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 .
Claims 1, 2, 6, 8 is amended. Claim 7 is cancelled. Claim 9-15 is added.
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, 2, 6, 8-9, 11-12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nystrom et al. (US20130157721) in view of Romani et al. (US20150362563).
Regarding claim 1, 6, 8, Nystrom teaches A wireless communication system comprising:
a terminal device (Fig. 1 “20”);
and a controller configured to control a wireless communication device ([0010] “a portable terminal comprising a display, a keypad, communication portion, a power source, a controller, a memory unit, a motion detecting sensor, characterized by a magnetic pulse generator. The magnetic pulse generator is configured to, e.g. upon instructions from the controller”, [0026] “an exemplary device 10 may include … a micro processor 116 (or data processing unit)”)) that is used in wireless communication with the terminal device ([0020] “a portable terminal, according to this embodiment a mobile phone 10, and a device comprising direction and/or distance and/or position sensors, according to this embodiment a headset 20 for receiving and transmitting radio signals, for example corresponding to audio signals”),
wherein the wireless communication device includes an electromagnet configured to generate a magnetic field in surroundings of the wireless communication device when switched on ([0010] “a portable terminal comprising a display, a keypad, communication portion, a power source, a controller, a memory unit, a motion detecting sensor, characterized by a magnetic pulse generator. The magnetic pulse generator is configured to, e.g. upon instructions from the controller”),
the terminal device ([0021] “The headset 20 according to one embodiment is illustrated in FIG. 2 and comprises a processing unit 21, audio processing units 22 and 23, earphone 24, microphone 25, radio transceiver 26 and one or several sensors 27”) includes a magnetic sensor configured to detect a magnetic field ([0011] “The sensor comprises a magnetic sensor for detecting magnetic field. The sensor may function as a compass. The headset device may comprise accelerometer and/or gyro”),
and the controller is configured to: switch on and off the electromagnet ([0010] “The magnetic pulse generator is configured to, e.g. upon instructions from the controller”);
acquire, from the terminal device ([0050] “The outputs of the sensors in the headset are transmitted to the phone, e.g. using RF, so the pulse generator is configured to time the measurements and may also optimize next pulses based on the prior measurements”), information on a first magnetic field corresponding to a geomagnetic field at a position of the terminal device detected by the magnetic sensor when the electromagnet is off ([0057] “Thus, in one embodiment each unit, both phone and headset, is provided with gravity sensing accelerometers to establish vertical and horizontal component of earth magnetic field”);
acquire, from the terminal device ([0050] “The outputs of the sensors in the headset are transmitted to the phone, e.g. using RF, so the pulse generator is configured to time the measurements and may also optimize next pulses based on the prior measurements”), information on a second magnetic field corresponding to a vector sum of the geomagnetic field and an electromagnet-induced magnetic field generated by the electromagnet detected by the magnetic sensor when the electromagnet is on (“[0043] “from the headset point of view, the vectors describing the earth magnetic field and the resultant vector when the pulse is active will determine one plane contacting both the headset and the phone”, (Examiner’s Note: the resultant vector == a vector sum of the geomagnetic field and an electromagnet induced magnetic field);
estimate a direction from the wireless communication device to the terminal device and ([0050] “so the pulse generator is configured to time the measurements and may also optimize next pulses based on the prior measurements”, [0059] “1) The measured disturbance of magnetic field at reception shall be in the estimated direction. If not, the estimation is not perfect. As mentioned earlier, a set of three orthogonal coils gives three components. The components are individually controllable by the current in the corresponding coil …so a known minor deviation in the magnetic directivity of sent field gives a known change in the direction of measured field. The ratio of sent to received angular deviation is known, and dependent on position in magnetic field”) based ((“[0043] “from the headset point of view, the vectors describing the earth magnetic field and the resultant vector when the pulse is active will determine one plane contacting both the headset and the phone”, (Examiner’s Note: the resultant vector == a second magnetic field corresponding to the vector sum of the geomagnetic field and an electromagnet induced magnetic field, earth magnetic field == the first magnetic field) .
Nystrom does not teach on a difference between the first magnetic field and the second magnetic field.
Romani teaches on a difference between the first magnetic field and the second magnetic field ([0060] “The processing unit 19 then computes at step 24 a difference Diff between the first sample Vout1 and the second sample Vout2 acquired previously”).
It would have been obvious for one ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Nystrom to incorporate the teachings of Romani. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to increase precision of system.
Regarding claim 2, Nystrom teaches wherein the controller is configured to transmit a first feedback request to the terminal device after switching off the electromagnet ([0051] “The phone may be configured to transmit signals to the headset before each magnetic pulse is transmitted so that the headset can be ready for detecting the pulse”), the terminal device is configured to transmit first feedback information indicating the first magnetic field corresponding to the geomagnetic field at the position of the terminal device detected by the magnetic sensor to the controller in response to the first feedback request (“[0043] “from the headset point of view, the vectors describing the earth magnetic field and the resultant vector when the pulse is active will determine one plane contacting both the headset and the phone”,
the controller is configured to transmit a second feedback request to the terminal device after switching on the electromagnet ([0051] “The phone may be configured to transmit signals to the headset before each magnetic pulse is transmitted so that the headset can be ready for detecting the pulse”), and the terminal device is configured to transmit second feedback information indicating the second magnetic field corresponding to the vector sum of the geomagnetic field and the electromagnet-induced magnetic field generated by the electromagnet detected by the magnetic sensor to the controller in response to the second feedback request (“[0043] “from the headset point of view, the vectors describing the earth magnetic field and the resultant vector when the pulse is active will determine one plane contacting both the headset and the phone”).
