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 .
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d).
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.
Claims 1-5 and 7-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Liu et al (US 2022/0163936). a) Regarding claim 1, Liu et al disclose a method of transmitting data, performed by a transmission device of a serial isolated communication system, the method comprising:
obtaining data to be transmitted (S10 in Fig. 1);
generating a plurality of data sets having 2 bits based on the data (Pub [0064]; four pulse waveforms with two bits each);
determining a plurality of data pulse signals by encoding the plurality of data sets according to a preset rule (S20; Pub [0054]); and
transmitting the plurality of data pulse signals to a reception device of the serial isolated communication system (S30),
wherein each of the plurality of data pulse signals is composed of any two pulses of a first positive pulse having a first amplitude, a second positive pulse having a second amplitude, a first negative pulse having the first amplitude, or a second negative pulse having the second amplitude (Fig. 2; Pub [0063], data pulse representations with positive and negative amplitude). b) Regarding claims 2, 15 and 19, Liu et al disclose wherein the transmitting of the plurality of data pulse signals to the reception device of the serial isolated communication system comprises:
transmitting a start pulse signal to the reception device of the serial isolated communication system (Start pulse shown in Fig. 4);
transmitting the plurality of data pulse signals to the reception device of the serial isolated communication system (Fig. 1 and 4; Pub [0075]); and
transmitting an end pulse signal to the reception device of the serial isolated communication system (Stop pulse shown in Fig. 4). c) Regarding claim 3, Liu et al disclose wherein the start pulse signal and the end pulse signal are different signals each composed of any two pulses of the first positive pulse, the second positive pulse, the first negative pulse, or the second negative pulse (shown in Fig. 4). d) Regarding claim 4, Liu et al disclose wherein the second amplitude is two times the first amplitude (“01”shown in Fig. 2). e) Regarding claim 5, Liu et al disclose wherein the serial isolated communication system is implemented to support a serial peripheral interface (SPI) communication method (Fig. 3; Pub [0074]). f) Regarding claim 7, Liu et al disclose wherein, when a first bit and a second bit of a first data set among the plurality of data sets are identical to each other, a first data pulse signal corresponding to the first data set is composed of the first negative pulse having the first amplitude and the first positive pulse having the first amplitude (“11” and “00” shown in Fig. 2). g) Regarding claim 8, Liu et al disclose wherein, when a first bit and a second bit of a second data set among the plurality of data sets are different from each other, a second data pulse signal corresponding to the second data set is composed of the second negative pulse having the second amplitude and the second positive pulse having the second amplitude (“01” and “10” shown in Fig. 2). h) Regarding claim 9, Liu et al disclose wherein, when a first bit and a second bit of a first data set among the plurality of data sets are identical to each other, a first data pulse signal corresponding to the first data set is composed of the first positive pulse having the first amplitude and the second negative pulse having the second amplitude (“11” and “00” shown in Fig. 2). i) Regarding claim 10, Liu et al disclose wherein, when a first bit and a second bit of a first data set among the plurality of data sets are identical to each other, a first data pulse signal corresponding to the first data set is composed of the second positive pulse having the second amplitude and the first negative pulse having the first amplitude (“11” and “00” shown in Fig. 2). j) Regarding claim 11, Liu et al disclose wherein, when a first bit and a second bit of a first data set among the plurality of data sets are identical to each other, a first data pulse signal corresponding to the first data set is composed of the second positive pulse having the second amplitude and the second negative pulse having the second amplitude (“11” and “00” shown in Fig. 2). k) Regarding claims 12 and 16, Liu et al disclose wherein the transmitting of the plurality of data pulse signals to the reception device of the serial isolated communication system comprises transmitting the plurality of data pulse signals to the reception device of the serial isolated communication system through a first pin of a controller of the transmission device (Pub [0074]; SPI has four pins, i.e. SCLK, MOSI, MISO, CS/SS). l) Regarding claims 13 and 17, Liu et al disclose wherein the transmitting of the plurality of data pulse signals to the reception device of the serial isolated communication system further comprises transmitting a plurality of complementary data pulse signals complementary to the plurality of data pulse signals to the reception device of the serial isolated communication system through a second pin of the controller of the transmission device (Pub [0074]; SPI has four pins, i.e. SCLK, MOSI, MISO, CS/SS. CS/SS is a complementary signal line). m) Regarding claim 14, Liu et al disclose transmission device of a serial isolated communication system, the transmission device comprising:
at least one controller (Pub [0053]); and
a communicator configured to perform communication of the controller (81 in Fig. 8; Pub [0093]), wherein the controller is configured to perform:
obtaining data to be transmitted (S10 in Fig. 1);
generating a plurality of data sets having 2 bits based on the data (Pub [0064]; four pulse waveforms with two bits each);
determining a plurality of data pulse signals by encoding the plurality of data sets according to a preset rule (S20; Pub [0054]); and
transmitting the plurality of data pulse signals to a reception device of the serial isolated communication system (S30), and
each of the plurality of data pulse signals is composed of any two pulses of a first positive pulse having a first amplitude, a second positive pulse having a second amplitude, a first negative pulse having the first amplitude, or a second negative pulse having the second amplitude (Fig. 2; Pub [0063], data pulse representations with positive and negative amplitude). n) Regarding claim 18, Liu et al disclose a method of receiving data, performed by a reception device of a serial isolated communication system, the method comprising:
receiving a plurality of data pulse signals from a transmission device of the serial isolated communication system (S61 in Fig. 6; Pub [0083]);
determining a plurality of data sets having 2 bits by decoding the plurality of data pulse signals according to a preset rule (S62; Pub [0084]; Pub [0064]; four pulse waveforms with two bits each); and
obtaining data based on the plurality of data sets (S63; Pub [0085-0086]),
wherein each of the plurality of data pulse signals is composed of any two pulses of a first positive pulse having a first amplitude, a second positive pulse having a second amplitude, a first negative pulse having the first amplitude, or a second negative pulse having the second amplitude (Fig. 2; Pub [0063], data pulse representations with positive and negative amplitude). o) Regarding claim 20, Liu et al disclose wherein, when a first bit and a second bit of a first data set among the plurality of data sets are identical to each other, a first data pulse signal corresponding to the first data set is composed of the first positive pulse having the first amplitude and the first negative pulse having the first amplitude (“11” and “00” shown in Fig. 2).
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.
Claims 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu et al (US 2022/0163936) in view of Goekjian et al (US 2020/0073848). a) Regarding claim 6, Liu et al disclose a serial isolated communication system, but did not explicitly teach wherein the serial isolated communication system is implemented to support a universal asynchronous receiver and transmitter (UART) communication method.
However, Goekjian et al disclose an asynchronous serial communication protocol, UART, that’s more robust and reliable (Fig. 1). UART is generally integrated into microcontrollers to facilitate transmit and receive serial data between devices. Therefore, it is obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to combine the UART of Goekjian et al with the serial isolated communication system of Liu et al. By doing so, reducing data errors and noise glitches in the serial isolated communication system.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. US 2014/0307759 Sundar et al disclose isolated serializer. US 2011/0235737 Hashimoto et al disclose isolated communication system. US 2023/0208684 Lee et al disclose generating and transmitting bits in isolated communication system.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Eva Y Puente whose telephone number is 571-272-3049. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F, 7:30 AM to 5:00 PM.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Chieh Fan can be reached on 571-272-3042. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). January 29, 2026
/EVA Y PUENTE/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2632