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 .
Election/Restrictions
The election of species requirement is hereby withdrawn in view of the Amendment and Applicant’s arguments filed 05/11/2026.
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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 20-30 and 32-39 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Tarighat Mehrabani (US 2021/0037447)(hereinafter Mehrabani).
Regarding claim 20, Mehrabani discloses a computerized method of utilizing one or more computerized premises apparatus for provision of expanded or extended coverage, the computerized method comprising:
identifying one or more areas of non-coverage (see Mehrabani, Fig. 3, p. [0062], e.g., the first RF repeater device 104 is further configured to identify the signal blocking object 302 in its vicinity and at a certain direction);
deploying the one or more computerized premises apparatus at a first premises (see Mehrabani, Fig. 1A, p. [0032], e.g., The repeater system 102 may include a network of RF repeater devices, such as the first RF repeater device 104 deployed at a first location , and Fig. 1C, p. [0050-0052], e.g., a communication system 100C that may include the repeater system 102 that include the network of RF repeater devices, such as the first RF repeater device 104 and the second RF repeater device 106);
characterizing a wireless backhaul for the one or more computerized premises apparatus, the characterizing of the wireless backhaul enabling the one or more computerized premises apparatus to identify and utilize one or more best suited base station apparatus for a repeater function of the one or more computerized premises apparatus (see Mehrabani, Figs. 1A-C, p. [0031-3302], e.g., Each of the network of RF repeater devices, such as the first RF repeater device 104 and the second RF repeater device 106, includes suitable logic, circuitry, and interfaces that may be configured to communicate with the source node 108 (i.e. the Node A) and the one or more destination nodes, and p. [0050-0052], Fig. 2, p. [0053]);
characterizing a fronthaul for the one or more computerized premises apparatus, the fronthaul comprising an environment between the one or more computerized premises apparatus and at least one downstream computerized client device within the one or more areas of non- coverage (see Mehrabani, Figs. 1A-C, p. [0031-0034], e.g., Each of the first destination node 110 (e.g. Node B) and the second destination node 112 includes suitable logic, circuitry, and interfaces that may be configured to communicate with the source node 108, via the network of RF repeater devices in the first topology); and
causing the one or more computerized premises apparatus to implement the repeater function and operate as a repeater to provide, via based on the characterizing of the wireless backhaul and the fronthaul, the expanded or extended coverage to the one or more areas of non- coverage, thereby enabling the at least one downstream computerized client device to utilize the wireless backhaul (see Mehrabani, Fig. 3, p. [0062], e.g., the first RF repeater device 104 may be configured to re-configure its main beam to create a null (an avoidance region 306), to avoid radiating power in the direction of the signal blocking object 302 (e.g. a blocker or a reflector)).
Regarding claim 21, Mehrabani discloses computerized method of claim 20, wherein: the identifying the one or more areas of non-coverage comprises a network operator of a managed content distribution network identifying at least one of (i) a reduced signal strength at a second premises of a customer of the managed content distribution network, or (ii) and inability of user equipment to connect to a base station apparatus operated by the network operator (see Mehrabani, Fig. 3, p. [0062], e.g., the first RF repeater device 104 may be configured to re-configure its main beam to create a null (an avoidance region 306), to avoid radiating power in the direction of the signal blocking object 302 (e.g. a blocker or a reflector). This may be done for several purposes: B) to reduce effective radiation power by avoiding unnecessary radiation of energy in directions that do not provide coverage to the one or more destination nodes, such as the first destination node 110); and the first premises is different than the second premises (see Mehrabani, Figs 1A-C).
Regarding claim 22, Mehrabani discloses computerized method of claim 20, wherein the characterizing of the fronthaul for the one or more computerized premises apparatus comprises
identifying at least one of (i) one or more best suited beams (see Mehrabani, p. [0064], e.g., the first RF repeater device 104 may be configured to allocate its phase array resources, for example, separate antenna arrays (the first antenna array 104A and the second antenna array 104B (and beamforming capabilities) to provide a link between nodes B and B′, and p. [0068]), or (ii) one or more angles, to utilize for communication with the at least one downstream computerized client device.
