DETAILED ACTION
Status of Claims
Claims 1-14 are currently pending and have been examined in this application. This NON-FINAL communication is the first action on the merits.
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claims
The claims are objected to because of the following informalities:
[Claims 12-14] Typographical error, “The method of Claim 8;”.
Appropriate correction is required.
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.
Claims 1-2 are 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 1 recites the limitation “the first ECM component”. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. Further limitations reference “the ECM component” and the examiner has interpreted these limiting terms to be the same.
Claim 2, 9 recites “to eliminate simultaneously scanning”. It is unclear how “instructions control the ECM component to generate the jamming signal that jams the first signal and monitors the first signal via the RW component” results in an elimination of simultaneous scanning as claimed. The examiner has interpreted the limitation without “to eliminate simultaneously scanning by the ECM component and the RW component”.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(d):
(d) REFERENCE IN DEPENDENT FORMS.—Subject to subsection (e), a claim in dependent form shall contain a reference to a claim previously set forth and then specify a further limitation of the subject matter claimed. A claim in dependent form shall be construed to incorporate by reference all the limitations of the claim to which it refers.
The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, fourth paragraph:
Subject to the following paragraph [i.e., the fifth paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112], a claim in dependent form shall contain a reference to a claim previously set forth and then specify a further limitation of the subject matter claimed. A claim in dependent form shall be construed to incorporate by reference all the limitations of the claim to which it refers.
Claims 4, 11-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(d) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, 4th paragraph, as being of improper dependent form for failing to further limit the subject matter of the claim upon which it depends, or for failing to include all the limitations of the claim upon which it depends. Claims 4, 11 fails to include the “look-through sequence” of Claims 3, 10 and Claims 4, 11 are dependent on Claims 3, 10 respectively. Claim 12 fails further limit the subject matter of Claim 8 which “the instructions cause the jamming signal to be directed toward the incoming first signal” which is a narrower limitation than “effecting a jamming signal to be generated by the ECM component”. Applicant may cancel the claim(s), amend the claim(s) to place the claim(s) in proper dependent form, rewrite the claim(s) in independent form, or present a sufficient showing that the dependent claim(s) complies with the statutory requirements.
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.
Claims 1-6, 8-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Carlson (US 4876545) in view of Sherman (US 20100289688).
Regarding Claim 1, Carlson teaches the following limitations:
An electronic warfare (EW) system, the EW system comprising: (Carlson - [col. 2 ln. 50 – col. 3 ln. 6] In an electronic countermeasures (ECM) system of the type employing a jamming apparatus including a transmitter portion for transmitting jamming signals in order to deceive a foreign transmitter/receiving apparatus and including a warning receiver means operative to receive foreign or threat transmissions to determine the nature of such transmissions and to inform said jamming apparatus of the nature of such threat transmissions, with said warning receiver means capable of operating according to different modes in order to determine the nature of said foreign transmissions, the combination therewith of apparatus for providing selective blanking to said jamming apparatus according to the modes of operation of said receiver means to allow said receiver means and said jamming means to operate without interference between the same, comprising interface means coupled between said jamming apparatus and said receiver means and adapted to exchange information between said jamming apparatus and said receiver means to generate optimum blanking parameter information between said jamming apparatus and said receiver means according to the mode of operation of said receiver means whereby any one of said modes can be accommodated by said ECM system according to said information exchanged.)
an electronic countermeasure (ECM) component to generate a jamming signal, (Carlson - [col. 2 ln. 50 – col. 3 ln. 6])
wherein the first ECM component is adapted to be installed on a platform; (Carlson - [col. 3 ln. 43–49] The jammer 10 is indicated as an ASPJ which stands for aircraft self-protection jammer. The RWR or radar warning receiver operates in conjunction with the jammer 10. As seen from FIG. 1, in modern military aircraft selfprotection equipment is normally found in the installation suite and includes the radar warning receiver RWR 20 and the radar jammer 10.)
a first bandwidth at which the ECM component operates; (Carlson – [Fig. 8] Data unit B-3)
a radar warning (RW) component to discriminate characteristics of an incoming first signal from a first emitter, (Carlson - [col. 2 ln. 50 – col. 3 ln. 6])
wherein the RW component is adapted to be installed on the platform and spaced from the ECM component; and (Carlson – [Fig. 2], [col. 4 ln. 49–53] Referring to FIG. 2, there is shown a more detailed block diagram indicating an interface 30 which is positioned between the RWR 20 and the ASPJ or jamming unit 10.)
