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 .
Status of the claims
The amendment received on July 7, 2026 has been acknowledged and entered. Claims 1-20 are currently pending. This action is a second non-final due to the new ground of rejection.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments filed on July 7, 2026 with respect to claims 1-20 under 35 U.S.C. 103 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection
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 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 1-2, 4-5, and 7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Thomasson et al. (US 2002/0024666 A1, hereinafter referred to as “Thomasson”) (cited in IDS dated October 8, 2024) in view of Vitali (US 2017/0184415 A1, hereinafter referred to as “Vitali”).
Regarding claim 1, Thomasson teaches a material yield sensor assembly (Fig. 1, 10; para. [0024]: mass-flow sensor 10) comprising:
a photodiode (para. [0026]: photodiode detectors 56, 58 ) configured to generate an analog signal representative (para. [0037]:The output of amplifier A4 is an analog signal that is proportional to the reflected frequency-modulated light intensity) of an amount of material passing (Fig. 1, 10; para. [0024]: mass-flow sensor 10) by the photodiode (para. [0026]: photodiode detectors 56, 58).
Thomasson does not specifically teach a processing element configured to:
generate a digital signal corresponding to the analog signal; determine a clipping density of the digital signal; decrease a gain of the analog signal if the clipping density is greater than a first threshold; and increase the gain of the analog signal and hence the digital signal if the clipping density is less than a second threshold to optimize signal integrity versus signal resolution of the analog signal and hence the digital signal.
However, Vitali teaches a processing element (Fig. 1A) configured to:
generate a digital signal corresponding to the analog signal (Fig. 1A, 8a and 8b);
determine a clipping density of the digital signal (Fig, 4A, 45 and para. [0092]: the signal range representation 45 includes an upper region 40 and a lower region 42 of the bin);
decrease a gain of the analog signal if the clipping density is greater than a first threshold (para. [0092]: para. [0092]: the signal range representation 45 includes an upper region 40 and a lower region 42 of the bin; para. [0096]: FIG. 4B provides an illustration of how auto-calibration is used to select calibration samples from the high and low gain signals after the limits or thresholds of the upper region, the lower region, and the central region are identified, note that the above feature of “upper rejoin 40 or lower rejoin 42“ and “calibration samples from the high and low gain signals” in para. [0096] reads on “clipping density” and “decrease a gain of the analog signal if the clipping density is greater than a first threshold, respectively); and
increase the gain of the analog signal and hence the digital signal if the clipping density is less than a second threshold to optimize signal integrity versus signal resolution of the analog signal and hence the digital signal (para. [0092]: see above; para. [0096]: FIG. 4B provides an illustration of how auto-calibration is used to select calibration samples from the high and low gain signals after the limits or thresholds of the upper region, the lower region, and the central region are identified, note that the above feature of “calibration samples from the high and low gain signals” para. [0096] reads on “increase the gain of the analog signal and hence the digital signal if the clipping density is less than a second threshold to optimize signal integrity versus signal resolution of the analog signal and hence the digital signal”).
Thomasson and Vitali are both considered to be analogous art to the claimed invention because they are in the similar filed of generating a digital signal corresponding to the analog signal. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the processing element such as is described in Vitali into Thomasson in order to detect a high dynamic range of signals (Vitali, para. [0004]).
Regarding claim 2, Thomasson in view of Vitali teaches all the limitation of claim 1, in addition, Wise teaches that the clipping density (Fig, 4A, 45 and para. [0092]: the signal range representation 45 includes an upper region 40 and a lower region 42 of the bin, the above feature of “upper rejoin 40 or lower rejoin 42“ reads on “clipping density”) is tracked (para. [0096]: FIG. 4B provides an illustration of how auto-calibration is used to select calibration samples from the high and low gain signals after the limits or thresholds of the upper region, the lower region, and the central region are identified, note that the above feature of “signal range representation 45 including upper region 40 and a lower region 42” in Fig. 4A and “auto-calibration” in para. [0096] reads on “clipping density is tracked”) according to a numerical register (para. [0085]: a number of bins or quantization levels that correspond to the digital output value for each sample of the analog signal; para. [0094]: the maximum number of bins is determined by the number of bits of the ADC) that increases linearly for instances of clipping (para. [0079]: the linear relationship between the high gain signal and the low gain signal).
