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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 6/4/2026 has been entered.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement(s) (IDS) submitted on 4/29/2026 is/are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97 and being considered by the examiner.
Response to Argument
Applicant's argument, pages 8-10 of the Remarks filed 6/4/2026 (“Remarks”), have been fully considered but found not persuasive.
Regarding the 102 rejection of claims 1-2, 9-11, 18-20 over Sinha, the Applicant argues (Remarks at 11):
As can be seen from the above illustration, the “piezoelectric layer 820” is provided below the “electrode 833b, 833c,” which the Final Office Action equates with the “first input electrode” and the “first output electrode” in claim 1. The “tunable layer 840,” on the other hand, is sandwiched between the “electrode 833b, 833c” and the “electrode 832b, 832c,” which the Final Office Action equates with the “second input electrode” and the “second output electrode” in claim 1. This is clearly different from the “coupled resonator filter (CRF) tuning circuit” of claim 1, wherein the “piezoelectric layer [is] provided between the first input electrode and the second input electrode and between the first output electrode and the second output electrode” and the “tuning piezoelectric layer [is] provided between the first tuning electrode and the second tuning electrode” (emphasis in original).
The examiner respectfully disagrees. Even assuming that the applicant’s “illustration” of Sinha’s Embodiment 2 is correct (which does not appear to be the case), there is still a portion of the piezoelectric layer 820 and a portion of tunable layer 840 provided between the respective electrodes in plan view, under the broadest reasonable interpretation. The claims do not currently require any particular top-to-bottom arrangements of the layers and electrodes. That is, the claims do not require, as the applicant appears to argue, that the first input electrode is provided on the top surface of the piezoelectric layer and the second input electrode is provided on the bottom surface of the piezoelectric layer and so on.
Should the applicant amend the claims to specify a more particular top-to-bottom arrangement, the examiner notes that the amended claims no longer require a first output electrode to be different from the first input electrode and a second output electrode to be different from the second input electrode. As a result, Sinha’s Embodiment 1 (Fig. 6B) once again reads on the amended claims and may also read on the more particular top-to-bottom arrangement.
For the foregoing reasons, the rejection of claims 1-2, 9-11, 18-20 is maintained, as set forth in detail below.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claims 1, 9-10, 18-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2009/0289526 A1, published Nov. 26, 2009 (“Sinha”).
Sinha discloses in Fig. 6B (Embodiment 1) and Fig. 10A-C (Embodiment 2) and the corresponding description:
A coupled resonator filter (CRF) tuning circuit (Figs. 6B, 10A-C, ¶¶35, 53-60) comprising:
a CRF structure (¶¶35, 53-60) comprising:
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a ferroelectric input resonator (Fig. 6; Fig. 10A-C, 800a) comprising a first input electrode (Fig. 6B, 76-1; Figs. 10A-C, 833b) and a second input electrode (Fig. 6, a portion of 73-3 under 76-1; Figs. 10A-C, 832b) and a ferroelectric output resonator (Fig. 6, annotated; Fig. 10A-C, 800c) comprising a first output electrode (Fig. 6, 76-2; Figs. 10A-C, 833c) and a second output electrode (Fig. 6, a portion of 73-3 under 76-2; Figs. 10A-C, 832c) wherein the first input electrode, the second input electrode, the first output electrode, and the second output electrode are coupled by a piezoelectric layer provided between the first input electrode and the second input electrode and between the first output electrode and the second output electrode (Fig. 6B, layer 75-2; Figs. 10A-C, layer 820; ¶¶53-54; 57-59); and
a ferroelectric tuning resonator (Fig. 6 and Figs. 10A, annotated) coupled to the ferroelectric input resonator and the ferroelectric output resonator via a coupling layer (Fig. 6B, 74; Figs. 10A-C, 840), wherein the ferroelectric tuning resonator comprises a first tuning electrode (Fig. 6B, 73-2; Figs. 10A-C, 832a) coupled to the coupling layer, a second tuning electrode (Fig. 6B, 73-1; Figs. 10A-C, 833a), and a tuning piezoelectric layer provided between the first tuning electrode and the second tuning electrode (Fig. 6B, 75-1; Figs. 10A-C, 820); and
a tuning controller (¶43, “the circuits that apply the bias to the paraelectric material”; ¶60, “a square-wave oscillator”) configured to cause the coupling layer to be polarized relative to one of the ferroelectric input resonator and the ferroelectric output resonator to thereby modify a filter bandwidth of the CRF structure ((¶¶15,18-19, 42-43, 48-49, 53-60).
Regarding claims 9-10, Sinha discloses that the CRF tuning circuit may be used in radio receivers, microwave components, resonators, RF and IF filters, mixers, varactors and other wireless devices (¶60).
Regarding claims 18-20, Sinha discloses that “in practical operation, the circuits that apply the bias to the paraelectric material will actually limit the bandwidth of the change of state due to the rapidity with which the path length through the paraelectric material changes in response to a change in bias voltage” (¶¶15,18-19, 42-43, 48-49, 53-60).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-8 and 12-17 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.
U.S. Patent No. 10,751,755, issued 8/25/2020 (“Horsley”) discloses a switching circuitry, including four switches controlling a piezoelectric transducer and a voltage source (Abstract, Fig. 4)
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to VICTOR COLE, telephone number (571) 272-4686. The examiner can be reached Monday-Friday, 9AM-5PM ET.
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/VICTOR COLE/
Examiner, Art Unit 2843
/ANDREA LINDGREN BALTZELL/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2843
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