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 § 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.
Claim 10 is 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.
Claim 10 recites the limitation "the first signal path" in line 1. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
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.
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.
Claims 1 – 4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yaghoobi et al (“A 56-to-66 GHz CMOS Low-Power Phased-Array Receiver Front-End With Hybrid Phase Shifting Scheme”, IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems-I: Regular Papers, Vol. 67, No. 11, November 2020) in view of Khayatzadeh et al (“Coherent and Non-coherent Receivers in 60-GHz RoF System Based on Passively Mode-Locked Laser”, IEEE, 2013).
Re claim 1, Yaghoobi teaches of an electronic device comprising: a demodulator (IQ mixers and baseband block as shown in Fig.1); a phased antenna array configured to receive a radio-frequency signal at a first frequency greater than or equal to 56 GHz (a millimeter-wave phased-array receiver front-end, Abstract and Fig.1), the phased antenna array including a first antenna communicatively coupled to the demodulator over a first receive path (as shown in Fig.1); a first mixer disposed on the first receive path and configured to downconvert the radio-frequency signal to a second frequency (intermediate frequency (IF) path, Col 1, Page 4003 and IF frequency, Col 1, Page 4004); and a first phase shifter disposed on the first receive path between the first mixer and the demodulator (the phase shifter block is placed in the intermediate frequency (IF) path to relax the design complexity in the RF path, Col 1, Page 4003 and Δφ, Fig.1), the first phase shifter being configured to phase shift the radio-frequency signal downconverted by the first mixer (Col 1, Page 4003 and Fig.1). However, Yaghoobi does not specifically teach of the first frequency being greater than or equal to 100 GHz. Yaghoobi does not specifically teach of a first envelope detector disposed on the first receive path and configured to downconvert the radio-frequency signal to the second frequency.
Khayatzadeh teaches of non-coherent receiver that comprises a first envelope detector (Envelope Detector, Col 1, Page 139 and ED, Fig.1) disposed on the first receive path and configured to downconvert the radio-frequency signal to the second frequency (IF, Col 1, Page 139) (A. Non-coherent Receiver, Col 2, Page 138 to Col 1, Page 139, Fig.1), wherein the radio-frequency signal is at a first frequency greater than or equal to 100 GHz (10 to 300 GHz, Col 1, Page 138).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have the first frequency be greater than or equal to 100 GHz for an increase in bandwidth and data capacity. Moreover, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have the receiver of Yaghoobi be a non-coherent receiver for being simpler and cheaper that includes an envelope detector for being robust against phase noise effects.
Re claim 2, Yaghoobi teaches of wherein the phased antenna array includes a second antenna that is coupled to the demodulator over a second receive path (as shown in Fig.1), the electronic device further comprising: a second envelope detector (envelope detector as taught by Khayatzadeh, see claim 1) disposed on the second receive path and configured to downconvert the radio-frequency signal to the second frequency (Col 1, Page 4003 and Fig.1).
Re claim 3, Yaghoobi teaches of further comprising: a second phase shifter disposed on the second receive path between the second envelope detector (envelope detector as taught by Khayatzadeh, see claim 1) and the demodulator (IQ demodulator as shown in Fig.1), the second phase shifter being configured to phase shift the radio-frequency signal downconverted by the second envelope detector (the phase shifter block is placed in the intermediate frequency (IF) path to relax the design complexity in the RF path, Col 1, Page 4003 and Δφ, Fig.1).
Re claim 4, Yaghoobi teaches of further comprising: a signal combiner that couples the first receive path and the second receive path to an input of the demodulator (combiner or adder as shown in Fig.1).
Claim 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yaghoobi and Khayatzadeh in view of Ratnam et al (US 2021/0167996).
Re claim 5, Yaghoobi and Khayatzadeh teach all the limitations of claim 1, except of wherein the first envelope detector comprises a square law envelope detector.
Ratnam teaches of an envelope detector that comprises a square law envelope detector (#132, Fig.5 and Paragraph 0077).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have the first envelope detector comprise a square law envelope detector for its simple implementation.
