DETAILED ACTION
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 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.
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 07/30/2026 has been entered.
Response to Remarks/Arguments
With respect to the rejection of claim 1 under 35 USC 102(a)(1), Applicant’s arguments filed 07/30/2026 have been fully considered but are moot in view of new ground 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 1-4 and 6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kosaka (US 2018/0269577 A1) in view of Petersson (US 20190020123 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Kosaka teaches a base station antenna ([0002] antennas for base stations), comprising:
a reflector (Figs. 53, 54, 103 conductive reflection plate);
a plurality of first radiating elements (Fig. 1, 101 first antenna elements) that are coupled to a first radio frequency ("RF") port (Fig. 1, 105 feeder), wherein the plurality of first radiating elements form a first array (Figs. 53, 54, 501 first antenna element group, Fig. 56, 501), and each of the first radiating elements extends forwardly from the reflector (Fig. 54, 501); and
a plurality of second radiating elements (Fig. 1, 102, second antenna element) that are coupled to a second RF port (Fig. 1, 106 feeder), wherein the plurality of second radiating elements form a second array (Figs. 53, 54, 502 second antenna element group, Fig. 56, 502), and each of the second radiating elements extends forwardly from the reflector (Fig. 54, 502),
wherein at least some of the first radiating elements are arranged as a plurality of vertically-stacked triangular arrangements of first radiating elements (Fig. 56, 101s spaced by D1),
wherein at least some of the second radiating elements are arranged as a plurality of vertically-stacked triangular arrangements of second radiating elements (Fig. 56, 102s spaced by D2), and
wherein one of the first radiating elements in a first of the triangular arrangements of first radiating elements is positioned between two of the second radiating elements in a first of the triangular arrangements of second radiating elements (Fig. 56, three 101 first antenna elements form a first triangle, three 102 second antenna elements form a second triangle, the first and second triangles are overlap to each other),
wherein the first array is configured to generate a first antenna beam in response to a first RF signal input at the first RF port ([0096] 101 at operating frequency f1), and the second array is configured to generate a second antenna beam in response to a second RF signal input at the second RF port ([0104] 102 at operating frequency f2), and
wherein the first radiating elements are dual-polarized radiating elements and the second radiating elements are dual-polarized radiating elements ([0295] 101, 102, transmit/receive dual polarized waves).
Kosaka does not explicitly teach the base station antenna, comprising the plurality of first radiating elements are commonly coupled to the first radio frequency port, and the plurality of second radiating elements are commonly coupled to the second radio frequency port.
Petersson teaches a base station antenna, comprising a plurality of radiating elements are commonly coupled to a radio frequency port (Fig. 4, [0037] the antenna array offers only this single port).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of claimed invention to commonly couple the plurality of first radiating elements to the first radio frequency port, and the plurality of second radiating elements to the second radio frequency port as taught by Petersson since such configuration is conventional, especially in order to create wide beams (Petersson, [0037]).
Regarding claim 2, all the limitations of claim 1 are taught by Kosaka in view of Petersson.
Kosaka further teaches the antenna, wherein one of the second radiating elements in the first of the triangular arrangements of second radiating elements is positioned between two of the first radiating elements in the first of the triangular arrangements of first radiating elements (Fig. 56, three 101 first antenna elements form a first triangle, three 102 second antenna elements form a second triangle, the first and second triangles are overlap to each other).
Regarding claim 3, all the limitations of claim 2 are taught by Kosaka in view of Petersson.
Kosaka further teaches the antenna, wherein another one of the second radiating elements in the first of the triangular arrangements of second radiating elements is positioned directly above the one of the first radiating elements in the first of the triangular arrangements of first radiating elements (Fig. 56).
Regarding claim 4, all the limitations of claim 3 are taught by Kosaka in view of Petersson.
Kosaka further teaches the antenna, wherein another one of the first radiating elements in the first of the triangular arrangements of first radiating elements is positioned directly above the one of the second radiating elements in the first of the triangular arrangements of second radiating elements (Fig. 56).
Regarding claim 6, all the limitations of claim 1 are taught by Kosaka in view of Petersson.
Kosaka further teaches the antenna, wherein the first and second radiating elements are arranged in first through fourth vertically-extending columns that are positioned in numerical order (Fig. 56, 501, 502 are shown in 4 columns)
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5, 7, 8, 11, 13, 47 and 48 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Regarding claim 5, the prior arts fail to teach or reasonably suggest an antenna, wherein the one of the first radiating elements in the first of the triangular arrangements of first radiating elements and the two of the second radiating elements in the first of the triangular arrangements of second radiating elements are all horizontally aligned with each other, in combination with the other limitations of the claim.
Regarding claim 7, the prior arts fail to teach or reasonably suggest an antenna, wherein the first radiating elements that form the vertically-stacked triangular arrangements of first radiating elements are located exclusively in the first through third vertically-extending columns, and the second radiating elements that form the vertically-stacked triangular arrangements of second radiating elements are located exclusively in the second through fourth vertically-extending columns, in combination with the other limitations of the claim.
