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 .
Drawings
The drawings are objected to as failing to comply with 37 CFR 1.84(p)(5) because they include the following reference character not mentioned in the description: “182-2” (Paragraph 77, line 1). Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d), or amendment to the specification to add the reference character in the description in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(b) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Specification
The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities:
On Paragraph 42, line 3, insert “to” between “coupled” and “a respective transceiver 30”.
On Paragraph 56, line 5, delete the space between “8 or more” and the comma.
On Paragraph 102, lines 6 and 8, replace “35 U.S.C. 114(f)” with “35 U.S.C. 112(f)”.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Objections
Applicant is advised that should claims 4 and 18 be found allowable, claims 5 and 19, respectively, will be objected to under 37 CFR 1.75 as being a substantial duplicate thereof. When two claims in an application are duplicates or else are so close in content that they both cover the same thing, despite a slight difference in wording, it is proper after allowing one claim to object to the other as being a substantial duplicate of the allowed claim. See MPEP § 608.01(m).
Claim 4 describes a variable gain amplifier wherein a first amplifier is connected to the biasing circuit and a second amplifier is connected to the subthreshold biasing circuit, while claim 5 describes a variable gain amplifier wherein a second amplifier is connected to the biasing circuit and a first amplifier is connected to the subthreshold biasing circuit. Despite the difference in wording, the two claims have identical subject matter as the names of “first amplifier” and “second amplifier” are arbitrary and do not change the broadest reasonable interpretation of the claims. Claim 2, upon which claims 4 and 5 depend, provides no differences between the “first amplifier” and the “second amplifier” other than the arbitrary name difference, and therefore claims 4 and 5 are duplicates. Likewise, for similar reasons, claims 18 and 19 are also duplicates.
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.
Claims 2-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chang (Patent Publication Number US 2009/0174481 A1), as cited by applicant, hereafter referred to as Chang, in view of Troch et al. (Patent Publication Number EP 2,302,851 A1), as cited by applicant, hereafter referred to as Troch, and Chakraborty et al. (Patent Publication Number US 2021/0050829 A1), as cited by applicant, hereafter referred to as Chakraborty.
Regarding claim 2, Chang discloses:
A variable gain amplifier circuit (Chang, Fig. 11), comprising: a first amplifier (Chang, Fig. 11, 402); a second amplifier (Fig. 11, 404); a biasing circuit (Fig. 11, VG_MAIN) configured to couple to the first amplifier (Fig. 11, see connection between VG_MAIN and 402) and a subthreshold biasing circuit (Fig. 11, 424) and configured to couple to the second amplifier (Fig. 11, see connection between 424 and 404), but fails to disclose a first switch coupled to the first amplifier; a second switch coupled to the second amplifier; [the biasing circuit configured to couple to the first amplifier] via the first switch; and [the biasing circuit] configured to couple to the second amplifier via the second switch; [the subthreshold biasing circuit] configured to couple to the first amplifier via the first switch [and configured to couple to the second amplifier] via the second switch; the subthreshold biasing circuit comprising a current source circuit and a first transistor coupled to the current source circuit, the first switch, and the second switch.
However, Troch teaches a first switch (Troch, Fig. 2, 41a) coupled to the first amplifier (Fig. 2, see connection between 41a and 10a); a second switch (Fig. 2, 41b) coupled to the second amplifier (Fig. 2, see connection between 41b and 10c); [the biasing circuit configured to couple to the first amplifier] via the first switch (Fig. 2, see connection between 3.3 V biasing supply and amplifier 10a via switch 41a); and [the biasing circuit] configured to couple to the second amplifier via the second switch (Fig. 2, see connection between 3.3 V biasing supply and amplifier 10c via switch 41b); [the subthreshold biasing circuit] configured to couple to the first amplifier via the first switch (Fig. 2, see connection between 1.2 V subthreshold biasing supply and amplifier 10a via switch 41a) [and configured to couple to the second amplifier] via the second switch (Fig. 2, see connection between 1.2 V subthreshold biasing supply and amplifier 10c via switch 41b); but fails to teach the subthreshold biasing circuit comprising a current source circuit and a first transistor coupled to the current source circuit, the first switch, and the second switch.
However, Chakraborty teaches the subthreshold biasing circuit (Chakraborty, Fig. 8, 700) comprising a current source circuit (Fig. 8, current source 704) and a first transistor (Fig. 8, 802a) coupled to the current source circuit (Fig. 8, see connection between 802a and 704), the first switch, and the second switch (Paragraph 44, lines 1-6).