Thomasson and Vitali are both considered to be analogous art to the claimed invention because they are in the similar filed of generating a digital signal corresponding to the analog signal with clipping density. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the clipping density such as is described in Vitali into Thomasson in order to detect a high dynamic range of signals (Vitali, para. [0004]).
Regarding claim 4, Thomasson in view of Vital teaches all the limitation of claim 1. Thomasson does not specifically teach that the clipping density is tracked according to a numerical register having a reduced upper limit.
However, Vital teaches the clipping density (Fig, 4A, 45 and para. [0092]: the signal range representation 45 includes an upper region 40 and a lower region 42 of the bin, the above feature of “upper rejoin 40 or lower rejoin 42“ reads on “clipping density”) is tracked (para. [0092]: see above; para. [0092]: see above; para. [0096]: FIG. 4B provides an illustration of how auto-calibration is used to select calibration samples from the high and low gain signals after the limits or thresholds of the upper region, the lower region, and the central region are identified, note that the above feature of “signal range representation 45 including upper region 40 and a lower region 42” in Fig. 4A and “auto-calibration” in para. [0096] reads on “clipping density is tracked”) according to a numerical register (para. [0085]: see above; para. [0094]: see above) having a reduced upper limit (para. [0094]: the maximum number of bins is determined by the number of bits of the ADC. For example, for the 12-bit ADC, the maximum number of bins is 4096 and the minimum number of bins would be zero. As with the variable nr, nc is dependent on the parameters of the system and can be selected to optimize the size of the upper and lower regions 40, 42, note that the above feature of “nc is dependent on the parameters of the system and can be selected to optimize the size of the upper and lower regions 40, 42” in para. [0094] reads on “a reduced upper limit”).
Regarding claim 5, Thomasson in view of Vitali teaches all the limitation of claim 1, in addition, Vitali teaches the processing element is further configured to modify the digital signal to be a stream of 16-bit numbers representing peak-to-peak amplitude before determining the clipping density of the digital signal (Fig. 4A and para. [0091]: The variable nr is dependent on the parameters of the system and can be selected to optimize the size of the central region).
Thomasson and Vitali are both considered to be analogous art to the claimed invention because they are in the similar filed of generating a digital signal corresponding to the analog signal with clipping density. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the processing element such as is described in Vitali into Thomasson in order to detect a high dynamic range of signals (Vitali, para. [0004]).
Regarding claim 7, Thomasson in view of Vital teaches all the limitation of claim 1. Thomasson does not specifically teach that the processor is further configured to decrease the gain of the analog signal and hence the digital signal only if the clipping density is greater than the first threshold for a predetermined amount of time and increase the gain of the analog signal and hence the digital signal only if the clipping density is less than the second threshold for a predetermined amount of time.
However, Vital teaches the processor is further configured to decrease the gain of the analog signal and hence the digital signal only if the clipping density is greater than the first threshold for a predetermined amount of time and increase the gain of the analog signal and hence the digital signal only if the clipping density is less than the second threshold for a predetermined amount of time (para. [0096]: FIG. 4B provides an illustration of how auto-calibration is used to select calibration samples from the high and low gain signals after the limits or thresholds of the upper region, the lower region, and the central region are identified).
Thomasson and Vitali are both considered to be analogous art to the claimed invention because they are in the similar filed of generating a digital signal corresponding to the analog signal with clipping density. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the processor such as is described in Vitali into Thomasson in order to detect a high dynamic range of signals (Vitali, para. [0004]).
Claim 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Thomasson in view of Vitali and Wang et al. (US 10,744,718 B1, hereinafter referred to as “Wang”).
Regarding claim 3, Thomasson in view of Vitali teaches all the limitation of claim 1, in addition, Vitali teaches that the clipping density (Fig, 4A, 45 and para. [0092]: the signal range representation 45 includes an upper region 40 and a lower region 42 of the bin, the above feature of “upper rejoin 40 or lower rejoin 42“ reads on “clipping density”) is tracked (para. [0092]: see above;para. [0096]: FIG. 4B provides an illustration of how auto-calibration is used to select calibration samples from the high and low gain signals after the limits or thresholds of the upper region, the lower region, and the central region are identified, note that the above feature of “signal range representation 45 including upper region 40 and lower region 42” in Fig. 4A and para. [0092] and “auto-calibration” in para. [0096] reads on “clipping density is tracked”) according to a numerical register (para. [0085]: a number of bins or quantization levels that correspond to the digital output value for each sample of the analog signal; Fig, 4A, 45 and para. [0092]: the signal range representation 45 includes an upper region 40 and a lower region 42 of the bin).
