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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1, 8, & 18 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
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.
Claim 15 is 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.
Claim 15 recites the limitation "the third inductor" in line 2. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. For examination purposes, examiner has interpreted “the third inductor” to read “the output inductor”.
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 1-3 & 6-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Inoue et al. (US 2010/0194494 A1), hereinafter Inoue, in view of Ella et al. (US 12,267,063 B2), hereinafter Ella.
Regarding claim 1, Inoue discloses, in figure 14, a circuit comprising:
a first output (14);
a second output (15);
an input (11);
a lattice filter stage (Para [0066], “lattice filter 19”); and
a ladder filter stage coupled to the input and to the lattice filter stage (Para [0066], “ladder filter 18”…coupled to input 18 and the lattice filter stage 19 via 12), the lattice filter stage including a first resonator coupled to the first output and to the ladder filter stage (first resonator coupled to output 14 and to the ladder filter stage 18 via 12), a second resonator coupled to the second output and to the ladder filter stage (second resonator coupled to output 15 and the ladder filter stage 18 via 12), the ladder stage including a third resonator coupled to the input and a fourth resonator coupled to a ground connection (ladder stage 18 includes a third resonator coupled to the input 11 and a fourth resonator coupled to ground, see figure 14), but fails to disclose a first inductor coupled at a first end to the first output and coupled at a second end to the second output.
However, Ella discloses, in Figure 9, a first inductor coupled at a first end to the first output and coupled at a second end to the second output (left inductor of lattice filter 300-1 includes a first end coupled to a first output of the lattice filter and a second end coupled to a second output of the lattice filter).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to include the inductor of Ella in the lattice filter of Inoue, to achieve the benefit of widening the passband of the lattice filter (Ella, Col. 16, Lines 61-63).
Regarding claim 2, Inoue in view of Ella disclose the circuit of claim 1, and continues to disclose, in figure 14, wherein the lattice filter stage further incudes a fifth resonator coupled between the first output and the ground connection (lattice filter stage 19 comprises a fifth resonator coupled between the first output 14 and the ground connection via the inductor of 12) and a sixth resonator coupled between the second output and the third resonator (lattice filter stage 19 comprises a sixth resonator coupled between second output 15 and the third resonator of the ladder filter stage 18 via 12).
Regarding claim 3, Inoue in view of Ella disclose the circuit of claim 1, and continues to disclose, in figure 14, wherein the ladder filter stage further includes a seventh resonator coupled between the first resonator and the third resonator (ladder filter stage 18 comprises a seventh resonator coupled between the first resonator of the lattice stage 19 and the third resonator of ladder stage 18), an eighth resonator coupled between the first and seventh resonators and the ground connection (ladder filter stage 18 comprises an eighth resonator coupled between the first resonator of the lattice filter stage 19 and the seventh resonator of the ladder filter stage 18 and a ground connection, see figure 14), and wherein the fourth resonator is coupled between the seventh and third resonators and the ground connection (fourth resonator of ladder stage 18 is coupled between the seventh resonator and third resonator of the ladder filter 18 and the ground connection).
Regarding claim 6, Inoue in view of Ella disclose the circuit of claim 1, and continues to disclose, in figure 14 & 15, wherein the input is coupled to an antenna and to a first port via a matching impedance (Para [0068], “matching circuit 22”…the input 22 [i.e., 11] couples an antenna and a first port via the matching impedance 22).
Regarding claim 7, Inoue in view of Ella disclose the circuit of claim 1, and continues to disclose, in figure 14 & 27, wherein the first output is coupled to a first differential input port of a low noise amplifier (Para [0088], “reception signal input to the duplexer 173 is limited to a predetermined frequency band by a reception filter 173a, and the resulting balanced reception signal is output to an LNA 174”) and wherein the second output is coupled to a second differential input of the low noise amplifier (each output of the balance filter [i.e., 173a is equivalent to the filter depicted in figure 14] is connected to an input of the LNA).
