DETAILED ACTION
Status of Claims
Claims 1, 12-14, 16 are amended.
Claims 1-16 are pending.
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 12/09/2025 has been entered.
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 1-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cattle (US 20200158861), in view of Alland (US 20180149736), and in view of Cohen (US 20170315221).
Regarding Claim 1, Cattle teaches the following limitations:
A radar sensing system comprising: (Cattle – [0026])
a transmit antenna array and a receive antenna array; (Cattle – [0066] The transmitter antenna array 308 functions to transmit the plurality of independent transmitted radar signals [0069] The receiver antenna array 310 functions to receive responses to the plurality of independent transmitted radar signals transmitted by the transmitter antenna array 308.)
a plurality of transmitters configured to transmit radio signals, (Cattle – [0066])
wherein each transmitter is communicatively coupled to an associated transmit antenna of the transmit antenna array; (Cattle – [Fig. 5, 7], [0066])
a plurality of receivers configured to receive radio signals that include transmitted radio signals transmitted by the transmitters and reflected from objects in an environment, (Cattle – [0069])
wherein each receiver is communicatively coupled to an associated receive antenna of the transmit antenna array; (Cattle – [Fig. 5, 7], [0069])
wherein at least one of the transmit antenna array and the receive antenna array is arranged as a sparse antenna array configured to provide an angular resolution sufficient to detect multiple targets, (Cattle – [0067] the transmitter antenna array 308 can form, at least part of, a sparse antenna array. [0070] the receiver antenna array 310 can form part of a sparse antenna array, e.g. with the transmitter antenna array 308. Angular resolution is dependent on aperture size.)
wherein the sparse antenna array comprises antenna elements which are arranged as sparsely located antenna array elements with selected separation distances for a selected angular resolution for the transmitters and receivers, (Cattle – [0068], [0067] the sparse antenna array, including the transmitter antenna array 308, is increased beyond what the actual aperture size of the antenna array actually is. Increased aperture size results in increased angular resolution. Cattle does not teach “selected separation distances” or “selected angular resolution”.)
wherein the selected separation distances of the sparsely located antenna array elements define at least in part an arrangement of the sparsely located antenna array elements for the selected angular resolution, (Cattle – [0067], [0068] Increased aperture size results in increased angular resolution. Cattle does not teach “selected separation distances” or “selected angular resolution”.)
wherein the sparse antenna array comprises physical antenna elements and virtual elements, and (Cattle – [0067], [0070], [0079] the virtual antenna formation module 314 can effectively form a virtual array aperture with the combined receive radar signal. Specifically, the virtual antenna formation module 314 can combine the receive radar signals received at a virtual field of antenna elements.)
wherein the arrangement of the sparsely located antenna array elements comprises a random, non-uniform arrangement of a portion of the virtual antenna elements of the sparse antenna array and a selected arrangement of another portion of the virtual antenna elements of the sparse array. (Cattle – [0067], [0070], [0079] [0077] with traditional beamforming, the resolution of the system is given by the physical antenna aperture. A MIMO radar allows the construction of a virtual aperture which can be much larger than the physical aperture of the system. Cattle does not explicitly teach “random, non-uniform arrangement”.)
Cattle does not explicitly teach the following limitations, however Alland, in the same field of endeavor, teaches:
selected separation distances… selected angular resolution (Alland – [0010] MIMO configuration wherein at least one of quantity, size, and spacing of TX antennas and RX antennas are selected for a desired 2D angle capability; [0077] Angle resolution for the purposes of target imaging is typically on the order of the antenna beamwidth. [Claim 7] wherein the combinations of sub-arrays are selectively (i) processed independently for target detection and angle measurement.)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the radar imaging of Cattle with the selected separation distances and angular resolution of Alland in order for a desired 2d angle capability (Alland – [0010]).
Cattle does not explicitly teach the following limitations, however Cohen, in the same field of endeavor, teaches:
random, non-uniform arrangement (Cohen – [Fig. 3A-3B], [0055] In some exemplary embodiments, a collocated MIMO radar system may comprise M<T transmit antennas and Q<R receive antennas, whose locations may be chosen uniformly at random within the aperture of the virtual array such as described above with reference to FIGS. 1A-1B… The spatially thinned array structure is illustrated in FIG. 3B, for Q=2 and M=3. It will be appreciated, however, that the disclosed subject matter is not limited to random arrays and may be adapted to additional array structures.)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the virtual antenna formation module of Cattle with the randomly chosen virtual array antennas of Cohen in order to collocate MIMO array structure (Cohen – [0054]).
