DETAILED ACTION
This action is in response to the initial filing filed on December 31, 2024, Claim 1-20 have been examined this application.
Information Disclosure Statement
The Information Disclosure Statement (IDS) filed on 6/24/2025 has been acknowledged.
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 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.
Claims 1-2 and 13-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Misaki (US 2020/0388934 A1) in view of Song et al (US 7525504 B1).
Regarding Claim 1, Misaki teaches an antenna device, comprising a plurality of antenna units arranged side by side in a second direction [0139 plurality of the antenna units U arranged two-dimensionally (side by side)],
wherein each of the plurality of antenna units comprises a waveguide structure and a radiation structure [0128-0129 for slot substrate waveguide];
the radiation structure comprises a first dielectric substrate and a second dielectric substrate which are opposite to each other [0126-0127 for two substrates element 1 and 51],
a first electrode layer arranged on a side of the first dielectric substrate proximal to the second dielectric substrate [0126-0128 for substrate element 1 with electrode element 15, and substrate element 51 with electrode element 55],
a second electrode layer arranged on a side of the second dielectric substrate proximal to the first dielectric substrate [0126-0128 for substrate element 1 with electrode element 15, and substrate element 51 with electrode element 55],
and a first adjustable dielectric layer arranged between the first dielectric substrate and the second dielectric substrate [0125 for a slot substrate, a liquid crystal layer (dielectric) LC provided therebetween and 0135];
the first dielectric substrate is arranged on a waveguide cavity of the waveguide structure [0128 for dielectric substrate and the air layer therebetween function as a waveguide];
the first electrode layer has therein a plurality of slit openings arranged side by side along a first direction [0127 for slot electrode with a plurality of slots],
and the second electrode layer comprises a plurality of patch electrodes spaced apart from each other [0127 for slot electrode with a plurality of slots];
an orthogonal projection of each of the plurality of patch electrodes on the first dielectric substrate at least partially overlaps with an orthogonal projection of one of the plurality of slit openings on the first dielectric substrate [0129 for one patch electrode opposes a portion of the slot electrode including one slot].
Misaki fails to explicitly teach and wherein the antenna device further comprises a feed structure, the feed structure comprises at least one first feed port and a plurality of second feed ports, and each of the plurality of second feed ports is electrically connected to the waveguide structure of one of the plurality of antenna units.
Song has methods for employing switched phase shifters and a feed network to provide a low-cost multiple beam antenna system (abstract) and teaches and wherein the antenna device further comprises a feed structure [figure 42 element 4201 & 4202 RF IN (feed structures)],
the feed structure comprises at least one first feed port and a plurality of second feed ports, and each of the plurality of second feed ports is electrically connected to the waveguide structure of one of the plurality of antenna units [col 14, lines 50-67 for having two RF feed branches that feed four groups of antenna elements].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the applicant’s invention for modifying the antenna feed techniques, as disclosed by Misaki, further including the feed branch designs as taught by Song for the purpose to reduce the number of PIN diodes and phase shifter components employed in a feed network (Song, col 15, lines 1-10).
Regarding Claim 2, Misaki fails to explicitly teach the feed structure comprises a main feed channel and a plurality of branch feed channels, each of the main feed channel and the plurality of branch feed channels has a first terminal and a second terminal, the first terminal of the main feed channel serves as the first feed port, first terminals of the branch feed channels are all connected to the second terminal of the main feed channel, and second terminals of the branch feed channels serve as the second feed ports, respectively.
Song has methods for employing switched phase shifters and a feed network to provide a low-cost multiple beam antenna system (abstract) and teaches the feed structure comprises a main feed channel and a plurality of branch feed channels, each of the main feed channel and the plurality of branch feed channels has a first terminal and a second terminal [figure 42 element 4201 & 4202 RF IN (feed structures)],
the first terminal of the main feed channel serves as the first feed port, first terminals of the branch feed channels are all connected to the second terminal of the main feed channel, and second terminals of the branch feed channels serve as the second feed ports, respectively [col 14, lines 50-67 for having two RF feed branches that feed four groups of antenna elements].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the applicant’s invention for modifying the antenna feed techniques, as disclosed by Misaki, further including the feed branch designs as taught by Song for the purpose to reduce the number of PIN diodes and phase shifter components employed in a feed network (Song, col 15, lines 1-10).
