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 .
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.
DETAILED ACTION
This office action is in response to application 18/527145 filed on 12/01/23.
Summary of claims
Claims 1-20 are pending.
Claims 1-20 are rejected.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-20 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Tero Tapio Ranta (US Pat. 9024700).
As to claim 1 the prior art teaches a method for designing an electronic circuit the method comprising:
providing a prototype electronic circuit comprising one or more capacitors and one or more other components, at least one of the one or more capacitors being a variable capacitor (see fig 4-5 col. 9 lines 33 to col. 10 lines 38);
testing the electronic circuit by adjusting the capacitance of the one or more variable capacitors to determine one or more first capacitance values of the one or more variable capacitors that cause the electronic circuit to have one or more operating parameters that meet one or more desired operating parameters of the electronic circuit (see fig 4-6 col. 13 lines 7 to col. 14 lines 36);
determining, based on the testing of the electronic circuit, capacitance values for one or more fixed-value capacitors to replace the one or more variable capacitors in the electronic circuit, each of the fixed-value capacitors having a second capacitance value equivalent to the first value of the corresponding variable capacitor (see fig 4-8 col. 14 lines 4 to col. 15 lines 60).
As to claim 2 the prior art teaches wherein the electronic circuit is an amplifier circuit (see fig 1-3 col. 6 lines 4-48).
As to claim 3 the prior art teaches wherein at least one of the desired operating parameters are defined as one or more fixed values, each of the fixed values having an error margin (see fig 5-7 col. 15 lines 40 to col. 16 lines 50).
As to claim 4 the prior art teaches wherein the capacitance of at least one of the variable capacitors is adjusted to change a shunt capacitance of at least one part of the electronic circuit to cause the electronic circuit to have one or more operating parameters that meet one or more desired operating parameters of the electronic circuit (see fig 5-7 col. 16 lines 5 to col. 17 lines 40).
As to claim 5 the prior art teaches wherein the capacitance of at least one of the variable capacitors is adjusted to change a series capacitance of at least one part of the electronic circuit to cause the electronic circuit to have one or more operating parameters that meet one or more desired operating parameters of the electronic circuit (see fig 5-8 col. 14 lines 20 to col. 15 lines 40).
As to claim 6 the prior art teaches wherein at least one of the operating parameters is dependent on an internal capacitance of at least one component of the electronic circuit (see fig 5-7 col. 17 lines 30-65).
As to claim 7 the prior art teaches wherein at least one of the operating parameters is dependent on at least one parasitic capacitance that exists between two parts of the electronic circuit (see fig 4-8 col. 18 lines 5 to col. 19 lines 30).
As to claim 8 the prior art teaches wherein at least one of the operating parameters is dependent on at least one parasitic capacitance that exists between at least one part of the electronic circuit and an external device or an external component electrically connected to the at least one part of the electronic circuit (see fig 5-7 col. 14 lines 20 to col. 15 lines 30).
As to claim 9 the prior art teaches wherein at least one of the operating parameters is dependent on at least one parasitic capacitance that exists between at least one part of the electronic circuit and a device or a component located adjacent to the at least one part of the electronic circuit (see fig 3-6 col. 12 lines 15 to col. 13 lines 50).
As to claim 10 the prior art teaches wherein the operating parameters include at least one frequency at which at least one part of the electronic circuit oscillates, and the desired operating parameters include at least one desired frequency at which the at least one part of the electronic circuit oscillates (see fig 5-9 col. 18 lines 5-60).
As to claim 11 the prior art teaches wherein at least one of the variable capacitors is configured to function as a decoupling capacitor for decoupling a first part of the electronic circuit from a second part of the electronic circuit (see fig 5-9 col. 18 lines 45 to col. 19 lines 40).
As to claim 12 the prior art teaches wherein the first and second parts of the electronic circuits are coupled through a common impedance to a common power source (see fig 5-9 col. 19 lines 1-65).
As to claim 13 the prior art teaches wherein at least one of the variable capacitors is configured to function as a decoupling capacitor for decoupling at least one part of the electronic circuit and an external device or an external component electrically connected to the at least one part of the electronic circuit (see fig 5-9 col. 17 lines 50 to col. 19 lines 20).
As to claim 14 the prior art teaches wherein at least one of the variable capacitors is configured to function as a bypass capacitor to decouple an AC signal from a first part of the electronic circuit from a second part of the electronic circuit (see fig 5-9 col. 19 lines 40 to col. 20 lines 60).
As to claim 15 the prior art teaches wherein at least one of the variable capacitors is configured to function as a bypass capacitor to decouple a voltage spike and/or a voltage dip from a first part of the electronic circuit from a second part of the electronic circuit (see fig 5-9 col. 20 lines 15 to col. 21 lines 45).
As to claim 16 the prior art teaches wherein at least one of the variable capacitors has a variable capacitance between a first node and a second node, the variable capacitor including:
a switch having a first terminal and a second terminal, an impedance between the first terminal and the second terminal being controllable via a first control node, the switch including two or more transistors (see fig 7-10 col. 22 lines 15 to col. 23 lines 50);
a first capacitor coupled between the first terminal and the first node; and a second capacitor coupled between the second terminal and the second node (see fig 7-10 col. 23 lines 10 to col. 24 lines 20).
As to claim 17 the prior art teaches wherein the capacitance of the variable capacitor is adjusted using a controller (see fig 5-9 col. 20 lines 5-60).
As to claim 18 the prior art teaches wherein the controller is configured to automatically adjust the capacitance of the variable capacitor and determine the one or more first capacitance values of the one or more variable capacitors that cause the electronic circuit to have the one or more operating parameters that meet the one or more desired operating parameters of the electronic circuit (see fig 5-9 col. 18 lines 5-60).
As to claim 19 the prior art teaches a method for designing an electronic circuit the method comprising:
providing a prototype electronic circuit comprising one or more passive components and one or more active components, at least one of the one or more passive components having a variable value (see fig 4-5 col. 9 lines 33 to col. 10 lines 38);
testing the electronic circuit by adjusting value of the one or more passive components to determine one or more first values of the one or more passive components that cause the electronic circuit to have one or more operating parameters that meet one or more desired operating parameters of the electronic circuit (see fig 4-6 col. 13 lines 7 to col. 14 lines 36);
and determining, based on the testing of the electronic circuit, values for one or more fixed-value passive components to replace the one or more variable passive components in the electronic circuit, each of the fixed-value passive components having a second value equivalent to the first value of the corresponding variable passive component (see fig 4-8 col. 14 lines 4 to col. 15 lines 60).
As to claim 20 the prior art teaches wherein the one or more fixed-value passive components include one or more capacitors, resistors, or inductors (see fig 4-6 col. 16 lines 5-60).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BINH C TAT whose telephone number is 571 272-1908. The examiner can normally be reached on flex 7:00Am-8PM.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Jack Chiang can be reached on 571 272-7483. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 703-872-9306.
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/BINH C TAT/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2851
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