DETAILED ACTION
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 .
Applicant’s arguments, see remarks, filed 12/31/2025, with respect to the rejection(s) of claim(s) 1-12 under USC 103 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of Gundel et al. (US 11251822 B1).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 1-12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gundel et al. (US 11251822 B1) (Gundel herein after) in view of Paidimarri et al. (US 2023/0075523 A1) (Paidimarri herein after).
Re Claim 1, Gundel discloses a Radio Frequency (RF) Front End Module (RFEM) board (front-end circuit, Figure 1, column 3 lines 13-44) comprising:
a plurality of transmit chains for signal transmission (transmitter-path, Figure 1, column 3 lines 13-44); and
a plurality of receive chains for signal reception (receiver-path, Figure 1, column 3 lines 13-44), one or more gain blocks (attenuator 255, Figure 3B, column 5 line 38 – column 6 line 36) and power amplifiers (amplifier 254, Figure 3B, column 5 line 38 – column 6 line 36) to amplify the received RF signals across one or more of the plurality of transmit and receive chains to generate power from each chain (RX path 291, column 5 line 38 – column 6 line 36).
Gundel teaches the claimed invention except wherein the RFEM board receives RF control signals, and processes said received RF control signals through one or more gain blocks and power amplifiers to amplify the received RF control signals across one or more of the plurality of transmit and receive chains to generate power from each chain.
However, Paidimarri discloses a beamforming communication system comprising: a phase shift control setting may be inputted to each phase shifter, among phase shifters 110.sub.1 to 110.sub.N, to control the phase of a RF signal being outputted by a connected antenna. A gain control setting may be inputted to each gain control circuit, among gain control circuits 109.sub.1 to 109.sub.N, to control the gain of a RF signal being outputted by a connected antenna ([0018]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious at the time the invention was made to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify method and system of Gundel, by making use of the technique taught by Paidimarri, in order to improve the signal imbalance error.
Both references are within the same field of telecommunication, and in particular of MIMO beamforming, the modification does not change a fundamental operating principle of Gundel, nor does Gundel teach away from the modification (Gundel merely discloses a preferred embodiment). The combination has a reasonable expectation of success in that the modifications can be made using conventional and well known engineering and/or programming techniques, the control signal taught by Paidimarri is not altered and continues to perform the same function as separately, and the resultant combination produces the highly predictable result of wherein the RFEM board receives RF control signals, and processes said received RF control signals through one or more gain blocks and power amplifiers to amplify the received RF control signals across one or more of the plurality of transmit and receive chains to generate power from each chain.
Re Claim 2, the combined teachings disclose the RFEM board as claimed in claim 1, Gundel discloses wherein the RFEM board is operatively coupled with an antenna filter unit (AFU) to facilitate beam forming to multiple users (filter 210, column 5 line 38 – column 6 line 36).
Re Claim 3, the combined teachings disclose the RFEM board as claimed in claim 1, Gundel discloses wherein the RFEM board comprises a plurality of observation chains configured as Digital Predistortion (DPD) feedback paths from one or more Power Amplifiers (PAS) of the RFEM board to one or more Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) of a high speed transceiver board (HSTB) for linearization (digital pre-distortion (“DPD”) calibration feedback path 231 that connects directional coupler 225 on the TX path to switch 253 on the RX path, via attenuator 230 to adjust to receiver input level, column 5 line 38 – column 6 line 36).
Re Claim 4, the combined teachings disclose the RFEM board as claimed in claim 3, Gundel discloses wherein at least one of the plurality of observation chains carry a directional coupler, a digital step attenuator (DSA), and a matching network (directional coupler 225, attenuator 230 to adjust to receiver input level, column 5 line 38 – column 6 line 36, balun 257, column 4 lines 53-64).
Re Claim 5, the combined teachings disclose the RFEM board as claimed in claim 1, Gundel discloses wherein the RFEM board comprises 32 transmit chains and 32 receive chains (various examples include antenna array systems, these changes affect, for example, 32, 64, or even more signal paths, column 7 lines 47-62).
