Prior art — US Patent 8350763

To identify the most relevant prior art for US patent 8350763, I will focus on the "Citations" section within the patent document itself. The USPTO provides tools to search its database for patents and patent application publications, which is essential for prior art analysis. Prior art includes any publicly available information before a patent application is filed that might affect the novelty or originality of an invention, such as existing patents, publications, or public use. Patent examiners use prior art to determine if an invention is new and non-obvious.

Here are the prior art references cited within US patent 8350763, along with their publication/filing dates, brief descriptions, and potential anticipation under 35 U.S.C. § 102:

Patent Citations from US8350763:

US4499606A
- Full Citation: US4499606A, "Reception enhancement in mobile FM broadcast receivers and the like"
- Priority Date: 1982-12-27
- Publication Date: 1985-02-12
- Brief Description: This patent describes techniques for enhancing reception in mobile FM broadcast receivers. While the specific details aren't fully provided in the abstract, it generally relates to improving signal reception in mobile environments.
- Potential Anticipation (35 U.S.C. § 102): This patent might be considered relevant as general prior art for improving reception in mobile wireless devices. Depending on the specific claims, it could potentially anticipate aspects related to signal quality or antenna performance enhancements in mobile contexts, particularly for "receiving electromagnetic energy" as in claims 1, 6, 10, 13, and 17, if its methods inherently provide multi-band reception capability. However, without further detail on its multi-band nature or active tuning, it's less likely to directly anticipate the core inventive step of simultaneous multi-band use with active tuning of a single antenna.
US20030151556A1
- Full Citation: US20030151556A1, "Fractal antenna ground counterpoise, ground planes, and loading elements and microstrip patch antennas with fractal structure"
- Priority Date: 1997-11-07
- Publication Date: 2003-08-14
- Brief Description: This publication describes fractal antennas, including ground counterpoises, ground planes, loading elements, and microstrip patch antennas with fractal structures. These designs are often used to achieve multi-band operation in a compact form factor.
- Potential Anticipation (35 U.S.C. § 102): This reference is highly relevant to the concept of multi-band antennas, specifically mentioning fractal structures for achieving resonance across several frequency bands. The description of US8350763 notes that "Today, there are many passive antennas solutions that have been published in the literature, such as, for example, the broadband planar antenna developed by Prof. Chen at The University of Texas. Using Fractal programming (genetic algorithms), it is possible to do computer simulations that eventually create an antenna design that offers resonance for several different frequency bands." This directly points to fractal antennas as existing passive multi-band solutions. As such, US20030151556A1 could potentially anticipate the "one or more antennas" being used in "a plurality of different bands" (claims 1, 6, 10, 13, 17) if the fractal design itself inherently supports simultaneous operation across multiple bands without requiring active tuning. However, the active tuning aspect of US8350763 would differentiate it.
US6693600B1
- Full Citation: US6693600B1, "Ultra-broadband antenna achieved by combining a monocone with other antennas"
- Priority Date: 2000-11-24
- Publication Date: 2004-02-17
- Brief Description: This patent describes an ultra-broadband antenna design achieved by combining a monocone with other antennas. This aims to cover a very wide range of frequencies.
- Potential Anticipation (35 U.S.C. § 102): This patent addresses the goal of broad frequency coverage through antenna combination. It could potentially anticipate the concept of a "single physical structure (e.g., an antenna) for transmission and reception of many different bands" (claims 1, 6, 10, 13, 17) if the combination of antennas acts as a single functional unit for multiple bands. However, like the fractal antenna, if this patent relies solely on passive design for multi-band operation and lacks the active tuning elements or electronic control over passive elements as claimed in US8350763, it would likely not fully anticipate.
US7088299B2
- Full Citation: US7088299B2, "Multi-band antenna structure"
- Priority Date: 2003-10-28
- Publication Date: 2006-08-08
- Brief Description: This patent describes a multi-band antenna structure. While the abstract doesn't provide specific mechanisms, the title clearly indicates its focus on multiple frequency bands.
- Potential Anticipation (35 U.S.C. § 102): This patent is directly relevant as "Multi-band antenna structure" explicitly aligns with the multi-band antenna concept central to US8350763. It could potentially anticipate claims 1, 6, 10, 13, and 17, particularly the aspect of a single antenna being used for multiple bands. However, the inventiveness of US8350763 lies in its active tuning or electronically controlled passive elements for tuning, and the capability for simultaneous multi-band operation. If US7088299B2 describes a purely passive multi-band antenna without these active or electronically controlled tuning features, it would not fully anticipate.
US20080158081A1
- Full Citation: US20080158081A1, "Adjustable integrated circuit antenna structure"
- Priority Date: 2006-12-29
- Publication Date: 2008-07-03
- Brief Description: This publication details an adjustable integrated circuit antenna structure. The "adjustable" aspect suggests some form of tuning or reconfigurability.
- Potential Anticipation (35 U.S.C. § 102): This reference is highly significant because it mentions an "adjustable integrated circuit antenna structure." This directly relates to the "actively tuned antenna" (claims 1, 6, 17) or "tuned by one or more passive elements which are selected or interconnected using electronic control" (claims 1, 6, 17) of US8350763. The publication date of 2008-07-03 precedes the priority date of US8350763 (2008-08-14). Therefore, this prior art could potentially anticipate claims 1, 6, and 17 if its "adjustable" mechanism is capable of achieving the active or electronically controlled tuning for multiple bands, especially if it can do so simultaneously or through sequential tuning of multiple tuners for simultaneous operation. The specific details of how it achieves multi-band operation and simultaneity would be crucial for a full anticipation assessment.

Prior Art Cited by the Examiner (Families Citing this Family):
While not directly cited by US8350763, it's also important to consider patents that cite US8350763, as they might have been considered by the examiner or represent related technologies. The provided list "Families Citing this family" includes many patents, several of which directly relate to tunable antennas and impedance matching, often involving the work of Paratek Microwave. These would be crucial to a complete prior art analysis, particularly those with priority dates earlier than US8350763 (August 14, 2008). Some prominent examples from this list, mentioned in the "Background of the Invention" of US8350763, include:

U.S. Pat. No. 7,369,828 by Shamsaifar (Paratek Microwave): This patent is explicitly mentioned in the background of US8350763 as pioneering active antenna tuning for cellphones, where two different antennas (high band and low band) each have an active element that may be tuned. US8350763 states that prior art like US7369829 (which appears to be a typo and likely refers to US7369828 based on the context) did not contemplate the present invention's allowance of a single antenna for simultaneous transmission/reception for multiple bands. This highlights a key distinguishing feature of US8350763.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,202,747 and U.S. Pat. No. 7,012,483 (Agile Materials): These patents, also cited in the background, describe self-tuning variable impedance circuits and tunable bridge circuits, respectively, using BST tunable capacitive material. These demonstrate prior art in tunable circuits and impedance matching.

The distinction made in US8350763's description from these earlier active tuning patents, particularly US7369828, is the allowance of a single antenna for simultaneous multi-band use. This is a critical point of differentiation for claims 3, 7, 10, 11, and 13.

Legal Note on 35 U.S.C. § 102 (Anticipation):
Under 35 U.S.C. § 102, a claim is anticipated if every element of the claimed invention is disclosed, either explicitly or inherently, in a single prior art reference. The effective filing date for US8350763 is August 14, 2009, with a priority date of August 14, 2008. Any prior art reference publicly available before August 14, 2008, would be considered for anticipation.