Ex Parte Son et alDownload PDFPatent Trial and Appeal BoardJun 6, 201311455142 (P.T.A.B. Jun. 6, 2013) Copy Citation 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. 11/455,142 06/16/2006 Young-II Son 678-2596 (P13329) 8896 66547 7590 06/07/2013 THE FARRELL LAW FIRM, P.C. 290 Broadhollow Road Suite 210E Melville, NY 11747 EXAMINER TSVEY, GENNADIY ART UNIT PAPER NUMBER 2648 MAIL DATE DELIVERY MODE 06/07/2013 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 YOUNG-II SON, WOO YONG LEE, HYUNG-WEON PARK, and CHUL-JIN KIM ____________ Appeal 2011-009494 Application 11/455,142 Technology Center 2600 ____________ Before JOSEPH L. DIXON, ST. JOHN COURTENAY III, and CARLA M. KRIVAK, Administrative Patent Judges. COURTENAY, Administrative Patent Judge. DECISION ON APPEAL Appeal 2011-009494 Application 11/455,142 2 STATEMENT OF THE CASE The Examiner finally rejected claims 1-19. Appellants appeal therefrom under 35 U.S.C. § 134(a). We have jurisdiction under 35 U.S.C. § 6(b). We affirm. INVENTION This invention relates to a wireless transceiver. Claim 1, reproduced below, is illustrative of the claimed subject matter: 1. An apparatus for control of Input 3rd order Intercept Point (IIP3) in a multi-mode multi-band wireless transceiver, the apparatus comprising: [a] a mixer for down-converting an incoming wireless signal which is received through each frequency band and is then low noise-amplified, and then directly passed to the mixer from a low noise-amplifier; [b] a baseband chip for providing mixer IIP3 control information according to a current mode of whether the apparatus employs frequency Division Duplexing (FDD) and transmission power level of the wireless transceiver; and [c] a mixer IIP3 controller for controlling the IIP3 of the mixer based on the mixer IIP3 control information. (Disputed limitation emphasized). REJECTIONS R1. The Examiner rejected claims 12 and 16 under 35 U.S.C. § 102(b) as being anticipated by Loke (U.S. Pat. 6,311,048 B1). R2. The Examiner rejected claims 1, 2, 7-9, and 17 under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) based upon the combined teachings and suggestions of Loke and Haub (U.S. Pat. App. Pub. No. 2004/0152429 A1). Appeal 2011-009494 Application 11/455,142 3 R3. The Examiner rejected claims 3-5 and 10 under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) based upon the combined teachings and suggestions of Loke, Haub, and Birleson (U.S. Pat. 7,171,176 B1). R4. The Examiner rejected claims 13, 14, and 18 under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) based upon the combined teachings and suggestions of Loke and Birleson. R5. The Examiner rejected claim 6 under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) based upon the combined teachings and suggestions of Loke, Haub, Birleson, and Kalinsky (Kalinsky, D. and Kalinsky, R. "Introduction to Serial Peripheral Interface," Embedded.com, Feb. 01, 2002). R6. The Examiner rejected claim 11 under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) based upon the combined teachings and suggestions of Loke, Haub, and Kalinsky. R7. The Examiner rejected claims 15 and 19 under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) based upon the combined teachings and suggestions of Loke and Kalinsky. ANALYSIS We disagree with Appellants' contentions regarding the Examiner's rejections of the claims. We adopt as our own: (1) the findings and reasons set forth by the Examiner in the action from which this appeal is taken, and (2), the reasons set forth by the Examiner in the Answer in response to arguments made in Appellants' Appeal Brief. (Ans. 14-24). We highlight and address specific findings and arguments below. Petitionable matter Appellants contend the Examiner's Answer sets forth a new ground of rejection for R1. (Reply Br. 2). However, this issue is a petitionable matter. Appeal 2011-009494 Application 11/455,142 4 Therefore, this issue is not before us.1 Moreover, a review of the record indicates that a petition was not filed within two months of the mailing date of the Examiner’s Answer. See MPEP §1207.03. R1. Claims 12 and 16 Issue: Under §102, did the Examiner err in finding Loke expressly or inherently discloses "[b] a baseband chip for providing mixer IIP3 control information according to a current mode of whether the apparatus employs frequency Division Duplexing (FDD) and . . . ", within the meaning of claims 12 and 16? Specifically, the issue turns upon whether Loke inherently discloses that Loke's CDMA receiver uses FDD. The Examiner relies on Loke as inherently disclosing the limitation at issue.2 (Ans. 4-6, 14-21). Specifically, the Examiner finds Loke discloses 1 MPEP §1207.03: If appellant believes that an examiner’s answer contains a new ground of rejection not identified as such, appellant may file a petition under 37 CFR 1.181(a) within two months from the mailing of the examiner’s answer requesting that a ground of rejection set forth in the answer be designated as a new ground of rejection. MPEP §1207.03, IV (Eighth Edition, August 2001, Revised August 2012). 