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
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, 5, 7-9, 11-13 and 16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Chen et al (US 2021/0394366 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Chen et al shows in Figs.1-3 and 9A-9E the following elements of applicant’s claim: a swing reflection plate (21) configured to reflect terahertz wave signals emitted from a sampling region comprising a target (P) to be inspected; a lens component (22) configured to focus the terahertz wave signals reflected by the swinging reflection plate (21); and a radiometer array (23; Figs.9A-9E) comprising n rows of radiometers mounted on a focal plane of the lens component (Figs.2-3), wherein the n rows of radiometers are configured to sample the terahertz wave signals emitted from the same height of the target to be inspected and reflected by the swinging reflection plate at intervals, wherein n ≥ 2 (Fig.9A; paragraph 42; a plurality of rows of radiometers in Fig.9A are configured to sample the terahertz wave signals emitted from the same height of the target P to be inspected and reflected by the swinging reflection plate 21 at intervals [a first row of radiometers in Fig.9A provides first signals in a first interval and a second row of radiometers in Fig.9A provides second signals in a second interval]).
Regarding claim 5, the limitations therein are shown in Fig.9E of Chen et al.
Regarding claims 7-8, the limitations therein are shown in Figs.2-5 of Chen et al.
Regarding claims 9 and 11, the limitations therein are shown in in Fig.8 of Chen et al.
Regarding claims 12-13 and 16, the limitations therein are shown in Fig.1 of Chen et al (paragraphs 16-17).
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) 6, 10, 14-15 and 17-18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chen et al (US 2021/0394366 A1).
Regarding claims 6 and 10, the specific dimension utilized for a receiving surface of an antenna and the specific number utilized for radiometers would have been an obvious design choice to one of ordinary skill in the art depending on the needs of particular applications and involving routine skill in the art.
Regarding claims 14-15 and 17-18, the specific scheme and configuration utilized for processing module would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art in view of meeting different design requirements and achieving the particular desired performance.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-4 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: Regarding claims 2-4, the prior fails to disclose or make obvious a terahertz signal-based image collection device comprising, in addition to the other recited features of the claim, the use of uniform sampling or a Nyquist sampling frequency compensation for a plurality of rows of radiometers in the manner recited in claim 2 or 4.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KEVIN K PYO whose telephone number is (571)272-2445. The examiner can normally be reached 9:00-5:30 PM.
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/KEVIN K PYO/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2878
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