DETAILED ACTION
Notice to Applicant
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
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.
Claims 1-20 are pending.
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, 2, and 5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Sharma US Patent 4,761,625.
As per claims 1, 2, and 5, Sharma discloses in Fig. 2 an E-plane waveguide filter comprising:
as per claim 1, a first dielectric block (e.g. dielectric block forming channel 212) comprising a first coupling structure (e.g. plate 218); a second dielectric block (e.g. dielectric block forming channel 214) comprising a second coupling structure (e.g. conductive sheet 222); a septum (e.g. septum 256) formed by a union of the first coupling structure and the second coupling structure (The plate 218 and sheet 222 form septum 256.);
as per claim 2, wherein the first coupling structure and the second coupling structure are pressed (Col. 3 lines 16-35; The structures are pressed into contact.);
as per claim 4, a plurality of resonators (Col. 4 lines 18-24, fenestrations 254, 254’, 254” are resonators) defined by the first dielectric block and the second dielectric block; and
as per claim 5, wherein a metalized septum (e.g. septum 256), wherein the plurality of resonators are coupled by the metalized septum.
Claims 1, 3-8, and 10-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Uhm et al. US 2012/0049983.
As per claims 1, 3-8, and 10-14, Uhm et al. discloses in Fig. 7 an E-plane waveguide filter comprising:
as per claim 1, a first dielectric block (e.g. resonator 720) comprising a first coupling structure (Annotated Fig. 7 below, coupling structure annotated as A); a second dielectric block (e.g. resonator 730) comprising a second coupling structure (Annotated Fig. 7 below, coupling structure annotated as B); a septum (e.g. connecting portion 725) formed by a union of the first coupling structure and the second coupling structure (The connecting portion 725 is formed by a union of the coupling structures annotated as A and B.);
as per claim 3, wherein the first dielectric block comprises a first longitudinal surface comprising the first coupling structure (e.g. surface of block 720 that is adjacent connecting portion 725), a second longitudinal surface (e.g. surface of block 720 that is adjacent connecting portion 715), and a top surface (e.g. top surface of block 720), the second dielectric block comprises a first longitudinal surface comprising the second coupling structure (e.g. surface of block 730 that is adjacent connecting portion 725), a second longitudinal surface (e.g. surface of block 730 that is adjacent connecting portion 735), and a top surface (e.g. top surface of block 730), and is coupled to the first dielectric block via respective first longitudinal surfaces (The surfaces adjacent connecting portion 725 couple the blocks 720 and 730 together.);
as per claim 4, a plurality of resonators (e.g. resonators 720 and 730) defined by the first and second dielectric blocks;
as per claim 5, a metalized septum (e.g. connection portion 725), wherein the plurality of resonators are coupled by the metalized septum;
as per claim 6, an input (Paragraph 94, input which probe 713 is connected to) configured to receive a radio frequency signal and transfer the radio frequency signal to the union of the first coupling structure and the second coupling structure; and an output (Paragraph 94, output which probe 743 is connected to) configured to receive the radio frequency signal from the union of the first coupling structure and the second coupling structure;
as per claim 7, a first load loop (e.g. probe 713 is which is in a shape of a “loop” as shown in related Fig. 1 (e.g. probe 117)) configured to electrically couple the input to the union of the first coupling structure and the second coupling structure; and a second load loop (e.g. probe 743 is which is in a shape of a “loop” as shown in related Fig. 1 (e.g. probe 157)) configured to electrically couple the output to the union of the first coupling structure and the second coupling structure;
as per claim 8, a first dielectric block (e.g. resonator 720) comprising a first coupling structure (Annotated Fig. 7 below, coupling structure annotated as A); a second dielectric block (e.g. resonator 730) comprising a second coupling structure (Annotated Fig. 7 below, coupling structure annotated as B); a third dielectric block (e.g. resonator block 750) comprising a third coupling structure (Annotated Fig. 7 below, coupling structure annotated as C); a fourth dielectric block (e.g. resonator block 760) comprising a fourth coupling structure (Annotated Fig. 7 below, coupling structure annotated as D); a first septum (e.g. connecting portion 725) formed by a union of the first coupling structure and the second coupling structure (The connecting portion 725 is formed by a union of the coupling structures annotated as A and B.); a second septum (e.g. connecting portion 755) formed by a union of the third coupling structure and the fourth coupling structure (The connecting portion 755 is formed by a union of the coupling structures annotated as C and D.); and a dual-mode rectangular waveguide (e.g. rectangular waveguide 770; Waveguide 770 transmits multiple mode signals from dual mode resonators 720 and 750, thus is necessarily “a dual mode rectangular waveguide”.) coupled to the first septum and the second septum (The waveguide 770 is coupled to the connecting portions 725 and 755 via resonators 730 and 760 and portions 735 and 765.);
