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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement(s) (IDS) is/are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement(s) is/are being considered by the examiner.
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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Hara et al. (U.S. Patent Application No. 20240047897), hereinafter known as Hara.
Regarding claim 1, Hara discloses (Figs. 1-33) an antenna housing (101) in which a hollow portion being formed (see Fig. 1); an antenna (103, 104, or 105) located inside the antenna housing and configured to perform at least one of transmission and reception of electric waves ([0057]-[0064]); and a scatterer (111-113, screwing portions, [0124]) configured to scatter the electric waves propagating through the hollow portion at a predetermined position of the antenna housing ([0066]).
Regarding claim 2, Hara further discloses (Figs. 1-33) wherein at least one scatterer is present in a position where a ripple of directional characteristics of the electric waves is smaller than in other positions (see Figs. 2-3, Examiner’s Note: the Examiner has reason to believe that “wherein at least one scatterer is present in a position where a ripple of directional characteristics of the electric waves is smaller than in other positions”; therefore, this limitation, which refers entirely to a property or function of the explicitly recited structure of 2, which structure, as described herein, reads on the scatterer of Hara, is presumed inherent to the scatterer of Hara, as permitted by the legal principles outlined in MPEP 2112.01(I); for further information see also In Re Schreiber, 44 USPQ2d 1429 (CAFC 1997), which states that: "A patent applicant is free to recite features of an apparatus either structurally or functionally. . . . Yet, choosing to define an element functionally, i.e., by what it does, carries with it a risk . . . As our predecessor court stated in Swinehart, 439 F.2d at 213, 169 USPQ at 228: where the Patent Office has reason to believe that a functional limitation asserted to be critical for establishing novelty in the claimed subject matter may, in fact, be an inherent characteristic of the prior art, it possesses the authority to require the applicant to prove that the subject matter shown to be in the prior art does not possess the characteristic relied on.”).
Regarding claim 3, Hara discloses (Figs. 1-33) wherein the number of the scatterer is two or more (see Figs. 2-3), at least one first scatterer is located at the predetermined position in the antenna housing, and at least one second scatterer is located at a position where a deviation of an intensity distribution of the electric waves in the vicinity of the predetermined position is relatively small (see Figs. 2-3, Examiner’s Note in response to claim 2).
Regarding claim 4, Hara discloses (Figs. 1-33) wherein the number of the scatterer is two or more (see Figs. 2-3), at least one first scatterer is located at the predetermined position in the antenna housing, and at least one second scatterer is located at a position where a ripple of directional characteristics is relatively small (see Figs. 2-3, Examiner’s Note in response to claim 2).
Regarding claim 5, Hara discloses (Figs. 1-33) wherein two or more scatterers are present at positions substantially symmetrical with respect to an axis connecting a feed point of the antenna and a geometric center of the antenna housing (see Figs. 2-3, antennas aligned with center axis of housing).
Regarding claim 6, Hara discloses (Figs. 1-33) wherein the scatterer is present on an axis connecting a feed point of the antenna and a geometric center of the antenna housing (see Figs. 2-3, antennas and one of 111-113 aligned with center axis of housing).
Regarding claim 7, Hara discloses (Figs. 1-33) wherein the scatterer is configured with an ungrounded conductive component ([0068]).
Regarding claim 8, Hara discloses (Figs. 1-33) wherein the scatterer is configured with a grounded conductive component ([0135]).
Regarding claim 9, Hara discloses (Figs. 1-33) wherein the scatterer is configured with a non-conductive component ([0059], resin).
Regarding claim 10, Hara discloses (Figs. 1-33) wherein the antenna is a resonant element extending vertically from a ground surface, and the scatterer is arranged parallel to the antenna with a length of 0.1 to 1 times a wavelength A of an operation frequency of the antenna ([0064],[0069]).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Yokota et al. (U.S. Patent Application No. 20230335890) teaches an antenna.
Mizuno et al. (U.S. Patent Application No. 20200067180) teaches an antenna.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DANIEL MUNOZ whose telephone number is (571)270-1957. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.
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/DANIEL MUNOZ/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2896