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 .
Election/Restrictions
Claims 2-7, 9-12 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b), as being drawn to a nonelected species, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Applicant timely traversed the restriction (election) requirement in the reply filed on 12/29/2025.
Also, applicant election of claim 6 does not belong to the species elected, however claim 8 does and the examiner therefore has added claim 8 into the election.
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.
Claim(s) 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lai et al. (US 2009/0116266) in view of Ranstad (US 20070297200)
Re Claim 1; Lai discloses a power output circuit (Fig. 7) comprising:
a plurality of circuit blocks (730) provided in power wirings (the left side bus) to which power is inputted and connected to each other side by side, (Fig. 7)
wherein: each of the plurality of circuit blocks includes at least a filter (770) in a last post-stage; (Fig. 7)
each of the plurality of filters includes a reactor (Li1-n, Lq1-n) and a capacitor (C1-n) connected to the reactor at a node differing from an output node; either of the reactor and the capacitor provided in each of the plurality of filters is connected to the power wirings in series so as to connect with the output node; (Fig 7)
Lai does not disclose a connection line between the reactor and the capacitor in one filter is connected to a connection line between the reactor and the capacitor in the remaining other filter.
However, Ranstad discloses a connection line (24’) between the reactor and the capacitor in one filter is connected to a connection line between the reactor and the capacitor in the remaining other filter. (Fig. 3).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing of the invention to have coupled the two filters with a connection line in order to maximize the efficiency of the filtering and also create a redundant filtering system.
Claim(s) 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lai et al. (US 2009/0116266) in view of Ranstad (US 20070297200) and further in view of Minami et al. (US 2019/0364657)
Re Claim 8; Lai in view of Ranstad discloses wherein: the power wirings include a first power wiring and a second power wiring; a first connection body including the reactor and the capacitor is provided in the first power wiring; and a connection line between the reactor and the capacitor of the second connection body provided in the second power wiring in one filter is connected to a connection line between the reactor and the capacitor of the second connection body provided in the second power wiring in the remaining other filter.(Fig. 7)
The combination does not disclose the filter is a balanced-type filter having a second connection body equivalent to the first connection body in the second power wiring.
However, Minami disclose a filter is a balanced-type filter having a second connection body equivalent to the first connection body in the second power wiring. (Fig. 4b)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing of the invention to have used a filter is a balanced-type filter having a second connection body equivalent to the first connection body in the second power wiring in order to selectively passes desired signals while suppressing common-mode noise.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DANIEL KESSIE whose telephone number is (571)272-4449. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8am-5pmEst.
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/DANIEL KESSIE/
02/02/2026Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2836