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 1-3, 5, 6, and 8 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.
Claim 1, line 16, the terms “wide” and “long” are indefinite insofar as the terms are relative and thus renders the claim indefinite.
Dependent claims 2, 3, 5, 6, and 8 are rejected by virtue of its dependency.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(d):
(d) REFERENCE IN DEPENDENT FORMS.—Subject to subsection (e), a claim in dependent form shall contain a reference to a claim previously set forth and then specify a further limitation of the subject matter claimed. A claim in dependent form shall be construed to incorporate by reference all the limitations of the claim to which it refers.
The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, fourth paragraph:
Subject to the following paragraph [i.e., the fifth paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112], a claim in dependent form shall contain a reference to a claim previously set forth and then specify a further limitation of the subject matter claimed. A claim in dependent form shall be construed to incorporate by reference all the limitations of the claim to which it refers.
Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(d) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, 4th paragraph, as being of improper dependent form for failing to further limit the subject matter of the claim upon which it depends, or for failing to include all the limitations of the claim upon which it depends.
Newly amended independent claim 1 already requires/recites “four 5G antennas”.
Applicant may cancel the claim(s), amend the claim(s) to place the claim(s) in proper dependent form, rewrite the claim(s) in independent form, or present a sufficient showing that the dependent claim(s) complies with the statutory requirements.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claim 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
With regards to claim 8, the invention now requires “third distance is smaller than the first distance, and the fourth distance is smaller than the second distance”. Consequently, the claimed invention is not supported by the specification as originally filed. This is a new matter rejection.
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, and 6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang CN113644411 in view of Wang CN110911803, hereinafter referred to as “Wang ‘803”, and Changalvala et al. US20170054204.
With respect to claim 1, a vehicle built-in 5G integrated antenna [Fig. 1, Abs.], comprising:
a plastic housing 1 [page 7, 1st paragraph], a mounting support 14, an antenna printed circuit substrate, a high-precision GNSS receiving module 11, four 5G antennas 4, 5, 6, and 7, a V2X antenna 3, 8 and a connector 19-31 [Fig. 1]; a mounting fixation post is disposed in the plastic housing [Fig. 1 – the housing 1 to receive the mounting support via the screw holes on the mounting support]; the V2X antenna and the four 5G antennas are mounted on a PCB 10 [Fig 1 and page 2, second to last paragraph] and the PCB is mounted on the mounting fixation post [Fig. 1 – the housing 1 to receive the mounting support via the screw holes on the mounting support]; the housing is mounted with the plastic mounting support through the mounting fixation post [Fig. 1 and page 6, last paragraph]; and the PCB equipped with the antenna printed circuit substrate is mounted on the mounting support [page 7, 1st paragraph], and the antenna printed circuit substrate is provided with a GNSS high-precision navigation module circuit [page 5, 3rd paragraph; page 6, 7th paragraph], which transmit signals to a terminal processing device for use through a signal connector and a transmission line [page 5, 3rd paragraph and Fig. 1]; the PCB 10 has a wide edge extending along its width direction and a long edge extending along its length direction, the connector comprises a GNSS connector, four 5G signal connectors, and a V2X connector [page 3, 8th paragraph and page 4, 2nd paragraph], the GNSS connector, the four 5G signal connectors, and the V2X connector are arranged on a back surface of the PCB opposite to a front surface where the high-precision GNSS receiving module is installed, and the four 5G signal connectors are designated as a first 5G signal connector, a second 5G signal connector, a third 5G signal connector, and a fourth 5G signal connector [Fig. 1], the first 5G signal connector, the GNSS connector, and the fourth 5G signal connector are arranged sequentially along the width direction on the back surface, and located on a first side of the high-precision GNSS receiving module [Fig. 1].
Wang fails to explicitly disclose a plastic mounting support, GNSS receiving module mounted on a PCB, a 5G matching circuit and V2X matching circuit, wherein the four 5G antennas are installed at four corners of the PCB, respectively, the third 5G signal connector, the V2X connector, and the second 5G signal connector are arranged sequentially along the width direction on the back surface, and located on a second side of the high-precision GNSS receiving module opposite to the first side
Wang discloses the claimed invention except for the four 5G antennas installed at four corners of the PCB and where the GNSS receiving module is installed. Installing the 5G antennas and the GNSS receiving module at different locations on the PCB would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art since it has been held that rearranging parts of an invention and/or design choice, absent of any criticality, involves only routine skill in the art.
However, Wang ‘803 discloses a GNSS receiving module 8 mounted on a PCB 12 [page 5, 3rd paragraph] and wherein the GNSS receiving module is placed/mounted above cable/connector [thereby having the connectors located on a first and second side]. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to incorporate the features of Wang ‘803 into the device of Wang to reduce cost and size.
