DETAILED ACTION
Notice to Applicant
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
Claims 1-12 are pending.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
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.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
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.
Claim 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 11 recites the limitation "the single via electrode portion" in lines 2-3. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. Further, it is unclear to the Examiner as to how “the single via electrode portion” is related to “the via electrode portion” and the “the shielding via electrode portion” recited in claim 1. The Examiner construes that the Applicant intended to recite --the shielding via electrode portion-- for examination purposes.
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 1 and 9-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by WO 2020/162379, as cited by the Applicant, English translation provided by the Examiner.
As per claims 1 and 9-12, WO 2020/162379 discloses in Figs. 13, 14a, and 14b a filter comprising:
as per claim 1, a first shielding conductor (e.g. lower shield conductor 12b) formed on one main surface side (e.g. lower surface 14e) of a dielectric substrate (e.g. dielectric substrate 14); a second shielding conductor (e.g. upper shield conductor 12a) formed on another main surface (e.g. side surface 14a) of the dielectric substrate; a third shielding conductor (e.g. side surface shield conductor 12Ca) formed on a first side surface (e.g. side surface 14c) of the dielectric substrate; a fourth shielding conductor (e.g. side surface shield conductor 12Cb) formed on a second side surface (e.g. side surface 14d) facing toward the first side surface; a resonator (e.g. resonator 10) including a via electrode portion (e.g. via electrode portion 20) formed in the dielectric substrate and a capacitor electrode (e.g. strip line 18; A capacitance is inherently formed between strip line 18 and shield conductor 12b by virtue of the conductors facing one another with a dielectric in between, as well-known in the art. Thus, strip line 18 is necessarily “a capacitor electrode”.) facing toward the first shielding conductor (The strip line 18 faces the lower shield conductor 12b.) and connected to one end of the via electrode portion (e.g. bottom end of via electrode portion 20); and a shielding via electrode portion (e.g. via hole 42b) including one end (e.g. bottom end thereof) connected to the first shielding conductor and another end (e.g. top end thereof) connected to the second shielding conductor, wherein the shielding via electrode portion is selectively formed within an extending region in which a region where the via electrode portion is formed is extended toward at least one of the third shielding conductor or the fourth shielding conductor (Via electrode 20 is formed of via electrode portions 20a and 20b. The via hole 42b is formed along a left side of the resonator 10, where via electrode portion 20 extends toward the shield conductor 12Ca via the via electrode portion 20a.);
as per claim 9, wherein the shielding via electrode portion is constituted by at least one shielding via electrode (e.g. via hole 42b which connects shield conductors 12a and 12b together, thus is necessarily “at least one shielding via electrode”);
as per claim 10, wherein the third shielding conductor and the fourth shielding conductor are formed along a first direction (e.g. left to right horizontal direction) that is a longitudinal direction of the dielectric substrate;
as per claim 11, wherein the resonator is provided with the single (i.e. shielding) via electrode portion (The resonator 10 is provided with the via hole 42b.); and
as per claim 12, wherein the via electrode portion is constituted by a plurality of via electrodes (e.g. via electrode portions 20a and 20b).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-8 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
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to RAKESH PATEL whose telephone number is (571)272-0961. The examiner can normally be reached 9AM-5PM EST M-F.
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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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/RAKESH B PATEL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2843
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