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 § 102
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 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.
Claim(s) 1, 10, 14 and 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Chen (DE 4239785).
With respect to claim 1,
Figure 1 of Chen discloses an antenna array comprising:
a plurality of patch antenna elements (2), the plurality of patch antenna elements forming multipolarized patch antenna array;
a plurality of microstrip connection elements (3), each microstrip connection element connecting two patch antenna elements (see Figure 1);
a probe feed (8) configured to provide a feed point (9) to the antenna array via a galvanic isolated connection to a feed patch antenna element, the feed patch antenna element being one of the plurality of patch antenna elements (see 2 located in the center);
a ground layer (7); and
an isolation layer (5) disposed between the plurality of patch antenna elements and the ground layer (see Figure 1).
With respect to claim 10,
Chen further teaches wherein the probe feed comprises a connection to the ground layer and a probe that is not connected to the ground layer (see 8 of Figure 1).
With respect to claim 14,
Chen further teaches wherein none of the plurality of patch antenna elements, the plurality of microstrip connection elements, the probe feed configured or the ground layer are connected to each other via a solder connection (see Figure 1).
With respect to claim 18,
Chen further teaches wherein each of the plurality of microstrip connection elements (3) has a shape, wherein the shape is one of circular, square, rectangular, circular ring- shaped, triangular, elliptical, hexagonal, pentagonal, or rectangular ring-shaped (see Figures 1 and 2).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-9, 11-13 and 15-17 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.
Claims 19 and 20 appear to comprise allowable subject matter.
Conclusion
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/JANY RICHARDSON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2845
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