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 .
Response to Amendment
The amendment submitted December 1, 2025 has been entered. Claims 1-22 remain pending in this application. Claims 1, 8, 16, and 18 have been amended.
Response to Arguments
Regarding claims 1, 8, 16, and 18, Applicant argues that Wang fails to teach determining a sum of the plurality of collections of the reflected predetermined pattern samples and determining an average of magnitudes of the sum of the plurality of collections of the reflected predetermined pattern samples over time, and determining a sum of collections of the reflected predetermined pattern samples determining an average of magnitudes of the sum of collections of the reflected predetermined pattern samples over time.
Examiner asserts that Wang does teach this subject matter, citing Wang;
para. 168, “Each CI may comprise a vector of complex values. Each complex value may be preprocessed to give the magnitude of the complex value. Each CI may be preprocessed to give a vector of non-negative real numbers comprising the magnitude of corresponding complex values.”,
para. 175, “A total characteristics (e.g. aggregate characteristics) of the TSCI may be computed based on the component-wise characteristics of each component time series of the TSCI. The total characteristics may be a weighted average of the component-wise characteristics. The characteristics/STI of the motion of the object may be monitored based on the total characteristics.”, and
para. 179, “The averaging or weighted averaging may be over the at least one TSCI. The averaging may optionally be performed on a subset of the at least one TSCI corresponding to a subset of the antenna pairs.”,
with the reasoning that a TSCI fundamentally consists of samples collected over a time and that averaging a TSCI would involve summing its samples.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1, 3-6, 8, 10-17, and 20-22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) and (a)(2) as being anticipated by Wang et al. (US 20230081472 A1), hereinafter Wang.
Regarding claim 1, Wang teaches an apparatus, comprising:
an analog input terminal of a receiver processing circuitry, the analog input terminal to receive a reflected predetermined pattern signal provided by a receiver antenna (para. 245, “In one embodiment, the disclosed system has hardware components (e.g. wireless transmitter/receiver with antenna, analog circuitry, power supply, processor, memory) and corresponding software components.”),
an analog to digital converter (ADC) circuitry to sample the reflected predetermined pattern signal received by the analog input terminal to generate reflected predetermined pattern samples (para. 8, “For each chirp, the baseband signal h(t) is digitized by Analog-to-Digital Converter [ADC], producing N samples per chip, referred to as fast time. The time corresponding to the transmission of chirps is referred to as slow time, as shown in FIG. 2.”; para. 93, “The TSCI may be extracted from a derived signal [e.g. baseband signal, motion detection signal, motion sensing signal] derived from the wireless signal [e.g. RF signal]. […] The derived signal may comprise a packet with at least one of: a preamble, a header and a payload [e.g. for data/control/management in wireless links/networks].”; para. 429, “For example, to locate the reflections from the driver, the system first performs beamforming to get the CIR with different range-azimuth bins, followed by a clutter removal module to remove the reflection from the background. Then the 2-dimensional correlation between different CIR samples have been used to eliminate large displacement caused by body roaming.“), and
a processor to: capture a plurality of collections of the reflected predetermined pattern samples (para. 147, “The processed second TSCI may be the second TSCI processed by a second operation. The first operation and/or the second operation may comprise: subsampling, re-sampling, interpolation, filtering, transformation, feature extraction, pre-processing, and/or another operation.”),
each collection of the plurality of collections including a predetermined number of the reflected predetermined pattern samples corresponding to a predetermined time window of the reflected predetermined pattern signal (para. 396, “where hr,l(m) denotes the CIR of l-th antenna element and r-th range tap r at time instance m, n denotes the sample index after digitizing the h.sup.m(r,l) over fast-time τ, and N is the total number of samples per chirp.”; para. 73, “FIG. 18A illustrates an average of the CIR amplitude over 1-min window after large body motion compensation during an exemplary target detection, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.”),
determine a sum of the plurality of collections of the reflected predetermined pattern samples, determine an average of magnitudes of the sum of the plurality of collections of the reflected predetermined pattern samples (para. 73, “FIG. 18A illustrates an average of the CIR amplitude over 1-min window after large body motion compensation during an exemplary target detection, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.”; para. 168, “Each CI may comprise a vector of complex values. Each complex value may be preprocessed to give the magnitude of the complex value. Each CI may be preprocessed to give a vector of non-negative real numbers comprising the magnitude of corresponding complex values.”, para. 175, “A total characteristics [e.g. aggregate characteristics] of the TSCI may be computed based on the component-wise characteristics of each component time series of the TSCI. The total characteristics may be a weighted average of the component-wise characteristics. The characteristics/STI of the motion of the object may be monitored based on the total characteristics.”), and
determine whether a moving object is sensed responsive to the determined average and a predetermined threshold value (paras. 435-436, “At step s3a: compute the background profile at each [theta, distance, time index] by taking average of the CIR over a time window. At step s3b: subtract the background profile from the CIR. […] At step s4b: determine subject is present in the direction if the time-averaged magnitude response is greater than a threshold T1, wherein the threshold T1 may be a 2-dimensional CFAR filtering of CIR magnitude |h| in theta and distance direction. At step s4c: compensate fine body motion which is smaller than the range-azimuth resolution, wherein the fine body motion may be estimated by the smoothing spline of the phase measurement corresponding to the reflection off the driver.”).
