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
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d). The certified copy has been filed in parent Application No. TW113131905, filed on 08/23/2024.
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 1-7, 12, and 18-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liao et al. (US9715651; hereinafter Liao) in view of Jia et al. (CN111864341; hereinafter Jia).
Regarding claim 1, Liao discloses “A transparent antenna, comprising: a transparent dielectric substrate (11); a plurality of antenna conductive layers (12,15), disposed on a first surface (top surface) of the transparent dielectric substrate; a feeding layer (30), disposed on the first surface of the transparent dielectric substrate (fig. 2), and connected to the antenna conductive layer (fig. 2); and a grounding layer (14), wherein each of the antenna conductive layers, the feeding layer and the grounding layers is a mesh structure (Col. 2 lines 50-53; Preferably, the second conductive layer and the telecommunication connection structure are manufactured by screen printing a silver paste conductive coating); wherein the antenna conductive layers and the grounding layers corresponding thereto form a plurality of antenna units (at least two 12 and 15)”.
Liao does not disclose “a plurality of grounding layers” or “the antenna conductive layers of the antenna units are not all identical; or the grounding layers of the antenna units are not all identical”.
However, Jia teaches “a plurality of grounding layers (300 comprises multiple ground layers)” and “the antenna conductive layers of the antenna units are not all identical (see fig. 3-4, radiators 100 and 200 with different shapes); or the grounding layers of the antenna units are not all identical (see fig. 2, 300 and 400 are different shapes)”.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to apply the teachings of Jia and make Liao’s transparent antenna with a plurality of grounding layers and the antenna conductive layers of the antenna units are not all identical; or the grounding layers of the antenna units are not all identical, in order to have the antenna operate at more frequencies.
Regarding claim 2, Liao discloses the transparent antenna of claim 1 as shown previously.
Liao does not disclose “wherein the grounding conductive layers are disposed on a second surface of the transparent dielectric substrate”.
However, Jia teaches “wherein the grounding conductive layers are disposed on a second surface of the transparent dielectric substrate (fig. 1)”.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to apply the teachings of Jia and make Liao’s transparent antenna wherein the grounding conductive layers are disposed on a second surface of the transparent dielectric substrate, in order to place the ground in lower impedance path.
Regarding claim 3, Liao discloses “The transparent antenna according to claim 1, wherein the transparent dielectric substrate is a single-layer structure (see fig. 2)”.
Regarding claim 4, Liao discloses “The transparent antenna according to claim 1, wherein the transparent dielectric substrate is a multi-layer structure (see fig. 5, 50 and 70 are added to 11)”.
Regarding claim 5, Liao discloses “The transparent antenna according to claim 1, wherein the grounding layers of the antenna units are identical (fig. 2)”.
Liao does not disclose “wherein the antenna conductive layers of the antenna units are different”.
However, Jia teaches “wherein the antenna conductive layers of the antenna units are different (fig. 3-4)”.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to apply the teachings of Jia and make Liao’s transparent antenna wherein the antenna conductive layers of the antenna units are different, in order to have the antenna operate at more frequencies.
Regarding claim 6, Liao discloses the transparent antenna of claim 1 as shown previously.
Liao does not disclose “wherein the grounding layers of the antenna units are different”.
However, Jia teaches “wherein the grounding layers of the antenna units are different (fig. 2)”.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to apply the teachings of Jia and make Liao’s transparent antenna wherein the grounding layers of the antenna units are different, in order to ground the multiple radiators of different shapes.
Regarding claim 7, Liao discloses the transparent antenna of claim 1 as shown previously.
Liao does not disclose “wherein the antenna conductive layers of the antenna units are different, and the grounding layers of the antenna units are different”.
However, Jia teaches “wherein the antenna conductive layers of the antenna units are different, and the grounding layers of the antenna units are different (fig. 2-4)”.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to apply the teachings of Jia and make Liao’s transparent antenna wherein the antenna conductive layers of the antenna units are different, and the grounding layers of the antenna units are different, in order to ground the multiple radiators of different shapes with different frequencies.
Regarding claim 12, Liao discloses “The transparent antenna according to claim 1, wherein the antenna units include two single band slot antenna units (Col. 3 lines 50-53; Preferably, the first conductive layer 12 is partially etched to selectively form the conductive circuit or the first conductive layer 12 is partially etched to selectively form the antenna)”.
