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 .
Introduction
This is a response to the applicant’s filing filed on 10/16/2024. In virtue of this filing, claims 1-20 are currently presented in the instant application.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 05/06/2025 has been considered by Examiner and made of record in the application file.
Drawings
The drawing submitted on 10/16/2024 has been considered by Examiner and made of record in the application file.
Specification
The specification submitted on 10/16/2024 has been considered by Examiner and made of record in the application file.
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.
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 1, 3-6, 9, 11-15 and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Oshita (US Patent No.: 11,245,385) in view of Zhang et al. (US Pub. No.: 2025/0015828, hereinafter, “Zhang”).
Regarding claims 1, 12 and 20, Oshita teaches a mobile device comprising (see col.1, ln.12-14):
the front-end module including an antenna switch module (see figures 3 and 103, antenna 7, switching 6, col.9, ln.20-36), a receive path including a low-noise amplifier and a receive filter, the receive filter connected between a port of the antenna switch module and the low-noise amplifier (see figures 8 and 10, col.12, ln.10-46) and a first transmit path including a power amplifier, a transmit filter, and a matching network, the a matching network coupled between the transmit filter and the port of the antenna switch module, the transmit filter connected between the a matching network and the power amplifier; an antenna communicatively connected to the front-end module (see figures 3 and 103, antenna 7, switching 6, MN 14, PA 4, filter 1, col.9, ln.20-36, claim fails to address directly connection between elements).
It should be noticed that Oshita fails to teach a baseband system; a transceiver communicatively connected to the baseband system; a front-end module communicatively connected to the transceiver and a power management system, and an inductive coupled resonator. However, Zhang teaches a baseband system; a transceiver communicatively connected to the baseband system; a front-end module communicatively connected to the transceiver and a power management system, and an inductive coupled resonator (see figures 1-2 and 5, radio front-end circuit 191, transceiver 192, processor 110, power management module 181, matching network with inductive coupling 195c, T1, [0048, 0050, 0085-0086]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teaching of Zhang into view of Oshita in order to maximized power transfer, galvanic isolation and reduced losses.
Regarding claims 3 and 13, Oshita further teaches a second transmit path, the first transmit path being a mid-band transmit path and the second transmit path being a high-band transmit path (see figures 14-15, col.9-19, ln.36-67, ln. 1-24).
Regarding claim 4, Oshita further teaches the first transmit path further includes a band switch connected to the transmit filter (see figures 14-15, col.9-19, ln.36-67, ln. 1-24).
Regarding claims 5 and 14, after combine, Oshita further teaches the matching network connected between the transmit filter and the antenna switch module or first port (see figure 3). Zhang teaches inductive coupled resonator includes a primary inductor coil (see matching network with inductive coupling 195c, T1, [0048, 0050, 0085-0086]).
Regarding claims 6 and 15, Zhang further teaches the inductive coupled resonator further includes a secondary inductor coil inductively coupled to the primary inductor coil (see figure 5, matching network 195c with inductive coupling T1, [0048, 0050, 0085-0086]).
Regarding claim 9, Zhang further teaches the secondary inductor coil is connected in series with a capacitor (see figure 7).
Regarding claim 11, Zhang further teaches the transmit filter or the receive filter is a bulk acoustic wave or a surface acoustic wave filter (see the transmit filter 1 is an acoustic wave filter, col.8, ln.45-46).
Claim(s) 2 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Oshita (US Patent No.: 11,245,385) in view of Zhang et al. (US Pub. No.: 2025/0015828, hereinafter, “Zhang”) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of MYOUNG et al. (US Pub. No.: 2022/0216856, hereinafter, “MYOUNG”).
Regarding claim 2, Oshita and Zhang, in combination, fails to teach the inductive coupled resonator is configured to suppress second-order harmonics. However, MYOUNG teaches the inductive coupled resonator is configured to suppress second-order harmonics (see figure 2, inductor 202A, 202B, [0004]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teaching of MYOUNG into view of Oshita and Zhang in order to improve power quality, protect equipment and increase system efficiency.
Claim(s) 7-8, 10 and 16-19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Oshita (US Patent No.: 11,245,385) in view of Zhang et al. (US Pub. No.: 2025/0015828, hereinafter, “Zhang”) as applied to claims 1 and 12 above, and further in view of Ahmed et al. (US Pub. No.: 2020/0395164, hereinafter, “Ahmed”).
Regarding claims 7 and 16, Oshita and Zhang, in combination, fails to teach the secondary inductor coil includes a plurality of inductively coupled parallel inductor coils. However, Ahmed teaches the secondary inductor coil includes a plurality of inductively coupled parallel inductor coils (see figure 1, secondary side, [0025]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teaching of Ahmed into view of Oshita and Zhang in order to reduce the leakage inductance and prevent large conduction loss.
Regarding claims 8 and 17, Ahmed further teaches the primary inductor coil and the secondary inductor coil are each formed by a conductive stripline on a printed circuit board (see figures 7A-7B, [0010, 0042-0043]).
Regarding claim 18, Zhang further teaches the secondary inductor coil is connected in series with a capacitor (see figure 7).
Regarding claims 10 and 19, Ahmed further teaches the capacitor is a parallel plate capacitor formed by a pair of conductive plates formed on separate layers of a printed circuit board (see figure 2, [0023, 0028]).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Tuan A. Pham whose telephone number is (571) 272-8097, the fax number is (571) 273-8097 and the email is tuan.pham01@uspto.gov. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday through Friday, 8:30 AM-5:30 PM.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, Applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner's supervisor, Yuwen (Kevin) Pan can be reached on (571) 272-7855. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/TUAN PHAM/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2649
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