DETAILED ACTION
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 10/06/2025 has been entered. Claim(s) 1, 9, and 12 have been amended; No Claim(s) have been canceled; No Claim(s) have been added. Claim(s) 1-15 are subject to examination.
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 Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-15 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
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.
Claim(s) 1-2, 4-6, 9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by NIELSEN et al. (US 9810726 B2), hereby referred to as NIELSEN.
Claim 1:
NIELSEN teaches a method for enabling coherent reception of a radio signal (NIELSEN: col 1 line 26-4035 (“Comb generators and comb signals also may be used in testing…to generate a complete set of substitute channels….for testing a multi-channel communication system…used as a phase calibration standard…”)) comprising: a) tuning a radio receiver to a first receiver frequency by generating a first signal at the first receiver frequency, (NIELSEN: FIG. 4A item 402 (“Set the Frequency of LO to LO1”)) b) generating within the radio receiver a test signal having a first test frequency (NIELSEN: FIG. 4A item 404 (“Set the Frequency of Pilot Tone to F1”) the pilot tone being the test signal), c) measuring a first phase of the test signal while the radio receiver is tuned to the first receiver frequency (NIELSEN: FIG. 4A item 410 (“Obtain Phase (P1) of downcoverted pilot tone…”) wherein phase is measured), wherein measuring the first phase of the test signal comprises mixing the test signal with the first signal (NIELSEN: col 10 line 2-10 (“…second frequency converter 234…receive pilot tone 2205 from signal generated 220…mixer is configured to mix pilot tone 2205 with LO signal 2155 to produce the converted pilot tone in a second IF channel 2345…”) wherein test signal/pilot tone is mixed with the LO signal at a first receiver frequency), d) tuning the radio receiver to a second receiver frequency, which is different from the first receiver frequency, by generating a second signal at the second receiver frequency (NEILSEN: FIG. 4A item 412 (“Set the Frequency of LO to LO2 = LO1 + DF”) wherein the second receiver frequency is different from the first receiver frequency), e) measuring a second phase of the test signal while the radio receiver is tuned to the second receiver frequency (NIELSEN: FIG. 4A item 419 (“Obtain phase (P2) of downcoverted pilot tone”)), wherein measuring the second phase of the test signal comprises mixing the test signal with the second signal (NIELSEN: col 10 line 2-10 (“…second frequency converter 234…receive pilot tone 2205 from signal generated 220…mixer is configured to mix pilot tone 2205 with LO signal 2155 to produce the converted pilot tone in a second IF channel 2345…”) wherein test signal/pilot tone is mixed with the LO signal at a first receiver frequency), f) calculating a phase relationship depending on the first and second phases of the test signal, wherein the phase relationship comprises a phase difference between the first phase and the second phase (NIELSEN: FIG. 4A item 420 (“Calculate Phase Correction T1 = P1-P2”)).
Claim 2:
NIELSEN teaches the method according to claim 1, wherein the first test frequency of the test signal lies within an observation frequency range of the radio receiver (NIELSEN: FIG. 3 wherein the first test frequency is observable for measurement and therefore in an observation frequency range).
Claim 3:
NIELSEN teaches the method according to claim 1, wherein the radio signal, which is enabled to be received coherently, has a frequency spectrum which is wider than the observation frequency range of the radio receiver while the radio receiver is tuned to one of the first or the second receiver frequencies (NIELSEN: col 11 line 22-27 (“In order to measure the phase relationships of the selected plurality of comb teeth 110 of comb signal 35 spanning the selected bandwidth S which is wider than the receiver bandwidth…”) wherein the radio signal is the comb signal which can be wider than the observation frequency of the radio receiver).
Claim 4:
NIELSEN teaches the method according to claim 2, including repeating a) through f), and using in each repetition the second receiver frequency of a respective previous repetition as the first receiver frequency until a tunable frequency range of the radio receiver is covered (NIELSEN: FIG. 3 item 310-320 wherein LO1+DF is used for the previous second receiver frequency iteration (310) and in the new first receiver frequency iteration (320) and so on until a tunable range is covered).
Claim 5:
NIELSEN teaches the method according to claim 1, wherein in each repetition the first test frequency of the test signal is adapted to the first or second receiver frequency of the radio receiver, such that the first test frequency of the test signal lies within the observation frequency range of the radio receiver while the radio receiver is tuned to one of the first or the second receiver frequencies (NIELSEN: FIG. 3 wherein the test signal is adapted in each repetition, such as F1 to F1+DF to F1+2DF).
Claim 6:
NIELSEN teaches the method according to claim 1, wherein in each repetition the first test frequency of the test signal has a frequency value that is different from a frequency value of the first test frequency of the previous repetition (NIELSEN: FIG. 3 wherein the test signal is adapted in each repetition, such as F1 to F1+DF to F1+2DF).
Claim 7:
NIELSEN teaches the method according to claim 1, wherein the first test frequency of the test signal is represented at least by a test carrier frequency (NIELSEN: col 4 line 2 col 23-26 (“…mixing the pilot tone with the LO signal to produce a converted pilot tone…”) wherein the test signal is represented by a mix of the baseband frequency/pilot tone and the test carrier frequency/LO signal), and wherein the first and the second receiver frequencies are each represented at least by a receiver carrier frequency (NIELSEN: FIG. 4A item 402 (“Set the Frequency of LO to LO1”) wherein the receiver frequencies are local oscillator carrier frequencies).
