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 § 102
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 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.
1. Claims 1, 4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102 (a)(1) as being anticipated by Namai et al (USPN 2020/0083878).
Regarding claim 1, Namai discloses a switch device (a switch device 1 shown in figure 1), comprising:
a switch element (e.g. a switch element 22), including a gate, a drain, a source, a back gate, a first body diode disposed between the drain and the back gate and a second body diode disposed between the source and the back gate;
a first switch circuit, including a first switch (26) connected between the back gate and an application end at ground potential (GND); and
a second switch circuit (24, 25), including a second switch (25) connected between the back gate and the source.
Regarding claim 4, Namai discloses wherein the second switch (24, 25) includes a first NMOS transistor (24) and a first PMOS transistor (25) connected in parallel between the back gate and the source of the switch element (22).
2. Claims 1, 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102 (a)(1) as being anticipated by Kosuge (USPN 2009/0284287).
Regarding claim 1, Kosuge discloses a switch device (a switch device 10E shown in figure 8), comprising:
a switch element (e.g. a switch element MP1), including a gate, a drain, a source, a back gate, a first body diode disposed between the drain and the back gate and a second body diode disposed between the source and the back gate (the switching element MP1 inherently includes a PN junction parasitic diodes formed between a drain terminal and a substrate terminal and a source terminal and a substrate terminal, only a PN diode D1 shows in the drawing 7);
a first switch circuit, including a first switch (MP 10) connected between the back gate and an application end at ground potential (a MP 10 is coupled to a ground via a MN3, see par. 0145); and
a second switch circuit (MN3, MP7, MP8), including a second switch (such as MP8 electrically tied to a source electrode of MP1 via a power terminal VDDIO) connected between the back gate and the source.
Regarding claim 14, Kosuge discloses wherein the first switch (MN3, MP7, MP8) and the second switch (MP10) are arranged along a chip edge of a chip (a chip 20E) of the switch device (MP1) (MP10, MN3, MP7, MP8 of a substrate voltage controlled circuit 22E are arranged along a chip edge of a chip (a chip 20E, see figure 8).
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.
3. Claim 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Namai et al (USPN 2020/0083878) in view of Voldman (USPN 2001/0043112).
Regarding claim 3, Namai discloses all limitations of claim 1 as discussed above, but does not explicitly teach a high pass filter as claimed.
Voldman discloses a back gate control circuit (see figure 11) includes a first high-pass filter (41, 71) connected between a drain of a switch element (43) and a control end of a first switch (110).
It 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 to have modified a switching device of Namai to incorporate a high pass filter as disclosed by Voldman in order to increase a current drive and reduce a less voltage stress. Thus improving a protection performance.
4. Claims 1, 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Matsui et al (USPN 2015/0137260) in view of Namai et al (USP 2020/0083878).
Regarding claims 1, 15, Matsui discloses a hard disk device (see figure 1, par. 0052), comprising: a switch device (QH); and an HDD (LD), configured to be supplied with an output voltage output from a source (S1) of the switch element (QH).
Matsui does not explicitly disclose the switching device as claimed.
Namai discloses a switch device (a switch device 1shown in figure 1), comprising:
a switch element (e.g. a switch element 22), including a gate, a drain, a source, a back gate, a first body diode disposed between the drain and the back gate and a second body diode disposed between the source and the back gate;
a first switch circuit, including a first switch (26) connected between the back gate and an application end at ground potential (GND); and
a second switch circuit (24, 25), including a second switch (25) connected between the back gate and the source.
It 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 to have modified a switching device of Matsui to incorporate a switching device as disclosed by Namai in order to control a back gate voltage of the switching device so that protecting the switching device from a reverse current event.
Allowable Subject Matter
5. Claims 2, 5-13, 16 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
6. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DANNY NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)272-2054. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:00AM-4:30PM.
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/DANNY NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2838