Appeal No. 2005-2760
Application 09/915,963
It is the examiner’s position that Wicks discloses, in
Figures 1-5, the antenna structure claimed.
Appellant argues that Wicks lacks a teaching of the claimed
“symmetrical finite ground plane.” In particular, appellant
points out that Wicks depicts a one-dimensional ground plane as a
horizontal line and that this is a “typical depiction of an
infinite ground plane” (principal brief-page 8). Appellant also
points out that Figure 4 of Wicks shows a ground plane depicted
in three-dimensions as an irregular plate, with the cut-away view
“again suggesting an infinite ground plane” (principal brief-page
8). Appellant argues that Wicks gives no indication whatsoever
that the ground planes depicted therein are “symmetrical” in any
way.
The examiner’s only response to appellant’s allegations is
that in Figure 5 of Wicks, the ground plane is shown as a finite
ground plane, “the other figures depicting this ground plane are
showing it in abbreviated form for convenience only. Second, the
ground plane extends to infinity, this makes the ground plane
symmetrical since extending to infinity is a form of
translational symmetry” (answer-page 8).
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