DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on August 15, 2025 has been entered.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement filed Octo 16, 2025 fails to comply with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97, 1.98 and MPEP § 609 because there is no space for Examiner to sign and date. It has been placed in the application file, but the information referred to therein has not been considered as to the merits. Applicant is advised that the date of any re-submission of any item of information contained in this information disclosure statement or the submission of any missing element(s) will be the date of submission for purposes of determining compliance with the requirements based on the time of filing the statement, including all certification requirements for statements under 37 CFR 1.97(e). See MPEP § 609.05(a).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claims 1-3, 6-10, and 12-23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by U.S. Patent 8,128,000 to Forster.
Regarding claims 1-3, 10 and 21-22, Forster disclose a method of constructing a coil antenna structure, the method comprising: forming a coiled antenna (see fig. 2) by cutting (see Col. 3, lines 48-54) a spiraling gap into a conductive layer (106); applying a linear force to at least a part of an outer end of the conductive layer to expand the gap between coils of the conductive layer to a distance great enough to prevent conductive sections of the coils from touching each other, wherein the force is applied separately from and subsequent to forces applied during the cutting, wherein applying force comprises applying a bending moment (bending down at the edge of the cut coils as the further pushing/pressing of the cutting tool) to one or more parts of the coiled antenna (see Col. 3, lines 63-65).
Regarding claims 6 and 16, Forster discloses bonding the conductive layer to a substrate layer (102) from a paper or a thermoplastic polymer resin (see Col. 3, lines34- 38).
Regarding claims 7-9, Forster discloses bonding the conductive layer to a flexible material (102) comprises an adhesive (104); and bonding the flexible material toa substrate layer, wherein the flexible material is cured after the coil is unwound to preserve the gap.
Regarding claims 12-14, Forster discloses creating stress relief distortions by distressing the coiled antenna by at least one of embossing and folding at least a portion of the coiled antenna with a tessellating pattern.
Regarding claim 15, Forster discloses the conductive layer comprises a metal foil (Cu or Al).
Regarding claims 17-19, Forster discloses bonding the substrate layer to a liner as a film base (104) such that the substrate layer is disposed between the liner and the coiled antenna, wherein the force is applied to the conductive layer by applying a distortion to the liner.
Regarding claim 20, Forster discloses the unwound coil comprises a trace (see Fig. 2).
Regarding claim 23, Forster discloses the gap is fixed in place by attaching an additional layer (108) on the coil.
Claims 1-3, 6-10 and 12-23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by U.S. Patent 7,047,624 to Vogt.
Regarding claims 1-3, 10 and 21-22, Vogt discloses a method of constructing a coil antenna structure (10), the method comprising: forming a coiled antenna (14) by cutting a spiraling gap (A by tool 13) into a conductive layer (11); applying a force (by tool 13 after retracting) to at least a part of the conductive layer to expand the gap between coils of the conductive layer to a distance great enough to prevent conductive sections of the coils from touching each other, wherein the force is applied separately from and subsequent to forces applied during the cutting, wherein applying the force comprises applying a bending moment applied to one or more parts of the coiled antenna (see Col. 4, lines 55-63).
Regarding claims 6-9 and 12-20, see Fig. 4. which shown the substrates B, C, D and adhesive layer as claimed.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claims 5 and 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Forster.
It would have been an obvious matter of designed choice to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to choose any desired method of applying force such as heating and cooling one or more part of the coils and to choose any desired cutting method such as the edge is cut at a plurality of locations to form notches, since Applicant has not disclosed the method of apply a specific force and cutting pattern to the coil, solves any stated problem or is for any particular purpose and it appears the invention would perform equally well with the method of applying force and cutting the coil as disclosed by Forster.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1-3 and 5-23 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Applicant's arguments filed on August 15, 2025 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Applicant argued that Forster does not anticipate the claimed invention (see “Remarks” page 5). The Examiner disagrees because Forster clearly states addition force applied to cut coil to ensure the separated coil will not be in contact (see Col. 3, lines 50-65).
Conclusion
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/DN/ /DONGHAI D NGUYEN/November 1, 2025 Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3729
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