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(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 § 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.
Claim(s) 1-6, 13, 15-16, 18, and 22 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sanchez (U.S. Patent Application No. 20170062925, made of record in IDS dated 09 October 2024), hereinafter known as Sanchez, in view of Pollayi et al. (WO2021/040892, made of record in IDS dated 09 October 2024), hereinafter known as Pollayi.
Regarding claim 1, Sanchez teaches (Figs. 1-4) an antenna (10), comprising: a metal 3D printed array of radiating elements (10) configured as a unitary arrangement of a plurality metal elements (102,104) ([0011],[0014]).
Sanchez does not teach the unitary arrangement is of a metal reflector, a plurality of metal support stalks extending forwardly of the metal reflector, and a plurality metal radiating arms attached to distal ends of corresponding ones of the plurality of metal support stalks.
Pollayi teaches (Figs. 1-9) the antenna includes a metal reflector (24), a plurality of metal support stalks (120) extending forwardly of the metal reflector (24), and a plurality metal radiating arms (130) attached to distal ends of corresponding ones of the plurality of metal support stalks (see Fig. 3).
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of invention to one of ordinary skill in the art to form the unitary antenna arrangement of Sanchez of a metal reflector, a plurality of metal support stalks extending forwardly of the metal reflector, and a plurality of metal radiating arms attached to distal ends of corresponding ones of the plurality of metal support stalks to provide manufacturing advantages of 3D unitary printing ([0014] of Sanchez) with an antenna design that accommodates an increasing volume of cellular communication, as suggested by Pollayi ([0004]-[0005]).
Regarding claim 2, Sanchez in view of Pollayi disclose the subject matter of claim 1, and Pollayi further teaches (Figs. 1-9) a plurality of 3D printed metal feed stalks (120), which extend forwardly of the metal reflector (24) and contact corresponding ones of the plurality of metal radiating arms (130).
Regarding claims 3 and 15, Sanchez in view of Pollayi disclose the subject matter of claim 1, and Pollayi further teaches (Figs. 1-9) a plurality of metal feed signal traces (150) extending adjacent a forward-facing surface of the metal reflector (24).
Regarding claims 4 and 18, Sanchez in view of Pollayi disclose the subject matter of claim 1, and Pollayi further teaches (Figs. 1-9) each of the plurality of metal feed signal traces is electrically connected to a corresponding one or more of the plurality of metal feed stalks (120, see Fig. 6).
Regarding claims 5 and 16, Sanchez in view of Pollayi disclose the subject matter of claim 1, and Pollayi further teaches (Figs. 1-9) each of the plurality of metal feed signal is separated from the forward-facing surface of the metal reflector (24) by an electrically insulating material (160).
Regarding claim 6, Sanchez in view of Pollayi disclose the subject matter of claim 1, and Pollayi further teaches (Figs. 1-9) the electrically insulating material (160) extends between the forward-facing surface of the metal reflector (24) and a base of each of the plurality of metal feed stalks (120).
Regarding claim 13, Sanchez teaches (Figs. 1-4) metal 3D printing radiating elements (10) configured as a single-piece unitary metal structure ((102,104) ([0011],[0014]).
Sanchez does not teach that the 3D manufactured unitary antenna includes a metal reflector; and an array of cross-dipole radiating elements on a forward facing surface of the metal reflector, such that the metal reflector and the array of cross-dipole radiating elements are configured as a single-piece unitary metal structure.
Pollayi teaches (Figs. 1-9) a metal reflector (24), a plurality of metal support stalks (120) extending forwardly of the metal reflector (24), and a plurality cross-dipole metal radiating arms (130) attached to distal ends of corresponding ones of the plurality of metal support stalks (120) (Fig 2, 3, 4A).
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of invention to one of ordinary skill in the art to form the unitary antenna arrangement of Sanchez including a metal reflector; and an array of cross-dipole radiating elements on a forward facing surface of the metal reflector, such that the metal reflector and the array of cross-dipole radiating elements are configured as a single-piece unitary metal structure to provide manufacturing advantages of 3D unitary printing [0014] of Sanchez) with an antenna design that accommodates an increasing volume of cellular communication ([0004]-[0005] of Pollayi).
Regarding claim 22, Sanchez teaches (Figs. 1-4) an antenna (10), comprising: a metal 3D printed array of radiating elements (10) configured as a unitary arrangement of a plurality metal element s(102,104) ([0011],[0014]).
