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 .
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d). The certified copy has been filed in parent Application No. JP 2021-016906, filed on Feb. 02, 2022.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS’s) submitted comply with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1 – 4, 6 – 7 and 9 – 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Hiroi (US 20200227833 A1) translation for (WO 2019017471 A1) provided for on the IDS.
As to claim 1, Hiroi discloses an electric-wave absorber comprising:
an electric-wave absorbing layer (Fig. 1);
and a reinforcing layer disposed on a surface on an electric-wave incident side of the electric- wave absorbing layer (Para. 46 “in some cases the electromagnetic-wave absorbing layer is stacked on a resin substrate to form an electromagnetic-wave absorbing sheet to maintain a certain strength as a sheet and to be handled easily.”),
wherein the electric-wave absorbing layer contains a resin binder and at least one of magnetic iron oxide powder (Para. 46 “iron oxide”) and carbon-based fine particles that magnetically resonate in a frequency band of 20 GHz to 300 GHz (Para. 145 “by forming an electromagnetic-wave absorbing composition or an electromagnetic-wave absorber using particles of magnetic iron oxide other than epsilon iron oxide that exhibits electromagnetic-wave absorbing properties in the millimeter-wave band from 30 GHz to 300 GHz, a rubber binder, and a filler made of a particulate carbon material”),
the reinforcing layer is constituted by a dielectric material, and the electric-wave absorber has a plate shape with a small thickness with respect to a main surface and is capable of free-standing (Para. 46 “In forming the electromagnetic-wave absorbing sheet, when the electromagnetic-wave absorbing layer is thin, in some cases the electromagnetic-wave absorbing layer is stacked on a resin substrate to form an electromagnetic-wave absorbing sheet to maintain a certain strength as a sheet and to be handled easily.”).
As to claim 2, Hiroi discloses the electric-wave absorber according to claim 1, wherein the magnetic iron oxide powder is either magnetoplumbite-type ferrite powder or epsilon magnetic iron oxide powder (Para. 27).
As to claim 3, Hiroi discloses the electric-wave absorber according to claim 1 wherein the carbon-based fine particles are at least one of carbon black, carbon nanotubes, and graphene (Para. 26).
As to claim 4, Hiroi discloses the electric-wave absorber according to claim 1 wherein the resin binder is a rubber-based member (Para. 29).
As to claim 6, Hirori discloses the electric-wave absorber according to claim 1 wherein an electric-wave attenuation amount for transmitted electric waves passing through the electric-wave absorber is -10 dB or more (Para. 124).
As to claim 7, Hirori discloses the electric-wave absorber according to claim 1, wherein the reinforcing layer includes one selected from a reinforcing plate material having a honeycomb structure, a foam plate material, plastic cardboard, and a plastic plate material (Para. 46 “stacked on a resin substrate” see also Para. 59 “thermoplastic”).
As to claim 9, Hirori discloses the electric-wave absorbing device using the electric-wave absorber according to claim 1, comprising: the electric-wave absorber (Para. 44 “electromagnetic-wave absorbing sheet”);
and a support member (Fig. 1) capable of keeping the surface on the electric-wave incident side of the electric-wave absorber at a predetermined angle, wherein the electric-wave absorber is arranged such that a normal direction of a portion of the surface on the electric-wave incident side located in a traveling direction of electric waves to be absorbed intersects with the traveling direction of the electric waves at a predetermined angle (Para. 44 “The resonance-type electromagnetic-wave absorbing sheet includes a reflective layer (electromagnetic-wave shielding layer) made of a metal layer on a surface of the electromagnetic-wave absorbing layer on a side opposite to the electromagnetic-wave incident side. The resonance-type electromagnetic-wave absorbing sheet absorbs electromagnetic waves by a resonance effect produced when the electromagnetic waves that have reflected on the reflective layer again pass through the electromagnetic-wave absorbing layer to be emitted. The other is a nonresonant-type (also referred to as a transmission-type) electromagnetic-wave absorbing sheet. The nonresonant-type electromagnetic-wave absorbing sheet is not provided with a reflective layer and allows electromagnetic waves incident upon the electromagnetic-wave absorbing layer to pass therethrough and emit to a side opposite to the electromagnetic-wave incident side.”).
As to claim 10, Hirori discloses the electric-wave absorbing device according to claim 9, wherein a portion of the surface is a curved surface curved in at least one direction (Para. 82 “bent surface”).
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.
Claims 11 – 12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being obvious over Hirori in view of Stafford (US 6738007 B1).
As to claim 11, Hirori does not teach the electric-wave absorbing device according to claim 9 wherein an angle at which a normal direction of the portion of the surface intersects with the travel direction of the electric waves is 2° or more and 200 or less.
As to claim 12, Hirori does not teach the electric-wave absorbing device according to claim 11, wherein the intersecting angle is 30 or more and 70 or less.
In the same field of endeavor, Stafford teaches “the arrangement being such that when fastened to surfaces of the vessel structure the reflective surfaces are oriented so as to reflect an incident radar signal by up to about 30 degrees away from its direction of incidence for a given range of incident directions (see background).”
In view of the teachings of Stafford, it would have been obvious to the ordinarily skilled before filing to reflect 30 degrees away so as to improve stealth thereby improving security.
Claim 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being obvious over Hirori in view of Shang (US 2019/0334101 A1).
As to claim 5, Hiroi teaches in part the electric-wave absorber according to claim 1 claim 1, herein in a free-standing ability test for the electromagnetic-wave absorber, a A value indicating a degree of deformation of an electric-wave absorber sample (Para. 82 “elastic deformation”) is 0.5 mm or less (Not taught.).
Hiroi does not teach the part of 0.5 mm.
In same field of endeavor, Hiroi teaches “a bending radius of the flexible back-substrate ranges from 0.09 mm to 0.11 mm (Para. 11).”
In view of the teachings of Hiroi, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before filing to have flexible substrate having a bending radius of less than 0.5 mm to reduce to possibility of a break thus saving cost on repair and/or replacement.
Claim 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being obvious over Hirori in view of Mikami (US 20200021036 A1).
As to claim 8, Hirori does not teach the electric-wave absorber according to claim 1 wherein the reinforcing layer includes any one of a reinforcing plate material having a honeycomb structure, a foam plate material, and plastic cardboard.
In the same field of endeavor, Mikami teaches “a plastic sheet [sheet of polyester (polyethylene terephthalate, polyethylene naphthalate, or polybutylene terephthalate) … (Para. 85).”
In view of Mikami, it would have been obvious to ordinary skilled before filing to include a plastic sheet to act as a dielectric spacer to prevent unwanted current traveling through substrate and to act as a protective structural layer.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MICHAEL W JUSTICE whose telephone number is (571)270-7029. The examiner can normally be reached 7:30 - 5:30 M-F.
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/MICHAEL W JUSTICE/Examiner, Art Unit 3648
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