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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group I (claims 1-3) in the reply filed on 10/22/2025 is acknowledged.
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) 1-3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over JP2015100011A (hereinafter “Nakane”) (NPL English translation attached) in view of JP2004179790A (hereinafter “Sanpo”) (NPL English translation attached).
Claim 1: Nakane teaches a vehicle-mounted antenna attached to a body of a vehicle (e.g., see FIGS. 7-8; e.g., see body 64 in FIGS. 7-8); a power supply pin(e.g., see inner conductor 52 of coaxial cable 50 shown in FIG. 2, and/or wiring pattern on board 44, see Para. 3 on Pg. 3 of English translation; e.g., also see 10, 20) disposed in an upright position on the body (e.g., upright relative to a direction opposite the Y-axis extension in FIGS. 1-2, also see up arrow relative to a rear of the vehicle in FIG. 8, see Para. 5 on Pg. 4 of the English translation); a first radiation element (e.g., see one of 16) extending from the power supply pin along a first direction in a horizontal plane (e.g., see horizontal plane parallel to car in FIG. 7, see arrows pointing horizontally in FIG. 8); a second radiation element (e.g., opposite element 16) extending from the power supply pin along a second direction opposite to the first direction in the horizontal plane (e.g., as shown); wherein a first tip portion (e.g., downward portion of 16 pointing towards Y-axis in FIGS. 1-2) of the first radiation element is fixed to the body via a first insulating member (e.g., see 56, see Pg. ), the second radiation element (e.g., a second 16 opposite from the first 16 as shown in FIGS. 1-2) comprises a second tip portion (e.g., a downward pointing region of second 16) and an intermediate portion (e.g., a straight portion of second 16), the second tip portion connected to the body (e.g., through at least second 56) and the intermediate portion located between the power supply pin and the second tip portion, and being fixed to the body via a second insulating member (e.g., see substrate 12 of second 16).
Nakane does not teach the second radiation element is longer than the first radiation element.
However Sanpo teaches a vehicle-mounted antenna having first radiation element (e.g., see 18 in FIG. 1) and second radiation element (see longer side of 18) is longer than the first radiation element.
Before the effective filing date of the invention, it would have been obvious to a skilled artisan to form the second radiation element of Nakane is longer than the first radiation element as taught by Sanpo in order to send and/or receive wireless signals in different frequency bands, e.g., for diversity transceiving of signals, and to increase the different bands for which the antenna can be utilized.
Claim 2: the modified invention of Nakane as modified in the claim 1 rejection teaches the vehicle-mounted antenna according to claim 1, wherein the second radiation element comprises a proximal portion (e.g., the main straight extending portion of 16) close to the power supply pin and a distal portion (e.g., the downward facing portion) distant from the power supply pin, the distal portion being greater in thickness than the proximal portion (e.g., as shown in FIGS. 1-2, see Para. 2 on Pg. 3), and the intermediate portion (e.g., intermediate portion further limited to being a portion of the straight portion on a distal portion side) is a region located on a distal portion side of the proximal portion.
Claim 3: Nakane teaches the vehicle-mounted antenna according to claim 2, wherein the first radiation element comprises an end segment (e.g., see the downward pointing tip of 16 in FIGS. 1-2) extending downwardly from the first tip portion; and the end segment is fixed to the body together with the first tip portion via the first insulating member (e.g., through 56, Id.).
Conclusion
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/AMAL PATEL/Examiner, Art Unit 2845