DETAILED ACTION
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the second paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112:
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, second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which applicant regards as the invention.
In claim 1, what is a difference of “a lawn mower” in line 1, 2 and 4.
In claim 7, line 2, it is unclear what is meant by “the signal enhancement plate two of”.
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.
Claims 1-4 and 6-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over the publication of CN 202395139 in view of Pai-Chuan et al (6,222,488) and the publication of CN 212305863 [all cited by applicant].
The publication of CN 202395139 teaches a signal enhancement apparatus comprising a casing 1 (antenna box) and a metal reflecting plate 4 (a signal enhancement plate) the casing being arranged on the reflecting plate 4, the area of the reflecting plate being not less than the area of the orthographic projection of the casing on the reflecting plate, and the orthographic projection of the casing on the reflecting plate being contained within the range of the reflecting plate. The publication of CN 202395139 had been discussed but fails to teach the signal enhancement apparatus for a lawn mower is configured to be mounted in a mounting base of the lawn mower, the reflection layer is provided on at least one side of the dielectric layer, an area of the reflection layer is not less than an orthographic projection area of the antenna box on the signal enhancement plate, and the orthographic projection area of the antenna box on the enhancement plate is configured to be within the area of the reflection layer; the reflection layer is provided on both an upper surface and a lower surface of the dielectric layer, and the upper surface of the dielectric layer is a side connected to the antenna box; wherein the reflection layer is a copper foil and the dielectric layer is a printed circuit board; the signal enhancement plate defines a positioning hole; the signal enhancement plate comprises two of the positioning holes, and the two positioning holes are located on two sides of the antenna box respectively, wherein the signal enhancement plate is fixed to the antenna box by bonding. However, Pai-Chuan et al teach a signal enhancement apparatus comprising a signal enhancement plate 30a, the enhancement plate comprising a dielectric layer (dielectric plate) and a reflection layer 30 and at least one face of the dielectric layer being provided with the reflection layer (description, col3, lines 29-31) the reflection layer is provided on both an upper surface and a lower surface of the dielectric layer, and the upper surface of the dielectric layer is a side connected to the antenna 20 (figs1-2); wherein the reflection layer is a copper film (col3, lines 29-31); the signal enhancement plate defines a positioning hole (figs2-3) and the signal enhancement plate comprises two of the positioning holes (via mounting screws, figs2-3).
The publication of CN 212305863 teaches a lawn mower comprising a housing 10 and a positioning module, the housing being provided with a mounting base used for mounting the positioning module. It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skilled in the art to provide the publication of CN 202395139 with the signal enhancement apparatus for a lawn mower is configured to be mounted in a mounting base of the lawn mower, the reflection layer is provided on at least one side of the dielectric layer, an area of the reflection layer is not less than an orthographic projection area of the antenna box on the signal enhancement plate, and the orthographic projection area of the antenna box on the enhancement plate is configured to be within the area of the reflection layer; the reflection layer is provided on both an upper surface and a lower surface of the dielectric layer, and the upper surface of the dielectric layer is a side connected to the antenna box; wherein the reflection layer is a copper foil and the dielectric layer is a printed circuit board and the signal enhancement plate defines a positioning hole and the signal enhancement plate comprises two of the positioning holes, and the two positioning holes are located on two sides of the antenna box respectively, wherein the signal enhancement plate is fixed to the antenna box by bonding for the purpose of improving the antenna gain.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5 and 9-10 are rejected 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 and to overcome the above 35 U.S.C. 112.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. The patents to Kiyooka, Lindmark, Huynh, McCutceon, Jing, Izadian and Choi are cited as of interested and illustrated a similar structure to a signal enhancement apparatus.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to THO GIA PHAN whose telephone number is (571)272-1826. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F (8-430).
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Dimary Lopez can be reached on (571) 270-7893. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free).
/THO G PHAN/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2845