DETAILED ACTION
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the second paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112:
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 4-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112, second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which applicant regards as the invention.
In claim 4, lines 1-2, the language, “a first arm is already to a feeder” is unclear.
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 1-3 and 6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Kajola et al (7,039,437).
Regarding claim 1, Kajola et al disclose a tunable helical antenna 10 (abstract) comprising: at least one arm (fig2), wherein each arm has at least one turn, a substrate 5 having a width, a length, a thickness, an upper surface and a lower surface, wherein the at least one arm is located on the upper surface, on the lower surface, or on both the upper surface and the lower surface (fig2).
Regarding claim 6, Kajola et al disclose a tunable helical antenna 10 (abstract) comprising: at least one arm (fig2), wherein each arm has at least one turn, a substrate 5 having a width, a length, a thickness, an upper surface and a lower surface, wherein the at least one arm is located in at least part of the upper surface, in at least part of the lower surface, or in at least part of both the upper surface and the lower surface (fig2).
Kajola et al also disclose the antenna is a meandered antenna (abstract) , wherein the antenna is rendered tunable by exerting control over at least one parameter, and wherein the at least one parameter includes inductance, capacitance, connectivity of the antenna, and structure design (fig5, col5, lines 13-25).
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 4-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Kajola et al in view of Baumann (6,137,996).
Kajola et al had been discussed but fail to teach a first arm is already to a feeder each of an additional arm has an added diode in series to control the addition of the additional arms to an antenna structure. However, Baumann teaches a diode connected to antenna arms in series. It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skilled in the art to provide Kajola et al with a first arm is already to a feeder each of an additional arm has an added diode in series to control the addition of the additional arms to an antenna structure for the purpose of enabling the antenna to operate in multiple discrete frequency bands.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. The patents to Zhang, Zachara, Chau and Olesen are cited as of interested and illustrated a similar structure to a tunable helical antenna.
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.
Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free).
/THO G PHAN/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2845