DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application is being examined under the pre-AIA first to invent provisions.
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.
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.
Response to Amendment
Applicant's amendment filed on 9 JUN 2026 has been entered. Claims 1, 3-4, and 6-7 have been amended. Claim 2 has been cancelled. Claims 1 and 3-9 are still pending in this application, with claim 1 being independent.
Applicant's amendments to the drawings have overcome the objection(s) raised in the previous office action dated 10 FEB 2026.
Applicant's amendments to the claims have overcome the rejections under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) made in the previous office action dated 10 FEB 2026.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
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.
Claim(s) 1 and 3-9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bonthron et al. (US 2008/0100510 A1, previously relied upon by the examiner) in view of Mostov (US 2012/0229322 A1, cited by applicant in IDS filed 4 MAR 2024) and Cohen et al. (US 2020/0136250 A1, newly cited by the examiner).
Regarding claim 1, 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 350 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 simultaneously 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…” - ¶ [0059]; “one or more of a plurality of antennas simultaneously selected for transmission of one o more plurality of signals…” - ¶ [0046]);
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 delay and sum algorithm configured for being executed by said at least one processing and control logic unit (8) is stored so as to manage a change of phase of the UWB signals received in said receiving assembly (6) (Bonthron et al. “Signal processor 300 may perform, but it is not limited to… phase shifting… digital beamforming (DBF)…” – ¶ [0061]);
Mostov discloses:
said at least one generating and transmitting circuit (15) generates and transmits periodic UWB signals (Mostov “The signals received by different receiving antennas are separated using the information from the variable delay generator 125.” - ¶ [0044]), each UWB signal comprising a plurality of pulses within a single period (Mostov “Signal generation unit 126 generates a sequence of pulses 311 with a period of ρop=2.10-7 sec.” - ¶ [0048])
Cohen et al. discloses:
both of said generating and transmitting assembly (5) and said receiving assembly (6) being connected to said at least one processing and control logic unit (8) (Cohen et al. processing circuitry 102 is connected to both the Tx Antenna Array 120 and Rx Antenna Array 130, Fig. 1A; “Moreover, aspects include processing circuitry 102 communicating with and/or controlling functions associated with the memory 104 and/or other components of the MIMO radar device 100. This may include, for example, conditioning signals prior to transmission via the transmit antenna array 120 and processing the reflected radar signals received via the receive antenna array 130.” - ¶ [0034]
said plurality of pulses defining a pulse compression signal (Cohen et al. “This may include, for instance, the use of pulse compression or other matched filtering to exploit the Doppler effect to identify moving targets and/or the range to identified targets.” - ¶ [0037])
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 Mostov and Cohen et al. into the invention of Bonthron et al. to yield the invention of claim 1 above. Bonthron et al., Mostov and Cohen et al. are considered analogous arts to the claimed invention as they disclose radar apparatuses comprising two-dimensional antenna arrays. Bonthron et al. discloses the limitations of claim 1 outlined above. However, Bonthron et al. fails to explicitly disclose both of said generating and transmitting assembly (5) and said receiving assembly (6) being connected to said at least one processing and control logic unit (8), said at least one generating and transmitting circuit (15) generates and transmits periodic UWB signals, each UWB signal comprising a plurality of pulses within a single period; and said plurality of pulses defining a pulse compression signal. These features are disclosed by Mostov and Cohen et al. where Mostov discloses the signal generator unit generates a sequences of pulses (Mostov ¶ [0048]), and Cohen et al. discloses the use of pulse compression (Cohen et al. ¶ [0037]). The combination of Bonthron et al., Mostov and Cohen et al. would be obvious with a reasonable expectation of success to “improve the accuracy of object detection and identification” (Mostov ¶ [0035]) and provide a radar apparatus that “has a small size, light weight and portability.” (Cohen et al. ¶ [0008]).
Regarding claim 3 (Currently Amended), 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 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 (Currently Amended), 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) (Bonthron et al. selector 502 is operatively connected to the antennas 102a, 102b, Fig. 4A) of said two or more second antennas (22) so as to convey the UWB signal received simultaneously 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 (Previously Presented), Bonthron et al. discloses:
The UWB radar device according to claim 3, 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 (Currently Amended), 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 simultaneously 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 (Currently Amended), Bonthron et al. discloses:
The UWB radar device according to claim 1, wherein said pulses of the UWB signal are modulated (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 (Previously Presented), 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
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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, Resha Desai can be reached at (571)270-7792. 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
26 AUG 2026
/RESHA DESAI/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3648
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