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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Species a (figs. 1-7) directed to claims 1-13 in the reply filed on 3/26/2026 is acknowledged.
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, 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.
Claim(s) 1-5, 9-10 and 12-13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Suzuki et al. (WO2019107476) in view of Kim et al. (US PG. Pub. 2021/0132722).
Regarding claim 1 – Suzuki teaches a wiring board (fig. 18-19, 10 [page 13] Suzuki states, “wiring substrate 10”), comprising: a substrate (11 [page 40] Suzuki states, “transparent substrate 11”); a wiring pattern area (20 [page 40] Suzuki states, “wiring pattern area 20”) arranged on the substrate (11) and including pieces of wiring (see fig. 19); and a plurality of dummy pattern areas (inner and outer dummy pattern areas of element 30 [page 26] Suzuki states, “dummy pattern region 30”) arranged around the wiring pattern (20) area and electrically independent of the wiring (20), wherein the substrate (11) has transparency (discussed above), among the plurality of dummy pattern areas (inner and outer dummy pattern areas of element 30), an aperture ratio of a first dummy pattern area (30), which is located next to the wiring pattern area (20), is similar to an aperture ratio of the wiring pattern area ([page 50] Suzuki states, “by arranging the additional pattern 34 in the dummy pattern region 30, the difference (|A2-A1|) between the aperture ratio A2 of the dummy pattern region 30 and the aperture ratio A1 of the antenna pattern region 20 approaches 0”).
Suzuki fails to explicitly teach an aperture ratio of a first dummy pattern area, which is located next to the wiring pattern area, is not lower than an aperture ratio of the wiring pattern area, and among the plurality of dummy pattern areas, an aperture ratio of a second dummy pattern area, which is located next to the first dummy pattern area and farther from the wiring pattern area than the first dummy pattern area is, is higher than the aperture ratio of the first dummy pattern area.
Kim teaches a wiring board (figs. 1-2) having a wiring pattern area (ATE [paragraph 0078] Kim states, “antenna electrode ATE”) and a plurality of dummy pattern areas (DM [paragraph 0117] Kim states, “dummy pattern DM”) wherein an aperture ratio of a first dummy pattern area (DM1 [paragraph 0055] Kim states, “An antenna electrode ATE and a first dummy pattern DM1 may be disposed in the first area AA1”), which is located next to the wiring pattern area (ATE), is not lower than an aperture ratio of the wiring pattern area (ATE; figure 2 and 3 show the wiring pattern area ATE having the same aperture ratio/same structure as that of the adjacent first dummy pattern area DM1), and among the plurality of dummy pattern areas (DM), an aperture ratio of a second dummy pattern area (DM2 [paragraph 0068] Kim states, “A second dummy pattern DM2 may be disposed in the second area AA2”), which is located next to the first dummy pattern area (DM1) and farther from the wiring pattern area (ATE) than the first dummy pattern area (DM1) is, is higher (see larger openings shown in DM2/AA2 than in DM1/AA1 than the aperture ratio of the first dummy pattern area (DM1 [paragraph 0067] Kim states, “as the first dummy pattern DM1 becomes closer to the second area AA2, the size of the lattice pattern may increase, an angle of the first vertex may increase, and the first line width may gradually increase”).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify the wiring board having a wiring pattern area with a plurality of dummy pattern areas arranged therearound as taught by Suzuki with the dummy pattern areas including a first dummy pattern with the same aperture ratio with that of wiring pattern area and a second dummy pattern having a higher aperture ratio than the first dummy patter area as taught by Kim because Kim states, “although the antenna electrode ATE or the like is formed using a metal mesh, such as silver, having a high reflectance, the degree of recognition on the stain by the user may be lowered due to the gradual size changes of the dummy pattern DM and the arrangement of the inner dummy patterns IDM” [paragraph 0108].
Regarding claim 2 – Suzuki in view of Kim teach the wiring board according to claim 1, wherein each as the wiring pattern area (Suzuki; fig. 18-19, 20), a plurality of wiring pattern areas exists (figure 19 shows three wiring pattern areas), and at least one of the plurality of dummy pattern areas (30) is provided in such a way as to surround the plurality of wiring pattern areas (20; claimed structure shown in figure 19).
Regarding claim 3 – Suzuki in view of Kim teach the wiring board according to claim 1,whereinthe aperture ratio of the wiring pattern area (Suzuki; figs. 18-19, 20) and aperture ratios of the plurality of dummy pattern areas (30) increase stepwise from the wiring pattern area (20) toward the dummy pattern areas (30) located farther from the wiring pattern area (30), a difference between the aperture ratio of the first dummy pattern area (30) and the aperture ratio of the wiring pattern area (20) is within a range from 0% inclusive to 2% inclusive ([page 44] Suzuki states, “the difference (| A2-A1 |) between the aperture ratio A2 of the dummy pattern region 30 and the aperture ratio A1 of the antenna pattern region 20 is preferably in the range of more than 0% and 7% or less”).
