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 1-19 are pending.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Claim Objections
Claims 1-4, 11-12, 14-15, and 19 are objected to because of the following informalities: The following changes should be made to improve claim language clarity within the claims:
On the penultimate line of claim 1, change “surrounds” to --surround--.
On the penultimate line of claim 2, insert --two-- before “separate”.
On line 2 of claim 3, insert --two separate-- before “apertures”.
On line 4 of claim 3, change “metasurface of” to --metasurface surrounding the two separate apertures of--.
On line 5 of claim 4, insert --first set-- before “the filter”.
On line 6 of claim 11, change “anyone of the filter apertures” to --any one of the first set of filter apertures--.
On line 2 of claim 12, change “anyone” to --any one--.
On line 1 of claim 14, change “the height” to --a height--.
On line 2 of claim 15, change “the thickness” to --a thickness--.
On lines 7-8 of claim 19, change “the waveguide” to --waveguide--.
On lines 9-10 of claim 19, change “the waveguide channel” to --waveguide channels--.
Appropriate correction is required.
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.
Claims 2-3, 7-8, and 10 are 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.
On the last line of claim 2, the Applicant recites “a metasurface”. However, it is unclear to the Examiner as to how “a metasurface” is related to “a metasurface” previously recited in claim 1 (i.e. Are each of the metasurfaces the same as or different from one another?), thereby rendering claim 2 to be vague and indefinite. Claim 3 has been rejected by virtue of its dependency from claim 2.
On lines 2-3 of claims 7 and 10, the Applicant recites “a waveguide channel surrounded by a metasurface”. However, it is unclear to the Examiner as to how “a waveguide channel” and “a metasurface” are related to “a waveguide channel” and “a metasurface” previously recited in claim 1 (i.e. Are each of the waveguide channels and the metasurfaces the same as or different from one another?), thereby rendering claims 7 and 10 to be vague and indefinite. Claim 8 has been rejected by virtue of its dependency from claim 7.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1, 4-5, 9, and 11-19 are allowed.
Claims 2-3, 7-8, and 10 would be allowable if rewritten or amended to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action.
Claim 6 is objected to under 37 CFR 1.75(c) as being in improper form because a multiple dependent claim should refer to other claims in the alternative only. See MPEP § 608.01(n). Accordingly, the claim has not been further treated on the merits.
As per claim 1, Vosoogh US 2022/0359967, as cited by the Applicant, discloses in Fig. 3 an electromagnetic filter arrangement comprising a plurality of stacked layers. Kishk et al. US 2020/0076037 exemplarily discloses in Fig. 4 a waveguide comprising layer 420 which is made of a metamaterial (i.e. metasurface). The combination of Vosoogh in view of Kishk et al. discloses all the limitations recited therein EXCEPT the second opening being displaced from the first opening, when seen in a direction normal to a longitudinal plane that is parallel to the stacked layers.
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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/RAKESH B PATEL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2843
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