Prosecution Insights
Last updated: April 19, 2026
Application No. 18/718,044

ANTENNA DECOUPLING METHOD, ELECTRONIC DEVICE AND COMPUTER-READABLE STORAGE MEDIUM

Non-Final OA §102§103§112
Filed
Jun 09, 2024
Examiner
PHAM, THAI N
Art Unit
2844
Tech Center
2800 — Semiconductors & Electrical Systems
Assignee
ZTE CORPORATION
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
77%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
2y 2m
To Grant
98%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 77% — above average
77%
Career Allow Rate
700 granted / 905 resolved
+9.3% vs TC avg
Strong +21% interview lift
Without
With
+21.0%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Fast prosecutor
2y 2m
Avg Prosecution
29 currently pending
Career history
934
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
0.2%
-39.8% vs TC avg
§103
47.1%
+7.1% vs TC avg
§102
21.6%
-18.4% vs TC avg
§112
20.9%
-19.1% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 905 resolved cases

Office Action

§102 §103 §112
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 . DETAILED ACTION Receipt of preliminary amendment filed on 06/09/2024 is acknowledged. Claims 6-10 have been amended. Claims 11-20 are newly added. Thus, claims 1-20 are pending in the instant application. Priority Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers submitted under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d), which papers have been placed of record in the file. Information Disclosure Statement The information disclosure statements (IDSs) submitted on 06/09/2024, 04/29/2025, and 08/05/2025 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements have been considered by the examiner. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112 The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a): (a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention. The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112: The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention. Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention. The disclosure of the aforementioned prior-filed application fails to provide adequate support or enablement in the manner provided by the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112 for one or more claims of this application: claims 1-20. Specifically, claims 1, 9 and 10 includes limitations that are not disclosed or provide adequate support or enablement in the specification. Some exemplary limitations from these claims are herein recited for further reviews: "calculating a correlation coefficient between the transmitting antenna and the receiving antenna.” The specification fails to properly describe how does a correlation coefficient between the transmitting antenna and the receiving antenna being calculated? And, the written description fails to disclose the corresponding structure, material, or acts for the claimed function. The specification only described “the correlation coefficient between the transmitting antenna and the receiving antenna can be calculated according to a formula for calculating the correlation coefficient” in paragraph [0021], and “the correlation coefficient between the transmitting antenna and the receiving antenna is calculated through a preset formula for calculating the correlation coefficient” in paragraph [0029]. There is not a possession of description of how it done or how does it perform the calculation of correlation coefficient between the transmitting antenna and the receiving antenna? Therefore, the claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to enable one skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and/or use the invention. 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 1-20 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 claims 1, 9 and 10, the limitations recite “transmitting a first signal through a transmitting antenna,” “receiving a second signal through a receiving antenna,” “calculating a correlation coefficient between the transmitting antenna and the receiving antenna,” and “adjusting operation states of the transmitting antenna and the receiving antenna” are unclear and leaves the reader in doubt as to the meaning of the technical feature to which it refers. It is unclear that how does it transmit a first signal through a transmitting antenna? How does it receive a second signal through a receiving antenna? How does it calculate a correlation coefficient between the transmitting antenna and the receiving antenna? And how does it adjust operation states of the transmitting antenna and the receiving antenna? Regarding claims 7 and 15-18, the limitation recites “adjusting the correlation coefficient between the transmitting antenna and the receiving antenna through a tuning circuit to enable the correlation coefficient subjected to the adjusting to be lower than the correlation coefficient before the adjusting” is unclear and leaves