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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant's election with traverse of claims 1-12 in the reply filed on 3/30/2026 is acknowledged. The traversal is on the ground(s) that there is no significant search or examination burden for group II since all of the elements of group II must be searched to properly examine group I. This is not found persuasive because there are elements in group I which are not taught in group II. Group I teaches a prepower amplifier as well as a second neural network. This is not taught in group II and would require a different search than group II. It was already stated in the previous action that group I does not teach idealized beamformers, which is very extensively taught in group II. These differences between the groups of claims very clearly show that two very different searches would be required for each group of claims.
The requirement is still deemed proper and is therefore made FINAL.
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, 6-8, 10, and 11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102a(1) as being anticipated by Jung et al. (US 2022/0385317).
Referring to Claim 1, Jung 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 711 in fig. 7 which is forward feeding which implies a fixed DPD circuit as more so described in paragraph 134);
a PA coupled to the DPD circuit (see fig. 7 which shows PA coupled to DPD);
at least one sensor adapted to determine at least one condition related to of the power amplifier (see paragraph 56 which shows sensed temperature and environmental 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 paragraphs 30 and 31 which shows neural network controlling the pre-distortion input into the amplifier according to the environment around the amplifier which results in the amplification of the amplifier).
Referring to Claim 2, Jung also teaches the neural network receiving control parameters from a remote source (see paragraphs 115 and 116 which shows parameters from the environment, which is a remote source).
Referring to Claim 6, 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).
Referring to Claim 7, 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 Claim 8, 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).
Referring to Claim 10, Jung also teaches an output of the PA coupled to at least one antenna (see fig. 5 which shows the PA connected to an antenna).
Referring to Claim 11, Jung also teaches the fixed DPD coupled to a plurality of Pas (see DPD1 coupled to PA1 and PA2 in fig. 5).
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 and 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jung in view of Drogi et al. (US 2023/0088109).
Referring to Claim 4, Jung 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 Jung in order to better provide proper amplification of the signal.
Referring to Claim 5, 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 Jung in order to better provide proper amplification of the signal.
Claim(s) 3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jung in view of Chen et al. (US 2023/0006611).
Referring to Claim 3, Jung 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 Jung in order to better compensate for PA distortion.
Claim(s) 9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jung in view of Su et al. (US 2010/0253426).
Referring to Claim 9, Jung 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 Jung 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 Jung in view of Liu et al. (US 2014/0292403).
Referring to Claim 12, Jung 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 Jung in order to better increase the range of the transmitting device.
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.
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, Wesley Kim can be reached at 5712727867. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/EUGENE YUN/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2648
Prosecution Insights