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 .
Response to Arguments/Remarks
The communications filed June 30, 2026 has been entered. Claims 1-14 are pending.
In response to applicant’s remark that claim 2 has been amended regarding the divider unit (see page 12), neither the amendment nor the remarks address “the digital signal” in claim 2, line 2 that is the basis of the rejection under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph. Therefore, the rejection is not withdrawn.
Similarly, the rejection of claims 3 and 13 have not been addressed or overcome. Therefore, the rejection of these claims under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph is also not withdrawn.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to because in the replacement sheet of FIG. 2 submitted on June 30, 2026, the second occurrence of “Fine[2:0]” should be “VCONT” and “VCONT” should be “LOCK” as shown below.
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Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Specification
The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities: the detailed description does not appear to describe “a magnitude of the upper bit value is greater than a magnitude of the lower bit value” as recited in claim 5. Please specify which paragraphs provide “explicit written-description support for the relationship between the upper bit value and the lower bit value” as noted on page 12 in the remarks submitted June 30, 2026.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Objections
Claims 4 and 9-14 are objected to because of the following informalities:
in claim 4, “an” should be inserted before “output” on lines 2 and 3, respectively;
in claim 9, line 3, “is output” should be deleted;
in claim 10, line 2, the comma after “signal” should be deleted; and
dependent claim(s) are objected to under the same ground(s) as the claim(s) from which it depends.
Appropriate correction is required.
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.
Claims 2-4, 8, 9 and 13 are 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.
With regard to claim 2, it is unclear how the “data signal” on line 2 relates to the limitations of claim 1. The preamble of claim 1 recites a “data signal” but the limitations in the body of claim 1 do not recite the “data signal.”
Claim 3 recites the limitation “the digital signal” in line 2. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. It appears that “the digital signal” should be “the data signal” (see claim 2, line 2).
With regard to claim 8, it is unclear how “a TDC” on lines 3-5 and “a phase detector” on lines 6-8 relates to “a TDC” in claim 1, lines 3-5 and “a phase detector” in claim 1, lines 9-12. Are these additional limitations (i.e. the phase difference compensation unit includes: two “TDCs” and two “phase detectors”) or does the “TDC” and “phase detector” in claim 8 further limit the respective limitations in claim 1?
Claim 13 recites the limitation “the digital signal” in line 2. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. It appears that “the digital signal” should be “the data signal” (see claim 12, line 2).
Dependent claim(s) are rejected under the same ground(s) as the claim(s) from which it depends.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1 and 5-7 are allowed.
Claims 10-12 and 14 are allowable if rewritten to overcome the claim objections.
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 Betsy Deppe whose telephone number is 571-272-3054. The examiner can normally be reached Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, 7:00 am - 3:00 pm (ET).
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/BETSY DEPPE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2633
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