Thomasson and Vitali are both considered to be analogous art to the claimed invention because they are in the similar filed of generating a digital signal corresponding to the analog signal with clipping density. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the clipping density such as is described in Vitali into Thomasson in order to detect a high dynamic range of signals (Vitali, para. [0004]).
Thomasson and Vitali does not specifically teach numerical register that decays exponentially over time.
However, Wang teaches numerical register that decays exponentially over time (col. 3, lines 4-6: The NC path and the exponential accumulator are activated during an exponential phase to create an exponentially accumulating loop for boosting a SQNR; col. 8, lines 64-67: the situation in the exponential scheme is worsening because the weighting decreases exponentially rather than gradually like in conventional high-order IADC).
Thomasson and Wang are both considered to be analogous art to the claimed invention because they are in the similar filed of analog-to-digital converters. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the clipping density such as is described in Wang into Thomasson, in order to provide a linear-exponential incremental analog-to-digital converter (IADC) with improved signal to noise distortion ratio and dynamic range (Wang, lines 53-55).
Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Thomasson in view of Vitali and Lopez et al. (EP0562961B1 A1, hereinafter referred to as “Lopez”).
Regarding claim 6, Thomasson in view of Vitali teaches all the limitation of claim 1, in addition, Vitali teaches the processing element is further configured to decreasing or increasing the gain of the analog signal and hence the digital signal (Fig. 4B and para. [0096]: FIG. 4B provides an illustration of how auto-calibration is used to select calibration samples from the high and low gain signals after the limits or thresholds of the upper region, the lower region, and the central region are identified).
Thomasson and Vitali are both considered to be analogous art to the claimed invention because they are in the similar filed of generating a digital signal corresponding to the analog signal with clipping density. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the processing element such as is described in Vitali into Thomasson in order to detect a high dynamic range of signals (Vitali, para. [0004]).
Thomasson and Vitali do not specifically teach delaying decreasing or increasing the gain of the analog signal.
However, Lopez teaches delaying decreasing or increasing the gain of the analog signal (page 4, lines 4-5: the output of the divider 5 is connected to the input of a delay line 6, where the IF signal will be delayed by a delay τ before its application to the input of the IF gain amplifier variable 9l.).
Thomasson and Lopez are both considered to be analogous art to the claimed invention because they are in the similar filed of automatic gain control. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the delaying decreasing or increasing the gain of the analog signal such as is described in Lopez into Thomasson in order to carry out the open loop of AGC and to allow the time necessary to carry out the measurement and to control the gain before the arrival of the signal on the input of the amplifier (page 2, lines 33-34).
Claim 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Thomasson in view of Vitali, Cheng et al. (US 2007/0280069 A1, hereinafter referred to as “Cheng`069”), and Yang et al. (US 9, 171, 552 B1, hereinafter referred to as “Yang”).
Regarding claim 8, Thomasson in view of Vitali teach all the limitation of claim 1, in addition, Thomasson and Vitali do not specifically teach that the processing element is further configured to: pass the digital signal, in order, through a peak detector and first, second, and third low-pass filters; and determine the clipping density between the second low-pass filter and the third low-pass filter.
However, Cheng`069 teaches that processing element is further configured to: pass the digital signal (Fig. 20, 2004), in order, through a peak detector (Fig. 20, 2012 and para. [0107]: The envelope detection module 2002 includes a peak detection module 2012) and low-pass filters (Fig. 18: low pass filters).
Thomasson and Cheng`069 are both considered to be analogous art to the claimed invention because they are in the similar filed of an analog to digital converter and automatic gain controllers. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the processing elements such as is described in Cheng`069 into Thomasson, in order to allowable a wobble detection circuit with a digital band pass filter to be desirable (Cheng`069, para. [0009]).