Regarding claim 18, Liao discloses “A transparent antenna, comprising: a transparent dielectric substrate (11); a plurality of antenna conductive layers (12,15), disposed on a first surface (top surface) of the transparent dielectric substrate; a feeding layer (30), disposed on the first surface of the transparent dielectric substrate (fig. 2), and connected to the antenna conductive layer (fig. 2); and a grounding layer (14), wherein each of the antenna conductive layers, the feeding layer and the grounding layers is a mesh structure (Col. 2 lines 50-53; Preferably, the second conductive layer and the telecommunication connection structure are manufactured by screen printing a silver paste conductive coating); wherein the antenna conductive layers and the grounding layers corresponding thereto form a plurality of antenna units (at least two 12 and 15)”.
Liao does not disclose “a plurality of grounding layers” or “each of the antenna units has at least one frequency band, and the frequency bands of the antenna units are not all identical”.
However, Jia teaches “a plurality of grounding layers (300 comprises multiple ground layers)” and “each of the antenna units has at least one frequency band, and the frequency bands of the antenna units are not all identical (¶[0025] states there are at least three frequency bands)”.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to apply the teachings of Jia and make Liao’s transparent antenna with a plurality of grounding layers and each of the antenna units has at least one frequency band, and the frequency bands of the antenna units are not all identical, in order to have the antenna operate at more frequencies.
Regarding claim 19, Liao discloses “The transparent antenna according to claim 18, wherein some of the frequency bands of the antenna units are identical (fig. 3 shows identical antennas with identical frequency bands)”.
Liao does not disclose “some of the frequency bands of the antenna units are different”.
However, Jia teaches “some of the frequency bands of the antenna units are different (¶[0025])”.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to apply the teachings of Jia and make Liao’s transparent antenna with some of the frequency bands of the antenna units are different, in order to have the antenna operate at more frequencies.
Regarding claim 20, Liao discloses the transparent antenna according to claim 18 as shown previously.
Liao does not disclose “wherein the frequency bands of the antenna units are different”.
However, Jia teaches “wherein the frequency bands of the antenna units are different (¶[0025])”.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to apply the teachings of Jia and make Liao’s transparent antenna wherein the frequency bands of the antenna units are different, in order to have the antenna operate at more frequencies.
Claims 8-9 and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liao in view of Jia, further in view of Chen et al. (US20240014572; hereinafter Chen).
Regarding claim 8, Liao discloses the transparent antenna according to claim 1 as shown previously.
Liao does not disclose “wherein a distance among the antenna units is 1/2 to 1 of a medium wavelength”.
However, Chen teaches “wherein a distance among the antenna units is 1/2 to 1 of a medium wavelength (¶[0007]; In one embodiment, the first distance is half the wavelength of the high band signal, and the second distance is half the wavelength of the low band signal)”.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to apply the teachings of Chen and make Liao’s transparent antenna wherein a distance among the antenna units is 1/2 to 1 of a medium wavelength, in order to improve antenna operation at the desired wavelength.
Regarding claim 9, Liao discloses the transparent antenna according to claim 8 as shown previously.
Liao does not disclose “wherein the distance among the antenna units is a distance among central lines of the antenna conductive layers”.
However, Chen teaches “wherein the distance among the antenna units is a distance among central lines of the antenna conductive layers (fig. 1)”.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to apply the teachings of Chen and make Liao’s transparent antenna wherein the distance among the antenna units is a distance among central lines of the antenna conductive layers, in order to improve antenna operation at the desired wavelength.
Regarding claim 17, Liao discloses “A transparent antenna, comprising: a transparent dielectric substrate (11); a plurality of antenna conductive layers (12,15), disposed on a first surface (top surface) of the transparent dielectric substrate; a feeding layer (30), disposed on the first surface of the transparent dielectric substrate (fig. 2), and connected to the antenna conductive layer (fig. 2); and a grounding layer (14), wherein each of the antenna conductive layers, the feeding layer and the grounding layers is a mesh structure (Col. 2 lines 50-53; Preferably, the second conductive layer and the telecommunication connection structure are manufactured by screen printing a silver paste conductive coating); wherein the antenna conductive layers and the grounding layers corresponding thereto form a plurality of antenna units (at least two 12 and 15)”.
Liao does not disclose “two of the antenna units which are adjacent have identical frequency band, and a distance between the antenna units with identical frequency band is 1/2 to 1 of a medium wavelength”.
However, Chen teaches “two of the antenna units which are adjacent have identical frequency band, and a distance between the antenna units with identical frequency band is 1/2 to 1 of a medium wavelength (¶[0007])”.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to apply the teachings of Chen and make Liao’s transparent antenna wherein two of the antenna units which are adjacent have identical frequency band, and a distance between the antenna units with identical frequency band is 1/2 to 1 of a medium wavelength, in order to improve antenna operation at the desired wavelength.
Claims 10-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liao in view of Jia, further in view of Hviid et al. (US20180013195; hereinafter Hviid).
Regarding claim 10, Liao discloses the transparent antenna according to claim 1 as shown previously.