Claims 6 and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yaghoobi and Khayatzadeh in view of Tan et al (US 2023/0208362).
Re claim 6, Yaghoobi and Khayatzadeh teach all the limitations of claim 1, except of wherein the first envelope detector is passive.
Tan teaches of an envelope detector being passive (Fig.3 and Paragraph 0031).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have the first envelope detector be passive for simplifying the circuit design.
Re claim 10, Yaghoobi and Khayatzadeh teach all the limitations of claim 1, except of wherein the first signal path includes a first signal line and a second signal line, the first envelope detector comprising a diode, a capacitance, and a load coupled in parallel between the first signal line and the second signal line.
Tan teaches of a first signal path that includes a first signal line (#248, Fig.3) and a second signal line (ground, Fig.3), an envelope detector (#300, Fig.3) comprising a diode (D2, Fig.3), a capacitance (C1, Fig.3), and a load (Rload, #304, Fig.3) coupled in parallel between the first signal line and the second signal line (as shown in Fig.3).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have has the envelope detector comprise a diode, a capacitance and a load to mitigate reliability issues operating at high power.
Claims 7 – 8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yaghoobi and Khayatzadeh in view of Khayatzadeh (Converging technologies for optical and radio generation dedicated to communications at frequencies above 60 GHz, Université Grenoble Alpes, 2015) (Khayatzadeh(2)).
Re claim 7, Yaghoobi and Khayatzadeh teach all the limitations of claim 1, as well as Yaghoobi teaches of wherein the radio-frequency signal comprises a carrier at the first frequency (RF frequency, Abstract). However, Yaghoobi and Khayatzadeh do not specifically teach of a sideband that carries wireless data, the demodulator being configured to recover the wireless data from the sideband.
Khayatzadeh(2) teaches of an antenna configured to receive a radio-frequency signal having a carrier at a first frequency and having a sideband that carries wireless data, (double side band (DSB) transmission in which the data is modulated onto an optical RF carrier, thus creating two sidebands, upper optical sideband and lower optical sideband, Page 16), the demodulator being configured to recover the wireless data from the sideband (demodulation, Page 35).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have received a RF signal having a carrier at a first frequency and having a sideband that carries wireless data, the sideband being offset from the carrier by an intermediate frequency for improved link linearity.
Re claim 8, Yaghoobi teaches of wherein the first envelope detector is configured to output an intermediate frequency signal at the second frequency and the first phase shifter is configured to phase shift the intermediate frequency signal (the phase shifter block is placed in the intermediate frequency (IF) path to relax the design complexity in the RF path, Col 1, Page 4003 and Δφ, Fig.1).
Claim 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yaghoobi and Khayatzadeh in view of Elshafie et al (US 2024/0284328).
Re claim 9, Yaghoobi and Khayatzadeh teach all the limitations of claim 1, as well as Yaghoobi teaches of further comprising: a low noise amplifier disposed on the first receive path between the first antenna and the first envelope detector (LNA, Fig.1). However, Yaghoobi and Khayatzadeh do not specifically teach of a first bandpass filter disposed on the first receive path between the first antenna and the first envelope detector; the low noise amplifier disposed on the first receive path between the first bandpass filter and the first envelope detector; and a second bandpass filter disposed on the first receive path between the first envelope detector and the first phase shifter.
Elshafie teaches of receiver comprising: a first bandpass filter (RF BPF, #730, Fig.8) disposed on the first receive path between the first antenna (#710, Fig.8) and the first envelope detector (#850, Fig.8); a low noise amplifier (#740, Fig.8) disposed on the first receive path between the first bandpass filter (RF BPF, #730, Fig.8) and the first envelope detector (#850, Fig.8); and a second bandpass filter (#840, Fig.8) disposed on the first receive path between the first envelope detector and the low noise amplifier (as shown in Fig.8) (Paragraph 0107). However, Yaghoobi and Khayatzadeh do not specifically teach of the second bandpass filter disposed on the first receive path between the first envelope detector and the first phase shifter.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have a first bandpass filter to selectively allow only the RF range of interest and a second bandpass filter to selectively allow only the IF range of interest for improving signal quality and reducing noise.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art the invention was made to have second bandpass filter disposed on between the first envelope detector and the first phase shifter so as to efficiently perform phase shifting without being affected by the unwanted signal components.
