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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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.
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.
Claim(s) 1 and 4-17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over “A reconfigurable intelligent surface with integrated sensing capability”, in Sci Rep 11, 20737, 20 October 2021, by IDBAN ALAMZADEH et al. (hereinafter ALAMZADEH) in view of CN 113078476 A (see attached translation for the following citation) by QIANG CHENG et al. (hereinafter CHENG).
Regarding claim 1, ALAMZADEH teaches: A system for detecting angle of arrival (
Author ALAMZADEH teaches a system wherein “we demonstrate the ability to use the sampled incident wave to detect its angle of arrival”, p. 1, Abstract. However, claims 1 and 4 through 8 fail to give life to detection of any angle.), comprising:
an array of metamaterial elements (array of meta-elements, p. 4, 2nd para.) that share a dielectric substrate (dielectric substrate of the meta-atom, p. 3, 1st para.), wherein each of the metamaterial elements (metasurface, p. 2, 4th para.) includes a switchable component (varactor diode, p. 2, 4th para.);
an opening (annular slot, p. 2, 4th para.) in the ground layer (ground plane, p. 2, 4th para.) configured to couple an incident wave signal (allows for coupling of the incident wave, p. 2, 4th para.); and
a waveguide (substrate integrated waveguides (hereinafter SIWs), p. 3, 2nd para.) configured to guide the coupled signal (confine electromagnetic waves, p. 3, 2nd para.) to a receiving circuit (RF chains, p. 2, 1st para.) including an intensity meter (the received signal from a subset of the waveguides, p. 5, 3rd para., fig. 3-5).
ALAMZADEH further teaches a reconfigurable intelligent surface (hereinafter RIS) with integrated sensing capability (p. 1, Title).
By modifying the tunable meta-atoms constituting the metasurface, we couple small portions of the incident wave to an array of sensing waveguides (p. 1, Abstract).
We modify the reconfigurable meta-atoms constituting the metasurface such that a portion of the incident wave couples to a waveguide where it can be sampled by a receiving circuitry. Using the sampled signal, one can deduce necessary information about the propagation environment. As a demonstrative example of the proposed RIS design and functionality, we show that we can estimate the angle of arrival (hereinafter AoA) of an incident signal. The scattering of the incident wave inside the metasurface and the coupling between elements effectively multiplexes the field incident on each element. Consequently, the received signals are obtained via a form of hybrid analog/digital processing, where the field received by each Radio Frequency (hereinafter RF) chain has information about the incident wave on all elements. By reconfiguring the metasurface aperture randomly, we can thus generate diverse sets of measurements from the incident waves, even when using few RF chains (p. 2, 1st para.).
The hardware aspect of such hybrid RISs and the design considerations of a metasurface with integrated sensing capabilities (p. 2, 2nd para.).
To address each meta-atom independently, as required for forming desired reflection patterns, the via of the mushroom structure extends through the bottom conductive plate (similar to the structure in50). An annular slot separates the via from the ground plane beneath the substrate. This annular slot allows for coupling of the incident wave to another layer (p. 2, 4th para.).
The phase differences measured at the SIWs for different incident angles (AoAs) (p. 4, 2nd para.).
To produce the desired reconfigurable reflection, we realize a resonance frequency in the band of operation and change it by altering the varactor capacitance. To control the amount of coupling, we can adjust the diameter of the annular slot and the characteristic dimensions of the coupling waveguides. Here, we select SIWs for guiding the sampled signal (p.3, 2nd para.).
We thus define our estimation accuracy, n, in a binary fashion. The estimation is considered to be accurate and we assign n = 1. If the estimated AoA is out of the resolution around the incident AoA, we consider that a failure and assign n = 0 (pp. 4-5, 5th and 1st paras.).
It is observed that we can recover the AoA within the resolution of our dictionary, thereby verifying the proposed design and operation. It is worth emphasizing that the angular selectivity of this configuration is a function of various factors, including noise, retrieval algorithm, incident beam profile, resolution of the sensing matrix, relative direction of the incident beam to the norm and/or to the angles in sensing matrix, the overall size of the RIS, and the number of sampling SIWs (p. 5, 1st para., fig. 3c).
We first gradually decreased the number of uniformly spaced sampling RF chains and calculated the AoA estimation accuracy as a function of signal-to-noise ratio (hereinafter SNR) (p. 5, 2nd para., fig. 4-5).
A multiplexing effect where the field sampled at each SIW carries information about the field incident on all elements. The random multiplexing of information via a metasurface was used to recover a (sparse) scene information using measurements from few receivers. To implement random multiplexing of information, we first examine non-uniform SIW distributions as we decreased the number of waveguides. Specifically, we slightly perturbed the uniform sampling distributions used in Fig. 4 (p. 5, 3rd para.).
