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 § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 3 and 7-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
In claims 3 and 7-8, the term “the source RF signal” is indefinite because lacks antecedent basis in the claims and preceding claims. It is suggested to change to “the source radio frequency (RF) signal” for consistency throughout the claims.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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) 1 and 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over TW201711378A in view of TW 200511640A both cited by applicant. Regarding claims 1 and 10, TW201711378A discloses, page 8, line 4 to page 9, line 16, page 10, line 1 to page 11, line 15, page 16, line 14 to page 17, Figures 1 & 2), a microwave generator includes a first power amplifier unit (110) providing an output power (115) and a second power amplifier unit (160) containing a complex power amplifier (170) coupled to the first power amplifier unit through a power splitter unit (125). The second power amplifier unit provide a split power output signal (165) from the power amplifier output terminal based on the power signal of the first power amplifier unit. The signals at the complex power amplifier output terminals of the second power amplifier are in phase with each other and substantially have the phase of the power signal of the first power amplifier unit. An RF signal source (220) connected to the first power amplifier unit generates a source RF signal, which is equivalent to constituting a master generator. The second power amplifier has a complex RF output terminal, which is equivalent to configuring multiple slave generators to generate slave RF outputs. Although TW201711378A does not disclose the slave generator is coupled to the master generator through a delay line. TW 200511640A discloses, page 72, line 13 to page 73, line 6, page 77, line 23 to page 78, line 21, and Figure 43, that the RF and microwave components include a delay line and a power divider. The delay line is connected to the input of the antenna array. The input of the antenna array (1316) is coupled to multiple antenna element (1318) through the delay line (1314). The power amplifier is fixed. The antenna at each input controls the antenna to generate signals. The coupler circuit for the antenna element to generate signals includes a phase shifter to cause phase shift. The antenna emits microwaves and provides separated signals by power division. It would have been obvious to one ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the invention was made to utilize in TW201711378A coupled external delay line to the master generator and the slave generator is coupled to the master generator through a delay line as taught by TW 200511640A in order to deliver RF power from master generator to the slaver generators.
Claims 2, 4-6 and 9 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.
Claims 11-20 are allowed.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: the prior art of record does not show or suggest a plurality of delay lines, configured to delay the plurality of split signals so as to generate a plurality of delayed signals, wherein each of the delay lines has a length equal to each other as recited in claims 11-20.
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure: Shin (US 2007/0255269) discloses muti-channel radio frequency generation for high-frequency thermal treatment. Beltran et al. (US 11,018,641) discloses power combiner circuit.
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/QUANG T VAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3761 August 19, 2026
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