the reader in doubt as to the meaning of the technical feature to which it refers. It is unclear that how does it enable the correlation coefficient subjected to the adjusting to be lower than the correlation coefficient before the adjusting? Regarding claims 8 and 19-20, the limitation recites “adjusting the correlation coefficient between the transmitting antenna and the receiving antenna through a tuning circuit to enable a data throughput rate to be greater” is unclear and leaves the reader in doubt as to the meaning of the technical feature to which it refers. It is unclear that what a data throughput rate? How does it enable a data throughput rate? And enable a data throughput rate to be greater than what? The claims fail to recite sufficiently definite structure, material or acts for achieving the functional result recited in the claim to reasonably apprise one of ordinary skill in the art of the scope of the claims. Claims 2-8 and 11-20 are depending on claim 1, and are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph as the same reason as stated above. Note: for compact prosecution purposes, the examiner interprets the claims above as best understood in the rejection below. 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)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention. Claims 1-3, 5-8 and 11-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a1) as being anticipated by Shimizu (U.S Publication No. 20110116404 A1). Regarding claim 1, Shimizu discloses an antenna decoupling method, applied to a mobile terminal (which is a mobile terminal serving as a radio communication device has two antennas, see fig. 1-10, paragraph [0004], [0010] and [0012]) comprising: transmitting a first signal (via a second radio frequency, fT, see fig. 1) through a transmitting antenna (which is a second antenna, ANT2), (see fig. 1, paragraph [0033]); receiving a second signal (via a first radio frequency, fR, see fig. 1) through a receiving antenna (which is a first antenna, ANT1), (see fig. 1, paragraph [0033]); calculating a correlation coefficient (via a control unit 30) between the transmitting antenna (ANT2) and the receiving antenna (ANT1) according to the first signal (fT) and the second signal (fR), (see fig. 1, paragraph [0069], [0076], [0092], and [0107]); adjusting operation states (via a variable reactance capacitor circuit 40) of the transmitting antenna (ANT2) and the receiving antenna (ANT1) according to the correlation coefficient calculated (see fig. 1 and 2A-2D, paragraph [0041], [0046], [0056], [0087]-[0088], and [0091]-[0093]). Regarding claim 2, Shimizu discloses the method according to claim 1, wherein the mobile terminal has m antennas (which are ANT1 and ANT2 in fig. 1 and 2A-2D, or ANT1, ANT2 and ANT3 in fig. 5, m being a positive integer greater than 1, and the m antennas are sequentially taken as the transmitting antenna one by one to perform the transmitting a first signal through a transmitting antenna; the receiving antenna is the antenna except the transmitting antenna in the m antennas (see paragraph [0033]-[0034], and [0067]-[0068]). Regarding claim 3, Shimizu discloses the method according to claim 2, wherein the calculating a correlation coefficient between the transmitting antenna and the receiving antenna according to the first signal and the second signal comprises: acquiring parameter information of the first signal and the second signal received by each receiving antenna; calculating the correlation coefficient between the transmitting antenna and each receiving antenna according to the parameter information (see paragraph [0067]-[0068]). Regarding claim 5, Shimizu discloses the method according to claim 3, wherein the calculating a correlation coefficient between the transmitting antenna (ANT2) and the receiving antenna (ANT1) according to the first signal (fT) and the second signal (fR) further comprises: obtaining an array of correlation coefficients between the m antennas (ANT1 and ANT2 in fig. 1, or ANT1, ANT2 and ANT3 in fig. 5) according to the correlation coefficient between each transmitting antenna and each corresponding receiving antenna during each antenna serving as the transmitting antenna (see paragraph [0067]-[0068], and [0076]). Regarding claim 6, Shimizu discloses the method according to claim 1, wherein the adjusting operation states of the transmitting antenna and the receiving antenna according to the correlation coefficient calculated comprises: adjusting the operation states of the transmitting antenna and the receiving antenna through a tuning circuit (via a variable reactance circuit 40, see fig. 1 and 2A-2D); wherein the tuning circuit (40) adjusts at least one of: a length of any antenna, a resistance or capacitance, or antenna matching (see paragraph [0041]-[0045]). Regarding claim 7, Shimizu discloses the method according to claim 1, wherein the adjusting operation states