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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-6, 8-17, 19-26 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Maxim et al., WO 2023/141443.
Regarding independent claim 1, Maxim et al. teaches a front-end module, FEM (Fig. 3A-Fig. 3C, Fig. 4A-Fig. 4C), comprising:
a main power amplifier (PA 312 cf. Fig. 3A-Fig. 3c, Fig. 4A-Fig. 4C);
a plurality of adjustable elements (implicit in the symbol with an arrow across the PA, indicating that it contains elements that are tunable or programmable cf. Fig.3A-Fig.3C, Fig.4A-Fig.4C; see for example Fig.7, Fig. 8, Fig. 9) associated with the power amplifier;
a control circuit (control circuit cc 316 cf. Fig.3A-Fig.3C, Fig.4A-Fig.4C; cc 728cf. Fig.8, Fig.9) coupled to each of the plurality of adjustable elements and configured to:
responsive to receiving a command to operate the main power amplifier in a second-generation cellular mode ("Figure 1 is a block diagram of a transceiver system 100 having a baseband circuit 102 coupled to an antenna module 104 through a front-end module 106. The baseband circuit 102 may determine (or be instructed by a remote source) specific channel information including, but not limited to, channel modulation type (e.g., quadrature phase shift key (QPSK), quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM including QAM variations such as QAM64, QAM256), or the like), cellular protocol (e.g., 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G, or the like), peak to average ratio (PAR), maximum power reduction
(MFR), channel information, sub-band information, bandwidth, and the like.", paragraph [0030]), command at least one of the plurality of adjustable elements to change operation based on information in a look-up table (LUT) ("The control circuit 316 receives the processed information 204 and uses a look-up table (LUT) 404 to determine parameter settings that are then written into a register(s) 406.", paragraph [0045]; " For example, sometimes merely knowing what cellular generation is being used (2G, 3G, 4G, or 5G) may be sufficient to know which register settings to use. That is, if the cellular generation is 2G, the bandwidth is relatively narrow and the PAR is relatively low, so few changes are needed. 4G and 5G have much higher bandwidths, and a variety of possible PAR, so more settings may be used during optimization.", paragraph [0048]); and
responsive to receiving a second command to operate the main power amplifier in a subsequent generation cellular mode, command the at least one of the plurality of adjustable elements to change operation (see above, depending on the received cellular protocol from the baseband circuit, the Front-end changes the parameters of the power amplifier).
Regarding claim 2, Maxim et al. teaches the FEM of claim 1, wherein the plurality of adjustable elements comprises at least one adjustable bias circuit (additional feature of 2G mode and 3G/4G/5G mode as given above).
Regarding claim 3, Maxim et al. teaches the FEM of claim 1, wherein the plurality of adjustable elements comprises at least one attenuator (additional feature of 2G mode and 3G/4G/5G mode as given above).
Regarding claim 4, Maxim et al. teaches the FEM of claim 1, further comprising a driver amplifier coupled to the main power amplifier (additional feature of 2G mode and 3G/4G/5G mode as given above).
Regarding claim 5, Maxim et al. teaches the FEM of claim 1, wherein the plurality of adjustable elements comprises at least one variable load coupled to an output of the main power amplifier (additional feature of 2G mode and 3G/4G/5G mode as given above).
Regarding claim 6, Maxim et al. teaches the FEM of claim 1, wherein the main power amplifier comprises a transistor configured to operate in a first class for the second-generation cellular mode and a second class for the subsequent generation cellular mode (as given by the fact that 2G and subsequent technology generations utilize different class amplifiers (for example in 2G the VRAMP technique uses a saturate amplifier)).
Regarding claim 8, Maxim et al. teaches the FEM of claim 1, wherein the control circuit is configured to cause the at least one of the plurality of adjustable elements to adjust an operating bandwidth ("For example, sometimes merely knowing what cellular generation is being used (2G, 3G, 4G, or 5G) may be sufficient to know which register settings to use. That is, if the cellular generation is 2G, the bandwidth is relatively narrow and the PAR is relatively low, so few changes are needed. 4G and 5G have much higher bandwidths, and a variety of possible PAR, so more settings may be used during optimization.", paragraph (0048]; Fig.8-Fig.9).
Regarding claim 9, Maxim et al. teaches the FEM of claim 1, further comprising a predriver amplifier wherein the control circuit is configured to cause a signal to bypass the predriver amplifier when operating in the subsequent generation cellular mode (bypassing to achieve a lower gain as given).