Regarding claim 3, Wang teaches the apparatus of claim 1,
the processor to determine that the moving object is sensed responsive to the determined average exceeding the predetermined threshold value (para. 352, “The system of clause 3, wherein generating the vital signal for each living being further comprises: for each directional CI associated with a respective direction, computing, for each time instance, a CI amplitude based on the directional CI for the respective direction and a distance range to obtain CI amplitudes over time, computing a time average of the CI amplitudes based on a time window, and detecting object presence at the distance range in the respective direction when the time average is greater than a first threshold […]”).
Regarding claim 4, Wang teaches the apparatus of claim 1,
the receiver processing circuitry to operate asynchronously from a transmitter processing circuitry of a transmitter (para. 177, “A common wireless system and/or a common wireless channel may be shared by the Type 1 transceiver and/or the at least one Type 2 transceiver. The at least one Type 2 transceiver may transmit respective signal contemporaneously (or: asynchronously, synchronously, sporadically, continuously, repeatedly, concurrently, simultaneously and/or temporarily) using the common wireless system and/or the common wireless channel. The Type 1 transceiver may transmit a signal to the at least one Type 2 transceiver using the common wireless system and/or the common wireless channel.”),
the transmitter processing circuitry to generate a predetermined pattern signal to provide the reflected predetermined pattern signal responsive to reflection of a predetermined pattern wave corresponding to the predetermined pattern signal by one or more objects (para. 254, “Beamforming [in Rx and/or Tx] may be applied [digitally] to ‘scan’ different directions. Many directions can be scanned or monitored simultaneously. With beamforming, ‘sectors’ [e.g. directions, orientations, bearings, zones, regions, segments] may be defined related to the Type 2 device [e.g. relative to center location of antenna array]. For each probe signal [e.g. a pulse, an ACK, a control packet, etc.], a channel information or CI [e.g. channel impulse response/CIR, CSI, CFR] is obtained/computed for each sector [e.g. from the RF chip]. In breathing detection, one may collect CIR in a sliding window [e.g. 30 sec, and with 100 Hz sounding/probing rate, one may have 3000 CIR over 30 sec].”)
Regarding claim 5, Wang teaches the apparatus of claim 1,
the processor to adjust a gain of the receiver processing circuitry (para. 95, “The Type 1/Type 2 device may comprise: […] one or more radio/RF subsystem/wireless interface [e.g. 2.4 GHz radio, 5 GHz radio, front haul radio, backhaul radio], modem, RF front end, RF/radio chip or integrated circuit [IC].”; para. 172, “The modem parameters may include one or more of: a gain setting, an RF filter setting, an RF front end switch setting, a DC offset setting, or an IQ compensation setting for a radio subsystem, or a digital DC correction setting, a digital gain setting, and/or a digital filtering setting [e.g. for a baseband subsystem].”; para. 172, “The modem parameters may include one or more of: a gain setting, an RF filter setting, an RF front end switch setting, a DC offset setting, or an IQ compensation setting for a radio subsystem, or a digital DC correction setting, a digital gain setting, and/or a digital filtering setting [e.g. for a baseband subsystem].”).
Regarding claim 6, Wang teaches the apparatus of claim 1,
the processor to determine the determined average by integrating the values of the collections of reflected predetermined pattern samples over time (para. 73, “FIG. 18A illustrates an average of the CIR amplitude over 1-min window after large body motion compensation during an exemplary target detection, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.”).
