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 .
Claim Objections
Claim 20 is objected to because of the following informalities: Claim 20, line 6, recites the term “hallowing”. The term is not consistent with the specification. “hallowing” should be rewritten as “hollowing”. Appropriate correction is required.
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 person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(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 20-22, 24, 30-32, 35 and 36 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Wu et al (US 2018/0342809 A1), hereinafter Wu. (Applicant’s cited prior art).
Regarding claim 20, Wu (Figures 1, 3 and 4) teaches a foldable electronic device 100 comprising an antenna 151/152, wherein the foldable electronic device comprises a first body 110, a second body 120, and a rotating shaft 130 connected to the first body and the second body, wherein the first body and the second body are rotatable around the rotating shaft (para [0016]), and the first body comprises a first metal housing 111 (para [0016]), and the second body comprises a second metal housing 121 (para [0016]); and the foldable electronic device further comprises a slot antenna 141 formed by hallowing out a housing ground plate 250 (para [0022]), wherein the slot antenna 141 comprises a first branch D41 and a second branch D42, the second branch is vertically connected to one end of the first branch (Figure 4), a feed point FP2 of the slot antenna is disposed on one of the branches (Figure 3, para [0029]), the slot antenna 141 is distributed in an area that is on the housing ground plate 250 and that is adjacent to a folding position, the first branch D41 and the second branch D42 are not distributed along a side edge of the housing ground plate at the same time and when one of the first branch and the second branch is distributed along the side edge of the housing ground plate, a gap between the other branch and the side edge of the housing ground plate is not less than 1/2 operating wavelength (para [0027], slot antenna 141 has total length D41+D42+D43 to be λ/4, the distance between slot antenna 141 and the right side of the housing ground plate 111 is considered to be larger than λ/2).
Regarding claim 21, as applied to claim 20, Wu (Figure 1, para [0016]) teaches that the first housing 111 and the second housing 121 are two independent metal housings.
Regarding claim 22, as applied to claim 21, Wu (Figure 1) teaches that when the foldable electronic device is in an unfolded state, the first housing and the second housing are not in contact with each other on an outer side of the rotating shaft, and the housing ground plate 111 is the first housing or the second housing.
Regarding claim 24, as applied to claim 20, Wu (Figures 1 and 4) teaches that one of the first branch D41 and the second branch D42 is distributed along a housing side edge connected to the rotating shaft 130.
Regarding claim 30, as applied to claim 20, Wu (Figures 1 and 4) teaches that in the first branch D41 and the second branch D42, one branch D41 distributed along a longer side edge of the housing ground plate 111 is longer than the other branch D42.
Regarding claim 31, as applied to claim 30, Wu teaches that the first value can be any value and that the difference of the ratios does not exceed the first value is always met which is considered to be equivalent with a difference between a ratio of a length of the one branch to a length of the other branch and a ratio of a length of the longer side edge of the housing ground plate to a length of a shorter side edge of the housing ground plate does not exceed a first value.
Regarding claim 32, as applied to claim 20, Wu (Figure 1) teaches that the folding position (hinge 130) is not covered by an input/output panel (display 112) with a signal shielding feature.
Regarding claim 35, as applied to claim 20, Wu (Figure 1) teaches that there is a plurality of slot antennas 141 and 142.
Regarding claim 36, as applied to claim 35, Wu (Figure 1) teaches that a quantity of slot antennas is specifically two, one slot antenna 141 is provided on a first outer side (left side) of the rotating shaft, and the other slot antenna 142 is provided on a second outer side (right side) of the rotating shaft.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 23, 25-29, 33 and 34 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Regarding claim 23, Wu fails to specifically teach that when the foldable electronic device is in an unfolded state, the first housing and the second housing are in contact with each other and form a short circuit on an outer side of the rotating shaft, and the housing ground plate is an integrated ground plate formed on the outer side of the rotating shaft by combining the first housing and the second housing.
Regarding claim 25, Wu fails to specifically teach that the first housing and the second housing are two parts of one entire metal housing.
Claims 26-28 would have been found allowable for at least the reason for depending on claim 25.
Regarding claim 29, Wu fails to specifically teach that the rotating shaft is made of metal, and the slot antenna is also distributed on an outer side of the rotating shaft.
Regarding claim 33, Wu fails to further teach that the slot antenna further comprises a third branch formed by hollowing out the housing ground plate, wherein the third branch is vertically connected to the other end of the first branch, and a gap between the feed point and the third branch is less than a second value.
Regarding claim 34, Wu fails to further teach that the slot antenna further comprises a slot formed through slotting at a first position of the first branch, wherein an inductor is loaded in the slot, and the first position comprises a strong current point of a first resonance frequency of the slot antenna.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Hsu et al (US 2021/0359393) discloses a foldable electronic device comprising slot antennas.
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/HOANG V NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2845