Ex Parte Beretta et al

Patent Trial and Appeal Board

Nov 29, 2012

11058800 (P.T.A.B. Nov. 29, 2012)

UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
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
APPLICATION NO. FILING DATE FIRST NAMED INVENTOR ATTORNEY DOCKET NO. CONFIRMATION NO.
11/058,800 02/16/2005 Franco Enrico Beretta 6275-213 7488
24112 7590 11/29/2012
COATS & BENNETT, PLLC
1400 Crescent Green, Suite 300
Cary, NC 27518
EXAMINER
SUTHERS, DOUGLAS JOHN
ART UNIT PAPER NUMBER
2654
MAIL DATE DELIVERY MODE
11/29/2012 PAPER
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.
PTOL-90A (Rev. 04/07)

UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
_____________

BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD
_____________

Ex parte FRANCO ENRICO BERETTA,
PAOLO GONELLA PACCHIOTTI,
and ANGELO NAGARI
_____________

Appeal 2010-007601
Application 11/058,800
Technology Center 2600
______________

Before ERIC B. CHEN, BRYAN F. MOORE, and
TREVOR M. JEFFERSON, Administrative Patent Judges.

MOORE, Administrative Patent Judge.

DECISION ON APPEAL

Appeal 2010-007601
Application 11/058,800

2
This is a decision on appeal under 35 U.S.C. § 134(a) of the
Examiner’s Final Rejection of claims 3-14, which constitute all the claims
pending in this application. App. Br. 1. Claims 1 and 2 are cancelled. Id.
We have jurisdiction under 35 U.S.C. § 6(b).
We AFFIRM the Examiner’s rejection of these claims.

INVENTION
The invention is directed to transducers for converting sound,
vibration and like signals to electrical signals for transmission,
reproduction, recording or analysis, such as for microphones, pickups,
and other audio transducers. See Spec. [0001].
Claim 3 is representative of the invention and is reproduced
below:

3. A digital microphone device for outputting a digital
audio signal to a digital signal processing system, and
comprising:
an acoustic transducer for providing a first analog voltage
signal representative of an acoustic signal; and
an integrated circuit comprising
an input multiplexer having a first analog input coupled
to an output of said acoustic transducer, and at least one second
analog input to be coupled to an output of a remote external
analog microphone providing a second analog voltage signal,
the remote
external analog microphone being external the digital
microphone device,
a variable gain analog signal pre-amplifier coupled to an
output of said input multiplexer,
a supply voltage input pad for receiving a supply voltage,
a clock input pad for receiving a clock signal, and
a clock detection circuit for detecting the clock signal,
and in response to the detected clock signal, providing the
Appeal 2010-007601
Application 11/058,800

3
supply voltage to said input multiplexer and to said variable
gain analog signal pre-amplifier.

REFERENCES

Gulick US 5,818,948 Oct. 6, 1998
Deruginsky US 2003/0223592 A1 Dec. 4, 2003

REJECTIONS AT ISSUE
Claims 3-14 stands rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as being
unpatentable over the combination of Deruginsky and Gulick. Ans. 3-10.

ISSUE
Did the Examiner err in finding that Gulick renders obvious the
following limitation recited in claim 3: “in response to the detected clock
signal, providing the supply voltage to said input multiplexer and to said
variable gain analog signal pre-amplifier?”

ANALYSIS
Appellants argue the above limitation of claim 3. Appellants do not
make substantive additional arguments regarding claims 4-14 and therefore,
they fall with claim 3.
As the limitation listed above, Appellants argue that “[t]he clock
detection circuit 5208 [in Gulick] turns off power to the microphone on
command from the host, or upon detection of a lack of bus or clock activity
[, however, in] . . .the Advisory Action, the Examiner [erred by]
interpret[ing] that as also applying to turning power on.” App. Br. 8-9. We
are not persuaded by this argument.
Appeal 2010-007601
Application 11/058,800

4
The Examiner finds that
starting from an off state, if the control unit 5208 saw input
audio activity and attempted to power on, if no clock were
present the unit would see the lack of clock activity, as before,
and power down. Therefore in such a situation for the system
to provide power, both input audio activity AND the clock must
be present.

Ans. 11. We find ample support for the Examiner’s finding. In other
words, one of ordinary skill in the art would recognize that “in response” to
at least the clock signal being present, power can be turned on because if
there is no clock signal, power is prevented from being turned on. Thus, we
agree with the Examiner that Gulick suggests the limitation at issue.

DECISION
The Examiner’s decision to reject claims 3-14 is affirmed.
No time period for taking any subsequent action in connection with
this appeal may be extended under 37 C.F.R. § 1.136(a)(1). See 37 C.F.R.
§ 1.136(a)(1)(iv) (2011).
AFFIRMED

ELD