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 § 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 16-27 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.
Claims 16 and 22 recite the limitation "the in-phase" in line 7. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claims.
Also, the term “in-band” in claims is not an accurate term in the given scope of the claims. It should be changed to “in-phase” as “in-band” has completely different meaning.
The dependent claims are rejected based on their dependence on the rejected independent claims 1 and 22.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 16-27 would be allowable if rewritten or amended to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: the Examiner has not found any prior art that would render obvious the claim limitations directed to
“determining a first phase amount corresponding to a phase shift required to cause an amplitude of the in-phase signal to equal an amplitude of the quadrature signal;
phase-shifting the reflected radar signal by the first phase amount; and
amplifying the in-band signal and the quadrature signal after phase-shifting the reflected radar signal by the first phase amount.”
The closes references found are US 9285461 B2 and CN 101048673 A. Reference US 9285461 B2 teaches obtaining in-phase and quadrature components of signal and changing the phase of the quadrature signal by 90 degrees to obtain a circularly polarized signal, then amplifying the in-phase and quadrature signals by different amounts before transmitting them. It however does not teach “determining a first phase amount corresponding to a phase shift required to cause an amplitude of the in-phase signal to equal an amplitude of the quadrature signal; phase-shifting the reflected radar signal by the first phase amount; and amplifying the in-band signal and the quadrature signal after phase-shifting the reflected radar signal by the first phase amount.”
The reference CN 101048673 A teaches comparing in-phase and quadrature components of the received signals to avoid collision with other objects. However, the reference also does not teach the above-mentioned limitations.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HELENA SERAYDARYAN whose telephone number is (571)270-0706. The examiner can normally be reached on M-T, 7:30-5pm.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Resha Desai can be reached on (571)270-7792. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/HELENA H SERAYDARYAN/ Examiner, Art Unit 3648
/RESHA DESAI/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3648
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