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 .
DETAILED ACTION
This office action is in response to application filed on August 28, 2025. Claims 1-20 are currently pending in the application.
Continuity/Priority Information
This application is a continuation of U.S. Patent Application No. 18/441,120, filed on February 14, 2024 (now U.S. Patent No. 12,417,709), which claims the benefit of, and priority to, U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63/496,433, filed on April 17, 2023.
Drawings
The drawings filed on August 28, 2025, are acknowledged and are acceptable.
Double Patenting
The nonstatutory double patenting rejection is based on a judicially created doctrine grounded in public policy (a policy reflected in the statute) so as to prevent the unjustified or improper timewise extension of the “right to exclude” granted by a patent and to prevent possible harassment by multiple assignees. A nonstatutory obviousness-type double patenting rejection is appropriate where the conflicting claims are not identical, but at least one examined application claim is not patentably distinct from the reference claim(s) because the examined application claim is either anticipated by, or would have been obvious over, the reference claim(s). See, e.g., In re Berg, 140 F.3d 1428, 46 USPQ2d 1226 (Fed. Cir. 1998); In re Goodman, 11 F.3d 1046, 29 USPQ2d 2010 (Fed. Cir. 1993); In re Longi, 759 F.2d 887, 225 USPQ 645 (Fed. Cir. 1985); In re Van Ornum, 686 F.2d 937, 214 USPQ 761 (CCPA 1982); In re Vogel, 422 F.2d 438, 164 USPQ 619 (CCPA 1970); and In re Thorington, 418 F.2d 528, 163 USPQ 644 (CCPA 1969).
A timely filed terminal disclaimer in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(c) or 1.321(d) may be used to overcome an actual or provisional rejection based on a nonstatutory double patenting ground provided the conflicting application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with this application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement.
Effective January 1, 1994, a registered attorney or agent of record may sign a terminal disclaimer. A terminal disclaimer signed by the assignee must fully comply with 37 CFR 3.73(b). The USPTO internet Web site contains terminal disclaimer forms which may be used. Please visit http://www.uspto.gov/forms/. The filing date of the application will determine what form should be used. A web-based eTerminal Disclaimer may be filled out completely online using web-screens. An eTerminal Disclaimer that meets all requirements is auto-processed and approved immediately upon submission. For more information about eTerminal Disclaimers, refer to http://www.uspto.gov/patents/process/file/efs/guidance/eTD-info-I.jsp.
Claims 1-20 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory obviousness-type double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1-20 of U.S. Patent Number 12417709. Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because they recite the same invention using the same means with little additional change to the claim language. Patent claims are narrower and thus teach all the limitations of instant claims.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-20 would be allowable if they overcome the nonstatutory obviousness-type double patenting rejections set forth in this office action.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: The prior art does not disclose the combination of limitations presented in the claimed invention. Like the explanation of reasons for allowance in the parent (PAT 12417709), the closest prior art of Lin et al. (U.S. Publication No. 2020/0103931A1; hereinafter “Lin”) and Sun (Chinese Publication No. CN101247162B), either alone or in combination, does not expressly teach all the limitations as recited in independent claims 1 and 11.
Specifically, neither Lin nor Sun, alone or in combination, discloses or suggests the claimed arrangement in which a plurality of signal expansion circuits generate a plurality of additional frequencies based on the reference clock and merge those additional frequencies with an input frequency to produce a merged signal for transmission by the antenna. Lin is directed primarily to electronic clock adjustment/transmission system (see e.g., para. [0027]-[0030]), while Sun concerns analog intermediate-frequency distribution, signal branching, frequency conversion, and antenna transmission (see e.g., para. [0017], [0021]-[0022], [0041], [0046]). Although Sun discloses an expansion module, a reference clock, and an antenna, neither Lin nor Sun teaches the claimed frequency-generation and frequency-merging functionality, as required by independent claim 1 and corresponding method claim 11.
For the reasons above claims 1 and 11 are allowable.
Claims 2-10 and 12-20 depend, directly or indirectly, from allowable claims 1 and 11 and are therefore indicated as allowable.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure and are cited in the attached PTO-892, Notice of References Cited form.
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/ADNAN AZIZ/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2685 adnan.aziz@uspto.gov
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