Re Claim 6, the combined teachings disclose the RFEM board as claimed in claim 1, Gundel discloses wherein at least one of the plurality of transmit chains (TX 290, Figure 3B, column 5 lines 38-51) carry matching balun (balun 201, Figure 3B, column 5 line 38 – column 6 line 36), pre-driver amplification stage (pre-driver 205, Figure 3B, column 5 line 38 – column 6 line 36), and final RF power amplification stage (power amplifier 221, Figure 3B, column 5 line 38 – column 6 line 36) as part of a final stage of power amplification (PA).
Re Claim 7, the combined teachings disclose the RFEM board as claimed in claim 1, Gundel discloses wherein at least one of the plurality of receive chains carry low noise amplifier (LNA) (amplifier 254, Figure 3B, column 5 line 38 – column 6 line 36), band pass SAW filter (SAW filter 250, column 8 lines 4-19) and a matching network (balun 257, column 4 lines 53-64).
Re Claim 8, the combined teachings disclose the RFEM board as claimed in claim 1, Gundel discloses wherein the RFEM board comprises a plurality of layers having a receiver section to receive RF signals from a user equipment (UE) (receiver-path, Figure 1, column 3 lines 13-44) and decode the received RF signals in the receiver section using receivers that form part of the plurality of receive chains, based on which the decoded RF signals are converted into digital signals and transmitted to upper layers having RF connectors (BBU, column 3 line 52 – column 4 line 15).
Re Claim 9, the combined teachings disclose the RFEM board as claimed in claim 1, Gundel discloses wherein the RFEM board comprises an RF Time Division Duplex (TDD) switch that combines each transmit-receive pair, and wherein a circulator and one or more cavity filter(s) are configured between each RF TDD switch and an antenna port (TDD, column 2 line 64 – column 3 line 13, circulator 233, column 5 line 38 – column 6 line 36, antenna column 3 lines 13-43).
Re Claim 10, the combined teachings disclose the RFEM board as claimed in claim 3, except wherein the RFEM board is blind mated with the HSTB to remove complexity of cable routing and avoid RF signal oscillations. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to utilize blind mate connection to connect circuit board since it was known in the art that blind mated connection are use to interconnect circuit board without cable.
Re Claim 11, Gundel discloses a user equipment (UE) communicatively coupled with a Radio Frequency (RF) Front End Module (RFEM) board (front-end circuit, Figure 1, column 3 lines 13-44), said UE comprising:
one or more primary processors communicatively coupled to one or more processors of a multiple input multiple output (MIMO) radio unit through a network (MMIMO, column 3 lines 14-43), the one or more primary processors coupled with a memory, wherein said memory stores instructions which when executed by the one or more primary processors cause the UE (processing circuit, column 3 lines 14-43) to:
transmit one or more RF control signals to the MIMO radio unit (MMIMO, column 3 lines 14-43), the one or more primary processors coupled with a memory, wherein said memory stores instructions which when executed by the one or more primary processors cause the UE (processing circuit, column 3 lines 14-43), wherein the RFEM board in the MIMO radio unit is configured with:
a plurality of transmit chains for signal transmission (transmitter-path, Figure 1, column 3 lines 13-44); and
a plurality of receive chains for signal reception (receiver-path, Figure 1, column 3 lines 13-44), one or more gain blocks and power amplifiers to amplify the received RF signals across one or more of the plurality of transmit and receive chains to generate power from each chain one or more gain blocks (attenuator 255, Figure 3B, column 5 line 38 – column 6 line 36) and power amplifiers (amplifier 254, Figure 3B, column 5 line 38 – column 6 line 36) to amplify the received RF signals across one or more of the plurality of transmit and receive chains to generate power from each chain (RX path 291, column 5 line 38 – column 6 line 36).
Gundel teaches the claimed invention except wherein the RFEM board receives RF control signals, and processes said received RF control signals through one or more gain blocks and power amplifiers to amplify the received RF control signals across one or more of the plurality of transmit and receive chains to generate power from each chain.