Regarding Claim 13, Misaki fails to explicitly teach the feed structure comprises a plurality of feed channels, each of which has a first terminal and a second terminal, the first terminal of one of the feed channels serves as one of the at least one first feed port of the feed structure, and the second terminal of each feed channel serves as one of the second feed ports of the feed structure.
Song has methods for employing switched phase shifters and a feed network to provide a low-cost multiple beam antenna system (abstract) and teaches the feed structure comprises a plurality of feed channels, each of which has a first terminal and a second terminal [figure 42 element 4201 & 4202 RF IN (feed structures)],
the first terminal of one of the feed channels serves as one of the at least one first feed port of the feed structure, and the second terminal of each feed channel serves as one of the second feed ports of the feed structure [col 14, lines 50-67 for having two RF feed branches that feed four groups of antenna elements].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the applicant’s invention for modifying the antenna feed techniques, as disclosed by Misaki, further including the feed branch designs as taught by Song for the purpose to reduce the number of PIN diodes and phase shifter components employed in a feed network (Song, col 15, lines 1-10).
Regarding Claim 14, Misaki teaches the first electrode layer is connected to a first bias voltage line, each of the patch electrodes is connected to a second bias voltage line, and the patch electrodes are connected to separate second bias voltage lines [0126, and 0142 for drain electrode is electrically connected to the patch electrode].
Regarding Claim 15, Misaki teaches the slit openings of the antenna units are arranged in a one-to-one correspondence [0142 for source bus lines SL supported by the dielectric substrate];
the first electrode layer is connected to a first bias voltage line, each of the patch electrodes is connected to a second bias voltage line [0142 for source electrode of the TFT is electrically connected to the source bus line SL, and the gate electrode is electrically connected to the gate bus line GL];
and the patch electrodes arranged side by side along the second direction are connected to a same second bias voltage line [0126, and 0142 for drain electrode is electrically connected to the patch electrode].
Regarding Claim 16, Misaki teaches a driver chip, wherein both each first bias voltage line and each second bias voltage line are electrically connected to the driver chip [0144 for the source driver SD and the gate driver GD are formed on the dielectric substrate].
Claims 3-7 and 11-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Misaki (US 2020/0388934 A1) in view of Song et al (US 7525504 B1), as applied to Claim 1 above, and further in view of Jia et al (US 2022/0006165 A1).
Regarding Claim 3, Misaki fails to explicitly teach a plurality of phase adjustment structures, wherein each of the branch feed channels is electrically connected to the waveguide structure of one of the antenna units through one of the phase adjustment structures.
Jia has a feeding structure, a microwave radio frequency device and an antenna (abstract) and teaches a plurality of phase adjustment structures [0047 for having phasing shifting structures with transmission lines and dielectric layers],
wherein each of the branch feed channels is electrically connected to the waveguide structure of one of the antenna units through one of the phase adjustment structures [0053 for the delay branch may output the microwave signal transmitted thereon to the first transmission line of the phase shifting structure].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the applicant’s invention for modifying the antenna feed techniques, as disclosed by Misaki, further including the phase designs as taught by Jia for the purpose to shift a phase of a microwave signal, a phase shifting degree of a phase shifter including the feeding structure (Jia, 0054).
Regarding Claim 4, Misaki fails to explicitly teach each of the phase adjustment structures comprises a liquid crystal phase shifter.
Jia has a feeding structure, a microwave radio frequency device and an antenna (abstract) and teaches a each of the phase adjustment structures comprises a liquid crystal phase shifter [0047 for phase shifting structure with a liquid crystal layer].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the applicant’s invention for modifying the antenna feed techniques, as disclosed by Misaki, further including the phase designs as taught by Jia for the purpose to shift a phase of a microwave signal, a phase shifting degree of a phase shifter including the feeding structure (Jia, 0054).