Chang, Troch, and Chakraborty are all considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of improving amplifiers used in radio frequency communications. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to have modified Chang to incorporate the teachings of Troch and Chakraborty to include the switch of Troch in the circuit of Chang to allow for the amplifiers of Chang to connect to varying biasing conditions, which would have the effect of providing a low-cost method to achieve multiple different biasing conditions (Troch, Paragraph 20, lines 1-4). Because Chang does not disclose any specific details of the circuit used for the subthreshold biasing circuit, one of ordinary skill in the art would have looked for relevant art for a suitable circuit, and would have found using the bias circuit of Chakraborty.
Regarding claim 3, Chang further discloses:
wherein the variable gain amplifier circuit is configured to combine an output of the first amplifier and an output of the second amplifier (Chang, Fig. 11, see connection between drain of 402 and drain of 404).
Regarding claim 4, Chang further discloses:
wherein the first amplifier is configured to generate a first amplified signal (Chang, Fig. 11, consider output signal of 402) and a first distortion signal based on coupling to the biasing circuit (Paragraph 49, lines 20-24), the second amplifier is configured to generate a first distortion cancelling signal based on coupling to the subthreshold biasing circuit (Paragraph 49, lines 20-21), the first distortion cancelling signal reducing a power of the first distortion signal (Paragraph 49, lines 21-24).
Regarding claim 5, Chang further discloses:
wherein the second amplifier (Chang, Fig. 11, consider that in claim 2, the first and second amplifiers are indistinguishable and that 402 of Chang, Fig. 11 is the second amplifier, and that 404 of Chang, Fig. 11 is the first amplifier) is configured to generate a second amplified signal (Fig. 11, consider output signal of 402) and a second distortion signal based on coupling to the biasing circuit (Paragraph 49, lines 20-24), the first amplifier is configured to generate a second distortion cancelling signal based on coupling to the subthreshold biasing circuit (Paragraph 49, lines 20-21), the second distortion cancelling signal reducing a power of the second distortion signal (Paragraph 49, lines 21-24).
Regarding claim 6, Chang further discloses:
wherein the biasing circuit is configured to output a bias voltage equal to or above a bias voltage threshold (Chang, Fig. 11, see VG_MAIN, see also Paragraph 48, last four lines), the first amplifier and the second amplifier configured to amplify an input signal based on the bias voltage (Fig. 11, see connection between VG_MAIN and 402).
Regarding claim 7, Chang further discloses:
wherein the subthreshold biasing circuit is configured to output a first subthreshold nonzero bias voltage below a bias voltage threshold (Chang, Paragraph 45, lines 1-4 on Page 5), the first amplifier and the second amplifier being configured to generate first respective distortion cancelling signals based on the first subthreshold nonzero bias voltage (Paragraph 49, lines 20-21).
Regarding claim 8, Chang further discloses:
the first amplifier and the second amplifier being configured to generate second respective distortion cancelling signals based on the second subthreshold nonzero bias voltage (Chang, Paragraph 49, lines 20-21), but fails to disclose wherein the subthreshold biasing circuit comprises a second transistor configured to couple to the first transistor via a third switch, the subthreshold biasing circuit being configured to output a second subthreshold nonzero bias voltage below the bias voltage threshold based on the second transistor coupling to the first transistor via the third switch.
However, Chakraborty further teaches wherein the subthreshold biasing circuit comprises a second transistor (Chakraborty, Fig. 8, 802b) configured to couple to the first transistor via a third switch (Fig. 8, see connection between 802a and 802b via switch 804b), the subthreshold biasing circuit being configured to output a second subthreshold nonzero bias voltage below the bias voltage threshold (Paragraph 44, lines 1-6) based on the second transistor coupling to the first transistor via the third switch (Fig. 8, see connection between 802a and 802b via switch 804b).
Chang, Troch, and Chakraborty are all considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of improving amplifiers used in radio frequency communications. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to have modified Chang to incorporate the teachings of Chakraborty. Because Chang does not disclose any specific details of the circuit used for the subthreshold biasing circuit, one of ordinary skill in the art would have looked for relevant art for a suitable circuit, and would have found using the bias circuit of Chakraborty.
