring to Claims 6 and 27, Wang does not teach an analog beamformer interposed between the fixed DPD and the PA, the analog beamformer receiving an input signal and controlling at least one of a phase and an amplitude of an output signal based on the input signal that is supplied to the PA. Jung also teaches an analog beamformer interposed between the fixed DPD and the PA, the analog beamformer receiving an input signal and controlling at least one of a phase and an amplitude of an output signal based on the input signal that is supplied to the PA (see fig. 5 which shows analog beamformers between the DPD circuits and the PAs). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to provide the teachings of Jung to the device of Wang in order to better adapt to different environments.
Referring to Claims 7 and 28, Jung also teaches an analog beamformer controlling circuit coupled to the analog beamformer and supplying control signals to adjust at least one of the phase and amplitude controlled by the analog beamformer (see paragraph 93 which shows the analog BF adjusting the phase).
Referring to Claims 8 and 29, Jung also teaches a digital beamformer controlling circuit supplying an input signal to the fixed DPD circuit (see paragraph 91 which shows digital beamforming before input to the DPD circuit).
Claim(s) 9 and 30 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang in view of Su et al. (US 2010/0253426).
Referring to Claims 9 and 30, Wang does not teach a prepower amplifier (PrePA) coupled to supply an output to the PA; a second neural network; and at least one other sensor, the at least one other sensor being adapted to determine at least one other condition, the at least one other condition being related to the PrePA; wherein the second neural network is adapted to control the level of amplification provided by the PrePA based on a measurement of the at least one other condition as measured by the at least one sensor. Su teaches a prepower amplifier (PrePA) coupled to supply an output to the PA (see prePA 208 in fig. 2 which outputs to PA 202); a second neural network; and at least one other sensor, the at least one other sensor being adapted to determine at least one other condition, the at least one other condition being related to the PrePA (see paragraph 22 which shows a neural network for each DPD circuit and fig. 2 shows a second DPD correction circuit 205’’ which is coupled to the output of the PrePA where the correction of characteristics of implied to be a result of low sensed gain as described in paragraph 21); wherein the second neural network is adapted to control the level of amplification provided by the PrePA based on a measurement of the at least one other condition as measured by the at least one sensor (see DPD correction module 205” which is coupled to the output of the PrePA where the DPD module corrects the PrePA module as described in paragraph 24). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to provide the teachings of Su to the device of Wang in order to more accurately correct the PA to output an optimum signal.
Claim(s) 12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang in view of Liu et al. (US 2014/0292403).
Referring to Claim 12, Wang does not teach a filtering and gain chain interposed between the fixed DPD and the PA. Liu teaches a filtering and gain chain interposed between the fixed DPD and the PA (see fig. 5 which shows gain units 458 and 462 in a chain with a filter 460 between the DPD 456 and PA 464). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to provide the teachings of Liu to the device of Wang in order to better increase the range of the transmitting device.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-12 and 22-30 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to EUGENE YUN whose telephone number is (571)272-7860. The examiner can normally be reached 9am-5pm.
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/EUGENE YUN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2648
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