DETAILED ACTION
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 24-28 are allowed.
Claim 24 is allowed since none of the prior art alone or in combination suggests a method, comprising:
controlling, via a control system, an ultrasonic transceiver layer of an ultrasonic sensor system to transmit ultrasonic waves through at least a first resonator configured for causing a first local maximum of ultrasonic wave transmission in a first ultrasonic frequency range, the first resonator including a high-impedance layer coupled with a transmission enhancement layer and having a lower acoustic impedance in the first ultrasonic frequency range than does the high-impedance layer without the high-impedance layer being coupled with the transmission enhancement layer,
wherein the first resonator has a thickness corresponding to a multiple of a half wavelength of a shear wave or a longitudinal wave having a frequency in the first ultrasonic frequency range;
receiving, by the control system and from the ultrasonic sensor system, ultrasonic sensor signals corresponding to reflections of transmitted ultrasonic waves from a portion of a target object positioned on an outer surface of an apparatus that includes the ultrasonic sensor system; and
performing, by the control system, an authentication process based, at least in part, on the ultrasonic sensor signals.
Claims 25-28 are allowed for being dependent upon aforementioned independent claim 24.
Claims 3-6, 10-13, 15-18 and 20-21 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.
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, 7-9, 14, 19 and 22-23 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US Patent Pub. 2018/0373913 A1 to Panchawagh et al (“Panchawagh”) in view of US Patent Pub. 2018/0349663 A1 to Garlepp et al (“Garlepp”).
As to claim 1, Panchawagh discloses an apparatus (See Fig. 14A), comprising:
an ultrasonic sensor stack (1495);
a display stack (1465), comprising:
a high-impedance layer (1455/1460) having an acoustic impedance of 5 MRayls (¶ 0015); and
display stack layers (1465) configured to cause ultrasonic waves transmitted by the ultrasonic sensor stack to have one or more display stack-induced local amplitude maxima in a first ultrasonic frequency range (¶ 0134); and
a transmission enhancement layer (1470) configured to, when coupled with the high-impedance layer, create a transmission enhancement resonator that has a lower acoustic impedance in the first ultrasonic frequency range than does the high-impedance layer without the high-impedance layer being coupled with the transmission enhancement layer, wherein the transmission enhancement resonator is configured to cause the ultrasonic waves transmitted by the ultrasonic sensor stack to have a transmission enhancement resonator-induced local amplitude maximum in the first ultrasonic frequency range (¶ 0127-0128, 0134; Panchawagh discloses providing high and low acoustic impedances for providing acoustic mismatch between layers that is substantial enough to result in total or near-total reflection of the ultrasonic waves. Strong acoustic impedance mismatch interfaces for reflecting ultrasonic waves creating greater reflection and improving the quality of ultrasonic imaging. Substrate 1470 includes a “soft” material that has a low acoustic impedance value that is coupled with the claimed “high impedance layer” (Fig. 14, 1455/1460) that includes a “hard” material with a high acoustic impedance value.).
Garlepp discloses a high-impedance layer having an acoustic impedance of 10 MRayls (¶ 0062).
Before the effective filing date, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have modified Panchawagh with the teachings of Garlepp of a high-impedance layer having an acoustic impedance of 10 MRayls, as suggested by Garlepp thereby similarly using known configurations of high impedance layers in the device of Panchawagh.
As to claim 7, Panchawagh discloses wherein the first ultrasonic frequency rage includes frequencies ranging from 5 MHz to 15 MHz (¶ 0086, “ultrasonic waves have a frequency between… 5 MHz and about 20 MHz”)
As to claim 8, Panchawagh discloses further comprising a control system configured to cause the ultrasonic sensor stack to transmit first ultrasonic waves in the first ultrasonic frequency range and to perform an authentication process based, at least in part, on ultrasonic sensor signals corresponding to reflections of the first ultrasonic waves (¶ 0136).
As to claim 9, Panchawagh discloses wherein the transmission enhancement layer (See Fig. 14b, 1470) resides between the ultrasonic sensor stack (1480,1485,1490) and the high-impedance layer (1455/1460) (¶ 0134).
As to claim 14, Panchawagh discloses wherein the ultrasonic sensor stack includes a thin-film transistor (TFT) substrate and wherein the transmission enhancement resonator includes the TFT substrate (See Fig. 14, 1470; ¶ 0126; Panchawagh discloses a plurality of sensor pixel circuits 1496 are disposed on the substrate 1470.)
As to claim 19, Panchawagh in view of Garlepp discloses wherein the high-impedance layer comprises one or more of a metal layer or a non-metal layer having an acoustic impedance of 10 MRayls or more (Panchawagh, Fig. 14B, 1455/1460; ¶ 0132; Garlepp, ¶ 0062).
As to claim 22, Panchawagh discloses wherein the apparatus is a mobile device (See Fig. 1 and 5-6) that includes the ultrasonic sensor stack, the display stack and the transmission enhancement layer (See Fig. 14b).
As to claim 23, Panchawagh discloses wherein the transmission enhancement layer includes at least a portion of the ultrasonic sensor stack (See Fig. 14B, 1470, 1495; ¶ 0132-0135).
Conclusion
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/NICHOLAS J LEE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2624
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