Regarding claim 9, Chang further discloses:
the first amplifier and the second amplifier being configured to generate third respective distortion cancelling signals based on the third subthreshold nonzero bias voltage (Chang, Paragraph 49, lines 20-21), but fails to disclose wherein the subthreshold biasing circuit comprises a third transistor configured to couple to the second transistor via a fourth switch, the subthreshold biasing circuit being configured to output a third subthreshold nonzero bias voltage below the bias voltage threshold based on the third transistor coupling to the first transistor and the second transistor via the third switch and the fourth switch.
However, Chakraborty further teaches wherein the subthreshold biasing circuit comprises a third transistor (Chakraborty, Fig. 8, 802c) configured to couple to the second transistor via a fourth switch (Fig. 8, see connection between 802b and 802c via switch 804c), the subthreshold biasing circuit being configured to output a third subthreshold nonzero bias voltage below the bias voltage threshold (Paragraph 44, lines 1-6) based on the third transistor coupling to the first transistor and the second transistor via the third switch and the fourth switch (Fig. 8, see connection between 802b and 802c via switch 804c).
Chang, Troch, and Chakraborty are all considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of improving amplifiers used in radio frequency communications. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to have modified Chang to incorporate the teachings of Chakraborty. Because Chang does not disclose any specific details of the circuit used for the subthreshold biasing circuit, one of ordinary skill in the art would have looked for relevant art for a suitable circuit, and would have found using the bias circuit of Chakraborty.
Regarding claim 10, Chang further discloses:
comprising a third amplifier (Chang, Fig. 11, 406), the biasing circuit configured to couple to the third amplifier (Fig. 11, see connection between VG_MAIN and 406), but fails to disclose [the biasing circuit configured to couple to the third amplifier] via a third switch, and the first transistor coupled to the current source circuit, the first switch, the second switch, and the third switch.
However, Troch further teaches [the biasing circuit configured to couple to the third amplifier] via a third switch (Troch, Fig. 2, see connection between 3.3 V biasing supply and 10b via 41a), but fails to teach and the first transistor coupled to the current source circuit, the first switch, the second switch, and the third switch.
However, Chakraborty further teaches and the first transistor coupled to the current source circuit (Chakraborty, Fig. 8, see connection between 802a and 704), the first switch, the second switch, and the third switch (Paragraph 44, lines 1-6).
Chang, Troch, and Chakraborty are all considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of improving amplifiers used in radio frequency communications. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to have modified Chang to incorporate the teachings of Troch and Chakraborty to include the switch of Troch in the circuit of Chang to allow for the amplifiers of Chang to connect to varying biasing conditions, which would have the effect of providing a low-cost method to achieve multiple different biasing conditions (Troch, Paragraph 20, lines 1-4). Because Chang does not disclose any specific details of the circuit used for the subthreshold biasing circuit, one of ordinary skill in the art would have looked for relevant art for a suitable circuit, and would have found using the bias circuit of Chakraborty.
Claims 11-21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chang in view of Chakraborty.
Regarding claim 11, Chang discloses:
An electronic device (Chang, Figs. 3 and 11) comprising: an antenna (Fig. 3, 202); a first amplifier (Fig. 11, 402); a biasing circuit (Fig. 11, VG_MAIN) configured to couple to the first amplifier (Fig. 11, see connection between VG_MAIN and 402); a subthreshold biasing circuit (Fig. 11, 424) configured to couple to the first amplifier (Fig. 11, see connection between 424 and 404), and a processor coupled to the first amplifier (Paragraph 28, lines 8-12), the processor being configured to couple the biasing circuit and the subthreshold biasing circuit to the first amplifier (Fig. 11, see connections between VG_MAIN, 424, and 402), but fails to disclose the subthreshold biasing circuit comprising a current source circuit and a first transistor coupled to the current source circuit and the first amplifier.
However, Chakraborty teaches the subthreshold biasing circuit (Chakraborty, Fig. 8, 700) comprising a current source circuit (Fig. 8, current source 704) and a first transistor (Fig. 8, 802a) coupled to the current source circuit (Fig. 8, see connection between 802a and 704) and the first amplifier (Paragraph 44, lines 1-6).
Chang and Chakraborty are both considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of improving amplifiers used in radio frequency communications. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to have modified Chang to incorporate the teachings of Chakraborty. Because Chang does not disclose any specific details of the circuit used for the subthreshold biasing circuit, one of ordinary skill in the art would have looked for relevant art for a suitable circuit, and would have found using the bias circuit of Chakraborty.