Regarding claim 8, Wang teaches a system, comprising:
a transmitter including a transmitter processing circuitry to generate a predetermined pattern signal and one or more receivers (para. 93, “The TSCI may be extracted from a derived signal [e.g. baseband signal, motion detection signal, motion sensing signal] derived from the wireless signal [e.g. RF signal]. […] The derived signal may comprise a packet with at least one of: a preamble, a header and a payload [e.g. for data/control/management in wireless links/networks].”; para. 254, “Beamforming [in Rx and/or Tx] may be applied [digitally] to ‘scan’ different directions. Many directions can be scanned or monitored simultaneously. With beamforming, ‘sectors’ [e.g. directions, orientations, bearings, zones, regions, segments] may be defined related to the Type 2 device [e.g. relative to center location of antenna array]. For each probe signal [e.g. a pulse, an ACK, a control packet, etc.], a channel information or CI [e.g. channel impulse response/CIR, CSI, CFR] is obtained/computed for each sector [e.g. from the RF chip]. In breathing detection, one may collect CIR in a sliding window [e.g. 30 sec, and with 100 Hz sounding/probing rate, one may have 3000 CIR over 30 sec].”), each including a respective receiver processing circuitry to:
sample a reflected predetermined pattern signal to generate reflected predetermined pattern samples (para. 8, “For each chirp, the baseband signal h(t) is digitized by Analog-to-Digital Converter [ADC], producing N samples per chip, referred to as fast time. The time corresponding to the transmission of chirps is referred to as slow time, as shown in FIG. 2.”; para. 93, “The TSCI may be extracted from a derived signal [e.g. baseband signal, motion detection signal, motion sensing signal] derived from the wireless signal [e.g. RF signal]. […] The derived signal may comprise a packet with at least one of: a preamble, a header and a payload [e.g. for data/control/management in wireless links/networks].”),
determine a sum of collections of the reflected predetermined pattern samples, determine an average of magnitudes of the sum of collections of the reflected predetermined pattern samples over time, each collection of the plurality of collections corresponding to a predetermined time window (para. 73, “FIG. 18A illustrates an average of the CIR amplitude over 1-min window after large body motion compensation during an exemplary target detection, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.”; para. 168, “Each CI may comprise a vector of complex values. Each complex value may be preprocessed to give the magnitude of the complex value. Each CI may be preprocessed to give a vector of non-negative real numbers comprising the magnitude of corresponding complex values.”, para. 175, “A total characteristics [e.g. aggregate characteristics] of the TSCI may be computed based on the component-wise characteristics of each component time series of the TSCI. The total characteristics may be a weighted average of the component-wise characteristics. The characteristics/STI of the motion of the object may be monitored based on the total characteristics.”), and
determine that a moving object is detected responsive to the determined average and a predetermined threshold value (paras. 435-436, “At step s3a: compute the background profile at each [theta, distance, time index] by taking average of the CIR over a time window. At step s3b: subtract the background profile from the CIR. […] At step s4b: determine subject is present in the direction if the time-averaged magnitude response is greater than a threshold T1, wherein the threshold T1 may be a 2-dimensional CFAR filtering of CIR magnitude |h| in theta and distance direction. At step s4c: compensate fine body motion which is smaller than the range-azimuth resolution, wherein the fine body motion may be estimated by the smoothing spline of the phase measurement corresponding to the reflection off the driver.”).
Regarding claim 10, Wang teaches the system of claim 8,
wherein at least one of the one or more receivers operates asynchronously from the transmitter processing circuitry (para. 177, “A common wireless system and/or a common wireless channel may be shared by the Type 1 transceiver and/or the at least one Type 2 transceiver. The at least one Type 2 transceiver may transmit respective signal contemporaneously (or: asynchronously, synchronously, sporadically, continuously, repeatedly, concurrently, simultaneously and/or temporarily) using the common wireless system and/or the common wireless channel. The Type 1 transceiver may transmit a signal to the at least one Type 2 transceiver using the common wireless system and/or the common wireless channel.”).
Regarding claim 11, Wang teaches the system of claim 8,
wherein respective ones of the one or more receivers having a respective individual detection area associated therewith (Fig. 1A, multiple receiving elements RX 102; receivers implicitly have a detection area).
