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 February 11, 2026 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Objections
Claims 14 and 15 are objected to because of the following informalities: The term “assembly” lacks proper antecedent basis in the claim. Appropriate correction is required.
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, 7, 8 and 11-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by CHEN et al. (U.S. Publication No. 2022/0393369).
CHEN, in figures 1-6, discloses:
Claim 1: An antenna (fig. 1) extending in a lateral direction and a transverse direction orthogonal to the lateral direction, the antenna comprising: a ground plane layer (7); a solar panel layer (5) positioned on the ground plane layer; and an optically transparent electrically conductive layer (1, 2, 3) positioned on the solar panel layer, the optically transparent electrically conductive layer configured to receive or transmit at least one of radio waves or microwaves, wherein at least a portion of the optically transparent electrically conductive layer is aligned with at least a portion of the solar panel layer in the lateral direction and the transverse direction (fig. 1).
Claims 2 and 15: wherein: the antenna further extends in a vertical direction orthogonal to the lateral direction and the transverse direction (fig. 1); and the solar panel layer is positioned between the ground plane layer and the optically transparent electrically conductive layer in the vertical direction (fig. 1).
Claims 3 and 16: further comprising: an optically transparent adhesive layer (4) coupling the optically transparent electrically conductive layer to the solar panel layer.
Claims 4 and 17: wherein the optically transparent electrically conductive layer comprises an optically transparent electrically conductive film patch (fig. 1).
Claims 5 and 18: wherein the optically transparent electrically conductive film patch comprises a polymeric substrate (3) and a metallic layer (1/2) positioned on the polymeric substrate.
Claims 7 and 19: wherein the metallic layer comprises a solid conductive metal (fig. 1).
Claim 8: wherein the metallic layer comprises a metal mesh layer (¶[0032]).
Claims 11 and 20: wherein the solar panel layer forms a dielectric layer between the optically transparent electrically conductive layer and the ground plane layer (fig. 1).
Claim 12: wherein the ground plane layer comprises solid conductive metal (fig. 1).
Claim 13: further comprising: a feed port (15, 16) coupled to the optically transparent electrically conductive layer and positioned on a side surface of the antenna extending between a top surface of the antenna formed by the optically transparent electrically conductive layer and a bottom surface of the antenna formed by the ground plane layer in a vertical direction orthogonal to the lateral direction and the transverse direction (fig. 1).
Claim 14: An antenna array (fig. 4) extending in a lateral direction and a transverse direction orthogonal to the lateral direction, the arrayed antenna assembly comprising: a ground plane layer (7); a solar panel layer (5) positioned on the ground plane layer; and
a plurality of antenna elements (1, 2, 3) positioned on the solar panel layer, each antenna element comprising an optically transparent electrically conductive layer, wherein at least a portion of each optically transparent electrically conductive layer is aligned with at least a portion of solar panel layer in the lateral direction and the transverse direction (fig. 1).
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 9 and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over CHEN et al. (U.S. Publication No. 2022/0393369).
Claims 9 and 10: CHEN fails to disclose wherein the metallic layer comprises a sintered metal ink; and wherein the metallic layer comprises transparent conductive oxide. Official notice is taken that it was well known to the person of ordinary skill in the art to form the antenna layer of integrated antenna and solar cell devices using sintered metal ink or transparent conductive oxide. The courts have held that the simple substitution of one known element for another to obtain predictable results is considered obvious. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have substituted the metallic layer (antenna layer) of CHEN with sintered metal ink or transparent conductive oxide in order to have formed the requisite transparency for the metallic layer.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 6 is 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 ROBERT KARACSONY whose telephone number is (571)270-1268. The examiner can normally be reached 9:00 am - 5:00 pm, Monday - Friday.
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/Robert Karacsony/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2845
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