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 .
Election/Restrictions
Claims 6-15 withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to nonelected group II, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 05/21/2026.
Applicant’s election without traverse of group I (claims 1-5) in the reply filed on 05/21/2026 is acknowledged.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements submitted on 03/15/2024, 10/22/2024 and 12/23/2025 have been considered by the Examiner and made of record in the application file.
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 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a) (1) as being anticipated by Applicant provide SHERSTOBITOV ALEXANDER IVANOVICH (WO 2022/182264 A1, hereinafter Sherstobitov).
Regarding claim 1, Sherstobitov discloses, a reconfigurable intelligent surface (see e.g., “a wireless signal reflector 400”, Fig. 4, page 9, line 34) comprising:
a plurality of unit cells arranged in a mesh form (see e.g., “…the wireless signal reflector 400 comprises multiple reflecting elements 402-1, 402-2, 402-3, ... , 402-n…The reflecting elements 402-1, 402-2, 402-3, ... , 402-n and the sensing elements 404-1, 404-2 are assumed to be arranged on the same surface of the wireless signal reflector 400”, Fig. 4, page 10, lines 3-7, and/or Figs. 5-6 for mesh form);
a beam steering module electrically connected to the plurality of unit cells (see e.g., “the control unit 406 controls the reflective properties of the reflecting elements…so that the reflecting elements 402-1, 402-2, 402-3, ... , 402-n reflect the wireless signal (i.e. its electromagnetic field) with a required directivity pattern”, Fig. 4, page 10, lines 28-31); and
at least one sensing module electrically connected to the plurality of unit cells (see e.g., “the wireless signal reflector 400 comprises multiple reflecting elements 402-1, 402-2, 402-3, ... , 402-n, two sensing elements 404-1, 404-2, and a control unit 406”, Fig. 4, page 10, lines 3-5), wherein the plurality of unit cells comprise:
a plurality of reflection unit cells configured to reflect at least one signal incident thereon in a direction set by the beam steering module (see e.g., “the control unit 406 controls the reflective properties of the reflecting elements 402-1, 402-2, 402-3, ... , 402-n based on the determined direction of arrival of the wireless 30 signal, so that the reflecting elements 402-1, 402-2, 402-3, ... , 402-n reflect the wireless signal (i.e. its electromagnetic field) with a required directivity pattern”, Fig. 4, page 10, lines 28-31); and
a plurality of sensing unit cells configured to obtain phase information of the at least one signal and transmit the phase information to the at least one sensing module (see e.g., “Each of the sensing elements 404-1, 404-2 receives the wireless signal and generates a sensing signal in response to the received wireless signal. The sensing signals are fed to the control unit 406 which uses them to determine a direction of arrival of the wireless signal. Said determination may be done by performing phase-difference measurements on the sensing signals”, Fig. 4, page 10, lines 24-28).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103(a) which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
(a) A patent may not be obtained though the invention is not identically disclosed or described as set forth in section 102 of this title, if the differences between the subject matter sought to be patented and the prior art are such that the subject matter as a whole would have been obvious at the time the invention was made to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which said subject matter pertains. Patentability shall not be negatived by the manner in which the invention was made.
The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied 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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 2-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Sherstobitov, in view of Applicant provide NPL, Hwang Myeonggin et al. (Wireless Channel-adaptive Sensor integrated reconfigurable intelligent Surface based on deep Neural Network, 2023 International workshop, IEEE, 15 May 2023, hereinafter Hwang).
Regarding claim 2, Sherstobitov fails to explicitly disclose, wherein each of the plurality of unit cells comprises: a first substrate; a second substrate facing the first substrate; and at least one via wall passing through at least a portion of the first substrate and the second substrate.
In the same field of endeavor, Hwang discloses, wherein each of the plurality of unit cells comprises: a first substrate (see e.g., Figs. 2a-c depicting substrate and/or “The difference between the reflecting and sensing unit cells lies within the substrate-integrated waveguide(SIW)…, section II, first paragraph; Examiner’s note: this will be a design choice);
a second substrate facing the first substrate (see e.g., Figs. 2a-c depicting substrate and/or “The difference between the reflecting and sensing unit cells lies within the substrate-integrated waveguide(SIW)…, section II, first paragraph; Examiner’s note: this will be a design choice); and
at least one via wall passing through at least a portion of the first substrate and the second substrate (see e.g., Figs. 2a-c depicting substrate and Wall and/or “The diameter of the via which bridges the top patch to the bottom ground and composes the via wall is 0.1 mm”, section II, first paragraph; Examiner’s note: this will be a design choice) .
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine teachings of Sherstobitov with Hwang, in order to use sensing information redirecting the RIS in accordance with the wireless channel condition without the external feedback (please see Hwang Abstract).
Regarding claim 3, Sherstobitov and Hwang combine disclose, wherein each of the plurality of unit cells further comprises at least one patch arranged over the second substrate ( see Hwang e.g., Figs. 2a-c depicting substrate and Wall and/or “The diameter of the via which bridges the top patch to the bottom ground and composes the via wall is 0.1 mm”, section II, first paragraph; Examiner’s note: this will be a design choice)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine teachings of Sherstobitov with Hwang, in order to use sensing information redirecting the RIS in accordance with the wireless channel condition without the external feedback (please see Hwang Abstract).
Regarding claim 4, Sherstobitov and Hwang combine disclose, wherein the at least one patch is configured to transmit the at least one signal to the at least one sensing module through a sensing line ( see Hwang e.g., Figs. 2a-c depicting substrate and Wall and/or “The sampling signal propagates along the via which connects the top layer patch to the ground and then propagates through the SIW”, section II, second paragraph; Examiner’s note: this will be a design choice)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine teachings of Sherstobitov with Hwang, in order to use sensing information redirecting the RIS in accordance with the wireless channel condition without the external feedback (please see Hwang Abstract).
Regarding claim 5, Sherstobitov and Hwang combine disclose, wherein each of the plurality of unit cells further comprises at least one varactor diode arranged over the at least one patch ( see Hwang e.g., Figs. 2a-c depicting substrate, patches, Varactor diodes and Wall and/or “The sampling signal is detected by applying 0V bias voltages to the varactor diodes…The capacitance of the varactor diodes changes in accordance with the applied bias voltage. This modulated capacitance results in different resonance frequencies and consequently provides different phase shifting”, section II, second paragraph; Examiner’s note: this will be a design choice)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine teachings of Sherstobitov with Hwang, in order to use sensing information redirecting the RIS in accordance with the wireless channel condition without the external feedback (please see Hwang Abstract).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to Applicant’s disclosure.
Alkhateeb et al. (US2021/0013619 A1) discloses LARGE INTELLIGENT SURFACE WITH SPARSE CHANNEL SENSORS.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to FARID SEYEDVOSOGHI whose telephone number is (571)272-9679. The examiner can normally be reached Mon - Fri 8:00-5:00.
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/FARID SEYEDVOSOGHI/ Examiner, Art Unit 2645
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