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 .
Remarks
This Office Action is in response to the application filed on 08/13/25. Examiner acknowledged that claims 1-6 are pending.
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 08/13/25 in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tan (US 2016/0028148).
Regarding Claim 1, Tan teaches an electronic device (Fig. 1: 10) comprising, a housing (Fig. 1: 12)comprising: a side member (Fig. 9: 12B edge) defining an internal space (Fig. 9: internal area within 12B) of the housing; an accommodating portion (Fig. 9: upper and middle area within 12B) configured to accommodate an antenna (Fig. 9: 106) and substantially perpendicular to and surrounded by the side member, the side member comprising a conductive portion ([0026] “rear portion 12B may serve as antenna ground in an antenna for device 10”) configured to operate as a radiating conductor of the antenna; a bottom surface (Fig. 11: 12B bottom) disposed in the internal space and comprising a coupling region (Fig. 11: area for 212); and a protruding rib (Fig. 10: 12B rise portion act as a rib) protruding from the coupling region; and a printed circuit board (PCB) (Fig. 11: 154) comprising: at least one metal layer (Fig. 11: 234) disposed between the first layer and the second layer and comprising a void portion (Fig. 11: empty area for 212), wherein the PCB is disposed at least partially over the accommodating portion and physically coupled to the coupling region via a portion (Fig. 11: fastened by fastener 212) of the PCB at least partially corresponding to the void portion.
Tan does not explicitly teach in Fig. 11 a printed circuit board (PCB) comprising: a first dielectric layer; a second dielectric layer. However, [0056] teaches “ground traces 96 may be formed under trace 94 (e.g., in a layer of printed circuit board 154 that is separated from trace 94 by an intervening substrate dielectric layer)”. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Tan in order to sandwich trace 234 between dielectric layers since this would prevent trace 234 from coming into contact with trace 136 which will adversely affect the performance of the antenna [0058].
Regarding Claim 3, Tan teaches the electronic device of claim 1, wherein the void portion extends beyond the portion of the PCB and comprises a portion (Fig. 10: area to the left of 212 under 154 having empty space) that does not overlap with the coupling region.
Regarding Claim 4, Tan teaches the electronic device of claim 1, except the conductive portion forms a side frame of the housing. However, [0054] teaches “screw 212 may be used to short metal traces in printed circuit board 154 to metal portions of housing 12 such as housing portion 12B”; (Fig. 10: 12B) is one continuous piece of material. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art that the side wall is also conductive in order to make use of one continuous piece of material that can act as a ground for the antenna since this completes the circuit for the antenna of the electronic device.
Regarding Claim 5, Tan teaches the electronic device of claim 1, wherein the radiating conductor of the antenna is electrically connected to the at least one metal layer ([0055] “trace 136 may form a positive signal conductor and trace 234 may form a ground signal conductor”).
Regarding Claim 6, Tan teaches the electronic device of claim 1, wherein the coupling region is located on a boundary (Fig. 11: fastening area is within the internal space of 12B; Fig. 9: 212 locations) of the accommodating portion.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 2 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 HENRY T LUONG whose telephone number is (571)270-7008. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Thursday: 8:00-6:00.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Alexander Taningco can be reached at (571) 272-8048. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Henry Luong/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2845
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