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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant's election without traverse of Species II (claims 2-3) in the reply filed on March 31, 2026 is acknowledged. Accordingly, claims 1 and 4-11 are withdrawn from consideration as being directed to a non-elected invention.
This requirement is made FINAL.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to as failing to comply with 37 CFR 1.84(p)(5) because they do not include the following reference sign(s) mentioned in the description:
Figs. 2b and 2c should include the labels for the inner conductors (105, 106) and the labels for the dialectic sheathing (107, 108).
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Specification
Applicant is reminded of the proper content of an abstract of the disclosure.
In view of the election made by the applicant, the content of the abstract should be revised to reflect the claimed invention.
A patent abstract is a concise statement of the technical disclosure of the patent and should include that which is new in the art to which the invention pertains. The abstract should not refer to purported merits or speculative applications of the invention and should not compare the invention with the prior art.
If the patent is of a basic nature, the entire technical disclosure may be new in the art, and the abstract should be directed to the entire disclosure. If the patent is in the nature of an improvement in an old apparatus, process, product, or composition, the abstract should include the technical disclosure of the improvement. The abstract should also mention by way of example any preferred modifications or alternatives.
Where applicable, the abstract should include the following: (1) if a machine or apparatus, its organization and operation; (2) if an article, its method of making; (3) if a chemical compound, its identity and use; (4) if a mixture, its ingredients; (5) if a process, the steps.
Extensive mechanical and design details of an apparatus should not be included in the abstract. The abstract should be in narrative form and generally limited to a single paragraph within the range of 50 to 150 words in length.
See MPEP § 608.01(b) for guidelines for the preparation of patent abstracts.
Claim Objections
Claims 2-3 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 2 (line 1): “Telematics control unit” should be amended to “A telematics control unit”;
Claim 2 (line 3): “dielectric sheathing” should be amended to “a dielectric sheathing”;
Claim 3 (line 1): “Telematics control according to claim 2” should be amended to “The telematics control unit according to claim 2”;
Claim 3 (line 2): “common dielectric sheathing” should be amended to “a common dielectric sheathing”;
Claim 3 (line 2): “the inner conductors” should be amended to “the two inner conductors”;
Claim 3 (line 3): “extending” should be amended to “extend”;
Claim 3 (line 3): “being” should be amended to “are”;
Claim 3 (line 3): “an opening” should be amended to “the opening” (an opening in the housing has been already defined in claim 2).
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.
Claim 3 is 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.
Claim 3 (line 2) recites “common dielectric sheathing”. It is not clear in what way the common dielectric sheathing is different from the dielectric sheathing recited in claim 2. In the case that the dielectric sheathing recited in claim 2 is meant to indicate separate dielectric sheathings (107, 108) for the inner conductors (105, 106) as shown in Fig. 2a, then claim 2 must be amended accordingly.
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 2-3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Krantz et al. (US 20160070001 A1, hereinafter Krantz) in view of Schnaufer et al. (US 10948609 B1, hereinafter Schnaufer) and Kinamon et al. (US 10148336 B2, hereinafter Kinamon).
Regarding claim 1, Krantz (Fig. 10A) discloses a device (216) with a printed circuit board (inherent – the device (216) is a smart phone and a smart phone inherently has a printed circuit board), a housing (inherent – the smart phone (216) inherently has a housing) and two antennas (212, 214) for GNSS signals arranged outside the housing. The examiner notes that the preamble on claim 1 is not taken into consideration because it does not change or affect in any way the structural and functional properties of the invention as recited.
Krantz does not disclose two antennas for GNSS signals arranged one above the other.
Schnaufer (Fig. 1) teaches two antennas (108A, 108B) for GNSS signals arranged one above the other.
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Krantz so that the two antennas for GNSS signals are arranged one above the other as taught by Schnaufer. This modification would provide a device for heading determination of a vehicle with global navigation satellite system (GNSS) signal measurements (see Schnaufer, col. 1, lines 15-18).
The modified Krantz does not teach the limitation wherein the two antennas have a common outer conductor and two inner conductors enclosed by dielectric sheathing wherein the two inner conductors and the dielectric sheathing extend through an opening in the housing and the two inner conductors are electrically connected to the printed circuit board.
However, Krantz (Fig. 6) teaches an antenna having a coaxial cable feed line (144). It is well-known in the art that coaxial cables have an outer conductor and an inner conductor enclosed by a dielectric sheathing. Furthermore, a person skilled in the art knows that antennas having coaxial cables and being arranged outside of a device housing have the coaxial cables extend through an opening in the housing and have the inner conductor of the coaxial cable electrically connected to the printed circuit board, specifically to the RF circuitry disposed on the printed circuit board.
Further, Kinamon (Fig. 15A) teaches two antennas (3-ant-1, 3-ant-2) having a multi-conductor cable (2-milti-1). It is well-known in the art that a multi-conductor cable has a common outer conductor and multiple inner conductors enclosed by dielectric sheathing.
Therefore, it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Krantz so that the two antennas have a common outer conductor and two inner conductors enclosed by dielectric sheathing wherein the two inner conductors and the dielectric sheathing extend through an opening in the housing and the two inner conductors are electrically connected to the printed circuit board. This modification would provide means for the antennas to be connected to the RF circuitry on the printed circuit board for performing their desired function such as high-precision GNSS positioning (see Krantz, Abstract), wherein the inner conductors are kept in place and being insulated from each other and from the outer conductor by the dielectric sheaving.
Regarding claim 3, as best understood, the modified Krantz teaches the telematics control unit of claim 2 as addressed above.
The modified Krantz, by the virtue of the modification related to claim 2, further teaches the inner conductors extending through an opening in the housing and being electrically connected to the printed circuit board.
The modified Krantz does not explicitly teach the limitation wherein the two inner conductors are enclosed by common dielectric sheathing.
However, a person skilled in the art knows that the inner conductors in a multi-conductor cable can be enclosed by a common dielectric sheathing.
Therefore, it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Krantz so that the two inner conductors are enclosed by common dielectric sheathing, and the inner conductors with the common dielectric sheathing extending through an opening in the housing and being electrically connected to the printed circuit board. This modification would provide a more compact connection of the two antennas to the printed circuit board, wherein the inner conductors are securely fixed and have a constant separation between each other.
Conclusion
The following cited prior art references in PTO-892 were found during the examiner's search, but were not relied upon for this office action: Mierke et al. (US 7936306 B2), Thiam et al. (US 20090195477 A1), Hsu et al. (US 8299970 B2), Thill et al. (US 6850191 B1), Duan et al. (US 11258177 B2), Cheng et al. (US 10637145 B2). However, these references are still considered pertinent to the applicant's disclosure.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MARIN STOYTCHEV STOYTCHEV whose telephone number is (571)272-3467. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri, 8:00-17:00.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Dimary Lopez can be reached at 571-270-7893. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MARIN STOYTCHEV STOYTCHEV/Examiner, Art Unit 2845
/DIMARY S LOPEZ CRUZ/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2845
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