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.
Claim(s) 1-21 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Weissman (US. Pub. No. 2019/0079176 A1; hereinafter “WEISSMAN”) in view of Jung (US. Pub. No. 2018/0054086 A1; hereinafter “JUNG”)
Regarding claim 1, WEISSMAN teaches a system (see WEISSMAN, fig. 1) comprising:
an array of antennas that are controllable to generate directed beams of radio frequency (RF) radiation (see WEISSMAN, fig. 1, antenna 114, 112); and
an anchor wireless device coupled to the array of antennas (see WEISSMAN, fig. 1, reader 110), the anchor wireless device to:
transmit, via the array of antennas, a first wireless signal as a first directed beam (see WEISSMAN, fig. 4, para. [0043], beam steering pattern 400) at a first azimuth towards a first plurality of identification (ID) tags (see WEISSMAN, fig. 1, tags 150-154), wherein the first plurality of ID tags are ambient power (AMP) devices that harvest environmental energy (see WEISSMAN, fig. 5, para. [0047], power harvester); and
receive, via the array of antennas, second wireless signals from the plurality of ID tags (see WEISSMAN, fig. 1, reply 132, para. [0046]), each second wireless signal including a second data packet responding with the requested information for a corresponding ID tag of the plurality of ID tags (see WEISSMAN, fig. 5, para. [0045]).
WEISSMAN is silent to teaching that wherein the first wireless signal includes a data packet requesting information.
In the same field of endeavor, JUNG teaches a system wherein the first wireless signal includes a data packet requesting information (see JUNG, fig. 2, S230, information request signal, para. [0046]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine the teaching of WEISSMAN and the teaching of JUNG in order to allow the wireless communication being decoded and recognized by the receiver (see JUNG, para. [0073-74], fig. 7, communications 780,740). Communication efficiency and power transfer efficiency are improved by allowing the transmitter and receiver both can effectively communication with each other, i.e. ID, location and configuration information (see JUNG, para. [0004])
Regarding claim 2, the combination of WEISSMAN and JUNG teaches the system of claim 1, further comprising the plurality of ID tags, wherein each ID tag of the plurality of ID tags is to:
receive the first wireless signal (see JUNG, fig. 2, S230);
parse the data packet to determine the requested information (see JUNG, para. [0046]); and
generate a second wireless signal with the second data packet containing the requested information (see JUNG, fig. 2, S240, para. [0047]).
Regarding claim 3, the combination of WEISSMAN and JUNG teaches the system of claim 2, further comprising an environmental sensor coupled to each of the plurality of ID tags, and wherein the requested information comprises at least one of an ID of a respective ID tag, temperature data, humidity data, pressure data, level data, or environmental-related data received from a respective environmental sensor coupled to the respective ID tag (see WEISSMAN, para. [0045], identifier of tag).
Regarding claim 4, the combination of WEISSMAN and JUNG teaches the system of claim 1, wherein the anchor wireless device is further to:
transmit, via the array of antennas, a plurality of first wireless signals as different directed beams at a plurality of corresponding azimuth ranges (see WEISSMAN, fig. 4, 400, para. [0043]), each different directed beam being transmitted during a different scanning period (see WEISSMAN, fig. 11, 1175, beam scanning, para. [0078]); and
for each azimuth range of the plurality of corresponding azimuth ranges:
receive the second wireless signals from the plurality of ID tags located in an area activated by a corresponding directed beam of the different directed beams (see WEISSMAN, fig. 10, 1040, para. [0071]);
store IDs from data packets received within the second wireless signals (see WEISSMAN, fig. 10, 1040, para. [0071]); and
store environmental data, received within the data packets, associated with corresponding ID tags of the plurality of ID tags (see WEISSMAN, fig. 11, 1140, para. [0076], orientation data, table).
Regarding claim 5, the combination of WEISSMAN and JUNG teaches the system of claim 4, wherein the anchor wireless device is further to:
assign a beam index to each azimuth range of the plurality of corresponding azimuth ranges (see WEISSMAN, fig. 4, para. [0026], beam identifier);
map, within a data store, each of a plurality of geographic zones to a corresponding beam index (see WEISSMAN, fig. 4, para. [0043]); and
store, in the data store, IDs of each of the plurality of ID tags in association with a mapping between a geographic zone and a beam index (see WEISSMAN, fig. 4, para. [0043], fig. 11, 1140).
Regarding claim 6, the combination of WEISSMAN and JUNG teaches the system of claim 4, wherein the anchor wireless device is further to scan, via the array of antennas with the first wireless signal, at different time periods, also in a vertical direction to communicate with ID tags in horizontal slices of a three-dimensional region being scanned (see WEISSMAN, fig. 8, para. [0060-62]).
Regarding claim 7, the combination of WEISSMAN and JUNG teaches the system of claim 1, wherein the anchor wireless device is further to one of: transmit an energizing RF signal towards the plurality of ID tags from which the plurality of ID tags harvest energy; or cause the first wireless signal to also be the energizing RF signal (see WEISSMAN, fig. 5, para. [0036]).
Regarding claim 8, the combination of WEISSMAN and JUNG teaches the system of claim 7, wherein the energizing RF signal is a millimeter wave signal (see WEISSMAN, fig. 5, mmWave 552, para. [0048]).
