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 .
Priority
2. 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
3. The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 07/08/2024 is 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.
Claim 1-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, first paragraph, as based on a disclosure which is not enabling. The disclosure does not enable one of ordinary skill in the art to practice the invention without “wherein the sensing device comprises an input port operably coupled to the closed loop resonator configured to input the input excitation, and an output port operably coupled to the closed loop resonator configured to output a transmission parameter measurement based on a response of the closed loop resonator and/or the open loop resonator” of Claim 3 and “wherein the closed loop resonator is configured to be coupled to the input port and to the output port via one or more transmission lines to generate a passband resonance or a stopband resonance” of Claim 4, which is/are critical or essential to the practice of the invention but not included in the claim(s). See In re Mayhew, 527 F.2d 1229, 188 USPQ 356 (CCPA 1976). Claim 1 discloses “the closed loop resonator is configured to couple in an input excitation and to transfer the input excitation towards the open loop resonator, and the open loop resonator is configured to generate localized electric fields between the first loop end and the second loop end propagating through the test sample”. Without the input port operably coupled to the closed loop resonator configured to input the input excitation, and an output port operably coupled to the closed loop resonator configured to output a transmission parameter measurement based on a response of the closed loop resonator and/or the open loop resonator, and the closed loop resonator coupled to the input port and to the output port via one or more transmission lines to generate a passband resonance or a stopband resonance, the sensor would be incapable of coupling in an input excitation, and an output port coupled to the closed loop resonator to output a transmission parameter measurement based on a response of the closed loop resonator and/or the open loop resonator, thus generating the desired input and output signals. Including the subject matter of Claims 3 and 4 into all and any new independency claims is suggested to overcome the rejection. All subsequent claims are also rejected due to dependency.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Pepper et al. (US 6809991) discloses detecting hidden features in an environment with consideration of the resonant frequencies of one type of object, such as a landmine, are significantly different from the resonant frequencies of other objects, such rocks, or tree roots.
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/ALESA ALLGOOD/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2858