DETAILED ACTION
This action is in response to the initial filing filed on April 30, 2024 Claims 1-20 havebeen examined in this application.
Information Disclosure Statement
The Information Disclosure Statement (IDS) filed on 4/30/2024 has been acknowledged.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
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
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 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chang et al (US 2022/0296099 A1) in view of Harma et al (IEEE, 2007).
Regarding Claim 1, Chang teaches a frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW) radar with an identity recognition function, comprising [0031 for using FMCW, and 0033]:
a processing module, configured to demodulate a radar echo corresponding to a radar signal to generate a digital signal [0034 for demodulating the reflected (echo) signal];
and an operation module, coupled to the processing module and configured to [0038 for having FFT processing on the array]:
apply a range fast Fourier transform (FFT) process to the digital signal to obtain a plurality of peak frequencies [0034 for processing the signal and 0037 for using an FFT];
convert the peak frequencies into a plurality of delay times based on a linear frequency-modulated (LFM) slope [0032 for linear frequency chirp with 0035 and equation 2 for calculating time delay].
Chang fails to explicitly teach and calculate an identity code based on the delay times.
Harma has surface acoustic wave radio-frequency identification tags are encoded according to partial reflections of an interrogation signal (abstract) and teaches calculate an identity code based on the delay times [page 1239, left column, second paragraph].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the applicant’s invention for modifying the identity techniques, as disclosed by Chang, further including the code carrier calculations as taught by Harma for the purpose to the increase of the tag read range (Harma, page 1239, left column, second paragraph).
Regarding Claim 11, Chang teaches a method for decoding an identity code from a radar echo [0031 for using FMCW, and 0033],
performed by an operation device, and comprising [0034 for demodulating the reflected (echo) signal]:
obtaining a digital signal [0036];
applying a range FFT process to the digital signal to obtain a plurality of peak frequencies [0034 for processing the signal and 0037 for using an FFT];
converting the peak frequencies into a plurality of delay times based on an LFM slope [0032 for linear frequency chirp with 0035 and equation 2 for calculating time delay].
Chang fails to explicitly teach and calculating an identity code based on the delay times.
Harma has surface acoustic wave radio-frequency identification tags are encoded according to partial reflections of an interrogation signal (abstract) and teaches and calculating an identity code based on the delay times [page 1239, left column, second paragraph].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the applicant’s invention for modifying the identity techniques, as disclosed by Chang, further including the code carrier calculations as taught by Harma for the purpose to the increase of the tag read range (Harma, page 1239, left column, second paragraph).
Regarding Claim 2 and 12, Chang fails to explicitly teach the delay times comprise a first reference time, a second reference time, and a plurality of mark times, a first difference exists between each of the mark times and the first reference time, a second difference exists between the first reference time and the second reference time, and the identity code is calculated based on a ratio of each of the first differences to the second difference.
Harma has surface acoustic wave radio-frequency identification tags are encoded according to partial reflections of an interrogation signal (abstract) and teaches the delay times comprise a first reference time, a second reference time, and a plurality of mark times [page 1239, right column, first paragraph for having fixed positions (fixed times for calibration)],
a first difference exists between each of the mark times and the first reference time, a second difference exists between the first reference time and the second reference time [page 1240, right column, first two paragraphs for locating start and end calibrations and diving the time into slots],
and the identity code is calculated based on a ratio of each of the first differences to the second difference [page 1239, left column, second paragraph with page 1241, last paragraph to page 1242, left column first paragraph for performing linear calibration function].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the applicant’s invention for modifying the identity techniques, as disclosed by Chang, further including the code carrier calculations as taught by Harma for the purpose to extract weighted phase data (Harma, page 1242, left column, first paragraph).
Regarding Claim 3, Chang fails to explicitly teach the operation module is further configured to determine sensing information based on the second difference.
Harma has surface acoustic wave radio-frequency identification tags are encoded according to partial reflections of an interrogation signal (abstract) and teaches the operation module is further configured to determine sensing information based on the second difference [page 1240, left column, first paragraph for tags with time position encoding and different phases for 16 states].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the applicant’s invention for modifying the identity techniques, as disclosed by Chang, further including the code carrier calculations as taught by Harma for the purpose to the increase of the tag read range (Harma, page 1239, left column, second paragraph).
