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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement filed on 05/21/20224 has been considered and
placed in the application file.
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.
Claims 1-5 and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Guo et al. (U.S. 10,476,451).
Regarding claim 1, Guo et al. (hereinafter, Ref~451) discloses (please see Figs. 4-6) a power amplifier circuit (606 of Fig. 6) comprising:
a first amplifier (M1a of Fig. 6) configured to amplify a first signal (In1a of Fig. 6) and to output (via drain) a first amplified signal from a first output terminal (D1a of Fig. 6), the first signal being one of a pair of balanced signals;
a second amplifier (M1b of Fig. 6) configured to amplify a second signal (In1b of Fig. 6) and to output (via drain) a second amplified signal from a second output terminal (D1b of Fig. 6), the second signal being another of the pair of balanced signals;
a balun (240 of Fig. 6 can be read as the claimed balun since it is configured to convert balanced transmission line to unbalanced transmission line) configured to generate a third signal (Out of Fig. 6) from the first amplified signal and the second amplified signal; and
a matching circuit (C_AC/260 of Fig. 6) that is between the first amplifier and the second amplifier, and the balun, wherein the matching circuit comprises:
a first capacitor (capacitor C_AC of Fig. 6 or any capacitor from Fig. 4) having a first end connected to the first output terminal,
a second capacitor (capacitor C_AC of Fig. 6 or any capacitor from Fig. 4) having a first end connected to the second output terminal and a second end connected to a second end of the first capacitor, and a wiring (inductor from Fig. 4) having a first end connected to the second end of the first capacitor and a second end connected to ground as seen from Fig. 4, meeting claim 1.
Regarding claim 2, Ref~451 discloses the power amplifier circuit according to Claim 1, wherein the wiring has a spiral shape as expected from a typical inductor, meeting claim 2.
Regarding claim 3, Ref~451 discloses the power amplifier circuit according to Claim 1, wherein the wiring has a straight line shape since straight wire(s) would be employed to connected passive elements from the output of said amplifiers to ground via said matching circuit, meeting claim 3.
Regarding claim 4, Ref~451 discloses the power amplifier circuit according to Claim 1, wherein the matching circuit further comprises a third capacitor connected in series to the wiring (please see capacitor C_AC is coupled to capacitor within CM trap 260 of Fig. 4), between the second end of the first capacitor and ground as seen from Figs. 4 and 6, meeting claim 4.
Regarding claim 5, Ref~451 discloses the power amplifier circuit according to Claim 1, wherein each of the first amplifier and the second amplifier is an inverse class-F amplifier as advertised in the title of the invention, meeting claim 5.
Regarding claim 15, Ref~451 discloses the power amplifier apparatus according to Claim 11, wherein in the semiconductor chip, the matching circuit is between the first amplifier and the second amplifier as seen from Fig. 6, meeting claim 15.
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.
Claims 11-14 and 16-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Guo et al. (U.S. 10,476,451).
Regarding claim 11, Ref~451 does not disclose in details the claimed power amplifier apparatus comprising: the power amplifier circuit according to Claim 1; a semiconductor chip comprising the first amplifier, the second amplifier, and the matching circuit; and a board on which the balun is formed, and on which the semiconductor chip is mounted. However, these are normal design parameters/features in the field as described in col. 10, between lines 1-15. Specifically, Ref~451 also teaches various packaging arrangement may be possible, thus obviating the claimed features depending on custom specifications, meeting claim 11.
Regarding claim 12, Ref~451 does not disclose in details the claimed power amplifier apparatus comprising: the power amplifier circuit according to Claim 1; a semiconductor chip comprising the first amplifier and the second amplifier; and a board on which the matching circuit and the balun are formed, and on which the semiconductor chip is mounted. However, these are normal design parameters/features in the field as described in col. 10, between lines 1-15. Specifically, Ref~451 also teaches various packaging arrangement may be possible, thus obviating the claimed features depending on custom specifications as described in col. 10, between lines 1-15, meeting claim 12.
Regarding claim 13, Ref~451 does not disclose in details the claimed the power amplifier apparatus according to Claim 11, wherein the ground is at the semiconductor chip. However, these are normal design parameters/features in the field as described in col. 10, between lines 1-15. Specifically, Ref~451 also teaches various packaging arrangement may be possible, thus obviating the claimed features depending on custom specifications as described in col. 10, between lines 1-15, meeting claim 13.
Regarding claim 14, Ref~451 does not disclose in details the claimed the power amplifier apparatus according to Claim 12, wherein the ground is at the semiconductor chip as described in col. 10, between lines 1-15. However, these are normal design parameters/features in the field as described in col. 10, between lines 1-15. Specifically, Ref~451 also teaches various packaging arrangement may be possible, thus obviating the claimed features depending on custom specifications, meeting claim 14.
Regarding claim 16, Ref~451 does not disclose in details the claimed power amplifier apparatus comprising: the power amplifier circuit according to Claim 1; a semiconductor chip comprising the first amplifier, the second amplifier, the first capacitor, and the second capacitor; and a board on which the wiring and the balun are formed, and on which the semiconductor chip is mounted. However, these are normal design parameters/features in the field as described in col. 10, between lines 1-15. Specifically, Ref~451 also teaches various packaging arrangement may be possible, thus obviating the claimed features depending on custom specifications, meeting claim 16.
Regarding claim 17, Ref~451 does not disclose in details the claimed power amplifier apparatus according to Claim 16, wherein the ground is at the board. However, these are normal design parameters/features in the field. Specifically, Ref~451 also teaches various packaging arrangement may be possible, thus obviating the claimed features depending on custom specifications as described in col. 10, between lines 1-15 , meeting claim 17.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 6-10 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
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HIEU P NGUYEN whose telephone number is 571-272-8577. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday 8:30AM-6:00PM.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, YOUNGHUIE HAN (Jessica) can be reached on 571-272-2078. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 703-872-9306.
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/HIEU P NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2843
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