Ex Parte Shen

Patent Trial and Appeal Board

Mar 23, 2018

14270296 (P.T.A.B. Mar. 23, 2018)

UNITED STA TES p A TENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
APPLICATION NO. FILING DATE
14/270,296 05/05/2014
115799 7590 03/23/2018
Cirrus Logic c/o Jackson Walker LLP
c/o Jackson Walker, L.L.P.
100 Congress A venue
Suite 1100
Austin, TX 78701
FIRST NAMED INVENTOR
Dan Shen
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.
141841.00236-CIR-2114 8787
EXAMINER
PAUL, DISLER
ART UNIT PAPER NUMBER
2655
MAILDATE DELIVERY MODE
03/23/2018 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 DAN SHEN
Appeal2017-010480
Application 14/270,296 1
Technology Center 2600
Before TERRENCE W. McMILLIN, KARA L. SZPONDOWSKI, and
SCOTT B. HOWARD, Administrative Patent Judges.
HOWARD, Administrative Patent Judge.
DECISION ON APPEAL
Appellant appeals under 35 U.S.C. § 134(a) from the Final Rejection
of claims 1-28, which constitute all of the claims pending in this application.
We have jurisdiction under 35 U.S.C. § 6(b).
We reverse.
1 Appellant is the Applicant, Cirrus Logic, Inc., which is identified in the
Appeal Brief as the real party in interest. App. Br. 2.
Appeal2017-010480
Application 14/270,296
THE INVENTION
The disclosed and claimed invention is directed to "a Schmitt trigger
circuit that has one of its threshold voltage very close to rail voltages."
Spec. i-f 1. 2
Claim 1, reproduced below with the relevant language emphasized, is
illustrative of the claimed subject matter:
1. An apparatus, comprising:
a switching output stage configured to receive an analog
input signal and provide a responsive digital output signal, the
switching output stage having a first switching device coupled to
a first supply voltage and a second switching device coupled to
a second supply voltage, the first switching device and the second
switching device being coupled to a common output node; and
a voltage level shifter circuit coupled to a switching
control node of the second switching device, the voltage level
shifter configured to shift a voltage level at the switching control
node of the second switching device relative to the analog input
signal;
wherein the digital output signal at the common output
node transitions as the analog input signal reaches a
predetermined threshold value.
App. Br. 11, Claims Appendix.
REFERENCES
The prior art relied upon by the Examiner as evidence in rejecting the
claims on appeal is:
2 We refer to the Specification filed May 5, 2014 ("Spec."); Final Office
Action mailed July 7, 2016 ("Final Act."); Appeal Brief filed Mar. 1, 2017
("App. Br."); Examiner's Answer mailed June 7, 2017 ("Ans."); and the
Reply Brief filed Aug. 3, 2017 ("Reply Br.").
2
Appeal2017-010480
Application 14/270,296
Ochi US 7,911,255 B2
Vice US 2011/0279179 Al
REJECTIONS
Mar. 22, 2011
Nov. 17, 2011
Claims 1-7 and 9-17 stand rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C.
§ 102(b) as being anticipated by Vice. Final Act. 4.
Claims 19-25, 27, and 28 stand rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C.
§ 103(a) as being unpatentable over Vice. Final Act. 10.
Claims 8, 18, and 26 stand rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. § 103(a)
as being unpatentable over Vice and Ochi. Final Act. 14.
ANALYSIS
We have reviewed the Examiner's rejection in light of Appellant's
arguments that the Examiner erred. In reaching this decision, we have
considered all evidence presented and all arguments made by Appellant. We
are persuaded by Appellant's arguments regarding the pending claims.
The Examiner finds Vice's switch stage receiving analog and
providing responsive digital output with various switching, with the
intercoupling of various circuitry and the electrical connection of switches,
teaches "the switching output stage having a first switching device coupled
to a first supply voltage and a second switching device coupled to a second
supply voltage, the first switching device and the second switching device
being coupled to a common output node" as recited in claim 1 (emphasis
added). Final Act. 4--5 (citing Vice, Figs. 2, 6, i-fi-128, 53-54); Ans. 2-3
(citing Vice, Figs. 2, 6, i-fi-153-54).
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Application 14/270,296
Appellant argues Vice's elements describing the ''first switching
device and the second switching device are either: (a) not coupled to
different supply voltages or (b) not coupled to a common output node."
App. Br. 6 (emphasis added).
We are persuaded by Appellant's argument as the Examiner has not
identified sufficient evidence or provided sufficient explanation as to how
Vice's first comparator and second comparator describe "the first switching
device and the second switching device being coupled to a common output
node" as recited in claim 1 (emphasis added).
The cited sections of Vice (Final Act. 4--5; Ans. 2-3) describe: (1) the
"first comparator 520" including "first and second transistors 521 and 522"
and the "drain of PET 522 is representatively connected to first output port
528" and the "gate of the second transistor 522 is connected to a fixed first
reference voltage"; and (2) the "second comparator 530" including "first and
second transistors 531 and 532," and the "drain of PET 532 is
representatively connected to second output port 538" and the "gate of the
second transistor 532 is connected to a second reference voltage." Vice
i-fi-153-54; see Vice, Fig. 6. In other words, Vice describes a first and second
switching device (first and second comparator), coupled to (connected to) a
first and second reference voltage, respectively, and coupled to (connected
to) a first and second output port, respectively. However, the sections of
Vice cited by the Examiner and on the record before us do not teach the first
and second switching devices (Vice's first and second comparators) being
coupled to a common output node. Instead, Vice describes the first
switching device (first comparator 520) being coupled to (connected to) the
first output port 528, while the switching device (second comparator 530) is
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Appeal2017-010480
Application 14/270,296
coupled to (connected to) a second output port 538. Therefore, we agree
with Appellant that the Examiner's finding that Vice teaches the disputed
limitation is in error because it is not supported by a preponderance of the
evidence. See In re Caveney, 761F.2d671, 674 (Fed. Cir. 1985)
(Examiner's burden of proving non-patentability is by a preponderance of
the evidence); see also In re Warner, 379 F.2d 1011, 1017 (CCPA 1967)
("The Patent Office has the initial duty of supplying the factual basis for its
rejection. It may not, because it may doubt that the invention is patentable,
resort to speculation, unfounded assumptions or hindsight reconstruction to
supply deficiencies in its factual basis.").
Accordingly, we are constrained on the record before us to reverse the
Examiner's § 102 rejection of claim 1, along with the § 102 rejection of
independent claim 11, which recites limitations commensurate in scope to
the disputed limitation discussed above, and dependent claims 2-7, 9, 10,
and 12-17. See App. Br. 8.
Moreover, because the Examiner has not shown that the additional
references cure the foregoing deficiency regarding the rejection of
independent claims 1 and 11, we will not sustain the obviousness rejections
of independent claim 19, which recite limitations commensurate in scope to
the disputed limitation discussed above, and dependent claims 8, 18, and 20-
28. See App. Br. 8.
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Appeal2017-010480
Application 14/270,296
DECISION
For the above reasons, we reverse the Examiner's decisions rejecting
claims 1-2 8.
REVERSED
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