Claim 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Inoue in view of Ella, as applied to claims 1-3 & 6-7 above, and further in view of Urata (US 2020/0295734 A1).
Regarding claim 4, Inoue in view of Ella disclose the circuit of claim 3, but fails to disclose wherein each of the fourth and eighth resonators is coupled to the ground connection through a respective inductor.
However, Urata discloses, in figure 2, wherein each of the fourth and eighth resonators is coupled to the ground connection through a respective inductor (Para [0038], “inductors L1 to L3 are connected between the parallel resonators 67 and the reference potentials”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to include the inductors of Urata in the ladder filter stage of Inoue and Ella, to achieve the benefit of decreasing the resonant frequencies of the shunt resonators, thereby expanding the interval between the resonance frequency and the antiresonance frequency and thus the passband of the filter (Urata, Para [0038]).
Claim 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Inoue in view of Ella, as applied to claims 1-3 & 6-7 above, and further in view of Cihangir et al. (US 10,491,193 B2), hereinafter Cihangir.
Regarding claim 5, Inoue in view of Ella disclose the circuit of claim 3, but fails to disclose wherein the ladder filter stage further includes third and fourth inductors coupled in parallel with the seventh and third resonators, respectively.
However, Cihangir discloses, in figure 4, wherein the ladder filter stage further includes third and fourth inductors coupled in parallel with the seventh and third resonators, respectively (ladder filter stage 10 includes first inductor 60 coupled in parallel with resonator 26 and second inductor 68 coupled in parallel with resonator 30).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to include the parallel inductors of Cihangir in the ladder filter stage of Inoue and Ella, to achieve the benefit of shifting the anti-resonance frequency of the resonators up and thus achieving a wider passband for the ladder network (Cihangir, Col. 6, Lines 1-5).
Claims 8-13 & 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Schmidhammer et al. (US 12,113,511 B2), hereinafter Schmid, in view of Shin et al. (US 8,902,021, B2), hereinafter Shin, and further in view of Ella.
Regarding claim 8, Schmid discloses, in figure 15-4, a circuit comprising
a first output (first output to transformer after filter core 272-2);
a second output (second output to transformer after filter core 272-2);
an input (input 132-1 to filter core stage 272-1);
a first lattice filter stage (Col. 37, Lines 65-67, “FIG. 15-5 is a circuit diagram 1500-5 illustrating an example of two second-order filter cores, which each have a lattice architecture”…filter core 272-2 being a first lattice filter stage); and
a second lattice filter stage (272-1), the second lattice filter stage including a third resonator coupled to the input (second lattice filter stage 272-1 third resonator Fa coupled to the input 132-1), but fails to disclose the first lattice filter stage including a first resonator coupled to the first output, a capacitor coupled to the first output, and a second resonator coupled to the second output, and an output inductor having a first end coupled to the first output and a second coupled to the second output.
However, Shin discloses, in figure 2D, the first lattice filter stage (280) including a first resonator coupled to the first output (first resonator coupled to the first output), a capacitor coupled to the first output (capacitor 283 coupled to the first output), and a second resonator coupled to the second output (second resonator coupled to the second output, see figure 2D).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to include the lattice filter of Shin in the first lattice filter stage of Schmid, to achieve the benefit of implementing an RF filter for transmission of balanced signals with improved characteristics of filtering said signal and isolation between reception and transmission of said RF filter (Shin, Col. 8 & 9, Lines 32-67 & 1-5).
In combination, Schmid and Shin fail to disclose an output inductor having a first end coupled to the first output and a second coupled to the second output.
However, Ella discloses, in figure 9, an output inductor having a first end coupled to the first output and a second coupled to the second output (left inductor of lattice filter 300-1 includes a first end coupled to a first output of the lattice filter and a second end coupled to a second output of the lattice filter).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to include the inductor of Ella in the lattice filter of Schmid and Shin, to achieve the benefit of widening the passband of the lattice filter (Ella, Col. 16, Lines 61-63).