Regarding claim 23, Mehrabani discloses computerized method of claim 20, wherein the characterizing of the fronthaul for the one or more computerized premises apparatus comprises iteratively characterizing the fronthaul for the one or more computerized premises apparatus over a plurality of different time periods (see Mehrabani, p. [0064], e.g., p.[0094], e.g., the first destination node 110 (Node B) may utilize its information about traffic demand/pattern and the allocation of time slots to the first destination node 110 (Node B) by the source node 108 (Node A), to identify the time slots that the first RF repeater device 702 needs to be activated and/or the link direction for the first RF repeater device 702).
Regarding claim 24, Mehrabani discloses computerized method of claim 20, wherein the characterizing of the wireless backhaul for the one or more computerized premises apparatus comprises characterizing Fifth Generation New Radio (5G NR) mm Wave backhaul (see Mehrabani, Fig. 7, e.g., a 5G NR digital modem 708 (or a subset of modem function) may be added into the repeater design, such as the first RF repeater device 702).
Regarding claim 25, Mehrabani discloses a computerized premises wireless apparatus to extend wireless signal connectivity with at least one base station, the computerized premises wireless apparatus comprising: a first wireless interface; a second wireless interface in data communication with the first wireless interface; a third wireless interface in data communication with at least the second wireless interface (see Mehrabani, p. [0033-0034]); processor apparatus in data communication with the first wireless interface and the second wireless interface; and storage apparatus in data communication with the processor apparatus and comprising a storage medium (see Mehrabani, Fig. 17, e.g., memory 1710), the storage medium comprising at least one computer program configured to, when executed by the processor apparatus:
utilize at least the first wireless interface of the computerized premises wireless apparatus to provide a wireless service to at least a first location or premises (e.g., Node B 110) (see Mehrabani, Fig. 7, p. [0092-0093], e.g., the first destination node 110 (i.e. the UE node such as a smartphone or a customer premise equipment (CPE) device) may utilize the RF repeater device 702 for: 1) higher throughput, 2) better coverage, 3) lower power consumption by the first destination node 110 (i.e. the UE node) through leveraging the transmit/receive resources of the RF repeater device 702);
utilize at least the second wireless interface of the computerized premises wireless
apparatus to cause data communication between the computerized premises wireless apparatus and the at least one base station, the data communication enabling at least one of (i) beam selection (see Mehrabani, Fig. 7, p. [0046], e.g., a repeater device may be configured to use the link between the RF repeater device and one of the source node 108 (i.e. node A) or the first destination node 110 (i.e. node B) to train its beam selection for its receiving or transmitting array, and p. [0094], e.g., the first RF repeater device 702 may be configured to control and facilitate a beam training between the first destination node 110 (Node B) and the first RF repeater device 702), (ii) beam steering, or (iii) beam redundancy; and
utilize at least the third wireless interface of the computerized premises wireless apparatus to extend the wireless service to at least a second user premises (e.g., Node B’) (see Mehrabani, Fig. 4, p. [0063], e.g., Node B’, p. [0063-0064], e.g., the first destination node 110 and the second destination node 112 (Node Band B′) may receive their respective data from the source node 108 (node A) and through the first RF repeater device 104, and Fig. 7, and Fig. 12, p. [0114], e.g., the second destination node 1212 (Node B′)).
Regarding claim 26, Mehrabani discloses the computerized premises wireless apparatus of claim 25, wherein the second wireless interface comprises a beam steering (see Mehrabani, p. [0142], e.g., the steerable phased-array-based antenna panels) and beam selection capability (e.g., beamforming capabilities), the beam steering and beam selection capability configured to enable alignment of the second wireless interface with the at least one base station so as to optimize at least reception of a first wireless signal transmitted form the at least one base station (see Mehrabani, p. [0142], e.g., the steerable phased-array-based antenna panels may be configured and trained to find the best or suitable propagation paths between the respective RF repeater devices, and p. [0064], e.g., the first RF repeater device 104 may be further configured to modify beamforming configurations of the first RF repeater device 104 to provide paths from the second destination node 112 (node B′) directly through receiving and transmitting beams of the first RF repeater device 104 and to the end point, such as the first destination node 110 (Node B).
