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.
Claims 1, 3, and 5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Elshafie et al. (US 2024/0305335 A1) over Lungreen et al. (US 2016/0007315 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Elshafie discloses a relay device (252) that relays radio waves between a base station (401, 406, 408) and a terminal (410) (e.g. figs. 2, 4A-5), the relay device comprising: a reconfigurable intelligent surface for dynamically changing a reflection direction of the radio wave (figs. 2, 4A-6C; paragraph [0050]-[0051]; [0056]; [0061]-[0062]; [0064]-[0065]; and so on, illustrating reconfigurable intelligent surface, RIS, change direction and redirection of reflection or reflection direction of a frequency or radio wave); and processing circuitry that controls the reconfigurable intelligent surface (paragraph [0004]-[0006]; [0050]-[0051]; [0055]-[0059]; and so on, describing the control of the RIS); and directs the reflection direction of the reconfigurable intelligent surface toward the region where the terminal exist (figs. 2, 4A-6C; paragraph [0053]-[0059]; and so on, explaining directing and redirecting the reflection direction toward the location where a node such as user or scheduled entity).
Elshafie doesn’t explicitly disclose an image sensor that captures a use range of the terminal, which is composed of a plurality of regions partitioned in a lattice shape; wherein the processing circuitry acquires image data of the use range captured by the image sensor, searches the image data for a region in which the terminal exists among the plurality of regions.
Lundgreen teaches an image sensor that captures a use range of the terminal (figs. 1-2, 5, 11; paragraph [0098]; [0125]-[0126]; and so on), which is composed of a plurality of regions partitioned in a lattice shape (e.g. figs. 1-2, and 11); wherein the processing circuitry acquires image data of the use range captured by the image sensor (figs. 1-2, 5, 11; paragraph [0063]-[0064]; [0068]-[0073]; [0098]; [0125]-[0126]; and etc.), searches the image data for a region in which the terminal exists among the plurality of regions (figs. 1-2, 5, 11; paragraph [0045]-[0046]; [0049]; [0062]-[0064]; [0113]; [0010]-[0011]; [0047]; and so on).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to use an image sensor that captures a use range of the terminal, which is composed of a plurality of regions partitioned in a lattice shape; wherein the processing circuitry acquires image data of the use range captured by the image sensor, searches the image data for a region in which the terminal exists among the plurality of regions as taught by Lundgreen into Elshafie in order to improve reliability and throughput.
Regarding claim 3 and 5, the claims include features identical to the subject matter mentioned in the rejection to claim 1. The claims are mere reformulation of claim 1 in order to define the corresponding a control method for a relay device and non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, and the rejection to claim 1 is applied hereto.
Claims 2 and 4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Elshafie in view of Lungreen, and further in view of Palanki et al. (US 2014/0094199 A1).
Regarding claim 2 and 4, as applied above, Iwabuchi discloses the use range of the terminal is a range partitioned. However, Iwabuchi doesn’t explicitly disclose the range partitioned is by a plurality of tiles arranged on a floor surface, and each of the plurality of regions corresponds to one of the plurality of tiles.
Palanki teaches the range partitioned is by a plurality of tiles arranged on a floor surface, and each of the plurality of regions corresponds to one of the plurality of tiles (e.g. paragraph [0025]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to use the range partitioned is by a plurality of tiles arranged on a floor surface, and each of the plurality of regions corresponds to one of the plurality of tiles as taught by Palanki into Elshafie in view of Lungreen in order to in order to reduce interference and improve efficiency of communication.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KIBROM T HAILU whose telephone number is (571)270-1209. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:00 AM to 5:30 PM.
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/KIBROM T HAILU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2461