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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
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)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1, 3, 4, 10, 11, 13, 14, and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(a) as being anticipated by Kim et al. (WO 2022/196933, cited by the applicant and corresponding U.S. 2024/0006757is used for this action).
Re claim 1, 11: Kim teaches a wireless communication device comprising an array antenna module (paragraph 0026) for comprising a dielectric substrate (500, 600), at least one transmitting antenna (110 of 100) and at least one receiving antenna (110 of 200) arranged adjacent to each other and arranged on the dielectric substrate (fig. 1, paragraph 0037), and at least one decoupling element (140, 150) arranged on the dielectric substrate, at least a part of the at least one decoupling element arranged between the at least one transmitting antenna and the at least one receiving antenna, the at least one decoupling element configured to improve an isolation between the at least one transmitting antenna and the at least one receiving antenna (paragraph 0047), wherein the at least one decoupling element comprises a first decoupling element (140) and a second decoupling element (150), the first decoupling element (140) is arranged closer to the at least one transmitting antenna, the second decoupling element (150) is arranged closer to the at least one receiving antenna (see figs. 1-5; paragraphs 0030-0058).
Re claims 3, 13: Wherein the at least one transmitting antenna (110 0f 100) is surrounded by the first decoupling element, the at least one receiving antenna (110 of 200) is surrounded by the second decoupling element (figs. 1 and 2).
Re claims 4, 14: Wherein the at least one transmitting antenna is surrounded by two first decoupling elements arranged at intervals, (140) and the at least one receiving antenna is surrounded by two second decoupling elements arranged at intervals (150) (fig. 2).
Re claims 10, 20: Wherein the dielectric substrate comprises a first substrate to an Nth substrate arranged in stack, N is a positive integer greater than or equal to 2, a surface of the first substrate away from the Nth substrate is provided with the at least one transmitting antenna and the at least one receiving antenna, a surface of the Nth substrate away from the first substrate is provided with a grounding layer (fig. 2).
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) 2, 12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim.
The teachings of Kim have been discussed above.
Although, Kim teaches the array antenna module having decoupling elements, he fairly suggests that the length of the decoupling elements.
However, it would have been an obvious design variation well within the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to failing to arrange the decoupling elements for desired operating frequency.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5-9 and 15-19 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 following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
None of prior art teaches the array antenna module comprising the at least one transmitting antenna is surrounded by four first decoupling elements arranged at intervals, the four first decoupling elements are arranged alternately from end to end, and the at least one receiving antenna is surrounded by four second decoupling elements arranged at intervals, the four second decoupling elements are arranged alternately from end to end, and a plurality of transmitting antennas arranged in rows, in each row of the plurality of transmitting antennas, every two adjacent transmitting antennas spaced apart by a second predetermined distance, and a plurality of receiving antennas arranged in rows, in each row of the plurality of receiving antennas, every two adjacent receiving antennas spaced apart by a first predetermined distance, each of the plurality of receiving antenna is disposed staggered between two of the plurality of transmitting antennas, wherein each row of the plurality of transmitting antennas and each row of the plurality of receiving antennas are disposed in offset positions to form an array disposed on the dielectric substrate, each of the plurality of transmitting antennas is surrounded by the first decoupling element, each of the plurality of receiving antennas is surrounded by the second decoupling element as set forth in the claims..
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Kobayashi et al. (US 9357633) teaches a structure for wiring board, and Wu et al. (US 2016/0006119) teaches an apparatus for decoupling multiple antennas.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SEUNG H LEE whose telephone number is (571)272-2401. The examiner can normally be reached 7-4:00PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Steven Paik can be reached at 571-272-2404. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/SEUNG H LEE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2876
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