We randomize the effective capacitances loading the meta-atoms (referred to as masks for brevity) to alter the random multiplexing inside the substrate. Varactor diodes can be tuned at a much faster rate than typical movements in a propagation environment (p. 6, 1st para.).
We can utilize them to multiplex the information from the wave incident on each meta-atom and reduce the number of sampling circuitry (i.e., receiving RF chains). In other words, when selecting elements for an RIS with integrated sensing capabilities, one needs to balance the trade-offs in beamforming capabilities as well as sampling circuitry complexity (p. 8, 1st para.).
The proposed work only examined the case of single polarized waves (p. 8, 2nd para.).
The proposed hybrid metasurface with integrated reflecting/sensing capabilities can find applications in RIS-empowered communication systems, wireless power transfer, and smart sensors (p. 8, Conclusion).
ALAMZADEH does not explicitly teach an array of metamaterial elements that share a dielectric substrate and a metallic ground layer; and a waveguide below the ground layer configured to guide the coupled signal to a receiving circuit including an intensity or power meter.
However, CHENG teaches the waveguide feed is a broadband double-ridged waveguide horn located below the center of the metallic ground (¶ 0006).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the teaching of CHENG to include the metallic ground layer and the location where the waveguide is with the circuit of the art of ALAMZADEH with the benefit of shielding the waveguide.
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 the teachings of ALAMZADEH and CHENG to obtain the invention:
an array of metamaterial elements (ALAMZADEH: array of meta-elements, p. 4, 2nd para.) that share a dielectric substrate (ALAMZADEH: dielectric substrate of the meta-atom, p. 3, 1st para.) and a metallic ground layer (CHENG: metallic ground ¶ 0006); and a waveguide (ALAMZADEH: SIW, p. 3, 2nd para.) below the ground layer (CHENG: below the center of the metallic ground ¶ 0006) configured to guide the coupled signal (ALAMZADEH: confine electromagnetic waves, p. 3, 2nd para.) to a receiving circuit (ALAMZADEH: RF chains, p. 2, 1st para.) including an intensity meter (ALAMZADEH: the received signal from a subset of the waveguides, p. 5, 3rd para., fig. 3-5).
Regarding claim 4, ALAMZADEH and CHENG make obvious the system of claim 1, wherein the system is configured as a reconfigurable intelligent surface (ALAMZADEH: RIS, p. 1, Title).
Regarding claim 5, ALAMZADEH and CHENG make obvious the system of claim 1, wherein the switchable component (ALAMZADEH: varactor diode, p. 2, 4th para.) is configured to be addressed independently and configured to change (ALAMZADEH: tuned, p. 6, 1st para.) its effective response (ALAMZADEH: at a much faster rate than typical movements in a propagation environment, p. 6, 1st para.).
Regarding claim 6, ALAMZADEH and CHENG make obvious the system of claim 1, wherein the waveguide (ALAMZADEH: waveguides, p. 3, 2nd para.) comprises a substrate integrated waveguide (ALAMZADEH: SIW, p. 3, 2nd para.).
Regarding claim 7, ALAMZADEH and CHENG make obvious the system of claim 1, wherein the switchable components comprise at least one of varactor diodes (ALAMZADEH: varactor diode, p. 2, 4th para.).
Regarding claim 8, ALAMZADEH and CHENG make obvious the system of claim 1, wherein the system is configured to operate over a single frequency (ALAMZADEH: single polarized waves, p. 8, 2nd para.).
Regarding claim 9, ALAMZADEH and CHENG make obvious a method for detecting angle of arrival (ALAMZADEH: the ability to use the sampled incident wave to detect its angle of arrival, p. 1, Abstract), comprising:
providing the system of claim 1;
coupling an incident wave signal (ALAMZADEH: allows for coupling of the incident wave, p. 2, 4th para.) to the shared substrate (ALAMZADEH: dielectric substrate of the meta-atom, p. 3, 1st para.);
guiding the coupled signal (ALAMZADEH: guiding the sampled signal, p.3, 2nd para.) from the shared substrate (ALAMZADEH: dielectric substrate of the meta-atom, p. 3, 1st para.) to the receiving circuit (ALAMZADEH: RF chains, p. 2, 1st para.) via the waveguide (ALAMZADEH: SIW, p.3, 2nd para.);
measuring the coupled signal (ALAMZADEH: measurements from the incident waves, p. 2, 1st para) via the power meter of the receiving circuit (ALAMZADEH: RF chains, p. 2, 1st para.); and
calculating an angle of arrival (ALAMZADEH: estimate the AoA, p. 2, 1st para.) based on the measured power (ALAMZADEH: calculated the AoA estimation accuracy as a function of SNR, p. 5, 2nd para., fig. 4-5).
