Ex Parte Schimper et al

Patent Trial and Appeal BoardJun 30, 2016

13412533 (P.T.A.B. Jun. 30, 2016)

UNITED STA TES p A TENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE APPLICATION NO. FILING DATE 13/412,533 03/05/2012 67998 7590 07/05/2016 Infineon Technologies AG Intellectual Property Am Campean 1-12 Neubiberg, 85579 GERMANY FIRST NAMED INVENTOR Markus Schimper UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE United States Patent and Trademark Office Address: COMMISSIONER FOR PATENTS P.O. Box 1450 Alexandria, Virginia 22313-1450 www .uspto.gov ATTORNEY DOCKET NO. CONFIRMATION NO. IFXAG0212US01 7242 EXAMINER LAM, KENNETH T ART UNIT PAPER NUMBER 2631 NOTIFICATION DATE DELIVERY MODE 07/05/2016 ELECTRONIC Please find below and/or attached an Office communication concerning this application or proceeding. The time period for reply, if any, is set in the attached communication. Notice of the Office communication was sent electronically on above-indicated "Notification Date" to the following e-mail address( es): Infineon.Patent-Administration@infineon.com PTOL-90A (Rev. 04/07) UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD Ex parte MARKUS SCHIMPER and FRANZ KUTTNER Appeal2014-006262 Application 13/412,533 Technology Center 2600 Before ST. JOHN COURTENAY III, LINZY T. McCARTNEY, and MONICA S. ULLAGADDI, Administrative Patent Judges. ULLAGADDI, Administrative Patent Judge. DECISION ON APPEAL Appellants appeal under 35 U.S.C. Â§ 134 from a final rejection of claims 1-18. We have jurisdiction under 35 U.S.C. Â§ 6(b). We AFFIRM. STATEMENT OF THE CASE Claims 1, 5, and 14 reproduced below with certain disputed limitations emphasized, are illustrative of the claimed subject matter: 1. A digital pre-distortion component comprising: a multiplier component that receives a baseband amplitude signal and multiplies the baseband amplitude signal with a modulating frequency, and produces an output signal; and Appeal2014-006262 Application 13/412,533 an adder component that receives the output signal and adds the baseband amplitude signal and generates a pre-distortion amplitude output signal. 5. A polar transmitter comprising: a digital signal processing component that processes signals and provides a data signal with amplitude values; and a digital pre-distortion component that receives the data signal with amplitude values, compensates for jitter error in the data signal with amplitude values by adding a signal to the data signal, and provides an adjusted signal. 14. A method, comprising: receiving input data signals; transforming the input data signals into amplitudes of In- Phase (I) and Quadrature ( Q) signals; converting amplitudes of the I and Q signals amplitudes into polar equivalence data signals; modulating the data signals; and pre-distorting clock jitter in the modulated data signals, the pre-distorting including adding a signal to the modulated data signals. REJECTIONS Claims 1-18 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. Â§ 103(a) as being unpatentable over See (US 2009/0074106 Al, pub. Mar. 19, 2009). Claims 1-18 stand rejected on the ground of nonstatutory obviousness-type double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1-14 of US 8,130,865, iss. Mar. 6, 2012. 2 Appeal2014-006262 Application 13/412,533 ANALYSIS Double Patenting Rejection Appellants do not present any arguments with respect to the nonstatutory, obviousness-type double patenting rejection of claims 1-18. Arguments not made are considered waived. See 3 7 C.F .R. Â§ 41.37(c)(l)(iv). Therefore, we sustain this ground of rejection. Obviousness Rejection of Claims 1--4 Appellants attempt to distinguish See's summer 164 from the claimed "adder component" on the basis that the "summer 164 only receives modulated versions of the Eout signal." App. Br. 7. Specifically, Appellants argue multipliers l 62a and l 62b each modulate Eout, and therefore, no inputs to the summer 164 are unmodulated versions of Eout. Id. Appellants further argue claim 1 "discloses an adder component that receives an output signal, which is modulated, and an unmodulated baseband amplitude signal." Id. at 8. Although claim 1 does not recite that the "baseband amplitude signal" is unmodulated, the Examiner cited Eout as teaching the "baseband amplitude signal." Final Act. 4. The Examiner finds See's summer 164 indirectly adds Eout to the signal output by one of the multipliers because the modulated signal output by the one of the multipliers l 62a and l 62b is based on input signal, Eaut. See Ans. 3. However, we agree that the signals output by multipliers l 62a and l 62b cannot reasonably be considered to be both modulated and unmodulated signals. Moreover, as a matter of antecedent basis, we conclude claim 1 requires "the baseband amplitude signal" that is added to the output signal by the "adder component" to be the same as "a 3 Appeal2014-006262 Application 13/412,533 baseband amplitude signal" recited in line 2 of claim 1, and not a modified (multiplied or modulated) signal. For this reason, we are persuaded the Examiner erred in finding See teaches or suggests the disputed limitation recited in claim 1 and the limitations recited in claims 2--4, which are not separately argued. Obviousness Rejection of Claims 5-18 With regard to claim 5, Appellants contend "See discloses that a pre- distorted envelope signal is added to the phase signal to produce a pre- distorted phase signal,