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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on September 9, 2025 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Drawings
(i)
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, the limitations of claims 7, 8, 18 and 21; and the waveguide of claims 9 and 15, must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). No new matter should be entered.
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. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. 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.
(ii)
The drawings are objected to because the grayscale drawings filed on January 29, 2025 are not of sufficient quality so that all details in the drawings are reproducible in the printed patent. See MPEP 608.02 (VII)(B). The black and white copy of the submitted drawings which appear in IFW reflect the quality of the drawings that will appear in the printed patent; these drawings show the degree of blurriness that occurs after converting the original grayscale drawings to black and white. These drawings do not meet the requirement set forth in 37 C.F.R. 1.84(b)(1). In addition, grayscale drawings are not ordinarily permitted in utility patent applications; however, the Office will accept grayscale drawings in utility patent applications if grayscale drawings are the only practicable medium for illustrating the claimed invention. See 37 C.F.R. 1.84(b)(1) The structural nature of the present application allows for the disclosed invention to be illustrated using normal drawings.
Applicant is required to submit drawings in compliance with 37 C.F.R. 1.84(a)(1).
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 1-6, 9-17, 19-20 and 22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by KANG et al. (U.S. Publication No. 2023/0282988).
KANG, in figures 1 and 11, discloses:
Claim 1: A vehicular radar sensing system, the vehicular radar sensing system comprising: a radar sensor (1) disposed at a vehicle (V); wherein the radar sensor comprises a printed circuit board (PCB) (20); wherein the PCB comprises at least one transmitter that transmits radio signals and at least one receiver that receives radio signals (¶[0061]); a plurality of antenna elements (50, 60 and/or 70), wherein the antenna elements (i) receive radio signals transmitted by the at least one transmitter and radiate radio waves representative of the received radio signals or (ii) receive radio waves and pass radio signals representative of the received radio waves to the at least one receiver; wherein a first antenna element (60) of the plurality of antenna elements is disposed at a first surface of the PCB of the radar sensor, and wherein the first surface is along a first plane; and wherein a second antenna element (50) of the plurality of antenna elements is disposed at a second surface of the PCB of the radar sensor, and wherein the second surface is disposed along a second plane, and wherein the second plane is different than the first plane (fig. 6).
Claim 2: wherein the second plane is parallel to the first plane (fig. 6).
Claim 3: wherein the first plane is perpendicular to a longitudinal axis of the vehicle (fig. 11).
Claim 4: wherein the first plane is oriented at an angle of less than ninety (90) degrees with respect to a longitudinal axis of the vehicle (fig. 11).
Claim 5: wherein the first antenna element is disposed on a first portion of the PCB, and wherein the second antenna element is disposed on a second portion of the PCB (fig. 1).
Claim 6: wherein the first antenna element is part of a first array of antenna elements disposed on the first surface of the PCB, and wherein the second antenna element is part of a second array of antenna elements disposed on the second surface of the PCB (fig. 1).
Claim 9: wherein the second surface comprises at least one selected from the group consisting of (i) a riser and (ii) a waveguide (fig. 1).
Claim 10: wherein the plurality of antenna elements is disposed in a grid pattern (fig. 1).
Claim 11: wherein the plurality of antenna elements is disposed in a linear pattern (fig. 1).
Claim 12: wherein the first antenna element and the second antenna element receive radio signals from the same transmitter (30).
Claim 13: wherein the first antenna element and the second antenna element pass radio signals to the same receiver (30).
Claim 14: further comprising a plurality of radar sensors (1a and 1b).
Claims 15-17, 19, 20 and 22 recite similar limitations as those recited in claims 1-6 and 9-14, and are rejected for the same reasons, as discussed above.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 7, 8, 18 and 21 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
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
SHIOZAKI et al. (U.S. Publication No. 2018/0013194) discloses an antenna device used in vehicular radar systems comprising multiple antennas disposed on different planes of a substrate (figs. 10 and 11).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ROBERT KARACSONY whose telephone number is (571)270-1268. The examiner can normally be reached 9:00 am - 5:00 pm, Monday - Friday.
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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/Robert Karacsony/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2845