Regarding claim 10, ALAMZADEH and CHENG make obvious the method of claim 9, wherein the incident wave is coupled (ALAMZADEH: allows for coupling of the incident wave, p. 2, 4th para.) from the shared substrate (ALAMZADEH: substrate, p. 2, 4th para.) via an opening (ALAMZADEH: annular slot, p. 2, 4th para.) inside the ground layer (ALAMZADEH: ground plane, p. 2, 4th para.) to the waveguide (ALAMZADEH: via, p. 2, 4th para.).
Regarding claim 11, ALAMZADEH and CHENG make obvious the method of claim 9, further comprising addressing the metamaterial elements of the array to exhibit a random response (ALAMZADEH: By reconfiguring the metasurface aperture randomly, we can thus generate diverse sets of measurements from the incident waves, p. 2, 1st para.).
Regarding claim 12, ALAMZADEH and CHENG make obvious the method of claim 9, wherein the coupled signal (ALAMZADEH electromagnetic waves, p. 3, 2nd para.) comprises a randomly multiplexed version of the incident signal (ALAMZADEH: The random multiplexing of information via a metasurface was used to recover a (sparse) scene information using measurements from few receivers, p. 5, 3rd para.).
Regarding claim 13, ALAMZADEH and CHENG make obvious the method of claim 9, further comprising applying one or more multiplexing weights (ALAMZADEH: altering the varactor capacitance, p.3, 2nd para.) to the array of metamaterial elements (ALAMZADEH: array of meta-elements, p. 4, 2nd para.).
Regarding claim 14, ALAMZADEH and CHENG make obvious the method of claim 13, wherein the one or more multiplexing weights (ALAMZADEH: altering the varactor capacitance, p.3, 2nd para.) are applied via setting the switchable components (ALAMZADEH: varactor diode, p. 2, 4th para.) randomly.
Regarding claim 15, ALAMZADEH and CHENG make obvious the method of claim 13, wherein a multiplexing weight comprises a mask (ALAMZADEH: We randomize the effective capacitances loading the meta-atoms (referred to as masks for brevity) to alter the random multiplexing inside the substrate, p. 6, 1st para.).
Regarding claim 16, ALAMZADEH and CHENG make obvious the method of claim 15, wherein the mask (ALAMZADEH: masks, p. 6, 1st para.) comprises a binary mask (ALAMZADEH: n, pp. 4-5, 5th and 1st paras.) configured to switch each switchable element (ALAMZADEH: varactor diode, p. 2, 4th para.) to one of two different capacitive states (ALAMZADEH: n = 1/n = 0, pp. 4-5, 5th and 1st paras.).
Regarding claim 17, ALAMZADEH and CHENG make obvious the method of claim 9, wherein a plurality of measurements of the coupled signal are performed before any substantial change to the environment occurs (ALAMZADEH: The phase differences measured at the SIWs for different incident angles (AoAs), p. 4, 2nd para.).
Claim(s) 2 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over ALAMZADEH in view of CHENG and in further view of US 20170317726 by RAMY MEDHAT ABDALLAH et al. (hereinafter ABDALLAH).
Regarding claim 2, ALAMZADEH and CHENG make obvious the system of claim 1, the array of metamaterial elements (ALAMZADEH: array of meta-elements, p. 4, 2nd para.); receiving a measured power (ALAMZADEH: portion of the incident wave, p. 2, 1st para.) of the coupled signal (ALAMZADEH: confine electromagnetic waves, p. 3, 2nd para.) from the receiving circuit (ALAMZADEH: RF chains, p. 2, 1st para.); and calculating an angle of arrival (ALAMZADEH: estimate the AoA, p. 2, 1st para.) based on the measured power (ALAMZADEH: calculated the AoA estimation accuracy as a function of SNR, p. 5, 2nd para., fig. 4-5).
ALAMZADEH and CHENG do not explicitly individually teach, or make obvious in combination, further comprising a computing system communicatively connected to the receiving circuit and the array of metamaterial elements, comprising a processor and a non-transitory computer-readable medium with instructions stored thereon, which when executed by the processor, perform steps comprising: receiving a measured intensity or power of the coupled signal from the receiving circuit; and calculating an angle of arrival based on the measured intensity or power.
However, ABDALLAH teaches the enhancements described in the presented technology can be readily implemented within various wireless system technologies and protocols (standards). It should also be appreciated that wireless radio nodes are preferably implemented to include one or more computer processor devices (e.g., CPU, microprocessor, microcontroller, computer enabled ASIC, etc.) and associated memory storing instructions (e.g., RAM, DRAM, NVRAM, FLASH, computer readable media, etc.) whereby programming (instructions) stored in the memory are executed on the processor to perform the steps of the various process (¶ 0146).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the teaching of ABDALLAH to include the hardware with the circuit and the instructions of the combined art of ALAMZADEH and CHENG with the benefit of executing the instructions on a computer system.
