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.
Claims 1-5, 12-16, 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bengtsson et al. (WO 2020/254030) in view of Shimizu (JP 2017-211218A).
Regarding claims 1, 13, and 20, Bengtsson teaches setting, with a controlling device, a reflection angle of the intelligent reflecting device (Figs. 2A, 3, and 6E, Page 8 lines 1-9, lines 9-16, and Page 13 lines 24-37, control system setting the angle of the intelligent reflecting device etc.). Bengtsson fails to teach detecting a signal.
Shimizu teaches receiving, with a receiving device, a signal from a sending device (Description, receiving detection signal); detecting, with the receiving device, that the signal was reflected by an intelligent reflecting device (Description, receiving detection signal based on an intelligent reflection operation etc.).
Therefore, it would have been obvious at the time of the invention to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate detecting a signal as taught by Shimizu into Bengtsson’s method in order to optimize performance.
Regarding claim 2, the combination including Shimizu teaches sending, with the receiving device, a feedback signal to the controlling device, the feedback signal indicating whether the receiving device detected that the signal was reflected by the intelligent reflecting device (Description, receiving detection signal based on an intelligent reflection operation etc.).
Regarding claims 3 and 14, the combination including Bengtsson teaches wherein setting the reflection angle comprises setting, with the controlling device, the reflection angle of the intelligent reflecting device in response to the feedback signal indicating that the signal was reflected by the intelligent reflecting device (Figs. 2A, 3, and 6E, Page 8 lines 1-9, lines 9-16, and Page 13 lines 24-37, control system setting the angle of the intelligent reflecting device etc.).
Regarding claims 4 and 15, the combination including Bengtsson teaches wherein the controlling device and the sending device are the same (Figs. 2A, 3, and 6E, Page 8 lines 1-9, lines 9-16, and Page 13 lines 24-37, control system and sending device etc.).
Regarding claims 5 and 16, the combination including Bengtsson teaches wherein the receiving device and the controlling device are the same (Figs. 2A, 3, and 6E, Page 8 lines 1-9, lines 9-16, and Page 13 lines 24-37, control system and sending device etc.).
Regarding claim 12, the combination including Bengtsson teaches selecting, with the receiving device, a beam from a plurality of beams, with which to communicate with the sending device, the selecting dependent on detecting that the signal was reflected by the intelligent reflecting device (Figs. 2A, 3, and 6E, Page 8 lines 1-9, lines 9-16, and Page 13 lines 24-37, control system setting the angle of the intelligent reflecting device beams etc.).
Claim(s) 8-9 and 17-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bengtsson et al. (WO 2020/254030) in view of Shimizu (JP 2017-211218A) and further in view of University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (CN 110225538A).
Regarding claims 8 and 17, Bengtsson in view of Shimizu teaches the limitations in claims 1 and 13. Bengtsson and Shimizu fails to teach a wireless access node and user device.
University of Electronic Science and Technology of China teaches the receiving device comprises a user device and the sending device comprises a wireless access node (Claim 1, base station and plurality of user terminals); or the receiving device comprises a wireless access node and the sending device comprises a user device (Claim 1, base station and plurality of user terminals).
Therefore, it would have been obvious at the time of the invention to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate a wireless access node and user device as taught by University of Electronic Science and Technology of China into detecting a signal as taught by Shimizu into Bengtsson’s method in order to improve performance of the user.
Regarding claims 9 and 18-19, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China teaches the receiving device comprises a first user device and the sending device comprises a second user device (Claim 1, base station and plurality of user terminals); or the receiving device comprises a first wireless access node and the second device comprises a second wireless access node (Claim 1, base station and plurality of user terminals).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 6-7 and 10-11 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
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/ANDREW WENDELL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2648 3/7/2026
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