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.
Claim(s) 1- is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over JP 2014147060A (“Choi” or “C”) (made of record by Applicant) (English language translation of description supplied).
1: C teaches a communication device with multiple antennas (such as that shown in figs 1-5), comprising: an antenna module (as shown in figs 1-5), comprising a plurality of first antennas (the As) and a plurality of second antennas (the Bs), the first antennas operate in a first frequency band (0015-0017), and the second antennas operate in the second frequency band (0017); a performance evaluation module (the module that determines RSS, as described in 0015-0017), for evaluating a communication quality between each of the first antennas and a base station in the first frequency band (as stated in 0015-0017), and marking a base station region (the direction of a signal is detected, as taught in 0015-0017), the base station region is related to the base station (the origin of the signal may be considered a base station; therefore, the detected direction may be considered the region of a base station); and a decision module, for selecting one of the first antennas as a transmitting (TX) antenna for an uplink communication of the first frequency band according to the communication quality (as taught in 0015, the As may be selected for communication; the necessary structure for selecting may be considered a decision module for performing the selecting of the As).
However, C fails to teach selecting two of the second antennas as two TX antennas for an uplink communication of the second frequency band according to the base station region.
Nevertheless, 0017 of C teaches that one of the Bs may be selected for communication in Bs band on the basis of an RSS analysis of the As. In addition, it was old and well-known that multiple antennas can be used to form a more narrow beam than a single antenna can form.
Thus, it would have been obvious to select two of the second antennas as two TX antennas for an uplink communication of the second frequency band according to the base station region.
The motivation would have been to use the location data from a single analysis of the As RSS to direct an stronger, narrower beam toward the base station region using the Bs.
However, C also fails to teach that the first antennas operate in the second frequency band. Nevertheless, it was old and well-known to employ multiband antennas. The motivation would have been to provide a larger array of antennas operating in the B band, for even narrow beams in the B band.
11: The modified device discussed in regard to claim 1 would inherently perform an allocation method for antennas, applied to a communication device with multiple antennas, the communication device comprises an antenna module, and the antenna module comprises a plurality of first antennas and a plurality of second antennas, the first antennas operate in a first frequency band and a second frequency band, and the second antennas operate in the second frequency band, and the allocation method comprising: evaluating a communication quality between each of the first antennas and a base station in the first frequency band; marking a base station region, the base station region is related to the base station; selecting one of the first antennas as a transmitting (TX) antenna for an uplink communication of the first frequency band according to the communication quality; and selecting two of the second antennas as two TX antennas for an uplink communication of the second frequency band according to the base station region (as discussed above).
2, 12: C teaches that the first frequency band ranges from a low-band (LB) to a mid-band (MB), and the second frequency band ranges from a high-band (HB) to an ultra-high-band (UHB) (0003).
3, 13: C fails to teach that each of the first antennas serves as a receiving (RX) antenna for a downlink communication of the first frequency band, and the decision module is used to select four of the first antennas and the second antennas as four RX antennas for a downlink communication of the second frequency band according to the base station region.
However, the modified device of claims 1 and 11 would be capable of using antennas A and B to beamform. In addition, as stated above, it was old and well-known that the more antennas used to beamform, the narrow the beam. Thus, it would have been obvious to provide that each of the first antennas serves as a receiving (RX) antenna for a downlink communication of the first frequency band, and the decision module is used to select four of the first antennas and the second antennas as four RX antennas for a downlink communication of the second frequency band according to the base station region. The motivation would have been to provide for enhanced gain in communications.
4, 14: C fails to teach that the communication quality of each of the first antennas comprises a reference signal received power (RSRP) and a reference signal received quality (RSRQ). However, RSRP and RSRQ were old and well-known was of determining signal strength and quality. Thus, it would have been obvious to provide that the communication quality of each of the first antennas comprises a reference signal received power (RSRP) and a reference signal received quality (RSRQ). To do so would have been nothing more than the simple substitution of one known way of determining signal strength for another to produce predictable results.
5, 15: C teaches that the first antennas and the second antennas are uniformly distributed on a circular position on a first plane (as shown in figs 3-5), and there is an equal angle between any adjacent two of the first antennas and the second antennas (as shown).
6, 16: C teaches that the second antennas comprise a first group and a second group (any group can be split into two groups), and the amount of the second antennas of the first group is equal to the amount of the second antennas of the second group (any splitting can be done so that the groups are equal in size).
7, 17: C teaches that any two of the second antennas of the first group are not adjacent to each other (fig 2 shows that the Bs are separated by the As), any two of the second antennas of the second group are not adjacent to each other (they would be separated by the As), and any two of the first antennas are not adjacent to each other (the As are separated by the Bs).
8, 18: C teaches a performance optimization module, for re-selecting the TX antennas for the uplink communication of the first frequency band and the second frequency band from the first antennas and the second antennas, according to a receiving performance of the antenna module (C inherently teaches that its procedure can be repeated under changing conditions).
9, 19: C teaches that each of the first antennas and the second antennas is a directional antenna (each covers a sector, as shown in figs 1 and 2), and the communication device is a customer premise equipment (CPE) (customers may use C’s device to find directions), the communication device is used to convert a signal of a mobile communication system or a wired broadband communication system into a signal of a local area network (LAN) (0005-0006).
10, 20: C teaches that an effective coverage angle of each of the first antennas and the second antennas is between 120 degrees and 135 degrees (as shown in figs 1 and 2; 0025).
Conclusion
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/GRAHAM P SMITH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2845