Regarding claim 9, the combination of WEISSMAN and JUNG teaches the system of claim 7, wherein the first wireless signal is within a first RF band or is a continuous waveform (CW), and wherein each second wireless signal is within one of the first RF band or a second RF band (see WEISSMAN, fig. 1, 130, 132, UHF, RF).
Regarding claim 10, WEISSMAN teaches a method comprising:
transmitting, by an anchor wireless device using an array of antennas (see WEISSMAN, fig. 1, antenna 114, 112), a first wireless signal as a first directed beam (see WEISSMAN, fig. 4, para. [0043], beam steering pattern 400) towards a first plurality of identification (ID) tags (see WEISSMAN, fig. 1, tags 150-154), wherein the first plurality of ID tags are ambient power (AMP) devices that harvest environmental energy (see WEISSMAN, fig. 5, para. [0047], power harvester), and
receiving, via the array of antennas, second wireless signals from the plurality of ID tags (see WEISSMAN, fig. 1, reply 132, para. [0046]), each second wireless signal including a second data packet responding with the requested information for a corresponding ID tag of the plurality of ID tags (see WEISSMAN, fig. 5, para. [0045]).
WEISSMAN is silent to teaching that wherein the first wireless signal includes a data packet requesting information.
In the same field of endeavor, JUNG teaches a method wherein the first wireless signal includes a data packet requesting information (see JUNG, fig. 2, S230, information request signal, para. [0046]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine the teaching of WEISSMAN and the teaching of JUNG in order to allow the wireless communication being decoded and recognized by the receiver (see JUNG, para. [0073-74], fig. 7, communications 780,740). Communication efficiency and power transfer efficiency are improved by allowing the transmitter and receiver both can effectively communication with each other, i.e. ID, location and configuration information (see JUNG, para. [0004])
Regarding claims 11-18, the dependent claims are interpreted and rejected for the same reasons as forth above in claims 11-18, respectively.
Regarding claim 19, WEISSMAN teaches a method comprising:
transmitting, by a first anchor wireless device using a first array of antennas (see WEISSMAN, fig. 8, tx1, 810), a first wireless signal as a first directed beam (see WEISSMAN, fig. 4, para. [0043], beam steering pattern 400) towards a first plurality of identification (ID) tags (see WEISSMAN, fig. 1, tags 150-154), wherein the first plurality of ID tags are ambient power (AMP) devices that harvest environmental energy (see WEISSMAN, fig. 5, para. [0047], power harvester), and
receiving, via the first array of antennas, second wireless signals from the first plurality of ID tags (see WEISSMAN, fig. 1, reply 132, para. [0046]), each second wireless signal including a second data packet responding with the requested information for a corresponding ID tag of the first plurality of ID tags (see WEISSMAN, fig. 5, para. [0045]).;
transmitting, by a second anchor wireless device using a second array of antennas (see WEISSMAN, fig. 8, tx2, 812), a third wireless signal as a second directed beam (see WEISSMAN, fig. 4, para. [0043], beam steering pattern 400) towards a second plurality of ID tags that are co-located in a vicinity of the first plurality of ID tags (see WEISSMAN, fig. 1, tags 150-154, fig. 8, tag 832), wherein the second plurality of ID tags are AMP devices that harvest energy (see WEISSMAN, fig. 5, para. [0047], power harvester), and
receiving, via the second array of antennas, second wireless signals from the second plurality of ID tags (see WEISSMAN, fig. 1, reply 132, para. [0046]), each second wireless signal including a fourth data packet responding with the requested information for a corresponding ID tag of the second plurality of ID tags (see WEISSMAN, fig. 1, reply 132, para. [0046]).
WEISSMAN is silent to teaching that wherein the first wireless signal includes a first data packet requesting information; wherein the third wireless signal includes a third data packet requesting information.
In the same field of endeavor, JUNG teaches a metho wherein the first wireless signal includes a first data packet requesting information; wherein the third wireless signal includes a third data packet requesting information (see JUNG, fig. 2, S230, information request signal, para. [0046]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine the teaching of WEISSMAN and the teaching of JUNG in order to allow the wireless communication being decoded and recognized by the receiver (see JUNG, para. [0073-74], fig. 7, communications 780,740). Communication efficiency and power transfer efficiency are improved by allowing the transmitter and receiver both can effectively communication with each other, i.e. ID, location and configuration information (see JUNG, para. [0004])
Regarding claim 20, the combination of WEISSMAN and JUNG teaches the method of claim 19, deconflicting, by the first and second anchor wireless devices, a first channel over which the first wireless signal is transmitted from a second channel over which the third wireless signal is transmitted (see WEISSMAN, fig. 8, RSSI1, RSSI2, para. [0031], triangulate).
Regarding claim 21, the combination of WEISSMAN and JUNG teaches the method of claim 19, wherein the first wireless signal is within a first RF band or is a continuous waveform (CW) and the third wireless signal is within one of the first RF band or a second RF band (see WEISSMAN, fig. 1, 130, 132, UHF, RF), further comprising scanning a geographic area, by the first and second anchor wireless devices, to identify further ID tags while not double-scanning any single zone of a plurality of zones within the geographic area (see WEISSMAN, para. [0035], interlaced timing mode).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Perry (2019/0199139), Moshfeghi (2017/0047968), Xia (2013/0137455), Caglayan et al. (US. Pub. No. 2023/0085960 A1), and Rofougaran (2008/0238619) teach wireless power transfer systems.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to WEN WU HUANG whose telephone number is (571)272-7852. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 10-6.
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/WEN W HUANG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2648