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 .
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lum (US 20130148636 A1) in view of Jain (US 20170093457 A1) and Loui (US 10218068 B1).
For claim 1. Lum discloses A method comprising: receiving statuses of a plurality of cellular radios ([0031]), each of the statuses comprising an idle status or an active status with one or more operating bands ([0044], [0046]: signals transmitted at 2.48 GHz (e.g., Wi-Fi.RTM. signals) are simultaneously transmitted with signals at 2.5 GHz (e.g., LTE band 7 signals), [0047], [0065]); evaluating the operating bands for potential interferences between each other ([0044]-[0047]); determining, based on the statuses and the potential interferences, a configuration of a switch matrix (figure 5, switch 102) configured to connect each of a plurality of cellular antennas to either one of the cellular radios (figure 5, [0049]-[0053]), the configuration such that antennas connected to the radios with the potential interferences are physically isolated from each other; applying the configuration to the switch matrix ([0049]-[0053]); and communicating with at least one remote system using the cellular radios with the active status via their respective connected cellular antennas ([0049]-[0053]).
Lum fails to mention Wi-Fi being a cellular radio, evaluating the operating bands for potential interferences between the radios and with one or more other radios.
This teaching is disclosed by Jain ([0033], [0035], [0036]: WLANs or Wi-Fi APs as neighboring cells; further [0070], [0073], [0078]: evaluating the operating bands for potential interferences between the radios (LTE B20 and Wi-Fi Channel 4) and with one or more other radios (GNSS), for reducing intermodulation interferences with selected antennas).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the selection techniques taught by Jain into the art of Lum as to improve antenna isolation and transmission signal quality and throughput.
Lum and Jain fail to mention to connect the antennas to a termination resistor.
This teaching is disclosed by Loui (figure 3, column 7 lines 1-3, claim 5, termination resistance (e.g., 50Ω) 160; switch matrix 130, the antennas 210, 220, 230, and 240).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the selection techniques taught by Loui into the art of Lum as modified by Jain as to improve antenna isolation.
For claim 2. Lum in combination with Jain and Loui substantially teaches the method of claim 1, Jain discloses wherein the other radios comprise a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) radio ([0070], [0073], [0078]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the selection techniques taught by Jain into the art of Lum as modified by Jain and Loui as to improve antenna isolation for GNSS.
For claim 3. Lum in combination with Jain and Loui substantially teaches the method of claim 1, Jain discloses wherein the cellular antennas and antennas of the other radios are collocated (figure 6).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the selection techniques taught by Jain into the art of Lum as modified by Jain and Loui as to improve antenna isolation for GNSS.
For claim 4. Lum in combination with Jain and Loui substantially teaches the method of claim 3, Lum discloses wherein the cellular antennas are less than half an operating wavelength apart ([0019], figure 3; 2.4GHz’s half wavelength is about 0.062 meter).
For claim 5. Lum in combination with Jain and Loui substantially teaches the method of claim 1, Lum discloses wherein the cellular antennas are all similar in structure (figure 5, [0037] using any suitable antenna types including same type).
For claim 6. Lum in combination with Jain and Loui substantially teaches the method of claim 1, Lum discloses wherein the cellular radios correspond to respective wireless carriers ([0031], [0032], figure 5).
For claim 7. Lum in combination with Jain and Loui substantially teaches the method of claim 1, Lum discloses wherein a number of the cellular antennas is equal to a number of the cellular radios (figure 5).
For claim 8. Lum in combination with Jain and Loui substantially teaches the method of claim 1, Jain discloses wherein the operating bands of the cellular radios are variable and operating bands of the other radios are fixed ([0070]-[0078]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the selection techniques taught by Jain into the art of Lum as modified by Jain and Loui as to improve antenna isolation for GNSS.
For claim 9. Lum in combination with Jain and Loui substantially teaches the method of claim 1, Loui discloses wherein the configuration is such that each of the cellular antennas that are not connected to the cellular radios with the active status are connected to the termination resistor (figure 3, column 7 lines 1-3, claim 5, column 10 lines 4-15).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the selection techniques taught by Loui into the art of Lum as modified by Jain and Loui as to improve antenna isolation.
For claim 10. Lum in combination with Jain and Loui substantially teaches the method of claim 1, Jain discloses wherein the evaluating the operating bands of the cellular radios for potential interferences comprises looking up the potential interferences in a lookup table ([0060], [0062], [0090]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the selection techniques taught by Jain into the art of Lum as modified by Jain and Loui as to improve antenna isolation using quick lookup table and program.
