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
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Claim Objections
Claim 10 is objected to because of the following informalities:
For claim 10, the claim recites “an RX AFE” (on line 2) and this acronym is not defined in claim 10 or the parent claim 1.
Appropriate correction is required.
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)(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.
Claims 1, 7-9, 12, and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Chen et al. (US 2021/0156916 A1; hereafter CHEN).
With respect to claim 1, CHEN discloses a transceiver (100 of FIG. 1) comprising:
a transmitter (110 of FIG. 1);
a first receiver pad (RX_1 of FIG. 1) configured to receive a first external voltage (DIN of FIG. 1);
a second receiver pad (RX_2 of FIG. 1) configured to receive a second external voltage (DIN of FIG. 1);
a receiver (140 of FIG. 1) configured to generate (paragraphs [0014], [0015], [0016], [0017], [0018], [0019] ) a test target signal (140, 130 of FIG. 1) based on the first external voltage and the second external voltage (DIN of FIG. 1); and
a digital logic (120 of FIG. 1) configured (paragraphs [0014], [0015], [0016], [0017], [0018], [0019] ) to perform a loopback test (DT of FIG. 1) on a reception path (DIN of FIG. 1) of a data signal by transmitting the data signal and receiving the test target signal (140, 130 of FIG. 1).
With respect to claim 7, CHEN further discloses the transceiver of claim 1, wherein the digital logic (120 of FIG. 1) is configured to determine that the loopback test has passed when the data signal and the test target signal are the same (paragraphs [0014], [0015], [0016], [0017], [0018], [0019] ).
With respect to claim 8, CHEN further discloses the transceiver of claim 1, wherein the first external voltage has a voltage corresponding to logical high; and the second external voltage has a voltage corresponding to logical low (paragraph [0028]).
With respect to claim 9, CHEN further discloses the transceiver of claim 1, wherein the first external voltage and the second external voltage are variable (paragraph [0028]).
With respect to claim 12, CHEN further discloses the transceiver of claim 1, further comprising:
at least one terminating resistor (TR1, TR2 of FIG. 2) connected to the first receiver pad or the second receiver pad, the at least one terminating resistor (TR1, TR2 of FIG. 2) being configured to change a terminating resistance value (paragraph [0028]).
With respect to claim 13, CHEN further discloses the transceiver of claim 12, further comprising:
at least one switch connected to the at least one terminating resistor (TR1, TR2 of FIG. 2), the terminating resistance value changing based on whether the at least one switch (EN, T3, T4 of FIG. 2) is on or off (paragraph [0028]).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over CHEN in view of Stott et al. (US 2007/0257693 A1; hereafter STOTT).
With respect to claim 14, CHEN does not disclose the transceiver of claim 1, wherein the data signal is a random data signal.
STOTT discloses wherein the data signal is a random data signal (paragraphs [0016] and [0029]).
STOTT teaches the benefit or improved testing results by using pseudo-random data patterns (paragraphs [0003] and [0004]). Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the random data as taught by STOTT in the testing transceiver of CHEN to produce an expected result.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 15-20 are allowed.
Claims 2-6 and 11 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.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Brian T O'Connor whose telephone number is (571)270-1081. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri Flex 10am-6:30pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Gary Mui can be reached at 571-270-1420. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/BRIAN T O CONNOR/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2465 March 14, 2026