Regarding claim 9, Nystrom teaches wherein the magnetic sensor is configured to detect the magnetic field in a predetermined coordinate system having an x-component, a y-component, and a z-component ([0029] “The earth's magnetic field is a vector quantity; at each point in space it has a strength and a direction. To completely describe it three quantities are needed. These may be: three orthogonal strength components X, Y and Z”).
Regarding claim 11, Nystrom teaches wherein the controller is configured to control an electric current of the electromagnet so that the electromagnet-induced magnetic field generated at the position of the terminal device is stronger than the geomagnetic field ([0048] “The pulses do not need to have same strength as the earth magnetic field. They do only need to be strong enough for the receiving sensor to measure a well defined disturbance of the earth magnetic field”, [0054] “The strength of the stationary magnetic field is measured by the sensors in the phone and the headset simultaneously. If the strength differs, there is a disturbance”).
Regarding claim 12, Zorgui teaches wherein the wireless communication device further comprises a current supply unit configured to supply an electric current to the electromagnet and a switch configured to turn on and off the electric current ([0124] “In some embodiments, one or more of the repeaters 504A-B may be controlled, such as between an on and off state, by the BS 502”).
Claim(s) 3, 4, 5, 15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nystrom in view of Romani further in view of Manolakos et al. (US20240179669 herein after Mano).
Regarding claim 3, Nystrom in view of Romani does not teach wherein the wireless communication device is a reconfigurable intelligent surface.
Mano teaches wherein the wireless communication device is a reconfigurable intelligent surface ([0110] “a reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) 510, according to aspects of the disclosure. An RIS (e.g., RIS 510) is a two-dimensional surface comprising a large number of low-cost, low-power near-passive reflecting elements whose properties are reconfigurable (by software) rather than static. For example, by carefully tuning the phase shifts of the reflecting elements (using software), the scattering, absorption, reflection, and diffraction properties of an RIS can be changed over time. In that way, the electromagnetic (EM) properties of an RIS”).
It would have been obvious for one ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the combination of Nystrom, Romani to incorporate the teachings of Mano. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to allow create a more effective system.
Regarding claim 4, Nystrom, Romani does not teach wherein the controller is configured to control a direction of reflection of radio waves by the reconfigurable intelligent surface based on the direction from the reconfigurable intelligent surface to the terminal device.
Mano teaches wherein the controller is configured to control a direction of reflection of radio waves by the reconfigurable intelligent surface based on the direction from the reconfigurable intelligent surface to the terminal device ([0139] “As described above, the network may be able to configure/control the reflection direction of an RIS”, [0110] “a reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) 510, according to aspects of the disclosure. An RIS (e.g., RIS 510) is a two-dimensional surface comprising a large number of low-cost, low-power near-passive reflecting elements whose properties are reconfigurable (by software) rather than static. For example, by carefully tuning the phase shifts of the reflecting elements (using software), the scattering, absorption, reflection, and diffraction properties of an RIS can be changed over time. In that way, the electromagnetic (EM) properties of an RIS”, [0221] “For example, data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, and chips that may be referenced throughout the above description may be represented by voltages, currents, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or particles, optical fields or particles, or any combination thereof”).
It would have been obvious for one ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the combination of Nystrom, Romani to incorporate the teachings of Mano. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to allow create a more effective system.
Regarding claim 15, Nystrom, Romani does not teach configured to dynamically control a direction of reflection of radio waves, wherein the reconfigurable intelligent surface includes a plurality of reflective elements.
Mano teaches configured to dynamically control a direction of reflection of radio waves ([0115] “n RIS (e.g., RIS 510) may be designed to operate in either a first mode (referred to as “Mode 1”), in which the RIS operates as a reconfigurable mirror, or a second mode (referred to as “Mode 2”), in which the RIS operates as a receiver and transmitter (similar to the amplify and forward functionality of a relay node)”), wherein the reconfigurable intelligent surface includes a plurality of reflective elements ([0118] “ FIG. 6 , instead of having one or a few larger RIS (as in the example system 500 of FIG. 5 with one RIS 510), there may be a larger number of distributed RIS, possibly having smaller form factors. For example, larger RIS may be 5×5 meters or incorporated into the side of a building, whereas smaller RIS may be 2×2 or 1×2 meters, similar to the size of a MIMO antenna. FIG. 6 illustrates four RIS 610 (specifically, RIS 610-1, RIS 610-2, RIS 610-3, RIS 610-4) distributed around a single base station 602 (e.g., any of the base stations described herein)”).
