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 § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim 20 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 20 is directed to a “non-transitory computer-readable medium having instructions … for execution of the method according to claim 1.” However, Claim 1 is directed to an apparatus, rather than a method.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-19 are allowed.
Claim 20 would be allowable if rewritten or amended to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: the claimed subject matter is directed to “a passive self-announcing reconfigurable intelligent surface” where “self-conjugating elements disposed together with the reconfigurable elements on a single passive reflective surface” (Claim 1) provides the function to allow the “detecting a presence of the RIS based on a preamble encoded into a retroreflected signal from the RIS” (Claims 12 and 19). The improvements over the prior art is described in the specification, paragraph 0062. Sahraei et al. (US 2025/0055502 A1) teach various antenna elements that are disposed together including passive reconfigurable intelligent surfaces RIS (Figure 6 and paragraph 0103), but do not teach “self-conjugating elements.” Sahraei et al. (US 2025/0038791 A1) teach uplink watermarking using preambles on RIS (paragraphs 0125 and 0139), but the watermarking for the RIS ID is provided by the base station instead of the RIS itself. Dardar et al. publication (‘Grant-free Random Access with Self-conjugating Metasurfaces’ filed in the IDS dated 5/3/2024) teach that self-conjugating metasurface is a particular type of RIS (page 3), but do not teach “self-conjugating elements disposed together with reconfigurable elements on a single passive reflective surface” such that the RIS is self-announcing. Albanese et al. (US 2026/0012227 A1) teach a newly deployed RIS with self-announcing broadcast messages to pre-deployed and configured RIS, but do not teach “self-conjugating elements disposed together with reconfigurable elements on a single passive reflective surface” such that the RIS is self-announcing using “a presence of the RIS based on a preamble encoded into a retroreflected signal from the RIS.”
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MELVIN C MARCELO whose telephone number is (571)272-3125. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:30-6:00.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Asad Nawaz can be reached at 571-272-3988. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
MELVIN C. MARCELO
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2463
/MELVIN C MARCELO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2463 April 3, 2026