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 § 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.
Claims 1-10 are 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 1 recites that “the feeding circuit is used to excite the metal housing so that the metal housing and the radiating element generate a first resonance path with a first resonance mode or generate a second resonance path with a second resonance mode, and the first resonance mode is different from the second resonance mode.” Given use of the usually disjunctive “or,” it is not clear whether this limitation requires the capability of generating a first resonance path with a first resonance mode and generating a second resonance path with a second resonance mode, or whether it requires merely the capability of generating one or the other.
The remaining claims are rejected due to their dependency upon claim 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.
Claim(s) 1, 2, 4, 6-15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2018/0342809 (“Wu” or “W”).
1: W teaches an electronic device (that of fig 1), comprising: a metal housing (111), having a slot (141), the slot including an opening end (at the edge of 111) and a closed end (interior to 111); a carrier board (210), disposed on the metal housing (as shown); and a feeding circuit (240+260+220+230+270+250), disposed on the carrier board (as shown), the feeding circuit including a feeding element (the rightmost portion of 270 on 211), a radiating element (240+220+230), a capacitor element (the inherent capacitance of the leftmost portion of coaxial cable 270, or the capacitance between 230 and 250 associated with coupling gap D31), and a connecting element (260 or 250), a vertical projection of the radiating element on the metal housing at least partially overlapping the slot (as shown), the radiating element including a radiating branch (240) and a feeding portion (220), the feeding portion connected to the feeding element (as shown), the capacitor element electrically connected to the radiating element (as shown), and the connecting element connected between the radiating element and the metal housing (as shown); wherein the feeding circuit is used to excite the metal housing so that the metal housing and the radiating element generate a first resonance path (that of 310 coupled to 410) with a first resonance mode (as it would possess inherently due to being a path of a specific length) or generate a second resonance path (that of 320 coupled with 410) with a second resonance mode (as it would inherently possess due to being a path of a specific length, and the first resonance mode is different from the second resonance mode (310 and 320 operate at different frequencies, as recited in 0029-0030).
11: W teaches an antenna feeding module (that of figs 2 and 3), disposed in a metal housing (111 is metal), the metal housing having a slot (141), the antenna feeding module comprising: a carrier board (210), disposed on the metal housing (as shown); a radiating element (240+220+260+230+250+270), disposed on the carrier board (as shown), a vertical projection of the radiating element on the metal housing at least partially overlapping the slot (as shown), the radiating element including a radiating branch (240) and a feeding portion (220), and the feeding portion connected to the feeding element (as shown); a capacitor element (the inherent capacitance of the leftmost portion of coaxial cable 270, or the capacitance between 230 and 250 associated with coupling gap D31), electrically connected to the radiating element (as shown); and a connecting element (260 or 250), connected between the radiating element and the metal housing (as shown).
2, 12: W teaches that the capacitor element is connected between the feeding element and the feeding portion (for that case where the capacitor element is taken to be the capacitance of the coaxial cable and the connecting element is taken to be 260, the leftmost portion of 270 is connected to the rightmost portion of 270), one end of the connecting element is connected to the radiating branch (as shown, 260 connects to 240 via 220), and the other end of the connecting element contacts the metal housing (0022).
4, 13: W teaches that the capacitor element is connected between the connecting element and the radiating branch (for the case where the capacitance is that associated with D31 and the connecting element is 250, there is a capacitance between 250 and 230, where 230 connects to 240 via 220), one end of the connecting element is connected to the capacitor element (one end of 250 is near 230 and the resulting capacitance) and the other end of the connecting element contacts the metal housing (0022).
6, 14: W teaches that the capacitance value of the capacitor element is less than or equal to 0.4 pF (for the case where the capacitance is that of 270, one merely needs to define the leftmost portion of 270 to be of a sufficiently small length so that the capacitance per unit length of the coax becomes a total capacitance of .4 pF.
7: W teaches that the slot defines a first axis and a second axis according to its extending directions, the first axis is parallel to the extending direction of the slot toward the opening end, and the second axis is parallel to the extending direction of the slot toward the closed end, the first axis and the second axis intersect at an intersection point, the distance between the closed end and the intersection point is less than or equal to a quarter-wavelength of the lowest operating frequency within the first resonance mode (0026-0027, fig 4).
8: W teaches that the metal housing has a first slot wall, a second slot wall, a third slot wall, a fourth slot wall, and a fifth slot wall at the position where the slot is formed, the first slot wall is parallel to the fifth slot wall, the second slot wall is parallel to the fourth slot wall, the third slot wall is connected between the second slot wall and the fourth slot wall, the vertical projection of the radiating branch on the metal housing defines a center line, a first predetermined distance is between the center line and the fourth slot wall, a second predetermined distance is between the center line and the second slot wall, and the first predetermined distance is smaller than the second predetermined distance (since the manner in which the recited centerline is defined is ambiguous, a centerline can be defined to meet these conditions).
9: W teaches that a third predetermined distance is between the vertical projection position of the feeding element on the metal housing and the third slot wall, a fourth predetermined distance between the vertical projection position of the feeding element on the metal housing and the fifth slot wall, and the third predetermined distance is greater than the fourth predetermined distance (since a projection position is ambiguous, a projection position can be found that meets these conditions).
10, 15: W teaches that the vertical projection of the radiating element on the metal housing is completely positioned in the slot (240 is completely with the slot, as shown in fig 3).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3, 5 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 GRAHAM P SMITH whose telephone number is (571)270-1568. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 10am - 6pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Dameon Levi can be reached at 571-272-2105. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/GRAHAM P SMITH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2845
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