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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 02 July 2026 has been entered.
Response to Amendment
This action is in reply to the Applicant’s amendments filed on 02 July 2026.
Claims 1, 5, 6, 7, 13, and 17-20 have been amended.
Claim 4, 8, and 16 has been canceled.
Claims 1-3, 4-7, 9-15, and 17-20 are currently pending and have been examined.
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 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 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 1-3, 5-7, 9-15, and 17-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. PGPub. No. 20150358038 to Koshinen in further view of U.S. PGPub. No. 20120286866 to Khanifar et al.
As to Claims 1, 13, and 20, Koshinen discloses a method, an apparatus for signal amplification, non-transitory computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon, that when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to (Fig. 1, paragraph [0051, 0052]):
amplifying a signal via at least one amplifier (Fig. 1 (108), paragraph [0002, 0020, 0023], where the communication system includes the power amplifier to amplify the signal);
performing a first adjustment of at least one bias current for the at least one amplifier (Fig. 1 (108), paragraph [0005, 0022, 0023, 0028, 0031], where the power amplifier is repeatedly adjusted (first, second, third, etc. – continuous adjustment after another) with bias current to keep the operating at acceptable range/optimal quality compared with threshold (acceptable reference) values);
performing after the first adjustment, one or more adjustments to improve the performance indicator ((Fig. 1 (108), paragraph [0005, 0022, 0023, 0028, 0031], where the power amplifier is repeatedly adjusted (first, second, third, etc. – continuous adjustment after another(after initial first adjustment)) until the operating at acceptable range/optimal quality (performance indictor improvement));
identifying a value of the performance indictor associated with the at least one amplifier after performing the first adjustment of the at least one bias current and after performing the one or more adjustments (Fig. 1 (108), paragraph [0005, 0022, 0023, 0028, 0031], where the measurements (phase error, vector magnitude (EVM), DC offset, adjacent channel leakage ratio, etc. – performance indicator) is constantly measured against acceptable range/optimal quality with threshold (acceptable) reference values to adjust the power amplifier with bias current with repeated adjustment (first, second, third, etc. – continuous adjustment after another));
performing a second adjustment of at least one bias current for the at least one amplifier based on the value of performance indicator meeting a performance indicator threshold (Fig. 1 (108), paragraph [0005, 0022, 0023, 0028, 0031], where the power amplifier output is continuously (first, second, third, etc. – adjustment after another) either decreased or increased with adjusted bias current (increase/decrease) based on the measurement values (phase error, vector magnitude (EVM), DC offset, adjacent channel leakage ratio, etc. – performance indicator) which is compared with the threshold (meeting acceptable level) reference values).
Koshinen discloses method and apparatus for performing one or more adjustments with the at least one amplifier after performing the first adjustment of the at least one bias current, wherein the performance indicator is identified after performing the one or more adjustment above (Fig. 1 (108), Fig. 2, paragraph [005, 0022, 0023, 0028, 0031]) except for adjusting the one or more configuration adjustment.
However, Khanifar in the same field of endeavor teaches the applying the predistortion (repeated adjustment) to input to the power amplifier to stabilize the performance of the power amplifier (Fig. 3, paragraph [0018, 0019, 0022, 0044, 0045, 0010-0012]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinarily skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention use the predistortion to the input of the power amplifier taught by Khanifar to modify the method of Koshinen to provide the stabilization of power amplifiers performance (Khanifar - paragraph [0010-0012]).
As to Claims 2 and 14, Koshinen further discloses the method and apparatus wherein the first adjustment is performed while the at least one amplifier is operating in mission mode(Fig. 1 (108), paragraph [0025], where the power amplifier output is either decreased or increased with adjusted bias current (increase/decrease) initially (initialization – mission mode) with preset value varies temperature).
As to Claims 3 and 15, Koshinen further discloses the method and apparatus wherein performing the first adjustment of the at least one bias current comprises decreasing the at least one bias current for the at least one amplifier (Fig. 1 (108), paragraph [0023, 0028], where the power amplifier output is either decreased or increased with adjusted bias current (increase/decrease) based on measurements compared with threshold (acceptable) values).