Regarding claim 27, Mehrabani discloses the computerized premises wireless apparatus of claim 25, wherein: the utilization of at least the first wireless interface of the computerized premises wireless apparatus to provide the wireless service to at least the first location or premises comprises utilization of a 3GPP (Third Generation Partnership Project) 5G-NR (Fifth Generation - New Radio) compliant node to transmit signals to one or more areas inside of a structure of the first location or premises (see Mehrabani, Fig. 7, p. [0097], e.g., the 5G NR modem 708 inside the first RF repeater device 702, and p. [0154]); and the utilization of at least the third wireless interface of the computerized premises wireless apparatus to extend the wireless service to at least the second user premises comprises configuring the computerized premises wireless apparatus to substantially repeat at least parts of the data communication between the computerized premises wireless apparatus and the at least one base station to one or more areas outside of the structure of the first location or premises via one or more antenna elements mounted externally to or on the structure (see Mehrabani, Fig. 4, p. [0064], e.g., the first destination node 110 and the second destination node 112 (Node B and B′) may receive their respective data from the source node 108 (node A) and through the first RF repeater device 104).
Regarding claim 28, Mehrabani discloses the computerized premises wireless apparatus of claim 27, wherein:
the at least one base station comprises a Fifth Generation New Radio gNodeB (5G NR gNB) (see Mehrabani, p. [0033]); and the utilization of at least the third wireless interface of the computerized premises wireless apparatus to extend the wireless service to at least the second user premises comprises a configuration of the computerized premises wireless apparatus to substantially repeat the at least parts of the data communication between the computerized premises wireless apparatus and the at least one base station to one or more areas outside of the structure of the first location or premises via the one or more antenna elements mounted externally to or on the structure comprises causation of a transmission of signals within a frequency range between 24 and 200 GHz inclusive (see Mehrabani, p. [0064], [0079], and [0106], e.g., both f1 and f2 may both belong to millimeter wave (mmWave) bands. For example, f1 and f2 belong to 39 GHz band and 60 GHz band, respectively).
Regarding claim 29, Mehrabani discloses the computerized premises wireless apparatus of claim 25, 30 wherein each of the first, second and third wireless interfaces comprise a 3GPP (Third Generation Partnership Project) 5G-NR (Fifth Generation - New Radio) compliant interface configured to operate in within a frequency range between 24 and 200 GHz inclusive (see Mehrabani, p. [0064], [0079], and [0106], e.g., both f1 and f2 may both belong to millimeter wave (mmWave) bands. For example, f1 and f2 belong to 39 GHz band and 60 GHz band, respectively).
Regarding claim 30, Mehrabani discloses the computerized premises wireless apparatus of claim 25, wherein: each of the second and third wireless interfaces comprise a 3GPP (Third Generation Partnership Project) 5G-NR (Fifth Generation - New Radio) compliant interface configured to operate in within a frequency band between 24 and 200 GHz inclusive (see Mehrabani, p. [0064], [0079], and [0106], e.g., both f1 and f2 may both belong to millimeter wave (mmWave) bands. For example, f1 and f2 belong to 39 GHz band and 60 GHz band, respectively); and the first wireless interface comprises a 3GPP 4G (Fourth Generation) or 5G-NR compliant interface configured to operate in a frequency band below 6 GHz (see Mehrabani, p. [0064], [0079], and [0106], e.g., one of f1 or f2 may belong to a mmWave band (e.g., 60 GHz), whereas the other frequency belongs to a lower frequency band (e.g., 3.6 GHz in CBRS band).