Changalvala et al. discloses a plastic mounting support 124 [Fig. 13 and paragraph 76]; a connector 19 [Fig. 3 and paragraph 38]; and a 5G matching circuit and V2X matching circuit [paragraph 53], which transmit signals to a terminal processing device for use through a signal connector and a transmission line [paragraph 53]. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to incorporate the features of Changalvala et al. into the device of Wang to improve antenna transmission and a weather resistant device.
With respect to claim 2, Wang, as modified above, discloses wherein the plastic mounting support 14 is provided with a mounting hole [page 6, 11th paragraph].
With respect to claim 6, Wang, as modified above, discloses wherein the 5G antenna is provided with a first 5G antenna, a second 5G antenna, a third 5G antenna and a fourth 5G antenna [Fig. 1 at 4, 5, 6, and 7].
Claim 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang CN113644411, Wang ‘803, and Changalvala et al. US20170054204 as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Koch US20200243463.
With respect to claim 3, Wang, as modified above, discloses the antenna as recited in claim 1. Wang fails to explicitly disclose wherein front and back sides of the PCB are provided with PCB printed circuit boards, and further provided with a plurality of copper-clad strip conductors which are disposed alternately and connected in series through copper-clad through holes at ends thereof to form a distributed printed circuit, so that two in-phase signals are converted into a signal with a phase difference of 900 by an electric bridge.
Koch discloses wherein front and back sides of the PCB are provided with PCB printed circuit boards 3 [Fig. 1 and paragraphs 30 and 52] , and further provided with a plurality of copper-clad strip conductors [paragraph 30] which are disposed alternately and connected in series through copper-clad through holes at ends thereof to form a distributed printed circuit, so that two in-phase signals are converted into a signal with a phase difference of 900 by an electric bridge [paragraph 30]. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to incorporate the features of Koch into the antenna of Wang to reduce size and cost as taught by Koch [paragraph 30].
Claim 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang CN113644411, Wang ‘803, and Changalvala et al. US20170054204 as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Blickle US20060094294.
With respect to claim 5, Wang, as modified above, discloses the antenna as recited in claim 1. Wang fails to explicitly disclose a connector outlet where a fixing clamp is mounted to fix and position the 5G signal connector, the GNSS connector and the V2X connector which are led out.
Blickle discloses a connector outlet where a fixing clamp is mounted to fix and position the 5G signal connector, the GNSS connector and the V2X connector which are led out [paragraph 29]. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to incorporate the features of Blickle into the antenna of Wang to ensure permanent and unmoving connection that is releasable for repairs as taught by Blickle [paragraph 20].
Claim 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang CN113644411, Wang ‘803, and Changalvala et al. US20170054204 as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Kong et al. US20220068740.
With respect to claim 8, Wang, as modified above, discloses the antenna as recited in claim 1. Wang discloses wherein a distance between any one of the first 5G signal connector, the GNSS connector, and the fourth 5G signal connector and the two 5G antennas located on the first side of the high-precision GNSS receiving module is defined as a first distance [Fig. 1]; a distance between any one of the third 5G signal connector, the V2X connector, and the second 5G signal connector and the two 5G antennas located on the second side of the high- precision GNSS receiving module is defined as a second distance [Fig. 1]; a distance between any one of the first 5G signal connector, the GNSS connector, and the fourth 5G signal connector and the high-precision GNSS receiving module is defined as a third distance [Fig. 1]; a distance between any one of the third 5G signal connector, the V2X connector, and the second 5G signal connector and the high-precision GNSS receiving module is defined as a fourth distance [Fig. 1].
Wang does not explicitly disclose the third distance is smaller than the first distance, and the fourth distance is smaller than the second distance. However, in Fig. 1 of Wang, due to the size/length of the GNSS module 11, it would appear or support the third distance is smaller than the first distance, and the fourth distance is smaller than the second distance. Additionally, it would have been an obvious matter of design choice, involves only routine skill in the art, to arrange the spacing/layout of the connectors to optimize the layout for efficiency/cost of the end product.
However, Kong discloses the third distance is smaller than the first distance, and the fourth distance is smaller than the second distance [Fig. 4]. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to incorporate the features of Kong into the antenna of Wang to reduce cost in parts as implied by Kong.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim 1-3, 5, 6, and 8 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Shiroki et al. US11056775 vehicle integrated antenna
Xu et al. CN113113763 shark fin antenna
Xu et al. CN113054448 integrated 5G antenna
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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ALEXANDER H. TANINGCO
Supervisory Patent Examiner
Art Unit 2844
/ALEXANDER H TANINGCO/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2844