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 .
1. Claims 1-20 have been presented for examination.
Priority
2. Acknowledgment is made of applicant's claim for foreign priority based on an application filed in India on 7/30/2024. It is noted, however, that applicant has not filed a certified copy of the 202411057651 application as required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
3. Acknowledgement is made to the information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 1/14/2026. The information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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.
4. Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Tsirline et al. (US 2007/0262873 A1), hereinafter Tsirline.
Regarding claim 1, Tsirline discloses a coupler for a radio frequency identification (RFID) enabled system adapted to couple a transceiver of the RFID enabled system with a targeted transponder from among a group of multiple adjacent transponders, the coupler comprising:
a first ground plane (52 – first ground plane) and a second ground plane (60 – second ground plane) on opposing sides of the coupler [0040, 0041, & Fig. 3]; and,
a conductive strip (56 – conductive strip) for propagating a plurality of electromagnetic fields from an edge of the coupler, the conductive strip positioned at least partially between the first and second ground planes, the conductive strip having a bottom edge having a first tapered edge portion, a second tapered edge portion, and a center portion therebetween, the second tapered edge portion being a mirror image of the first tapered edge portion, each of the first and second tapered edge portions comprising two or more steps [0016, 0055, & Figs. 2b & 3].
Regarding claim 2, Tsirline discloses the coupler of Claim 1, further comprising a first printed circuit board sandwiched between the first ground plane and the conductive strip and a second printed circuit board sandwiched between the second ground plane and the conductive strip [0042-0045].
Regarding claim 3, Tsirline discloses the coupler of Claim 1, wherein each of the two or more steps of each of the first and second tapered edge portions are squared [0016 & 0055].
Regarding claim 4, Tsirline discloses the coupler of Claim 1, wherein each of the two or more steps of each of the first and second tapered edge portions are convex [0016 & 0055].
Regarding claim 5, Tsirline discloses the coupler of Claim 1, wherein each of the two or more steps of each of the first and second tapered edge portions are concave [0016 & 0055].
Regarding claim 6, Tsirline discloses the coupler of Claim 1, wherein each of the two or more steps of each of the first and second tapered edge portions are angled [0016 & 0055].
Regarding claim 7, Tsirline discloses the coupler of Claim 1, wherein the center portion of the bottom edge is straight [0016 & 0055].
Regarding claim 8, Tsirline discloses the coupler of Claim 1, wherein the center portion of the bottom edge is convex [0016 & 0055].
Regarding claim 9, Tsirline discloses the coupler of Claim 1, wherein the center portion of the bottom edge is concave [0016 & 0055].
Regarding claim 10, Tsirline discloses the coupler of Claim 1, wherein the RFID enabled system is a printer [0034-0036].
Regarding claim 11, Tsirline discloses a radio frequency identification (RFID) printer-encoder adapted to print and encode a plurality of media units, at least some of the plurality of media units comprising an RFID transponder, the printer-encoder comprising:
a printhead (28 – printhead) for printing indicia onto the media units [0035 & Fig. 1];
a media conveyance system adapted to convey the plurality of media units to the printhead and a transponder encoding region along a feed path in a feed direction [0035-0037];
a transceiver (42 - transceiver) configured to provide communication signals corresponding to information to be encoded on the RFID transponder (26 - transponder) [0035-0038]; and,
a coupler electrically connected to the transceiver and adapted to encode a targeted transponder in the transponder encoding region [0038, 0040, 0041, & 0047], the coupler comprising:
a first ground plane (52 – first ground plane) and a second ground plane (60 – second ground plane) on opposing sides of the coupler [0040, 0041, & Fig. 3]; and,
a conductive strip (56 – conductive strip) for propagating a plurality of electromagnetic fields from an edge of the coupler, the conductive strip positioned at least partially between the first and second ground planes, the conductive strip having a bottom edge having a first tapered edge portion, a second tapered edge portion, and a center portion therebetween, the second tapered edge portion being a mirror image of the first tapered edge portion, each of the first and second tapered edge portions comprising two or more steps [0016, 0055, & Figs. 2b & 3].
Regarding claim 12, Tsirline discloses the printer-encoder of Claim 11, wherein the coupler further comprises a first printed circuit board sandwiched between the first ground plane and the conductive strip, and a second printed circuit board sandwiched between the second ground plane and the conductive strip [0042-0045].
Regarding claim 13, Tsirline discloses the printer-encoder of Claim 11, wherein each of the two or more steps of each of the first and second tapered edge portions of the coupler are squared [0016 & 0055].
Regarding claim 14, Tsirline discloses the printer-encoder of Claim 11, wherein each of the two or more steps of each of the first and second tapered edge portions of the coupler are convex [0016 & 0055].
Regarding claim 15, Tsirline discloses the printer-encoder of Claim 11, wherein each of the two or more steps of each of the first and second tapered edge portions of the coupler are concave [0016 & 0055].
Regarding claim 16, Tsirline discloses the printer-encoder of Claim 11, wherein each of the two or more steps of each of the first and second tapered edge portions of the coupler are angled [0016 & 0055].
Regarding claim 17, Tsirline discloses the printer-encoder of Claim 11, wherein the center portion of the bottom edge of the coupler is straight [0016 & 0055].
Regarding claim 18, Tsirline discloses the printer-encoder of Claim 11, wherein the center portion of the bottom edge of the coupler is convex [0016 & 0055].
Regarding claim 19, Tsirline discloses the printer-encoder of Claim 11, wherein the center portion of the bottom edge of the coupler is concave [0016 & 0055].
Regarding claim 20, Tsirline discloses the printer-encoder of Claim 11, wherein the coupler is positioned downstream of the printhead along the feed path [0034-0036].
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to PAULTEP SAVUSDIPHOL whose telephone number is (571)270-1301. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F,7-3 EST. If the examiner cannot be reached by telephone, he can be reached through the following email address: paultep.savusdiphol@uspto.gov
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone and email are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Michael G. Lee can be reached on (571) 272-2398. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/PAULTEP SAVUSDIPHOL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2876