It would have been obvious for one ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the combination of Nystrom, Romani to incorporate the teachings of Mano. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to allow create a more effective system.
Claim(s) 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nystrom in view of Romani further in view of Mano further in view of Kambara et al. (US20230010669).
Regarding claim 5, Nystrom, Romani, Mano does not explicitly teach wherein the electromagnet is installed so that a direction from a north pole to a south pole of the electromagnet is orthogonal to a reflecting surface of the reconfigurable intelligent surface.
Kambara teaches wherein the electromagnet is installed so that a direction from a north pole to a south pole of the electromagnet is orthogonal to a reflecting surface of the reconfigurable intelligent surface ([0061] “The electromagnetic wave reflected by the meta-reflector is not always a plane wave with a single angle of reflection. The incident electromagnetic wave may be diffused in a plurality of directions at different angles of reflection θref, as shown in FIG. 3C, by well-designing the surface impedance produced on the surface of the meta-reflector 102b. A technique for achieving the reflection shown in FIG. 3C is described in, for example, PHYSICAL REVIEW B97, “ARBITRARY BEAM CONTROL USING LOSSLESS METASURFACES ENABLED BY ORTHOGONALLY POLARIZED CUSTOM SURFACE WAVES”).
It would have been obvious for one ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the combination of Nystrom, Romani, Mano to incorporate the teachings of Kambara. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to allow create a more effective system to allow reflection with multiple angles.
Claim(s) 10, 13, 14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nystrom in view of Romani further in view of Duan et al. (US20240056129).
Regarding claim 10, Nystrom teaches wherein the controller is configured to ([0029] “The earth's magnetic field is a vector quantity; at each point in space it has a strength and a direction. To completely describe it three quantities are needed. These may be: three orthogonal strength components X, Y and Z”) of the second magnetic field corresponding to the vector sum of the geomagnetic field and the electromagnet-induced magnetic field generated by the electromagnet and the first magnetic field corresponding to the geomagnetic field at the position of the terminal device (“[0043] “from the headset point of view, the vectors describing the earth magnetic field and the resultant vector when the pulse is active will determine one plane contacting both the headset and the phone”).
Nystrom, Romani does not teach estimate an azimuth angle and a zenith angle of the direction.
Duan teaches estimate an azimuth angle and a zenith angle of the direction ([0154] “The angle of arrival or departure may be an azimuth angle relative to a reference direction such as true north. The angle of arrival or departure may be a zenith angle relative to directly upward from an entity (i.e., relative to radially outward from a center of Earth)”).
It would have been obvious for one ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the combination of Nystrom, Romani to incorporate the teachings of Duan. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to allow create a more effective system.
Regarding claim 13, Nystrom teaches wherein the controller is configured to ([0029] “The earth's magnetic field is a vector quantity; at each point in space it has a strength and a direction. To completely describe it three quantities are needed. These may be: three orthogonal strength components X, Y and Z”) of the second magnetic field corresponding to the vector sum of the geomagnetic field and the electromagnet-induced magnetic field generated by the electromagnet and the first magnetic field corresponding to the geomagnetic field at the position of the terminal device (“[0043] “from the headset point of view, the vectors describing the earth magnetic field and the resultant vector when the pulse is active will determine one plane contacting both the headset and the phone”).
Nystrom, Romani does not teach estimate an azimuth angle of the direction.
Duan teaches estimate an azimuth angle of the direction ([0154] “The angle of arrival or departure may be an azimuth angle relative to a reference direction such as true north. The angle of arrival or departure may be a zenith angle relative to directly upward from an entity (i.e., relative to radially outward from a center of Earth)”).
It would have been obvious for one ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the combination of Nystrom, Romani to incorporate the teachings of Duan. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to allow create a more effective system.
Regarding claim 14, Nystrom teaches wherein the controller is configured to ([0029] “The earth's magnetic field is a vector quantity; at each point in space it has a strength and a direction. To completely describe it three quantities are needed. These may be: three orthogonal strength components X, Y and Z”) of the second magnetic field corresponding to the vector sum of the geomagnetic field and the electromagnet-induced magnetic field generated by the electromagnet and the first magnetic field corresponding to the geomagnetic field at the position of the terminal device (“[0043] “from the headset point of view, the vectors describing the earth magnetic field and the resultant vector when the pulse is active will determine one plane contacting both the headset and the phone”).
Nystrom, Romani does not teach estimate an a zenith angle of the direction.
Duan teaches estimate a zenith angle of the direction ([0154] “The angle of arrival or departure may be an azimuth angle relative to a reference direction such as true north. The angle of arrival or departure may be a zenith angle relative to directly upward from an entity (i.e., relative to radially outward from a center of Earth)”).
It would have been obvious for one ordinary skill in the art before the effective It would have been obvious for one ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the combination of Nystrom, Romani to incorporate the teachings of Duan. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to allow create a more effective system.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-6, 8-15 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.
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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/K.T.F./Examiner, Art Unit 2411
/DERRICK W FERRIS/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2411
