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
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
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.
Claims 1, 2, 5-7 and 9-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Suzuki et al. U.S. Pat. App. Pub. No. 2010/0177829 (cited by Applicant) in view of Qu et al. U.S. Pat. App. Pub. No. 2018/0321302.
Regarding claims 1 and 12, Suzuki discloses a communication circuit (e.g. Figs. 3A-3B) comprising: a communication part (i.e. 16) that is provided in a device (e.g. 15) connected to a transmission path (i.e. 12), and communicates with another communication part (e.g. transmitting part of device 14) through the transmission path, the other communication part being provided in another device (e.g. 14) connected to the transmission path; a termination resistor (i.e. 19) connected to the transmission path; a switch (i.e. 20) that switches between connection and disconnection between the termination resistor and the transmission path; a detector (e.g. detecting parts 18a/18b – ¶¶ [0059]-[0061]) that detects a physical value of the signal in a transmission path in a state where the termination resistor and the transmission path are connected, as detecting parts detects a voltage and an electric current of the differential signal transmitted through signal lines 12a/12b which yields an equivalent resistance (i.e. Z0); and a controller that causes the switch to perform switching between connection and disconnection between the termination resistor and the transmission path based on a result of the detection of the detector (¶ [0060]). Suzuki does not expressly disclose that a total resistance is detected.
Qu discloses that a response voltage in response to an excitation current may yield an impedance measurement using Ohm’s law (¶ [0031]). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to provide a measure of resistance, as suggested by Qu, in the circuit of Suzuki, as it is a known technique to provides a circuit parameter measurement, yielding predictable results (see MPEP § 2143.I.A.).
Regarding claim 2, in the proposed combination, Suzuki further discloses that the controller causes the switch to connect the termination resistor to the transmission path when the total resistance value detected by the detector is equal to or greater than a threshold, and causes the switch to disconnect the termination resistor from the transmission path when the total resistance value detected by the detector is less than the threshold (¶¶ [0054]-[0055]).
Regarding claim 5, in the proposed combination, Qu discloses that an excitation current signal is used to provide a resistance calculation based on a detected voltage and the current value in the circuit (¶ [0031]).
Regarding claim 6, in the proposed combination, one skilled in the art would recognize that the excitation current would be supplied when the device is turned on.
Regarding claim 7, in the proposed combination, Suzuki also discloses that the detector periodically detects the physical value of the transmission path when the resistor and transmission path are connected during rising and falling edges of the differential signal (see Fig. 3B, ¶¶ [0060]-[0061]), and every time the detector detects the total resistance value of the transmission path, the controller causes the switch to perform switching between connection and disconnection between the terminal resistor and the switch based on a result of the detection of the detector (¶¶ [0058]-[0061]).
Regarding claim 9, in the proposed combination, Suzuki further discloses that the communication circuit comprises a plurality of resistors (e.g. Fig. 6A – 23a, 24b), wherein the plurality of termination resistors has respective resistance values different from each other (¶ [0068]), and the switch selects one of the plurality of the termination resistors and switches between connection and disconnection between the selected termination resistor and the transmission path, as transistors 22a and 22b function as switching elements (¶ [0064]).
Regarding claim 10, in the proposed combination, Suzuki further discloses a functional part (i.e. ECU 210 – Fig. 32) connected to the communication part of the circuit to exchange a signal with the communication part (see ¶ [0010]).
Regarding claim 11, in the proposed combination, Suzuki discloses a communication system comprising a transmission path (12 – Figs. 3A, 4A); and three or more devices connected to the transmission path (see Figs. 3A, 4A), wherein at least one of the devices is the device of claim 10 (e.g. node 15), and the rest of the devices (e.g. nodes not numbered 15) include respective termination resistors that are always connected to the terminal path (see Figs. 3A, 4A).
Claim 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Suzuki et al. in view Qu et al., as applied to claim 2 above, and further in view of Frank et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,983,433.
Regarding claim 3, Suzuki in combination with Qu disclose a communication circuit with a parameter detection and switch control, as described above, but do not expressly disclose a storage that stores impedance information related to characteristic impedance of a differential line of the transmission path, wherein the controller sets the threshold based on the impedance information stored in the storage
Frank discloses storing impedance information for a differential pair in a database (col. 2, ll. 4-11). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to provide a storage to store information relating to characteristic impedance information for a differential pair, as suggested by Frank, in the circuit of Suzuki, to quickly access pre-stored parameter information during implementation. Further, as Suzuki discloses that a threshold are predetermined (¶ [0055]), one skilled in the art would recognize that the predetermined threshold would be based on stored circuit parameters.
Claim 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Suzuki et al. in view Qu et al., and further in view of Matsumura U.S. Pat. App. Pub. No. 2009/0309565.
Regarding claim 8, Suzuki in combination with Qu disclose a communication circuit with a parameter detection and switch control, as described above, but do not expressly disclose a manual switch that switches between an automatic mode and a forcible mode, wherein the automatic mode allows the controller to cause the switch to perform switching between connection and disconnection between the termination resistor and the transmission path based on a result of the detector, and the forcible mode allows the controller to control the switch to cause the termination resistor and the transmission path to be forcibly connected.
Matsumura discloses use of a power supply device where a switch may be on, off or forcible switching may be employed (¶ [0169]). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to employ a forcible mode to force switching, as suggested by Matsumura, in the circuit of Suzuki, to provide an operator with additional control over circuit operation for testing purposes.
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.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to David B. Lugo whose telephone number is 571-272-3043. The examiner can normally be reached M-F, 9-6. Examiner interviews are available via telephone and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Hannah Wang can be reached at 571-272-9018. The fax phone number for the organization where this application is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/DAVID B LUGO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2631 6/26/2026
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