of the transmitting antenna and the receiving antenna according to the correlation coefficient calculated comprises: adjusting the correlation coefficient between the transmitting antenna (ANT2) and the receiving antenna (ANT1) through a tuning circuit (via a variable reactance circuit 40, see fig. 1 and 2A-2D) to enable the correlation coefficient subjected to the adjusting to be lower than the correlation coefficient before the adjusting (see paragraph [0046], [0056], and [0088]). Regarding claim 8, Shimizu discloses the method according to claim 1, wherein the adjusting operation states of the transmitting antenna and the receiving antenna according to the correlation coefficient calculated comprises: adjusting the correlation coefficient between the transmitting antenna (ANT2) and the receiving antenna (ANT1) through a tuning circuit (via a variable reactance circuit 40, see fig. 1 and 2A-2D) to enable a data throughput rate to be greater (see paragraph [0005] and [0064]). Regarding claim 11, Shimizu discloses the method according to claim 2, wherein the adjusting operation states of the transmitting antenna and the receiving antenna according to the correlation coefficient calculated comprises: adjusting the operation states of the transmitting antenna (ANT2) and the receiving antenna (ANT1) through a tuning circuit (via a variable reactance circuit 40, see fig. 1 and 2A-2D); wherein the tuning circuit (40) adjusts at least one of: a length of any antenna, a resistance or capacitance, or antenna matching (see paragraph [0041]-[0045]). Regarding claim 12, Shimizu discloses the method according to claim 3, wherein the adjusting operation states of the transmitting antenna and the receiving antenna according to the correlation coefficient calculated comprises: adjusting the operation states of the transmitting antenna (ANT2) and the receiving antenna (ANT1) through a tuning circuit (via a variable reactance circuit 40, see fig. 1 and 2A-2D); wherein the tuning circuit (40) adjusts at least one of: a length of any antenna, a resistance or capacitance, or antenna matching (see paragraph [0041]-[0045]). Regarding claim 13, Shimizu discloses the method according to claim 4, wherein the adjusting operation states of the transmitting antenna and the receiving antenna according to the correlation coefficient calculated comprises: adjusting the operation states of the transmitting antenna (ANT2) and the receiving antenna (ANT1) through a tuning circuit (via a variable reactance circuit 40, see fig. 1 and 2A-2D); wherein the tuning circuit (40) adjusts at least one of: a length of any antenna, a resistance or capacitance, or antenna matching (see paragraph [0041]-[0045]). Regarding claim 14, Shimizu discloses the method according to claim 5, wherein the adjusting operation states of the transmitting antenna and the receiving antenna according to the correlation coefficient calculated comprises: adjusting the operation states of the transmitting antenna (ANT2) and the receiving antenna (ANT1) through a tuning circuit (via a variable reactance circuit 40, see fig. 1 and 2A-2D); wherein the tuning circuit (40) adjusts at least one of: a length of any antenna, a resistance or capacitance, or antenna matching (see paragraph [0041]-[0045]). Regarding claim 15, Shimizu discloses the method according to claim 2, wherein the adjusting operation states of the transmitting antenna and the receiving antenna according to the correlation coefficient calculated comprises: adjusting the correlation coefficient between the transmitting antenna (ANT2) and the receiving antenna (ANT1) through a tuning circuit (via a variable reactance circuit 40, see fig. 1 and 2A-2D) to enable the correlation coefficient subjected to the adjusting to be lower than the correlation coefficient before the adjusting (see paragraph [0046], [0056], and [0088]). Regarding claim 16, Shimizu discloses the method according to claim 3, wherein the adjusting operation states of the transmitting antenna and the receiving antenna according to the correlation coefficient calculated comprises: adjusting the correlation coefficient between the transmitting antenna (ANT2) and the receiving antenna (ANT1) through a tuning circuit (via a variable reactance circuit 40, see fig. 1 and 2A-2D) to enable the correlation coefficient subjected to the adjusting to be lower than the correlation coefficient before the adjusting (see paragraph [0046], [0056], and [0088]). Regarding claim 17, Shimizu discloses the method according to claim 4, wherein the adjusting operation states of the transmitting antenna and the receiving antenna according to the correlation coefficient calculated comprises: adjusting the correlation coefficient between the transmitting antenna (ANT2) and the receiving antenna (ANT1) through a tuning circuit (via a variable reactance circuit 40, see fig. 1 and 2A-2D) to enable the correlation