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 claims 1-12 in the reply filed on 10/01/25 is acknowledged. Currently, claims 13-20 are withdrawn.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, the “wherein an axial direction of the first winding is orthogonal to an axial direction of the second winding” in claim 4 must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). No new matter should be entered.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 and 12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Ishii (JP 2002261534).
Regarding claim 1, Ishii discloses in Figure 3, 1n antenna device comprising:
an antenna circuit having a first inductor (321) that includes a first winding and a core (320) inside the first winding; and
a resistance circuit having a second inductor (311, 321) and that is electrically connected to the antenna circuit, wherein the second inductor has a second winding that forms an air-core coil (310), and
wherein the second winding includes a first winding portion (311) and the second winding portion (321) that are aligned in an axial direction of the air-core coil (310).
Regarding claim 12, as applied to claim 1, Ishii discloses in Figure 3, wherein the air-core coil comprises the second winding wound (321, 311) with a space therebetween.
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 2 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ishii (JP 2002261534).
Regarding claim 2, Ishii discloses every feature of claimed invention as expressly recited in claim 1, except for the second winding having a resistivity greater than a resistivity of the first winding. However, such difference is not patentable merit. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of claimed invention to set the resistivity of the first winding and second winding to optimize performance of the antenna device. Therefore, to employ having the second winding coil as claim invention would have been obvious to person skill in the art.
Claims 3, 8 and 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ueda (EP 2093833) in view of Ishii (JP 2002261534).
Regarding claim 3, Ueda discloses in Figure 1, an antenna device comprising:
an antenna circuit having a first inductor (2) that includes a first winding (20) and a core (3) inside the first winding; and
a resistance circuit having a second inductor (10c) and that is electrically connected to the antenna circuit, wherein the second inductor (10c) has a second winding that forms an air-core coil (10),
wherein the second winding (10c) has a number of turns that is less than a number of turns of the first winding (20).
Ueda does not disclose the second winding includes a first winding portion and the second winding portion that are aligned in an axial direction of the air-core coil.
Ishii disclose 3, the second winding includes a first winding portion (311) and the second winding portion (321) that are aligned in an axial direction of the air-core coil (310).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of claimed invention to modify the second winding of Ueda with the second winding as taught by Ishii to adjust inductance for the second winding and achieve desired resonance frequency for the antenna device. Therefore, to employ having the second winding as claimed invention would have been obvious to person skill in the art.
Regarding claim 8, as applied to claim 1, Ueda discloses in Figure 5, wherein the antenna circuit has a capacitor (34) electrically connected to the first inductor.
Regarding claim 11, as applied to claim 1, Ueda discloses in Figure 5, further comprising
first and second connection terminals (8, 9) electrically connected to an antenna drive circuit (32, 33, Fig. 5), the antenna circuit and the resistance circuit electrically connected between the first and second connection terminals.
Claim 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ishii (JP 2002261534) in view of Takeuchi (JP 2002245416).
Regarding claim 4, Ishii discloses every feature of claimed invention as expressly recited in claim 1, except for an axial direction of the first winding orthogonal to an axial direction of the second winding.
Takeuchi discloses in Figure 18, an axial direction of the first winding (81) orthogonal to an axial direction of the second winding (82).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of claimed invention to modify the axial directions of the first and second windings of Ishii with the axial directions as taught by Takeuchi to shift the phase of magnetic flux of the first winding and the second winding and to reduce mutual interference. Therefore, to employ having the axial axis as claimed invention would have been obvious to person skill in the art.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5-7 and 9-10 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.
Inquiry
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DIEU HIEN T DUONG whose telephone number is (571)272-8980. The examiner can normally be reached 8:00am-4:00pm.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, DIMARY CRUZ LOPEZ can be reached at 571-270-7893. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/DIEU HIEN T DUONG/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2845