Regarding Claims 2, Cattle further teaches:
wherein the arrangement of the sparsely located antenna array elements result in a selected field of view (FOV), angular resolution, beam width, and side lobes using fewer physical antenna elements than in an alternate physical antenna element arrangement defined by minimum separation distance or spacing requirements for the desired angular resolution. (Cattle – [Table 1], [0045] improved resolution in radar systems… fewer array elements are needed to achieve higher resolutions. [0068] can enable the radar imaging system 102 to achieve higher/increased spatial resolution.)
Cattle does not explicitly teach the following limitations, however Alland, in the same field of endeavor, teaches:
selected separation distances… selected angular resolution (Alland – [0010], [0077], [Claim 7])
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the radar imaging of Cattle with the selected separation distances and angular resolution of Alland in order for a desired 2d angle capability (Alland – [0010]).
Regarding Claims 3, Cattle further teaches:
wherein each of the sparsely located antenna array elements are each physically larger than the elements of the alternate physical antenna element arrangement, (Cattle – [0067] its size is larger than the size of its individual antenna elements.)
wherein a selected separation of transmitter elements and receiver elements of the sparsely located antenna array elements reduces mutual coupling. (Cattle – [0068], [0067] elements in an antenna array may be spaced at a distance [0175] An additional source of error is unwanted direct coupling between transmit and receive antennas.)
Regarding Claims 4, Cattle does not explicitly teach the following limitations, however Alland, in the same field of endeavor, teaches:
wherein the sparsely located antenna array elements are arranged to form corresponding virtual elements which are spread irregularly in the azimuthal and elevation directions to minimize sidelobes. (Alland - [0067] spacing mitigates the horizontal grating lobes of the 2D virtual receive subarray 780 [claim 11] wherein the spacings between antennas are uniform or irregular. [claim 13] arrangements of the receive antennas and the transmit antennas produce a 2D virtual receive array)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the radar imaging of Cattle with the irregularly spread virtual elements of Alland in order for a desired 2d angle capability (Alland – [0010]).
Regarding Claim 5, Cattle further teaches:
wherein the sparsely located antenna array elements comprise physical elements which are positioned with no physical overlaps on grids formed by a minimum spacing value of design, which design is smaller than this physical size of physical element arrangement, and (Cattle - [0067])
wherein the virtual elements are spread to a selected antenna aperture to increase angular resolution, and (Cattle - [0067])
wherein virtual transmitter groups and virtual receiver groups are separated on the selected antenna aperture to reduce mutual coupling. (Cattle – [0067], [0068], [0175])
Regarding Claim 6, Cattle further teaches:
wherein each of the antennas of at least one of the transmit antenna array and the receive antenna array comprise multiple antenna elements. (Cattle – [0067])
Regarding Claim 7, Cattle further teaches:
wherein the multiple antenna elements of an antenna are arranged as a linear array to provide radar target resolution only in azimuth. (Cattle – [0067] a plurality of real antenna elements spatially distributed over either one, two, or three dimensions, and/or in an orientation dimensions perpendicular to a radar-range dimension.)
Regarding Claim 8 Cattle further teaches:
wherein the multiple antenna elements of an antenna are arranged as a two-dimensional array to provide target resolution in both azimuth and elevation, separately. (Cattle – [0067])
Regarding Claim 9, Cattle further teaches:
wherein each receiver of the plurality of receivers comprises: a low-noise amplifier configured to amplify a received radio signal of the received radio signals; (Cattle – [Fig. 5], [0139])
a local oscillator configured to commonly drive I-Q mixers configured to down convert the amplified radio signal to a quadrature (IQ) baseband signal; (Cattle – [Fig. 5], [0139])
a filter configured to baseband filter the baseband signal; (Cattle – [Fig. 5], [0131])
a programmable gain adjustment module configured to adjust the gain of the filtered baseband signal; (Cattle – [Fig. 5], [0153])
Regarding Claim 10, Cattle further teaches:
wherein each of the receivers is configured to process the received radio signals (Cattle – [0075])
to correlate received signal samples to digital values representing each transmitters modulation (Cattle – [0077] transmitted signals orthogonal by digital code… correlate each received signal with its respective transmit code)
to produce a different number or set of correlations corresponding to different echo delays, (Cattle – [0077] the virtual antenna formation module 314 may correlate each received signal with its respective transmit code and insert the resulting signal in a row into the space-time datacube 216; this may be repeated for all time steps.)
