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 § 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.
Claim(s) 1, 8-10 and 18-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by [Harwood (Fig. 1); 3,495,193].
Regarding claims 1 and 10, Harwood discloses a tuning circuit comprising one or more transformer windings (13, 16) configured to facilitate attenuating a signal (output signal of 11), one or more conductive loops (15) provided underneath the transforming windings (13, 16), and a controller (bipolar transistor) which is configured to control an amount of current flowing through the conductive loops (15) and thereby providing a tunable attenuation of the signal (output signal of 11).
Regarding claims 8, 9 and 18-20, the limitations recited in the claims are intended use of the invention.
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) 2 and 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over [Harwood (Fig. 1); 3,495,193] in view of [Omid-Zohoor et al (Fig. 15); 9,780,755].
Harwood discloses all the limitations in the claims except for that the shield interposed between the transformer windings and the conductive loops. Omid-Zohoor et al discloses a tuning circuit comprising a shield (1440) interposed between the transformer windings (1436) and the conductive loops (1510). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made would have found it obvious to have employed the shield at between the transformer windings (13 and 16 in Fig. 1 of Harwood) and the conductive loops (15 in Fig. 1 of Harwood) of the Harwood (Fig. 1), such as taught by Zohoor et al (Fig. 15) in order to provide the advantageous benefit of stabilizing the impedance variation of the tuning circuit.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-7 and 12-17 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
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Henry Choe whose telephone number is (571)272-1760. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 6:00 AM- 6:00 PM EST. 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/interview practice. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Andrea J Lindgren Baltzell can be reached on (571)272-5918. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
/HENRY CHOE/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2843
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