Regarding claim 9, the combination of Schmid, Shin, and Ella discloses the circuit of claim 8, and Schmid continues to disclose, in figure 15-5, wherein the first lattice filter further includes a fourth resonator coupled between the second output and the third resonator (lattice filter stage 272-2 includes a fourth resonator Fb coupled between the second output to the transformer and the third resonator Fa).
Regarding claim 10, the combination of Schmid, Shin, and Ella discloses the circuit of claim 9, and Schmid continues to disclose, in figure 15-5, wherein the second lattice filter (272-1) further includes a fifth resonator coupled between the first and third resonators and a ground connection (lattice filter stage 272-1 includes fifth resonator Fb coupled between Fa of 272-1, Fa of 272-2, and ground) and a sixth resonator coupled between the second resonator and the input (lattice filter stage 272-1 includes sixth resonator Fb coupled between the bottom resonator Fa of 272-2 and the input, see figure 15-5).
Regarding claim 11, the combination of Schmid, Shin, and Ella discloses the circuit of claim 10, and Schmid continues to disclose, in figure 15-5, wherein the second lattice filter (272-1) further includes a seventh resonator coupled between the second resonator and the ground connection (bottom resonator Fa of filter 272-1 is coupled between the second resonator Fa of filter 272-2 and the ground connection).
Regarding claim 12, the combination of Schmid, Shin, and Ella discloses the circuit of claim 10, and Schmid continues to disclose, in figure 15-5, wherein the second lattice filter further includes a first inductor coupled between the input and the ground connection (a first inductor is coupled between the input 132-1 and ground, see figure 15-5).
Regarding claim 13, the combination of Schmid, Shin, and Ella discloses the circuit of claim 12, and Schmid continues to disclose, in figure 15-5, a second inductor coupled between the first and third resonators and the second and seventh resonators (inductor 1512 between respective resonators of the filter cores 272-1, 272-2).
Regarding claim 16, the combination of Schmid, Shin, and Ella discloses the circuit of claim 8, and Shin continues to disclose, in figure 1 & 2D, wherein the input is coupled to an antenna and to a first port via a matching impedance (input to the BAWR receiving filter unit is coupled to an antenna and to a first port via the impedance matching unit 125, see figure 1 & 2D).
Claim 17 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over the combination of Schmid, Shin, and Ella as applied to claims 8-13 & 16 above, and further in view of Inoue.
Regarding claim 17, the combination of Schmid, Shin, and Ella discloses the circuit of claim 8, but fails to disclose wherein the first output is configured to be coupled to a first differential input port of a low noise amplifier and wherein the second output is configured to be coupled to a second differential input of the low noise amplifier.
However, Inoue discloses, in figure 14 & 27, wherein the first output is coupled to a first differential input port of a low noise amplifier (Para [0088], “reception signal input to the duplexer 173 is limited to a predetermined frequency band by a reception filter 173a, and the resulting balanced reception signal is output to an LNA 174”) and wherein the second output is coupled to a second differential input of the low noise amplifier (each output of the balance filter [i.e., 173a is equivalent to the filter depicted in figure 14] is connected to an input of the LNA).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to include the LNA coupling of Inoue in the circuit of Schmid, Shin, and Ella, to achieve the benefit of amplifying a received filtered signal for proper compatibility with an associated communication device to realize a low-loss communication apparatus (Inoue, Para [0088]-[0091]).
Claims 18 & 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over the combination of Schmid in view of Ella.