Liao does not disclose “wherein the antenna units include a dual band monopole slot antenna unit and a single band microstrip antenna unit”.
However, Hviid teaches that it is known in the art to switch out antenna designs (such as dual band monopoles and single band microstrips) depending on the desired frequency and radiation pattern (¶[0021]; The antenna deposited onto a surface of the wearable device may an inverted-F antenna, a planar inverted-F antenna, an inverted-L antenna, a quarter-wave monopole antenna, a microstrip antenna, or any other type of antenna capable of receiving radio and other electromagnetic waves).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to apply the teachings of Hviid and make Liao’s transparent antenna wherein the antenna units include a dual band monopole slot antenna unit and a single band microstrip antenna unit, in order to improve antenna operation for the desired frequencies and radiation pattern for each individual antenna.
Regarding claim 11, Liao discloses the transparent antenna according to claim 1 as shown previously.
Liao does not disclose “wherein the antenna units include two single band microstrip antenna units”.
However, Hviid teaches that it is known in the art to switch out antenna designs (such as dual band monopoles and single band microstrips) depending on the desired frequency and radiation pattern (¶[0021]; The antenna deposited onto a surface of the wearable device may an inverted-F antenna, a planar inverted-F antenna, an inverted-L antenna, a quarter-wave monopole antenna, a microstrip antenna, or any other type of antenna capable of receiving radio and other electromagnetic waves).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to apply the teachings of Hviid and make Liao’s transparent antenna wherein the antenna units include two single band microstrip antenna units, in order to improve antenna operation for the desired frequencies and radiation pattern for each individual antenna.
Claims 13 and 15-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liao in view of Jia, further in view of Bolin et al. (US9287612; hereinafter Bolin).
Regarding claim 13, Liao discloses the transparent antenna according to claim 1 as shown previously.
Liao does not disclose “wherein each of the mesh structures includes a plurality of main grid lines which are staggered, the main grid lines are substantially parallel or perpendicular to each other, and a width of each of the main grid lines is 5 to 100 µm”.
However, Bolin teaches “wherein each of the mesh structures includes a plurality of main grid lines which are staggered, the main grid lines are substantially parallel or perpendicular to each other, and a width of each of the main grid lines is 5 to 100 µm (Col. 6 lines 16-20; Using standard photolithographic wet etching, a mesh structure may be printed on the bilayer. The photoresist may be stripped, leaving a periodic array of square apertures in the metal layers with a pitch of about 100 μM)”.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to apply the teachings of Bolin and make Liao’s transparent antenna wherein each of the mesh structures includes a plurality of main grid lines which are staggered, the main grid lines are substantially parallel or perpendicular to each other, and a width of each of the main grid lines is 5 to 100 µm, in order to make the antenna and other structures transparent.
Regarding claim 15, Liao discloses the transparent antenna according to claim 13 as shown previously.
Liao does not disclose “wherein each of the main grid lines includes a plurality of secondary grid lines which are staggered”.
However, Jia teaches “wherein each of the main grid lines includes a plurality of secondary grid lines which are staggered (fig. 5)”.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to apply the teachings of Jia and make Liao’s transparent antenna wherein each of the main grid lines includes a plurality of secondary grid lines which are staggered, in order to improve transparency.
Regarding claim 16, Liao discloses the transparent antenna according to claim 13 as shown previously.
Liao does not disclose “wherein each of the main grid lines includes a plurality of holes”.
However, Jia teaches “wherein each of the main grid lines includes a plurality of holes (fig. 5)”.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to apply the teachings of Jia and make Liao’s transparent antenna wherein each of the main grid lines includes a plurality of holes, in order to improve transparency.
Claim 14 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liao in view of Jia and Bolin, further in view of Walker et al. (US6198457; hereinafter Walker).
Regarding claim 14, Liao discloses the transparent antenna according to claim 13 as shown previously.
Liao does not disclose “wherein a spacing among the main grid lines is less than 1/20 of a medium wavelength”.
However, Walker teaches “wherein a spacing among the main grid lines is less than 1/20 of a medium wavelength (Walker teaches that the common spacing for mesh antennas is 1/20 of a wavelength Col. 5 lines 50-55; The grid spacing of the present invention is in sharp contrast to conventional mesh-type reflectors which require a wire grid having openings no larger than 1/16 to 1/20 of a wavelength for efficient operation)”.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to apply the teachings of Walker and make Liao’s transparent antenna wherein a spacing among the main grid lines is less than 1/20 of a medium wavelength, in order to make the antenna and other structures more transparent to the radio signals.
Conclusion
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/AUSTIN M BACK/Examiner, Art Unit 2845
/DIMARY S LOPEZ CRUZ/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2845