Sanchez does not teach the 3D printed unitary arrangement including a metal reflector; and a metal array of radiating elements configured as an arrangement of: (i) a plurality of metal support stalks extending forwardly of the metal reflector, (ii) a plurality metal radiating arms attached to distal ends of corresponding ones of the plurality of metal support stalks, and (iii) a plurality of metal feed stalks, which extend forwardly of the metal reflector and contact corresponding ones of the plurality of metal radiating arms.
Pollayi teaches (Figs. 1-9) the antenna includes a metal reflector (24), (i) a plurality of metal support stalks (120) extending forwardly of the metal reflector (24), (ii) a plurality metal radiating arms (130) attached to distal ends of corresponding ones of the plurality of metal support stalks (120), and (iii) a plurality of metal feed stalks (150), which extend forwardly of the metal reflector (24) and contact corresponding ones of the plurality of metal radiating arms (130)
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of invention to one of ordinary skill in the art to form the unitary antenna arrangement of Sanchez including a metal reflector; and a metal array of radiating elements configured as an arrangement of: (i) a plurality of metal support stalks extending forwardly of the metal reflector, (ii) a plurality metal radiating arms attached to distal ends of corresponding ones of the plurality of metal support stalks, and (iii) a plurality of metal feed stalks, which extend forwardly of the metal reflector and contact corresponding ones of the plurality of metal radiating arms to provide manufacturing advantages of 3D unitary printing ( [0014] of Sanchez) with an antenna design that accommodates an increasing volume of cellular communication ([0004]-[0005] of Pollayi).
Claim(s) 21 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sanchez as modified as applied to claim 1 a above, and further in view of Sheinman (U.S. Patent Application No. 20190299283, made of record in IDS dated 09 October 2024), hereinafter known as Sheinman.
Regarding claim 21, Sanchez as modified teaches the limitations of claim 13, but does not teach wherein the metal 3D printed array of radiating elements is formed using a direct metal laser melting printing process or a metal binder jetting printing process.
Sheinman teaches ([0003]) that a direct metal laser melting printing process and a metal binder jetting printing process were both well-known techniques to facilitate manufacture ([0001]-[0003])
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of invention to one of ordinary skill in the art to form the metal 3D printed array of radiating elements of Sanchez as modified using a direct metal laser melting printing process or a metal binder jetting printing process since these were well known processes to facilitate 3D printing of metal, as suggested by Sheinman.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 8, 10-11, 14, 19, 23 and 24 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 prior art does not teach or render obvious dependent claim 8 as arranged specifically “wherein the unitary arrangement further comprises a 3D printed metal filter chassis on arear-facing surface of the metal reflector, and a 3D printed array of cavity filters with resonators within the metal filter chassis.”
The prior art does not teach or render obvious dependent claim 10 as arranged specifically “wherein the unitary arrangement further comprise: a plurality of 3D printed metal fences extending on a forward-facing surface of the metal reflector.”
The prior art does not teach or render obvious dependent claim 11 as arranged specifically “wherein the unitary arrangement further comprise :a row of T-shaped 3D printed metal fences, which are integrated into a forward-facing surface of the metal reflector and extend between first and second sub-arrays of the radiating elements.”
The prior art does not teach or render obvious dependent claim 14 as arranged specifically “metal 3D printing a metal filter chassis and an array of cavity filters with resonators within the metal filter chassis, such that the metal filter chassis and the array of cavity filters with resonators extend adjacent a rear-facing surface of the metal reflector.”
The prior art does not teach or render obvious dependent claim 20 as arranged specifically “metal 3D printing an array of cross- dipole radiating elements on a forward-facing surface of the metal reflector is performed concurrently with metal 3D printing a plurality of metal fences on the forward-facing surface of the metal reflector.”
The prior art does not teach or render obvious dependent claim 23 as arranged specifically “a 3D printed metal filter chassis on a rear-facing surface of the metal reflector.”
The prior art does not teach or render obvious dependent claim 24 as arranged specifically “a 3D printed array of cavity filters, with resonators, within the metal filter chassis.”
The rest of the claims are allowable based on their dependence from the above claims.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Tianang et al. (U.S. Patent No. 11909120) teaches an antenna array.
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