Thomasson, Vitali, and Cheng`069 do not specifically teach that first, second, and third low-pass filters and determine the clipping density between the second low-pass filter and the third low-pass filter.
However, Yang teaches first, second, and third low-pass filters and determine the clipping density between the second low-pass filter and the third low-pass filter (col. 2, lines 41-50: The gain smoothing may be implemented as a first-order low-pass filter having a selected time constant that limits the rate of change of the audio gain 212 over time; col. 2, lines 54- 57: the gain smoothing component 122 may comprise a first order low-pass filter that is applied to sequential gain values produced by the gain calculation component 12, note that since Yang teaches that the gain smoothing may be implemented as a first-order low-pass filter having a selected time constant that limits the rate of change of the audio gain (see col. 2, lines 41-50) and the gain smoothing component 122 may comprise a first order low-pass filter that is applied to sequential gain values produced by the gain calculation component 120 (see col2, lines 54-57), using the low pass filters (e.g. first, second, third low pass filter), determining the clipping density between the second low-pass filter and the third low-pass filter would be an obvious variation of such method).
Thomasson and Yang are both considered to be analogous art to the claimed invention because they are in the similar filed of automatic gain controllers. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the processing element such as is described in Yang into Thomasson, in order to vary signal amplification gains in signal processing systems in order to achieve relatively constant signal levels, despite input signal levels that vary over time (Yang, col. 1, lines 50-54).
Claim 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Thomasson in view of Vitali and Cheng et al. (CN 114268378 A, hereinafter referred to as “Cheng”).
Regrading claim 9, Thomasson in view of Vitali teaches all the limitation of claim 1. Thomasson and Vitali do not specifically teaches that the processor includes a transimpedance amplifier module implementing a non-linear lookup table on the digital signal after determining the clipping density.
However, Cheng teaches that the processor includes a transimpedance amplifier module implementing a non-linear lookup table on the digital signal after determining the clipping density (page 5, line 12: TIA circuit is saturated under a large signal, and serious nonlinearity occurs, so that the TIA circuit cannot work normally; page 10, lines 21-22: a lookup table unit determines a transimpedance amplifier gain parameter suitable for the received signal of the channel based on a lookup table according to the corrected digital signal).
Thomasson and Cheng are both considered to be analogous art to the claimed invention because they are in the similar filed of analog-to-digital converters and amplifier. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the transimpedance amplifier module such as is described in Cheng into Thomasson, in order to provide an automatic gain control circuit (Cheng, page 5, line 16).
Claim 10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Thomasson in view of Vitali, Cheng, and Wise et al. (US 2022/0065693 A1, hereinafter referred to as “Wise”).
Regarding claim 10, Thomasson in view of Vitali and Cheng teaches all the limitation of claim 9. Thomasson, Vitali, and Cheng do not specifically teaches that the processor is further configured to apply a temperature correction to the digital signal according to a temperature correction lookup table.
However, Wise teaches that the processor is further configured to apply a temperature correction to the digital signal according to a temperature correction lookup table (para. [0032]: The microcontroller 205 accesses a look-up-table (LUT) 225 within a program memory 220 to retrieve predetermined parameters representative of a characteristic of output PD voltage vs. relative gain at each of a number of temperatures).
Thomasson and Wise are both considered to be analogous art to the claimed invention because they are in the similar filed of analog-to-digital converters. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the applying the temperature correction such as is described in Wise into Thomasson, in order to provide a linear-exponential incremental analog-to-digital converter (IADC) with improved signal to noise distortion ratio and dynamic range (Wang, lines 53-55).
Regarding claim 11, it is a method type claim having similar limitations as of claim 1 above. Therefore, it is rejected under the same rational as of claim 1 above.
Regarding claim 12, it is dependent on claim 11 and has similar limitations as of claim 2 above. Therefore, it is rejected under the same rational as of claim 2 above.
Regarding claim 13, it is dependent on claim 11 and has similar limitations as of claim 3 above. Therefore, it is rejected under the same rational as of claim 3 above.
Regarding claim 14, it is dependent on claim 11 and has similar limitations as of claim 4 above. Therefore, it is rejected under the same rational as of claim 4 above.
Regarding claim 15, it is dependent on claim 11 and has similar limitations as of claim 5 above. Therefore, it is rejected under the same rational as of claim 5 above.
