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 .
Preliminary Amendment
The amendment filed 7/24/2024 pursuant to 37 CFR 1.115 was entered.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted 10/25/2024 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97 and being considered by the examiner.
Claim Objections
Claims 1, 7-8 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 1, line 11, recites: “a temperature compensation structure,” which was previously recited in line 1. To improve clarity, it should be revised as follows: --the [[a]] temperature compensation structure--.
Claim 7 recites: “wherein heat expansion of volume of the partially embedded portion of the one or more dielectric blocks inside the middle disk is restricted by the middle disk.” To improve clarity, the examiner suggests revising as follows: --wherein a change in volume due to heat expansion of the partially embedded portion of the one or more dielectric blocks inside the middle disk is restricted by the middle disk--.
Claim 8 recites: “wherein the volume of the partially embedded portion of the one or more dielectric blocks and volume of the non-embedded portion has a volume ratio of at least 0.5:1.” To improve clarity and to provide a proper antecedent basis for clam 9, the examiner suggests revising as follows: --wherein a volume ratio of the partially embedded portion to the non-embedded portion of the one or more dielectric blocks is at least 0.5:1--.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112(a)
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.
Claims 14 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) as failing to comply with the enablement requirement. The claims contain subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to enable one skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and/or use the invention.
Claims 14 and 20 recite “wherein change in volume of the enclosed cavity due to temperature change introduces a first frequency drift DF_0, change in distance between the middle disk and the lower plate due to the temperature change introduces a second frequency drift DF_m.l, change in coupling between the upper covering plate and the middle plate due to the temperature change introduces a third frequency drift DF_m.u, changes in volume of the dielectric blocks due to the temperature change introduces a fourth frequency drift DF_d, and changes in relative position between the tuning slot and the tuning rod due to the temperature change introduces a fifth frequency drift DF_r, and a minimized combination of frequency drift from the first frequency drift, the second frequency drift, the third frequency drift, the fourth frequency drift, and the fifth frequency drift is selected.”
The disclosure, as filed, does not contain sufficient information regarding the subject matter of the claims as to enable one skilled in the pertinent art to make and use the claimed invention without undue or unreasonable experimentation. MPEP 2164. The specification merely repeats the claim language verbatim at paragraph 11, but fails to disclose how the recited “minimized combination of frequency drift” is selected or determined.
Claim 15 at least identifies certain design parameters, such as “the height of the inner post,” “the height of the lower plate’s attachment location to the casing,” and “the total volume of the one or more dielectric blocks,” to be selected to minimize the “minimized combination of frequency drift.”
In contrast to Claim 15, Claims 14 and 20 merely recite changes in the five physical characteristics that introduce five frequency drifts and further recites that a minimized combination from [sic] the five frequency drifts is somehow selected. The disclosure does not describe how to determine or to minimize the recited changes or how to select the minimized combination of the drifts introduced by the changes and therefore does not enable one of ordinary skills how to make and/or use the claimed invention.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112(b)
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.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor, or a joint inventor, regards as the invention.
Claim 1, lines 11-12, recites “a temperature compensation structure arranged at or in the vicinity of the top end of the inner post and disposed inside the enclosed cavity.” The term “in the vicinity of” is a relative term which renders the claim indefinite. The term “in the vicinity of” is not defined by the claim, the specification does not provide a standard for ascertaining the requisite distance or location, and one of ordinary skill in the art would not be reasonably apprised of the scope of the invention, particularly because this term is recited in the claim as an alternative to “arranged at,” which would generally be understood as including “in, on or near.”
For examination purposes, this limitation will be understood to mean “a temperature compensation structure arranged at
Claims 2-20 are also rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) as dependent on the rejected claim.
Claim 11 is additionally rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor, or a joint inventor, regards as the invention
Claim 11 recites “wherein the middle disk has a disk thickness such that the middle disk substantially retains its flatness in the temperature range -80°C and + 150°C”.
The term “substantially retains its flatness” is a relative term which renders the claim indefinite. The term is not defined by the claim, the specification does not provide a standard for ascertaining the requisite degree of flatness, and one of ordinary skill in the art would not be reasonably apprised of the scope of the invention.
Claims 13-15 and 20 are additionally rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor, or a joint inventor, regards as the invention.
Claim 13 contains the trademark/trade name TeflonTM. Where a trademark or trade name is used in a claim as a limitation to identify or describe a particular material or product, the claim does not comply with the requirements of 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph. MPEP 2173.05(u); Ex parte Simpson, 218 USPQ 1020 (Bd. App. 1982). The claim scope is uncertain since the trademark or trade name cannot be used properly to identify any particular material or product. A trademark or trade name is used to identify a source of goods, and not the goods themselves. Thus, a trademark or trade name does not identify or describe the goods associated with the trademark or trade name. In the present case, the trademark/trade name is used to identify/describe the dielectric blocks and, accordingly, the identification and/or description is indefinite.
For examination purposes, this claim will be understood to mean “wherein the dielectric blocks are made of any dielectric, including air.”
Claim 14, lines 9-11, and Claim 20, lines 8-10, recite “a minimized combination of frequency drift from the first frequency drift, the second frequency drift, the third frequency drift, the fourth frequency drift, and the fifth frequency drift is selected,” which renders the claims indefinite.
First, it is unclear what “a minimized combination of frequency drift” means and/or refers to because at least five different frequency drifts are recited earlier in the claim.