wherein there exists one set of correlations for each receiver-transmitter combination. (Cattle – [0077])
Regarding 11, Cattle does not explicitly teach the following limitations, however Alland, in the same field of endeavor, teaches:
wherein the transmit antenna array and the receive antenna array are a first antenna array that is time shared between the transmitters and the receivers, (Alland – [0069])
wherein the first antenna array is configured as the transmit antenna array when the transmitters are transmitting, and (Alland – [0069])
wherein the first antenna array is configured as the receive antenna array when the receivers are receiving, and (Alland – [0069])
wherein the transmitters and receivers operate in separate, alternating, operational periods of time. (Alland – [0069])
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the radar imaging of Cattle with the dual-purpose antennas of Alland in order interchangeably transmit and receive (Alland – [0069]).
Allowable Subject Matter
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Claim 12 is allowable for disclosing a method for selecting an arrangement of physical antenna elements and a randomly selected arrangement of virtual antenna elements for a proposed antenna array that is an optimum array arrangement selection for the proposed antenna array. Cohen teaches random arrangements of virtual elements but fails to disclose the selection process and calculations involved in an optimum array arrangement selection for a proposed antenna array.
Claims 13-16 are allowable because they are dependent on claim 12.
None of the prior art cited alone or in combination teach “calculating maximum sidelobe level (SLL) in the FOV for the randomly selected candidate element arrangement of the virtual antenna elements; randomly selecting additional candidate element arrangements of virtual element locations from among the plurality of candidate element arrangements of virtual element locations for an updated candidate element arrangement of the virtual antenna elements and recalculating the SLL for each updated candidate element arrangement of the virtual antenna elements until a selected candidate element arrangement of the virtual antenna elements is reached that meets the desired FOV and BW and has a resultant SLL that is below a threshold value; stopping the random selection of additional candidate element arrangements of virtual element locations of the virtual antenna elements and defining the selected candidate element arrangement as the selected arrangement of virtual antenna elements and physical antenna elements of the proposed antenna array when the selected candidate element arrangement of the virtual antenna elements results in a calculated SLL that is within a difference threshold value of an SLL value from the previous random candidate element arrangement of virtual element locations selection step, wherein the optimum array arrangement of virtual antenna elements and physical antenna elements is the selected arrangement of virtual antenna elements and physical antenna elements of the proposed antenna array; and providing for a radar system, an antenna array that comprises the selected arrangement of virtual antenna elements and physical antenna elements of the proposed antenna array”. The novel method of selecting an optimum array arrangement of virtual antenna elements and physical antenna elements allow for an improvement in antenna array arrangements.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments on Pages 8-10, filed 12/09/2025, with respect to the rejections under 35 U.S.C. § 112(b) regarding claims 1, 15 have been fully considered and are persuasive. The rejections under 35 U.S.C. § 112(b) have been withdrawn.
Applicant’s arguments on Pages 10-13, filed 12/09/2025 with respect to Claims 1-11 under 35 U.S.C. § 103 have been fully considered but are not persuasive. Applicant argues “Cohen discloses that such random arrangements are uniform arrangements rather than random, non-uniform arrangements of virtual elements”. The examiner disagrees, Cohen teaches a “spatially thinned array structure is illustrated in FIG. 3B”. The figure shows that these arrays are “non-uniform” and it would not be logical that a random arrangement of virtual elements could be called uniform.
Applicant’s arguments, see Page 13, filed 12/09/2025, with respect to the rejection under 35 U.S.C. § 103 have been fully considered and are not persuasive. Applicant argues that the dependent claims are allowable due to the dependency on the independent claims. The examiner disagrees due to the above-mentioned rejections.
Applicant's remaining arguments amount to a general allegation that the claims define a patentable invention without specifically pointing out how the language of the claims is understandable and distinguishable from other inventions.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's
disclosure or directed to the state of art is listed on the enclosed PTO-892.
The following is a brief description for relevant prior art that was cited but not applied:
Bily (US 20180372837) describes radar system performs beam-steering to include the use of a sparse antenna array.
Prados (US 20200150221) describes radar system with a sparse antenna array that has antenna separation distances based on wavelength.
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/BRANDON JAMES HENSON/Examiner, Art Unit 3645
/ROBERT W HODGE/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3645