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 .
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 04/08/2026 has been entered.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Claim Objections
Claims 2, 3, 6 and 9 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 2 recites “wherein the radiation areas are disposed in a perimetric direction of the shield can at distances”. This is grammatically incorrect and should be corrected to “wherein the radiation areas are spaced apart in a perimetric direction of the shield can”.
Claim 3: “wherein each of the radiation areas is disposed adjacent to four corners of the shield can” should be amended to “wherein each of the radiation areas is disposed adjacent to a respective corner of the shield can”.
Claim 6: “wherein the radiation area has one of a meander line shape or a patch shape” should be amended to “wherein the radiation areas have one of a meander line shape or a patch shape” for consistency with claim 1.
Claim 9: “two adjacent radiation areas among the plurality of second radiation areas” should be amended to “two adjacent second radiation areas of the plurality of second radiation areas”.
Claim 9: “an upper surface of the shield can” should read “the upper surface of the shield can”.
Appropriate correction is required.
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 and 6-11 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.
Claim 1 (line 7) recites the limitation "the upper surface". There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 1 (line 8) recites the limitation “the side surfaces of the shield can”. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claims 2-3 and 6-11 are rejected due to their dependency.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-3 and 6-11 would be allowable if rewritten or amended to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: The pertinent prior art, as a whole, or in combination, cannot be reasonably construed as adequately teaching or suggesting the elements and features of the claimed invention(s) as arranged, disposed, or provided in the manner as claimed by the Applicant.
Regarding claim 1, Desclos et al. (US 2013/0187818 – of record; “Desclos”) discloses (fig. 4a below): A shield can (¶42, shield can body 200) disposed on a printed circuit board (300) to cover electronic components (transceiver 310) mounted on the PCB, a plurality of slits (210a, 210b) formed in the shield can (200); a shielding area which is the external area partitioned by the plurality of slits (210a, 210b); wherein each of the plurality of slits is formed by opening a portion of the upper surface and a portion of at least one of the side surfaces of the shield can (200)”.
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Desclos does not teach, or suggest, the plurality of slits to partition the shield can into a plurality of internal areas and an external area spaced apart from the plurality of internal areas; radiation areas which are the plurality of internal areas partitioned by the plurality of slits, and wherein each of the plurality of slits is in the form of surrounding each of the radiation areas in all directions and in the form of an open portion except for a connection portion of the radiation area and the shielding area.
Ollikainen (US 7,298,339B1 – of record) discloses (fig. 2 below): A shield disposed on a PCB (PWB 20) to partially cover an electronic component (540) mounted on the PCB (see fig. 6 below, where the antenna 10 covers a portion of an electronic component 540, and thus has a shielding function), comprising:
a plurality of slits formed in the shield to partition the shield into a plurality of internal areas (UMTS antennas 200 and diversity antenna 300) and an external area (100) spaced apart from the plurality of internal areas;
an area which is the external area (GSM antenna 100) partitioned by the plurality of slits; and
radiation areas which are the plurality of internal areas (antennas 200, 300) partitioned by the plurality of slits,
wherein the plurality of slits is formed by opening a portion of the upper surface of the shield,
wherein some of the plurality of slits is in the form of surrounding each of the radiation areas (200, 300) in all directions.
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Ollikainen does not teach, or suggest, a shield can to cover electronic components mounted on the PCB; a plurality of slits formed in the shield can to partition the shield can; a shielding area which is the external area partitioned by the plurality of slits (the external area is a radiating area), wherein each of the plurality of slits is formed by opening a portion of the upper surface and a portion of at least one of the side surfaces of the shield can, wherein each of the plurality of slits is in the form of surrounding each of the radiation areas in all directions and in the form of an open portion except for a connection portion of the radiation area and the shielding area.
Liu et al. (US 2021/0091455 – of record; “Liu”) discloses (fig. 4a below): A shield can (¶63, “metal shielding cover 8”) disposed on a printed circuit board (fig. 6, PCB 1) to cover electronic components (fig. 6, transceiver 4 and matching circuit 3) mounted on the printed circuit board (1), comprising:
a plurality of slits (slots 9) formed in the shield can (8) (a plurality of slits formed in different directions are connected to form a single slit) to partition the shield can (8) into an internal area and an external area (outer portion of metal shielding cover slot antenna 2) spaced apart from the internal area;
a shielding area (outer portion of metal shielding cover); and
a radiation area which is the internal areas partitioned by the plurality of slits (the cover 8 would also resonate, see feed terminal 15), wherein one of the slits is formed by opening a portion of the upper surface and a portion of at least one of the side surfaces of the shield can (8).
Liu does not teach, or suggest, the plurality of slits partitions the shield can into a plurality of internal areas; the shielding area is the external area partitioned by the slit (in fig. 4a, the electronic components are situated below the internal areas); radiation areas which are the plurality of internal areas; wherein each of the plurality of slits is formed by opening a portion of the upper surface and a portion of at least one of the side surfaces of the shield can (only one slit is formed in this manner), wherein each of the plurality of slits is in the form of surrounding each of the radiation areas in all directions and in the form of an open portion except for a connection portion of the radiation area and the shielding area.
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Claims 2-3 and 6-11 are allowable due to their dependency on claim 1.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANNA N HAMADYK whose telephone number is (703)756-1672. The examiner can normally be reached 7:30 am - 5:00 pm.
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/ANNA N HAMADYK/Examiner, Art Unit 2845
/DIMARY S LOPEZ CRUZ/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2845
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