Regarding claim 10, Maxim et al. teaches the FEM of claim 9, wherein the control circuit is configured to cause the signal to pass through the predriver amplifier when operating in the second-generation cellular mode (bypassing to achieve a lower gain as given).
Regarding independent claim 11, Maxim et al. teaches a mobile communication device comprising:
a baseband processor (BBP) (part of 302A cf. Fig. 4A);
a transceiver circuit coupled to the BBP (shown in Fig. 1 and described in paragraph [0029]);
an antenna (Fig.3A-Fig.3C, Fig.4A-Fig.4C; Fig.7-Fig.9; ''[0034] Similarly, incoming signals impinge on the antenna module 104 and are provided to the reception chain 114 from the switch 116. Such signals are boosted by a low noise amplifier (LNA) stage 126 and may be filtered by a filter stage 128 before being passed to the baseband circuit 102 through the RFFE bus 11O.'); and
a front-end module (FEM) coupled to the antenna and the transceiver circuit, the FEM (Fig. 3A-Fig. 3C, Fig. 4A-Fig. 4C), comprising:
a main power amplifier (PA 312 cf. Fig. 3A-Fig. 3c, Fig. 4A-Fig. 4C);
a plurality of adjustable elements (implicit in the symbol with an arrow across the PA, indicating that it contains elements that are tunable or programmable cf. Fig.3A-Fig.3C, Fig.4A-Fig.4C; see for example Fig.7, Fig. 8, Fig. 9) associated with the power amplifier;
a control circuit (control circuit cc 316 cf. Fig.3A-Fig.3C, Fig.4A-Fig.4C; cc 728cf. Fig.8, Fig.9) coupled to each of the plurality of adjustable elements and configured to:
responsive to receiving a command to operate the main power amplifier in a second-generation cellular mode ("Figure 1 is a block diagram of a transceiver system 100 having a baseband circuit 102 coupled to an antenna module 104 through a front-end module 106. The baseband circuit 102 may determine (or be instructed by a remote source) specific channel information including, but not limited to, channel modulation type (e.g., quadrature phase shift key (QPSK), quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM including QAM variations such as QAM64, QAM256), or the like), cellular protocol (e.g., 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G, or the like), peak to average ratio (PAR), maximum power reduction
(MFR), channel information, sub-band information, bandwidth, and the like.", paragraph [0030]), command at least one of the plurality of adjustable elements to change operation based on information in a look-up table ("The control circuit 316 receives the processed information 204 and uses a look-up table (LUT) 404 to determine parameter settings that are then written into a register(s) 406.", paragraph [0045]; " For example, sometimes merely knowing what cellular generation is being used (2G, 3G, 4G, or 5G) may be sufficient to know which register settings to use. That is, if the cellular generation is 2G, the bandwidth is relatively narrow and the PAR is relatively low, so few changes are needed. 4G and 5G have much higher bandwidths, and a variety of possible PAR, so more settings may be used during optimization.", paragraph [0048]); and
responsive to receiving a second command to operate the main power amplifier in a subsequent generation cellular mode, command the at least one of the plurality of adjustable elements to change operation (see above, depending on the received cellular protocol from the baseband circuit, the Front-end changes the parameters of the power amplifier).
Regarding claim 12, Maxim et al. teaches the mobile communication device of claim 11, further comprising a communication bus communicatively coupling the BBP to the FEM, the BBP configured to send information regarding at least a cellular generation mode to the FEM over the communication bus (Fig.3A-Fig.3C, Fig.4A-Fig.4C; Fig.7-Fig.9; ''[0034] Similarly, incoming signals impinge on the antenna module 104 and are provided to the reception chain 114 from the switch 116. Such signals are boosted by a low noise amplifier (LNA) stage 126 and may be filtered by a filter stage 128 before being passed to the baseband circuit 102 through the RFFE bus 11O.').
Regarding claim 13, Maxim et al. teaches the mobile communication device of claim 11, further comprising a second main power amplifier, and wherein the FEM is configured to use the main power amplifier and the second main power amplifier to provide carrier aggregation for a signal to be transmitted ("a decoder 200 that takes primary baseband information 202 (hereinafter "primary information''), which may include, for example, channel information, modulation type information, resource blocks information, and/or carrier aggregation (CA) information and decodes or maps the primary information 202 into processed information 204, ", paragraph [0039] but also noted to be implicit in 4G and 5G).