Claims 11 – 12 and 15 – 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yaghoobi in view of Khayatzadeh and further in view of Vukovic (US 2020/0313469).
Re claim 11, Yaghoobi teaches of a wireless circuitry (Fig.1) comprising: a first receive path (top receive path of Fig.1) configured to receive a radio-frequency signal (equation 1) having a first phase (φRF, equation 1); a second receive path configured to receive the radio-frequency signal with a second phase (bottom receive path of Fig.1) that is different from the first phase (antennas receive signals from different phases due to multipath propagation); a first mixer (mixer on the top receive path, Fig.1) disposed on the first receive path and configured to generate a first intermediate frequency signal based on the radio-frequency signal having the first phase (intermediate frequency (IF) path, Col 1, Page 4003 and IF frequency, Col 1, Page 4004); a second mixer (mixer on the bottom receive path) disposed on the second receive path and configured to generate a second intermediate frequency signal based on the radio-frequency signal with the second phase (intermediate frequency (IF) path, Col 1, Page 4003 and IF frequency, Col 1, Page 4004); a first phase shifter disposed on the first receive path and configured to apply a first phase shift to the first intermediate frequency signal (the phase shifter block is placed in the intermediate frequency (IF) path to relax the design complexity in the RF path, Col 1, Page 4003 and Δφ, Fig.1); a second phase shifter disposed on the second receive path and configured to apply a second phase shift to the second intermediate frequency signal (the phase shifter block is placed in the intermediate frequency (IF) path to relax the design complexity in the RF path, Col 1, Page 4003 and Δφ, Fig.1), the second phase shift being different from the first phase shift (each receive path having a different path would require a different phase shift, Fig.1); and a demodulator (IF to baseband, Fig.1) configured to receive an intermediate frequency signal from at least the first receive path and the second receive path, the demodulator being configured to recover wireless data from the intermediate frequency signal. However, Yaghoobi does not specifically teach of the demodulator configured to receive a phase-aligned intermediate frequency signal from at least the first receive path and the second receive path. Yaghoobi does not specifically teach of an envelope detector disposed on each receive path and configured to downconvert the radio-frequency signal to the intermediate frequency.
Khayatzadeh teaches of non-coherent receiver that comprises a first envelope detector (Envelope Detector, Col 1, Page 139 and ED, Fig.1) disposed on the first receive path and configured to downconvert the radio-frequency signal to the second frequency (IF, Col 1, Page 139) (A. Non-coherent Receiver, Col 2, Page 138 to Col 1, Page 139, Fig.1).
Vukovic teaches adding phase shifters to each of the wireless power receiver channels (510a-510n, Fig.5) prior to the combiner to constructively phase align signals from different directions (Paragraph 0046).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have the receiver of Yaghoobi be a non-coherent receiver for being simpler and cheaper that includes an envelope detector for being robust against phase noise effects. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have to have the phase shifters constructively phase align signals so as to minimize path loss and effectively combine power from each path.
Re claim 12, Yaghoobi, Khayatzadeh and Vukovic teach all the limitations of claim 11 as well as Khayatzadeh teaches of wherein the radio-frequency signal has a carrier frequency greater than or equal to 100 GHz.
Khayatzadeh teaches of wherein the radio-frequency signal has a carrier frequency greater than or equal to 100 GHz (10 to 300 GHz, Col 1, Page 138).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have the first frequency be greater than or equal to 100 GHz for an increase in bandwidth and data capacity.
