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 .
Election/Restrictions
Claims 1, 7, 14, 16, 18 and 20 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 12/26/2025
Applicant is reminded that upon the cancelation of claims to a non-elected invention, the inventorship must be corrected in compliance with 37 CFR 1.48(a) if one or more of the currently named inventors is no longer an inventor of at least one claim remaining in the application. A request to correct inventorship under 37 CFR 1.48(a) must be accompanied by an application data sheet in accordance with 37 CFR 1.76 that identifies each inventor by his or her legal name and by the processing fee required under 37 CFR 1.17(i).
Specification
The abstract of the disclosure is objected to because it exceeds 150 words. A corrected abstract of the disclosure is required and must be presented on a separate sheet, apart from any other text. See MPEP § 608.01(b).
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 2 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Min et al. US 2020/0403576 (Min).
Regarding claim 2, Min teaches a radio frequency circuit (see Fig.1 and note [0011] input RF signal to the circuit) comprising:
a first amplifying element (120 in Fig.1, main amplifier [0018]) and a second amplifying element (140 in Fig.1, peak amplifier [0018]); a first transmission line (134, 161, 162 of transmission line, note [0032] making up the first transmission line); a signal output terminal (194 in Fig.1); and a first circuit (154, 190,194, 196 and 182, 184, 186 in Fig.1);
wherein the first transmission line (134, 161, 162) is connected between an output terminal of the first amplifying element (output of 120, 134) and an output terminal of the second amplifying element (output of 140, 154), the first circuit includes a first main line (164 to 190), and a first auxiliary line (164 to 180 which includes 182, 184 and 186), one end portion of the first main line is connected to one end portion of the first transmission line (190 is connected to 154), and another end portion of the first main line is connected to the signal output terminal (the other end of 190 is connected to 194), another end portion of the first transmission line is connected to the output terminal of the first amplifying element (161 and 162 is connected to the output terminal of main amplifier 120, 134), one end portion of the first auxiliary line is connected to the one end portion of the first main line (one end of 180 is connected to one end of first main line 154), and another end portion of the first auxiliary line is connected to ground (auxiliary line 180, 182, 184, 186 is connected to the ground as show in Fig.1).
Although Min does not explicitly teach the further limitation of wherein a first direction directed from the one end portion of the first main line to the another end portion of the first main line and a second direction directed from the another end portion of the first auxiliary line to the one end portion of the first auxiliary line are the same, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skilled in the art to recognize as such. Through the illustration of Figure 1, Min teaches a first direction directed from the one end portion of the first main line to the another end portion of the first main line (main line from output of 154 passing to 190, 194, then to 196) and a second direction directed from the another end portion of the first auxiliary line to the one end portion of the first auxiliary line (from 154, also directing to 182, 184 and then ground). Based on the observation of figure 1, one of ordinary skilled in the art would recognize that the two directions explained above are the same of direction towards the right side and to the bottom direction of the page. Although applicants intended to define the limitation here on paragraph [0014] of the specification in this instant application, that the direction also involves degrees of “equal to or greater than -10 degrees and equal to or less than +10 degrees,” one of ordinary skilled in the art would further recognize that Min teaches this limitation wherein if the x-axis angle of direction from 154 to 190 in Fig.1 and further to 194 and then rotated clockwise 90 degrees to the load 196, the same direction is traveled in the direction from 154 to 182 in the x-axis, then from 182 to 184, then to the ground, also rotated clockwise 90 degrees from the x-axis. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to recognize that Min teaches all of the claimed limitation for the purpose of meeting stringent RF performance requirements, as taught by Min (note [0002]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-6, 8-13, 15, 17 and 19 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.
Shanjani US-20050156671, Ortiz US-10425046, and Wang US-20200259460 teach in a similar field of endeavor of a radio frequency circuit comprising multiple amplifiers, main line, auxiliary line with their corresponding structures.
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/SAM K AHN/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2633