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).
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements submitted on 11/07/2024 and 12/22/2025 have been considered and made of record by the examiner.
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.
Claims 1 and 8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ha (US 2002/0026467), Grosch (US 5,136,949), Yin et al. (hereinafter, referred to as Yin) (CN 114647271), further in view of Zeng (CN 111988001).
As to claim 1, Ha discloses a data reception circuit (see Fig. 1), comprising: a reception circuit configured to convert a reception signal into a digital signal (see Fig. 1, block 1 and paragraphs 0025-0026); a first clipper circuit (see Fig. 1, the combination of blocks 12 and 13, the abstract, and paragraph 0026) configured to suppress an overshoot of the reception signal (see the abstract, paragraphs 0026 and 0039); and a second clipper circuit (see Fig. 1, the combination of blocks 15 and 16, the abstract, and paragraph 0026) configured to suppress an undershoot of the reception signal (see the abstract, paragraphs 0026 and 0039). Ha discloses all the subject matters claimed in claim 1, except that a) the reception signal is received from an interconnect, b) suppression of an overshoot is based on current extraction, and c) suppression of an undershoot is based on current supply. As to the first limitation missing from Ha, Grosch, in the same field of endeavor, discloses a communication system (see Fig. 1) comprising a transmitter 28 and an A/D converter 26 associated with microcomputer 14 (see column 4, lines 10-15, the connection between the transmitter and the A/D is an interconnect), wherein the transmitter sends analog signals to the A/D converter (see column 4, lines 60-66). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention was made to modify the teachings of Ha, as suggested by Grosch, in order to enable the system to generate the analog signal. As to the second limitation missing from Ha, Yin, in the same field of endeavor, discloses a system comprising an overshoot adjusting module that comprises a pull current branch, wherein the pull current branch is used for extracting current from an output (see paragraph 0011). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention was made to modify the teachings of Ha and Grosch, as suggested by Yin, in order to reduce the adjustment time of the overshoot (see the abstract). Ha, Grosch, and Yin disclose all the subject matters claimed in claim 1, except that suppression of an undershoot is based on current supply. Zeng, in the same field of endeavor, discloses a system for compensating undershoot (see paragraph 0054). Zeng discloses that a current supply path provides undershoot compensation current to compensate for the undershoot effect (see paragraph 0054). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention was made to modify the teachings of Ha, Grosch, and Yin, as suggested by Zeng, in order to reduce the adjustment time of the undershoot.
As to claim 8, Ha discloses a circuit (see Fig. 1), comprising: a reception circuit configured to convert a reception signal into a digital signal (see Fig. 1, block 1 and paragraphs 0025-0026); a first clipper circuit (see Fig. 1, the combination of blocks 12 and 13, the abstract, and paragraph 0026) configured to suppress an overshoot of the reception signal (see the abstract, paragraphs 0026 and 0039); and a second clipper circuit (see Fig. 1, the combination of blocks 15 and 16, the abstract, and paragraph 0026) configured to suppress an undershoot of the reception signal (see the abstract, paragraphs 0026 and 0039). Ha discloses all the subject matters claimed in claim 8, except a) a transmission circuit configured to transmit a transmission signal to an interconnect, b) suppression of an overshoot is based on current extraction, and c) suppression of an undershoot is based on current supply. As to the first limitation missing from Ha, Grosch, in the same field of endeavor, discloses a communication system (see Fig. 1) comprising a transmitter 28 and an A/D converter 26 associated with microcomputer 14 (see column 4, lines 10-15, the connection between the transmitter and the A/D is an interconnect), wherein the transmitter sends analog signals to the A/D converter (see column 4, lines 60-66). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention was made to modify the teachings of Ha, as suggested by Grosch, in order to enable the system to generate the analog signal. As to the second limitation missing from Ha, Yin, in the same field of endeavor, discloses a system comprising an overshoot adjusting module that comprises a pull current branch, wherein the pull current branch is used for extracting current from an output (see paragraph 0011). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention was made to modify the teachings of Ha and Grosch, as suggested by Yin, in order to reduce the adjustment time of the overshoot (see the abstract). Ha, Grosch, and Yin disclose all the subject matters claimed in claim 8, except that suppression of an undershoot is based on current supply. Zeng, in the same field of endeavor, discloses a system for compensating undershoot (see paragraph 0054). Zeng discloses that a current supply path provides undershoot compensation current to compensate for the undershoot effect (see paragraph 0054). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention was made to modify the teachings of Ha, Grosch, and Yin, as suggested by Zeng, in order to reduce the adjustment time of the undershoot.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-7 and 9-17 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.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LEILA MALEK whose telephone number is (571)272-8731. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8:30am-4:30pm.
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LEILA . MALEK
Examiner
Art Unit 2632
/LEILA MALEK/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2632
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