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 § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1, 2, 4, 10, 13, and 15-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Barott (US 2015/0,318,881).
Regarding claim 1, 15, and 16, Barott disclose an apparatus (3) (Figs. 1-2), method, and non-transitory program storage device, comprising:
at least one processor (processor 32; Fig. 2; ¶ [0037]); and
at least one non-transitory memory (data recorder 35 and/or inherent memory of node 3 storing instructions for execution by processor 32; ¶ [0031]) storing instructions that, when executed with the at least one processor (32), cause the apparatus to perform:
receiving, at a second node (receiver 3), a signal comprising contributions of at least one backscatter signal (scattered path 2A) and at least one further signal (1A), the at least one backscatter signal (2A) being transmitted with a respective at least one passive device (tag 2) in response to a first node (TV transmitter 1) transmitting a first signal (illumination signal) to the at least one passive device (tag 2) (Figs. 1-2, paras. [0024], [0031]-[0033]);
isolating the contribution of the at least one backscatter signal from the at least one further signal (the receiver 3 captures at least one backscatter signal and reflection from tag 2, clutter 4, and other interferers and can isolate the backscatter signal 2A using direct path interference (DPI) cancellation to mitigate or cancel the direct path interference of the backscatter signal 2A; Fig. 2; paras. [0024], [0034]-[0037], [0045]-[0048]); and
based on the contribution of the at least one backscatter signal (2A), determining, with the second node (3), one or more parameters associated with the respective at least one passive device (determine and identify parameters comprising, e.g. characteristics or properties, content of coded message, altitude, depth, acceleration, signal integrity, of the tags 2/20/20’ or covert operator 102 based on the backscattered signal (2A); paras. [0051], [0077], [0088]; Figs. 1, 8A).
Regarding claim 2, Barott disclose the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one further signal comprises the first signal (1A; Fig. 1).
Regarding claim 4, Barott disclose the apparatus of claim 2, wherein the at least one further signal further comprises a contribution of at least one additional signal, and the instructions, when executed with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to perform isolating the contribution of the at least one backscatter signal from the contribution of the first signal and the contribution of the at least one additional signal (when multiple tags, clutters, interferers, and/or other nodes, e.g. 4, 20/20’, 202, 302 are present, at least one additional signal is contributed to the first signal; Figs. 1, 9, 10; paras. [0024], [0064], [0084]-[0088]).
Regarding claim 10, Barott disclose the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the instructions, when executed with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to perform: determining the presence of the at least one passive device based on the one or more parameters (identify the presence of undesired scatterers/tags/covert operators emitting scattered target signal in the presence of clutter, noise, and interference, wherein targets can be detected at a significant range from the receiver based on parameters, e.g. confidential/secret coded messages and characteristics/properties of the covert operator 102 sent to the receiver 103; paras. [0023], [0037], [0076]-[0077]; Figs. 1, 8A).
Regarding claim 13, Barott disclose the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one or parameters comprises at least one of: information identifying the at least one passive device (parameters comprising, e.g. characteristics or properties, content of coded message, altitude, depth, acceleration, signal integrity, of the tags 2/20/20’ or covert operator 102 based on the backscattered signal (2A); paras. [0051], [0077], [0088]; Figs. 1, 8A); sensory information obtained with one or more sensors in communication with the at least one passive device; timing information relating to a difference between the time of transmission of the first signal with the first node and a time of arrival of the at least one backscatter signal from the respective at least one passive device; or a received power of the at least one backscatter signal.
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 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Barott (US 2015/0,318,881) in view of Li et al (WO 2019,190,903; hereinafter Li).
Regarding claim 11, Barott disclose the apparatus of claim 10, wherein Barott do not disclose the instructions, when executed with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to perform: responsive to determining the presence of the at least one passive device, providing, to a control node, an indication of the presence of the at least one passive device. In the same field of endeavor, Li disclose responsive to determining the presence of the at least one passive device, providing, to a control node (server 150), an indication of the presence of the at least one passive device (120) (pg. 16, line 10 – pg. 17, line 12). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to do so in order to report and communicate to the central unit processing data such as the detection of at least one tag and its position parameters so that the server can associate all the position parameters for the same time period (Li; pg. 17, line 11-12).