Regarding independent claim 14, Maxim et al. teaches a method of changing operation of a front-end module, FEM (Fig. 3A-Fig. 3C, Fig. 4A-Fig. 4C), comprising:
receiving an indication at the FEM for operation in a second-generation cellular mode ("Figure 1 is a block diagram of a transceiver system 100 having a baseband circuit 102 coupled to an antenna module 104 through a front-end module 106. The baseband circuit 102 may determine (or be instructed by a remote source) specific channel information including, but not limited to, channel modulation type (e.g., quadrature phase shift key (QPSK), quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM including QAM variations such as QAM64, QAM256), or the like), cellular protocol (e.g., 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G, or the like), peak to average ratio (PAR), maximum power reduction
(MFR), channel information, sub-band information, bandwidth, and the like.", paragraph [0030]), causing at least one adjustable element to change operation ("The control circuit 316 receives the processed information 204 and uses a look-up table (LUT) 404 to determine parameter settings that are then written into a register(s) 406.", paragraph [0045]; " For example, sometimes merely knowing what cellular generation is being used (2G, 3G, 4G, or 5G) may be sufficient to know which register settings to use. That is, if the cellular generation is 2G, the bandwidth is relatively narrow and the PAR is relatively low, so few changes are needed. 4G and 5G have much higher bandwidths, and a variety of possible PAR, so more settings may be used during optimization.", paragraph [0048]); and
receiving a second indication at the FEM for operation in a subsequent generation cellular mode; and responsive to receiving the second indication, causing the at least one adjustable element in the FEM to further change operation (see above, depending on the received cellular protocol from the baseband circuit, the Front-end changes the parameters of the power amplifier).
Regarding claim 15, Maxim et al. teaches the method of claim 14, wherein causing the at least one adjustable element to change operation comprises changing operation of an adjustable bias associated with a power amplifier (additional feature of 2G mode and 3G/4G/5G mode as given above).
Regarding claim 16, Maxim et al. teaches the method of claim 14, further comprising changing a class of operation for a transistor in a power amplifier responsive to receiving the indication (as given by the fact that 2G and subsequent technology generations utilize different class amplifiers (for example in 2G the VRAMP technique uses a saturate amplifier)).
Regarding claim 17, Maxim et al. teaches the method of claim 14, further comprising combining signals from a first power amplifier whose operation is changed by the at least one adjustable element and a second power amplifier to provide carrier aggregation ("a decoder 200 that takes primary baseband information 202 (hereinafter "primary information''), which may include, for example, channel information, modulation type information, resource blocks information, and/or carrier aggregation (CA) information and decodes or maps the primary information 202 into processed information 204, ", paragraph [0039] but also noted to be implicit in 4G and 5G).
Regarding independent claim 19, Maxim et al. teaches a front-end module, FEM (Fig. 3A-Fig. 3C, Fig. 4A-Fig. 4C), comprising:
a primary power amplifier stage (PA 312 cf. Fig. 3A-Fig. 3c, Fig. 4A-Fig. 4C);
a silicon prestage structure positioned in front of the primary power amplifier stage (see Fig.7-Fig. 9 where the biasing circuits are positioned before the power amplifier, additionally, paragraph [0061]), the silicon prestage structure comprising a plurality of adjustable elements (implicit in the symbol with an arrow across the PA, indicating that it contains elements that are tunable or programmable cf. Fig.3A-Fig.3C, Fig.4A-Fig.4C; see for example Fig.7, Fig. 8, Fig. 9) associated with the primary power amplifier stage;
a control circuit (control circuit cc 316 cf. Fig.3A-Fig.3C, Fig.4A-Fig.4C; cc 728cf. Fig.8, Fig.9) coupled to each of the plurality of adjustable elements and configured to:
responsive to receiving a command to operate the primary power amplifier stage in a first mode ("Figure 1 is a block diagram of a transceiver system 100 having a baseband circuit 102 coupled to an antenna module 104 through a front-end module 106. The baseband circuit 102 may determine (or be instructed by a remote source) specific channel information including, but not limited to, channel modulation type (e.g., quadrature phase shift key (QPSK), quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM including QAM variations such as QAM64, QAM256), or the like), cellular protocol (e.g., 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G, or the like), peak to average ratio (PAR), maximum power reduction
(MFR), channel information, sub-band information, bandwidth, and the like.", paragraph [0030]), command at least one of the plurality of adjustable elements to change operation based on information in a look-up table (LUT) ("The control circuit 316 receives the processed information 204 and uses a look-up table (LUT) 404 to determine parameter settings that are then written into a register(s) 406.", paragraph [0045]; " For example, sometimes merely knowing what cellular generation is being used (2G, 3G, 4G, or 5G) may be sufficient to know which register settings to use. That is, if the cellular generation is 2G, the bandwidth is relatively narrow and the PAR is relatively low, so few changes are needed. 4G and 5G have much higher bandwidths, and a variety of possible PAR, so more settings may be used during optimization.", paragraph [0048]); and
responsive to receiving a second command to operate the primary power amplifier stage in a different mode, command the at least one of the plurality of adjustable elements to change operation (see above, depending on the received cellular protocol from the baseband circuit, the Front-end changes the parameters of the power amplifier).
