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 § 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) 1-3, 5-10, 12-14 and 16-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Han(US 2020/0159306) and Meunier(US 2022/0253358).
Regarding claim 1, Han discloses an apparatus for power control, comprising: a system on chip (SoC) having a plurality of processing units(Figure 8, AP 840, CP 860), wherein the plurality of processing units are coupled to respective voltage supply paths, the voltage supply paths including a plurality of power supply circuits(Figure 8, Voltage paths including power supply circuits 830, 850 supplying power to processors 840, 860); voltage detection circuits coupled to the voltage supply paths and configured to detect voltages at the voltage supply paths(Paragraph 161, each of the one or more power sensors 811 to 818 may sense the voltage value input into each of the sub PMICs 830, 850, 870, and 890); and a controller configured to control a power consumption of one or more of the plurality of processing units based on at least one of the detected voltages and an output current or voltage of a regulator(Paragraphs 161, 164, Each of the one or more power sensors 811 to 818 may calculate the sensed current value or voltage value and determine a power value input into each of the sub PMICs 830, 850, 870, and 890. The control circuit 821 may generate the first signal according to a result of the comparison. For example, when the sum of the power values input into the sub PMICs 830, 850, 870, and 890 is greater than the threshold power value, the control circuit 821 may generate the first signal for limiting at least some functions of the hardware 840, 860, 880, and 895).
Han does not specifically disclose a regulator configured to generate a regulated voltage provided to inputs of the power supply circuits. However, Meunier disclose a regulator(Figure 1, Primary PMIC 105) configured to generate a regulated voltage(Figure1, Vpre) provided to inputs of the power supply circuits(Figure 1, Secondary PMIC 110, 112). It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the to combine the teachings of Han and Meunier to have a regulator configured to generate a regulated voltage provided to inputs of the power supply circuits. The motivation to do so would be to provide a more stable voltage.
Regarding claim 2, Han discloses apparatus of claim 1, wherein the voltage detection circuits are configured to detect the voltages at inputs of the plurality of power supply circuits(Paragraph 161, Each of the one or more power sensors 811 to 818 may calculate the sensed current value or voltage value and determine a power value input into each of the sub PMICs 830, 850, 870, and 890).
Regarding claim 3, Han discloses apparatus of claim 2, wherein the plurality of power supply circuits are parts of power management integrated circuits (PMICs) (Paragraph 161, Each of the one or more power sensors 811 to 818 may calculate the sensed current value or voltage value and determine a power value input into each of the sub PMICs 830, 850, 870, and 890).
Regarding claim 5, Han discloses apparatus of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to control the power consumption of one or more of the plurality of processing units based on the detected voltages(Paragraphs 161, 164, Each of the one or more power sensors 811 to 818 may calculate the sensed current value or voltage value and determine a power value input into each of the sub PMICs 830, 850, 870, and 890. The control circuit 821 may generate the first signal according to a result of the comparison. For example, when the sum of the power values input into the sub PMICs 830, 850, 870, and 890 is greater than the threshold power value, the control circuit 821 may generate the first signal for limiting at least some functions of the hardware 840, 860, 880, and 895).
Regarding claim 6, Han discloses apparatus of claim 1, wherein, to control the power consumption, the controller is configured to reduce the power consumption of a specific processing unit of the plurality of processing units based on the detected voltage at the voltage supply path coupled to the specific processing unit being equal to or less than a voltage threshold(Paragraph 149, the power value input into the AP PMIC 620 may be greater than the threshold power value allowed for the AP 630. The calculation module may output a result of the comparison that the power value input into the AP PMIC 620 is greater than the threshold power value allowed for the AP 630 to the control circuit 613. The control circuit 613 may generate a first signal for controlling at least one of the hardware and the application based on the result of the comparison or controlling the power value output into the AP 630 from the AP PMIC 620. The control circuit 613 may output the generated first signal to the AP PMIC 620. The AP PMIC 620 may receive the power value output into the AP 630 from the AP PMIC 620 in response to the received first signal. For example, the AP PMIC 620 may reduce the output power value by controlling operations of the one or more regulators 622, 624, and 626).
Regarding claim 7, Han discloses apparatus of claim 1, wherein, to control the power consumption, the controller is configured to compare the detected voltages to respective voltage thresholds, wherein the voltage thresholds are different(Paragraph 148, The calculation module 611 may compare at least one of the current value and the power value received from the one or more sensors 621, 623, and 625 with a threshold stored in the memory 612, for example, at least one of a threshold current value and a threshold power value. The threshold power value may be set according to each piece of hardware or each application).
Claims 8-10, 12-14, and 16-20 recite similar limitations as claims 1-3 and 5-7 and thus are taught by Han and Meunier, as explained above.
Claim(s) 21 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Han(US 2020/0159306) and Meunier(US 2022/0253358) and Nam(US 2024/0036626).
Regarding claim 21, Han discloses apparatus of claim 1, but does not specifically another detector configured to detect the output current or voltage of the regulator, wherein the other detector is different than the voltage detection circuits. However, Nam discloses multiple detectors detecting output voltages of the regulators(Paragraph 46). It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the to combine the teachings of Han, Meunier and Nam to have specifically another detector configured to detect the output current or voltage of the regulator, wherein the other detector is different than the voltage detection circuits. The motivation to do so would be to detect output voltage for analysis of the regulators.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments are not persuasive. Applicant argues that Meunier is completely silent with respect to a controller configured to control power consumption of one or more of the plurality of processing units based on at least one of the detected voltages and an output current or voltage of the regulator. However, Meunier is not relied on to teach these features. Han discloses a controller configured to control a power consumption of one or more of the plurality of processing units based on at least one of the detected voltages and an output current or voltage of a regulator (Paragraphs 161, 164, Each of the one or more power sensors 811 to 818 may calculate the sensed current value or voltage value and determine a power value input into each of the sub PMICs 830, 850, 870, and 890. The control circuit 821 may generate the first signal according to a result of the comparison. For example, when the sum of the power values input into the sub PMICs 830, 850, 870, and 890 is greater than the threshold power value, the control circuit 821 may generate the first signal for limiting at least some functions of the hardware 840, 860, 880, and 895). Meunier discloses a distributive power system that is commonly used(Paragraph 2) and the advantages of a two-stage distributed power system(Paragraph 47). The combination of Han and Meunier teaches Power being supplied to a regulator(Meunier's primary PMIC) and the regulator supplying the power to plurality of power controllers(PMICs) and a controller configured to control a power consumption of one or more of the plurality of processing units based on at least one of the detected voltages and an output current or voltage of a regulator.
Thus, Applicant's arguments are not persuasive.
Applicants arguments regarding new claim 21 is moot due to new grounds of rejection.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to NIMESH G PATEL whose telephone number is (571)272-3640. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday, 8:15-4:15.
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/NIMESH G PATEL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2187
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