Regarding claim 16, it is dependent on claim 11 and has similar limitations as of claim 6 above. Therefore, it is rejected under the same rational as of claim 6 above.
Regarding claim 17, it is dependent on claim 11 and has similar limitations as of claim 7 above. Therefore, it is rejected under the same rational as of claim 7 above.
Regarding claim 19, it is dependent on claim 11 and has similar limitations as of claim 9 above. Therefore, it is rejected under the same rational as of claim 9 above.
Claim 20 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Thomasson in view of Vitali, Cheng, and Cheng`069.
Regarding claim 20, it is an apparatus claim and has similar limitations as of claim 1 above. Therefore, it is rejected under the same rational as of claim 1 above. The additional elements of a transimpedance amplifier module configured to convert the analog signal from a current-based signal to a voltage-based signal (page 5, line 12: TIA circuit is saturated under a large signal, and serious nonlinearity occurs, so that the TIA circuit cannot work normally; page 10, lines 21-22: a lookup table unit determines a transimpedance amplifier gain parameter suitable for the received signal of the channel based on a lookup table according to the corrected digital signal) taught by Cheng.
Thomasson and Cheng are both considered to be analogous art to the claimed invention because they are in the similar filed of analog-to-digital converters and amplifier. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the transimpedance amplifier module such as is described in Cheng into Thomasson, in order to provide an automatic gain control circuit (Cheng, page 5, line 16).
The additional elements of a 3-pole band-pass filter module configured to attenuate at least a low frequency and a high frequency from the analog signal (Fig. 16, adjustable bandpass filter, 1342; para. [100]: adjustable band pass filter 1342 of FIG. 16);
a synchronous demodulation module configured to difference the positive and negative peaks to convert peak-to-peak amplitudes of the digital signal to DC level (Fig. 33c exhibits DC level) in the digital domain (para. [0017]: There are only three types of ADIP symbols, synch, data 0, and data 1, respectively represented by one permutation pattern of the negative and positive wobble cycles, wherein synch is an abbreviation for synchronous information; para. [0115]: if the wobble cycle is a positive wobble cycle, and the obtained difference measurement value is small. Otherwise, if the wobble cycle is a negative wobble cycle, the obtained difference measurement value is large; para. [0126]: FIG. 33c shows a wobble peak signal drives by a peak detection unit of FIG. 34); and
a 3-pole low-pass filter module configured to attenuate additional low frequencies from the digital signal (Fig. 13, 1312 and 1322, note that Cheng’069 teaches low pass filter and variable band pass filter, therefore 3-pole low-pass filter (i.e., adjustable low pass filter is obvious variation of such method) taught by Cheng`069.
Thomasson and Cheng`069 are both considered to be analogous art to the claimed invention because they are in the similar filed of an analog to digital converter and automatic gain controllers. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the 3-pole band-pass filter module, synchronous demodulation module, 3-pole low-pass filter module, and 3-pole low-pass filter module such as are described in Cheng`069 into Thomasson, in order to allowable a wobble detection circuit with a digital band pass filter to be desirable (Cheng`069, para. [0009]).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Dartois (US 2003/0091123 A1) teaches that in a method of transmitting more than one carrier using the same power amplifier associated with a linearization arrangement, a composite signal comprising the carriers is clipped before it is applied to the input of the amplifier in order to limit the ratio of the peak power to the average power of the signal to be transmitted. Each carrier is clipped individually and the clipping power density for each carrier is a function of its power.
Xie (CN 114626403 A) teaches that the present disclosure describes an electronic signal detection method and system based on a pruning method, the electronic signal detection method comprising: a positive trimming threshold and a negative trimming threshold are preset at a receiving end, wherein the positive trimming threshold is larger than 0, and the negative trimming threshold is smaller than 0; if the transmitting end generates a source electronic signal and transmits the source electronic signal to the receiving end, the receiving end captures the received signal, and prunes the received signal by using a positive pruning threshold and a negative pruning threshold to obtain a pruning signal.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SANGKYUNG LEE whose telephone number is (571)272-3669. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8:30am-5:00pm.
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/SANGKYUNG LEE/Examiner, Art Unit 2858
/LEE E RODAK/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2858
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