DETAILED ACTION
This Office Action is in response to the Applicants' communication filed on September, 8, 2025, which amends claims 21, 24-26, 32-35, 37 and 40, and presents arguments, is hereby acknowledged. Claims 21 and 23-40 are currently pending and have been examined.
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 09/08/2025 has been entered.
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 .
Response to Arguments
Regarding limitations of Claims of the instant case in view of the amended Claims and upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection, necessitated by the amendments is made in view of different interpretation of the previously applied references and new prior art as presented in this Office action. Therefore, Applicant’s arguments are moot.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103, which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102 of this title, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 21-40 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 20190334232 A1 (Ohlsson), in view of US 20170373387 A1 (Ha) and in further view of UG422: EFR32xG21 2.4 GHz 10 dBm with EFP Wireless Starter Kit User's Guide (UG422).
Regarding Claim 21:
A base station, comprising: a PCB board having attached thereto one or more radio components that generate heat when operational; a multi-function block located on the PCB board and configured to cover the PCB board; and one or more antenna elements directly attached to the PCB board, wherein each of the one or more antenna elements is at least partially covered or enclosed by the multi- function block; wherein the one or more antenna elements are configured to transfer the heat generated by the one or more radio components from the PCB board to the multi-function block (Ohlsson: Figs. 2-11, a flat radome antenna constructure for BS, where a radome member 210, i.e., a multi-function block, that enables wireless transmission to and from antenna assembly, protects the antenna elements and electronic from environmental facts, e.g., water;).
Ohlsson does not illustrate explicitly on an antenna assembly configuration and one antenna element is configured to operate as an electromagnetic radiator and as a heat radiator. However, Ha teaches (Ha: Fig. 2, an antenna assembly of a base station; the antenna assembly 200 is on a PCB 230 and is enclosed by a cover 210; Figs. 3-16A-C further illustrate various configurations of antenna assembly and enclosure; Fig. 3 and par. 81 that radiation elements 241-244 are attached and embedded to cover 210, where the cover 210 is made of ferroelectric materials as one of options, where it is known that ferroelectric materials could operate to emit radiation, specifically in the form of charged particles and electromagnetic radiation, under certain conditions and/or be used for manipulating or enhancing heat radiation, especially in the context of near-field heat transfer. It is further noted that use metal housing/frame of electronic device to operate as radiation elements is known practice in the field).
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention was made to modify Ohlsson with an antenna assembly configuration and one antenna element is configured to operate as an electromagnetic radiator and as a heat radiator as further taught by Ha. The advantage of doing so is to enable protection of the antenna device with an exterior material such as a cover (e.g., radome) for outdoor installation (Ha: [0002]-[0004]).
Ohlsson does not illustrate explicitly on antenna elements are attached to a PCB directly. However, UG422 teaches (UG422: e.g., Figs. 2.1-2.2, a plug-in radio board that has wireless antenna elements on a PCB is plugged onto a main board, where the antenna is inverted-F PCB antenna and the plug-in radio board is also directly connected to the PCB of the main board).
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention was made to modify Ohlsson antenna elements are attached to a PCB directly as further taught by UG422. The advantage of doing so is to leverage existing product configurations to enhance product features and performance.
Regarding Claim 23, Ohlsson as modified further teaches:
The base station according to claim 21, wherein each of the one or more antenna elements includes a primary radiator, a secondary radiator, and a dielectric material disposed between the primary and secondary radiators (Ha: e.g., Fig. 3, primary radiators and secondary radiators separated through a radiation isolation walls 251 and 253 coated with dielectric materials).
Regarding Claim 24, Ohlsson as modified further teaches:
The base station according to claim 23, wherein for each of the one or more antenna elements, the primary radiator and the secondary radiator are connected by a conducting pole configured to facilitate the heat transfer from the PCB board to the multi- function block (Ha: e.g., [0061], isolation walls 251, 252, 253, and 254 may be, for example, a dielectric coated with materials 501, 502, 503, 504, 505, and 506 that may have a conductive property).
Regarding Claim 25, Ohlsson as modified further teaches:
The base station according to claim 24, wherein one of the following applies for each of the one or more antenna elements: the secondary radiator is located close to a top surface of the multi-function block but contained with the multi-function block (Ha: Figs. 3-4, 10); or the secondary radiator is located onto a top surface of the multi-function block and partially protrudes outside of the multi-function block (Ha: Fig. 16B).
Regarding Claim 26, Ohlsson as modified further teaches:
The base station according to claim 23, wherein for each of the one or more antenna elements, the primary radiator is disposed adjacent to the multi-function block and in contact with a surface of the PCB board (Ha: Fig. 2).
