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 § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-20 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claims 1 and 16 recite “a first switch connected between the first filter, the second filter, and the third filter and the first power amplifier and the second power amplifier”. It is not clear which two portions of the phrase are for the word “between”. Examiner assumed a switch connected between the filters and the amplifiers for the rejections but this needs to be clarified.
Dependent clams 2-15 and 17-20 are rejected for the same reasoning.
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.
Claim(s) 1, 5, 15, 16 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sakurai et al. (US 2020/0186185, hereinafter “Sakurai”) in view of Kang et al. (US 2019/0229764, hereinafter “Kang”).
For Claims 1 and 16, Sakurai discloses A radio frequency circuit capable of simultaneously transmitting (In the high-frequency module 500A, two systems of transmission signal paths and two systems of reception signal paths are constructed, thus enabling simultaneous operation for two frequency bands; see Sakurai par. 0076 and Fig. 5A) an LTE (Long Term Evolution) signal and an NR (New Radio) signal (The high-frequency module 100A supports a plurality of frequency bands (multiple bands) of radio frequencies (RF). The high-frequency module 100A also supports a plurality of communication schemes (multiple modes), such as a third generation mobile communication system (3G), a fourth generation mobile communication system (4G), and a fifth generation mobile communication system (5G); see Sakurai par. 0028), the circuit comprising:
a first filter, a second filter, and a third filter (BPF (Band Pass Filter) 42, BPF 40, BPF 41; see Sakurai par. 0073 and Fig. 5A);
a first power amplifier and a second power amplifier (the amplifier unit 10; see Sakurai par. 0075 and Fig. 5A; The amplifier unit 10 includes the first-stage amplifier 10a and the subsequent-stage amplifier 10b that are formed along a transmission signal path (first transmission signal path) extending from the terminal TX1. Furthermore, the amplifier unit 10 includes a first-stage amplifier 10c and a subsequent-stage amplifier 10d that are formed along a transmission signal path (second transmission signal path) extending from the terminal TX2; see Sakurai par. 0068 and Fig. 4); and
a first switch connected between the first filter, the second filter, and the third filter and the first power amplifier and the second power amplifier (the high-frequency module 500A includes a double pole three throw (DP3T) switch 37 in place of the SP3T switch 36. The DP3T switch 37 is a high-frequency switch element having a 2x3 input-output terminal; see Sakurai par. 0072; The transmission control block 20a respectively supplies the control signal S1, the control signal S21, the control signal S22, the control signal S23, a control signal S31, and a control signal S32 to the amplifier unit 10, the SPDT switch 35, the DPDT switch 33, the DP3T switch 37, the coupler 50, and the coupler 51; see Sakurai par. 0075; see Fig. 5A where SPDT switch 35 and DPDT switch 33 are in between the three filters BPF 42, BPF 40 and BPF 41 and the amplifier 10 within which PA 10a and PA 10c are located);
the first switch enables connection between the first filter and the first power amplifier, enables connection between the third filter and the second power amplifier (The DP3T switch 37 includes a terminal 37a connected to the BPF (Band Pass Filter) 42, a terminal 37b connected to the BPF 40, a terminal 37c connected to the BPF 41, a terminal 37d connected to a coupler 51, and a terminal 37e connected to the coupler 50; see Sakurai par. 0073 and Fig. 5A), and enables selective connection between the second filter and one of the first power amplifier and the second power amplifier (The SPDT switch 83 is connected to a previous stage previous to the amplifier unit 10 and selectively connects the amplifier unit 10 to the terminals TX1 and TX2. The SPDT switch 84 is connected to a previous stage previous to the reception control unit 60 and selectively connects the LNA 60b of the reception control unit 60 to the terminals RX1 and RX2. Thus, in the high-frequency module 600, a plurality of different communication schemes are able to be switched; see Sakurai par. 0094).
Sakurai does not explicitly disclose wherein, when one of the LTE signal and the NR signal is amplified with the first power amplifier, an other of the LTE signal and the NR signal is amplified with the second power amplifier, and. Kang discloses wherein, when one of the LTE signal and the NR signal is amplified with the first power amplifier, an other of the LTE signal and the NR signal is amplified with the second power amplifier, and (The first transceiver 210 operates in a first communication system and provides a first signal to the first power amplifier 300. The second transceiver 220 operates in a second communication system and provides a second signal to the second power amplifier 400. At this time, the first communication system may be an LTE system, and the second communication system may be a 5G (generation) communication system; see Kang par. 0093 and Fig. 2). It would have been obvious to the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date to use Kang's arrangement in Sakurai's invention to selectively transmit a signal of a second communication system while transmitting a signal of a first communication system can be provided, thereby improving transmission output characteristics (see Kang par. 0038).
Specifically for Claim 16, Sakurai discloses A communication device comprising:
a signal processing circuit that processes a radio frequency signal; and
a radio frequency circuit, which transmits the radio frequency signal between the signal processing circuit and an antenna (As illustrated in FIG. 1A, the high-frequency module 100A includes a front-end unit 101 and a front-end unit 102. The high-frequency module 100A includes a terminal TX for inputting a transmission signal, a terminal RX for outputting a reception signal, and a terminal ANT (antenna terminal) for connection to an antenna. A path connecting the terminal TX and the terminal ANT constitutes a transmission signal path (first signal path). A path connecting the terminal RX and the terminal ANT constitutes a reception signal path (second signal path);.