Regarding claim 12, Wang teaches the system of claim 11,
wherein the respective ones of the one or more receivers are positioned relative to a total detection area with the respective individual detection area associated with the respective ones of the one or more receivers in sum substantially covering the total detection area (Fig. 1A, multiple receiving elements RX 102 facing a total detection area; the total detection area of any plurality of receiving elements is implicitly the sum of their detection areas).
Regarding claim 13, Wang teaches the system of claim 8,
the respective receiver processing circuitry to determine that the moving object is detected responsive to the determined average exceeding the predetermined threshold value (para. 352, “The system of clause 3, wherein generating the vital signal for each living being further comprises: for each directional CI associated with a respective direction, computing, for each time instance, a CI amplitude based on the directional CI for the respective direction and a distance range to obtain CI amplitudes over time, computing a time average of the CI amplitudes based on a time window, and detecting object presence at the distance range in the respective direction when the time average is greater than a first threshold […]”).
Regarding claim 14, Wang teaches the system of claim 8,
the one or more receivers to output a trigger signal responsive to a determination that the moving object is detected (para. 196, “Another example may be: When the user wakes up in the morning, the task may be to detect the user moving around in the bedroom, open the blind/curtain, open the window, turn off the alarm clock, adjust indoor temperature from night-time temperature profile to day-time temperature profile, turn on the bedroom light, turn on the restroom light as the user approaches the restroom, check radio or streaming channel and play morning news, turn on the coffee machine and preheat the water, turn off security system, etc.”).
Regarding claim 15, Wang teaches the system of claim 14,
comprising at least one of a vehicle trunk opening mechanism, a door opening mechanism, and an industrial automation controller to trigger responsive to the trigger signal (para. 187, “The portable device, the nearby device, a local server [e.g. hub device] and/or a cloud server may share the computation and/or storage for a task [e.g. obtain TSCI, determine characteristics/STI of the object associated with the movement [e.g. change in position/location] of the object […]”; para. 194, “The task may include: detect a user returning home, detect a user leaving home, detect a user moving from one room to another, detect/control/lock/unlock/open/close/partially open a window/door/garage door/blind/curtain/panel/solar panel/sun shade […]”).
Regarding claim 16, Wang teaches a method of operating receiver processing circuitry, the method comprising:
sampling a reflected predetermined pattern signal to generate reflected predetermined pattern samples (para. 8, “For each chirp, the baseband signal h(t) is digitized by Analog-to-Digital Converter [ADC], producing N samples per chip, referred to as fast time. The time corresponding to the transmission of chirps is referred to as slow time, as shown in FIG. 2.”; para. 93, “The TSCI may be extracted from a derived signal [e.g. baseband signal, motion detection signal, motion sensing signal] derived from the wireless signal [e.g. RF signal]. […] The derived signal may comprise a packet with at least one of: a preamble, a header and a payload [e.g. for data/control/management in wireless links/networks].”),
determining a sum of collections of the reflected predetermined pattern samples, determining an average of magnitudes of the sum of collections of the reflected predetermined pattern samples over time, each collection of the plurality of collections corresponding to a predetermined time window (para. 73, “FIG. 18A illustrates an average of the CIR amplitude over 1-min window after large body motion compensation during an exemplary target detection, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.”; para. 168, “Each CI may comprise a vector of complex values. Each complex value may be preprocessed to give the magnitude of the complex value. Each CI may be preprocessed to give a vector of non-negative real numbers comprising the magnitude of corresponding complex values.”, para. 175, “A total characteristics [e.g. aggregate characteristics] of the TSCI may be computed based on the component-wise characteristics of each component time series of the TSCI. The total characteristics may be a weighted average of the component-wise characteristics. The characteristics/STI of the motion of the object may be monitored based on the total characteristics.”), and
determining that a moving object is detected responsive to the determined average and a predetermined threshold value (paras. 435-436, “At step s3a: compute the background profile at each [theta, distance, time index] by taking average of the CIR over a time window. At step s3b: subtract the background profile from the CIR. […] At step s4b: determine subject is present in the direction if the time-averaged magnitude response is greater than a threshold T1, wherein the threshold T1 may be a 2-dimensional CFAR filtering of CIR magnitude |h| in theta and distance direction. At step s4c: compensate fine body motion which is smaller than the range-azimuth resolution, wherein the fine body motion may be estimated by the smoothing spline of the phase measurement corresponding to the reflection off the driver.”).