coefficient subjected to the adjusting to be lower than the correlation coefficient before the adjusting (see paragraph [0046], [0056], and [0088]). Regarding claim 18, Shimizu discloses the method according to claim 5, wherein the adjusting operation states of the transmitting antenna and the receiving antenna according to the correlation coefficient calculated comprises: adjusting the correlation coefficient between the transmitting antenna (ANT2) and the receiving antenna (ANT1) through a tuning circuit (via a variable reactance circuit 40, see fig. 1 and 2A-2D) to enable the correlation coefficient subjected to the adjusting to be lower than the correlation coefficient before the adjusting (see paragraph [0046], [0056], and [0088]). Regarding claim 19, Shimizu discloses the method according to claim 2, wherein the adjusting operation states of the transmitting antenna and the receiving antenna according to the correlation coefficient calculated comprises: adjusting the correlation coefficient between the transmitting antenna (ANT2) and the receiving antenna (ANT1) through a tuning circuit (via a variable reactance circuit 40, see fig. 1 and 2A-2D) to enable a data throughput rate to be greater (see paragraph [0005] and [0064]). Regarding claim 20, Shimizu discloses the method according to claim 3, wherein the adjusting operation states of the transmitting antenna and the receiving antenna according to the correlation coefficient calculated comprises: adjusting the correlation coefficient between the transmitting antenna (ANT2) and the receiving antenna (ANT1) through a tuning circuit (via a variable reactance circuit 40, see fig. 1 and 2A-2D) to enable a data throughput rate to be greater (see paragraph [0005] and [0064]). 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 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shimizu (U.S Publication No. 20110116404 A1) and in view of Yamaguchi et al. (U.S Publication No. 20190044568 A1). Regarding claim 4, Shimizu discloses all the limitations of the method according to claim 3, except for specifying that wherein the parameter information comprises at least one of: a signal amplitude, a signal phase. Yamaguchi, on the other hand, discloses an array antenna device being used in radars or wireless communication comprising a transmission/reception controller controlling by controlling an amplitude and phase of a signal passing through each TC and RC, and by switching transmission/reception; and a detection signal, which contains a detected amplitude and phase of the signal received by the receiver, is corrected with a piece of interconnection amplitude-phase information about the EAs to obtain a calibration value in calibration of each TRM; the receiver including a signal detector configured to detect an amplitude and phase of the received signal; and a transmission/reception controller configured to: perform transmission/reception control by controlling an amplitude and phase of a signal passing through the transmission circuit and the reception circuit in each transmission/reception module based on a desired control signal, and by switching between transmission and reception (see abstract, and paragraph [0009]). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention was made to modify the method as taught by Shimizu with the method as taught by Yamaguchi having the parameter information comprises at least one of: a signal amplitude, a signal phase in order to provide the array antenna device including the array antenna and the transmission/reception circuit and being configured to conduct calibration on its own, which is capable of correcting the amplitude and the phase properly, and a method of calibrating the array antenna device (see paragraph [0010] by Yamaguchi). Claims 9-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yamaguchi et al. (U.S Publication No. 20190044568 A1) in view of Shimizu (U.S Publication No. 20110116404 A1). Regarding claim 9, Yamaguchi discloses an electronic device (which is an array antenna device to be used in radars, wireless communication, and other applications, see fig. 1-9), comprising: at least one processor; a memory having at least one program stored thereon; at least one I/O interface connected between the processor and the memory and configured to enable information interaction between the processor and the memory (FIG. 9 is a diagram for illustrating an example of a hardware configuration in which the transmission/reception controller 500 is configured from a computer, for example. The transmission/reception controller 500 configured as a computer 500a receives input of, and outputs, data and other signals from/to the signal transmitter 300, the receiver 400, the transmission/reception modules 200, and other devices (not shown) via an interface 11. A memory 13 stores, for example, programs of functions illustrated as the function blocks in FIG. 8, and