Claim 12 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Barott (US 2015/0,318,881) in view of Kim et al (US 2021/0,126,359; hereinafter Kim).
Regarding claim 12, Barott disclose the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first node is one of a base station or a mobile device, and wherein the second node is one of a base station or a mobile device (the first node 1 can include but not limited to e.g. a digital television station, a digital radio or other similar transmission device, or applicable to any transmitter and/or other illuminator sharing favorable characteristics which illuminates the scene with a signal or array of transmitted signals, e.g. with radio frequency (RF) signals, the second node 3 can be incorporated with another electronic device or otherwise in communication with another electronic device, the covert device 102 can be used as a part of a larger communication system, integrated device, or existing device or system, e.g., a smart phone, walkie-talkie, or other suitable device; paras. [0025], [0076], [0088], [0084]). Barott do not explicitly disclose a base station or mobile device. In the same field of endeavor, Kim disclose the first node and the second node is one of a base station or a mobile device (Figs. 1, 3; paras. [0003]-[0004], [0056]). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to do so in order to provide a mobile or base terminal for cellular and radio frequency coverage for electronic devices.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3 and 5-9 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.
Regarding claim 3, Barott disclose the apparatus of claim 2, wherein the instructions, when executed with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to perform: demodulating the received signal (para. [0040]). However, the cited prior art fails to further disclose or fairly suggest: based on the demodulating, regenerating the first signal as transmitted, estimating a channel response based on the regenerated first signal as transmitted; reconstructing the first signal as received based on the regenerated first signal as transmitted and the estimated channel response; and removing the reconstructed first signal as received from the received signal to produce a remaining signal comprising the contribution of the at least one backscatter signal.
Regarding claim 5, Barott disclose the apparatus of claim 4, wherein the instructions, when executed with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to perform: demodulating the received signal (para. [0040]). However, the cited prior art fails to further disclose or fairly suggest: based on the demodulating, regenerating the first signal as transmitted and the at least one additional signal as transmitted; estimating a first channel response based on the regenerated first signal as transmitted; estimating a second channel response based on the regenerated at least one additional signal as transmitted; reconstructing the first signal as received based on the regenerated first signal as transmitted and the estimated first channel response; reconstructing the at least one additional signal as received based on the regenerated at least one additional signal as transmitted and the estimated second channel response; and removing the reconstructed first signal as received and the reconstructed at least one additional signal as received from the received signal to produce a remaining signal comprising the contribution of the at least one backscatter signal.
Regarding claim 6, the cited prior art fails to further disclose or fairly suggest the apparatus of claim 3, wherein the instructions, when executed with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to perform: processing the remaining signal with parameters associated with the at least one backscatter signal to produce a processed signal; generating at least one locally generated backscatter signal associated with the at least one passive device; and detecting the at least one passive device based on the processed signal and the at least one locally generated backscatter signal.
Regarding claim 7, the cited prior art fails to further disclose or fairly suggest the apparatus of claim 6, wherein the instructions, when executed with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to perform: receiving, from a control node, one or more parameters associated with the at least one backscatter signal; and generating the at least one locally generated backscatter signal based on the received one or more parameters and the first signal.
Regarding claim 8, the cited prior art fails to further disclose or fairly suggest apparatus of claim 6, wherein the instructions, when executed with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to perform at least one of: performing cross-correlation with the at least one locally generated backscatter signal and the processed signal, and performing envelope detection on the resulting signal to detect the at least one passive device; or performing a frequency domain transformation of the at least one locally generated backscatter signal and the processed signal, multiplying the resulting frequency responses, and performing zero-forcing or minimum mean square error detection to detect the at least one passive device.
Regarding claim 9, the cited prior art fails to further disclose or fairly suggest apparatus of claim 6, wherein the instructions, when executed with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to perform: in response to detecting a first passive device, removing the locally generated backscatter signal associated with the first passive device from the processed signal to generate a remaining processed signal; and detecting at least one further passive device based on the remaining processed signal and the at least one locally generated backscatter signal.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LANA N LE whose telephone number is (571) 272-7891. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:00am-5:00pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Wesley Kim, can be reached at (571) 272-7867. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/LANA N LE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2648