Regarding Claim 5, Misaki fails to explicitly teach at least some of the branch feed channels have different lengths.
Jia has a feeding structure, a microwave radio frequency device and an antenna (abstract) and teaches at least some of the branch feed channels have different lengths [0056 for means for adjusting the length].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the applicant’s invention for modifying the antenna feed techniques, as disclosed by Misaki, further including the phase designs as taught by Jia for the purpose to shift a phase of a microwave signal, a phase shifting degree of a phase shifter including the feeding structure (Jia, 0054).
Regarding Claim 6, Misaki fails to explicitly teach every adjacent two of the branch feed channels are grouped as one group, and the two branch feed channels in each group have different lengths.
Jia has a feeding structure, a microwave radio frequency device and an antenna (abstract) and teaches every adjacent two of the branch feed channels are grouped as one group, and the two branch feed channels in each group have different lengths [0049 and 0058 for ince the length of the delay branch is greater than the length of the coupling branch].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the applicant’s invention for modifying the antenna feed techniques, as disclosed by Misaki, further including the phase designs as taught by Jia for the purpose to shift a phase of a microwave signal, a phase shifting degree of a phase shifter including the feeding structure (Jia, 0054).
Regarding Claim 7, Misaki fails to explicitly teach the lengths of the two branch feed channels in each group are set such that electromagnetic waves fed from the two branch feed channels into the respective waveguide structures have a phase difference of 180o.
Jia has a feeding structure, a microwave radio frequency device and an antenna (abstract) and teaches the lengths of the two branch feed channels in each group are set such that electromagnetic waves fed from the two branch feed channels into the respective waveguide structures have a phase difference of 180o [0055 for phasing shifting structure with 180o].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the applicant’s invention for modifying the antenna feed techniques, as disclosed by Misaki, further including the phase designs as taught by Jia for the purpose to shift a phase of a microwave signal, a phase shifting degree of a phase shifter including the feeding structure (Jia, 0054).
Regarding Claim 11, Misaki fails to explicitly teach the plurality of second feed ports of the feed structure feed electromagnetic waves, which have different phases from each other, into the respective waveguide structures.
Jia has a feeding structure, a microwave radio frequency device and an antenna (abstract) and teaches the plurality of second feed ports of the feed structure feed electromagnetic waves, which have different phases from each other, into the respective waveguide structures [0054-0055 for phase of the microwave signal transmitted on the coupling structure and the phase of the microwave signal transmitted on the delay branch are different].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the applicant’s invention for modifying the antenna feed techniques, as disclosed by Misaki, further including the phase designs as taught by Jia for the purpose to shift a phase of a microwave signal, a phase shifting degree of a phase shifter including the feeding structure (Jia, 0054).
Regarding Claim 12, Misaki fails to explicitly teach any adjacent two of the second feed ports feed electromagnetic waves, which have a phase difference of 180o, into the respective waveguide structures.
Jia has a feeding structure, a microwave radio frequency device and an antenna (abstract) and teaches any adjacent two of the second feed ports feed electromagnetic waves, which have a phase difference of 180o, into the respective waveguide structures [0055 for phasing shifting structure with 180o].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the applicant’s invention for modifying the antenna feed techniques, as disclosed by Misaki, further including the phase designs as taught by Jia for the purpose to shift a phase of a microwave signal, a phase shifting degree of a phase shifter including the feeding structure (Jia, 0054).
Claims 8-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Misaki (US 2020/0388934 A1) in view of Song et al (US 7525504 B1), as applied to Claim 1 above, and further in view of Green (US 4532704 A).
Regarding Claim 8, Misaki fails to explicitly teach the plurality of branch feed channels have a same length, and at least some of the plurality of branch feed channels are filled with different media.
