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 § 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, 6, 11 and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over [Blauvelt et al (Fig. 1); 5,132,639] in view of [Huang (Fig. 6}; 6,285,252].
Regarding claims 1 and 11, Blauvelt et al discloses an amplifier circuit comprising the method steps of receive (10) a source RF signal (RF SIGNAL IN) in an RF domain, and produce (15, 17, 19, 21) a pre-distortion RF signal in the RF domain with a phase (21) and a magnitude (17) dependent on a phase (21) and a magnitude (17) of the source RF signal (RF SIGNAL IN) to produce a combined RF signal (25). As described above, Blauvelt et al discloses all the limitations in claim 1 except for that the amplify the combined RF signal to produce an amplified RF signal and output the amplified RF signal. Huang discloses an amplifier circuit comprising the method step of amplifying (230) the combined RF signal (output signal of 228) to produce an amplified RF signal (output signal of 230) and output the amplified RF signal (output signal of 230). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made would have found it obvious to have employed the amplifier at the output terminal of the combiner of Blauvelt et al (Fig. 1), such as taught by Huang (Fig. 6) in order to provide the advantageous benefit of improving the transmission signal of the amplifier circuit.
Regarding claims 6 and 16, wherein the source RF signal (RF SIGNAL IN) is a dual tone signal with each tone of the dual tone signal having a different amplitude and a different frequency.
Claim(s) 2, 7, 12 and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over [Blauvelt et al (Fig. 1); 5,132,639] in view of [Huang (Fig. 6}; 6,285,252] in further view of [Kim (Fig. 2); 2007/0159245].
Regarding claims 2 and 12, Blauvelt et al in view of Huang discloses all the limitations in claim 2 except for that the method step of detecting one or more second harmonics of an nth instance of the source RF signal from the amplified RF signal, and adjusting the phase and the magnitude of an (n+1) th instance of the pre-distortion RF signal based on the detected one or more second harmonics. Kim discloses an amplifier circuit comprising the method steps of detecting (FEEDBACK PROCESSOR) one or more second harmonics (second harmonics in OUTPUT SIGNAL) of an nth instance of the source RF signal from the amplified RF signal (OUTPUT SIGNAL), and adjusting (FEEDBACK PROCESSOR) the phase (217) and the magnitude (215) of an (n+1) th instance of the pre-distortion RF signal based on the detected one or more second harmonics (second harmonics in OUTPUT SIGNAL). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made would have found it obvious to have employed the output detector at the output terminal of the amplifier of Huang (Fig. 6), such as taught by Kim (Fig. 2) in order to provide the advantageous benefit of stabilizing the variation of the gain of the amplifier.
Regarding claims 7 and 17, Kim further comprising the method steps of determine (FEEDBACK PROCESSOR) the phase (PHASE) and magnitude (AMPLITUDE) of the source RF signal (RF SIGNAL IN) from the amplified RF signal (OUTPUT SIGNAL), and produce (FEEDBACK PROCESSOR) the phase (217) and magnitude (215) of the pre-distortion RF signal based on the phase (phase of the RF SIGNAL IN) and magnitude (magnitude of the RF SIGNAL IN) of the source RF signal (RF SIGNAL IN).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-5, 8-10, 13-15 and 18 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.
Reasons for Allowance
Claim 19 is allowed.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
6,960,957 teaches amplifier circuit with the vector modulators.
2016/0,261,240 teaches amplifier circuit with the phase modulator and amplitude modulator.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Henry Choe whose telephone number is (571)272-1760. The examiner can normally be reached MONDAY-FRIDAY 5AM-11:00PM.
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, Jessica Han can be reached at 571-272-2078. 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.
/HENRY CHOE/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2843
#2975
Prosecution Insights