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 .
Specification
The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities:
The Brief Description of the drawings references Figures 7-8 and 10-12, but does not reference the specific subparts of those drawings, i.e. figures 7a-7b, 8a-8b, 10a-d, 11a-b and 12a-b.
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 4-6, 8 and 10-11 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. Claims 5-6 and 11 depend upon rejected claim 1 and inherit the deficiency thereby.
Claim 4 recites the limitation "the high-frequency signal input" in Line 2.
Claim 4 recites the limitation "the high-frequency power source" in Line 3.
Claim 4 recites the limitation “the center frequency” in Line 4.
Claim 8 recites the limitation “the high-frequency signal” in Line 4.
Claim 8 recites the limitation “the high-frequency power source” in Line 4.
Claim 8 recites the limitation “the center frequency” in Line 8.
Claim 10 recites the limitation “the high-frequency signal” in Line 3.
There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Appropriate correction is required.
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.
Claims 1, 7 and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yoneda (US 6646608) in view of Knox (US 4034377).
As per Claims 1 and 10:
Yoneda discloses in Figure 1:
A nonreciprocal circuit element, comprising:
a nonreciprocal unit having ferrite (“ferrite member” substrate, 10),
an magnet (“permanent magnet”, 9) that applies a DC magnetic field to the ferrite (“The permanent magnet 9 applies a DC magnetic field to the center electrode assembly 2”, [0047]),
and a plurality of conductors (“center electrodes”, 21 to 23 are inherently considered conductors as known to one of ordinary skill in the art since the electrodes are metallic and carry the RF current) arranged to intersect one another in an insulated state with respect to the ferrite (“intersect each other at an angle of about 120° with insulation layers 26 being interposed between the center electrodes 21 to 23”, [0044], therefore inherently intersecting one another in an insulated state due to the direct intersection with the insulation layers 26)
and have a plurality of shorted end terminals (“ends on one side of each of the center electrodes 21 to 23 are connected to grounding electrodes 25”, [0044], which would inherently short the side of the electrodes as known to one of ordinary skill in the art);
a reciprocal circuit unit (“antenna device”, 122, as shown in related Figure 16) connected between the other end terminal of each conductor and an input/output port (122) is connected between isolator 131 (which is the same as the isolator 1, “transmission-side isolator 131, for example, a lumped constant type isolator 1”, [Col. 10, Lines 48-50], and the transmission signal input and reception signal output, as is evident by related Figure 16).
Yoneda does not disclose:
An electromagnet and
a DC power source control unit that controls a DC current supplied to the electromagnet, wherein the DC power source control unit controls the DC current supplied to the electromagnet to vary intensity of the DC magnetic field applied to the ferrite, thereby controlling frequency characteristics of the nonreciprocal unit and (as per claim 10) wherein the DC power source control unit changes a direction of the DC current supplied to the electromagnet to switch output ports for outputting the high-frequency signal from the nonreciprocal unit.
Yoneda discloses in another embodiment:
An electromagnet (“electromagnet instead of the permanent magnet 9”, [0057]).
Knox discloses in Figure 10:
a DC power source control unit (“reversing switch”, 680) that controls a DC current supplied to an electromagnet (“electromagnet”, 640), wherein the DC power source control unit controls the DC current supplied to the electromagnet to vary intensity of the DC magnetic field applied to the ferrite, thereby controlling frequency characteristics of the nonreciprocal unit and (as per claim 10) wherein the DC power source control unit changes a direction of the DC current supplied to the electromagnet to switch output ports for outputting the high-frequency signal from the nonreciprocal unit (“Utilizing the reversing switch 680, the polarity of the DC current applied to the electromagnets 640 and 650 can be reversed”, [Col. 14, Lines 44-50], where the switch directly controls the DC current supplied and thereby inherently affects frequency characteristics by controlling the DC current).
At the time of filing, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to replace the permanent magnet of Yoneda with the electromagnet as suggested in paragraph [0057] of Yoneda. Such a modification would have been considered a substitution of equivalent elements with equivalent structures formed by an equivalent process that perform the same function, thereby suggesting the obviousness of the combination.
At the time of filing, it would have been further obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to provide a DC current control unit for the electromagnet by adding a reversing switch as taught by Knox to the electromagnet in nonreciprocal circuit element of Yoneda to provide the benefit of reversing the direction of the magnetic field switching the direction of transmission with little attenuation of the microwave energy through the waveguide past the ferrite slab (Knox, [Col. 2, Lines 21-31]).
As per Claim 7:
The resultant combination discloses:
The nonreciprocal circuit element according to claim 1,
wherein the reciprocal circuit unit comprises a capacitor that (“matching capacitors”, C1 to C3), together with an inductance of each conductor (“center electrodes” 21 to 23), forms a parallel- resonant circuit (as is evident by related Figure 2 in the parallel arrangement of each conductor and center electrode).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-3 and 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.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ABIGAIL YALDO whose telephone number is (703)756-1784. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 7 AM - 4 PM.
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/ABIGAIL AMIR YALDO/Examiner, Art Unit 2843
/ANDREA LINDGREN BALTZELL/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2843