Regarding claim 12, Chang further discloses:
comprising a second amplifier (Chang, Fig. 11, 404), the processor being coupled to the second amplifier (Paragraph 28, lines 8-12), and the processor configured to couple the biasing circuit and the subthreshold biasing circuit to the second amplifier (Fig. 11, see connections between VG_MAIN, 424, and 404).
Regarding claim 13, Chang further discloses:
wherein the first amplifier is configured to generate an amplified signal (Chang, Fig. 11, consider output signal of 402) and a distortion signal based on coupling to the biasing circuit (Paragraph 49, lines 20-24), and the first amplifier is configured to generate a distortion cancelling signal based on coupling to the subthreshold biasing circuit (Paragraph 49, lines 20-21).
Regarding claim 14, Chang further discloses:
wherein the subthreshold biasing circuit is configured to output a first subthreshold nonzero bias voltage below a bias voltage threshold (Chang, Paragraph 45, lines 1-4 on Page 5), the first amplifier being configured to generate a first distortion cancelling signal based on the first subthreshold nonzero bias voltage (Paragraph 49, lines 20-21), the first distortion cancelling signal reducing a power of the distortion signal (Paragraph 49, lines 21-24).
Regarding claim 15, Chang further discloses:
the first amplifier being configured to generate a second distortion cancelling signal based on the second subthreshold nonzero bias voltage (Chang, Paragraph 49, lines 20-21), but fails to disclose wherein the subthreshold biasing circuit comprises a second transistor configured to couple to the first transistor, the subthreshold biasing circuit being configured to output a second subthreshold nonzero bias voltage below the bias voltage threshold based on the second transistor coupling to the first transistor.
However, Chakraborty further teaches wherein the subthreshold biasing circuit comprises a second transistor (Chakraborty, Fig. 8, 802b) configured to couple to the first transistor (Fig. 8, see connection between 802a and 802b via switch 804b), the subthreshold biasing circuit being configured to output a second subthreshold nonzero bias voltage below the bias voltage threshold (Paragraph 44, lines 1-6) based on the second transistor coupling to the first transistor (Fig. 8, see connection between 802a and 802b via switch 804b).
Chang and Chakraborty are both considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of improving amplifiers used in radio frequency communications. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to have modified Chang to incorporate the teachings of Chakraborty. Because Chang does not disclose any specific details of the circuit used for the subthreshold biasing circuit, one of ordinary skill in the art would have looked for relevant art for a suitable circuit, and would have found using the bias circuit of Chakraborty.
Regarding claim 16, Chang further discloses:
comprising: a transmitter comprising the first amplifier (Chang, Paragraph 28, lines 10-12), the first amplifier configured to output amplified transmission signals to the antenna (Fig. 3, see connection between 204 and 202), or a receiver comprising the first amplifier (Paragraph 28, lines 10-12), the first amplifier configured to output amplified received signals to the processor (Fig. 3, see connection between 204 and 206).
Regarding claim 17, Chang discloses:
A transceiver (Chang, Figs. 3 and 11) comprising: a first amplifier (Fig. 11, 402) configured to couple to an antenna (Fig. 3, see connection between 202 and 204); a second amplifier (Fig. 11, 404) configured to couple to the antenna (Fig. 3, see connection between 202 and 204); a biasing circuit (Fig. 11, VG_MAIN) configured to couple to the first amplifier (Fig. 11, see connection between VG_MAIN and 402) and the second amplifier (Fig. 11, see connection between VG_MAIN and 404), the biasing circuit configured to generate a bias voltage equal to or above a bias voltage threshold (Fig. 11, see VG_MAIN, see also Paragraph 48, last four lines); and a subthreshold biasing circuit (Fig. 11, 424) configured to couple to the first amplifier (Fig. 11, see connection between 424 and 402) and the second amplifier (Fig. 11, see connection between 424 and 404), the subthreshold biasing circuit configured to generate a first subthreshold nonzero bias voltage below the bias voltage threshold (Chang, Paragraph 45, lines 1-4 on Page 5), but fails to disclose the subthreshold biasing circuit comprising a current source circuit and a first transistor coupled to the current source circuit and configured to couple to the first amplifier and the second amplifier.
However, Chakraborty teaches the subthreshold biasing circuit (Chakraborty, Fig. 8, 700) comprising a current source circuit (Fig. 8, current source 704) and a first transistor (Fig. 8, 802a) coupled to the current source circuit (Fig. 8, see connection between 802a and 704) and configured to couple to the first amplifier and the second amplifier (Paragraph 44, lines 1-6).