For Claims 5 and 20, Sakurai discloses The radio frequency circuit according to claim 1, wherein:
following bands are positioned in a following order, from a low frequency side or a high frequency side: a third band, a second band, and a first band;
the first filter has a passband corresponding to the first band;
the second filter has a passband corresponding to the second band; and
the third filter has a passband corresponding to the third band (11. The high-frequency module according to claim 1, further comprising: a band pass filter provided on the first transmission signal path, on the second transmission signal path, or on a reception signal path between the reception signal amplifier and the antenna terminal, wherein the band pass filter is configured to attenuate frequencies outside a frequency band of the first transmission signal when the band pass filter is provided on the first transmission signal path, wherein the band pass filter is configured to attenuate frequencies outside a frequency band of the second transmission signal when the band pass filter is provided on the second transmission signal path, and wherein the band pass filter is configured to attenuate frequencies outside a frequency band of the reception signal when the band pass filter is provided on the reception signal path; see Sakurai claim 11, page 9).
Claim 15 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sakurai and Kang and further in view of Naniwa et al. (US 2019/0238169, hereinafter “Naniwa”).
For Claim 15, the combination of Sakurai and Kang does not explicitly disclose The radio frequency circuit according to claim 1, further comprising: a module substrate, wherein the first filter, the second filter, the third filter, the first power amplifier, the second power amplifier, and the first switch are disposed in or on the module substrate. Naniwa discloses The radio frequency circuit according to claim 1, further comprising: a module substrate, wherein the first filter, the second filter, the third filter, the first power amplifier, the second power amplifier, and the first switch are disposed in or on the module substrate (FIG. 5 is a schematic plan view representing the circuit layout of an RF module 1A according to a modification of a preferred embodiment of the present invention. The RF module 1A illustrated in FIG. 5 includes the switch IC 50A and a passive circuit 30A. The switch IC 50A and the passive circuit 30A are disposed in and on the same module substrate. The RF module 1A according to the present modification differs from the RF module 1 according to the preferred embodiment in the position at which the switch IC 50A is disposed on the module substrate. Only points of the configuration of the RF module 1A which are different from those of the RF module 1 will now be described. The switch IC 50A includes the digital control circuit 10 and the high-frequency circuit 20A. The high frequency circuit 20A includes switch circuits 20S, 20T, 20U, and 20V, the multiple analog ground electrodes 62, and the multiple RF electrodes 63. The switch circuits 20S, 20T, 20U, and 20V are exemplified in FIG. 5, instead of the switches 11 to 14A and the low-noise amplifiers 21C and 21D of the high-frequency circuit 20A. Each of the switch circuits 20S, 20T, ZOU, and 20V includes at least one of the switches 11 to 14A and the low-noise amplifiers 21C and 21D. The passive circuit 30A includes filter circuits 31S, 32S, 33S, 34S, 35S, and 36S. The filter circuits 31S to 36S are exemplified in FIG. 5, instead of the filters 31 to 35 and the inductors 41a to 47 of the passive circuit 30. Here, the filter circuit 31S is composed of, for example, the filter 31 and the inductors 41a and 41b in FIG. 1. The filter circuit 32S includes, for example, the filter 32 and the inductors 42a and 42b in FIG. 1. The filter circuit 33S includes, for example, the filter 33 and the inductors 43a and 43b in FIG. 1. The filter circuit 34S includes, for example, the filter 34 and the inductors 44a and 44b in FIG. 1. The filter circuit 35S includes, for example, the filter 35 and the inductors 45a and 45b in FIG. 1. The filter circuit 36S includes a filter and inductors having a pass band different from those of the filters 31 to 35; see Naniwa par. 0069-0073, 0089. It would have been obvious to the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date to use Naniwa's arrangement in Sakurai's invention to provide switch ICs, high-frequency modules, and communication apparatuses in each of which interference of digital control signals on high-frequency signals is reduced or prevented (see Naniwa par. 0007).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-4, 6-14 and 17-19 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 and provided the 112b rejections are overcome as well.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance: claims 2-4, 6-14 and 17-19 would be allowable because the closest prior arts listed above either alone or in combination, fail to anticipate or render obvious, the claimed invention of “the first switch has a first common terminal, a second common terminal, a first selection terminal, a second selection terminal, and a third selection terminal, selectively switches connection between the first common terminal and the first selection terminal and connection between the first common terminal and the second selection terminal, and selectively switches connection between the second common terminal and the second selection terminal and connection between the second common terminal and the third selection terminal; the first common terminal is connected to an output terminal of the first power amplifier; the second common terminal is connected to an output terminal of the second power amplifier; the first selection terminal is connected to an input end of the first filter; the second selection terminal is connected to an input end of the second filter; and the third selection terminal is connected to an input end of the third filter”, in combination with all other limitations in the claim(s) above as defined by applicant.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
-Zhang (US 2023/0299798): see par. 0051, 0055
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHAE S LEE whose telephone number is (571)272-8236. The examiner can normally be reached 8:30AM - 5:00PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Jeffrey Rutkowski can be reached at (571) 270-1215. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/CHAE S LEE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2415