Regarding claim 18, Schmid discloses, in figure 5-2 & 15-2, a circuit comprising:
a first output (first output to transformer and port 132-2 after filter core 272-2);
a second output (second output to transformer and ground after filter core 272-2);
an input (input 132-1 to filter core stage 272-1);
a ground node (ground coupling to respective coils);
a first lattice filter stage coupled to the first output and including a first resonator (Col. 37, Lines 65-67, “FIG. 15-5 is a circuit diagram 1500-5 illustrating an example of two second-order filter cores, which each have a lattice architecture”…filter core 272-2 being a first lattice filter stage coupled to the first output to the transformer and having a resonator Fa to Fb);
a second lattice filter stage coupled to the second output and including a second resonator (filter core lattice stage 272-1 coupled the second output to the transformer after filter core 272-2 and includes a resonator Fa to Fb);
a first coil coupled to the first lattice filter stage (first coil of the transformer after filter core 272-2 is coupled to the filter core 272-2);
a second coil coupled to the second lattice filter stage (a second coil before the filter core 272-1 is coupled to the filter core 272-1); and
a third coil coupled to the input (coil coupled directly to ground and port 132-1) and electromagnetically coupled to at least one of the first coil or the second coil (Col. 7, Lines 18-20, “transformers, which include two electromagnetically coupled inductors”…first coil of the input transformer is electromagnetically coupled to the second coil of the input transformer), but fails to disclose a first inductor, the first inductor being coupled to the first output and to the ground node; and a second inductor, the second inductor being coupled to the second output and to the ground node.
However, Ella discloses, in figure 7, a first inductor, the first inductor being coupled to the first output and to the ground node (first inductor coupled to the first output 404-1 and a ground node); and a second inductor, the second inductor being coupled to the second output and to the ground node (second inductor coupled to the second output 404-2 and the ground node).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to include the output inductors of Ella in the lattice filter stages of Schmid, to achieve the benefit of widening the passband of the lattice filter (Ella, Col. 16, Lines 61-63).
Regarding claim 20, Schmid in view of Ella discloses the circuit of claim 18, and Schmid continues to disclose, in figure 2-1 & 15-2, wherein the input is configured to be coupled to an antenna (the input of the filter circuit [i.e., 130-3 or 130-2 equivalent to the filter circuit of FIG. 15-2] is coupled to the antenna 122).
Claim 19 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Schmid in view of Ella, as applied to claims 18 & 20 above, and further in view of Inoue.
Regarding claim 19, Schmid in view of Ella discloses the circuit of claim 18, but fails to disclose wherein the first output is configured to be coupled to a first differential input port of a low noise amplifier and wherein the second output is configured to be coupled to a second differential input of the low noise amplifier.
However, Inoue discloses, in figure 14 & 27, wherein the first output is coupled to a first differential input port of a low noise amplifier (Para [0088], “reception signal input to the duplexer 173 is limited to a predetermined frequency band by a reception filter 173a, and the resulting balanced reception signal is output to an LNA 174”) and wherein the second output is coupled to a second differential input of the low noise amplifier (each output of the balance filter [i.e., 173a is equivalent to the filter depicted in figure 14] is connected to an input of the LNA).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to include the LNA coupling of Inoue in the circuit of Schmid and Ella, to achieve the benefit of amplifying a received filtered signal for proper compatibility with an associated communication device to realize a low-loss communication apparatus (Inoue, Para [0088]-[0091]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 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.
Claim 15 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, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Barber et al. (US 2008/0101263 A1) [Figure 3. Discloses a duplexer includes a single-ended to differential filter, where the single-ended to differential filter includes a ladder stage coupled to an antenna port of the duplexer. The single-ended to differential filter further includes a balun stage coupled to the ladder stage. The single-ended to differential filter further includes a lattice stage coupled to the balun stage, where the balun stage is configured to provide single-ended to differential signal conversion between the ladder stage and the lattice stage. The lattice stage can be coupled to differential receive ports of the duplexer. The duplexer can further include a single-ended to single-ended filter coupled between the antenna port and a transmit port of the duplexer.]
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/TYLER J PERENY/ Examiner, Art Unit 2836
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