data used for control processing. The data used for control processing here is interconnection amplitude-phase information 531, which is stored in the storage 530 illustrated in FIG. 8. A processor 12 performs arithmetic processing on a signal input via the interface 11 from the outside, as indicated by the programs and data stored in the memory 13, and outputs the result of the arithmetic processing via the interface 11. A human interface (HI) 14 includes a data input device, a display, and the like for a worker. Data is input through the HI 14 as required and the state of the array antenna device is monitored on the display. The memory 13 is equivalent to the storage 530 of FIG. 8, see paragraph [0029]), wherein the at least one program, executed by the at least one processor (12), causes the at least one processor (12) to implement a method of: transmitting a first signal through a transmitting antenna; and receiving a second signal through a receiving antenna (In an example illustrated in FIG. 1, the element antennas E01, E02, and E04 are transmission antennas and the element antenna E03 is a reception antenna, see paragraph [0034]; and which signals are transmitted from the element antennas E01, E02, and E04 in order and received by the shared element antenna E03, fluctuations in characteristics on the transmission circuit TC side of the element antennas E01, E02, and E04 are calibrated. In an example illustrated in FIG. 2 in which the element antenna E03 is a transmission antenna and the element antennas E01, E02, and E04 are reception antennas, on the other hand, the transmission-reception switching switch 231 is connected to the reception circuit RC in each of the transmission/reception modules 200 connected to the element antennas E01, E02, and E04, and the transmission-reception switching switch 231 is connected to the transmission circuit TC in the transmission/reception module 200 connected to the element antenna E03, see paragraph [0040]). Yamaguchi does not explicitly disclose calculating a correlation coefficient between the transmitting antenna and the receiving antenna according to the first signal and the second signal; adjusting operation states of the transmitting antenna and the receiving antenna according to the correlation coefficient calculated. Shimizu, on the other hand, discloses a radio communication device for executing a communication, having a first antenna, a second antenna, a first receiver for receiving a first radio frequency signal via the first antenna, a second receiver for receiving the first radio frequency signal via the second antenna, a transmitter for transmitting a second radio frequency signal via the second antenna, a power measuring unit for measuring a first power of a component of the second radio frequency signal in a received signal received via the first antenna, and a control unit for controlling a reactance between the first antenna and the second antenna so as to lower an amount of coupling between the first antenna and the second antenna on the basis of the measured first power, see abstract, fig. 1-10), and implement the method of: transmitting a first signal (via a second radio frequency, fT, see fig. 1) through a transmitting antenna (which is a second antenna, ANT2), (see fig. 1, paragraph [0033]); receiving a second signal (via a first radio frequency, fR, see fig. 1) through a receiving antenna (which is a first antenna, ANT1), (see fig. 1, paragraph [0033]); calculating a correlation coefficient (via a control unit 30) between the transmitting antenna (ANT2) and the receiving antenna (ANT1) according to the first signal (fT) and the second signal (fR), (see fig. 1, paragraph [0069], [0076], [0092], and [0107]); adjusting operation states (via a variable reactance capacitor circuit 40) of the transmitting antenna (ANT2) and the receiving antenna (ANT1) according to the correlation coefficient calculated (see fig. 1 and 2A-2D, paragraph [0041], [0046], [0056], [0087]-[0088], and [0091]-[0093]). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention was made to modify the electronic device as taught by Yamaguchi with the electronic device as taught by Shimizu in order to provide a signal processing method permitting to effectively control an inter-antenna coupling amount and/or an inter-antenna correlation coefficient in the case that a plurality of antennas including transmission and reception antennas are installed to perform communication on the basis of the frequency division duplex (FDD) system (see paragraph [0012] by Shimizu). Regarding claim 10, Yamaguchi discloses a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having a computer program stored thereon (which is a transmission/reception controller 500 configured as a computer 500a receives input of, and outputs, data and other signals from/to the signal transmitter 300, the receiver 400, the transmission/reception