Claim 8:
NIELSEN teaches The method according to claim 7, wherein generating the test signal comprises: generating a test baseband frequency of the test signal (NIELSEN: col 4 line 30-35 (“…signal generator configure to generate a pilot tone…”) where the pilot tone before modulation is the baseband frequency), generating the test carrier frequency, and modulating the test carrier frequency with the test baseband frequency (NIELSEN: col 4 line 2 col 23-26 (“…mixing the pilot tone with the LO signal to produce a converted pilot tone…”) wherein the test signal is represented by a mix of the baseband frequency/pilot tone and the test carrier frequency/LO signal).
Claim 9:
NIELSEN teaches a radio receiver for coherent reception of a radio signal, the radio receiver comprising: a receiver unit, a sender unit, a connector unit, and a control unit (NIELSEN: FIG. 2),wherein the receiver unit comprises a receiver oscillator is configured to generate at least a first signal at a first receiver frequency and a second signal at a second receiver frequency, which is different from the first receiver frequency (NIELSEN: FIG.2 item 215 including, but not limited to, the receiver oscillator, FIG. 4A item 402 (“Set the Frequency of LO to LO1”) and item 412 (“Set the Frequency of LO to LO2 = LO1 + DF”) wherein the second receiver frequency is different from the first receiver frequency)), to measure a first phase of a test signal during generation of the first signal at the first receiver frequency by mixing the test signal with the first signal (NIELSEN: col 10 line 2-10 (“…second frequency converter 234…receive pilot tone 2205 from signal generated 220…mixer is configured to mix pilot tone 2205 with LO signal 2155 to produce the converted pilot tone in a second IF channel 2345…”) wherein test signal/pilot tone is mixed with the LO signal at a first receiver frequency), and to measure a second phase of the test signal during generation of the second receiver frequency by mixing the test signal with the second signal (NIELSEN: col 10 line 2-10 (“…second frequency converter 234…receive pilot tone 2205 from signal generated 220…mixer is configured to mix pilot tone 2205 with LO signal 2155 to produce the converted pilot tone in a second IF channel 2345…”) wherein test signal/pilot tone is mixed with the LO signal at a first receiver frequency), wherein the sender unit is configured to generate the test signal (NIELSEN: FIG. 2 item 220 the signal generator/pilot tone generator/sender unit), the test signal having a first test frequency (NIELSEN: FIG. 4A item 404 (“Set the Frequency of Pilot Tone to F1”) the pilot tone being the test signal), wherein the connector unit is coupled to the sender unit and the receiver unit and is configured to provide the test signal from the sender unit to the receiver unit (NIELSEN: FIG. 2 item 2155), wherein the control unit is coupled to the sender unit, the receiver unit and the connector unit for respective control thereof (NIELSEN: FIG. 2 item 250 the processor), the control unit being further configured to tune the receiver unit to the first receiver frequency (NIELSEN: FIG. 4A item 402) and subsequently to the second receiver frequency (NIELSEN: FIG. 4A item 412) and to calculate a phase relationship from the measured first phase and the measured second phase of the test signal (NIELSEN: FIG. 420).
Claim 10:
NIELSEN teaches the radio receiver according to claim 9. For further limitations, see rejection for claim 2 above.
Claim 11:
NIELSEN teaches the radio receiver according to claim 10, wherein the control unit is further configured to tune the first test frequency of the sender unit to a different value after calculating the phase relationship, the different value lying within the observation frequency range of the receiver unit (NIELSEN: FIG. 3 item 310-320 wherein LO1+DF is used for the new first receiver frequency iteration (320) and so on until a tunable range is covered).
Claim 12:
NIELSEN teaches the radio receiver according to claim 9, wherein the receiver unit comprises: a measurement unit coupled to the receiver oscillator, the measurement unit being configured to measure the first and the second phase of the test signal (NIELSEN: FIG. 2 item 240 measurement instrument or item 250 processor).
Claim 13:
NIELSEN teaches the radio receiver according to claim 9, wherein the sender unit comprises: a sender oscillator configured to generate at least the first test frequency (NIELSEN: FIG. 2 item 215), wherein the first test frequency of the test signal is represented at least by a test carrier frequency (NIELSEN: col 4 line 2 col 23-26 (“…mixing the pilot tone with the LO signal to produce a converted pilot tone…”) wherein the test signal is represented by a mix of the baseband frequency/pilot tone and the test carrier frequency/LO signal).
Claim 14:
NIELSEN teaches the radio receiver according to claim 13, wherein the sender unit further comprises: a tone generator configured to generate a test baseband frequency of the test signal (NIELSEN: FIG. 2 item 220 the signal generator), and a modulator configured to generate the test signal by modulation of the test carrier frequency with the test baseband frequency and to provide the test signal to the connector unit (NIELSEN: FIG. 2 item 234 the modulator and item 2345 also can be the connector unit; and col 4 line 2 col 23-26 (“…mixing the pilot tone with the LO signal to produce a converted pilot tone…”) wherein the test signal is represented by a mix of the baseband frequency/pilot tone and the test carrier frequency/LO signal).
Claim 15:
NIELSEN teaches the radio receiver according to claim 9, wherein each of the first and the second receiver frequencies is represented at least by a receiver carrier frequency (NIELSEN: FIG. 4A item 402 (“Set the Frequency of LO to LO1”) wherein the receiver frequencies are local oscillator carrier frequencies).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
CHAKRABORTY (US 20140355655 A1)
HE et al. (US 20080096489 A1)
MOHINDRA (US 11664909 B1)
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/A.T.N./Examiner, Art Unit 2416
/NOEL R BEHARRY/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2416