Green has a non-reciprocal latching phase-shifter uses a slab of a high-dielectric constant material (abstract) and teaches the plurality of branch feed channels have a same length, and at least some of the plurality of branch feed channels are filled with different media [col 5, lines 10-25 for regions between high-K dielectric bars could be filled with low-K dielectric bars to further isolate adjacent vertical units].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the applicant’s invention for modifying the antenna feed techniques, as disclosed by Misaki, further including the dielectric fill designs as taught by Green for the purpose to produce an array of predetermined number of phase-shifter elements (Green, col 5, lines 15-25).
Regarding Claim 9, Misaki fails to explicitly teach every adjacent two of the branch feed channels are grouped as one group, and the two branch feed channels in each group are filled with different media.
Green has a non-reciprocal latching phase-shifter uses a slab of a high-dielectric constant material (abstract) and teaches every adjacent two of the branch feed channels are grouped as one group, and the two branch feed channels in each group are filled with different media [col 5, lines 10-25 for regions between high-K dielectric bars could be filled with low-K dielectric bars to further isolate adjacent vertical units].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the applicant’s invention for modifying the antenna feed techniques, as disclosed by Misaki, further including the dielectric fill designs as taught by Green for the purpose to produce an array of predetermined number of phase-shifter elements (Green, col 5, lines 15-25).
Regarding Claim 10, Misaki fails to explicitly teach the media filled in the two branch feed channels in each group are provided such that electromagnetic waves fed from the two branch feed channels into the respective waveguide structures have a phase difference of 180o.
Green has a non-reciprocal latching phase-shifter uses a slab of a high-dielectric constant material (abstract) and teaches the media filled in the two branch feed channels in each group are provided such that electromagnetic waves fed from the two branch feed channels into the respective waveguide structures have a phase difference of 180o [col 2, lines 1-10 and figure 2 for achievable phase-shift as a function of the thickness of the dielectric slab for the phase-shifter].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the applicant’s invention for modifying the antenna feed techniques, as disclosed by Misaki, further including the dielectric fill designs as taught by Green for the purpose to produce an array of predetermined number of phase-shifter elements (Green, col 5, lines 15-25).
Claims 17-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Misaki (US 2020/0388934 A1) in view of Song et al (US 7525504 B1), as applied to Claim 1 above, and further in view of Mochizuki et al (WO 2022/176285 A1).
Regarding Claim 17, Misaki fails to explicitly teach a width of a central region of each slit opening is not greater than a width of each of both end regions of the slit opening.
Mochizuki has an antenna device and a radome with which an increase in the size of the antenna device can be suppressed (abstract) and teaches a width of a central region of each slit opening is not greater than a width of each of both end regions of the slit opening [0044-0045 for shape of the slot may also be a so-called dogbone shape].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the applicant’s invention for modifying the antenna feed techniques, as disclosed by Misaki, further including the slit designs as taught by Mochizuki for the purpose to properly adjust the antenna characteristics (Mochizuki, 0043).
Regarding Claim 18, Misaki fails to explicitly teach the width of each of the both end regions of the slit opening is decreased in a direction toward the central region.
Mochizuki has an antenna device and a radome with which an increase in the size of the antenna device can be suppressed (abstract) and teaches the width of each of the both end regions of the slit opening is decreased in a direction toward the central region [0044-0045 for shape of the slot may also be a so-called dogbone (tapered) shape].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the applicant’s invention for modifying the antenna feed techniques, as disclosed by Misaki, further including the slit designs as taught by Mochizuki for the purpose to properly adjust the antenna characteristics (Mochizuki, 0043).
.
Claim 19 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Misaki (US 2020/0388934 A1) in view of Song et al (US 7525504 B1), as applied to Claim 1 above, and further in view of Smith et al (arXiv, 2017).
Regarding Claim 19, Misaki teaches a beam control method for an antenna device, wherein the antenna device is the antenna device [0003 for beam scanning and beam steering],
and the beam control method comprises [0003].