For claim 11. Lum discloses A system comprising: a plurality of cellular radios ([0031]); a plurality of cellular antennas (figure 5); a switch matrix (102) configured to connect each of the cellular antennas to either one of the cellular radios (figure 5); at least one processor; and computer-readable storage media comprising instructions that, when executed, cause the processor to: receive statuses of the cellular radios, each of the statuses comprising an idle status or an active status with one or more operating bands ([0044], [0046]: signals transmitted at 2.48 GHz (e.g., Wi-Fi.RTM. signals) are simultaneously transmitted with signals at 2.5 GHz (e.g., LTE band 7 signals), [0047], [0065]); evaluate the operating bands for potential interferences between each other ([0044]-[0047]); determine, based on the statuses and the potential interferences, a configuration of the switch matrix (figure 5, switch 102), the configuration such that antennas connected to the radios with the potential interferences are physically isolated from each other (figure 5, [0049]-[0053]); and cause the switch matrix to assume the configuration ([0049]-[0053]).
Lum fails to mention Wi-Fi being a cellular radio, evaluating the operating bands for potential interferences between the radios and with one or more other radios.
This teaching is disclosed by Jain ([0033], [0035], [0036]: WLANs or Wi-Fi APs as neighboring cells; further [0070], [0073], [0078]: evaluating the operating bands for potential interferences between the radios (LTE B20 and Wi-Fi Channel 4) and with one or more other radios (GNSS), for reducing intermodulation interferences with selected antennas).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the selection techniques taught by Jain into the art of Lum as to improve antenna isolation and transmission signal quality and throughput.
Lum and Jain fail to mention to connect the antennas to a termination resistor.
This teaching is disclosed by Loui (figure 3, column 7 lines 1-3, claim 5, termination resistance (e.g., 50Ω) 160; switch matrix 130, the antennas 210, 220, 230, and 240).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the selection techniques taught by Loui into the art of Lum as modified by Jain as to improve antenna isolation.
For claim 12. Lum in combination with Jain and Loui substantially teaches the system of claim 11, Jain discloses wherein the other radios comprise a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) radio ([0070], [0073], [0078]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the selection techniques taught by Jain into the art of Lum as modified by Jain and Loui as to improve antenna isolation for GNSS.
For claim 13. Lum in combination with Jain and Loui substantially teaches the system of claim 11, Jain discloses wherein the cellular antennas and antennas of the other radios are collocated (figure 6).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the selection techniques taught by Jain into the art of Lum as modified by Jain and Loui as to improve antenna isolation for GNSS.
For claim 14. Lum in combination with Jain and Loui substantially teaches the system of claim 13, Lum discloses wherein the cellular antennas are less than half an operating wavelength apart ([0019], figure 3; 2.4GHz’s half wavelength is about 0.062 meter).
For claim 15. Lum in combination with Jain and Loui substantially teaches the system of claim 11, Lum discloses wherein the cellular antennas are all similar in structure (figure 5, [0037] using any suitable antenna types including same type).
For claim 16. Lum in combination with Jain and Loui substantially teaches the system of claim 11, Lum discloses wherein the cellular radios correspond to respective wireless carriers ([0031], [0032], figure 5).
For claim 17. Lum in combination with Jain and Loui substantially teaches the system of claim 11, Lum discloses wherein a number of the cellular antennas is equal to a number of the cellular radios (figure 5).
For claim 18. Lum in combination with Jain and Loui substantially teaches the system of claim 11, Jain discloses wherein the operating bands of the cellular radios are variable and operating bands of the other radios are fixed ([0070]-[0078]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the selection techniques taught by Jain into the art of Lum as modified by Jain and Loui as to improve antenna isolation for GNSS.
For claim 19. Lum in combination with Jain and Loui substantially teaches the system of claim 11, Loui discloses wherein the configuration is such that each of the cellular antennas that are not connected to the cellular radios with the active status are connected to the termination resistor (figure 3, column 7 lines 1-3, claim 5, column 10 lines 4-15).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the selection techniques taught by Loui into the art of Lum as modified by Jain and Loui as to improve antenna isolation.
For claim 20. Lum in combination with Jain and Loui substantially teaches the system of claim 11, Jain discloses wherein the evaluation of the operating bands of the cellular radios for potential interferences comprises looking up the potential interferences in a lookup table ([0060], [0062], [0090]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the selection techniques taught by Jain into the art of Lum as modified by Jain and Loui as to improve antenna isolation using quick lookup table and program.
Conclusion
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/Rui Meng Hu/
R.H./rh
September 25, 2025
/JINSONG HU/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2643