Regarding claim 32, Mehrabani discloses a network architecture for delivery of wireless data to at least one wireless receiver apparatus that is out of a network coverage area of at least one wireless base station (see Mehrabani, Fig. 14, p. [0154], e.g., Node A), the network architecture comprising: the at least one wireless base station (e.g., Node A); a computerized network controller (see Mehrabani, Fig. 17, e.g., control section 17040) in data communication with the at least one wireless base station; the at least one wireless receiver apparatus (e.g., Node B); and at least one computerized premises device (e.g., repeater 1406, (Access repeater)) capable of data communication with the at least one wireless receiver apparatus (see Mehrabani, Fig. 14, p. [0122-0125]); wherein the computerized network controller is utilized to enable the at least one wireless base station and the at least one computerized premises device to selectively establish at least one communication channel with the at least one wireless receiver apparatus for the delivery of the wireless data, the established at least one communication channel backhauled by the at least one wireless base station (see Mehrabani, Fig. 14, p. [0123], e.g., Mehrabani discloses the second RF repeater device 1406 that wirelessly connects with the destination node 1410 (Node B) may also be referred to as “Access Repeater”, which indicate that the second RF repeater device 1406 (i.e. Repeater #2) acts as the last of the network of RF repeater devices, which provide access to end users at access frequency f2, and p. [0123-0127], e.g., the access repeater (i.e. the second RF repeater device 1406; Repeater #2), may be configured to perform the following functions: A) down-conversion of the signals received through the first RF repeater device 1404 (Repeater #1) at f1 band to a lower frequency band (access band) of f2. B) receiving of the four streams s1, s2, s3, s4 (aggregated in frequency domain within band f1), and dis-aggregation of such streams (through channel selection filtering and other operations as needed, such as frequency shifting, multiplexing or demultiplexing by a processor 1406A), to transmit the four streams over the same frequency channel inside band f2, each stream radiating through one of the antenna elements in the second RF repeater device 1406 (Repeater #2).
Regarding claim 33, Mehrabani discloses the network architecture of claim 32, wherein the at least one wireless receiver apparatus comprises a 3GPP 5G NR Wave enabled user equipment (UE) (see Mehrabani, p. [0032], [0097], e.g., Electronic subscriber identity module (eSIM) may be used so that the same wireless line authentication (or number) used by the first destination node 110 (e.g., a smartphone with 5G NR mmWave modem) is replicated and used by the 5G NR digital modem 708 inside the first RF repeater device 702).
Regarding claim 34, Mehrabani discloses the network architecture of claim 32, wherein the selective establishment of the at least one communication channel with the at least one wireless receiver apparatus is based on an availability of a mWave signal path at any given point of time (see Mehrabani, p. [0137], e.g., incoming or downlink signals may be transported to the access repeaters (i.e. the RF repeater devices 1504 and 1506) over a mmWave band (e.g., band f2). While the RF repeater devices 1504 and 1506 perform frequency shifting (between f1 and f2), the RF repeater devices 1502 (repeater #1) may be configured to provide waveform steering and amplification, without applying any frequency shifting).
Regarding claim 35, Mehrabani discloses the network architecture of claim 32, wherein the computerized network controller is configured to allocate functionality based on available bandwidth on a backhaul (see Mehrabani, p. [0038], e.g., a change in topology of network of repeaters, the following characteristics may be modified: B) Assignment (allocation, association) of nodes to the RF repeater devices in the network of RF repeater devices may be re-configured, and ;
Regarding claim 36, Mehrabani discloses the network architecture of claim 35, wherein the allocation of the functionality based on the available bandwidth on the backhaul comprises:
a determination of at least one of (i) an available type or (ii) capacity of the backhaul which is then currently operational; and based at least on the determination, select one or more functional modes of the at least one computerized premises device for operation, the operation comprising utilization of the available backhaul (see Mehrabani, p. [0065], e.g., the source node 108 (node A, which may act as an access point or the base station), may determine and program available time slots into three categories: uplink slots (U), downlink slots (D), and flexible slots (X), and the slots assigned as flexible slots (X) may be allocated to nodes B and B′ (i.e. the first destination node 110 and the second destination node 112) for direct communications, and p. [0066], e.g., the direct link framework (i.e. the direct mode 406) may be utilized to enable the proximity services (ProSe) as defined in 3GPP NR specifications through the network of repeaters devices that can beneficially create a viable propagation path between the first destination node 110 and the second destination node 112).