Regarding claim 20, Maxim et al. teaches the FEM of claim 19, further comprising a poststage structure positioned after the primary power amplifier stage, the poststage structure comprising a second plurality of adjustable elements (see Fig.8-Fig.9).
Regarding claim 21, Maxim et al. teaches the FEM of claim 20, wherein the poststage structure is formed in silicon ("The transmission chain 112 may include a power amplifier module 118 that includes a driver amplifier stage 120, an interstage matching circuit 122, and a primary power amplifier stage 124. Additional amplifier stages may be present although they are not shown. Likewise, the amplifier stages 120, 124 may include a plurality of amplifying transistors and may be arranged as single ended, differentially ended, quadrature, Doherty, Barely Doherty, or the like as is well understood. A power management integrated circuit (PMIC) 125 which may include envelope tracking (ET) or average power tracking (APT) circuitry may be associated with the power amplifier module 118 and may provide control signals that change the operation of the power amplifier module 118. ", paragraph (0033]).
Regarding claim 22, Maxim et al. teaches the FEM of claim 19, wherein the control circuit is at least partially formed in silicon ("The transmission chain 112 may include a power amplifier module 118 that includes a driver amplifier stage 120, an interstage matching circuit 122, and a primary power amplifier stage 124. Additional amplifier stages may be present although they are not shown. Likewise, the amplifier stages 120, 124 may include a plurality of amplifying transistors and may be arranged as single ended, differentially ended, quadrature, Doherty, Barely Doherty, or the like as is well understood. A power management integrated circuit (PMIC) 125 which may include envelope tracking (ET) or average power tracking (APT) circuitry may be associated with the power amplifier module 118 and may provide control signals that change the operation of the power amplifier module 118. ", paragraph (0033]).
Regarding claim 23, Maxim et al. teaches the FEM of claim 20, further comprising a power detector positioned in the silicon prestage structure (see Fig.8-Fig.9).
Regarding claim 24, Maxim et al. teaches the FEM of claim 20, further comprising a second power detector positioned in the poststage structure (see Fig.8-Fig.9).
Regarding claim 25, Maxim et al. teaches the FEM of claim 24, further comprising an overcurrent protection circuit positioned in the silicon prestage structure (to allow corrections as given in paragraphs [0057] and [0061]).
Regarding claim 26, Maxim et al. teaches the FEM of claim 24, further comprising a first predistortion circuit responsive to correct distortions introduced by the primary power amplifier stage (APD 712 cf. Fig.7 as given in paragraph [0051]).
Claims 1, 11, 14, and 19 are also rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(1) as being anticipated by Scott et al., WO 2023/150587.
