DETAILED ACTION
This Office Action is in response to the communications filed October 30, 2025. Claims 1-20 are pending.
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 were received on October 30, 2025 are acceptable.
Claim Objections
Claims 12-20 are objected to because of the following informalities:
in claim 12, line 10, “wherein N comprises 4 and 6” should be deleted; and
dependent claim(s) are objected to under the same ground(s) as the claim(s) from which it depends.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claims 2-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
With regard to claims 2-4, the specification, at the time the application, does not describe an embodiment of the invention comprising a six-phase mixer circuit (see claim 1, lines 17-19) in combination with N=4, the plurality of differential signal pairs and the details of the mixer circuit as recited in claim 2. The plurality of differential signal pairs and the details of the mixer circuit recited in claim 2 correspond to the 4-phase transmitter embodiment in FIGS. 3A-1 and 3A-2 whereas the six-phase mixer of claim 1 is directed to the 6-phase transmitter embodiment in FIGS. 4A-1 and 4A-2. The specification, at the time the application was filed, does not describe combining aspects of both transmitter embodiments as encompassed by the scope of claim 2.
Similarly, with regard to claims 5-7, the specification, at the time the application, does not describe an embodiment of the invention comprising a four-phase mixer circuit (see claim 1, lines 14-16) in combination with N=6, the plurality of differential signal pairs and the details of the mixer circuit as recited in claim 5. The plurality of differential signal pairs and the details of the mixer circuit recited in claim 5 correspond to 6-phase transmitter embodiment in FIGS. 4A-1 and 4A-2 whereas the four-phase mixer of claim 1 is directed to the 4-phase transmitter embodiment in FIGS. 3A-1 and 3A-2. The specification, at the time the application was filed, does not describe combining aspects of both transmitter embodiments as encompassed by the scope of claim 5.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1 and 8-11 are allowed.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Mittal et al. (US Patent No. 10,348,528 B2) discloses a six-phase mixer circuit and Asuri et al. (US Patent No. 10,454,509 B2) discloses a four-phase mixer circuit but the respective circuits in these references do not mix a plurality of differential signal pairs with a plurality of pulse signals wherein the plurality of signals have the same duty ratio greater than 16.7% or the same duty ratio greater than 25%, respectively.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Betsy Deppe whose telephone number is 571-272-3054. The examiner can normally be reached Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, 7:00 am - 3:00 pm (ET).
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/BETSY DEPPE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2633