DETAILED ACTION
1. 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
2. Applicant’s election without traverse of Species I (claims 1-10) filed on 08/27/2026 and withdrawn Species II (claims 11-16) and Species III (claims 17-20) have been acknowledged and considered. Applicants have the right to file a divisional application covering the subject matter of the non-elected claims (claims 11-20).
Claims 1-20 are currently pending in the application.
Oath/Declaration
3. The oath/declaration filed on 04/02/2024 is acceptable.
Information Disclosure Statement
4. The office acknowledges receipt of the following items from the applicant:
Information Disclosure Statement (IDS) filed on 06/13/2025 and 10/23/2025
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
5. Claim(s) 1-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to a judicial exception (i.e. a law of nature, a natural phenomenon, or an abstract idea) without significantly more.
Claims 1-10 are directed to an abstract idea. Specifically, representative claim 1
recites:
A tunable shielding system, comprising:
a substrate;
a dielectric layer disposed on a surface of the substrate;
a tunable metal patch comprising a metal plate attached to the substrate and encompassed in a magnetic layer, the tunable metal patch configured to be geometrically shifted;
a direct current coil adjacent to the metal plate;
a current source;
one or more processors; and
a non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instruction that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the system to perform operations to:
determine, by the system, that an electromagnetic interference signal is incident on the system, the electromagnetic interference signal characterized by a frequency;
determine, by the system, a current amount associated with the frequency; and
provide, by the current source of the system, the current amount to the direct current coil such that a magnetic field is generated that causes the tunable metal patch to geometrically shift.
The highlighted portion of the claim constitute an abstract idea because it is analogous to other ideas identified as abstract in court decisions. For instance, referring to the April 2017: Interim Eligibility Guidance Quick Reference Sheet, it is analogous to: “Collecting, displaying, and manipulating data” (Int. Ventures v. Cap One Financial), “Collecting information, analyzing it, and displaying certain results of the collection and analysis” {Electric Power Group), “An algorithm for converting binary coded decimal to pure binary” {Benson). This abstract idea is an algorithm which could be carried out as a purely mental process, at least in principle.
Claim 1 does contain any additional elements other than the abstract idea, but they are not sufficient to make the claims as a whole amount to significantly more than the abstract idea itself for the following reasons:
These “additional elements” include a substrate, a dielectric layer, a tunable metal patch, a direct current coil, a current source, and one more processors. These elements recite a component performing generic computer functions which are well-understood, routine, and conventional in the art; as such, they do not meaningfully limit the claims to be more than just the abstract idea.
As such, the additional elements, considered individually and in combination with
the other claim elements, do not make the claim as a whole significantly more than the
abstract idea itself. Rather than being a particular limited application of the abstract idea which serves to improve a specific method or device, the claim would tend to monopolize the abstract idea itself in practice.
Dependent claim 2 extends the abstract idea by adding details to “wherein the dielectric layer and the tunable metal patch comprise at least one of an antenna and a metamaterial resonator ring”, which is still analogous to Classen, Electric Power Group and Benson.
Dependent claim 3 extends the abstract idea by adding details to ” wherein the tunable shielding system is integrated in a semiconductor device and the electromagnetic interference signal is generated from a source within the semiconductor device”, which is still analogous to Classen, Electric Power Group and Benson.
Dependent claim 4 extends the abstract idea by adding details to “wherein the tunable metal patch is configured to actuate in at least one of a vertical direction and a horizontal direction in response to the magnetic field”, which is still analogous to Classen, Electric Power Group and Benson.
Dependent claim 5 extends the abstract idea by adding details to ” wherein the current amount is determined to shield the system from the electromagnetic interference signal”, which is still analogous to Classen, Electric Power Group and Benson.
Dependent claim 6 extends the abstract idea by adding details to “wherein the magnetic layer comprises a nickel iron alloy”, which is still analogous to Classen, Electric Power Group and Benson.
Dependent claim 7 extends the abstract idea by adding details to “wherein the metal plate is bonded to the substrate using at least one of an adhesive, solder, and a nickel-containing material”, which is still analogous to Classen, Electric Power Group and Benson.
Dependent claim 8 extends the abstract idea by adding details to “wherein the direct current coils are integrated in the tunable shielding system”, which is still analogous to Classen, Electric Power Group and Benson.
Dependent claim 9 extends the abstract idea by adding details to “wherein the tunable metal patch is configured as a spring and comprises one or more cuts along opposite surfaces of the tunable metal patch”, which is still analogous to Classen, Electric Power Group and Benson.
Dependent claim 10 extends the abstract idea by adding details to “wherein the spring is formed from at least one of a metal and a polymer”, which is still analogous to Classen, Electric Power Group and Benson.
Cited Prior Arts
6. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant’s disclosure.
WANG X (CN-113646967-B) discloses a tunable shielding system, comprising:
a substrate (71);
a dielectric layer (8) disposed on a surface of the substrate (71);
a tunable metal patch comprising a metal plate (72) attached to the substrate (71) and encompassed in a magnetic layer (7) (Fig. 4 and English Text).
Conclusion
7. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Phuc T. Dang whose telephone number is 571-272-1776. The examiner can normally be reached on 8:00 am-5:00 pm.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner's supervisor, Jacob Choi can be reached on 468-295-9060. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/PHUC T DANG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2897