a processor that executes instructions to integrate a blanking technique for the RW component and the ECM component to interoperate the RW component and the ECM component to cause the RW component to collect data at the same time as the ECM component generates the jamming signal. (Carlson - [col. 2 ln. 50 – col. 3 ln. 6], [col. 4 ln. 58 – col. 5 ln. 12] The RWR 20 includes the analyzer 26 and the control and display module 27. The ASPJ 10 or jammer is shown in greater detail. As one can ascertain from FIG. 2, the ASPJ 10 includes a receiving portion 31 for receiving threat signals and a transmitting portion 32 which is coupled to antenna 12 for transmitting jamming signals. Both the receiver 31 and the transmitter 32 are coupled to a processor 24 which processor performs the above-noted analysis and also contains suitable programs for generating different jamming formats according to the type of threat detected by the system. As indicated above, located between the processor 24 of the ASPJ 10 and the analyzer 26 of the RWR 20 is an interface module designated as module 30. The function of module 30 as will be explained is to operate as an interface between the ASPJ and different RWR's to enable the different RWR's to interface with the ASPJ unit and to provide the proper blanking parameters between the two systems. As seen in FIG. 2, there is an EW MUX bus which essentially is a serial data bus and is used to exchange threat information between the two modules and to set up the blanking mechanism parameters between the ASPJ 10 and the RWR 20. Carlson does not explicitly teach “RW component to collect data at the same time as the ECM component generates the jamming signal”.)
Carlson does not explicitly teach the following limitations, however Sherman, in the same field of endeavor, teaches:
RW component to collect data at the same time as the ECM component generates the jamming signal (Sherman – [0048] The radio 50 may transmit and receive communication signals in a normal manner as long as the level of any residual jamming signal remains below a determined level. In the case of a "friendly" jammer, a warning signal may be transmitted to identify those times when friendly jamming signals are scheduled to start and to stop, followed by a training sequence to enable the jammer detection stage 100 to estimate the channel condition more accurately. Thus, the radios 50 can synchronize their operation to cancel friendly jamming signals when such signals are present, and suppress their self generated cancellation signals to avoid self saturation when friendly jammers are not operating.)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the blanking intervals of Carlson with the training sequence of Sherman in order to transmit and receive communication signals in a normal manner (Sherman – [0048]).
Regarding Claim 2, Carlson further teaches:
wherein the instructions control the ECM component to generate the jamming signal that jams the first signal and monitors the first signal via the RW component to eliminate simultaneously scanning by the ECM component and the RW component. (Carlson - [col. 2 ln. 50 – col. 3 ln. 6], [col. 4 ln. 58 – col. 5 ln. 12])
Regarding Claim 3, Carlson further teaches:
wherein the blanking technique includes look-through sequences, and the instructions control and integrate the look-through sequences to minimize a total ECM component blanking timeline. (Carlson - [col. 8 ln. 41–44] This capability allows a reduction of look-through blanking for those responses identified as priority responses for which the percent of ECM pulses blanked must be kept to an absolute minimum.)
Regarding Claims 4, 11 Carlson further teaches:
wherein the instructions control the RW component to maintain a track on the first emitter without performing a look-through sequence. (Carlson - [col. 7 ln. 39–45] For the track threats presort flags (CP tags) are provided to allow the RWR to rapidly identify these signals. The track/non-track indication of the jamming response is made available to the RWR via the jamming assignment messages which are provided by the ASPJ over the EW MUX bus. These messages as indicated are defined in FIG. 8.)
Regarding Claim 5, Carlson further teaches:
further comprising: an adaptive filter for the RW component to filter noise created by the jamming signal. (Carlson - [col. 8 ln. 60–66] These flags indicate to the first RWR jamming interference which requires special processing to filter out. When these priority threats also need to be blanked to allow the second RWR to obtain jam-free data samples or data updates, a different blanking code is selected which blanks all responses and provides at the same time the CP tags as flags for the priority responses. Carlson does not explicitly teach “an adaptive filter”.)
Carlson does not explicitly teach the following limitations, however Sherman, in the same field of endeavor, teaches:
adaptive filter (Sherman – [0045] The channel model stage 104 produces a jammer cancellation signal in accordance with the jamming signal waveform supplied by the jammer model stage 102, and the channel estimate provided by the jammer detection stage 100. The channel model stage 104 may take the form of, for example, an adaptive filter constructed in a known manner to respond to the channel estimate provided by the jammer detection stage 100, wherein the output of the jammer model stage 102 is applied to an input of the filter. Such an approach to channel estimation and the construction of a filter to mimic the channel is well known. For example, if the channel estimates are in the form of coefficients for an adaptive FIR filter, such a filter can be used to model the impact of the channel on the jamming signal.)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the blanking intervals of Carlson with the adaptive filter of Sherman in order to produce a jammer cancellation signal (Sherman – [0045]).
Regarding Claim 6, 13, Carlson further teaches:
wherein the blanking technique includes an adaptive filter. (Carlson - [col. 8 ln. 60–66] Carlson does not explicitly teach “an adaptive filter”.)
