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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDSs) submitted on 06/17/2024 and 11/18/2024 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 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, 10 and 18, the limitation recites “wherein a position of the decoupling element defines a common edge of a first cavity area that includes the first antenna and a second cavity area that includes the second antenna” and the limitation recites “a first length of the decoupling element is less than a second length of the common edge” is unclear and leaves the reader in doubt as to the meaning of the technical feature to which it refers. First, it is unclear that what is a common edge of a first cavity area? And where does a common edge of a first cavity area that includes the first antenna and a second cavity area that includes the second antenna coming from? Second, it is vague and not clearly identify the concrete limitation on the structure and geometry arrangement of the decoupling element. Therefore, the claims are unclear and indefinite.
The claim fails 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 claim
Claims 2-9, 11-17 and 19-20 are depending on claims 1, 10 and 18, and are rejected the same reasons under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph.
Note: for compact prosecution purposes, the examiner interprets the claims above as best understood in the rejections 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 1-4, 8-12, and 16-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a1) as being anticipated by Yue et al. (U.S Publication No. 20210091477 A1).
Regarding claims 1 and 18, Yue discloses an electronic device and a method for incorporating antennas within an electronic device (which is an antenna and mobile terminal, see figures 1-4, abstract, and paragraph [0079]), comprising:
an enclosure (see figure 1, via an upper housing 110 and a lower housing 120);
a display mounted on top of the enclosure (see figure 1, via a panel 111);
a first antenna mounted within the enclosure, wherein the first antenna operates at one or more first frequency bands (see figures 1-4, via a first feed element 131);
a second antenna mounted within the enclosure, wherein the second antenna operates at one or more second frequency bands (Figures 1-4, via a second feed element 132); and
a decoupling element mounted within a cavity area of the enclosure that, at least partially, isolates the first antenna from the second antenna (see figures 1-4, reference 140 and 140' and paragraphs [0042] : "The ribbed plate made of non-metallic materials as the spacer 140 can effectively avoid the signal interference between the two feed elements and realize the function of the multi-band signal antenna"), wherein a position of the decoupling element defines a common edge of a first cavity area that includes the first antenna and a second cavity area that includes the second antenna, and a first length of the decoupling element is less than a second length of the common edge (see figures 1-4: via the spacer element 140 and 140' only partially divides the volume accommodating the antenna elements).
Regarding claim 2, Yue discloses the electronic device of claim 1, wherein the enclosure is a metal enclosure that is absent of an antenna window (see abstract, paragraph [0034] and [0036]).
Regarding claim 3, Yue discloses the electronic device of claim 1, wherein the first antenna and the second antenna are mounted beneath a display bezel (via the first feed element 131 and the second feed element 132, see figure 1).
Regarding claim 4, Yue discloses the electronic device of claim 3, wherein the display bezel is less than 10 mm wide (see figure 1), and wherein the first antenna is mounted near a first corner of the enclosure and the second antenna is mounted near a second corner of the enclosure (via the first feed element 131 and the second feed element 132, see figure 1).
Regarding claim 8, Yue discloses the electronic device of claim 1, wherein the decoupling element (via the spacer element 140) is positioned beneath the display and between the first antenna and the second antenna based, at least in part, on one or more antenna isolation measurements (see figures 1-4, paragraph [0042]).
Regarding claim 9, Yue discloses the electronic device of claim 1, wherein the first antenna and the second antenna are slot antennas (see paragraph [0024] and [0037]).
Regarding claim 10, Yue discloses a system, comprising: an electronic device that includes a metal enclosure (see figure 1, via an upper housing 110 and a lower housing 120, and paragraph [0034]-[0036]);
a display mounted on top of the metal enclosure of the electronic device (see figure 1, via a panel 111);
a first antenna mounted within a first area of the electronic device (see figures 1-4, via a first feed element 131), wherein the first antenna operates at one or more of a 2.4 GHz frequency band and a 5 GHz frequency band (the arrangement disclosed in Yue is configured to operate in the frequency of sub-6 GHz bands, which operates within the frequency of 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands, see paragraph [0027] and [0060]);
a second antenna mounted within the first area of the electronic device (see fig. 1-4, via a second feed element 132), wherein the first antenna operates at one or more of a 2.4 GHz frequency band and a 5 GHz frequency band (the arrangement disclosed in Yue is configured to operate in the frequency of sub-6 GHz bands, which operates within the frequency of 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands, see paragraph [0027] and [0060]); and
a decoupling element mounted within the first area of the metal enclosure that, at least partially, isolates the first antenna from the second antenna (see figures 1-4, reference 140 and 140' and paragraphs [0042] : "The ribbed plate made of non-metallic materials as the spacer 140 can effectively avoid the signal interference between the two feed elements and realize the function of the multi-band signal antenna"), wherein a position of the decoupling element defines a common edge of a first cavity area that includes the first antenna and a second cavity area that includes the second antenna, and a first length of the decoupling element is less than a second length of the common edge (see figures 1-4: via the spacer element 140 and 140' only partially divides the volume accommodating the antenna elements).
Regarding claim 11, Yue discloses the system of claim 10, wherein the enclosure is absent of an antenna window (see abstract, paragraph [0034] and [0036]).
Regarding claim 12, Yue discloses the system of claim 10, further comprising a display bezel that is less than 10 mm wide (see figure 1), and wherein the first antenna and the second antenna are mounted beneath the display bezel (via the first feed element 131 and the second feed element 132, see figure 1).
Regarding claim 16, Yue discloses the system of claim 10, wherein the decoupling element (via the spacer element 140) is positioned beneath the display and between the first antenna and the second antenna based, at least in part, on one or more antenna isolation measurements (see figures 1-4, paragraph [0042]).
Regarding claim 17, Yue discloses the system of claim 10, wherein the first antenna and the second antenna are slot antennas (see paragraph [0024] and [0037]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5-7, 13-15 and 19-20 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. And the 112 issues above need to be fixed in order to place the application in allowance condition.
Citation of Relevance Prior Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Tsai et al. (U.S Publication No. 20230141980 A1) discloses an electronic device, including a decoupling member, a first radiator, a second radiator, a first feed unit, a second feed unit, and a rear cover. A gap is formed between the first radiator and the second radiator, the decoupling member is indirectly coupled to the first radiator and the second radiator, and the decoupling member is disposed on a surface of the rear cover. The decoupling member does not overlap a first projection, and the first projection is a projection of the first radiator on the rear cover in a first direction. The decoupling member does not overlap a second projection, and the second projection is a projection of the second radiator on the rear cover in the first direction. The first direction is a direction perpendicular to a plane on which the rear cover is located.
Zheng et al. (U.S Patent No. 11749876 B2) discloses a multimode high-isolation antenna system and associated methods and systems. The described antenna system is implemented on a generally-circular printed circuit board and can be used for wideband and ultra-wideband applications. The multimode high-isolation antenna system includes two orthogonal antennas separated by a decoupling structure. This arrangement provides high isolation between the antennas and enables five unique resonant modes of operation for the multimode high-isolation antenna system.
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.
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/Thai Pham/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2844 01/24/2026