Second, it is unclear whether all or only some of the previously recited frequency drifts are being minimized and/or are selected in the recited “minimized combination.”
Third, claims 14, 15 and 20 claim an apparatus (“the radio frequency device”) and also improperly claim a method of using the apparatus (“a minimized combination of frequency drift … is selected”). MPEP 2173.05(p).
For the foregoing reasons, no meaningful prior art examination of these claims is possible.
Appropriate correction is required.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1-4, 7, 11-13, 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2014/0340169 A1, published Nov. 20, 2014 (Subedi”) in view of U.S. Patent No. 6,396,366 B1, issued May 28, 2002 (“Räty”).
Subedi discloses in Figs. 1-3, 6-7 and the corresponding description:
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Claims 1, 13 and 16 (as best understood)
A radio frequency device (Figs. 1-6A-B, microwave duplexer, ¶¶34-55) that includes a temperature compensation structure for minimizing thermal frequency drift, the radio frequency device comprising:
a casing (Figs. 1-3, 6A-B, ¶35, duplexer housing and main metal housing forming a resonator cavity 20) made of a first conductive material of a first coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) value (¶36, “Suitable materials for the housing include aluminum, magnesium or silver plated plastic.”), the casing having a bottom wall (13b), a top wall (top part of main cover 13) and one or more side walls (Fig. 2 annotated) between the bottom wall and the top wall to form an enclosed cavity (20),
an inner post (conductive body 11) made of a second conductive material of a second CTE value (¶36, “Suitable materials for the hollow conductive body include silver plated stainless steel, copper or brass.”) disposed inside the enclosed cavity (Figs. 1-3, ¶35), the inner post having a bottom end and a top end opposite the bottom end, the inner post being attached and electrically connected to the bottom wall at the bottom end, the top end being electrically disconnected from the casing (¶35, “conductive body 11 grounded at one end by connecting to the metal pedestal 19 which is connected to bottom 13b of the main metal housing”), and
[the] temperature compensation structure arranged at or in the vicinity of the top end of the inner post and disposed inside the enclosed cavity, the temperature compensation structure comprising:
a middle disk (¶35, folded hat 11b-c) secured to and electrically attached to the top end of the inner post,
a covering plate (bottom part of 13) securely attached around its periphery to the casing (¶35, “The main cover is connected to the metal housing”), and
one or more dielectric blocks (Fig. 2, annotated, air gaps between the main cover and the hat) joining the middle disk to the covering plate, each one of the one or more dielectric blocks being partially embedded in the middle disk and having a non-embedded portion separating the middle disk from the covering plate at a gap distance,
wherein the lower plate, the middle disk and the covering plate are electrically conductive (¶¶35-36).
Subedi does not disclose “a lower plate secured to and electrically attached to at least one side wall of the one or more side walls and at a height between the top end and the bottom end, the lower plate making no contact with the inner post.”
However, Räty, in the same field of endeavor, discloses the hat resonator 20 including the rod 16 (“inner post”), the main disk 17 (“middle disk”) and one or more plates 21 (“lower plates”) located in the cavity 12 (Figs. 2a-b, 3:54-65).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the hat resonator of Subedi by adding lower plates of Räty for the benefit of creating extra capacitive coupling between the middle disk and the cavity walls via the plates in order to decrease the physical size of the resonator, as taught by Räty (2:58-62; 3:66-4:5).
One of ordinary skill would have been motivated to carry out this modification with a reasonable expectation of success because both Subedi and Räty disclose structurally and operationally similar cavity hat resonators, operating in similar manner, made of similar materials, and used in similar applications.
Claims 2-4
further comprising: one or more inner dividers, the one or more inner dividers dividing the enclosed cavity into a plurality of inner chambers, the inner post and the temperature compensation structure being disposed in the first of the plurality of inner chambers, the inner post disposed in the first of the plurality of inner chambers being a first inner post and the temperature compensation structure disposed in the first of the plurality of inner chambers being a first temperature compensation structure, each inner divider of the one or more inner dividers having a port connecting the neighboring inner chambers separated by the each inner divider for coupling electromagnetic energy in the neighboring chambers (Subedi, Figs. 6A-B, ¶¶37-46).
Claim 7 (as best understood)
wherein heat expansion of volume of the partially embedded portion of the one or more dielectric blocks inside the middle disk is restricted by the middle disk (Subedi, Fig. 2, expansion of airgap is restricted by copper middle disk).
Claim 11 (as best understood)
wherein the middle disk has a disk thickness such that the middle disk substantially retains its flatness in the temperature range -80°C and + 150°C (¶36, the middle disk can be made from silver plated stainless steel, copper or brass, all of which will substantially retain flatness in the required temperature range).
Claim 12
wherein the dielectric blocks (Subedi, Fig. 2, air gaps) are made of a dielectric material that has a CTE value larger than that of the middle disk (the CTE of air is larger than the CTE of silver plated stainless steel, copper or brass).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5-6, 8-10, 17-19 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejections under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim(s) and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to VICTOR COLE, telephone number (571) 272-4686. The examiner can be reached Monday-Friday, 9AM-5PM ET.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, ANDREA LINDGREN BALTZELL, can be reached at (571) 272-5918. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is (571) 273-8300.
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/VICTOR COLE/
Examiner, Art Unit 2843
/ANDREA LINDGREN BALTZELL/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2843