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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 06/22/2026 has been entered.
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.
Claim(s) 1-11 & 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Yantchev. (US PGPub 20220321082), a reference of record.
As per claim 1:
Yantchev discloses in Fig. 4A:
An acoustic wave device comprising:
a support substrate (420);
a medium layer (acoustic Bragg reflector 454) formed on the support substrate;
a piezoelectric substrate (410) formed on the medium layer; and
a resonator (IDT 434) formed on the piezoelectric substrate,
wherein the medium layer includes:
a first acoustic velocity region (Bragg reflector layers 428 and 424 or in the alternative, layers 426 and 422) disposed beneath the resonator as a solid material (428 & 424 are provided as tungsten [0101] and 426 & 422 as SiO2, [0101], both solid materials at standard temperature and pressures, and recognized as solid materials in the specification of the current application); and
a second acoustic velocity region (layers 422 & 426, or in the alternative, layers 424 & 428, each of Bragg reflector 454) having different acoustic velocity from that of the first acoustic velocity region (silicon dioxide and tungsten [0101] are respectively, low and high acoustic velocity layers [0135]), the second acoustic velocity region disposed beneath the resonator and next to the first acoustic velocity region as a solid material (424 & 428 is provided as tungsten [0101] and 422 & 426 as SiO2, [0101], both solid materials at standard temperature and pressures, and recognized as solid materials in the specification of the current application), and the second acoustic velocity region distributed discretely within the medium layer in a direction parallel to a surface of the piezoelectric substrate penetrating at least one half of the thickness of the medium layer (each layer has a thickness equal to ¼ wavelength of a resonance frequency [0075], wherein the medium layer may consist of one pair of layers 426 & 428 and layers 422 & 424, or multiple pairs [0075, 0082]), wherein the second acoustic velocity region includes a plurality of divided regions (pedestal layers 424 or 422), and each of the divided regions is surrounded by the first acoustic velocity region in a top view (pedestals are disposed under the fingers, [0045], with the cavity perimeter of the acoustic Bragg reflector 154 incorporating a region outside of the fingers, as shown in Fig. 100, such that in a top view, the pedestals 456 overlap the continuous Bragg mirror portion 455, thus being surrounded by the continuous Bragg mirror portion 455 in the top view, thus the divided regions of the second acoustic region is surrounded by a first acoustic velocity region in a top view).
As per claim 2:
Yantchev discloses in Fig. 4A & 5:
wherein three or more of the second acoustic velocity regions are formed in a region where the resonator is formed (as seen in Fig. 4A, [0082], and further in Fig. 5, wherein a resonator is disposed over a cavity 535, [0128]).
As per claim 3:
Yantchev discloses in Fig. 4A & 5:
an average acoustic velocity of a bulk wave propagating through the medium layer (tungsten, [0101]) is higher than a velocity of an acoustic wave of a main mode excited by the resonator (in lithium niobate [0037]) in a region overlapping with a region where the resonator is formed in a top view (acoustic velocity in Tungsten exceeds that of Lithium Niobate as a known material property).
As per claim 4:
Yantchev discloses in Fig. 4A:
an average acoustic velocity of a bulk wave propagating through the medium layer is from 4500 m/s to 5500 m/s (acoustic velocity of Tungsten is ~5200 m/s, a material property).
As per claim 5:
Yantchev discloses in Fig. 4D & 5:
a second medium layer (second to bottom two pedestals portion layers 422 & 424) formed between the medium layer (bottom two pedestals portion layers 422 & 424 and layers of continuous Bragg mirror portion 455) and the piezoelectric substrate.
As per claim 6:
Yantchev discloses in Fig. 4D & 5:
the second medium layer comprising a third acoustic velocity region and a fourth acoustic velocity region having different acoustic velocity from that of the third acoustic velocity region in a top view (top two pedestal portion layers 422 & 424 of 456 comprises SiO2 as 422, and Tungsten as 424 [0077], interspersed with cavities filled with air [0063]).
As per claim 7:
Yantchev discloses in Fig. 4A:
a third medium layer (pedestals portion 456 comprising the layer of 422) formed between the second medium layer and the piezoelectric substrate (wherein the total number of reflector layers may include 16, with the pedestal portion including half of the number of layers, [0156] such that the pedestal portions include 8 alternating layers, wherein the first medium layer comprises the first two layers of the pedestal portions, the second medium layer comprises the second two layers of the pedestal portions, and the third medium layer comprises the top layer of the pedestal portions).
