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
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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Chang et al. – US 2022/0384961 (hereinafter Chang).
Re claim 1, Chang discloses:
“An intelligent reflecting surface comprising” (Fig. 1, 6; para. 0005):
“a plurality of patch electrodes” (Fig. 1, 6, elements 110S; para. 0047, 0049);
“a common electrode opposite the plurality of patch electrodes” (Fig. 1-3, 6, 7A, 7B; elements 120S; para. 0047, 0049); and
“a liquid crystal layer between the plurality of patch electrodes and the common electrode” (Fig. 2A, 2B, 7A, 7B; element LCL; para. 0050), wherein
“the plurality of patch electrodes includes a first patch electrode, a second patch electrode adjacent to the first patch electrode, and a third patch electrode adjacent to the second patch electrode” Fig. 1, 6; each electrodes string 110S includes plurality of electrode 110, para. 0049)
“an area of the first patch electrode is larger than an area of the second patch electrode, and the area of the second patch electrode is larger than an area of the third patch electrode” (Fig. 6, 7A, 7B; para. 0062, 0063, considering the direction of D1).
Re claim 2, Chang further discloses “wherein the first patch electrode is adjacent to the second patch electrode in a first direction and adjacent to another first patch electrode in a second direction intersecting the first direction” in Fig. 1, 6; para. 0047.
Re claim 3, Chang further discloses “a first wiring extending in the first direction, wherein the first patch electrode, the second patch electrode, and the third patch electrode are each connected to the first wiring” (Fig. 1, 2A, 6, 7A; element WR1; para. 0049).
Re claim 4, Chang further discloses “wherein the first wiring is arranged in a plurality of locations along the second direction” in Fig. 1, 6; para. 0049; wherein WR1 also extends in the direction D2).
Re claim 5, Chang further discloses “wherein a voltage applied to the first wiring and a voltage applied to another first wiring adjacent to the first wiring are different from each other” in para. 0080-0081; wherein each electrode on the same string in D1 direction, for instant, can be individually controlled with different voltages).
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) 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chang.
Re claim 10, Chang discloses almost all claimed subject matter in claim 10, as stated above, except for “a group of reflector unit cells including a first reflector unit cell containing the first patch electrode, a second reflector unit cell containing the second patch electrode, and a third reflector unit cell containing the third patch electrode are arranged in series”. However, such further claimed subject matter would have been within the knowledge of one skilled in the art as a matter of design and/label reference based on Chang. That is, considering Fig. 1, 6 or 8 of Chang, a group a column of electrodes in the D1 direction can be considered a “reflector unit cell”; and each comprises electrode string 110S1, 110S2, 110S3, etc.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 6-9 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 11-20 are allowed.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Hong et al. – US 2024/0079792
Huang et al. – US 2024/0283127
Yang et al. – US 2016/0077384
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/DAC V HA/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2633
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