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 .
Status of the Claims
Claims 1-9 filed on 4 MAR 2024 are currently pending and have been examined.
Priority
The pending application 18/689,002, filed on 4 MAR 2024, is a national stage application filed under 35 U.S.C. 371 of PCT/IB2022/058398, filed on 7 SEP 2022, and claims priority from foreign application IT102021000023444, filed on 10 SEP 2021 in the Italian Republic.
Drawings
Figure 3 should be designated by a legend such as --Prior Art-- because only that which is old is illustrated. See MPEP § 608.02(g). Corrected drawings in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. The replacement sheet(s) should be labeled “Replacement Sheet” in the page header (as per 37 CFR 1.84(c)) so as not to obstruct any portion of the drawing figures. If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
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 1-9 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.
Regarding claim 1, it is unclear to the examiner how the receiving assembly is connected to the rest of the device, and whether the processing control logic unit is connected to the generating and transmitting assembly. From the applicant’s drawings, it appears that the processing and control logic unit is connected to both the first and second selectors. For the purpose of prosecution, claim 1 has been interpreted as the generating and transmitting assembly and the receiving assembly are both connected to the processing and control logic unit.
Claim 1 recites “a first selector (14) operatively connected with at least one generating and transmitting circuit (15) of said generating and transmitting circuits (10) of the UWB signal and with at least two of said two or more first antennas (16) so as to convey the UWB signal generated by said at least one generating and transmitting circuit (15) of said generating and transmitting circuits (10) of the UWB signal mutually to said at least two of said two or more first antennas (16).” Merriam-Webster defines mutual as “directed by each toward the other or the others.” The use of “mutually” in the claim indicates that the UWB signal is conveyed from the at least one generating and transmitting circuit to at least two of the two or more first antennas, and from the at least two of the two or more antennas to the at least one generating and transmitting circuit. It is unclear to the examiner if the generating and transmitting assembly / circuit and the receiving assembly are part of the same structure and configured to also receive signals, or if the generating and transmitting assembly /circuit and the receiving assembly are strictly separate components with separate functions. For the purpose of prosecution, claim 1 has been interpreted as providing the generating and transmitting assembly / circuit and the receiving assembly as separate components, and conveying the UWB signal from the generating and transmitting circuit simultaneously to said at least two of said two or more antennas.
Claims 2-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being depending on rejected claim 1 and for failing to cure the deficiencies listed above.
Claims 4 and 6 also recite the term “mutually” to describe how the UWB signal is conveyed from the at least two antennas to the at least one receiving circuit. Claims 4 and 6 are rejected for similar reasons as claim 1. For the purpose of prosecution, claims 4 and 6 have been interpreted as conveying the UWB signal simultaneously to said at least one receiving circuit.
Claim 7 recites “wherein said pulses are encoded so as to increase a power of the UWB signal at a same amplitude as a single pulse.” It is unclear to the examiner what is meant by “a same amplitude as a single pulse.” For the purpose of prosecution, claim 7 has been interpreted as “ the pulses of the UWB signal are modulated.”
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) 1-9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bonthron et al. (US 2008/0100510 A1) in view of Gilbert et al. (US 6,292,433 B1).
Regarding claim 1 (Currently Amended), Bonthron et al. discloses:
[Note: what is not explicitly taught by Bonthron et al. has been struck-through]
A UWB radar device (Bonthron et al. Fig. 4A) having two or more first antennas (3) (Bonthron et al. antennas 101a, 101b, Fig. 4A) and comprising:
a generating and transmitting assembly (5) (Bonthron et al. the set of components of the transmit path comprising: signal generator 405, signal splitter 27, amplifier 30, selector 501, antennas 101a, 101b, 90° splitter 77a, Fig. 4A) of a UWB signal (Bonthron et al. “The imaging sensor’s total occupied transmit spectral bandwidth is dependent on the frequency modulation bandwidth, and can be wideband (WB) or ultra-wideband (UWB) in order to achieve adequate range resolution.” - ¶ [0059]) comprising a predetermined number of generating and transmitting circuits (10) (Bonthron et al. signal generator 405, Fig. 4A) of a UWB signal;
a receiving assembly (6) (Bonthron et al. the set of components of the receive path comprising: antennas 102a, 102b, selector 502, amplifier 62, splitter 28, mixers 55 and 56, amplifiers 65 and 66, filters 45 and 46, A/D 340 and 341, and signal processor 300, Fig. 4A) of the UWB signal for processing the received UWB signal; and
