DETAILED ACTION
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 January 2, 2026 has been entered.
Claim 24 is amended.
Claim 1-23 and 25-27 are cancelled.
Claim 24 is pending this application.
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 24 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Fitzgerald et al (US 2020/0411984 A1) in view of Patel et al (US 2017/0187099 A1).
Regarding Claim 24, Fitzgerald discloses a wireless system comprising [0062 figure 3A]:
a transceiver configured to generate a signal to be transmitted [0054];
a common power amplifier configured to amplify the signal to provide an amplified signal [0048-0050 for having amplifiers for the signal];
a common filter configured to filter the amplified signal to provide a filtered signal [0048-0050 for using a filter with the transceiver and amplifier]:
an antenna architecture [0066],
a plurality of N signal paths each having first and second ends, N being a positive integer greater than 2 [0033 for splitting signal into multiple feed lines, and 0056-0057],
the first end of each signal path coupled to the common node, such that the filtered signal provided at the common node splits into respective signals in the signal paths [figure 3A common node Rfin (22W) element 234],
a selected one of the signal paths configured to provide a zero or substantially nil phase shift for the respective signal [0060 for having a phase shift of 0 degrees],
the other signal paths including respective phase shifters configured to provide different phase shifts for the respective signals [0060 for having a phase shift of 35 degrees on first branch (path) and 105 degrees on the second branch (path) and means to control (select) the switches to the desired angle],
such that the signals emerging from the signal paths are provided with incremental phase shifts, the antenna architecture further including an antenna assembly having an antenna pair coupled to the second end of each signal path [0062 for incremental phase shifts of 30 and 60 degrees],
such that the signals provided to the antenna assembly result in a transmitted signal being directed at a tilt angle with respect to the antenna assembly [0062 for steering the beam with phase shifts].
Fitzgerald fails to explicitly teach a common filter configured to filter the amplified signal to provide a filtered signal to a common node.
Patel has multi-band antennas include one or more duplexers (abstract) and teaches a common filter configured to filter the amplified signal to provide a filtered signal to a common node [0020 for using first duplexer-204 (single common node) to splitter-206 to phase shifters 208 210, to second duplexer element 216 and then to radiating elements 220 222].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the applicant’s invention for modifying the tilt position techniques, as disclosed by Fitzgerald, further including the signal calculations as taught by Patel for the purpose to isolate the sub-components of the received RF signal from the respective sub-components of any transmitted RF signals (Patel, 0021).
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim 24 has 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.
On page 5, 4th paragraph of the applicant’s arguments, the applicant states that Fitzgerald antenna architecture have multiple power paths. The examiner disagrees: new reference Patel teaching using a duplexer element 204 as a common node for RF signals. The reference covers the structural position of a common filter at a common node [Fitzgerald, 0020-0021].
Conclusion
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/SAMARINA MAKHDOOM/
Examiner, Art Unit 3648