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). The certified copy has been filed in parent Application No. 18/298,914, filed on April 11, 2023.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on March 27, 2025 and March 9, 2026 have been considered by the examiner. An initialed copy of each IDS is included with this Office Action.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to because FIG. 8 does not include labels “ACTDM” and “CTRML” described in paragraph [0141].
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:
in paragraph [0001], line 2, “now U.S. Patent 12,308,897” should be inserted before “which application”;
in paragraph [0135], line 1, “a” should be inserted before “fully”; and
in paragraph [0156], line 2, there should be a comma after “therefore”.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Objections
Claims 1-11 and 15-20 are objected to because of the following informalities:
in claim 1, line 8, “bursts’ ” should be “burst”;
in claim 1, line 9, “pulses’ ” should be “pulse”;
in claim 15, line 12, “radiofrequency” should be “radio frequency”;
in claim 15, line 13, “a single-ended antenna or a” should be “the single-ended antenna or the” (see lines 6 and 8, respectively);
in claim 16, line 2, “a single-ended antenna” should be “the single-ended antenna” (see claim 15, line 6);
in claim 16, line 3, “radiofrequency” should be “radio frequency”;
in claim 16, line 5, “a differential antenna” should be “the differential antenna” (see claim 15, line 8);
in claim 18, line 4, “a single-ended” should be “the single-ended” (see claim 15, line 6);
in claim 19, line 2, “a single-” should be “the single-” (see claim 15, line 6);
in claim 20, line 2, “a single-” should be “the single-” (see claim 15, line 6); 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 3, 8 and 15-20 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 3, it is unclear what is meant by “differential output states are achieved using 2 taps and 64 output states are achieved by the same two outputs in reverse and non-reverse state for every combination of 2.” For example, are “differential output states” on line 1 and “64 output states” referring to “64 differential output states” in claim 2, line 2, i.e. are these 3 limitations referring to the same “output states”? Furthermore, it is unclear what “the same two outputs” on line 2 and “every combination of 2” on line 3 are referring to.
With regard to claim 8, it is unclear what is “connected to the first input and the second input” on lines 3-4. For example, is the OR gate connected to both the first input and the second input? Or is the “logical circuit” connected to the first input and the second input wherein the “logical circuit” includes a NAND gate and an OR gate? Or is the NAND gate connected to the first input and the OR gate connected to the second input?
With regard to claim 15, the recitation that the control signal “that selectively routes the two outphased signals… through the logical circuit” is inconsistent with FIG. 9 and the detailed description thereby rendering claim 15 indefinite. (See MPEP 21703.03) The claim recites that two outphased signals are “selectively routed” to the logical circuit (i.e. the outphased signals that are inputs to the logical circuit are selectively routed by the control signal). However, FIG. 9 shows that the outphased signals are constantly (i.e. not selectively) provided as inputs to the logical circuit and the outputs of the logical circuit (LGC) are “selectively routed” to the outputs of the multiplexor by the control signal (TX_OUTPHS_NPWM).
Similarly, with regard to claim 16, the control signal that “configures the multiplexor to route the two outphased signals through the logical circuit” on lines 2-4 is inconsistent with FIG. 9 and the detailed description thereby rendering claim 16 indefinite. The claim recites that the multiplexor routes the two outphased signals through the logical circuit (i.e. the multiplexor provides the two outphased signals to the inputs of the “logical circuit”). However, whereas FIG. 9 shows the control signal (TX_OUTPHS_NPWM) as selecting the outputs of the logical circuit (LGC) as the multiplexor output.
With regard to claim 20, the limitation that the “mixing circuit is included in the wireless transponder only when the wireless transponder is designed to operate with a single-ended antenna” contradicts claim 15 which recites that the wireless transponder comprises the mixing circuit (see claim 15, lines 1 and 5-8).
Dependent claim(s) are rejected under the same ground(s) as the claim(s) from which it depends.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1, 2, 4-7 and 9-11 are allowable if the claim objections are overcome.
Claims 12-14 are allowed.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Kuttan et al. (US Patent No. 9,941,936 B2) discloses a near field communication device with a pulse width modulator and a differential antenna;
Gruber et al. (US Patent No. 10,863,467 B2) discloses a near field communication device with active damping; and
Hoelzl et al. (US Patent No. 10,998,938 B2) discloses a near field communication device with a damping circuit.
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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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Sam Ahn can be reached at 571-272-3044. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/BETSY DEPPE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2633
