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 .
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 May 25, 2026 has been entered.
Prosecution on the merits of this application is reopened on claims 1 and 3-5 considered unpatentable for the reasons indicated below:
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
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(s) 1 and 3-5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ku et al. (US 9786980, of the record).
Re claims 1, 3-5: Ku teaches an antenna comprising a dielectric substrate serving as a substrate (i.e., a ground metal element (110) is disposed on a dielectric substrate, col. 3, lines 6-9), the ground metal element (110) serving as a ground plane, and first and second antenna elements (120, 130) each having a shape with a segment having a base end (i.e., a portion of antenna positioned toward the ground element), each antenna element including a feed point (191, 192) connectable to an antenna circuit (150) and a grounding point electrically connected to the ground plane (see figs. 1; col. 2, line 62- col. 3, line 38).
It would have been an obvious design variation to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to modify shapes of the antennas as suggested by Ku (i.e., the types and shapes of antenna can be various (col. 3, 9-11, col. 7, lines 43-46) to meet specific needs of the antennas, and therefore an obvious expedient.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 11-17, 21, 22, 25 are allowed.
Claims 6-9 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:
None of prior art teaches the antenna comprising the ground plane wherein the ground plane has a base portion having a first width, and an extension portion having a second width smaller than the first width, the ground plane being implemented on one side of the circuit board and the first and second antenna elements being implemented on the other side of the circuit board. each antenna element including a feed point connectable to an antenna circuit and a grounding point electrically connected to the ground plane, each of the first and second antenna elements including a patterned conductor as set forth in the claims.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SEUNG H LEE whose telephone number is (571)272-2401. The examiner can normally be reached 7-4:00PM.
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/SEUNG H LEE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2876
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