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 .
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 1, 3-8, & 10-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zou (Chinese Patent Application Publication # CN207994045).
Regarding Claim 1, Zou discloses a fixing device for fixing a communication device (i.e. antenna mounting bracket), comprising:
an upper mounting member (i.e. upper supporting seat 30) fixed to an upper end of the communication device (i.e. antenna 10);
a lower mounting member (i.e. lower supporting seat 40) fixed to a lower end of the communication device and mounted below the upper mounting member; and
at least one limiting mechanism (i.e. angle adjustment mechanism 50) fixed to the upper mounting member and/or the lower mounting member;
wherein the lower mounting member comprises a fixing portion (i.e. plate attached to antenna 10 as shown in Fig. 3) fixed to the lower end of the communication device and a hinge portion (i.e. ears in lower supporting seat 40 shown in Fig. 3 similar to ears 11 in upper supporting seat 30 shown in Fig. 2 which are both connected by a hinge to the rest of the supporting seats, respectively) hinged to the fixing portion; and
the limiting mechanism is configured to limit the fixing portion from continuing to rotate relative to the hinge portion in response to that the upper mounting member is not fixedly connected to the communication device and the fixing portion rotates a preset angle (i.e. inclination angle which is adjusted and then fixed at a certain angle) relative to the hinge portion along a preset path, and
wherein in response to that the fixing portion rotates relative to the hinge portion along the preset path, the limiting mechanism abuts against the fixing portion, the hinge portion or the lower end of the communication device to limit the fixing portion from continuing to rotate relative to the hinge portion (Fig. 1-4; Abstract; Paragraphs 0018, 0026-0034).
Zou does not explicitly disclose that the preset angle is greater than 0°and less than 140°.
Although Zou is silent on a particular or possible range for the angle at which the inclination angle of antenna 10 is set, Paragraphs 0029-0030 describe that exactly how angle adjustment mechanism 50 uses an angle adjustment plate 53 which includes a plurality of adjustment holes 54 to selectively change, adjust, and fix said inclination angle. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to limit said inclination angle within a range of greater than 0°and less than 140°, since it has been held that where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, discovering the optimum or working ranges involves only routine skill in the art. In re Aller, 105 USPQ 233.
Regarding Claim 3, Zou discloses that the limiting mechanism is a bending portion (i.e. first arm 51 & second arm 52) that bends and extends from the hinge portion in a direction away from the upper mounting member and is provided in the preset path;
in response to that the upper mounting member is not fixedly connected to the communication device and the fixing portion rotates relative to the hinge portion along the preset path, the bending portion abuts against the fixing portion or the lower end of the communication device to limit the fixing portion from continuing to rotate relative to the hinge portion (Fig. 1-4; Abstract; Paragraphs 0018, 0026-0034).
Regarding Claim 4, Zou discloses that the limiting mechanism is a spacer that is fixed at a hinge joint of the fixing portion with the hinge portion and is provided in the preset path;
in response to that the upper mounting member is not fixedly connected to the communication device and the fixing portion rotates relative to the hinge portion along the preset path, the spacer abuts against the fixing portion or the lower end of the communication device to limit the fixing portion from continuing to rotate relative to the hinge portion (Fig. 1-4; Abstract; Paragraphs 0018, 0026-0034). Fig. 3 shows that the ears comprise a hinge which is attached to a member in which there is a clamp at one end which attaches to external component 20 (i.e. a pole) and an opposite end which extends past the hinge joint. This opposite end can be considered a spacer which, when rotation about the hinge is done, would eventually abut against the plate attached to antenna 10 effectively limiting further rotation.
Regarding Claim 5, Zou discloses that the limiting mechanism is a protrusion (i.e. protruding edges of plate attached to antenna 10 as shown in Fig. 3) that is provided on the fixing portion and the preset path;
in response to that the upper mounting member is not fixedly connected to the communication device and the fixing portion rotates relative to the hinge portion along the preset path, the protrusion abuts against the hinge portion to limit the fixing portion from continuing to rotate relative to the hinge portion (Fig. 1-4; Abstract; Paragraphs 0018, 0026-0034). The protruding edges of the plate limit the rotation of by abutting the member of lower supporting seat 40 when it rotates about the hinge of the ears.
Regarding Claim 6, Zou discloses that the limiting mechanism is a folding member, the limiting mechanism comprises a first fixing end (i.e. end of second arm 52 attaches to clamp of upper supporting seat 30) fixed to the upper mounting member and a second fixing end (i.e. end of first arm 51 attached to ears 11 of plate attached to antenna 10) fixed to the upper end of the communication device; and
the limiting mechanism is configured to limit the fixing portion from continuing to rotate relative to the hinge portion after the upper mounting member is not fixedly connected to the communication device and the limiting mechanism is unfolded (Fig. 1-4; Abstract; Paragraphs 0018, 0026-0034). The inclination angle can be adjusted at any angle and then kept unchanged by adjustment holes 54 on adjustment plate 53.
Regarding Claim 7, Zou discloses that the limiting mechanism comprises a first hinge arm (i.e. second arm 52) and a second hinge arm (i.e. first arm 51);
an end of the first hinge arm is hinged to the upper mounting member, another end of the first hinge arm is hinged to an end of the second hinge arm, and another end of the second hinge arm is hinged to the upper end of the communication device (Fig. 1-4; Abstract; Paragraphs 0018, 0026-0034).