at least one processing and control logic unit (8) (Bonthron et al. signal processor 300, Fig. 4A) operatively located downstream of said receiving assembly (6);
wherein:
said predetermined number of said generating and transmitting circuits (10) of the UWB signal is lower than a number of said two or more first antennas (3) (Bonthron et al. there is one signal generator 405, and “a plurality of antennas 101a, 101b, designated by TX 1, TX m,n, where m and n are non-zero integers whose sum is greater than or equal to 3” - ¶ [0059]; the number of signal generators is 1, which is lower than the number of antennas, which is two in Fig. 4A);
said UWB radar device (1) comprises a first selector (14) (Bonthron et al. selector 501, Fig. 6B) operatively connected with at least one generating and transmitting circuit (15) (Bonthron et al. selector 501 is operatively connected to the signal generator 405, Fig. 4A) of said generating and transmitting circuits (10) of the UWB signal and with at least two of said two or more first antennas (16) (Bonthron et al. selector 501 is operatively connected to the antennas 101a, 101b, Fig. 4A) so as to convey the UWB signal generated by said at least one generating and transmitting circuit (15) of said generating and transmitting circuits (10) of the UWB signal mutually to said at least two of said two or more first antennas (16) (Bonthron et al. “The selector 501 is used to selectively connect the signal to one of a plurality of antennas 101a, 101b, designated by TX 1, TX m,n, where m and n are non-zero integers whose sum is greater than or equal to 3, for transmission in a sequential manner.” - ¶ [0059]; “Selector 112 can be implemented by, but is not limited to, a switch or a combination of switches…” - ¶ [0056]; “one or more of a plurality of antennas simultaneously selected for transmission of one or a plurality of signals…” - ¶ [0046]); and
said at least one processing and control logic unit (8) comprises at least one memory unit (18) (Bonthron et al. “The signal processor may include, but is not limited to, one or more digital signal processors (DSPs)…” - ¶ [0047]; digital signal processors obviously comprise memory), in which at least one (Bonthron et al. “Signal processor 300 may perform, but is not limited to… phase shifting… digital beamforming (DBF)…” - ¶ [0061]).
Gilbert et al. discloses:
at least one delay and sum algorithm (Gilbert et al. “Another preferred embodiment of the invention relates to a time-domain delay-and-sum beamforming processor that can simultaneously process the returns of a large two dimensional transducer array.”- Col. 10, lines 34-37)
It would have been obvious to someone with ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the features as disclosed by Gilbert et al. into the invention of Bonthron et al. to yield the invention of claim 1 above. Both Bonthron et al. and Gilbert et al. are considered analogous arts to the claimed invention as they both disclose radar systems comprising antenna arrays that perform beam-forming. Bonthron et al. discloses the limitations of claim 1 outlined above, including digital beam-forming. However, Bonthron et al. fails to explicitly disclose at least one delay and sum algorithm. This feature is disclosed by Gilbert et al. where a delay-and-sum beamforming processor is used to “simultaneously process returns of a large two-dimensional transducer array.” (Gilbert et al. Col. 10, lines 34-37) The combination of Bonthron et al. and Gilbert et al. would be obvious with a reasonable expectation of success to provide a UWB radar device with a “lower-power, highly integrated beamformer is capable of real-time processing of the entire array and enables a compact, affordable unit suitable for many different applications.”(Gilbert et al. Col. 10, lines 38-40).
Regarding to claim 2 (Previously Presented), Bonthron et al. discloses:
The UWB radar device according to claim 1, wherein said at least one generating and transmitting circuit (15) generates and transmits periodic signals, and wherein each period comprises a plurality of pulses (Bonthron et al. “Through the use of this arrangement of transmit pulsing and receive signal gating, the performance of the sensor can be improved as illustrated in the signal timing example in FIG. 5.” - ¶ [0062]; see also Figs. 8A-9F).
Regarding claim 3 (Previously Presented), Bonthron et al. discloses:
The UWB radar device according to claim 1, further comprising two or more second antennas (22) (Bonthron et al. antennas 102a, 102b, Fig. 4A), wherein said one receiving assembly (6) comprises a predetermined number of receiving circuits (23) (Bonthron et al. the set of components comprising: amplifier 62, splitter 28, mixers 55,56, amplifiers 65, 66, filters 45, 46, A/D 340, 341, signal processor 300, Fig. 4A; where the set of components is considered 1 receiving circuit) of said UWB signal, said predetermined number of said receiving circuits (23) of said UWB signal is lower than a number of said two or more second antennas (22) (Bonthron et al. the set of components comprising: amplifier 62, splitter 28, mixers 55,56, amplifiers 65, 66, filters 45, 46, A/D 340, 341, signal processor 300, Fig. 4A; ).
