Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
1. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
2. It would be of great assistance to the office if all incoming papers pertaining to a filed application carried the following items:
i. Application number (checked for accuracy, including series code and serial no.).
ii. Group art unit number (copied from most recent Office communication).
iii. Filing date.
iv. Name of the examiner who prepared the most recent Office action.
v. Title of invention.
vi. Confirmation number (See MPEP § 503).
3. The Examiner has pointed out particular references contained in the prior art of record within the body of this action for the convenience of the Applicant. Although the specified citations are representative of the teachings in the art and are applied to the specific limitations within the individual claim, other passages, paragraph and figures may apply. Applicant, in preparing the response, should consider fully the entire reference as potentially teaching all or part of the claimed invention, as well as the context of the passage as taught by the prior art or disclosed by the Examiner.
4. Claim interpretation: When multiple limitations are connected with “OR”, one of the limitations doesn’t have any patentable weight since both of the limitations are optional.
CLAIM OBJECTION
3. Claim 14 is 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. Interpreting the claims in light of the specification, examiner finds the claimed invention is patentably distinct from the prior art of record. The prior art does not expressly teach or render obvious the invention as recited in the claim 14. Claim 15 is also objected since claim 15 depends on claim 14.
Claim Rejection- 35 USC § 103
6. 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 of this title, 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 1-13 & 16-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nishakawa (Pub No. 2021/0266018) and further in view of Naniwa et al (Pub No. 2021/0151397).
Regarding claim 1, Nishakawa discloses a radio frequency module (Fig. 1) comprising: a substrate having a mounting surface (Fig. 3 & Para. 69-70: substrate with mounting surface); a first component and a second component (Fig. 1 & 3: PA-11 & LNA-21), the first component and the second component being disposed on the mounting surface (Fig. 1 & 3: PA-11 & LNA-21 on the surface); a first acoustic wave filter disposed between the first component and the second component on the mounting surface (Para. 43: acoustic wave filter & Fig. 1 & 3: Filter-61 between LNA & PA); and a first shield electrode provided on at least one side surface of the first acoustic wave filter (Fig. 3: shield electrod-95 on the surface around the filters & Para. 80 & 88-89).
Nishakawa is silent regarding the electrode has a portion extending in a direction intersecting with a virtual line connecting the first component and the second component.
In a similar field of endeavor, Naniwa et al discloses the electrode has a portion extending in a direction intersecting with a virtual line connecting the first component and the second component (Para. 46 & Fig. 3A-3B: electrode 150A, line IIIB connecting multiple circuitry components).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to use the semiconductor substrate device of Naniwa’s disclosure with the radio frequency module on a substrate, as taught by Nishakawa. Doing so would have resulted in assemble RF circuitry on a semiconductor surface to control RF circuitry properly and the RF integrated circuitry capable of processing and controlling RF signals properly.
Regarding claim 2, Nishakawa discloses a second acoustic wave filter disposed between the first component and the second component on the mounting surface (Fig. 1 & 3: Filter 62 between LNA & PA & Para. 43: acoustic wave filter), the second acoustic wave filter being disposed alongside the first acoustic wave filter (Fig. 1 & 3); and a second shield electrode provided on at least one side surface of the second acoustic wave filter (Para. 68: Shield electrode layer-95 having multiple electrodes on the side of the filter. See Fig. 3 & 6).
Nishakawa is silent regarding the electrode has a portion extending in a direction intersecting with a virtual line connecting the first component and the second component.
In a similar field of endeavor, Naniwa et al discloses the electrode has a portion extending in a direction intersecting with a virtual line connecting the first component and the second component (Para. 46 & Fig. 3A-3B: electrode 150A, line IIIB connecting multiple circuitry components).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to use the semiconductor substrate device of Naniwa’s disclosure with the radio frequency module on a substrate, as taught by Nishakawa. Doing so would have resulted in RF integrated circuitry capable of processing and controlling RF signals properly.
Regarding claim 3, Nishakawa discloses an inductor disposed adjacent to the first acoustic wave filter on the mounting surface (Para. 73 & Fig. 2: Inductor 71-72 adjacent to the first filter on the surface), wherein the inductor is electrically connected to the first acoustic wave filter (Para. 73), wherein the first acoustic wave filter has a first side surface facing the inductor and a second side surface not facing the inductor (Para. 73 & Fig. 2), and wherein the first shield electrode is not provided on the first side surface but is provided on the second side surface (Fig. 3: shield electrode-95 on the one side surface).