Regarding Claim 8, Zou discloses that the limiting mechanism further comprises a positioning portion (i.e. positioning hole 55 w/ angle adjustment plate 53 & plurality of adjustment holes 54) provided on the first hinge arm and/or the second hinge arm;
the positioning portion is configured to limit the first hinge arm from continuing to rotate relative to the second hinge arm after the first hinge arm rotates relative to the second hinge arm (Fig. 1-4; Abstract; Paragraphs 0018, 0026-0034).
Regarding Claim 10, Zou does not explicitly disclose that the preset angle is greater than 0°and less than 60°.
Although Zou is silent on a particular or possible range for the angle at which the inclination angle of antenna 10 is set, Paragraphs 0029-0030 describe that exactly how angle adjustment mechanism 50 uses an angle adjustment plate 53 which includes a plurality of adjustment holes 54 to selectively change, adjust, and fix said inclination angle. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to limit said inclination angle within a range of greater than 0°and less than 60°, since it has been held that where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, discovering the optimum or working ranges involves only routine skill in the art. In re Aller, 105 USPQ 233.
Regarding Claim 11, Zou does not explicitly disclose that the preset angle is 20°.
Although Zou is silent on a particular angle at which the inclination angle of antenna 10 is set, Paragraphs 0029-0030 describe that exactly how angle adjustment mechanism 50 uses an angle adjustment plate 53 which includes a plurality of adjustment holes 54 to selectively change, adjust, and fix said inclination angle. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to limit said inclination angle to 20°, since it has been held that discovering an optimum value of a result effective variable involves only routine skill in the art. In re Boesch, 617 F.2d 272, 205 USPQ 215 (CCPA 1980).
Regarding Claim 12, Zou discloses a communication apparatus, comprising:
the fixing device for fixing the communication device (i.e. antenna mounting bracket) according to claim 1; and
a communication device (i.e. antenna 10) fixed to the fixing device,
wherein the upper mounting member (i.e. upper supporting seat 30) is fixed to the upper end of the communication device, the lower mounting member (i.e. lower supporting seat 40) is fixed to the lower end of the communication device, and the lower mounting member is located below the upper mounting member in a direction of gravity (Fig. 1-4; Abstract; Paragraphs 0018, 0026-0034).
Regarding Claim 13, Zou discloses that the communication device is provided inclinedly relative to the direction of gravity in response to that the upper mounting member is fixedly connected to the communication device (Fig. 1-4; Abstract; Paragraphs 0018, 0026-0034).
Claims 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zou (Chinese Patent Application Publication # CN207994045) in view of Kingery (US Patent Application Publication # 2019/0017794).
Regarding Claim 9, Zou does not explicitly disclose that the limiting mechanism is a chain, an end of the chain is fixed to the upper mounting member and another end of the chain is fixed to the upper end of the communication device.
Kingery teaches that the limiting mechanism is a chain (i.e. chain 134) (Fig. 18; Paragraph 0147).
Kingery teaches that it is well known in the art to use a chain as a limiting mechanism for a hinge in order to limit the maximum angle to which the hinge can open. It would have been obvious to one skilled in the art to use such a chain with an end of the chain is fixed to the upper mounting member and another end of the chain is fixed to the upper end of the communication device in the arrangement of Zou, as taught by Kingery, in order to easily limit the maximum angle to which the hinge can open.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 1/20/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. The Applicant continues to argue that Zou fails to teach or suggest the limitation in claim 1 which requires that "the limiting mechanism is configured to limit the fixing portion from continuing to rotate relative to the hinge portion in response to that the upper mounting member is not fixedly connected to the communication device and the fixing portion rotates a preset angle relative to the hinge portion along a preset path, wherein the preset angle is greater than 0° and less than 140°” because, allegedly, the technical problems to be solved by Zou and the present application are different. The Applicant has also added the limitations of now-cancelled claim 2 to claim 1. According to the Applicant, the technical problem to be solved by Zou is the adjustment angle requirement during the normal use of the equipment, so that the tilt angle of the antenna remains unchanged, so as to adapt to the scenes with different tilt angle requirements a the technical problem to be solved by the non-limiting embodiment recited in claim 1 of the present application is to prevent the lower mounting member from failing after the upper mounting member fails, thereby preventing the communication device from collapsing, and then preventing the communication device from falling from a high altitude. The Examiner respectfully disagrees. Regarding the alleged technical problem solved by the embodiment in claim 1, these features are nowhere to be found in the language of the claims. It is noted that the features upon which applicant relies (i.e., preventing the lower mounting member from failing after the upper mounting member fails) are not recited in the rejected claim(s). Although the claims are interpreted in light of the specification, limitations from the specification are not read into the claims. See In re Van Geuns, 988 F.2d 1181, 26 USPQ2d 1057 (Fed. Cir. 1993). A recitation of the intended use of the claimed invention must result in a structural difference between the claimed invention and the prior art in order to patentably distinguish the claimed invention from the prior art. If the prior art structure is capable of performing the intended use, then it meets the claim. Specifically, both the claims as written and Zou recite features that to limit the fixing portion from continuing to rotate relative to the hinge portion.
Conclusion
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/RJA/Examiner, Art Unit 2847
/TIMOTHY J THOMPSON/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2847