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 Species I for claims 1 – 10 in the reply filed on 12/19/2025 is acknowledged.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 10/26/2026, 12/05/2024, 08/05/2025 and 12/16/2025 have been placed in record and considered by the examiner.
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 – 4 and 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Darnell et al. (US 2013/0257659 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Darnell teaches an electronic device (device; Fig. 1, element 10) comprising: a display (display; Fig. 1, element 14) provided on a front surface of the electronic device (display 14 is located on a front surface of device 10; See Fig. 1 and Page 2, Paragraph 0026 – 0027); a frame (housing; Fig. 1, element 12) which forms a side (Fig. 1, element 16) of the electronic device (the device having a housing 12 includes a peripheral conductive structure 16) and comprises an inner wall (Fig. 9 element 16) facing an internal space of the electronic device (the peripheral conductive structure 16 has an inner wall to accommodate other electronic elements within the device), wherein at least a portion of the frame comprises a conductive material (the peripheral structure 16 is made of conductive material; Page 5, Paragraph 0053 and 0061); a printed circuit board inside the frame (PCB; Fig. 9, element 102) and on which a communication circuit is provided (the PCB 102 includes the wireless communication circuitry) Page 6, Paragraph 0072 – 0073); a radio frequency (RF) connection member (Fig. 7, element 110) which is electrically connected to the printed circuit board (Fig. 7, element 102) and comprises at least one portion extending along the inner wall of the frame (as shown in Fig. 7 the RF connection member 110 is extended along the peripheral structure 16 of the housing; Page 5, Paragraphs 0061 – 0063); a contact ring (Fig. 11, element 160) electrically connected to the RF connection member along the inner wall of the frame (the contact ring 160 is electrically connected to the RF member 110 electrically via traces (Fig. 7, element 108) along the peripheral structure (Page 5, Paragraph 0061 – 0064, Page 6, Paragraph 0067 and Page 7, Paragraph 0078); a screw hole (threaded hole; Fig. 7, element 116) formed in the inner wall of the frame to form a predetermined angle with respect to an extending direction of the printed circuit board (as seen in Fig. 7, the threaded hole 116 is located in the inner part of the peripheral structure 16 to form a predetermined angle); and a first bolt (screw; Fig. 7, element 114) coupled to the screw hole through the contact ring (as seen in Fig. 7, screw 114 coupled to the threaded hole 116 through the contact ring 120; Page 6, Paragraphs 0067 – 0068, Page 7, Paragraph 0078).
Regarding claim 2, Darnell teaches wherein the RF connection member (Fig. 7, element 110) comprises at least one groove portion that extends from a surface adjacent to the display and is concave in a direction away from the display (as can be seen in Fig. 7 and at a different angle in Fig. 10 the RF member is a flexible printed circuit that can be bent to form bend 142 in a direction away from the display 14 and is attached to the peripheral structure 16 via the threaded hole 116; Page 6, Paragraph 0070).
Regarding claim 3, Darnell teaches wherein the contact ring (Fig. 7 and Fig. 11, element 120) comprises a material different from the RF connection member (the contact ring 120 is made of conductive traces and the RF member is made of flexible printed circuit 110; Page 6, Paragraph 0070 and Page 7, Paragraph 0078), is provided in the at least one groove portion, and is connected to the RF connection member (the contact ring is connected to the RF member using conductive traces, see Fig. 11 and Page 7, Paragraphs 0078).
Regarding claim 4, Darnell teaches wherein the RF connection member comprises a flexible material (RF member 110 is made of flexible printed circuit, Page 6, Paragraph 0070) and the contact ring comprises a rigid material (contact ring 120 is made of conductive lines, i.e. metal; Page 4, Paragraph 0044).
Regarding claim 9, Darnell teaches an additional antenna connected to the RF connection member and provided in the frame, the additional antenna comprising a conductive material (the RF member 110 is connected to the peripheral conductive member 16 which may serve as antenna resonating elements and it is made of a conductive material; Page 5, Paragraph 0053 and Paragraph 0061 – 0063).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5 – 8 and 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.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Durning et al. (US 2018/0069308 A1) discloses a switched antenna assembly
Irci et al. (US 9,654,164 B2) discloses a removable electronic device case with supplemental wireless circuitry
Hobson et al. (US 7,889,139 B2) discloses a handheld electronic device with cable grounding
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Un C Cho whose telephone number is (571)272-7919. The examiner can normally be reached 9AM-5PM ET.
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/UN C CHO/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2413
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