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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 01/16/2025. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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 5 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.
In Claim 5, the recitation of “ the compensation circuit includes a plurality of operational transconductance amplifiers” is not clear because which plurality of operational transconductance amplifiers is the applicant referring. It is noted that in Claim 1 which states “the compensation circuit includes one or more operational transconductance amplifiers” thus the recitation of Claim 5 is unclear and indefinite. Further clarification is needed.
In Claim 5, the recitation of “ the filter circuit is provided for each of the plurality of operational transconductance amplifiers” is unclear because the filter circuit appear to be a single the filter circuit and it defined that “wherein the filter circuit is a low pass filter” in claim 4, thus it is not clear that a single the filter circuit would provide for each of the plurality of operational transconductance amplifiers. It is noted that each filter 171-173 connected to each amplifier 161-161n. Further clarification is needed.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
Claim(s) 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by S Romero et al. (US 10481219 B2, hereinafter Romero).
Regarding claim 10:
Romero discloses in Fig. 1, a sensor amplifier circuit, comprising:
a differential amplifier circuit (amplifier 102) with a current feedback loop (see feedback loop includes resistor R1), the differential amplifier circuit being configured to amplify a difference voltage from a sensor circuit (Sensing element 104) and to generate an output voltage in response to the difference voltage; and
a compensation circuit (circuit includes elements 142, 148, 152) configured to generate a compensation current signal (Col. 4, lines 30-31, compensation signal 152a) based on the output voltage, the compensation current signal being input to the current feedback loop that compensates for a non-linear distortion of the output voltage.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 5 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.
Claims 1-4 & 6-9 are allowed.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance:
The independence Claim 1 is allowable over prior art (i.e., Hegde). Hegde discloses in Fig. 2, a sensor amplifier circuit, comprising:
a differential amplifier circuit (Fig. 2, amplifier 100) configured to amplify a difference voltage between a pair of output signals from a sensor circuit (Sensor 133) to generate an output voltage (e.g., a differential output signal); and
a compensation circuit (e.g., circuit 122) configured to generate a compensation signal based on the output voltage to compensate for a non-linear distortion of the output voltage.
Hegde does not disclose the differential amplifier circuit includes a current feedback instrumentation amplifier; the compensation circuit includes one or more operational transconductance amplifiers (OTAs) configured to output one or more electric currents based on the output voltage and output a sum of the one or more electric currents from the one or more OTAs as the compensation signal; and the compensation signal from the compensation circuit is input to a current feedback loop in the current feedback instrumentation amplifier.
Claims 2-4 & 6-9 are allowable because they depend on claim 1.
Therefore, the applicant’s claimed invention has been determined to be novel and non-obvious. By virtue of dependency, claims 2-4 & 6-9 have also been determined to be novel and non-obvious.
Any comments considered necessary by applicant must be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee. Such submissions should be clearly labeled “Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance.”
Claims 11-20 are 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.
Claims 11-14 are allowable since the closest prior art does not disclose wherein the compensation circuit includes at least a first operational transconductance amplifier (OTA) configured to output a first electric current based on the output voltage, the first electric current being at least a portion of the compensation current signal that is input to the current feedback loop.
Claims 15-18 are allowable since the closest prior art does not disclose wherein the compensation circuit includes a plurality of operational transconductance amplifiers (OTAs) configured to output a plurality of electric currents based on the output voltage and to output a sum of the plurality of electric currents from the plurality of operational transconductance amplifiers as the compensation current signal.
Claims 18-20 are allowable since the closest prior art does not disclose the compensation circuit includes a first operational transconductance amplifier and a second operational transconductance amplifier; the first operational transconductance amplifier configured to output a first compensation current when the output voltage reaches a first threshold; and the second operational transconductance amplifier configured to output a second compensation current when the output voltage reaches a second threshold greater than the first threshold; and/or wherein the differential amplifier circuit includes a current feedback instrumentation amplifier.
Conclusion
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/KHIEM D NGUYEN/Examiner, Art Unit 2843
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