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
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.
Claim(s) 1-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2021/0351901 (“Hassan” or “H”).
1: H teaches a slip ring (that of fig 1), comprising: a stator (110); a rotor (120) configured to rotate relative to the stator about a rotation axis (as shown), the rotor having a first wireless module (210-1) with a first antenna (222-1); the stator having a second wireless module (210-2) with a second antenna (230-2); the first and second antennae arranged along the rotation axis (as shown by the overlapping beams 230 shown in fig 2, and as illustrated in fig 8); the first and second antennae adapted to communicate with each other by at least partially using polarized signals (the 222s are RHCP antennas).
2: H teaches that the second antenna is mounted on the stator such that the first and second antennae face each other during rotation of the rotor (as illustrated by the overlapping beams 230).
However, H fails to teach that the first antenna is mounted on an end of the rotor that is disposed in the stator during operation. However, it was old and well-know to located rotors within stators and old and well-known that placing antennas on the ends of structures allows beams of antennas to project beyond those structures. Thus, it would have been obvious to provide that the first antenna is mounted on an end of the rotor that is disposed in the stator during operation. The motivation would have been to provide a means to align the stator and rotor and to allow the beam from the antenna on the rotor to align with the beam from the stator, as shown in fig 2.
3: H fails to teach that the first and second antenna have generally helical-shaped elements to polarize their respective signals. However, it was old and well-known that helical antennas produce RHCP and LHCP end-fire beams, like those shown in H’s fig 2. Thus, it would have obvious to provide that the first and second antenna have generally helical-shaped elements to polarize their respective signals. The motivation would have been to produce beams that are polarized and oriented like those shown in fig 2, which can be done by pointing helical antennas toward each other.
4: H teaches that the first and second antennae are arranged for a circular polarization (the 230 are RHCP and LHCP).
5: H teaches that the first and second antennae each include two antenna elements (the 222 and the 232), one of which is used for transmission and the other for reception (as shown in fig 2).
6: H teaches that the first and second antennae transmit and receive signals bi-directionally by polarization, frequency modulation, and/or amplitude modulation (fig 1 shows bidirectional communication; fig 2 shows the antennas are circularly polarized).
7: H teaches that the first and second wireless modules each include a 60 GHz chipset that performs at least some signal conditioning (0029).
8: H teaches that the first and second antennae are configured to communicate with each other according to Wi-Fi, ZigBee, Bluetooth, wireless HDMI, USB, or IEEE 802.11 standard (0027).
9: H fails to teach a light module disposed in each of the rotor and stator, and optical fibers extending to each of the first and second antennae such that communication is facilitated between the rotor and the stator using light signals.
However, using fiber optics to connect antenna receivers to digital systems for data transfer was old and well-known. A motivation to do so would have been to obtain low loss, high speed data transfer available with the use of fiber optics.
10: The modified device of claim 3 would be such that the first and second antenna extend parallel to one another and the rotation axis.
11: The modified device of claim 3 would be such that the first and second antenna extend at an angle relative to one another (at a near zero angle, since pointing toward each other) and are angularly disposed relative to the rotation axis (they would be angularly disposed at an angle near 0).
12: H fails to teach a shield that at least partially contains signals exchanged by the first and second antennae within the slip ring. However, it was old and well-known to use shields to avoid interference with outside electronic systems.
13: H teaches that the first and second antennae communicate with each other using one or more Ethernet channels (0023).
14: H fails to teach that the one or more Ethernet channels are time divided to create multiple data channels. However, time-divisions was old and well known as a way of increasing data throughput.
15: H teaches a communication system for a slip ring (that of fig 2), comprising: a first wireless module (210-2) with a first antenna (222-2), the first wireless module
adapted to be mounted on a rotor that rotates relative to a stator about a rotation axis (as shown); a second wireless module (210-1) with a second antenna (222-1), the second wireless module adapted to be mounted on the stator (as shown); the first and second antennae adapted to communicate with each other by at least partially using polarized signals (as shown, the 222s produce RHCP beams 230).
16: H teaches a rotary joint (that of fig 1), comprising: the communication system of claim 15 (as shown in fig 2); a rotor (120) having the first wireless module (as shown); a stator (110) having the second wireless module (as shown); the first and second antennae arranged along the rotation axis (as shown by the beams in fig 2 and by fig 8) and facing each other (as shown by the beams in fig 2).
17: H fails to teach that the first antenna is mounted on an end of the rotor that is disposed in the stator during operation; the first and second antenna have generally helical-shaped elements that polarize their respective signals. However, as stated in regards to claims 2 and 3, adding these features would have been obvious.
18: H fails to teach that the first and second wireless modules each include a 60 GHz chipset that performs at least some signal conditioning; the first and second antennae are configured to communicate with each other according to Wi-Fi, ZigBee, Bluetooth, wireless HDMI, USB, or IEEE 802.11 standard. However, as stated in regards to claims 7 and 8, adding these features would have been obvious.
19: H teaches a method for communicating signals through a slip ring (that inherent in the device of figs 1 and 2), comprising: providing a stator (110); providing a rotor (120) configured to rotate relative to the stator about a rotation axis (as shown), the rotor having a first wireless module (210-2) with a first antenna (232-2); the stator having a second wireless module (210-1) with a second antenna (222-1); the first and second antennae arranged along the rotation axis (as taught by the overlapping beams 230 and by fig 8); transmitting and receiving a polarized radio frequency (RF) signal through the first and second antennae (the 222 are RHCP).
20: H fails to teach that the first antenna is mounted on an end of the rotor that is disposed in the stator during operation; the second antenna is mounted on the stator such that the first and second antennae face each other during rotation of the rotor; the first and second antenna have generally helical-shaped elements to polarize their respective signals. However, as stated in regards to claims 2 and 3, adding these features would have been obvious.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to GRAHAM P SMITH whose telephone number is (571)270-1568. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 10am - 6pm.
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/GRAHAM P SMITH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2845