Prosecution Insights
Last updated: July 17, 2026
Application No. 18/500,417

POWER AMPLIFYING DEVICE

Non-Final OA §103
Filed
Nov 02, 2023
Priority
Jan 17, 2023 — JP 2023-005186
Examiner
CHOE, HENRY
Art Unit
2843
Tech Center
2800 — Semiconductors & Electrical Systems
Assignee
Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd.
OA Round
2 (Non-Final)
93%
Grant Probability
Favorable
2-3
OA Rounds
0m
Est. Remaining
91%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 93% — above average
93%
Career Allowance Rate
1258 granted / 1359 resolved
+24.6% vs TC avg
Minimal -1% lift
Without
With
+-1.2%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Fast prosecutor
1y 10m
Avg Prosecution
24 currently pending
Career history
1371
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
0.7%
-39.3% vs TC avg
§103
49.9%
+9.9% vs TC avg
§102
36.3%
-3.7% vs TC avg
§112
3.0%
-37.0% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 1359 resolved cases

Office Action

§103
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) 1-3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over [Shimamoto (Fig. 10); 11,469,713]. Regarding claim 1, Shimamoto discloses all the limitations in claim 1 as described in the previous office action except for that the each of the first unit transistors is smaller than each of the second unit transistors. Replacing bigger transistors in the unit transistors with the smaller transistors or vice versa does not require a special skill. Also, it does not produce an unexpected result. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to have changed the sizes of the transistors in the unit transistors in order to improve the gain of the amplifier circuit which is typically well known to one of ordinary skill in the art. Regarding claim 2, wherein the first unit transistors (Q1a, Q1b) are class A transistors. Regarding claim 3, wherein the second unit transistors (Q2a, Q2b) are class F transistors. Allowable Subject Matter Claims 4 and 5 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 The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. 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
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Nov 02, 2023
Application Filed
Mar 25, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §103
May 18, 2026
Response Filed
Jun 17, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §103 (current)

Precedent Cases

Applications granted by this same examiner with similar technology

Patent 12683564
RFIC WITH SUBSTRATE PARTITION
3y 1m to grant Granted Jul 14, 2026
Patent 12683567
INPUT STAGE CIRCUIT FOR AN OPERATIONAL AMPLIFIER WITH ENHANCED INPUT OFFSET VOLTAGE TRIMMING CAPABILITIES
2y 9m to grant Granted Jul 14, 2026
Patent 12671368
AMPLITUDE MODULATION-PHASE MODULATION (AM-PM) LINEARIZATION IN A POWER AMPLIFIER USING BIAS CIRCUITRY
4y 2m to grant Granted Jun 30, 2026
Patent 12671371
DIFFERENTIAL RADIO FREQUENCY AMPLIFIER
3y 8m to grant Granted Jun 30, 2026
Patent 12671375
ELECTRONIC CURRENT TUNING FOR QUIESCENT CURRENTS OF A GALLIUM NITRIDE BASED POWER AMPLIFIER
3y 1m to grant Granted Jun 30, 2026
Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

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Prosecution Projections

2-3
Expected OA Rounds
93%
Grant Probability
91%
With Interview (-1.2%)
1y 10m (~0m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Moderate
PTA Risk
Based on 1359 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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