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 .
Terminal Disclaimer
The terminal disclaimer filed on 12/30/2025 disclaiming the terminal portion of any patent granted on this application which would extend beyond the expiration date of 11,605,882 has been reviewed and is accepted. The terminal disclaimer has been recorded.
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim 1 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee et al. US Patent Application Publication 2017/0047636 (cited by applicant) and Degner et al. US Patent Application Publication 2009/0251372.
Regarding Claim 1, Lee et al. teaches a wearable device (Figs. 8-11), comprising:
a device housing (housing Figs. 8-11 Par. 0009) having a first housing portion and a second housing portion (top and bottom portions of housing Figs. 8-11), the first housing portion physically coupled to the second housing portion (Figs. 8-11);
a printed circuit board (PCB) disposed in the device housing (11 Figs. 8-11 Par. 0119) and communicatively coupled to a sensor to measure a biomedical parameter of a patient (blood-sugar measuring instruments Par. 0043, 0209 / a biometric sensor 1840I Par. 0189), the PCB including a wireless communication device mounted on the PCB (Par. 0049); and
an antenna communicatively coupled to the wireless communication device (13 / 15 Figs. 8-11 Par. 0119), the first housing portion having a first portion of the antenna (13 Figs. 8-11 Par. 0119) and the second housing portion having a second portion of the antenna (15 Figs. 8-11 Par. 0119), wherein the first portion of the antenna is electrically coupled to the second portion of the antenna (Figs. 8-11).
Lee et al. is silent on wherein the first portion of the antenna is electrically coupled to the second portion of the antenna by physically coupling the first housing portion to the second housing portion.
However, Degner et al. teaches wherein the first portion of the antenna (24, 36, 38 Fig. 6 Par. 0076) is electrically coupled to the second portion of the antenna (42, 46, 48 Fig. 6 Par. 0076) by physically coupling the first housing portion to the second housing portion (through physically coupling housing portion 10 to housing portion 26 Figs. 1, 4, 6, 7 / “The magnetic coupling structures couple the antenna resonating element to circuitry in the electronic device” Abstract / “In addition to physically coupling the antenna and the electronic device together, the coupling structures may couple the antenna resonating element structures in the antenna to a transceiver in the electronic device through a communications path” Par. 0008).
In this particular case, providing the first portion of the antenna to be electrically coupled to the second portion of the antenna by physically coupling the first housing portion to the second housing portion is common and well known in the antenna art as evident by Degner et al. in order to obtain an antenna that can be removed from the electronic device without causing damage (Par. 0005) and to allow for easy change of antennas of different shapes and sizes (Par. 0006).
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to provide the first portion of the antenna of Lee et al. to be electrically coupled to the second portion of the antenna by physically coupling the first housing portion to the second housing portion based on the teachings of Degner et al. as a result effect in order to obtain an antenna that can be removed from the electronic device without causing damage and to allow to easily change antennas of different shapes and sizes.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MICHAEL M BOUIZZA whose telephone number is (571)272-6124. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm, EST.
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/MICHAEL M BOUIZZA/Examiner, Art Unit 2845