Regarding claim 4 (Previously Presented), Bonthron et al. discloses:
The UWB radar device according to claim 3, further comprising at least a second selector (26) (Bonthron et al. selector 502, Fig. 4A) operatively connected with at least one receiving circuit (28) of said receiving circuits (23) (Bonthron et al. selector 502 is operatively connected with the set of components comprising: amplifier 62, splitter 28, mixers 55,56, amplifiers 65, 66, filters 45, 46, A/D 340, 341, signal processor 300, Fig. 4A; where the set of components is considered 1 receiving circuit) of the UWB signal and with at least two antennas (29) of said two or more second antennas (22) (Bonthron et al. selector 502 is operatively connected to the antennas 102a, 102b, Fig. 4A) so as to convey the UWB signal received mutually from said at least two antennas (29) of said second two or more antennas (22) to said at least one receiving circuit (28) of said receiving circuits (22) of the signal (Bonthron et al. “The reflected signal from an object is received by a plurality of receive antennas 102a, 102b, designated by RX 1,1, RX k,p, where k and p are non-zero integers whose sum is greater than or equal to 3… A selector 502 is used to selectively connect one receive antenna at a time with the how noise amplifier 62 where the received signal is amplified prior to being split by splitter 28.” - ¶ [0059]; “Selector 112 can be implemented by, but is not limited to, a switch or a combination of switches…” - ¶ [0056]; “one or a plurality of antennas simultaneously selected for reception of one or a plurality of signals” - ¶ [0046]).
Regarding claim 5 (Currently Amended), Bonthron et al. discloses:
The UWB radar device according to claim 4, wherein said one receiving assembly comprises a predetermined number of receiving circuits (Bonthron et al. the set of components comprising: amplifier 62, splitter 28, mixers 55,56, amplifiers 65, 66, filters 45, 46, A/D 340, 341, signal processor 300, Fig. 4A; where the set of components is considered 1 receiving circuit) of the UWB signal, said predetermined number of said receiving circuits of the UWB signal being lower than the number of said two or more first antennas (Bonthron et al. the number of receiving circuits is 1, which is lower than the number of antennas, which is two in Fig. 4A).
Regarding claim 6 (Previously Presented), Bonthron et al. discloses:
The UWB radar device according to claim 5, further comprising at least one second selector (Bonthron et al. selector 501, Fig. 4A) operatively connected with at least one of said receiving circuits (Bonthron et al. selector 502 is operatively connected with the set of components comprising: amplifier 62, splitter 28, mixers 55,56, amplifiers 65, 66, filters 45, 46, A/D 340, 341, signal processor 300, Fig. 4A; where the set of components is considered 1 receiving circuit) of the UWB signal and with at least two of said two or more first antennas so as to convey the UWB signal received mutually from said at least two of said two or more second antennas to said at least one of said receiving circuits of the UWB signal (Bonthron et al. “The reflected signal from an object is received by a plurality of receive antennas 102a, 102b, designated by RX 1,1, RX k,p, where k and p are non-zero integers whose sum is greater than or equal to 3… A selector 502 is used to selectively connect one receive antenna at a time with the how noise amplifier 62 where the received signal is amplified prior to being split by splitter 28.” - ¶ [0059]; “Selector 112 can be implemented by, but is not limited to, a switch or a combination of switches…” - ¶ [0056]; “one or a plurality of antennas simultaneously selected for reception of one or a plurality of signals” - ¶ [0046]).
Regarding claim 7 (Previously Presented), Bonthron et al. discloses:
The UWB radar device according to claim 2, wherein said pulses are encoded so as to increase a power of the UWB signal at a same amplitude as a single pulse (Bonthron et al. “. In addition, image quality and weapon detection capabilities can be enhanced through the use of frequency modulation or multiple frequency operation of the sensor.” - ¶ [0006]).
Regarding claim 8 (Previously Presented), Bonthron et al. discloses:
The UWB radar device according to claim 1, wherein said predetermined number of generating and transmitting circuits (10) of the UWB signal is equal to one (Bonthron et al. the set of components comprising: signal generator 405, signal splitter 27, amplifier 30, and 90° splitter 77a, Fig. 4A; where the set of components is considered 1 generating and transmitting circuit).
Regarding claim 9 (Currently Amended), Bonthron et al. discloses:
The UWB radar device according to claim 3, wherein said predetermined number of receiving circuits (23) of the UWB signal is equal to one (Bonthron et al. the set of components comprising: amplifier 62, splitter 28, mixers 55,56, amplifiers 65, 66, filters 45, 46, A/D 340, 341, signal processor 300, Fig. 4A; where the set of components is considered 1 receiving circuit).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to NAOMI M WOLFORD whose telephone number is (571)272-3929. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday, 8:30 am - 4:30 pm EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Vladimir Magloire can be reached at (571)270-5144. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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NAOMI M. WOLFORD
Examiner
Art Unit 3648
/N.M.W./Examiner, Art Unit 3648
6 FEB 2026
/VLADIMIR MAGLOIRE/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3648