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 1-10 are 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.
Regarding Claim 1
The claim limitation “a direction in which a sensitivity of the first antenna is lowest and a direction in which a sensitivity of the second antenna is lowers are different from each other” is unintelligible. It is unclear what structure the limitation is intended to add to the apparatus claim.
The claim limitation should be rewritten to positively recite the structure intended to be added by said limitation.
The claim will be examined as best understood.
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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Yoshino US 2025/0253706.
Yoshino teaches:
1. A wirelessly rechargeable power supply device, comprising:
a circuit board (70, FIG19);
a power storage device (ie. 66, FIG17);
two or more antennas configured to receive power (71, 72, FIG19);
a housing (61, FIG16) that accommodates the circuit board [63(70), FIG16], the power storage device (66 of 63, FIG17), and the two or more antennas (71, 72(32) on board 70, FIG19); and
a charging circuit (64b, FIG19) that is mounted on the circuit board (70) and is configured to charge the power storage device with the power received by the two or more antennas (see exemplary circuit of FIG17), wherein
the two or more antennas include a first antenna (71, FIG19 and [0265]) and a second antenna (72, FIG19).
2. The wirelessly rechargeable power supply device according to claim 1, wherein the first antenna and the second antenna are both dipole antennas (see Specification @ [0022]),
the first antenna and the second antenna are arranged side by side in one direction along the circuit board (See FIG19), and
a direction in which an element of the first antenna extends and a direction in which an element of the second antenna extends are different from each other (See FIG19 noting different shapes therefore different extensions of said antenna appendages and/or main bodies).
3. The wirelessly rechargeable power supply device according to claim 2, wherein the direction in which the element of the first antenna extends and the direction in which the element of the second antenna extends are orthogonal to each other (See FIG19 noting right angle extension of appendages).
4. The wirelessly rechargeable power supply device according to claim 2, wherein the direction in which the element of the first antenna extends and the direction in which the element of the second antenna extends are both orthogonal to the one direction along the circuit board (ie left and right sides of circuit board of FIG19).
5. The wirelessly rechargeable power supply device according to claim 2, wherein the first antenna and the second antenna are arranged side by side in a longitudinal direction of the circuit board (See FIG19).
6. The wirelessly rechargeable power supply device according to claim 5, wherein the direction in which the element of the first antenna extends and the direction in which the element of the second antenna extends are both orthogonal to the longitudinal direction of the circuit board (see FIG19).
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(s) 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yoshino US 2025/0253706.
Yoshino teaches use of a coaxial cable to attach the second antenna (72(32), FIG19) to the charging circuit (64b) however fails to teach connecting both of said first and second antenna via said coaxial cable and is silent as to how the first antenna is connected to the rectifier.
It would have been obvious to provide said coaxial cable to connect said first as well as second antenna to said rectifier as taught. The motivation would have been to simplify parts and construction by using the same coaxial type means for both said connections.
Claim(s) 8 and 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yoshino US 2025/0253706 in view of Veysi et al. US 2021/0265870.
Yoshino fails to teach:
8. The wirelessly rechargeable power supply device according to claim 1, wherein the first antenna and the second antenna are both flexible printed circuit board antennas, and the first antenna and the second antenna are arranged along an inner circumference of the housing.
10. The wirelessly rechargeable power supply device according to claim 1, wherein the wirelessly rechargeable power supply device is a columnar member including a top surface and a bottom surface, and the wirelessly rechargeable power supply device comprises a positive electrode at the top surface and a negative electrode at the bottom surface.
Veysi teaches wherein a first antenna and a second antenna are both flexible printed circuit board antennas, and the first antenna and the second antenna are arranged along an inner circumference of the housing (See [0074] and FIGs 6A-6B and 8) wherein the wirelessly rechargeable power supply device is a columnar member including a top surface and a bottom surface, and the wirelessly rechargeable power supply device comprises a positive electrode at the top surface and a negative electrode at the bottom surface (see FIG8).
It would have been obvious to provide said structure as taught by Veysi into the system of Yoshino in order to create a known battery shape that could be used with traditional style batteries (ie AA, C, D, etc.) for user desirability.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 9 is 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.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DANIEL CAVALLARI whose telephone number is (571)272-8541. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 0900-18:30.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Rexford Barnie can be reached at (571)272-7492. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/DANIEL CAVALLARI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2836