as per claim 10, wherein the first dielectric block comprises a first longitudinal surface comprising the first coupling structure (e.g. surface of block 720 that is adjacent connecting portion 725), a second longitudinal surface (e.g. surface of block 720 that is adjacent connecting portion 715), and a top surface (e.g. top surface of block 720), the second dielectric block comprises a first longitudinal surface comprising the second coupling structure (e.g. surface of block 730 that is adjacent connecting portion 725), a second longitudinal surface (e.g. surface of block 730 that is adjacent connecting portion 735), and a top surface (e.g. top surface of block 730), and is coupled to the first dielectric block via respective first longitudinal surfaces (The surfaces adjacent connecting portion 725 couple the blocks 720 and 730 together.); the third dielectric block comprises a first longitudinal surface (e.g. surface of block 750 that is adjacent connecting portion 755) comprising the third coupling structure, a second longitudinal surface (e.g. surface of block 750 that is adjacent connecting portion 745), and a top surface (e.g. top surface of block 750); and the fourth dielectric block comprises a first longitudinal surface comprising the fourth coupling structure (e.g. surface of block 760 that is adjacent connecting portion 755), a second longitudinal surface (e.g. surface of block 760 that is adjacent connecting portion 765), and a top surface (e.g. top surface of block 760), and is coupled to the third dielectric block via respective first longitudinal surfaces (The surfaces adjacent connecting portion 755 couple the blocks 750 and 760 together.);
as per claim 11, a plurality of resonators (e.g. resonators 720, 730, 750, 760) defined by the first-fourth dielectric blocks;
as per claim 12, a metalized septum (e.g. connecting portions 725 and 755), wherein the plurality of resonators are coupled by the metalized septum;
as per claim 13, an input (Paragraph 94, input which probe 713 is connected to) configured to receive a radio frequency signal and transfer the radio frequency signal to the union of the first coupling structure and the second coupling structure; and an output (Paragraph 94, output which probe 743 is connected to) configured to receive the radio frequency signal from the union of the third coupling structure and the fourth coupling structure; and
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as per claim 14, a first load loop (e.g. probe 713 is which is in a shape of a “loop” as shown in related Fig. 1 (e.g. probe 117)) configured to electrically couple the input to the union of the first coupling structure and the second coupling structure; and a second load loop (e.g. probe 743 is which is in a shape of a “loop” as shown in related Fig. 1 (e.g. probe 157)) configured to electrically couple the output to the union of the third coupling structure and the fourth coupling structure.
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 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Uhm et al. US 2012/0049983 in view of Sharma US Patent 4,761,625.
As per claim 9, Uhm et al. discloses the E-plane waveguide filter of claim 8, but does not disclose wherein the first-fourth coupling structures are pressed.
Sharma exemplarily discloses in Fig. 2 a waveguide filter comprising two blocks comprising channels 212 and 214 which are pressed into contact together (Col. 3 lines 16-35 of Sharma). Before the effective filing date, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have manufactured the waveguide filter of Uhm et al. in any known manner in the art, such as for example pressing two blocks together to form one waveguide, as being an obvious design consideration of yielding expected results of forming a waveguide as exemplarily taught by Sharma. As an obvious consequence of the modification, the combination would have necessarily included wherein the first-fourth coupling structures are pressed.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 15-20 are allowed. As per claim 15, Uhm et al. discloses in Fig. 7 an E-plane waveguide filter comprising all of the limitations recited therein EXCEPT wherein the rectangular waveguide comprises the third septum.
Conclusion
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/RAKESH B PATEL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2843