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 1-20 are pending.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Claim Objections
Claims 10 and 20 are objected to because of the following informalities:
The following changes need to be made to avoid potential 112 issues therein:
On line 2 of claim 10, delete “, and there are a plurality of signal lines”.
On line 2 of claim 10, change “one” to --the--.
On line 2 of claim 20, change “the surface” to --a surface--.
Appropriate correction is required.
Drawings
Figures 1a-1g, 2a-2d, and 3-4 should be designated by a legend such as --Prior Art-- because only that which is old is illustrated. See MPEP § 608.02(g). Corrected drawings in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. The replacement sheet(s) should be labeled “Replacement Sheet” in the page header (as per 37 CFR 1.84(c)) so as not to obstruct any portion of the drawing figures. 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.
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.
Claims 1, 5, 11-12, and 14-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Hong US 2021/0392739.
As per claims 1, 5, 11-12, and 14-17, Hong discloses in Figs. 1, 2, and 10 a printed circuit board assembly (e.g. electronic device 101 comprising body 120 which includes printed circuit board 130), wherein the printed circuit board assembly comprises:
as per claim 1, a transmission line assembly (Figs. 2, 10 and Paragraph 101, signal line 140 of micro-strip line 1010) configured to be connected to a printed circuit board (e.g. printed circuit board 130), wherein a signal end and a ground end are disposed on a surface of the printed circuit board (Fig. 2 and Fig. 10; Each of left and right ends of micro-strip line 1010 are necessarily “a signal and a ground end” because each of the ends transmits signals via the micro-strip line and each of the ends comprises a corresponding end of shielding structure 260 which is connected to ground. The Examiner construes that the left end of line 1010 is “a signal end” and the right end of line 1010 is “a ground end”.), and the transmission line assembly comprises: a shielding cover (e.g. shielding structure 1060), wherein the shielding cover is configured to be connected to the ground end (The structure 1060 is grounded.), the shielding cover has an accommodation space (e.g. cavity formed by sidewalls 1061-1063 of structure 1060), and a first opening and a second opening (Fig. 10, left and right openings at respective left and right sides of the shielding structure 1060) are provided in the accommodation space; and a signal line (e.g. central wire 211a of micro-strip line 1010 (The Examiner refers to central wire 211a in Fig. 2 at this element is present but not labeled in Fig. 10.)), wherein the signal line comprises a first end and a second end (Fig. 10, left and right ends thereof respectively) that are disposed opposite to each other, the signal line penetrates the accommodation space (The central wire 211a extends within (i.e. “penetrates”) the cavity formed by structure 1060.), there is a gap between the signal line and an inner side wall of the accommodation space (As shown, a gap exists between sidewall 1062 of the cavity and the central wire 211a.), the first end passes through the first opening, the second end passes through the second opening (Fig. 2 and Fig. 10; As shown, the left end of the wire 211a passes through the left opening and the right end of the wire 211a passes through the right opening.), and at least one of the first end and the second end is configured to be connected to the signal end (Fig. 2; The left end of the wire 211a is connected to the left end of the line 1010.);
as per claim 5, wherein the first opening and the second opening are respectively located at two opposite end portions of the shielding cover (The left and right openings are located at opposite end portions of the shielding structure 1060.);
as per claim 11, wherein a cross section of the shielding cover comprises a bending structure (Fig. 10; As shown, the walls 1061-1063 form a U shape (i.e. “bending structure”).), the cross section is perpendicular to an extension direction of the signal line (e.g. left and right horizontal direction), the bending structure encloses a plurality of bending areas (e.g. bending area disposed at the left and right ends of the shielding structure 1060), and at least one signal line penetrates one bending area (Fig. 2, central wire 211a);
as per claim 12, wherein the shielding cover comprises a plurality of sub-covers (e.g. two sub-covers which respectively include upper portions 1061a and 1062b), and the plurality of sub-covers are spaced from each other along an extension path of the signal line (The defined sub-covers are spaced via slit 1061ab along a horizontal extension path of the central wire 211a of micro-strip line 1010.);
as per claim 14, wherein at least two of an end face of the first end, an end face of the second end, and an end face that is of the shielding cover and that is used to be connected to the ground end are coplanar (An end face of the left end and an end face of the right end of the micro-strip line 1010 are coplanar.);
as per claim 15, wherein a signal end and a ground end are disposed on a surface of the printed circuit board (The left and right ends of the micro-strip line 1010 are disposed on a top surface of the printed circuit board.); and the shielding cover is connected to the ground end, and at least one of the first end and the second end is connected to the signal end (The shielding structure 1060 is connected to ground and the left end of the central wire 211a is connected to the signal.);
as per claim 16, wherein both the first opening and the second opening face the printed circuit board (A bottom portion of the left and right openings of the shielding structure 1060 face the printed circuit board 130 disposed there-below.); and
as per claim 17, wherein a window (Fig. 10, openings on a front side of the shielding structure 1060 formed by gaps in between the sidewalls 1062 along the micro-strip line 1010) of the shielding cover faces the printed circuit board (A bottom portion of the defined “windows” face the printed circuit board 130.).
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim 10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hong US 2021/0392739 in view of Becker US Patent 4,801,905.
As per claim 10, Hong discloses the printed circuit board assembly according to claim 1, but does not disclose wherein there are a plurality of signal lines spaced from each other in the accommodation space.
Hong further discloses in Paragraph 158 that alternatively a plurality of components may be integrated into a single component. Becker exemplarily discloses in Fig. 1 a shield member 30 disposed above a microstrip line 24, but mentions that normally the structure includes a plurality of microstrip lines 24 (Col. 3 lines 34-38 of Becker). Before the effective filing date, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have alternatively integrated a plurality of microstrip lines parallel to one another, as exemplarily taught by Becker, as being an obvious design consideration yielding expected results based on the exemplary teachings of Hong. As an obvious consequence of the modification, the combination would have necessarily included: wherein there are a plurality of signal lines spaced from each other in the accommodation space.
Claims 19-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hong US 2021/0392739 in view of Alexander US 2015/0311573.
As per claims 19-20, Hong discloses the printed circuit board assembly according to claim 15, but does not disclose wherein the shielding cover is soldered to the ground end by using a surface mount technology; and wherein the first end and/or the second end are/is soldered to the signal end by using a surface mount technology.
Alexander exemplarily discloses a device in Fig. 1b comprising a shield 116 disposed on a circuit board 102, where the shield is soldered to the board (Paragraph 13 of Alexander). Before the effective filing date, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have connected the shield of Hong to the printed circuit board therein via any known method, such as for example soldering, as being an obvious design consideration of yielding expected results based on the exemplary teachings of Alexander. As an obvious consequence of the modification, the combination would have necessarily included: wherein the shielding cover is soldered to the ground end by using a surface mount technology; and wherein the first end and/or the second end are/is soldered to the signal end by using a surface mount technology (In the resultant circuit, the shield structure therein is entirely soldered on to the board which includes the signal and ground ends thereof, such that the shield structure is surface mounted thereon.).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-4, 6-9, 13, and 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.
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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