Regarding Claim 27, Ohlsson as modified further teaches:
The base station according to claim 21, wherein the one or more antenna elements comprises a plurality of antenna elements, and shielding walls are located within the multi- function block between adjacent ones of the plurality of antenna elements (Ha: Fig.3).
Regarding Claim 28, Ohlsson as modified further teaches:
The base station according to claim 27, wherein at least a part of the shielding walls are lateral walls or longitudinal walls (Ha: Fig. 3).
Regarding Claim 29, Ohlsson as modified further teaches:
The base station according to claim 27, wherein the shielding walls are connected with each other and constitute a shielding net arranged to divide the multi-function block into a plurality of regions, with each region including a different one of the plurality of antenna elements (Ha: Fig. 3, it is noted in an antenna array, the array is going to be divided into regions by isolation walls like 251-253).
Regarding Claim 30, Ohlsson as modified further teaches:
The base station according to claim 29, wherein a heat conducting sheet is provided at a crossing point of the shielding net (Ha: e.g., Fig. 3, a heat sink 220 is provided at a crossing point of the shielding net, e.g., consists of isolation/shielding walls).
Regarding Claim 31, Ohlsson as modified further teaches:
The base station according to claim 29, wherein a top side of the shielding net is provided close to or onto a top surface of the multi-function block and a bottom side of the shielding net is in contact with the PCB board (Ha: Fig. 3).
Regarding Claim 32, Ohlsson as modified further teaches:
The base station according to claim 21, wherein the one or more radio components mounted on a surface of the PCB board but away from the multi-function block (Ha: Fig. 2, components 232, 233)
Regarding Claim 33, Ohlsson as modified further teaches:
The base station according to claim 32, wherein the PCB board comprises an antenna layer and a radio layer stacked together, the one or more antenna elements are attached to the antenna layer, and the one or more radio components are attached to the radio layer (Ha: Fig. 2, a PCB 230 to host both antenna assembly and other radio components, where a multi-layer PCB to provide different PCB layer(s) for different functions, powers, and grounds are known practices in the field).
Regarding Claim 34, Ohlsson as modified further teaches:
The base station according to claim 33, wherein the PCB board includes a grounding plane disposed between the antenna layer and the radio layer, with the grounding plane being arranged for heat transfer and electromagnetic shielding (Ha: Fig. 2, a PCB 230, where using ground layers and/or ground lines for heat transfer and radiation shielding are known practices in the field).
Regarding Claim 35, Ohlsson as modified further teaches:
The base station according to claim 21, wherein the base station further comprises a heatsink that is external to the multi-function block arranged to support the PCB board and affixed to the multi-function block by a buckle joint, an adhesive agent, or a screw (Ha: Figs. 2-3).
Regarding Claim 36, Ohlsson as modified further teaches:
The base station according to claim 35, wherein the multi-function block includes at least one protrusion and the heatsink includes at least one recess that matches with the respective at least one protrusion of the heatsink, with the multi-function block and the heatsink being affixed by insertion of the at least one protrusion into the at least one recess (Ha: e.g., Figs. 16B).
Regarding Claim 37, Ohlsson as modified further teaches:
The base station according to claim 21, wherein the multi-function block is made of a material that is transparent to electromagnetic radiation and has a thermal conductivity larger than or equal to 1 W/m- K, and the one or more antenna elements are made of a metal or other material having a thermal conductivity larger than or equal to 1 W/m- K (Ha: [0080], the cover 210 may be a dielectric such as plastic that has a typical thermal conductivity range from 0.1 to 0.5 W/m-K or [0099], metal; and [0126], repeating antenna elements may include various metallic patterns).
Regarding Claim 38, Ohlsson as modified further teaches:
The base station according to claim 27, wherein the shielding walls are made of a metal (Ha: Figs. 12A, shielding frame is made of metal; [0061], isolation walls 251, 252, 253, and 254 may be, for example, a dielectric coated with materials 501, 502, 503, 504, 505, and 506 that may have a conductive property)).
Regarding Claim 39, Ohlsson as modified further teaches:
The base station according to claim 27, wherein the multi-function block comprises a plurality of multi-function sub-blocks located between the shielding walls (Ha: Fig. 3, it is noted in an antenna array, the array is going to be divided into regions by isolation walls like 251-253).
Regarding Claim 40, Ohlsson as modified further teaches:
The base station according to claim 21, wherein the multi-function block is a radome arranged to provide protection from an outside environment for the one or more antenna elements and to provide heat transfer from the one or more antenna elements to the outside environment (Ha: e.g., Fig. 2).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ZHITONG CHEN whose telephone number is (571)270-1936. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 9:30am - 5pm.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Yuwen Pan can be reached on 571-272-7855. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ZHITONG CHEN/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2649