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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 10/08/2023 was in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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 and 5-7 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 Wise et al. (US 2022/0065693 A1, hereinafter referred to as “Wise”).
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 level of the digital signal; decrease a gain of the analog signal if the level of digital signal is greater than a first threshold; and increase the gain of the analog signal and hence the digital signal if the level of digital signal is less than a second threshold to optimize signal integrity versus signal resolution of the analog signal and hence the digital signal.
However, Wise teaches a processing element (Fig. 1, 100) configured to:
generate a digital signal corresponding to the analog signal (Fig. 1, 155; para. [0030]: the detection circuit 155 may be operable to convert analog signals to digital signals which may be sent to the controller 105);
determine a clipping density the digital signal (para. [0053]: for the purposes of gain control it may only be important to know a ratio between a current gain level and a desired gain level, and not an actual absolute gain level, For example, it may be important in a given situation to know that the gain should be increased or decreased, for example, by a factor of 2 relative to a reference gain);
decrease a gain of the analog signal if the level of digital signal is greater than a first threshold (para. [0053]: it may be important in a given situation to know that the gain should be increased or decreased, for example, by a factor of 2 relative to a reference gain); and
increase the gain of the analog signal and hence the digital signal (para. [0030]: the detection circuit 155 may be operable to convert analog signals to digital signals which may be sent to the controller 105) if the level of digital signal is less than a second threshold to optimize signal integrity versus signal resolution of the analog signal and hence the digital signal (para. [0030]: see above; para. [0031]: the OLCC 135 may advantageously provide optimal voltage control for arbitrary input PD gain level 140 and temperature signals 170 within linear and non-linear regions of PD response, increasing usable dynamic range; para. [0053]: it may be important in a given situation to know that the gain should be increased or decreased, for example, by a factor of 2 relative to a reference gain).
Thomasson and Wise are both considered to be analogous art to the claimed invention because they are in the similar filed of photodiode sensor. 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 determining a clipping density the digital signal such as is described in Wise into Thomasson in order to determine a photodiode element drive voltage as a function of a commanded photodiode gain level and a measured temperature signal (Wise, para. [0006]).
Regarding claim 2, Thomasson in view of Wise teaches all the limitation of claim 1, in addition, Wise teaches that the clipping density is tracked according to a numerical register that increases linearly for instances of clipping (para. [0053]: it may be important in a given situation to know that the gain should be increased or decreased, for example, by a factor of 2 relative to a reference gain; para. [0097]: the non-linear portion of the predetermined efficiency characteristic may be characterized by a variance from a linear extrapolation of the slope at a predetermined nominal operating point exceeding a predetermined threshold. The predetermined efficiency characteristic may include information stored in the data store in at least one look up table, note that the above feature of “gain increasing” in para. [0053] and “look up table for efficiency characteristic” in para. [0097] reads on “a numerical register that increases linearly for instances of clipping” because non-linear portion can compensated by look up table that is tracked according to a numerical register that increases linearly for instances of clipping”).
Thomasson and Wise are both considered to be analogous art to the claimed invention because they are in the similar filed of photodiode sensor. 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 Wise into Thomasson in order to determine a photodiode element drive voltage as a function of a commanded photodiode gain level and a measured temperature signal (Wise, para. [0006]).
Regarding claim 5, Thomasson in view of Wise teaches all the limitation of claim 1, in addition, Wise teaches that 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 (paras. [0046], [0048]: 12-bit ADC units, note that since Wise teaches 12-bit ADC, 16-bit number representing peak-to-peak amplitude would be an obvious variation of such method because peak-to-peak amplitude before determining the clipping density of the digital signal for ADC is inherent functional property).
Thomasson and Wise are both considered to be analogous art to the claimed invention because they are in the similar filed of photodiode sensor. 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 Wise into Thomasson in order to determine a photodiode element drive voltage as a function of a commanded photodiode gain level and a measured temperature signal (Wise, para. [0006]).
Regarding claim 6, Thomasson in view of Wise teaches all the limitation of claim 1, in addition, Wise teaches that the processing element is further configured to delay decreasing or increasing the gain of the analog signal and hence the digital signal (para. [0053]: it may be important in a given situation to know that the gain should be increased or decreased, for example, by a factor of 2 relative to a reference gain; para. [0069]: it may take seconds or minutes to servo to a desired gain level
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 delaying decreasing or increasing the gain 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 7, Thomasson in view of Wise teaches all the limitation of claim 1, in addition, Wise teaches that the processor is further configured to decrease the gain of the analog signal and hence the digital signal (Fig. 1, 155; para. [0030]: the detection circuit 155 may be operable to convert analog signals to digital signals which may be sent to the controller 105) only if the clipping density is greater than the first threshold for a predetermined amount of time (para. [0053]: for the purposes of gain control it may only be important to know a ratio between a current gain level and a desired gain level, and not an actual absolute gain level, For example, it may be important in a given situation to know that the gain should be increased or decreased, for example, by a factor of 2 relative to a reference gain) and
increase the gain of the analog signal and hence the digital signal (para. [0030]: the detection circuit 155 may be operable to convert analog signals to digital signals which may be sent to the controller 105) only if the clipping density is less than the second threshold for a predetermined amount of time (para. [0053]: for the purposes of gain control it may only be important to know a ratio between a current gain level and a desired gain level, and not an actual absolute gain level, For example, it may be important in a given situation to know that the gain should be increased or decreased, for example, by a factor of 2 relative to a reference gain).
Thomasson and Wise are both considered to be analogous art to the claimed invention because they are in the similar filed of photodiode sensor. 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 decreasing or increasing the gain of the analog signal and hence the digital signal such as are described in Wise into Thomasson in order to determine a photodiode element drive voltage as a function of a commanded photodiode gain level and a measured temperature signal (Wise, para. [0006]).
Claims 3 and 4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Thomasson in view of Wise and Wang et al. (US 10,744,718 B1, hereinafter referred to as “Wang”).
Regarding claim 3, Thomasson in view of Wise teaches all the limitation of claim 1. Thomasson and Wise do not specifically teach that the clipping density is tracked according to a numerical register that decays exponentially over time.
However, Wang teaches that the clipping density is tracked according to a 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 IADCs).
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).
Regarding claim 4, Thomasson in view of Wise teaches all the limitation of claim 1. Thomasson and Wise do not specifically teach that the clipping density is tracked according to a numerical register having a reduced upper limit.
However, Wang teaches that the clipping density is tracked according to a numerical register having a reduced upper limit (col. 3, lines 2-4: the first integrator, the adder, and the quantizer are activated during a linear phase to accumulate a signal linearly; col. 15, lines 62-63: The SQNR limits the performance to a 12-bit level with a 246 cycle of linear phase; col. 7, lines 19-21: Apart from the SQNR, thermal noise is another fundamental limiting factor that must be carefully considered in high-resolution ADCs).
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).
Claims 9 and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Thomasson in view of Wise and Cheng et al. (CN 114268378 A, hereinafter referred to as “Cheng”).
Regrading claim 9, Thomasson in view of Wise teaches all the limitation of claim 1. Thomasson and Wise 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).
Regarding claim 10, Thomasson in view of Wise and Cheng teaches all the limitation of claim 9. Thomasson 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 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Thomasson in view of Wise, 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 Wise teach all the limitation of claim 1, in addition, Thomasson and Wise 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 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 20 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Thomasson in view of Wise, 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
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/SANGKYUNG LEE/Examiner, Art Unit 2858
/LEE E RODAK/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2858
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