modules 200, and other devices (not shown) via an interface 11. A processor 12 performs arithmetic processing on a signal input via the interface 11 from the outside, as indicated by the programs and data stored in the memory 13, and outputs the result of the arithmetic processing via the interface 11, see paragraph [0029]), the computer program, executed by the processor, causes the processor to implement a method of: transmitting a first signal through a transmitting antenna; and receiving a second signal through a receiving antenna (In an example illustrated in FIG. 1, the element antennas E01, E02, and E04 are transmission antennas and the element antenna E03 is a reception antenna, see paragraph [0034]; and which signals are transmitted from the element antennas E01, E02, and E04 in order and received by the shared element antenna E03, fluctuations in characteristics on the transmission circuit TC side of the element antennas E01, E02, and E04 are calibrated. In an example illustrated in FIG. 2 in which the element antenna E03 is a transmission antenna and the element antennas E01, E02, and E04 are reception antennas, on the other hand, the transmission-reception switching switch 231 is connected to the reception circuit RC in each of the transmission/reception modules 200 connected to the element antennas E01, E02, and E04, and the transmission-reception switching switch 231 is connected to the transmission circuit TC in the transmission/reception module 200 connected to the element antenna E03, see paragraph [0040]). Yamaguchi does not explicitly disclose calculating a correlation coefficient between the transmitting antenna and the receiving antenna according to the first signal and the second signal; adjusting operation states of the transmitting antenna and the receiving antenna according to the correlation coefficient calculated. Shimizu, on the other hand, for executing a communication on the basis of a frequency division duplex, has a first antenna, a second antenna, a first receiver for receiving a first radio frequency signal via the first antenna, a second receiver for receiving the first radio frequency signal via the second antenna, a transmitter for transmitting a second radio frequency signal via the second antenna, a power measuring unit for measuring a first power of a component of the second radio frequency signal in a received signal received via the first antenna, and a control unit for controlling a reactance between the first antenna and the second antenna so as to lower an amount of coupling between the first antenna and the second antenna on the basis of the measured first power, see abstract, fig. 1-10), and to implement a method of: transmitting a first signal (via a second radio frequency, fT, see fig. 1) through a transmitting antenna (which is a second antenna, ANT2), (see fig. 1, paragraph [0033]); receiving a second signal (via a first radio frequency, fR, see fig. 1) through a receiving antenna (which is a first antenna, ANT1), (see fig. 1, paragraph [0033]); calculating a correlation coefficient (via a control unit 30) between the transmitting antenna (ANT2) and the receiving antenna (ANT1) according to the first signal (fT) and the second signal (fR), (see fig. 1, paragraph [0069], [0076], [0092], and [0107]); adjusting operation states (via a variable reactance capacitor circuit 40) of the transmitting antenna (ANT2) and the receiving antenna (ANT1) according to the correlation coefficient calculated (see fig. 1 and 2A-2D, paragraph [0041], [0046], [0056], [0087]-[0088], and [0091]-[0093]). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention was made to modify the electronic device as taught by Yamaguchi with the electronic device as taught by Shimizu in order to provide a signal processing method permitting to effectively control an inter-antenna coupling amount and/or an inter-antenna correlation coefficient in the case that a plurality of antennas including transmission and reception antennas are installed to perform communication on the basis of the frequency division duplex (FDD) system (see paragraph [0012] by Shimizu). Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to THAI N PHAM whose telephone number is (571)270-5518. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:00 am-5:00 pm. Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Regis Betsch can be reached at (571) 270-7101. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /Thai Pham/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2844 12/29/2025
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Jun 09, 2024
Application Filed
Jan 03, 2026
Non-Final Rejection — §102, §103, §112 (current)

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Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
77%
Grant Probability
98%
With Interview (+21.0%)
2y 2m
Median Time to Grant
Low
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