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 .
Claims 1-20 are subject under examination.
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.
Claim(s)16-18, 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Yan (US 2022/0390393)
Regarding claim 16, Yan teaches an energy-harvesting (EH)-capable device (See para 0145” The backscatter device), comprising:
a processing system configured to:
enable, based on detection of a first signal from a network entity, a service associated with the EH-capable device (See para 0090 “controller sends excitation signal configuration information and/or backscatter signal configuration information to the exciter and/or the receiver, and sends the backscatter signal configuration information to the backscatter device.”);
obtain enrichment information associated with the service (See para 0145” The backscatter device includes … energy collection and management…. The backscatter device may further be connected to a sensor or sensor data, so that the backscatter device can transmit data collected by the sensor. The data reflected by the backscatter device may be an identifier (for example, RFID or an EPC), or may be other data (for example, data such as temperature and humidity collected by the sensor”)[ backscatter device includes energy collection and obtain data such as temperature and humidity]; and
output a back-scattered signal comprising identification information associated with the EH-capable device and the enrichment information (see para 0064 “The data sent by the backscatter device may be collected temperature data, humidity data, or the like.. see para 0145 “The data reflected by the backscatter device may be an identifier (for example, RFID or an EPC”)
Regarding claim 17, Yan teaches collect, using a sensor at the EH-capable device, the enrichment information, wherein the enrichment information comprises sensor information, and wherein the sensor information comprises location information or environmental information. (see para 0145 “The backscatter device may further be connected to a sensor or sensor data, so that the backscatter device can transmit data collected by the sensor. The data reflected by the backscatter device may be an identifier (for example, RFID or an EPC), or may be other data (for example, data such as temperature and humidity collected by the sensor).”)
Regarding claim 18, Yan teaches wherein the first signal comprises an energy signal received from the network entity for energy harvesting (See para 0064 “After receiving the excitation signal, the backscatter device may modulate, to the excitation signal, data that needs to be sent, to obtain a backscatter signal”; see para 0145 “he backscatter device may further be connected to a sensor or sensor data, so that the backscatter device can transmit data collected by the sensor. The data reflected by the backscatter device may be an identifier (for example, RFID or an EPC), or may be other data (for example, data such as temperature and humidity collected by the sensor)”).
Regarding claim 20, Yan (US 2022/0390393) wherein the EH-capable device comprises a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag. (See para 0145 “The data reflected by the backscatter device may be an identifier (for example, RFID or an EPC”).
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.
6. 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.
7. Claim(s) 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yan (US 2022/0390393) in view of HERATH (US 20240146408 A1)
Regarding claim 19, Yan doesn’t teach the back-scattered signal is output using radio resources shared across a plurality of mobile network operators (MNOs) or dedicated radio resources associated with a first MNO of a plurality of MNOs.
HERATH teaches the back-scattered signal is output using radio resources shared across a plurality of mobile network operators (MNOs) or dedicated radio resources associated with a first MNO of a plurality of MNOs. (See para 0123 “backscatter devices are capable of generating a backscatter signal in desired frequency/time resource grid”; see para 0085 “. The carrier communication device 300 produces a carrier signal 306 which is received by the backscatter device 302. The backscatter device 302 uses the carrier signal 306 to modulate its own data and to generate and transmit a backscattered signal 308 for receipt by the backscatter receiver 304.”; see para 0086 “backscatter device can backscatter using an ambient RF signal such as a Wifi/LTE/NR/television (TV) signal”)
Thus it would have been obvious to a person with ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine the back-scattered signal is output using radio resources shared across a plurality of mobile network operators (MNOs) or dedicated radio resources associated with a first MNO of a plurality of MNOs in the system of Yan. The motivation is to improve efficiency (HERATH: see para 0120)
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-15 are allowed.
Conclusion
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/PAMIT KAUR/Examiner, Art Unit 2416