Regarding claim 4, Nishakawa discloses wherein the first component is a component configured to transmit a signal (Fig. 1: RF transceiver with PA to transmit RF signals).
Regarding claim 5, Nishakawa discloses an upper surface electrode constituting an upper surface portion of the radio frequency module (Fig. 2-3), wherein the first shield electrode is electrically connected to the upper surface electrode (Fig. 2-3L shield electrode-95 electrically connected to the upper surface electrode).
Regarding claim 6, Nishakawa discloses the first acoustic wave filter has a lower surface connected to the mounting surface with a bump electrode interposed between the lower surface and the mounting surface (Fig. 6: Filter- 61 & Bump electrode-160), wherein a ground electrode not electrically connected to a circuit inside the first acoustic wave filter is disposed on the lower surface of the first acoustic wave filter (Para. 77: Ground electrode is disposed at the negative side of the z axis of radio frequency module), and wherein the first shield electrode is electrically connected to the ground electrode (Para. 81: Electrode 150 connected to the ground electrode).
Regarding claim 7, Note the rejection set forth above (Claim 1), Nishakawa continue to discloses the radio frequency module according to Claim 1; and an external circuit connected to the radio frequency module (Fig. 1: BBIC & Antenna circuit connected to the module).
Regarding claim 8, Nishakawa discloses a long bump electrode electrically connected to a circuit inside the first acoustic wave filter is disposed on a lower surface of the first acoustic wave filter (Fig. 6 & Para. 113-114: Bump electrode-160 & Filter-61), and wherein the long bump electrode has a portion extending in a direction intersecting with the virtual line connecting the first component and the second component (Para. 67 & Fig. 6: bump electrode extending in a direction intersecting with the virtual line connecting multiple components).
Regarding claim 9, Nishakawa discloses the first component is a component configured to transmit a signal with a first frequency, and wherein the second component is a component configured to transmit or receive a signal with a second frequency different from the first frequency (Para. 42 & 30-32: Frequency Band A & B).
Regarding claim 10, Nishakawa discloses a third component disposed alongside the first acoustic wave filter (Fig. 1-3); a second shield electrode provided on at least one side surface of the third component (Para. 68: Shield electrode layer-95 having multiple electrodes on the side of the filter. See Fig. 3 & 6).
Nishakawa is silent regarding the electrode has a portion extending in a direction intersecting with a virtual line connecting the first component and the second component.
In a similar field of endeavor, Naniwa et al discloses the electrode has a portion extending in a direction intersecting with a virtual line connecting the first component and the second component (Para. 46 & Fig. 3A-3B: electrode 150A, line IIIB connecting multiple circuitry components).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to use the semiconductor substrate device of Naniwa’s disclosure with the radio frequency module on a substrate, as taught by Nishakawa. Doing so would have resulted in RF integrated circuitry capable of processing and controlling RF signals properly.
Regarding claim 11, Nishakawa discloses the first acoustic wave filter and the third component are disposed to be stacked with each other (Fig. 1-2: Filters stacked).
Regarding claim 12, Nishakawa discloses the third component is an electronic component (Fig. 1-2: Electrical components)
Regarding claim 13, Nishakawa discloses in plan view of the first acoustic wave filter and the third component in a direction normal to the substrate (Fig. 2: plan view), the radio frequency module has a portion where one of the first acoustic wave filter and the third component does not overlap with a remaining one of the first acoustic wave filter and the third component (Fig. 3: filter and the third component-some other components does not overlap).
Regarding claim 16 & 17, Nishakawa discloses an external circuit connected to the radio frequency module (Fig. 1-2: BBIC circuit connected to the RF).
Regarding claim 18, Nishakawa discloses an external circuit connected to the radio frequency module (Fig. 1-2: BBIC circuit connected to the RF).
Regarding claim 19, Nishakawa discloses an external circuit connected to the radio frequency module (Fig. 1-2: BBIC circuit connected to the RF).
Regarding claim 20, Nishakawa discloses an external circuit connected to the radio frequency module (Fig. 1-2: BBIC circuit connected to the RF).
Other Prior Art
6. Another prior art Sugaya et al (2021/0313962) discloses: A high-frequency module includes a mounting substrate, a filter, and a common inductor. The mounting substrate includes a first main surface and a second main surface facing each other. The mounting substrate having shielding layer and electrodes on the layers.
Conclusion
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/MD K TALUKDER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2648
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