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 § 103
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 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 1-6, 14-17, 19-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nosaka (US 10,637,439 B2) in view of Varela Campelo (US 2021/0399750 A1).
As to claim 1, Nosaka discloses an apparatus 2A (see at least figure 8B) comprising: an antenna circuit comprising: a radiating element 5 (see figure 9; column 6 lines 61-64) configured to radiate electromagnetic waves and to have a first resonance frequency (see column 5 lines 9-15 which discloses “an RF signal processing circuit that processes a high-frequency signal transmitted or received by an antenna element”); at least one circuit Lp6 (see figure 8B) electrically coupled to the radiating element 5; a first filter branch 21L electrically coupled to the radiating element 5 and the at least one circuit Lp6 and configured in combination with the radiating element 5 and the at least one circuit Lp6 to have a first operating frequency band (see column 16 lines 29-42); and a second filter branch 22M electrically coupled to the radiating element 5 and the at least one circuit Lp6 and configured in combination with the radiating element 5 and the at least one circuit Lp6 to have a second operating frequency band different from the first operating frequency band (see column 16 lines 29-37, lines 43-52).
Nosaka fails to disclose that the at least one circuit Lp6 comprises at least one acoustic resonator electrically coupled to the radiating element 5 and configured to have at least one second resonance frequency. Varela Campelo discloses that at least one circuit LS1, BRS2 (see at least figure 10) comprises at least one acoustic resonator BRS2 electrically coupled to a radiating element 52 and configured to have at least one second resonance frequency (in this instance, the claimed “at least one second resonance frequency” reads on resonance frequency of the at least one acoustic resonator BRS2). Therefore, it would have been obvious, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to one of ordinary skill in the art to provide the above teaching of Varela Campelo to Nosaka, in order to yield predictable results such as maximum energy transfer and signal selectivity.
As to claim 2, the combination of Nosaka and Varela Campelo discloses that the at least one acoustic resonator is a single acoustic resonator BRS2 (see Varela Campelo, figure 10) coupled to the radiating element 52, to the first filter branch 21L (see Nosaka, figure 8B), and to the second filter branch 22M (see Nosaka, figure 8B) at a common node 110 (see Nosaka, figure 8B; see also Varela Campelo, figure 10 which shows “a common node” CNA).
As to claim 3, the combination of Nosaka and Varela Campelo discloses that the first resonance frequency of the radiating element 52 is a series resonance frequency (see Varela Campelo, figure 10 which shows that the radiating element 52 comprises a series L1) and wherein the single acoustic resonator BRS2 is disposed adjacent to the radiating element 52 and is coupled in shunt with the radiating element (see Varela Campelo, figure 10 which shows a shunt acoustic resonator BRS2).
As to claim 4, the combination of Nosaka and Varela Campelo discloses that the single acoustic resonator BRS2 (see Varela Campelo, figure 10) is coupled between the common node CNA and a first reference potential node (see the Ground node connected to BRS2); the first filter branch 21L (see Nosaka, figure 8B) comprises a first acoustic resonator 101 coupled between the common node 110 and a first filter node (see input node of filter 21L) and a second acoustic resonator 151 coupled between the first filter node and a second reference potential node (see the Ground node connected to the second acoustic resonator 151); the second filter branch 22M comprises a third acoustic resonator 201 coupled between the common node 110 and a second filter node (see input node of filter 22M) and a fourth acoustic resonator 251 coupled between the second filter node and a third reference potential node (see the Ground node connected to the fourth acoustic resonator 251); and the first reference potential node, the second reference potential node, and the third reference potential node are different nodes (see Nosaka, figure 8B, and Varela Campelo, figure 10).
As to claim 5, the combination of Nosaka and Varela Campelo discloses that the first reference potential node (see the Ground node connected to BRS2 in figure 10 of Varela Campelo) is a reference potential node associated with the radiating element 52.
As to claim 6, the combination of Nosaka and Varela Campelo discloses that the first reference potential node, the second reference potential node, and the third reference potential node are physically separated from each other on a die. See Varela Campelo, paragraphs [0095], [0096]; see also Nosaka, figure 8B which shows that the plurality of reference potential nodes are physically separated from each other.
As to claim 14, the combination of Nosaka and Varela Campelo fails to disclose that the at least one acoustic resonator, the first filter branch, and the second filter branch are disposed on a single die. Those skilled in the art would recognize that these claimed limitations do not involve any inventive concept. They merely depend on arbitrary locations of the at least one acoustic resonator, the first filter branch, and the second filter branch. In addition, the specification of the instant application fails to disclose any unexpected results obtained from the fact that the at least one acoustic resonator, the first filter branch, and the second filter branch are disposed on a single die. Therefore, it would have been obvious, before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the combination of Nosaka and Varela Campelo as claimed, in order to yield predictable results such as reducing the weight and implement cost of the apparatus.
As to claim 15, the combination of Nosaka and Varela Campelo discloses that a third filter branch 23H (see Nosaka, figure 8B) electrically coupled to the radiating element 110 and the at least one acoustic resonator BRS2 (see Varela Campelo, figure 10) and configured in combination with the radiating element 110 and the at least one acoustic resonator BRS2 to have a third operating frequency band different from the first operating frequency band and the second operating frequency band (see Nosaka, column 16 lines 29-37, lines 53-64).
As to claim 16, the combination of Nosaka and Varela Campelo discloses that the radiating element 52 (see Varela Campelo, figure 10) and the at least one acoustic resonator BRS2 are co-located together such that a conductive line 76 coupling the radiating element 52 to the at least one acoustic resonator BRS2 forms a portion of the radiating element 52.
As to claim 17, the combination of Nosaka and Varela Campelo discloses that at least one of the first filter branch 21L (see Nosaka, at least figure 8B) or the second filter branch 22M comprises a plurality of bulk acoustic wave (BAW) resonators (see column 14 lines 17-21) coupled in a ladder-type configuration (see column 14 lines 47-52; column 16 lines 43-50; column 16 lines 53-60.
As to claim 19, the combination of Nosaka and Varela Campelo discloses that at least one of a transmitter or a receiver coupled to the antenna circuit, the transmitter being configured to transmit first wireless signals from the radiating element of the antenna circuit and the receiver being configured to receive second wireless signals with the radiating element of the antenna circuit. See Nosaka, column 5 lines 9-15.
As to claim 20, it is rejected for similar reasons with respect to independent claim 1 as set forth above.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 7-13, 18 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.
As to claims 7-13, the prior art of record fail to disclose that the at least one acoustic resonator comprises a first acoustic resonator and a second acoustic resonator, the first and second acoustic resonators being coupled to the radiating element, to the first filter branch, and to the second filter branch at a common node.
As to claim 18, the prior art of record fail to disclose that the at least one acoustic resonator is directly connected to a feedline of the radiating element without a transmission line coupled between the feedline and the at least one acoustic resonator.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Kato (US 2024/0022232 A1); Chen (US 2025/0167766 A1); Komatsu (US 11,742,829 B2); Caron (US 2022/0014169 A1); Schulz (US 11,824,522 B2); Khlat (US 2025/0239994 A1) disclose antenna circuit comprising acoustic resonators.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to NGUYEN THANH VO whose telephone number is (571)272-7901. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 8-5.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Jeanette J Parker can be reached at (571) 270-3647. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/NGUYEN T VO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2646
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