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 .
Response to Amendment
The amendment file November 19, 2025 has been entered. Claims 1-20 remain pending in this application. Claims 1-3, 6-10, and 15-17 have been amended. Applicant’s amendments to the claims have overcome all objections set forth in the Non-Final Rejection filed August 19, 2025.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see pages 8-17, filed November 19, 2025, with respect to the rejections of claims 1, 8, and 15 under 35 U.S.C. 102 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejections have been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, new grounds of rejection are made in view of Shattil (US 11804882 B1) and Wang et al. (US 20220317285 A1).
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.
Claims 1-12 and 14-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Subburaj et al. (US 20230305132 A1), hereinafter Subburaj, in view of Shattil (US 11804882 B1), and further in view of Wang et al. (US 20220317285 A1), hereinafter Wang.
Regarding claims 1, 8, and 15, Subburaj teaches a method performed by a radar system comprising a plurality of transmit antennas, and a radar system, the method and radar system comprising:
a hardware logic component (para. 17, “An FMCW synthesizer 202 [see FIG. 3 , also referred to as an FMCW signal generator] generates an FMCW signal 100. The FMCW synthesizer 202 outputs the FMCW signal 100 to a first phase shifter [phase shifter 1] 204 a, a second phase shifter [phase shifter 2] 204 b, and a third phase shifter [phase shifter 3] 204 c. The first phase shifter 204 a outputs a phase shifted FMCW signal 100 to a first transmitter 206 a. The second phase shifter 204 b outputs a phase shifted FMCW signal 100 to a second transmitter 206 b. The third phase shifter 204 c outputs a phase shifted FMCW signal 100 to a third transmitter 206 c.”) that is configured to perform acts comprising:
transmitting a radar signal from a plurality of transmit antennas, wherein the plurality of transmit antennas are assigned transmitter-specific phase offsets by way of which the radar signal is modulated, wherein the transmitter-specific phase offsets correspond to offsets in velocity of a target (paras. 21-22, “A DDMA FMCW radar system can be used to implement a multiple-input multiple-output [MIMO] radar system. […] In an example, the base phase shift of the first, second, and third phase shifters 206a, 206b, and 206c are, respectively, ϕ1=0, ϕ2=ν, and ϕ3=2ν. […] DDMA phase shifting results in Doppler frequencies that are unique per transmitter and that add to the inherent Doppler frequency shift that is dependent solely on velocity.”),
receiving at a plurality of receive antennas a radar return comprising transmitted signals reflected by the target (para. 4, “The receivers are configured to receive an FMCW chirp reflected by an object in range of the FMCW radar system.”), and
one or more processors (Fig. 3, DSP 302) configured to perform acts comprising:
determining whether a peak signal corresponding to a phase offset assigned to a respective transmit antenna from among the phase offsets is present in the received radar returns, the peak signals each corresponding to a perceived velocity at which the target is moving, and generating an output indicative of a presence or absence of peaks corresponding to the phase offsets assigned to respective transmit antennas, wherein the peaks are indicative of a presence of the target in an environment of the radar system (paras. 36-37, “As described above, using differentiated phase shift vectors applied to the first, second, and third phase shifters 204a, 204b, and 204c in slow time enables FMCW signals 100 transmitted by a number N transmitters, and received by a number M receivers, to be treated as N×M separate received signals. For each of the M receivers, an object in range 322 will appear as N different peaks in the one dimensional FFTs 412. This increases the spatial resolution of the FMCW radar system 300. The FMCW radar system 300 has three transmitters and four receivers. Accordingly, applying the process 400 to the FMCW radar system 300 results in twelve received signals, which can also be viewed as twelve objects to be resolved. A disambiguation step, also referred to as transmitter decoding, is performed to distinguish the twelve objects, and then the corresponding one dimensional FFTs 412 are processed to generate twelve two dimensional FFTs 420. Different ones of the distinguished objects correspond to different combinations of the first, second, or third transmitter 206a, 206b, or 206c, and the first, second, third, or fourth receiver 310a, 310b, 310c, or 310d, so that different ones of the two dimensional FFTs 420 correspond to different transmitter-receiver combinations. […] As described above, by using two dimensional FFTs 420 corresponding to multiple different receivers, an angle of the object in range 322 with respect to an orientation of the FMCW radar system 300 (angle of arrival) can be determined.”), but fails to teach wherein transmitting the radar signal from the plurality of transmit antennas is according to:
a frequency which is uniquely and randomly allocated to the radar system from among a set of candidate frequencies,
a timeslot which is uniquely and randomly allocated to the radar system from among a set of candidate timeslots, and
a Doppler code which is uniquely allocated to the radar system from among a set of candidate Doppler codes.