Regarding claim 17, Wang teaches the method of claim 16,
wherein determining the average comprises integrating values of the plurality of collections of the reflected predetermined pattern samples (para. 73, “FIG. 18A illustrates an average of the CIR amplitude over 1-min window after large body motion compensation during an exemplary target detection, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.”).
Regarding claim 20, Wang teaches the apparatus of claim 1
wherein the reflected predetermined pattern signal comprises a reflected signal representing a predetermined pattern of symbols (para. 93, “The TSCI may be extracted from a derived signal [e.g. baseband signal, motion detection signal, motion sensing signal] derived from the wireless signal [e.g. RF signal]. […] The derived signal may comprise a packet with at least one of: a preamble, a header and a payload [e.g. for data/control/management in wireless links/networks].”; para. 254, “Beamforming [in Rx and/or Tx] may be applied [digitally] to ‘scan’ different directions. Many directions can be scanned or monitored simultaneously. With beamforming, ‘sectors’ [e.g. directions, orientations, bearings, zones, regions, segments] may be defined related to the Type 2 device [e.g. relative to center location of antenna array]. For each probe signal [e.g. a pulse, an ACK, a control packet, etc.], a channel information or CI [e.g. channel impulse response/CIR, CSI, CFR] is obtained/computed for each sector [e.g. from the RF chip]. In breathing detection, one may collect CIR in a sliding window [e.g. 30 sec, and with 100 Hz sounding/probing rate, one may have 3000 CIR over 30 sec].”).
Regarding claim 21, Wang teaches the system of claim 8,
wherein the transmitter processing circuitry to generate the predetermined pattern signal at least partially responsive to a predetermined pattern of symbols (para. 93, “The TSCI may be extracted from a derived signal [e.g. baseband signal, motion detection signal, motion sensing signal] derived from the wireless signal [e.g. RF signal]. […] The derived signal may comprise a packet with at least one of: a preamble, a header and a payload [e.g. for data/control/management in wireless links/networks].”; para. 254, “Beamforming [in Rx and/or Tx] may be applied [digitally] to ‘scan’ different directions. Many directions can be scanned or monitored simultaneously. With beamforming, ‘sectors’ [e.g. directions, orientations, bearings, zones, regions, segments] may be defined related to the Type 2 device [e.g. relative to center location of antenna array]. For each probe signal [e.g. a pulse, an ACK, a control packet, etc.], a channel information or CI [e.g. channel impulse response/CIR, CSI, CFR] is obtained/computed for each sector [e.g. from the RF chip]. In breathing detection, one may collect CIR in a sliding window [e.g. 30 sec, and with 100 Hz sounding/probing rate, one may have 3000 CIR over 30 sec].”).
Regarding claim 22, Wang teaches the method of claim 16, but fails to teach
wherein the reflected predetermined pattern signal comprising a reflected signal representing a predetermined pattern of symbols (para. 93, “The TSCI may be extracted from a derived signal [e.g. baseband signal, motion detection signal, motion sensing signal] derived from the wireless signal [e.g. RF signal]. […] The derived signal may comprise a packet with at least one of: a preamble, a header and a payload [e.g. for data/control/management in wireless links/networks].”; para. 254, “Beamforming [in Rx and/or Tx] may be applied [digitally] to ‘scan’ different directions. Many directions can be scanned or monitored simultaneously. With beamforming, ‘sectors’ [e.g. directions, orientations, bearings, zones, regions, segments] may be defined related to the Type 2 device [e.g. relative to center location of antenna array]. For each probe signal [e.g. a pulse, an ACK, a control packet, etc.], a channel information or CI [e.g. channel impulse response/CIR, CSI, CFR] is obtained/computed for each sector [e.g. from the RF chip]. In breathing detection, one may collect CIR in a sliding window [e.g. 30 sec, and with 100 Hz sounding/probing rate, one may have 3000 CIR over 30 sec].”).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
Claims 7, 9, and 18-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang in view of Puglia (US 20070152871 A1).
Regarding claim 7, Wang teaches the apparatus of claim 1, but fails to teach
wherein the reflected predetermined pattern signal includes a binary frequency shift keying signal.