Regarding claim 37, Mehrabani discloses the network architecture of claim 32, wherein the delivery of the wireless data comprises transaction of millimeter-wave wireless signals between the at least one wireless receiver apparatus and the at least one wireless base station, the millimeter- wave wireless signals which are inaccessible to the at least one wireless receiver apparatus due to at least one of an obstruction or physical feature (see Mehrabani, p. [0005], e.g., one or more obstructions (such as buildings and hills) in path of the RF beam transmitted by the transmitter, may be blocking reception of the RF signal at the RF receiver device, and p. [0062]).
Regarding claim 38, Mehrabani discloses the network architecture of claim 32, wherein the at least one computerized premises device is configured to utilize at least two modes of operation, a first mode of the at least two modes comprises a mode wherein a first wireless interface of the at least one computerized premises device is used as a backhaul for the at least one computerized premises device (see Mehrabani, p. [0062], e.g., For example, consider “mode A” of operation, where no signal blocking object (or reflective object) may be present. In this case, the given RF repeater device (e.g. the first RF repeater device 104) is configured to select a wide beam pattern to radiate power over the wide beam to provide coverage to most users in its vicinity), and a second mode of the at least two modes comprises a mode wherein a second wireless interface of the at least one computerized premises device is used as an extension of the network coverage area to the at least one wireless receiver apparatus (see Mehrabani, p. [0062], e.g., In “mode B” of operation, the first RF repeater device 104 is further configured to identify the signal blocking object 302 in its vicinity and at a certain direction, and B) to reduce effective radiation power by avoiding unnecessary radiation of energy in directions that do not provide coverage to the one or more destination nodes, such as the first destination node 110).
Regarding claim 39, Mehrabani discloses the network architecture of claim 38, wherein the second wireless interface is configured to operate as at least a 5G mm Wave signal transmitter of at least a portion of first user plane (UP) data received via the first wireless interface, the first UP data associated with a user application then operative on the at least one wireless receiver apparatus (Mehrabani, p. [0052], e.g., a control channel for reconfiguring the topology of the RF repeater devices may utilize a subset of following options: A) in-band channel: where the same data plane may be used for exchanging commands between a network management engine and the RF repeater devices of the network of RF repeater devices; B) out of band channel (out of 5G communication band): where another link, such as LTE or Wi-Fi link may be used for exchanging commands between the network management engine and the RF repeater devices of the network of RF repeater devices (e.g. the first RF repeater device 104 and the second RF repeater device 106).
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 31 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mehrabani in view of Schultz et al (US 2013/0086633).
Regarding claim 31, Mehrabani does not expressly disclose the computerized premises wireless apparatus of claim 25, wherein the computerized premises wireless apparatus comprises a wireline modem apparatus, the wireline modem apparatus configured to backhaul at least the first wireless interface of the computerized premises wireless apparatus via a radio frequency (RF) distribution wireline network to a service provider core.
Schultz discloses the above recited limitations (see Schultz, Fig. 4, p. [0052], e.g., The wireline modems 427a and 427b are connected by communication links 439 and 443 to the data network 115 (FIG. 1). The wireless modem 441 is connected by a communication link 445 to the data network 115. The communications links 439, 443 and 445 may comprise any number of wireless and wireline connections connected by any number of hardware devices such as modems, repeaters and servers).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Schultz’s teachings into Mehrabani. The suggestion/motivation would have been to provide wireline modems in order to connect to any type of wireline network as suggested by Schultz.
Conclusion
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/MINH TRANG T NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2477
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