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 the teachings of ALAMZADEH, CHENG and ABDALLAH to obtain the invention:
further comprising a computing system (ABDALLAH: system ¶ 0146) communicatively connected to the receiving circuit (ALAMZADEH: RF chains, p. 2, 1st para.) and the array of metamaterial elements (ALAMZADEH: array of meta-elements, p. 4, 2nd para.), comprising a processor (ABDALLAH: processor ¶ 0146) and a non-transitory computer-readable medium with instructions stored thereon (ABDALLAH: memory storing instructions ¶ 0146), which when executed by the processor (ABDALLAH: processor ¶ 0146), perform steps (ABDALLAH: perform the steps ¶ 0146) comprising: receiving a measured power (ALAMZADEH: portion of the incident wave, p. 2, 1st para.) of the coupled signal (ALAMZADEH: confine electromagnetic waves, p. 3, 2nd para.) from the receiving circuit (ALAMZADEH: RF chains, p. 2, 1st para.); and calculating an angle of arrival (ALAMZADEH: estimate the AoA, p. 2, 1st para.) based on the measured power (ALAMZADEH: calculated the AoA estimation accuracy as a function of SNR, p. 5, 2nd para., fig. 4-5).
Claim(s) 3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over ALAMZADEH in view of CHENG in view of ABDALLAH and in further view of US 20240004017 by ABDALLAH DHOUIBI et al. (hereinafter DHOUIBI).
Regarding claim 3, ALAMZADEH, CHENG and ABDALLAH make obvious the system of claim 2, the computing system (ABDALLAH: system ¶ 0146), and wherein the processor (ABDALLAH: processor ¶ 0146) is configured to perform steps (ABDALLAH: perform the steps ¶ 0146) stored on the computer-readable medium (ABDALLAH: memory storing instructions ¶ 0146) comprising addressing (ALAMZADEH: modifying, p. 1, Abstract) the array of metamaterial elements (ALAMZADEH: array of meta-elements, p. 4, 2nd para.).
ALAMZADEH, CHENG and ABDALLAH do not explicitly individually teach, or make obvious in combination, wherein the computing system is further communicatively connected to the array of metamaterial or resonant elements.
However, DHOUIBI teaches the antenna structure may be provided in or integrated into any processor-based device (¶ 0037).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the teaching of DHOUIBI to include the hardware with the circuit and the instructions of the combined art of ALAMZADEH, CHENG and ABDALLAH with the benefit of providing communication between elements.
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 the teachings of ALAMZADEH, CHENG, ABDALLAH and DHOUIBI to obtain the invention:
wherein the computing system (DHOUIBI: processor-based device ¶ 0037) is further communicatively connected (DHOUIBI: provided in or integrated ¶ 0037) to the array of metamaterial elements (ALAMZADEH: array of meta-elements, p. 4, 2nd para.).
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 18-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by ALAMZADEH.
Regarding claim 18, ALAMZADEH teaches: A method to detect angle of arrival (the ability to use the sampled incident wave to detect its angle of arrival, p. 1, Abstract) via intensity only data (random multiplexing of information, p. 5, 3rd para.), comprising:
applying a randomized mask (random masks, p. 6, 2nd para.) to a reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS, p. 1, Title);
receiving an incident wave signal (the received signal from a subset of the waveguides, p. 5, 3rd para.) on the reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS, p. 1, Title), wherein the received signal is weighted based on the applied randomized mask (varactor diodes can be tuned, p. 6, 1st para.);
measuring an intensity of the weighted signal (Sparse sampling, p. 5, 3rd para.); and
calculating an angle of arrival based on the measured intensity (the efficacy of the sparse sampling, p. 6, 3rd para.).
Regarding claim 19, ALAMZADEH teaches: The method of claim 18, wherein the randomized mask (random masks, p. 6, 2nd para.) is applied to the reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS, p. 1, Title) via setting a plurality of switchable components (varactor diode, p. 6, 1st para.) of the reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS, p. 1, Title).
Regarding claim 20, ALAMZADEH teaches: The method of claim 19, wherein the randomized mask (random masks, p. 6, 2nd para.) comprises a binary mask (n, pp. 4-5, 5th and 1st paras.) where each switchable element (varactor diode, p. 2, 4th para.) is set to one of two different capacitive states (n = 1/n = 0, pp. 4-5, 5th and 1st paras.).
Conclusion
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/JOSE A. MIRANDA GONZALEZ/ Examiner, Art Unit 2844
/REGIS J BETSCH/ SPE, Art Unit 2844