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 .
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 1, 2 and 7-9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ayala (U.S. PG-PUB NO. 2019/0393586) in view of Nallo (AU 2015101837 A4).
-Regarding claim 1, Ayala discloses an electronic device comprising: ground structures (ground structure 78, FIG. 8); peripheral conductive housing structures (peripheral conductive housing structures 16, FIG. 8) having a segment separated from the ground structures by a slot (slot 76, FIG. 8) and forming at least part of an antenna resonating element for an antenna (antennas 40-3 and 40-40, FIG. 5-8; paragraph 93); a printed circuit at least partially overlapping the slot and having a ground trace coupled to the segment (Conductive trace 90, FIG. 8); and couples the ground trace to the ground structures (node 130, FIG. 8).
Ayala is silent to teaching that a dimple pad. However, the claimed limitation is well known in the art as evidenced by Nallo.
In the same field of endeavor, Nallo teaches a dimple pad (dimples 204, FIG. 12).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teaching of Ayala with the teaching of Nallo in order to provide better soldering and assembly yield.
-Regarding claim 2, the combination further discloses a metal cowling (Nallo, member 200, FIG. 12), the printed circuit being interposed between the metal cowling and the dimpled pad and the dimpled pad being interposed between the printed circuit and the ground structures (Nallo, FIG. 12, paragraph 61).
-Regarding claim 7, the combination further discloses a tuner for the antenna, the tuner being mounted to the printed circuit and disposed on the ground trace (Ayala, paragraph 50).
-Regarding claim 8, the combination further discloses the peripheral conductive housing structures comprise an additional segment separated from the segment by a gap, the printed circuit comprising a conductive path coupled to the additional segment (Ayala, gap 18-2, FIG. 8; Nallo, FIG. 12).
-Regarding claim 9, the combination further discloses the printed circuit comprises a flexible printed circuit and the dimpled pad is soldered to the ground trace (Ayala, paragraph 129, 131; Nallo, FIG. 12).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 10-20 are allowed.
Claims 3-6 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.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see page 10 of remarks, filed 2/25/26, with respect to the rejection(s) of claim(s) 1 under 102 rejection have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of Nallo (AU 2015101837 A4).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to PING Y HSIEH whose telephone number is (571)270-3011. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday, 9am-4pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Nay Maung can be reached at (571) 272-7882. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/PING Y HSIEH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2664
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