Chang and Chakraborty are both considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of improving amplifiers used in radio frequency communications. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to have modified Chang to incorporate the teachings of Chakraborty. Because Chang does not disclose any specific details of the circuit used for the subthreshold biasing circuit, one of ordinary skill in the art would have looked for relevant art for a suitable circuit, and would have found using the bias circuit of Chakraborty.
Regarding claim 18, Chang further discloses:
wherein the first amplifier is configured to generate a first amplified signal (Chang, Fig. 11, consider output signal of 402) and a first distortion signal based on coupling to the biasing circuit (Paragraph 49, lines 20-24), the second amplifier is configured to generate a first distortion cancelling signal based on coupling to the subthreshold biasing circuit (Paragraph 49, lines 20-21), the first distortion cancelling signal reducing a power of the first distortion signal (Paragraph 49, lines 21-24).
Regarding claim 19, Chang further discloses:
wherein the second amplifier (Chang, Fig. 11, consider that in claim 2, the first and second amplifiers are indistinguishable and that 402 of Chang, Fig. 11 is the second amplifier, and that 404 of Chang, Fig. 11 is the first amplifier) is configured to generate a second amplified signal (Fig. 11, consider output signal of 402) and a second distortion signal based on coupling to the biasing circuit (Paragraph 49, lines 20-24), the first amplifier is configured to generate a second distortion cancelling signal based on coupling to the subthreshold biasing circuit (Paragraph 49, lines 20-21), the second distortion cancelling signal being reducing a power of the second distortion signal (Paragraph 49, lines 21-24).
Regarding claim 20, Chang further discloses:
the first amplifier and the second amplifier being configured to generate second respective distortion cancelling signals based on the second subthreshold nonzero bias voltage (Chang, Paragraph 49, lines 20-21), but fails to disclose wherein the subthreshold biasing circuit comprises a second transistor configured to couple to the first transistor and the current source circuit, the subthreshold biasing circuit being configured to output a second subthreshold nonzero bias voltage below the bias voltage threshold based on the second transistor coupling to the first transistor and the current source circuit.
However, Chakraborty further teaches wherein the subthreshold biasing circuit comprises a second transistor (Chakraborty, Fig. 8, 802b) configured to couple to the first transistor (Fig. 8, see connection between 802a and 802b via switch 804b) and the current source circuit (Fig. 8, see connection between 802a and 704), the subthreshold biasing circuit being configured to output a second subthreshold nonzero bias voltage below the bias voltage threshold (Paragraph 44, lines 1-6) based on the second transistor coupling to the first transistor and the current source circuit (Fig. 8, see connection between 802a and 802b via switch 804b).
Chang and Chakraborty are both considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of improving amplifiers used in radio frequency communications. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to have modified Chang to incorporate the teachings of Chakraborty. Because Chang does not disclose any specific details of the circuit used for the subthreshold biasing circuit, one of ordinary skill in the art would have looked for relevant art for a suitable circuit, and would have found using the bias circuit of Chakraborty.
Regarding claim 21, Chang further discloses:
comprising: a transmitter comprising the first amplifier and the second amplifier (Chang, Paragraph 28, lines 10-12), the first amplifier and the second amplifier configured to output amplified transmission signals to the antenna (Fig. 3, see connection between 204 and 202); or a receiver comprising the first amplifier and the second amplifier (Paragraph 28, lines 10-12), the first amplifier and the second amplifier configured to output amplified received signals received by the antenna (Fig. 3, see connection between 204 and 202).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Tabatabaei et al. (Patent Publication Number CA 3,052,176 A1) discloses (Fig. 9) an amplifier with bias signals controlled by a processor using a lookup table.
Wang et al. (Patent Publication Number US 2018/0091136 A1) discloses (Fig. 21B) an amplifier with a subthreshold biased amplifier path.
Cabanillas et al. (Patent Publication Number WO 2009/079491 A1) discloses (Figs. 6 and 9-10) subthreshold biased amplifiers.
Holenstein et al. (Patent Publication Number WO 2009/100387 A1) discloses subthreshold biased amplifiers.
Okanobu (Patent Publication Number US 2008/0186100 A1) discloses three amplifiers coupled in parallel.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Lance T Bartol whose telephone number is (703)756-1267. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Thursday 6:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. CT, Alternating Fridays 6:30 - 3:00.
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/LANCE TORBJORN BARTOL/Examiner, Art Unit 2843
/ANDREA LINDGREN BALTZELL/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2843