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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed August 27, 2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Applicant argues that the prior art does not teach every element of amended claim 1.
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim 1 has been considered but are moot because of the new ground of rejection.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
Applicant is reminded that claim mapping is provided as a courtesy to the applicant, but applicant should consider a reference as a whole, as the entire reference gives context to mapped sections.
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 1-3 and 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Singer et al. (US 6060937 A), in view of Rosenzweig (US 4284905 A); hereinafter Singer, in view of Rosenzweig.
Regarding Claim 1, Singer discloses a bootstrapped switch [Fig. 6] comprising: a first transistor [M1], comprising: a first connection terminal [M1-source], arranged to receive an input voltage [Vin] of the bootstrapped switch, wherein the input voltage is a static bias voltage [column 6, lines 22-39]; a second connection terminal [M1-drain], arranged to generate an output voltage [Vout] of the bootstrapped switch; and a control terminal [M1-gate]; a capacitor [Cboot], comprising: a first end [N1], coupled to the control terminal of the first transistor during a second period in which the first transistor is turned on; and a second end [N2]; a first voltage providing circuit [S2/S3], coupled to the second end of the capacitor, wherein the first voltage providing circuit is arranged to provide a first voltage [V--] to the second end of the capacitor during a first period in which the first transistor is turned off [column 6, lines 1-10], and provide a second voltage [V++] to the second end of the capacitor during a second period in which the first transistor is turned on [column 6, lines 1-10], where the second voltage is different from the first voltage [column 8, lines 48-61]; a second voltage providing circuit [M2/M3/M4], coupled to the control terminal of the first transistor, wherein the second voltage providing circuit is arranged to provide a boost voltage [column 10, lines 20-30] to the control terminal of the first transistor during the first period in which the first transistor is turned off, and stop providing the boost voltage to the control terminal of the first transistor during the second period in which the first transistor is turned on. Singer does not explicitly disclose the first end of the capacitor coupled to the control terminal of the first transistor during a first period in which the first transistor is turned off.
However, Rosenzweig discloses a bootstrapped switch [Fig. 1] comprising: a first transistor [T1], comprising: a first connection terminal [14], arranged to receive an input voltage [VDD] of the bootstrapped switch, wherein the input voltage is a static bias voltage [column 3, lines 35-38]; a second connection terminal [12], arranged to generate an output voltage [OUTPUT] of the bootstrapped switch; and a control terminal [T1-gate, 13]; and a capacitor [C1], comprising: a first end [13], coupled to the control terminal of the first transistor during a first period in which the first transistor is turned off and a second period in which the first transistor is turned on [C1 is directly coupled to T1-gate with no intervening components]; and a second end [12]. It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to use the invention of Singer in the invention of Rosenzweig, with the expected benefit of allowing the capacitor to be coupled to the control terminal of the transistor when the transistor is either turned on or off. This method of improving Rosenzweig using Singer was within the ordinary ability of one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention based on the teachings of Singer. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Rosenzweig and Singer to obtain the invention: incorporating the bootstrapped switch without an intervening component.
Regarding Claim 2, Singer, in view of Rosenzweig, discloses the bootstrapped switch of claim 1, wherein the first transistor is an N-type transistor [column 6, lines 15-16].
Regarding Claim 3, Singer, in view of Rosenzweig, discloses the bootstrapped switch of claim 2, wherein the boost voltage is set by the static bias voltage [column 10, lines 20-30].
Regarding Claim 9, Singer, in view of Rosenzweig, discloses the bootstrapped switch of claim 2, wherein the first voltage providing circuit comprises: an inverter circuit [S3/S2], comprising: a second transistor [S3], comprising: a first connection terminal [S3-source], arranged to receive the second voltage; a second connection terminal [S3-drain], coupled to the second end of the capacitor; and a control terminal [S3-gate], arranged to receive a clock signal [phi-1'B]; and a third transistor [S2], comprising: a first connection terminal [S2-source], arranged to receive the first voltage; a second connection terminal [S2-drain], coupled to the second end of the capacitor; and a control terminal [S2-gate], arranged to receive the clock signal.
Claim 18 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Singer, in view of Rosenzweig, further in view of Chou et al. (US 20070052452 A1); hereinafter Singer, in view of Rosenzweig, further in view of Chou.
Regarding Claim 18, Singer, in view of Rosenzweig, discloses the bootstrapped switch of claim 1 [see rejection of Claim 1 above]. Singer, in view of Rosenzweig, does not explicitly disclose a sample-and-hold circuit comprising the bootstrapped switch.
However, Chou discloses a sample-and-hold circuit [Fig. 5A; paragraphs 0019-0020] comprising a bootstrapped switch [Fig. 6, 610; paragraph 0021]. It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to use the invention of Chou in the invention of Singer, in view of Rosenzweig, with the expected benefit of improving linearity and reducing distortion. This method of improving Singer, in view of Rosenzweig, using Chou was within the ordinary ability of one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention based on the teachings of Chou. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Singer, in view of Rosenzweig, and Chou to obtain the invention: incorporating the bootstrapped switch within the sample-and-hold circuit.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 4 is 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: r.
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.”
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Amit Bhatia whose telephone number is (571)272-4410. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8:30am-4:30pm EST.
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/Amit R Bhatia/Examiner, Art Unit 2836
/REGIS J BETSCH/SPE, Art Unit 2836
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