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 .
DETAILED ACTION
This action is responsive to the application filed on 08/16/2024 has a total of 20 claims pending in the application; there are 3 independent claims and 17 dependent claims, all of which are ready for examination by the examiner.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5 to 16 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 or amend these claims into their base claims, respectively.
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 5 and 12 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.
Claims 5 and 12 recite the phrase “…semiconductor IC…” without a corresponding meaning to the “IC”. Examiner suggest amending the claims to recite “…semiconductor Integrated Circuit (IC)…” instead.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over MENG et al. Publication No. (WO 2024/187955 A1) [applicant provided prior art] in view of Lyalin et al. Publication No. (US 2019/0165739 A1).
Regarding claim 1, MENG teaches a radio-frequency circuit comprising:
a first carrier amplifier configured to amplify a radio-frequency signal in a first band (shown in FIG.10, a power amplifier circuit includes a first carrier amplifier 1115);
a second carrier amplifier configured to amplify a radio-frequency signal in a second band (shown in FIG.10, a power amplifier circuit includes a second carrier amplifier 1117);
a first peak amplifier configured to amplify a radio-frequency signal in the first band and a radio-frequency signal in the second band (shown in FIG.10, a power amplifier circuit includes first peak amplifier 1116);
a second peak amplifier configured to amplify a radio-frequency signal in the first band and a radio-frequency signal in the second band (shown in FIG.10, a power amplifier circuit includes a second peak amplifier 1118);
a transformer having an input-side and an output-side ( as shown in FIG.26, the power amplifier circuit includes a first transformer T1 and a second transformer T2); and
a first phase shifter circuit and a second phase shifter circuit (as shown in FIG.26, the power amplifier circuit includes a first phase shifter Y1 and second phase shifter Y2), wherein
an output terminal of the first peak amplifier is coupled to one end of the input-side (as shown in FIG.10, the input end of the first peak amplifier 1116 is coupled to the second output end of the second power divider 1113 through the first phase shifter 1119),
an output terminal of the second peak amplifier is coupled to another end of the input-side (as shown in FIG.10, the input end of the second carrier amplifier 1117 is coupled to the first output end of the third power divider 1114 through the second phase shifter 1120),
an output terminal of the first carrier amplifier is coupled to one end of the first phase shifter circuit (as shown in FIG.10, the output end of the first carrier amplifier 1115 is coupled to the output port 1125 through the first output matching circuit 1121 and the second output matching circuit 1122 in sequence),
an output terminal of the second carrier amplifier is coupled to one end of the second phase shifter circuit (as shown in FIG.10, the output end of the first peak amplifier 1116 is coupled between the first output matching circuit 1121 and the second output matching circuit 1122),
another end of the first phase shifter circuit is coupled to one end of the output-side (as shown in FIG.10, the first phase shifter 1119, the first output matching circuit 1121 and the second output matching circuit 1122 can form a traditional Doherty power amplifier), and
another end of the second phase shifter circuit is coupled to another end of the output-side (as shown in FIG.10, the third power divider 1114, the second carrier amplifier 1117, the second peak amplifier 1118, the second phase shifter 1120, the third output matching circuit 1123 and the fourth output matching circuit 1124 can form an inverted Doherty power amplifier).
FIG.10
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MENG does not explicitly teach a coil for the input and output sides.
Lyalin teaches a coil for the input and output sides (Lyalin: a power combiner including an input port, a thru port, a first conductive coil connecting the input port to the thru port, a second conductive coil connecting the isolation port to the coupling port, a first center tap port connected to about a center of the first conductive coil, and a second center tap port connected to about a center of the second conductive coil, and combining the first pair of amplified signal components and the second pair of amplified signal components to generate a radio frequency output signal using a combiner [0033-35] FIG.9).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified MENG by the teaching of Lyalin t to have a coil at the input/output sides in order to provide tuning to the performance characteristics of the power combiner/splitter (Lyalin: [00190-192] FIG.2).
Regarding claim 2, MENG teaches the radio-frequency circuit according to Claim 1, further comprising: a first capacitor coupled between the output terminal of the first peak amplifier and the output terminal of the second peak amplifier; and a first switch coupled to the first capacitor, between the output terminal of the first peak amplifier and the output terminal of the second peak amplifier (The first output end of the first bridge 912 is coupled to the input end of the carrier amplifier 913. The output end of the carrier amplifier 913 is coupled to the first input end of the second bridge 917 through the first impedance converter 915. The second output end of the first bridge 912 is coupled to the input end of the peak amplifier 914. The output end of the peak amplifier 914 is coupled to the second input end of the second bridge 917 through the second impedance converter 916. The first output terminal of the second bridge 917 is grounded through the switch 918 FIG.9).
Regarding claim 3, MENG teaches the radio-frequency circuit according to Claim 2, further comprising: a second capacitor coupled between the input-side coil and ground; and a second switch coupled to the second capacitor, between the input-side coil and ground (The output end of the peak amplifier 914 is coupled to the second input end of the second bridge 917 through the second impedance converter 916. The first output terminal of the second bridge 917 is grounded through the switch 918. The second output terminal of the second bridge 917 is coupled to the output port 920. The impedance detection circuit 919 is coupled to the output port 920 and the switch 918, respectively. The impedance detection circuit 919 can switch the state of the switch 918 according to the detected impedance information to short-circuit or open-circuit the second output terminal of the second bridge 917, thereby reducing the influence of load mismatch FIG.9).
Regarding claim 4, MENG teaches the radio-frequency circuit according to Claim 3, further comprising: a first filter coupled to the one end of the output-side coil, the first filter having a pass band that includes the first band; and a second filter coupled to the other end of the output-side coil, the second filter having a pass band that includes the second band (the RF signal received by the antenna 150 can be responsible for duplex switching of the frequency division duplex system and filtering of the received RF signal through the duplexer 130. Then, the signal output by the duplexer 130 can be filtered by the second filter 160. Then, the signal output by the second filter 160 can be amplified by the low noise amplifier 170 and transmitted to the baseband chip 300 for processing through the transceiver 200 FIG.1).
Claims 5 to 16 (indicated as allowable subject matter). However, they are rejected for being dependent on a base rejected claim.
Regarding claims 17-19, the independent claim and each dependent claim are related to the same limitation set for hereinabove in claims 1-16, where the difference used is the limitations were presented from a “computer circuit” side and the wordings of the claims were interchanged within the claim itself or some of the claims were presented as a combination of two or more previously presented limitations. This change does not affect the limitation of the above treated claims. Adding these phrases to the claims and interchanging the wording did not introduce new limitations to these claims. Therefore, these claims were rejected for similar reasons as stated above.
Regarding claim 20, related to the same limitation set for hereinabove in claim 1, where the difference used is the limitations were presented from the “device” side and the wordings of the claim were interchanged within the claim itself or were presented as a combination of two or more previously presented limitations. This change does not affect the limitation of the above treated claims. Adding these phrases to the claim and interchanging the wording did not introduce new limitations to this claim. Therefore, this claim was rejected for similar reasons as stated above.
Conclusion
When responding to this office action, Applicant is advised to clearly point out the patentable novelty which he or she thinks the claims present, in view of the state of the art disclosed by the references cited or the objections made. He or she must also show how the amendments avoid such references or objections See 37 CFR 1.111 (c).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ABDELNABI O MUSA whose telephone number is (571)270-1901, and email address is abdelnabi.musa@uspto.gov ‘preferred’. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 9:00 am - 5:00 pm. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Kevin Bates, can be reached on 571-2723980. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ABDELNABI O MUSA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2472
Prosecution Insights