However, Shattil teaches
a frequency which is uniquely and randomly allocated to the radar system from among a set of candidate frequencies, a timeslot which is uniquely and randomly allocated to the radar system from among a set of candidate timeslots (col. 32 lines 48-53, “Code division duplexing or cancellation division duplexing may be employed to permit reliable reception while concurrently transmitting. Alternatively, other types of duplexing may be employed. Pseudo-random time, frequency, and/or phase codes are typically used to avoid self-jamming.”), and
Wang teaches
a Doppler code which is uniquely allocated to the radar system from among a set of candidate Doppler codes (para. 29, “In another example, the radar system 300 can use FDMA, TDMA, and/or DDMA individually or simultaneously. The first subset of transmitters 310, the second subset of transmitters 312, the third subset of transmitters 314, and the fourth subset of transmitters 316 are not limited to the configuration listed above and can comprise any configuration of the first transmitter 302, the second transmitter 304, the third transmitter 306, and the fourth transmitter 308.”; DDMA involves a unique allocation of phase codes according to a table of Doppler shifts to separate signals by antenna).
Subburaj, Shattil, and Wang are considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of radar target detection. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Subburaj with the teachings of Shattil and Wang with the motivation of being able to further mitigate interference.
Regarding claims 2, 9, and 16, Subburaj in view of Shattil and further in view of Wang teach the method of claim 1 and the radar systems of claims 8 and 15 respectively,
wherein the radar signal transmitted by a first transmit antenna of the plurality of transmit antennas has a phase offset of zero, and wherein the remainder of the plurality of transmit antennas are assigned respective non-zero phase offsets (Subburaj; para. 22, “A horizontal axis corresponds to Doppler shift frequency and a vertical axis corresponds to amplitude. In an example, the base phase shift of the first, second, and third phase shifters 206a, 206b, and 206c are, respectively, ϕ1=0, ϕ2=ν, and ϕ3=2ν.”; Fig. 3, first through third phase shifters output respectively to TX1, TX2, and TX3).
Regarding claims 3, 10, and 17, Subburaj in view of Shattil and further in view of Wang teach the method of claim 2 and the radar systems of claims 9 and 16 respectively, further comprising
identifying a peak of a reflected signal from the first transmit antenna as corresponding to a valid velocity of the target when respective peaks are identified for the plurality of transmit antennas (Subburaj; para. 22, DDMA phase shifting results in Doppler frequencies that are unique per transmitter and that add to the inherent Doppler frequency shift that is dependent solely on velocity.”; para. 29, “Velocity may be determined by the phase variation of the unique range frequency over multiple chirps, which manifests as a unique Doppler frequency.”; para. 36, “As described above, using differentiated phase shift vectors applied to the first, second, and third phase shifters 204a, 204b, and 204c in slow time enables FMCW signals 100 transmitted by a number N transmitters, and received by a number M receivers, to be treated as N×M separate received signals. For each of the M receivers, an object in range 322 will appear as N different peaks in the one dimensional FFTs 412.”; Fig. 3, first, second, and third phase shifters output respectively to TX1, TX2, and TX3).
Regarding claims 4, 11, and 18, Subburaj in view of Shattil and further in view of Wang teach the method of claim 1 and the radar systems of claims 8 and 15 respectively, further comprising
determining that the radar return is not valid when a peak is identified for fewer than all of the plurality of transmit antennas (Subburaj; para. 36, “As described above, using differentiated phase shift vectors applied to the first, second, and third phase shifters 204a, 204b, and 204c in slow time enables FMCW signals 100 transmitted by a number N transmitters, and received by a number M receivers, to be treated as N×M separate received signals. For each of the M receivers, an object in range 322 will appear as N different peaks in the one dimensional FFTs 412.”; a valid object in range is determined by the presence of one peak for each of the N transmitters).
Regarding claims 5, 12, and 19, Subburaj in view of Shattil and further in view of Wang teach the method of claim 1 and the radar systems of claim 8 and 15 respectively, but Subburaj fails to teach
wherein the radar signal transmitted from the plurality of transmit antennas is at least one of time division multiplexed and frequency division multiplexed.