2 Anticipation of a claim under 35 U.S.C. § 102 occurs when each claimed element and the claimed arrangement or combination of those elements is disclosed, inherently or expressly, by a single prior art reference. Therasense, Inc. v. Becton, Dickinson & Co., 593 F.3d 1325, 1332 (Fed. Cir. 2010). A reference inherently discloses an element of a claim “if that missing characteristic is necessarily present, or inherent, in the single anticipating reference.” Schering Corp. v. Geneva Pharms., 339 F.3d 1373, 1377 (Fed. Cir. 2003) (citation omitted) (emphasis added). Once a prima facie case of anticipation has been established, the burden shifts to the Appellant to prove that the prior art product does not necessarily or inherently possess the characteristics of the claimed product. Appeal 2011-009494 Application 11/455,142 5 "[i]n one mode of operation, an IS95 compliant CDMA system permits duplex communications-that is, simultaneous transmission and reception of an RF signal." (Loke col. 1, ll. 34-36; Ans. 4, 16 (emphasis added)). The Examiner additionally finds Loke discloses "[t]he CDMA processor 116 generates several outputs. One output is a Mode single, indicating whether the transceiver is operating in duplex mode or simplex mode." (Loke col. 3, ll. 4-6; See col. 3, ll. 44-47; Ans. 5, 20 (emphasis added)). Under § 102, the Examiner is permitted to support a finding of inherent disclosure in a reference by citing extrinsic supporting evidence, such as other references.3 The Examiner finds that Liu discloses "CDMA (IS95) [operates] in FDD mode." (Ans. 16; Liu ¶ [0002]). Thus the Examiner finds that an embodiment of Loke’s apparatus operates in a duplex In re Best, 562 F.2d 1252, 1255 (CCPA 1977) (“Where, as here, the claimed and prior art products are identical or substantially identical, or are produced by identical or substantially identical processes, the PTO can require an applicant to prove that the prior art products do not necessarily or inherently possess the characteristics of his claimed product.”); see also In re Spada, 911 F.2d 705, 708-09 (Fed. Cir. 1990); Crown Operations Int'l, LTD v. Solutia Inc., 289 F.3d 1367, 1377 (Fed. Cir. 2002). Our reviewing court further guides that “[i]nherency [] may not be established by probabilities or possibilities. The mere fact that a certain thing may result from a given set of circumstances is not sufficient.” Therasense, 593 F.3d at 1332 (citing Cont'l Can Co. USA, Inc. v. Monsanto Co., 948 F.2d 1264, 1269 (Fed. Cir. 1991)) (emphasis added). 3 “To serve as an anticipation when the reference is silent about the asserted inherent characteristic, such gap in the reference may be filled with recourse to extrinsic evidence. Such evidence must make clear that the missing descriptive matter is necessarily present in the thing described in the reference, and that it would be so recognized by persons of ordinary skill.” Continental Can Co. USA v. Monsanto Co., 948 F.2d 1264, 1268, 20 USPQ2d 1746, 1749 (Fed. Cir. 1991). See also MPEP §2131.01(III). Appeal 2011-009494 Application 11/455,142 6 mode using IS95 compliant CDMA and Liu discloses that "CDMA (IS95) [operates] in FDD mode." (Ans. 4-5, 16, 20). On this record, we find the Examiner has established that Loke inherently discloses Loke's apparatus operates in a duplex mode using IS95 compliant CDMA employing FDD. (Ans. 4-6, 14-21). Appellants respond: Loke is directed to intelligent control of linearity in electronic receivers, such as CDMA receivers. (see Loke, at col. 1, lines 5-10). It is well known that CDMA receivers may operate based on frequency division duplexing (FDD), time division duplexing (TDD), or a hybrid of both FDD and TDD. In contrast with the requirements of inherency, one of ordinary skill in the art would not understand that FDD is necessarily present in Loke, since the duplexing employed could be TDD, FDD or a hybrid thereof. (Reply Br. 3). Appellants' contentions are not persuasive. Appellants present no evidence to support that "[i]t is well known that CDMA receivers may operate based on frequency division duplexing (FDD), time division duplexing (TDD), or a hybrid of both FDD and TDD." (Reply Br. 3). Appellants' contention does not rebut the Examiner's finding that Loke inherently discloses operating in FDD because Appellants present no evidence to support this assertion. (Id.). We also observe that Appellants acknowledge one embodiment of CDMA operates in FDD. (Reply Br. 3; Ans. 4-6, 14-21). Moreover, Loke discloses that Loke's CMDA apparatus's duplex mode operates using Frequency Modulation (FM), not Time Modulation (TM). (Col. 4, ll. 28-35). Since only FDD uses Frequency Modulation (FM), Loke's disclosure further supports the finding that Loke's CDMA Appeal 2011-009494 Application 11/455,142 7 apparatus' duplex mode operates using Frequency Modulation (FM) in FDD. (Id.). Notwithstanding Appellants' contentions, we find the weight of the evidence supports the Examiner's finding of anticipation. (Ans. 4-6, 14-21). For these reasons, on this record, we are not persuaded of Examiner error. R2-R7. REMAINING CLAIMS Although Appellants present nominal separate arguments for rejected claims not addressed above, we affirm the Examiner's rejections of all rejected claims for the reasons set forth by the Examiner in the Answer and for the reasons discussed above regarding commensurate limitations and issues. DECISION We affirm the Examiner's rejection R1 of claims 12 and 16 under § 102. We affirm the Examiner's rejections R2-R7 of claims 1-11, 13-15, and 17-19 under § 103. No time for taking any action connected with this appeal may be extended under 37 C.F.R. § 1.136(a)(1)(iv). ORDER AFFIRMED Appeal 2011-009494 Application 11/455,142 8 tkl Copy with citationCopy as parenthetical citation