As to Claims 5 and 17, Koshinen further discloses the method and apparatus wherein performing the first adjustment comprises decreasing the at least one bias current for the at least one amplifier, and wherein performing the second adjustment comprises further decreasing the at least one bias current for the at least one amplifier based on the value of performance indictor meeting the performance indicator threshold (Fig. 1 (108), Fig. 2, paragraph [0005, 0023, 0028], where the power amplifier output is continuously (first, second, third, etc. – adjustment after another – after first, second, third, etc. adjustments) either decreased or increased (implicitly with smaller gradual steps thus several increments or decrements in a row) with adjusted bias current (increase/decrease in gradual steps) the meet at specific threshold value).
As to Claims 6 and 18, Koshinen further discloses the method and apparatus further comprising, setting, after performing the second adjustment, the at least one predetermined bias current level based on the value of performance indicator not meeting the performance indictor threshold (Fig. 1 (108), Fig. 2, paragraph [0005, 0023, 0028], where the power amplifier output is continuously (first, second, third, etc. – adjustment after another – after first, second, third, etc. adjustments) either decreased or increased (implicitly with smaller gradual steps thus several increments or decrements in a row) with adjusted bias current (increase/decrease in gradual steps) the until meet at specific threshold value (performance indicator)).
As to Claims 7 and 19, Koshinen further discloses the method and apparatus wherein the at least one predetermined bias current level is determined to result in the value of the performance indicator meeting the performance indicator threshold (Fig. 1 (108), Fig. 2, paragraph [0023, 0028], where the power amplifier output is either decreased or increased with adjusted bias current (predetermined) the meet at specific threshold value (performance indicator) compared with measurement values (phase error, vector magnitude (EVM), DC offset, adjacent channel leakage ratio, etc. – performance indicator)).
As to Claim 9, Koshinen in view of Khanifar further discloses the method wherein performing the one or more configuration adjustment includes at least one of adjusting a digital predistortion of the signal to be amplifier or adjusting input power associated with the signal to be amplified (Koshinen – Fig. 1 (108), Fig. 2, paragraph [0023, 0028])( Khanifar - Fig. 3, paragraph [0018, 0019, 0022, 0027, 0044, 0045, 0010-0012], where the digital predistortion assist the power amplifier linearization). The suggestion/motivation is the same as that used in the rejection for claim 1.
As to Claim 10, Koshinen further discloses the method further comprising detecting whether the at least one bias current after performing the first adjustment has reached at least one bias current threshold, wherein the second adjustment of the at least one bias current tis performed based on the detection (Fig. 1 (108), Fig. 2, paragraph [0023, 0028], where the power amplifier output is adjusted with adjusted bias current (implicitly gradually adjusted until max value – threshold) until the measurement value (performance indicator) is meet at specific threshold value).
As to Claim 11, Koshinen further discloses the method wherein the at least one amplifier comprises at least one of a pre-driver amplifier, a DA, or a power amplifier (PA) wherein the at least one bias current comprises at least one of the first bias current for pre-DA, as second bias current for the DA, or third bias current for the PA (Fig. 1 (108), Fig. 2, paragraph [0020, 0023, 0028], where the power amplifier output is adjusted with bias currents (implicitly various levels – first, second, etc.)).
As to Claim 12, Koshinen further discloses the method wherein the performance indicator comprises an adjacent channel leakage ratio (ACLR), error vector magnitude, emission, or sensitivity (Fig. 1 (108), Fig. 2, paragraph [0023, 0028], where the power amplifier output is adjusted with adjusted bias current until the measurement value (phase error, vector magnitude (EVM), DC offset, adjacent channel leakage ratio, etc. – performance indicator) is meet at specific threshold value).
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SUNG S AHN whose telephone number is (571)270-3706. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F: 9-6.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Hannah Wang can be reached on 571-272-9018. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/SUNG S AHN/Examiner, Art Unit 2631 (571)-270-3706
sung.ahn@uspto.gov
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