DETAILED ACTION
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)(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, 5 and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by the publication of JP 2019176692 A.
Regarding claim 1, the publication of JP 2019176692 A discloses a plurality of reception electrodes 200,250 arranged at positions opposing one transmission line of a transmission apparatus 110; and a connection path (wiring connection path between 200,250) configured to connect the plurality of reception electrodes, wherein the connection path includes at least one passive element (wiring connection path between 200,250) between the reception electrodes (fig16).
The publication of JP 2019176692 A also discloses the plurality of reception electrodes is arranged on a dielectric substrate (fig16).
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 4 and 7-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over the publication of JP 2019176692 A.
The publication of JP 2019176692 A had been discussed but fails to teach the plurality of reception electrodes arranged at positions opposing the one transmission line is three or more reception electrodes and at least one passive element includes a resistor or an inductor or a ferrite bead. It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skilled in the art at the time the invention was made to have three or more reception electrodes and the at least one passive element includes a resistor or an inductor or a ferrite bead, since it has been held to be within the general skill of a worker in the art to select a known elements for the intended use as a matter of obvious design choice.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-3 and 6 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.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. The patents to Goma, Takahashi, Eguchi, Ichikawa, Shigihara and Nakatsuka are cited as of interested and illustrated a similar structure to a reception 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.
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/THO G PHAN/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2845
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