Scott et al. teaches a front-end module, FEM (Fig .10-Fig. 30), comprising:
a power amplifier (PA 1002 cf. Fig.10-Fig.30);
a plurality of adjustable elements (AM-PM APD 1012, PA BIAS 1008 cf. Fig .10-Fig. 30) associated with the power amplifier;
a control circuit (Digital Control 1014 cf. Fig .10-Fig. 30) coupled to each of the plurality of adjustable elements and configured to:
responsive to receiving a command to operate the power amplifier in a first mode, command at least one of the plurality of adjustable elements to change operation based on information in a look-up table ("One way to implement a varactor is through an NFET. Further, it should be appreciated that multiple varactors may be used and switched on or off depending on a mode of operation. For example, changing between 4G and 5G may dictate a change in varactor size. Likewise, changing between a power level, frequency, or other parameter may be optimized by changing varactors. ", paragraph [0102]; "the digital controller 1014 may use not just the signal from the detection and alignment circuit 1010, but may also consider other parameters such as Vee, frequency, power mode, temperature, cellular mode (e.g., 4G vs. 5G), or the like. ", paragraph [0105]; "The digital controller 1014 may consult the LUT in the memory 1704 relative to the signal from the detection and alignment circuit 1010 and select appropriate commands to open and close the switches 1804(1)-1804(N) as needed to meet the desired adjustment.", paragraph [0103]; "the predistortion circuit may be implemented to control only the bias of a single gain stage (e.g., the driver stage 1002A or the output stage 1002B) or the predistortion circuit may control all stages. In this regard, Figure 30 illustrates a transmission chain 3000 which may be a two-die architecture like the transmission chain 2900 of Figure 29. In the transmission chain 3000, the digital controller 1014 may work with a LUT 3002 that is stored in a register or other memory device. Based on values in the LUT 3002, the digital controller 1014 may set values for one or more DACs 3004(1)- 3004(M) in a predistortion circuit 3006. The values stored in the DACs 3004(1)-3004(M) may be slope and/or threshold values corresponding to the inflection points such as those shown in Figures 25-27 and the slopes of the various line segments. These values may be used to set bias currents or bias voltages produced by the bias circuit 1008 or the like.", paragraph [0119]); and
responsive to receiving a second command to operate the power amplifier in a different mode, command the at least one of the plurality of adjustable elements to change operation (see above, depending on the received cellular protocol from the baseband circuit, the Front-end changes the parameters of the power amplifier).
Claims 1, 11, 14, and 19 are also rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(1) as being anticipated by Scott et al., WO 2023/164036.
Scott et al. teaches a front-end module, FEM (Fig .12-Fig .15), comprising:
a power amplifier (Driver 210, outstg 208 cf. Fig.12-Fig.15);
a plurality of adjustable elements (Drv bias 174, outstg bias 214 cf. Fig.12-Fig .15) associated with the power amplifier;
a control circuit (Digital I/O and control 1304 cf. Fig. 12-Fig .15) coupled to each of the plurality of adjustable elements and configured to:
responsive to receiving a command to operate the power amplifier in a first mode, command at least one of the plurality of
adjustable elements to change operation based on information in a look-up table ("Figures 1 and 2 reflect a 5G implementation, it should be appreciated that the concepts disclosed herein are applicable to 3G and/or 4G use cases, and digital control circuitry (described in greater detail below) may allow switching between different protection limits when switching between the 3G, 4G, and 5G use cases when a single-mode transmission chain is used.", paragraph [0059); "Similarly, if the temperature goes up, the threshold current may go down; if the frequency goes up, the threshold current may go down; if the power levels go up, the threshold current may go down; if the modulation scheme changes (e.g., 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G), the threshold current may change; and if the VSWR changes, the threshold current may go down. ", paragraph [0071); "Thus, the power amplifier circuit 1300 may include a BBP 1302 that provides information to a control circuit 1304, such as power level, frequency, and/or modulation scheme. Sensors (not shown) may provide information regarding temperature (input 1306), supply voltage (input 1308), and/or VSWR (input 1310). Based on these inputs, the control circuit 1304 may use values stored in a memory 1312 (e.g., read-only memory (ROM), electronically programmable ROM (EPROM), or the like), which may include a look-up table or the like" paragraph [0072]); and
responsive to receiving a second command to operate the power amplifier in a different mode, command the at least one of the plurality of adjustable elements to change operation (see above).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 7 and 18 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: none of the prior art of record, taken alone or in combination teaches “a power management integrated circuit (PMIC) comprising a first direct current to direct current (DC-DC) buck-boost converter and a second DC-DC buck-boost converter, wherein the control circuit is configured to cause outputs of the first DC-DC buck-boost converter and the second DC-DC buck-boost converter to be combined when operating in the second-generation cellular mode” as recited in claim 7 and “combining outputs from two direct current to direct current (DC-DC) buck-boost converters when operating the second-generation cellular mode” as recited in claim 18.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. The closest prior art is made of record in the attached notice of references cited.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to PARUL H GUPTA whose telephone number is (571)272-5260. The examiner can normally be reached Monday through Friday, from 10 AM to 7 PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ke Xiao can be reached at 571-272-7776. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/PARUL H GUPTA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2627
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