Carlson does not explicitly teach the following limitations, however Sherman, in the same field of endeavor, teaches:
adaptive filter (Sherman – [0045])
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the blanking intervals of Carlson with the adaptive filter of Sherman in order to produce a jammer cancellation signal (Sherman – [0045]).
Regarding Claim 8, Carlson teaches the following limitations:
providing an electronic countermeasure (ECM) component of an electronic warfare (EW) system, (Carlson - [col. 2 ln. 50 – col. 3 ln. 6])
wherein the ECM component generates a jamming signal, (Carlson - [col. 2 ln. 50 – col. 3 ln. 6])
wherein the ECM component is adapted to be installed on the platform; (Carlson - [col. 3 ln. 43–49]
providing a radar warning (RW) component of the electronic warfare (EW) system, wherein the RW component discriminates characteristics of an incoming first signal emitted from a first emitter, (Carlson - [col. 2 ln. 50 – col. 3 ln. 6])
wherein the RW component is adapted to be installed on the platform and spaced from the ECM component; and (Carlson – [Fig. 2], [col. 4 ln. 49–53])
providing a processor that executes instructions to integrate a blanking technique for the RW component and the ECM component to interoperate to thereby cause the RW component to collect data at the same time as the ECM component generates the jamming signal, (Carlson - [col. 2 ln. 50 – col. 3 ln. 6], [col. 4 ln. 58 – col. 5 ln. 12])
wherein the instructions cause the jamming signal to be directed toward the incoming first signal. (Carlson - [col. 4 ln. 58 – col. 5 ln. 12], [col. 2 ln. 50 – col. 3 ln. 6] Such devices exist on various military aircraft and, as will be described subsequently, operate to provide jamming signals to enemy radar installations in order to confuse such systems and in order to circumvent the firing of missiles and various other devices which are capable of destroying the aircraft.)
Carlson does not explicitly teach the following limitations, however Sherman, in the same field of endeavor, teaches:
A method comprising: (Sherman – [0042] Methods of synchronizing with the jamming signal may be the same or similar to known methods used for synchronizing with interfering communications signals.)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the blanking intervals of Carlson with the methods of Sherman in order to transmit and receive communication signals in a normal manner (Sherman – [0048]).
RW component to collect data at the same time as the ECM component generates the jamming signal (Sherman – [0048])
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the blanking intervals of Carlson with the training sequence of Sherman in order to transmit and receive communication signals in a normal manner (Sherman – [0048]).
Regarding Claim 9, Carlson further teaches:
further comprising: effecting the instructions to control the ECM component to generate the jamming signal that jams the first signal while being tracked by the RW component; and effecting the instructions to control the RW component to monitor the first signal to eliminate simultaneously scanning by the ECM component and the RW component. (Carlson - [col. 2 ln. 50 – col. 3 ln. 6], [col. 4 ln. 58 – col. 5 ln. 12])
Regarding Claim 10, Carlson further teaches:
further comprising: effecting the instructions to control and to integrate look-through sequences of the blanking technique to enable the RW component and ECM component to satisfy a collection need and minimize a total ECM component blanking timeline. (Carlson - [col. 2 ln. 50 – col. 3 ln. 6], [col. 4 ln. 58 – col. 5 ln. 12], [col. 8 ln. 41–44])
Regarding Claim 12, Carlson further teaches:
further comprising: effecting a jamming signal to be generated by the ECM component. (Carlson - [col. 2 ln. 50 – col. 3 ln. 6])
Claims 7, 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Carlson (US 4876545) in view of Sherman (US 20100289688), and further in view of Senio (US 6476755).
Regarding Claim 7, 14, Carlson does not explicitly teach the following limitations, however Senio, in the same field of endeavor, teaches:
wherein the blanking technique includes time division multiplexing. (Senio – [Abstract] The time division multiplexing alternately enables the communications receiver and a jamming transmitter at a frequency higher than the Nyquist rate of the threat signal being received to effectively continuously receive enemy transmissions while preventing reception of the jamming signals from the associated jammer transmitter.)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the blanking intervals of Carlson with the time division multiplexing of Senio in order to continuously receive enemy transmissions while preventing reception of the jamming signals from the associated jammer transmitter (Senio – [Abstract]).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's
disclosure or directed to the state of art is listed on the enclosed PTO-892.
The following is a brief description for relevant prior art that was cited but not applied:
Velazquez (US 20130016798) describes a signal detection algorithm that uses techniques such as statistical, spectral, and wavelet analysis to identify the location, bandwidth, level, and modulation type of signals of interest and jammer/interference signals.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BRANDON JAMES HENSON whose telephone number is (703)756-1841. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9:00 am - 5:00 pm.
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, Robert Hodge can be reached at 571-272-2097. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/BRANDON JAMES HENSON/Examiner, Art Unit 3645
/ROBERT W HODGE/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3645