Regarding Claim 4 and 15, Chang teaches the applying a range FFT process to the digital signal comprises: selecting a first side signal in the digital signal based on a time separation point [0037-0038];
applying the range FFT process to the first side signal to obtain a first sideband signal [0032, and 0037-0038, 0052];
and obtaining the peak frequencies from the first sideband signal [0037-0038].
Regarding Claim 5 and 16, Chang teaches the operation module is further configured to: select a second side signal in the digital signal based on the time separation point [0037-0038 for frequency signals, intermediate frequency signal, and 0058 for performing FFT on multiple chirp pulse signals];
and apply the range FFT process and a Doppler FFT process to the second side signal to obtain vital sign information [0038].
Regarding Claim 6 and 17, Chang teaches the applying a range FFT process to the digital signal comprises: applying the range FFT process to the digital signal to obtain a conversion result [0037-0038 for processing signal as a 2-dimensional array];
selecting a first sideband signal in the conversion result based on a frequency separation point [0037-0039];
and obtaining the peak frequencies from the first sideband signal [0037-0038].
Regarding Claim 7 and 18, Chang teaches the operation module is further configured to: select a second sideband signal in the conversion result based on the frequency separation point [0037-0039];
and apply a Doppler FFT process to the second sideband signal to obtain vital sign information [0037-0038 with 0058].
Regarding Claim 8 and 19, Chang teaches the radar signal has different LFM parameters in a first time slot and a second time slot [0032 for linear frequency chirp with 0035 and equation 2 for calculating time delay, 0052].
Regarding Claim 9 and 20, Chang teaches the operation module is further configured to: select a first part of the digital signal corresponding to the first time slot based on a time separation point or a frequency separation point, and calculate the identity code accordingly [0057-0058];
and select a second part of the digital signal corresponding to the second time slot based on the time separation point or the frequency separation point, and calculate vital sign information accordingly [0052-0053, with 0059].
Regarding Claim 10, Chang teaches: a signal generator, configured to generate an LFM radar signal [0032 for linear frequency chirp with 0035 and equation 2 for calculating time delay];
a transmission module, coupled to the signal generator and configured to transmit the radar signal to a sensor [0032, 0034];
and a receiving module, coupled to the transmission module and configured to receive the radar echo corresponding to the radar signal from the sensor [0034].
Chang fails to explicitly teach wherein the sensor is a surface acoustic wave (SAW) sensor.
Harma has surface acoustic wave radio-frequency identification tags are encoded according to partial reflections of an interrogation signal (abstract) and teaches wherein the sensor is a surface acoustic wave (SAW) sensor [page 1239, left column, 4th paragraph, page 1241, left column, first paragraph].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the applicant’s invention for modifying the identity techniques, as disclosed by Chang, further including the code carrier calculations as taught by Harma for the purpose to the increase of the tag read range (Harma, page 1239, left column, second paragraph).
Regarding Claim 13, Chang teaches determining sensing information of a sensor based on the second difference, wherein the radar echo comes from the sensor [0034].
Regarding Claim 14, Chang teaches the digital signal is generated by a FMCW radar through demodulation after receiving the radar echo [0030-0032],
the radar echo corresponds to an LFM radar signal [0032].
Chang fails to explicitly teach and the sensor is a SAW sensor.
Harma has surface acoustic wave radio-frequency identification tags are encoded according to partial reflections of an interrogation signal (abstract) and teaches and the sensor is a SAW sensor [page 1239, left column, 4th paragraph, page 1241, left column, first paragraph].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the applicant’s invention for modifying the identity techniques, as disclosed by Chang, further including the code carrier calculations as taught by Harma for the purpose to the increase of the tag read range (Harma, page 1239, left column, second paragraph).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Hines et al (US 2013/0181573 A1) has a surface-launched acoustic wave sensor tag system for remotely sensing and/or providing identification information using sets of surface acoustic wave sensor tag.
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/SAMARINA MAKHDOOM/
Examiner, Art Unit 3648