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 statement (IDS) filed on 8/12/24 is considered by the examiner.
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 1-6, 8-9, 12 and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wu et al. (US PG Pub. No. 2018/0342809) in view of Itabashi et al. (US Patent No. 5,592,185).
Regarding claim 1, Wu et al. teaches (Figs. 2-3) an antenna structure comprising: a conductor substrate (111) having a slot (141); a coupling feed-in element (200), wherein the coupling feed-in element, partly overlapping the slot, is disposed on the conductor substrate (see Figs. 2 and 3, 200 party overlaps the slot 141, and is disposed on 111); and a shielding element (251), wherein the shielding element, partly overlapping the slot, is separated from the coupling feed-in element and disposed on the conductor substrate (250 disposed on 111), and the shielding element is adjustable along the slot (see ¶32 lines 5-9, “D32 [defined by the position of 251 along the slot] may be used to adjust the impedance matchings of the antenna structure 151”, i.e. by adjusting the shielding element 251 along the slot, i.e. extending or retracting it in the Y direction).
Wu does not explicitly teach the shielding element being specifically movable along the slot.
Itabashi et al. teaches (Fig. 4) an antenna structure comprising: a conductor substrate having a slot (3 having slot 5); and a shielding element (8), wherein the shielding element, partly overlapping the slot, is disposed on the conductor substrate (see Fig. 4), and the shielding element is movable along the slot (see movability by lever 17, Col 10 lines 54-56).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the antenna structure of Wu by forming the shielding element such that it is movable along the slot employing the teachings of Itabashi.
Doing so would provide the predictable benefit of enabling continuous phase shift characteristic variation of the antenna (Itabashi, Col 10 lines 57-63).
Regarding claim 2, Wu teaches the antenna structure according to claim 1, wherein the coupling feed-in element (200) and the slot (141) enable the antenna to resonate with a first frequency band (530; see Fig. 5, ¶27).
Regarding claim 3, Wu teaches the antenna structure according to claim 2, wherein the shielding element is movable along the slot to change the first frequency band (¶32, the adjustment of impedance matching of the antenna inherently affects change in the resonance of the first frequency band, as is understood by persons having ordinary skill in the art).
Regarding claim 4, Wu teaches the antenna structure according to claim 2, wherein the coupling feed-in element is an antenna module (200 is an antenna module; see Fig. 2).
Regarding claim 5, Wu teaches the antenna structure according to claim 4, wherein the antenna structure resonates with a second frequency band (540), and the second frequency band comprises an operating frequency band of the antenna module (200) and/or a multiple of the first frequency band (see ¶34, antenna 151 which comprises antenna module 200 is operable on the second frequency band 540, thus the second frequency band comprises an operating frequency band of the antenna module).
Regarding claim 6, Wu teaches the antenna structure according to claim 1, wherein the shielding element is made of a conductive material (250 and 251 are grounding portions, see ¶21, and thus are inherently made of a conductive material, as would be understood by persons having ordinary skill in the art).
Regarding claim 8, Wu teaches the antenna structure according to claim 1.
Wu does not teach wherein the shielding element is slidably disposed on the conductor substrate and positioned at any position of the slot.
Itabashi et al. teaches (Fig. 4) an antenna structure comprising: a conductor substrate having a slot (3 having slot 5); and a shielding element (8), wherein the shielding element, partly overlapping the slot, is disposed on the conductor substrate (see Fig. 4), and the shielding element is movable along the slot (see movability by lever 17, Col 10 lines 54-56), wherein the shielding element is slidably disposed on the conductor substrate and positioned at any position of the slot (see Fig. 4.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the antenna structure of Wu by forming the shielding element such that it is movable along the slot employing the teachings of Itabashi.
Doing so would provide the predictable benefit of enabling continuous phase shift characteristic variation of the antenna (Itabashi, Col 10 lines 57-63).
Regarding claim 9, Wu teaches the antenna structure according to claim 1, wherein the slot is an I-shaped slot, an L-shaped slot or a T-shaped slot (see L-shape of slot 141, Fig. 3).
Regarding claim 12, Wu teaches the antenna structure according to claim 1, wherein the slot has an option portion (see opening on left edge) and closed portion (see enclosed portion on right side) interconnected with each other, the open portion forms an opening on an edge of the conductor substrate (see Fig. 2), and the coupling feed-in element and the shielding element overlap the closed portion (see Figs. 2, 3).
Regarding claim 14, Wu teaches the antenna structure according to claim 1, wherein the conductor substrate has a first side and a second side disposed oppositely (top and bottom side in Z direction), and the coupling feed-in element and the shielding element are located on the first side of the conductor substrate (see Fig. 2).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 7, 10-11, 13, and 15 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.
Regarding claim 7, the prior art does not teach or reasonably suggest, in combination with other claimed limitations, the limitation of “wherein the shielding element comprises a conductive portion and a non-conductive portion, and the conductive portion is disposed between the conductor substrate and the non-conductive portion”, and the modification of the art of record to incorporate this feature would not have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Regarding claim 10, the prior art does not teach or reasonably suggest, in combination with other claimed limitations, the limitation of “wherein the coupling feed-in element is located at one end of the slot, and the shielding element is opposite to the coupling feed-in element”, and the modification of the art of record to incorporate this feature would not have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim 11 is included for its dependency upon, and incorporation of the limitations of, claim 10.
Regarding claim 13, the prior art does not teach or reasonably suggest, in combination with other claimed limitations, the limitation of “wherein the closed portion has two long sides and two short sides, and the shielding element is movable along the two long sides of the closed portion”, and the modification of the art of record to incorporate this feature would not have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Regarding claim 15, the prior art does not teach or reasonably suggest, in combination with other claimed limitations, the limitation of “wherein the conductor substrate has a first side and a second side disposed oppositely, and the coupling feed-in element and the shielding element are respectively located on the first side and the second side of the conductor substrate”, and the modification of the art of record to incorporate this feature would not have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure: Gravendieck (US PG Pub. No. 2024/0313378), Theofanopoulos et al. (US PG Pub. No. 2024/0113425), and Tseng et al. (US PG Pub. No. 2019/0044232) each teach variations on slot antennas with tuning means.
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/DAMEON E LEVI/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2845
/Jordan E. DeWitt/Examiner, Art Unit 2845