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 .
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d). The certified copy has been filed in parent Application No. JAPAN 2021-159701, filed on 09/29/2021.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 07/10/2026, 08/11/2025 and 06/23/2024. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, the “a first integrated circuit terminal connected to the first external connection terminal; and a second integrated circuit terminal connected to the second external connection terminal” as cited in Claims 1, 8 & 14 and “two first external connection terminals respectively connected to first and second ends of the power inductor” and “the at least one integrated circuit includes two first integrated circuit terminals connected to the two first external connection terminals” in Claim 6 must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). No new matter should be entered.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
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 are 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.
In Claim 1, the recitation of “a first integrated circuit terminal connected to the first external connection terminal; and a second integrated circuit terminal connected to the second external connection terminal” is unclear because first and second integrated circuit terminals are not clearly defined, hence it is not clear as to how
A first integrated circuit terminal would connect to the first external connection terminal; and a second integrated circuit terminal would connect to the second external connection terminal. Further clarification is needed.
Claims 8 & 14 are rejected in the same manner as discussed in claim 1.
In Claim 6, lines 1-2, the recitation of “two first external connection terminals respectively connected to first and second ends of the power inductor” is unclear and it is not clear because whether these two first external connection terminals are additional terminals to the plurality of external connection terminals including a first external connection terminal as cited in claim 1. Similarly, “two first integrated circuit terminals connected to the two first external connection terminals” is not clear in similarly manner as discussed above. Further clarification is needed.
In Claim 10, the recitation of “the plurality of external connection terminals include a plurality of second external connection terminals” is unclear whether a plurality of second external connection terminals are additional terminals to the a second external connection terminal as cited in Claim 8. Further clarification is needed.
Claims 2-5, 7, 9, 11-13 & 15-20 are rejected due to their dependency.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 14 & 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nagamori et al. (US 7,053,708 B2) in view of Perreault et al. (US 9,755,672 B2, of record), hereafter called Nagamori and Perreault.
Regarding claim 14 as best understood:
Nagamori discloses in Figs. 1-3 & 8 a system comprising; module laminated (module 10 as shown in Fig. 8); an integrated circuit (IC) that includes electronic components which mounted on the module 10 and wherein the system includes a first external connection terminal (Pin) and a second external connection terminal (Pout).
Nagamori does not disclose the specific integrated in claim 1.
Perreault discloses in Figs. 2B, 3B, 7 & 13C a tracker module comprising:
an integrated circuit (semiconductor circuit, Col2. line 42-44) and including:
at least one switch included in a pre-regulator circuit (Fig. 13C) having a power inductor (L 322) and that is configured to convert an input voltage into a first voltage;
at least one switch (switches S1A…S8B), as shown in Fig. 2B) included in a switched-capacitor circuit (Fig. 2B) that is configured to generate a plurality of discrete voltages (V1-V4) from the first voltage;
at least one switch (S1-S9) included in a supply modulator (Fig. 3A) that is configured to selectively output at least one of the plurality of discrete voltages based on a digital control signal (controller, see Abstract, control signals and Fig 11, Control).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the integrated circuit of Nagamori with the specific integrated circuit taught by Perreault. Such a modification would have imparted the advantageous benefit of improving the tradeoff between switching frequency and loss characteristics (see Col. 9, lines 5-7) as taught by Perreault to Nagamori reference, thereby suggesting the obviousness of such a modification.
The combination does not disclose wherein a first distance between the first external connection terminal and the first integrated circuit terminal is shorter than a second distance between the second external connection terminal and the second integrated circuit terminal. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary
skill in the art at the time the invention was made to set or chosen or characterize a first distance between the first external connection terminal and the first integrated circuit terminal is shorter than a second distance between the second external connection terminal and the second integrated circuit terminal, since it has been held that discovering an optimum value of a result effective variable involves only routine skill in the art. In re Boesch, 617 F.2d 272, 205 USPQ 215 (CCPA 1980).
As a consequence of the combination, the resultant combination discloses
a first external connection terminal (implementing IC, a node within module 10 of Fig. 8 of Nagamori, which connects to, Fig. 13C of Perreault, a terminal between switch SA and inductor 322) and
a second external connection terminal (implementing IC and where another node within module 10, which Control connected to and provide control signal to switches as shown in Fig. 3B); and
a first integrated circuit terminal (implemented IC on module 10, within IC includes a terminal) connected to the first external connection terminal, which is connected to the power inductor (inductor 322 of Perreault ); and
a second integrated circuit terminal (implemented IC on module 10, where a node of the IC connect to a terminal of module 10) and connected to the second external connection terminal that is configured an input terminal for receiving the digital control signal (a control terminal of on Fig. 11, which connects to the terminal on module 10 to receive control signal (e.g. digital signal).
Regarding claim 15:
The combination further discloses the tracker module according to Claim 14, wherein the digital control signal corresponds to an envelope signal (the applicant does not specified the envelope signal, thus the digital control signal inherently corresponds to an envelope signal, Col. 11, envelope tracking)
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-13 would be allowable if rewritten or amended to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action.
Claims 16-20 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph and if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KHIEM D NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)270-3941. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 8:00 AM-5:00 PM EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Jessica Han can be reached at (571) 272-2078. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/KHIEM D NGUYEN/Examiner, Art Unit 2843
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