Misaki fails to explicitly teach obtaining excitation amplitude values of the slit openings through an amplitude sampling function, according to positions of the slit openings of each antenna unit, a pitching angle and an azimuth angle of a target pointing direction, and target frequencies of electromagnetic waves fed from the second feed ports of the feed structure into the waveguide structures of the respective antenna units; discretizing the excitation amplitude values of the slit openings to obtain discretization results; and controlling radiation elements according to the discretization results so as to control a turn-on state and a turn-off state of the slit openings.
Smith has reconfigurable antenna architecture for beam forming and wavefront shaping (page 1, top paragraph) and teaches obtaining excitation amplitude values of the slit openings through an amplitude sampling function, according to positions of the slit openings of each antenna unit [page 5, right column, 4th paragraph and equation (12) for constant and a modulation term, since the amplitude only weights must be positive, and there will be some limited tuning range achievable],
a pitching angle and an azimuth angle of a target pointing direction, and target frequencies of electromagnetic waves fed from the second feed ports of the feed structure into the waveguide structures of the respective antenna units [page 6, right column, second paragraph for having a steered beam at 20 degrees and the side lobes];
discretizing the excitation amplitude values of the slit openings to obtain discretization results [page 2, left column, last paragraph for resulting structure is a waveguide-fed, discrete realization of the continuous impedance surface];
and controlling radiation elements according to the discretization results so as to control a turn-on state and a turn-off state of the slit openings [col 7, left column, last paragraph for switching the resonance frequency of an element between that of the operating frequency and another frequency far away from the operating frequency. There are many possible distributions of on/off elements].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the applicant’s invention for modifying the antenna feed techniques, as disclosed by Misaki, further including the beam steering designs as taught by Smith for the purpose to easily tune the metamaterial Smith, page 7, left column, last paragraph).
Claim 20 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Misaki (US 2020/0388934 A1) in view of Song et al (US 7525504 B1) and Smith et al (arXiv, 2017), as applied to Claim 19 above, and further in view of Stevenson et al (US 2015/0222014 A1).
Regarding Claim 20 Misaki fails to explicitly teach the feed structure comprises a plurality of feed channels, each of which has a first terminal and a second terminal, the first terminal of one of the feed channels serves as one of the at least one first feed port of the feed structure, and the second terminal of each feed channel serves as one of the second feed ports of the feed structure.
Song has methods for employing switched phase shifters and a feed network to provide a low-cost multiple beam antenna system (abstract) and teaches the feed structure comprises a plurality of feed channels, each of which has a first terminal and a second terminal [figure 42 element 4201 & 4202 RF IN (feed structures)],
the first terminal of one of the feed channels serves as one of the at least one first feed port of the feed structure, and the second terminal of each feed channel serves as one of the second feed ports of the feed structure [col 14, lines 50-67 for having two RF feed branches that feed four groups of antenna elements].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the applicant’s invention for modifying the antenna feed techniques, as disclosed by Misaki, further including the feed branch designs as taught by Song for the purpose to reduce the number of PIN diodes and phase shifter components employed in a feed network (Song, col 15, lines 1-10).
Misaki fails to explicitly teach and at least some of the feed channels feed electromagnetic waves, which have different frequencies, into the waveguide structures of the antenna units connected to the at least some of the feed channels.
Stevenson has a configurable holographic antenna includes a waveguide and a metamaterial layer (abstract) and teaches and at least some of the feed channels feed electromagnetic waves, which have different frequencies, into the waveguide structures of the antenna units connected to the at least some of the feed channels [0055-0056 for ridge and the first array of tunable slots is configured to receive the first communication signal on a first band].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the applicant’s invention for modifying the antenna feed techniques, as disclosed by Misaki, further including the antenna array designs as taught by Stevenson for the purpose to generate a steered second communication signal (Stevenson, 0054).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Xi et al (US 2021/0408680 A1) has phase shifter includes: first and second substrates opposite to each other; a first electrode provided on the first substrate and configured to receive a ground signal.
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/SAMARINA MAKHDOOM/
Examiner, Art Unit 3648
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