However, Puglia teaches
wherein the reflected predetermined pattern signal includes a binary frequency shift keying signal (paras. 68-69, “In yet another example, shown in FIG. 10, a waveform generator 30 may produce a single frequency and, when the signal generator is to be connected to the antenna so as to transmit a signal through the antenna 36, a phase modulator 110 is interposed in the signal path. The phase modulator 110 may be any of the types known in the art that imposes a discrete phase shift of a signal traversing the phase modulator. […] In response to the application of the binary signals to an input of the phase modulator 110, the phase shift of the generated waveform may vary discretely from 0.degree. to 180.degree. with respect to the input waveform as a reference. This phase-shift arrangement is an example of a binary phase shift keying [BFSK] waveform, although other increments of phase shift may be used, as is known in the art.”).
Wang and Puglia are considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of generating and recognizing predetermined patterns in radar signals. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing data of the claimed invention to have modified Wang with the teachings of Puglia with the motivation that binary frequency shift keying yields a high signal-to-noise ratio and supports a high data rate.
Regarding claim 9, Wang teaches the system of claim 8, but fails to teach
wherein the predetermined pattern signal comprises a binary frequency shift keying signal.
However, Puglia teaches
wherein the predetermined pattern signal comprises a binary frequency shift keying signal (paras. 68-69, “In yet another example, shown in FIG. 10, a waveform generator 30 may produce a single frequency and, when the signal generator is to be connected to the antenna so as to transmit a signal through the antenna 36, a phase modulator 110 is interposed in the signal path. The phase modulator 110 may be any of the types known in the art that imposes a discrete phase shift of a signal traversing the phase modulator. […] In response to the application of the binary signals to an input of the phase modulator 110, the phase shift of the generated waveform may vary discretely from 0.degree. to 180.degree. with respect to the input waveform as a reference. This phase-shift arrangement is an example of a binary phase shift keying [BFSK] waveform, although other increments of phase shift may be used, as is known in the art.”).
Wang and Puglia are considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of generating and recognizing predetermined patterns in radar signals. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing data of the claimed invention to have modified Wang with the teachings of Puglia with the motivation that binary frequency shift keying yields a high signal-to-noise ratio and supports a high data rate.
Regarding claim 18, Wang teaches a method of operating a radar system, the method comprising:
providing the predetermined pattern signal to a transmit antenna of the transmitter (para. 93, “The TSCI may be extracted from a derived signal [e.g. baseband signal, motion detection signal, motion sensing signal] derived from the wireless signal [e.g. RF signal]. […] The derived signal may comprise a packet with at least one of: a preamble, a header and a payload [e.g. for data/control/management in wireless links/networks].”; para. 254, “Beamforming [in Rx and/or Tx] may be applied [digitally] to ‘scan’ different directions. Many directions can be scanned or monitored simultaneously. With beamforming, ‘sectors’ [e.g. directions, orientations, bearings, zones, regions, segments] may be defined related to the Type 2 device [e.g. relative to center location of antenna array]. For each probe signal [e.g. a pulse, an ACK, a control packet, etc.], a channel information or CI [e.g. channel impulse response/CIR, CSI, CFR] is obtained/computed for each sector [e.g. from the RF chip]. In breathing detection, one may collect CIR in a sliding window [e.g. 30 sec, and with 100 Hz sounding/probing rate, one may have 3000 CIR over 30 sec].”),
receiving, by a receiver antenna of a receiver, a reflected predetermined pattern wave responsive to the predetermined pattern signal provided to the transmit antenna (para. 93, “The TSCI may be extracted from a derived signal [e.g. baseband signal, motion detection signal, motion sensing signal] derived from the wireless signal [e.g. RF signal]. […] The derived signal may comprise a packet with at least one of: a preamble, a header and a payload [e.g. for data/control/management in wireless links/networks].”; para. 254, “Beamforming [in Rx and/or Tx] may be applied [digitally] to ‘scan’ different directions. Many directions can be scanned or monitored simultaneously. With beamforming, ‘sectors’ [e.g. directions, orientations, bearings, zones, regions, segments] may be defined related to the Type 2 device [e.g. relative to center location of antenna array]. For each probe signal [e.g. a pulse, an ACK, a control packet, etc.], a channel information or CI [e.g. channel impulse response/CIR, CSI, CFR] is obtained/computed for each sector [e.g. from the RF chip]. In breathing detection, one may collect CIR in a sliding window [e.g. 30 sec, and with 100 Hz sounding/probing rate, one may have 3000 CIR over 30 sec].”),