However, Shattil teaches
wherein the radar signal transmitted from the plurality of transmit antennas is at least one of time division multiplexed and frequency division multiplexed (col. 3 lines 6-9, “Adaptations of CI to conventional multicarrier protocols [such as OFDM and MC-CDMA] eliminate the high peak-to-average-power ratios [PAPR] associated with conventional multicarrier protocols.”).
Subburaj, Shattil, and Wang are considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of radar target detection. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Subburaj in view of Wang with the teachings of Shattil with the motivation that FDM does not require transmitter-receiver synchronization.
Regarding claims 6 and 20, Subburaj in view of Shattil and further in view of Wang teach the method of claim 1 and the radar system of claim 15, but Subburaj fails to teach
wherein the radar system is configured for at least one of phase-modulated continuous wave (PMCW) operation and orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) operation.
However, Shattil teaches
wherein the radar system is configured for at least one of phase-modulated continuous wave (PMCW) operation and orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) operation (col. 3 lines 6-9, “Adaptations of CI to conventional multicarrier protocols [such as OFDM and MC-CDMA] eliminate the high peak-to-average-power ratios [PAPR] associated with conventional multicarrier protocols.”).
Subburaj, Shattil, and Wang are considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of radar target detection. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Subburaj in view of Wang with the teachings of Shattil with the motivation that OFDM provides high spectral efficiency.
Regarding claim 7, Subburaj in view of Shattil and further in view of Wang teaches the method of claim 1, but Subburaj fails to teach
wherein transmitting the radar signal according to the Doppler code comprises adding a Doppler component to the radar signal, wherein the Doppler component corresponds to the Doppler code.
However, Shattil teaches
wherein transmitting the radar signal according to the Doppler code comprises adding a Doppler component to the radar signal, wherein the Doppler component corresponds to the Doppler code (para. 29, “In another example, the radar system 300 can use FDMA, TDMA, and/or DDMA individually or simultaneously. The first subset of transmitters 310, the second subset of transmitters 312, the third subset of transmitters 314, and the fourth subset of transmitters 316 are not limited to the configuration listed above and can comprise any configuration of the first transmitter 302, the second transmitter 304, the third transmitter 306, and the fourth transmitter 308.”; DDMA involves a unique allocation of phase codes according to a table of Doppler shifts to separate signals by antenna, where phase codes are a Doppler component).
Subburaj, Shattil, and Wang are considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of radar target detection. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Subburaj in view of Wang with the teachings of Shattil with the motivation of further mitigating interference.
Regarding claim 14, Subburaj in view of Shattil and further in view of Wang teaches the radar system of claim 8, but Subburaj fails to teach
wherein the radar system is configured for orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) operation.
However, Shattil teaches
wherein the radar system is configured for orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) operation (“CI codes may be applied to ordinary direct-sequence [e.g., DS SS or DS-CDMA], MC-CDMA, OFDM, coded OFDM, Discreet Multitone, Wavelength Division Multiplexing [WDM], ultra-dense WDM, Multi-tone CDMA, Multi-code spread spectrum, or any of the CI protocols.”).
Subburaj, Shattil, and Wang are considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of radar target detection. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Subburaj in view of Wang with the teachings of Shattil with the motivation that OFDM provides high spectral efficiency.
Claim 19 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Subburaj in view of Shattil, and further in view of Wang and Gudinetsky et al. (US 20240353553 A1), hereinafter Gudinetsky.
Regarding claim 13, Subburaj in view of Shattil and further in view of Wang teaches the radar system of claim 8, but fails to teach
wherein the radar system is configured for phase-modulated continuous wave (PMCW) operation.
However, Gudinetsky teaches
wherein the radar system is configured for phase-modulated continuous wave (PMCW) operation (para. 112, “In some demonstrative aspects, radio transmit signal 105 [FIG. 1] may be transmitted according to technologies such as, for example, Frequency-Modulated Continuous Wave [FMCW] radar, Phase-Modulated Continuous Wave [PMCW] radar, Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing [OFDM] radar, and/or any other type of radar technology, which may support determination of range, velocity, and/or direction, e.g., as described below.”).
Subburaj, Shattil, Wang, and Gudinetsky are considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of radar target detection. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Subburaj in view of Shattil and further in view of Wang with the teachings of Gudinetsky with the motivation that PMCW provides high range resolution and reduced interference.
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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ERIC K HODAC whose telephone number is (571) 270-0123. The examiner can normally be reached M-Th 8-6.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, VLADIMIR MAGLOIRE can be reached at (571) 270-5144. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ERIC K HODAC/Examiner, Art Unit 3648
/VLADIMIR MAGLOIRE/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3648