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 .
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)(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.
Claim(s) 1-2 and 29-30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102a2 as being anticipated by Oh et al. US 2024/0195458 A1.
Claim 1:
Oh discloses a reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) co-located with a user equipment (UE) device (See figs. 5, 8 & 11, RIS), the RIS comprising: an array of antenna elements configured to transmit signals for the UE device (See paras 103-106 and 114-115, array of antenna elements for transmission to UE);
adjustable devices coupled to the antenna elements (See para 66, “A switch element may be implemented in the metal pattern 510 or 530 included in the top layer or the bottom layer to adjust the transmission loss or transmission phase of the transmitted wave”); and a receiver, wherein the adjustable devices configure a first set of antenna elements in the array to pass an incident signal to the receiver and configure a second set of antenna elements in the array to reflect the incident signal (See paras 114-115, “The dynamic mode RIS 1310 may operate as the reflective RIS (or in reflective mode) for the signal received from the first phased array antenna 1320, and may operate as the transmissive RIS (or in transmissive mode) for the signal received from the second phased array antenna 1330… The dynamic mode RIS 1310 may transmit a signal received from the second phased array antenna 1330 for a first unit time and reflect a signal received from the first phased array antenna 1320 for a second unit time after the first unit time. The dynamic mode RIS 1310 may sequentially reflect or transmit the signals received from the first phased array antenna 1320 and the second phased array antenna 1330”).
Claim 2:
Oh discloses that the adjustable devices configure the first set of antenna elements to pass the incident signal to the receiver during a first time slot and configure the second set of antenna elements to reflect the incident signal during a second time slot that is different from the first time slot (See para 115, “the dynamic mode RIS 1310 may transmit a signal received from the second phased array antenna 1330 for a first unit time and reflect a signal received from the first phased array antenna 1320 for a second unit time after the first unit time”).
Claim 29:
Oh discloses a method of operating a reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS), the method comprising:
transmitting signals using an array of antenna elements (See paras 103-106 and 114-115, array of antenna elements for transmission to UE); configuring, using adjustable devices coupled to the antenna elements, a first set of the antenna elements to pass an incident signal to a receiver on the RIS (See paras 114-115, “The dynamic mode RIS 1310 may operate as the reflective RIS (or in reflective mode) for the signal received from the first phased array antenna 1320, and may operate as the transmissive RIS (or in transmissive mode) for the signal received from the second phased array antenna 1330… The dynamic mode RIS 1310 may transmit a signal received from the second phased array antenna 1330 for a first unit time and reflect a signal received from the first phased array antenna 1320 for a second unit time after the first unit time. The dynamic mode RIS 1310 may sequentially reflect or transmit the signals received from the first phased array antenna 1320 and the second phased array antenna 1330”) during a first time slot(See para 115, “the dynamic mode RIS 1310 may transmit a signal received from the second phased array antenna 1330 for a first unit time and reflect a signal received from the first phased array antenna 1320 for a second unit time after the first unit time”); and configuring, using the adjustable devices, a second set of the antenna elements to reflect the incident signal during a second time slot (See paras 114-115, “The dynamic mode RIS 1310 may operate as the reflective RIS (or in reflective mode) for the signal received from the first phased array antenna 1320, and may operate as the transmissive RIS (or in transmissive mode) for the signal received from the second phased array antenna 1330… The dynamic mode RIS 1310 may transmit a signal received from the second phased array antenna 1330 for a first unit time and reflect a signal received from the first phased array antenna 1320 for a second unit time after the first unit time. The dynamic mode RIS 1310 may sequentially reflect or transmit the signals received from the first phased array antenna 1320 and the second phased array antenna 1330”) that is different from the first time slot (See para 115, “the dynamic mode RIS 1310 may transmit a signal received from the second phased array antenna 1330 for a first unit time and reflect a signal received from the first phased array antenna 1320 for a second unit time after the first unit time”).
Claim 30:
Oh discloses radio-frequency transmission line paths that communicatively couple the adjustable devices to the receiver (See figs 16-18, transceiver).
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.
Claim(s) 9 & 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Oh et al. US 2024/0195458 A1 in view of Dai et al. US 2024/0039592 A1.
Claim 9:
Oh doesn’t disclose that the RIS is disposed within the UE device.
Dai discloses that the RIS is disposed within the UE device (See para 67 and fig. 2, RIS housed onto a UE).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Oh with the teachings of Dai to improve the method disclosed by Oh by including the feature of RIS disposed/housed with the UE. The motivation to combine would have been to improve signal reception.
Claim 10:
Oh doesn’t disclose that the RIS is layered onto a housing of the UE device.
Dai discloses that the RIS is disposed within the UE device (See para 67 and fig. 2, RIS housed onto a UE).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Oh with the teachings of Dai to improve the method disclosed by Oh by including the feature of RIS disposed/housed with the UE. The motivation to combine would have been to improve signal reception.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-8, 11 and 21-28 are 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.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 11/12/2025 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
On page 3 of the applicant's remarks the applicant argues that Oh doesn't disclose antenna elements in the array to pass an incident signal to the receiver. The examiner respectfully disagrees. Paras 114-115 and figs.13-15, disclose two different modes for RIS, a reflective and transmissive modes. The reflective mode as the name suggests, simply reflects the signal. However, the transmissive mode first receives the signal and then transmits it further down. It is understood and well known in the art, that in order to receive signal there will be a receiver. Otherwise, it wouldn't be possible to receive a signal. See figs. 8 and 12, transmissive mode means that the top layer is further transmitting the incident/received signal for base station reception. See para 111, "The first base station 1210 may transmit a command message so that at least one unit cell included in the dynamic mode RIS 1220 operates as a transmissive RIS (or in transmissive mode) in order to transmit and receive a signal ".
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Sahraei et al. US 2023/0318696 A1 discloses a default configuration can be transmitted to a RIS for applying to multiple antenna elements on the RIS to reflect signals from a network node. In an aspect, configuring component 342, e.g., in conjunction with processor(s) 312, memory 316, transceiver 302, etc., can transmit, to the RIS, the default configuration for applying to the multiple antenna elements on the RIS to reflect signals from the network node. Yang et al. US 20230275647 A1 discloses an implementation of the wireless auxiliary device may be based on a super-material reflective reconfigurable intelligent surface, a transmissive reconfigurable intelligent surface, a repeater with multiple antennas.
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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HASHIM S BHATTI whose telephone number is (571)270-7748. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 9:00am-5:30pm.
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HASHIM S. BHATTI
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2472
/HASHIM S BHATTI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2472