Re claim 15, Yaghoobi teaches of further comprising: a signal combiner (power combiner, Fig.1 and Col 1, Paragraph 1, Page 4004) having a first input coupled to the first receive path, a second input coupled to the second receive path, and an output coupled to an input of the demodulator (as shown in Fig.1).
Re claim 16, Yaghoobi teaches of the signal combiner configured to output the intermediate frequency signal by combining the first intermediate frequency signal with at least the second intermediate frequency signal (Fig. 1). Vukovic teaches of wherein the first phase shift and the second phase shift are configured to align a phase of the first intermediate frequency signal to a phase of the second intermediate frequency signal and the signal combiner is configured to output the phase-aligned intermediate frequency signal by combining the first intermediate frequency signal with at least the second intermediate frequency signal (“The wireless power receiver field of view for the alternate approach may be further enhanced by adding phase shifters to each of the wireless power receiver channels 510a-510n prior to the RF combiner to constructively phase align signals from different directions”, Paragraph 0046 and Fig.5).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have to have the phase shifters constructively phase align signals so as to minimize path loss and effectively combine power from each path.
Claim 13 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yaghoobi, Khayatzadeh and Vukovic in view of Tan.
Re claim 13, Yaghoobi, Khayatzadeh and Vukovic teach all the limitations of claim 11, except of wherein the first envelope detector and the second envelope detector are passive.
Tan teaches of an envelope detector being passive (Fig.3 and Paragraph 0031).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have the first envelope detector be passive for simplifying the circuit design.
Claim 14 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yaghoobi, Khayatzadeh, Vukovic and Tan in view of Ratnam.
Re claim 14, Yaghoobi, Khayatzadeh, Vukovic and Tan teach all the limitations of claim 13, except of wherein the first envelope detector comprises a first square law envelope detector and the second envelope detector comprises a second square law envelope detector.
Ratnam teaches of an envelope detector that comprises a square law envelope detector (#132, Fig.5 and Paragraph 0077).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have each of the envelope detectors comprise a square law envelope detector for its simple implementation.
Claim 17 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yaghoobi, Khayatzadeh and Vukovic in view of Elshafie.
Re claim 17, Yaghoobi, Khayatzadeh and Vukovic teach all the limitations of claim 11, as well as Yaghoobi teaches of further comprising: a first low noise amplifier disposed on the first receive path between the first antenna and the first envelope detector (LNA of top receive path, Fig.1) and a second low noise amplifier disposed on the second receive path between the second antenna and the second envelope detector (LNA of bottom receive path, Fig.1). However, Yaghoobi, Khayatzadeh and Vukovic do not specifically teach of a first bandpass filter disposed on the first receive path; the first low noise amplifier (LNA) disposed on the first receive path between the first bandpass filter and the first envelope detector; a second bandpass filter disposed on the first receive path between the first envelope detector and the first phase shifter; a third bandpass filter disposed on the second receive path; the second LNA disposed on the second receive path between the third bandpass filter and the second envelope detector; and a fourth bandpass filter disposed on the second receive path between the second envelope detector and the second phase shifter.
Elshafie teaches of receiver comprising: a first bandpass filter (RF BPF, #730, Fig.8) disposed on the first receive path between the first antenna (#710, Fig.8) and the first envelope detector (#850, Fig.8); a low noise amplifier (#740, Fig.8) disposed on the first receive path between the first bandpass filter (RF BPF, #730, Fig.8) and the first envelope detector (#850, Fig.8); and a second bandpass filter (#840, Fig.8) disposed on the first receive path between the first envelope detector and the low noise amplifier (as shown in Fig.8) (Paragraph 0107). However, Yaghoobi and Khayatzadeh do not specifically teach of the second bandpass filter disposed on the first receive path between the first envelope detector and the first phase shifter.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have a first and a third bandpass filter to selectively allow only the RF range of interest for each corresponding receive path and a second and fourth bandpass filter of each corresponding path to selectively allow only the IF range of interest for improving signal quality and reducing noise.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art the invention was made to have each of the second and fourth bandpass filter disposed on between the envelope detector and the phase shifter of the corresponding receive path so as to efficiently perform phase shifting on each path without being affected by the unwanted signal components.