Regarding claim 8, the prior arts fail to teach or reasonably suggest an antenna, wherein a sum of a number of first radiating elements and a number of second radiating elements in the first column is less than a sum of a number of first radiating elements and a number of second radiating elements in the second column, in combination with the other limitations of the claim.
Regarding claim 11, the prior arts fail to teach or reasonably suggest an antenna, wherein one or more of the first radiating elements are extra first radiating elements that are not part of the plurality of vertically- stacked triangular arrangements of first radiating elements, and one or more of the second radiating elements are extra second radiating elements that are not part of the plurality of vertically-stacked triangular arrangements of second radiating elements, in combination with the other limitations of the claim.
Regarding claim 13, claim 13 is objected to due to its dependency to claim 11 above.
Regarding claim 47, the prior arts fail to teach or reasonably suggest an antenna, wherein the second and third columns each include respective total numbers of first and second radiating elements that is different from respective total numbers of first and second radiating elements in either the first column or the fourth column, in combination with the other limitations of the claim.
Regarding claim 48, the prior arts fail to teach or reasonably suggest an antenna, wherein the first radiating elements and the second radiating elements are configured to operate in the same frequency band, in combination with the other limitations of the claim.
Claims 16-20, 24, 27, 28, 30, 31 are allowed. Specifically, the independent claims 16 and 27 are allowed over the prior arts. The dependent claims 17-20 and 24 are allowed due to their dependencies to the said independent claim 16. The dependent claims 28, 30 and 31 are allowed due to their dependencies to the said independent claim 27.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance:
Regarding claim 16, the prior art Zimmerman (US 2020/0044345 A1) discloses a base station antenna, comprising:
a first radio frequency ("RF") port having a plurality of first radiating elements coupled thereto that form a first array, the first array configured to generate an antenna beam having a half power beamwidth in the azimuth plane of less than 40° in response to a first RF signal having a frequency equal to a center frequency of an operating frequency band of the first array that is input at the first RF port; a second RF port having a plurality of second radiating elements coupled thereto that form a second array, the second array configured to generate an antenna beam having a half power beamwidth in the azimuth plane of less than 40° in response to a second RF signal having a frequency equal to a center frequency of an operating frequency band of the second array that is input at the second RF port (Fig. 2).
Another prior art acknowledged by Applicant (US 2024/0347911 A1) disclose a base station antenna, comprising:
a first radio frequency ("RF") port having a plurality of first radiating elements coupled thereto that form a first array, the first array configured to generate an antenna beam having a half power beamwidth in the azimuth plane of less than 40° in response to a first RF signal having a frequency equal to a center frequency of an operating frequency band of the first array that is input at the first RF port; a second RF port having a plurality of second radiating elements coupled thereto that form a second array, the second array configured to generate an antenna beam having a half power beamwidth in the azimuth plane of less than 40° in response to a second RF signal having a frequency equal to a center frequency of an operating frequency band of the second array that is input at the second RF port (Fig. 1, [0010]).
Prior arts do not disclose or fairly suggest, alone or in combination, disclose a base station antenna, wherein the first and second radiating elements are arranged in first through fourth vertically-extending columns that are positioned in numerical order, wherein the second and third columns each include respective total numbers of first and second radiating elements that exceeds respective total numbers of first and second radiating elements in either the first column or the fourth column.
Regarding claim 27, the prior art Kosaka ( US 2018/0269577 A1) discloses a base station antenna, comprising:
a reflector;
a first radio frequency ("RF") port; a second RF port;
a first array that includes a plurality of first radiating elements that are coupled to the first RF port and mounted to extend forwardly from the reflector,
wherein at least some of the first radiating elements are arranged as a plurality of vertically-stacked triangular arrangements of first radiating elements; and
a second array that includes a plurality of second radiating elements that are coupled to the second RF port and that are mounted to extend forwardly from the reflector,
wherein at least some of the second radiating elements are arranged as a plurality of vertically-stacked triangular arrangements of second radiating elements, and wherein at least some of the triangular arrangements of first radiating elements are interleaved with some of the triangular arrangements of second radiating elements.
Prior arts do not disclose or fairly suggest, alone or in combination, disclose a base station antenna, wherein the first and second radiating elements are arranged in first through fourth vertically-extending columns that are positioned in numerical order, wherein the second and third columns each include respective total numbers of first and second radiating elements that is different from respective total numbers of first and second radiating elements in either the first column or the fourth column,
Any comments considered necessary by applicant must be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee. Such submissions should be clearly labeled “Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance.”
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SEOKJIN KIM whose telephone number is (571)272-1487. The examiner can normally be reached M-F: 8:30am-5:00pm.
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/SEOKJIN KIM/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2845
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