DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
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 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.
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 of this title, 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 1-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C.103 as being unpatentable over US 20220029690 A1 (Alavi), in view of US 20200295799 A1 (Howard) and in further reference of US 20210296773 A1 (Baniya).
Regarding Claims 1, and 4:
A signal transmission method executed by a transmission device including a multiplex circular array antenna including a plurality of circular array antennas in which a plurality of antenna elements are arranged in a circle, a plurality of Butler circuits connected to the multiplex circular array antenna, and one or more Butler circuits connected to one or more linear array antennas including some antenna elements among the plurality of antenna elements of the multiplex circular array antenna, the signal transmission method comprising: selecting one or more Butler circuits from among the plurality of Butler circuits, and inputting a signal with a frequency band corresponding to an array antenna connected to the selected Butler circuit to the selected Butler circuit (Alavi: Figs. 6-7A-C and par. 58-62, a plurality of circular antennas with multiple antenna elements that provide 360 degree coverage; Fig. 8-9A-B and par. 69-90, transmitting signals are multiplexed, e.g., OAM multiplexing, to provide spatial multiplexing to diversity).
Alavi does not illustrate explicitly on a plurality of circular antennas using a plurality of butler matrix. However, Howard teaches (Howard: e.g., Figs. 18-19, multiple circular antenna arrays are connected to multiple matrix to provide 360 degree coverage, where the matrix can be one of one of a Butler matrix, Blass matrix, Nolen matrix, Shelton matrix, McFarland matrix, Davis matrix (par. 6); Figs. 5-17 illustrate various configurations of the matrix).
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention was made to modify Alavi with a plurality of circular antennas using a plurality of butler matrix as further taught by Howard. The advantage of doing so is to provide a mechanism for random, sequential or simultaneous multi-beam antenna arrays with up to 360° antenna coverage (Howard: [0002]).
Alavi does not illustrate explicitly on connection both linear array and circular array to a plurality of butler matrix. However, Baniya teaches (Baniya: e.g. Fig. 3 and par. 25-30, a linear array connects to a butler matrix, a circular array connects to a butler matrix. It is further noted that it is well known in the field to switch planar and linear phased radar arrays in angle by varying the phase of the drive signal on each radiating element).
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention was made to modify Alavi with connection both linear array and circular array to a plurality of butler matrix as further taught by Baniya. The advantage of doing so is to provide a mechanism for using mmW antenna array as chip to chip routers (Baniya: [0002]-[0003]).
Regarding Claim 2, Alavi as modified further teaches:
The transmission device according to claim 1, wherein a frequency band corresponding to the circular array antenna configuring the multiplex circular array antenna is different from a frequency band corresponding to the linear array antenna (Howard: par. 59, the antenna array may be varied in scale and frequency band of use).
Regarding Claim 3, Alavi as modified further teaches:
The transmission device according to claim 1, further comprising: a selection unit that selector configured to select a Butler circuit connected to a linear array antenna that transmits a signal or a circular array antenna that transmits a signal (Alavi: Figs. 7B-C and par. 65-66, two arrays are selectable through a switch).
Regarding Claim 5, Alavi as modified further teaches:
The signal transmission method according to claim 4, wherein one or more Butler circuits connected to one or more specific linear array antennas are selected, and the one or more specific linear array antennas are caused to transmit signals by using beams in a plurality of directions (Alavi: e.g., Figs. 6, 11; Howard: Fig. 4).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ZHITONG CHEN whose telephone number is (571) 270-1936. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 9:30am - 5pm.
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/ZHITONG CHEN/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2649