As per claim 8:
Yantchev discloses in Fig. 4A & 5:
the second acoustic velocity region includes a circular shape, an elliptical shape, or a polygonal shape in a top view (as seen in Fig. 5, wherein cavities 535 are polygonal).
As per claim 9:
Yantchev discloses in Fig. 4A & 5:
the support substrate is made of sapphire, silicon, alumina, spinel, quartz, or glass ([0038]).
As per claim 10:
Yantchev discloses in Fig. 4A & 5, in the alternative:
the first acoustic velocity region comprises silicon nitride, silicon oxynitride, silicon, alumina, silicon dioxide, or silicon carbide ([0082]).
As per claim 11:
Yantchev discloses in Fig. 4A & 5:
the second acoustic velocity region comprises silicon nitride, silicon oxynitride, silicon, alumina, silicon dioxide, silicon carbide, germanium, tungsten, platinum, or iridium ([0082]).
As per claim 13:
Yantchev discloses in Fig. 4A & 5:
A module (filter 500) comprising the acoustic wave device according to claim 1 ([0127]).
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.
Claim(s) 12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yantchev. (US PGPub 20220321082), a reference of record.
As per claim 12:
Yantchev discloses in Fig. 4A & 5:
An average area of the second acoustic velocity region is determined by the size of the aperture and length of the resonator ([0046]).
Yantchev does not disclose:
an average area of the second acoustic velocity region is 0.1 m2 to 500 m2.
At the time of filing, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to form the second acoustic velocity region to have an average area 0.1 μm2 to 500 μm2 as a design parameter determined by the size of the resonator as taught by Yantchev et al. ([0046]) to provide the benefit of overlapping the area of the resonator, as well understood in the art.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 06/22/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
On pages 5-6 of the applicant’s remarks, the applicant argues that:
In rejecting previously pending claim 2, the Examiner points to Fig. 4A of Yantchev and argues that it discloses individual layers 428, which purportedly correspond to the "a plurality of divided regions" included in the "the second acoustic velocity regions." However, as shown in cited Fig. 4A, Yantchev's layers 428 are laminated in the thickness direction. Each layer 428 is a single continuous film and is not surrounded by the first acoustic velocity region in a top view. Therefore, Yantchev's layer 428 fails to correspond to the "second acoustic region include[ing] a plurality of divided regions." Accordingly, Yantchev fails to disclose or suggest "wherein the second acoustic velocity region includes a plurality of divided regions, and each of the divided
regions is surrounded by the first acoustic velocity region in a top view" as recited in amended claim 1.
For at least these reasons, amended claim 1 is patentable over Yantchev. Reconsideration and withdrawal of the 35 U.S.C. 102 rejection of claim 1 is respectfully requested.
The examiner respectfully disagrees. The applicant has amended claim 1 to overcome the specific rejection over Yantchev, but has not overcome the reference as a whole, as per the rejection of the claims above. The previous rejection involved the interpretation of the pedestal portion 456 of Fig. 4A as the second and third medium layers, whereas portions of the pedestal portion 456 as shown in Fig. 4D may be disclosed as being part of the medium layer, meeting the limitation of “the second acoustic velocity region includes a plurality of divided regions,” as each pedestal is a divided region comprising both at least one high and low acoustic velocity layer ([0101])). As each pedestal is provided in a specific area that underneath the electrode fingers ([0045]), the pedestal portions are discretely provided as divided regions that overlap in a top view with the continuous Bragg mirror portion 455, which fills the cavity 140 as shown in Figs. 4A & 4D. As the pedestals overlap with the layers of continuous Bragg mirror portion 455, the pedestals are surrounded by the material of the layers of the continuous Bragg mirror portion when seen in a top view, meeting the limitation of “each of the divided regions is surrounded by the first acoustic velocity region in a top view.” Yantchev further discloses that the number of layers of the acoustic Bragg reflector may be 16, and that the layers of the pedestals may be half of the layers of the Bragg reflector ([0156]). As such, Yantchev continues to anticipate the claims, sustaining the rejection of claims 1-13 on the same grounds and art of record.
Applicant’s allegations are therefore not persuasive, and the rejections of claims 1-13 are sustained.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SAMUEL S OUTTEN whose telephone number is (571)270-7123. The examiner can normally be reached M-F: 9:30AM-6:00PM.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Andrea Lindgren Baltzell can be reached at (571) 272-1988. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Samuel S Outten/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2843
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