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 .
DETAILED ACTION
This communication is in response to applicant’s 05/26/2026 amendment or response in the application of LI et al. for “SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR IMPROVED RANGE AND PERFORMANCE FOR LOW POWER RADIOS” filed 08/25/2023. The amendment or response to the claims have been entered. Claims 4 and 18 have been canceled. Claims 21-22 have been added. Claims 1-3, 5-17, 19-22 are now pending.
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) 7-11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by LI ‘678 et al. (US 2007/0211678 A1), hereinafter LI ‘678.
Regarding claim 7, LI ‘678 discloses a method (the same vendor/manufacturer or not, see ¶ 0039), comprising:
receiving a wireless communication frame at a device (signal detector 502 may receive signal(s) communicated over the peer-to-peer network during a peer discovery interval, see ¶ 0061);
providing at least a portion of the wireless communication frame to a sequence correlator at the device (providing the incoming signal to the comparator 506, see figure 5);
providing a reference sequence corresponding to a peer device to the sequence correlator (anticipated signal calculator 504 may generate current expected signal formats for each buddy peer, see ¶ 0062); and
determining whether a transmitting device associated with the wireless communication frame is the peer device based on whether an output of the sequence correlator includes a signal peak indicating a sequence-level correlation between a sequence in the wireless communication frame and the reference sequence (comparator 506 may consider an energy level associated with signal(s) obtained with detector 502. Pursuant to this example, comparator 506 may assign a high probability to a detected signal with a high energy level that matches an expected signal format of one of the buddy peers, see ¶ 0064).
Regarding claim 8, LI ‘678 discloses generating the output with the sequence correlator without decoding individual bits of the wireless communication frame (decoding sequence linker 706 may utilize the fixed and predetermined rule to link together signal(s) from successive peer discovery intervals. Further, decoding sequence linker 706 may leverage knowledge of the function employed by an encoding sequence linker of a disparate wireless terminal to identify a sequence of signals from differing peer discovery intervals that correspond to one another, see ¶ 0073).
Regarding claim 9, LI ‘678 discloses the sequence in the wireless communication frame comprises an access address sequence (the signal generator 210 may encode and/or send a signal in a peer discovery interval as a function of the unique identifier of wireless terminal 202 (WT ID), see ¶ 0048).
Regarding claim 10, LI ‘678 discloses the sequence in the wireless communication frame comprises an advertisement address sequence (the broadcast signal includes ID of the wireless terminal 202 and a current time, see ¶ 0050).
Regarding claim 11, LI ‘678 discloses the sequence in the wireless communication frame comprises a device identifier sequence (send a signal in a peer discovery interval as a function of the unique identifier of wireless terminal 202 (WT ID), see ¶ 0048).
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) 12-13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over LI ‘678 in view of LI ‘021 (US 2019/0349021 A1).
Regarding claim 12, LI ‘678 fails to disclose providing a second reference sequence corresponding to the peer device to the sequence correlator, wherein determining whether the transmitting device of the wireless communication frame is the peer device further comprises determining whether the transmitting device of the wireless communication frame is the peer device based on whether the output of the sequence correlator includes the signal peak indicating the sequence-level correlation between the sequence in the wireless communication frame and the reference sequence and a second signal peak indicating a sequence-level correlation between a second sequence in the wireless communication frame and the second reference sequence.
In the same field of endeavor, LI ‘021 a method of operating a digital radio receiver comprising; receiving a radio signal; passing said radio signal to a correlator for correlating said radio signal with a predetermined pattern to provide an output signal comprising a plurality of peaks separated in time; determining an amplitude of a first peak in the plurality of peaks; calculating a selection threshold based on said first peak amplitude; determining an amplitude of a second peak in the plurality of peaks; comparing said second peak amplitude to the selection threshold; and identifying the second peak as a correlation peak if the second peak amplitude is greater than the selection threshold (see ¶ 0007-0014); the method further comprise of calculating a time separation between the first peak and the second peak in the plurality of peaks; and performing the comparison of the second peak amplitude to the selection threshold if the time separation is not an expected value or within an expected range (see claim 2).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement LI ‘021’s teaching in the method taught by LI ‘678 for use in operations such as symbol timing recovery and frame synchronization in radio communications.
Regarding claim 13, LI ‘021 discloses determining whether the transmitting device of the wireless communication frame is the peer device based on a separation, in time, between the signal peak and the second signal peak (calculating a time separation between the first peak and the second peak in the plurality of peaks; and performing the comparison of the second peak amplitude to the selection threshold if the time separation is not an expected value or within an expected range, see claim 2).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-3, 5-6, 15-17, 19-22 are allowed.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 05/26/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. In response to the applicant’s argument in pages 7-8, the cited reference LI discloses the following in ¶s 0062, 0063, 0064:
Moreover, anticipated signal calculator 504 may generate current expected signal formats for each buddy peer. …Additionally, anticipated signal calculator 504 may generate the expected coordinate pair for each buddy peer as a function of the time variable (e.g. time counter) and the respective identifier corresponding to the buddy peer. It is possible that a different function may be employed for a different buddy peer. For example, suppose that wireless terminal 202 has two buddy peers. It is known to wireless terminal 202 that the first buddy peer uses a first function to generate its signal and the second buddy peer uses a second function to generate its signal. The first and the second functions may be the same or may be different. As long as the first and the second functions are predetermined and known, wireless terminal 202 can derive the expected signals from the first and the second buddy peers (emphasis added).
Comparator 506 compares detected signal(s) (e.g., obtained with signal detector 502) with calculated, expected signal formats (e.g., determined by anticipated signal calculator 504) to yield a probability associated with buddy peer(s) being in a vicinity of wireless terminal 202 (e.g., buddy peer being one of the disparate wireless terminal(s) included in a shared peer-to-peer network)
According to another example, comparator 506 may consider an energy level associated with signal(s) obtained with detector 502. Pursuant to this example, comparator 506 may assign a high probability to a detected signal with a high energy level that matches an expected signal format of one of the buddy peers. Further, comparator 506 may allocate a low probability of one of the buddy peers being in the peer-to-peer network when a detected signal with a low energy level matches an expected signal format of that buddy peer (emphasis added).
As cited above, the comparator 506 assign a high probability to the detected signal with a high energy level (signal peak) that matches (correlates) an expected signal format of one of the buddy peers from signal calculator 504. Therefore, LI discloses the claimed subject matter “an output of the sequence correlator includes a signal peak indicating a sequence-level correlation between a sequence in the wireless communication frame and the reference sequence.”
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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Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Bob A. Phunkulh whose telephone number is (571) 272-3083. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Thursday from 8:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. (first week of the bi-week) and Monday-Friday (for second week of the bi-week).
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/BOB A PHUNKULH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2412
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