Claim 18 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yaghoobi in view of Khayatzadeh in view of Vukovic (US 2020/0313469) and further in view of Khayatzadeh (Converging technologies for optical and radio generation dedicated to communications at frequencies above 60 GHz, Université Grenoble Alpes, 2015) (Khayatzadeh(2)).
Re claim 18, Yaghoobi teaches of an electronic device comprising: a phased antenna array configured to receive a radio-frequency signal (phased array receiver, Fig.1), the radio-frequency signal having a carrier at a first frequency (RF frequency, equation 1); and a coherent receiver coupled to the phased antenna array (Fig.1), the coherent receiver including mixers coupled to respective antennas in the phased antenna array (mixers as shown in Fig.1) and configured to generate intermediate frequency signals at a second frequency based on the radio-frequency signal (IF, Col 1, Page 4003), phase shifters configured to generate a signal at the second frequency based on a set of phase shifts applied to the intermediate frequency signals (the phase shifter block is placed in the intermediate frequency (IF) path to relax the design complexity in the RF path, Col 1, Page 4003 and Δφ, Fig.1), and a demodulator configured to output the wireless data based on the signal (baseband demodulator). However, Yaghoobi does not specifically teach of the RF signal also having a sideband that carries wireless data, the sideband being offset from the carrier by a second frequency. Yaghoobi does not specifically teach of a non-coherent receiver including envelope detectors coupled to respective antennas in the phased antenna array and configured to generate intermediate frequency signals at the second frequency based on the radio-frequency signal, the phase shifters configured to generate a phase-aligned signal at the second frequency based on a set of phase shifts applied to the intermediate frequency signals.
Khayatzadeh teaches of non-coherent receiver that comprises a first envelope detector (Envelope Detector, Col 1, Page 139 and ED, Fig.1) disposed on the first receive path and configured to downconvert the radio-frequency signal to the second frequency (IF, Col 1, Page 139) (A. Non-coherent Receiver, Col 2, Page 138 to Col 1, Page 139, Fig.1).
Vukovic teaches adding phase shifters to each of the wireless power receiver channels (510a-510n, Fig.5) prior to the RF combiner to constructively phase align signals from different directions (Paragraph 0046).
Khayatzadeh(2) teaches of an antenna configured to receive a radio-frequency signal having a carrier at a first frequency and having a sideband that carries wireless data, the sideband (double side band (DSB) transmission in which the data is modulated onto an optical RF carrier, thus creating two sidebands, upper optical sideband and lower optical sideband, Page 16) being offset from the carrier by a second frequency (offset by IF, Figures 1.13 and 3.12, Pages 15 – 16 and 66).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have the receiver of Yaghoobi be a non-coherent receiver for being simpler and cheaper that includes an envelope detector for being robust against phase noise effects. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have to have the phase shifters constructively phase align signals so as to minimize path loss and effectively combine power from each path. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have received a RF signal having a carrier at a first frequency and having a sideband that carries wireless data, the sideband being offset from the carrier by an intermediate frequency for improved link linearity.
Claims 19 – 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yaghoobi, Khayatzadeh, Vukovic and Khayatzadeh(2) in view of Ratnam.
Re claim 19, Yaghoobi, Khayatzadeh, Vukovic and Khayatzadeh(2) teach all the limitations of claim 18, except of wherein the envelope detectors comprise passive square law envelope detectors.
Ratnam teaches of an envelope detector that comprises a square law envelope detector (#132, Fig.5 and Paragraph 0077).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have each of the envelope detectors comprise a square law envelope detector for its simple implementation.
Re claim 20, Yaghoobi teaches of wherein the demodulator comprises an in-phase quadrature-phase (I/Q) demodulator (Fig.1).
Conclusion
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/ARISTOCRATIS FOTAKIS/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2633