Ex Parte Na et alDownload PDFPatent Trial and Appeal BoardMay 30, 201412494681 (P.T.A.B. May. 30, 2014) 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. 12/494,681 06/30/2009 Hyoung-Jun Na P09H0125US 1523 90228 7590 05/30/2014 IP & T GROUP LLP 8230 Leesburg Pike Suite 650 Vienna, VA 22182 EXAMINER O NEILL, PATRICK ART UNIT PAPER NUMBER 2842 MAIL DATE DELIVERY MODE 05/30/2014 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 HYOUNG-JUN NA and KYUNG-WHAN KIM ____________ Appeal 2012-003710 Application 12/494,681 Technology Center 2800 ____________ Before CHUNG K. PAK, PETER F. KRATZ, and BEVERLY A. FRANKLIN, Administrative Patent Judges. KRATZ, Administrative Patent Judge. DECISION ON APPEAL This is a decision on an appeal under 35 U.S.C. § 134 from the Examiner’s final rejection of claims 5-14. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 35 U.S.C. § 6. Appeal 2012-003710 Application 12/494,681 2 Appellants’ claimed invention is directed to a semiconductor device including a voltage driving unit configured to drive an internal voltage having a voltage level that is selected depending on the external power supply voltage level detected. Claim 5 is illustrative and reproduced below: 5. A semiconductor device, comprising: a level shifting unit configured to use an external power supply voltage as a driving voltage and output a plurality of second reference voltages having different voltage levels based on a first reference voltage; a voltage level detection unit configured to detect a voltage level of the external power supply voltage; a selection unit configured to selectively output one of the second reference voltages according to a detection result of the voltage level detection unit; and a voltage driving unit configured to drive an internal voltage terminal with an internal voltage having a voltage level corresponding to one of the second reference voltages outputted from the selection unit. The Examiner relies on the following prior art references as evidence in rejecting the appealed claims: Jin US 7,319,361 B2 Jan. 15, 2008 Kim US 2008/0080271 A1 Apr. 3, 2008 The Examiner maintains the following ground of rejection: Claims 5-14 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as being unpatentable over Jin in view of Kim. We reverse the stated rejection. The Examiner has determined that “Jin fails to explicitly disclose a voltage level detection unit configured to detect a voltage level of the external power supply voltage; and a selection unit configured to selectively output one of a plurality signals according to a detection result of the voltage Appeal 2012-003710 Application 12/494,681 3 level detection unit,” as required by claim 5, the sole independent claim on appeal (Ans. 7). In particular, Jin discloses an internal voltage generation circuit of a semiconductor device that employs a control signal indicative of an operating mode (i.e., self-refresh mode) of the semiconductor device for selecting a reference voltage for controlling the internal voltage via an internal voltage active generator and/or an internal voltage standby generator (col. 1, ll. 6-17; col. 2, l. 60- col. 3, l. 44; col. 3, l. 66-col. 4, l. 31; col. 6, l. 3- col. 10, l. 67; Figs. 3-7, 9). The Examiner has not pointed to any disclosure of Jin for teaching an external power supply voltage as a driving voltage for selecting a reference voltage according to a detection of the external voltage level. The Examiner turns to Kim. The Examiner maintains that (Ans. 7 and 8): Kim in the same field of endeavor teaches a voltage level detection unit (200 and 400 in Figure 7 and Figure 4 and Figure 8) configured to detect a voltage level of the external power supply voltage (paragraph [0033]); and a selection unit (300 in Figure 7 and Figure 5) configured to selectively output one of a plurality of signals (Path DLY1 and Path DLY2) according to a detection result (VDD_mode_period) of the voltage level detection unit. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to use the voltage level detection unit and selection unit taught by Kim to selectively output one of the second reference voltages in the circuit disclosed by Jin. The motivation to use the voltage level detection unit and selection unit taught by Kim to selectively output one of the second reference voltage's in the circuit disclosed by Jin would have been to increase the reliability and decrease power consumption by adjusting the internal supply voltage in response to changes to the external supply voltage. Appeal 2012-003710 Application 12/494,681 4 However, the Examiner’s proposed rationale - increasing reliability and decreasing power consumption - by the proposed modification of Jin does not appear to be supported by the citations to Kim. In this regard, Kim teaches that the path selection unit 300 receives the power supply voltage level detection unit 200 results for the purpose of selecting a signal path that appears to be concerned with a delay selection circuit for command type signals in the memory device of Kim (¶¶ 0015-0017, 0029-0040; Figs. 3-7). Appellants argue that Kim, as well as Jin, do not teach that the power supply voltage detection result signal can be used for the purposes of Jin (App. Br. 10-13). Appellants further argue that the proposed modification would frustrate achieving the purposes of Jin’s internal voltage generation circuit (App. Br. 6- 13; Reply Br. 5-7). The Examiner does not explain how the delay selection circuitry of Kim relates to the internal voltage generation circuit of Jin and how the external power supply detected voltage and path selection unit 300 of Kim would have been compatible with and suggested for modifying Jin’s technique for selecting a reference voltage using a signal representative of an operating mode (i.e., self-refresh mode) of the semiconductor device of Jin for controlling the internal voltage of the circuit of Jin. The Examiner bears the initial burden of presenting a prima facie case of obviousness. In re Oetiker, 977 F.2d 1443, 1445 (Fed. Cir. 1992). On this appeal record, we agree with Appellants that the Examiner has not discharged the burden to establish that the proposed modification of Jin would have been suggested to one of ordinary skill in the art based on the cited teachings of the applied references. Appeal 2012-003710 Application 12/494,681 5 As stated in KSR Int’l. Co. v. Teleflex Inc., 550 U.S. 398, 418 (2007), “‘[R]ejections on obviousness grounds cannot be sustained by mere conclusory statements; instead, there must be some articulated reasoning with some rational underpinning to support the legal conclusion of obviousness’” (quoting In re Kahn, 441 F.3d 977, 988 (Fed. Cir. 2006)). The Examiner merely has provided a conclusory statement, not the required articulated reasoning. For the foregoing reasons, the Examiner has not satisfied the initial burden of presenting a prima facie case of obviousness, and we conclude that the Examiner’s rejection is also improperly based upon improper hindsight reasoning. KSR, 550 U.S. at 42 (The fact finder must be aware “of the distortion caused by hindsight bias and must be cautious of arguments reliant upon ex post reasoning;” citing Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 36 (1966) (warning against a “temptation to read into the prior art the teachings of the invention in issue”)). Accordingly, we reverse the Examiner’s rejection. DECISION The Examiner’s decision to reject the appealed claims is reversed. REVERSED lp Copy with citationCopy as parenthetical citation