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 embodiment of Figure 4 in the reply filed on 01/09/26 is acknowledged. Currently claim 19 is withdrawn in this action.
Claim Objections
Claim 20 is objected to because of the following informalities: line 3, “a emitter” should be changed to “an emitter” Appropriate correction is required.
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 1-2, 5, 16, 18, 20, 23, 24, 27 and 42 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hassanien et al (US 2021/0288403, IDS dated 09/15/25) in view of Zehner (US 2011/0194399).
Regarding claims 1, 23 and 42, Hassanien discloses in Figures 3A, 3b, 3C, a radio frequency device comprising:
a voltage source (Vs); and an antenna electrically coupled to the voltage source, wherein the antenna comprises: a mechanical actuator comprising a first side and a second side;
a first antenna structure (308A) printed on the first side using a conductive [[ink]]; and
a second antenna structure (308B) printed on the second side using the conductive [[ink]], wherein the antenna transmits a radio frequency signal via kinematic motion of the first antenna structure (308A) and the second antenna structure (308B)caused by actuation of the mechanical actuator.
Hassanien does not disclose the conductive being conductive ink.
However, such difference is not patentable merit. Forming antenna structure by using conductive ink is well known in the art of antenna. One of such examples is the teaching of Zehner in par. 0019. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of claimed invention to select a known material to form the antenna structure and it has been held that to be within the general skill of a worker in the art to select a known material on the basis of its suitability for the intended use as a matter of obvious design choice.
Regarding claims 2 and 24, as applied to claims 1 and 23, Hassanien discloses in Figure 3,
wherein the mechanical actuator comprises a piezoelectric actuator.
Regarding claims 5 and 27, as applied to claims 1 and 23, Zehner discloses in par. 0019, wherein the conductive ink comprises conductive particles in a suspension medium.
Regarding claim 16, as applied to claim 1, Hassanien discloses in Figures 3A, 3B, 3C,
wherein: the first antenna structure (308A) comprises a first thickness; and the first thickness is constant along the first side.
Regarding claims 18 and 20, as applied to claim 1, Hassanien discloses in Figures 3A, 3B, 3C, wherein the mechanical actuator produces linear motion; the first antenna structure (308A) comprises: an emitter; and a feed.
Claims 21-22 and 54 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hassanien et al (US 2021/0288403) in view of Zehner (US 2011/0194399) and further in view of Gong (CN 117477217).
Regarding claim 21, Hassanien and Zehner discloses every feature of claimed invention as expressly recited in claim 20, except for a tuner extending between the emitter and the feed.
Gong discloses in Figure 1, a tuner (4, Fig. 1 and abstract) extending between the emitter (2) and the feed (7).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of claimed invention to modify the antenna of Hassanien with the antenna having a tuner as taught by Gong to achieve an impedance matching and maximize antenna gain. Therefore, to employ having the tuner as claimed invention would have been obvious to person skill in the art.
Regarding claims 22 and 54, as applied to claims 21 and 42, Zelner and Gong discloses
wherein: the emitter and the feed comprise at least one of copper, silver, and gold (see Zehner, par. 0015); and the tuner comprising graphene (see Gong, abstract).
Allowable Subject Matter
7. Claims 7 and 13-14, 35, 44 and 50 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.
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/DIEU HIEN T DUONG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2845
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