Suzuki in view of Kim fail to explicitly teach a difference between the aperture ratios of the dummy pattern areas located next to each other is within a range from 0.02% inclusive to 2% inclusive.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have a difference between aperture ratios of the dummy pattern areas located next to each other being within a range of 0.02% inclusive to 2% inclusive, since it has been held that where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, discovering the optimum or workable ranges involves only routine skill in the art. In re Aller, 105 USPQ 233. This range will ensure a smooth transition of transparency from the wiring pattern area and will be aesthetically pleasing to the user.
Regarding claim 4 – Suzuki in view of Kim teach the wiring board according to claim 1,further comprising: a peripheral area (Suzuki; fig. 19, area shown outside of dummy pattern area 30) located around the dummy pattern area (30) that is farthest from the wiring pattern area (20), wherein the peripheral area has an aperture ratio of 100% (the transparent substrate 11 is considered to have an aperture ratio of 100% as it is stated as transparent and having no opaque elements).
Regarding claim 5 – Suzuki in view of Kim teach the wiring board according to claim 4, wherein the aperture ratio of the wiring pattern area (Suzuki; figs. 18-19, 20) and aperture ratios of the plurality of dummy pattern areas (30) increase stepwise from the wiring pattern area (20) toward the dummy pattern areas (30) located farther from the wiring pattern area (20), a difference between the aperture ratio of the first dummy pattern area and the aperture ratio of the wiring pattern area is within a range from 0% inclusive to 2% inclusive ([page 44] Suzuki states, “the difference (| A2-A1 |) between the aperture ratio A2 of the dummy pattern region 30 and the aperture ratio A1 of the antenna pattern region 20 is preferably in the range of more than 0% and 7% or less”).
Suzuki in view of Kim fails to explicitly teach each of a difference between the aperture ratios of the dummy pattern areas located next to each other and a difference between the aperture ratio of the peripheral area and the dummy pattern area located next to the peripheral area is within a range from 0.02% inclusive to 2% inclusive.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have each of a difference between the aperture ratios of the dummy pattern areas located next to each other and a difference between the aperture ratio of the peripheral area and the dummy pattern area located next to the peripheral area is within a range from 0.02% inclusive to 2% inclusive, since it has been held that where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, discovering the optimum or workable ranges involves only routine skill in the art. In re Aller, 105 USPQ 233. This range will ensure a smooth transition of transparency from the wiring pattern area and will be aesthetically pleasing to the user.
Regarding claim 9 - Suzuki in view of Kim teach the wiring board according to claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of dummy pattern areas (Kim; fig. 2, DM1 & DM2) includes pieces of dummy wiring (see diagonal wires of mesh structure of DM1 and DM2) that are electrically independent of the wiring (ATE), each of the pieces of dummy wiring (diagonal wires) includes a first dummy wiring portion and a second dummy wiring portion, the first dummy wiring portions of the dummy pattern areas (DM) located next to each other are arranged in parallel with each other (the mesh of DM1 will have the required parallel wiring portions and is shown in in figure 2), and the second dummy wiring portions of the dummy pattern areas located next to each other are arranged in parallel with each other (figure 2 shows a mesh structure for DM which has parallel structures as claimed).
Regarding claim 10 – Suzuki in view of Kim teach the wiring board according to claim 1,wherein the wiring pattern area (Kim; fig. 2, ATE) further includes pieces of interconnection wiring interconnecting the pieces of wiring (see mesh wiring shown in figure 2), each of the plurality of dummy pattern areas (DM) includes pieces of dummy wiring (see mesh wiring shown in figure 2) that are electrically independent of the wiring and the interconnection wiring (see fig. 2), each of the pieces of dummy wiring includes a first dummy wiring portion (left to right diagonal wire of DM1) and a second dummy wiring portion (adjacent left to right diagonal wire of DM1), the wiring and the first dummy wiring portion of each of the dummy pattern areas are arranged in parallel with each other (see mesh pattern having parallel wirings of ATE and DM1), and the interconnection wiring and the second dummy wiring portion of each of the dummy pattern areas are arranged in parallel with each other (mesh structure shown in figure 2 for ATE and DM1 will have the required parallel structure).
Regarding claim 12 - Suzuki in view of Kim teach the wiring board according to claim 1 having a radio-wave transmitting-and-receiving function (Suzuki; [page 8] Suzuki states, “The wiring board according to an embodiment of the present disclosure may have a radio wave transmission / reception function”).
Regarding claim 13 – Suzuki in view of Kim teach an image display device, comprising: the wiring board according to claim 1, and a display device (Kim; fig. 1, [title] Kim states, “display device”) underlying the wiring board (wiring board shown in figure 5), wherein the wiring pattern area (ATE) is provided at a corner portion of the display device (figure 1 shows the wiring pattern area ATE being located at a perimeter at the corner of the display device DA).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 8 and 11 allowed.
Claims 6-7 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Yamagishi et al. (US PG. Pub. 2019/0237875) discloses a NFC antenna and display device.
Yashiro et al. (US PG. Pub. 2017/0344766) discloses an antenna loop configuration for more efficiently surrounding the high intensity area of the magnetic field produced by an IC card.
Takano et al. (US PG. Pub. 2011227808) discloses an antenna device.
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/STEVEN T SAWYER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2847
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