However, Paidimarri discloses a beamforming communication system comprising: a phase shift control setting may be inputted to each phase shifter, among phase shifters 110.sub.1 to 110.sub.N, to control the phase of a RF signal being outputted by a connected antenna. A gain control setting may be inputted to each gain control circuit, among gain control circuits 109.sub.1 to 109.sub.N, to control the gain of a RF signal being outputted by a connected antenna ([0018]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious at the time the invention was made to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify method and system of Gundel, by making use of the technique taught by Paidimarri, in order to improve the signal imbalance error.
Both references are within the same field of telecommunication, and in particular of beamforming, the modification does not change a fundamental operating principle of Gundel, nor does Gundel teach away from the modification (Gundel merely discloses a preferred embodiment). The combination has a reasonable expectation of success in that the modifications can be made using conventional and well known engineering and/or programming techniques, the control signal taught by Paidimarri is not altered and continues to perform the same function as separately, and the resultant combination produces the highly predictable result of wherein the RFEM board receives RF control signals, and processes said received RF control signals through one or more gain blocks and power amplifiers to amplify the received RF control signals across one or more of the plurality of transmit and receive chains to generate power from each chain.
Re Claim 12, Gundel discloses a non-transitory computer readable medium comprising processor-executable instructions that cause a processor (processing circuit, column 3 lines 14-43) to:
transmit one or more radio frequency (RF) control signals to a multiple input multiple output (MIMO) radio unit (MMIMO, column 3 lines 14-43), wherein a Radio Frequency (RF) Front End Module (RFEM) board in the MIMO radio unit (front-end circuit, Figure 1, column 3 lines 13-44) is configured with:
a plurality of transmit chains for signal transmission (transmitter-path, Figure 1, column 3 lines 13-44); and
a plurality of receive chains for signal reception (receiver-path, Figure 1, column 3 lines 13-44), one or more gain blocks and power amplifiers to amplify the received RF signals across one or more of the plurality of transmit and receive chains to generate power from each chain one or more gain blocks (attenuator 255, Figure 3B, column 5 line 38 – column 6 line 36) and power amplifiers (amplifier 254, Figure 3B, column 5 line 38 – column 6 line 36) to amplify the received RF signals across one or more of the plurality of transmit and receive chains to generate power from each chain (RX path 291, column 5 line 38 – column 6 line 36).
Gundel teaches the claimed invention except wherein the RFEM board receives RF control signals, and processes said received RF control signals through one or more gain blocks and power amplifiers to amplify the received RF control signals across one or more of the plurality of transmit and receive chains to generate power from each chain.
However, Paidimarri discloses a beamforming communication system comprising: a phase shift control setting may be inputted to each phase shifter, among phase shifters 110.sub.1 to 110.sub.N, to control the phase of a RF signal being outputted by a connected antenna. A gain control setting may be inputted to each gain control circuit, among gain control circuits 109.sub.1 to 109.sub.N, to control the gain of a RF signal being outputted by a connected antenna ([0018]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious at the time the invention was made to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify method and system of Gundel, by making use of the technique taught by Paidimarri, in order to improve the signal imbalance error.
Both references are within the same field of telecommunication, and in particular of beamforming, the modification does not change a fundamental operating principle of Gundel, nor does Gundel teach away from the modification (Gundel merely discloses a preferred embodiment). The combination has a reasonable expectation of success in that the modifications can be made using conventional and well known engineering and/or programming techniques, the control signal taught by Paidimarri is not altered and continues to perform the same function as separately, and the resultant combination produces the highly predictable result of wherein the RFEM board receives RF control signals, and processes said received RF control signals through one or more gain blocks and power amplifiers to amplify the received RF control signals across one or more of the plurality of transmit and receive chains to generate power from each chain.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KENNETH T LAM whose telephone number is (571)270-1862. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:30-5:00 PM.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Hannah S. Wang can be reached at (571) 272-9018. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/KENNETH T LAM/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2631