sampling, by receiver processing circuitry of the receiver, a reflected predetermined pattern signal responsive to the reflected predetermined pattern wave to generate reflected predetermined pattern samples (para. 279, “Mixing the received signal with a replica of the transmitted signal and following a low-pass filter, the channel information h(t) can be expressed as […] For each chirp, the baseband signal h(t) is digitized by Analog-to-Digital Converter [ADC], producing N samples per chip, referred to as fast time.”),
determining a sum of collections of the reflected predetermined pattern samples, determining an average of magnitudes of a sum of collections of the reflected predetermined pattern samples over time, each collection of the plurality of collections corresponding to the predetermined time window (para. 73, “FIG. 18A illustrates an average of the CIR amplitude over 1-min window after large body motion compensation during an exemplary target detection, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.”; para. 168, “Each CI may comprise a vector of complex values. Each complex value may be preprocessed to give the magnitude of the complex value. Each CI may be preprocessed to give a vector of non-negative real numbers comprising the magnitude of corresponding complex values.”, para. 175, “A total characteristics [e.g. aggregate characteristics] of the TSCI may be computed based on the component-wise characteristics of each component time series of the TSCI. The total characteristics may be a weighted average of the component-wise characteristics. The characteristics/STI of the motion of the object may be monitored based on the total characteristics.”), and
determining that a moving object is detected responsive to the determined average and a predetermined threshold value (paras. 435-436, “At step s3a: compute the background profile at each [theta, distance, time index] by taking average of the CIR over a time window. At step s3b: subtract the background profile from the CIR. […] At step s4b: determine subject is present in the direction if the time-averaged magnitude response is greater than a threshold T1, wherein the threshold T1 may be a 2-dimensional CFAR filtering of CIR magnitude |h| in theta and distance direction. At step s4c: compensate fine body motion which is smaller than the range-azimuth resolution, wherein the fine body motion may be estimated by the smoothing spline of the phase measurement corresponding to the reflection off the driver.”), but fails to teach
generating, by transmitter processing circuitry of a transmitter, a predetermined pattern signal including a binary frequency shift keying signal.
However, Puglia teaches
generating, by transmitter processing circuitry of a transmitter, a predetermined pattern signal including a binary frequency shift keying signal (paras. 68-69, “In yet another example, shown in FIG. 10, a waveform generator 30 may produce a single frequency and, when the signal generator is to be connected to the antenna so as to transmit a signal through the antenna 36, a phase modulator 110 is interposed in the signal path. The phase modulator 110 may be any of the types known in the art that imposes a discrete phase shift of a signal traversing the phase modulator. […] In response to the application of the binary signals to an input of the phase modulator 110, the phase shift of the generated waveform may vary discretely from 0.degree. to 180.degree. with respect to the input waveform as a reference. This phase-shift arrangement is an example of a binary phase shift keying [BFSK] waveform, although other increments of phase shift may be used, as is known in the art.”).
Wang and Puglia are considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of generating and recognizing predetermined patterns in radar signals. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing data of the claimed invention to have modified Wang with the teachings of Puglia with the motivation that binary frequency shift keying yields a high signal-to-noise ratio and supports a high data rate.
Regarding claim 19, Wang in view of Patrick teaches the method of claim 18,
wherein determining that the moving object is detected comprises determining that the moving object is detected responsive to the determined average exceeding the predetermined threshold value (Wang; paras. 435-436, “At step s3a: compute the background profile at each [theta, distance, time index] by taking average of the CIR over a time window. At step s3b: subtract the background profile from the CIR. […] At step s4b: determine subject is present in the direction if the time-averaged magnitude response is greater than a threshold T1, wherein the threshold T1 may be a 2-dimensional CFAR filtering of CIR magnitude |h| in theta and distance direction. At step s4c: compensate fine body motion which is smaller than the range-azimuth resolution, wherein the fine body motion may be estimated by the smoothing spline of the phase measurement corresponding to the reflection off the driver.”).
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
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/ERIC K HODAC/Examiner, Art Unit 3648 /VLADIMIR MAGLOIRE/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3648