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 .
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d).
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 05/17/2024 was filed. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Vaquero et al. (Demonstration of a Reflectarray with Near-field Amplitude and Phase Constraints as Compact Antenna Test Range Probe for 5G New Radio Devices, hereby referred as Vaquero).
Regarding claim 1,
Vaquero discloses,
A method of designing a reflectarray panel for near-field wireless communication, the method comprising (see abstract):
determining a near field coverage area of the reflectarray panel (figures 1 and 7, see sections III and IV for disclosing quiet zone/ near field);
calculating a tangential reflected field on a reflectarray surface of the reflectarray panel (see equation 2 and section II A) based at least on a feed location (see Einc in equation 2) and initial geometric parameters (reflection coefficient in equations 2 and 3, see section II A) of the reflectarray surface (see first two paragraphs in section III);
determining radiation pattern specifications with an incident beam pointed toward a center of the near field coverage area (see section II and equations 4-6);
performing a near-field pattern synthesis algorithm (figures 2-3 and section II) on an initial phase distribution of the reflectarray panel (see section IV, equations 6 and 10);
determining a synthesized phase distribution on the reflectarray surface from a result of performing the near-field pattern synthesis algorithm (figure 8 and section IV B);
adjusting one or more geometric parameters of each reflectarray cell of the reflectarray panel to produce the synthesized phase distribution; and determining dimensions of the reflectarray panel for manufacturing (Section IVC, first paragraph. See figures 3-4 and section III, second and third paragraphs).
Regarding claim 2,
Vaquero discloses
Wherein the determined dimensions of the reflectarray panel include a layout of the reflectarray panel, an arrangement of one or more features of the reflectarray panel, and dimensions of patches in the reflectarray panel (see figures 1 and 4 which comprises of a plurality of dipole antennas on a surface).
Regarding claim 3,
Vaquero discloses
wherein performing the near- field pattern synthesis algorithm comprises:
providing an electric field on the surface of the reflectarray panel comprising a plurality of reflectarray cells, obtained by applying a transformation from the electric field in the near-field coverage where the electric field is computed; and
computing the electric field at the one or more selected points in near-field coverage by adding the contribution of the plurality of reflectarray cells (figures 1, 4 and 7 and sections II and III).
Regarding claim 4,
Vaquero discloses
wherein the computing of the electric field at the one or more selected points in near-field coverage area further comprises:
calculating an electric field vector and associated angular coordinates of the electric field;
calculating spectral functions of a reflected electric field from the reflectarray panel;
calculating far field components in spherical coordinates;
transforming the calculated far field components into cartesian components based, at least in part, on a distance between a user device and the reflectarray panel; and summing of the transformed far field components (figures 1, 4 and 7 and sections II and III).
Regarding claim 5,
Vaquero discloses
Wherein the near-field coverage area is between 1 meter and 65 meters away from the reflectarray panel (figures 1 and 7, see sections III and IV for disclosing quiet zone/ near field).
Regarding claim 6,
Vaquero discloses
determining the initial phase distribution of an array of cells on the reflectarray surface of the reflectarray antenna based on a defocused beam pointed toward the coverage area at a predetermined azimuth angle and at a predetermined elevation angle (figures 1 and 8 and section IV B).
Regarding claim 7,
Vaquero discloses
wherein the reflectarray panel comprises a plurality of reflectarray cells, wherein each reflectarray cell comprises:
a first plurality of conductive elements configured to radiate reflected radio frequency (RF) beams with a first phase distribution in a first linear polarization; and
a second plurality of conductive elements arranged orthogonally to the first plurality of conductive elements and configured to radiate reflected RF beams with a second phase distribution in a second linear polarization, wherein the first and the second phase distributions are computed to ensure that the radiated near field are the same in the first and the second linear polarizations (figures 1, 4 and 7 and sections II and III and the plurality of dipole antennas).
Regarding claim 8,
Vaquero discloses
A passive reflectarray panel for near-field wireless communication applications, comprising (see abstract):
a substrate with a conductive ground plane (figure 4 and second paragraph of section III); and
an array of reflectarray cells disposed on the substrate (figure 4 and second paragraph of section III), the array of reflectarray cells configured to produce a phase distribution on the surface of the array of reflectarray cells using a near-field pattern synthesis algorithm (see abstract), wherein the phase distribution for two orthogonal linear polarizations produces a reflected radio frequency (RF) power density in near-field according to a previously defined coverage pattern, and wherein each reflectarray cell comprises (see figures 1 and 4, sections II and III):
a first plurality of conductive elements configured to produce a first phase-shift in a first linear polarization that contributes to the power density in near-field for a first linear polarization (see figures 1 and 4, section III, one group of dipoles); and
a second plurality of conductive elements arranged orthogonally to the first plurality of conductive elements, configured to produce a second phase shift in a second linear polarization, orthogonal to the first polarization, that contributes to the power density in a second linear polarization with the same near-field coverage than in the first linear polarization (see figures 1 and 4, section III, another group of dipoles, and see equations 2 and 3).
Regarding claim 9,
Vaquero discloses
Wherein the first plurality of conductive elements comprises at least one dipole that extends laterally along a first axis and the second plurality of conductive elements comprises at least one dipole that extends laterally along a second axis orthogonal to the first axis (figure 1).
Regarding claim 10,
Vaquero discloses
Wherein the array of reflectarray cells has a periodicity of cells in a range of 3.0 millimeters (mm) to 5.0 mm in the first axis and the second axis (figure 1 and 4).
Regarding claim 11,
Vaquero discloses
Wherein each of the first plurality of conductive elements and each of the second plurality of conductive elements comprises a plurality of dipoles having varying lengths, and wherein the plurality of dipoles for each of the first plurality of conductive elements and for each of the second plurality of conductive elements are arranged in parallel to one another (figure 1, plurality of two groups of dipoles).
Regarding claim 12,
Vaquero discloses
Wherein each of the first plurality of conductive elements and the second plurality of conductive elements comprises a first dipole with a first length, a second dipole with a second length, and a third dipole with a third length, and wherein the second dipole is interposed between the first dipole and the third dipole (figure 1, plurality of two groups of dipoles).
Regarding claim 13,
Vaquero discloses
Wherein the second length is greater than the first length and the third length, and wherein the first length is within a threshold amount of the third length (figure 4, center dipole and the other dipoles).
Regarding claim 14,
Vaquero discloses
Wherein each reflectarray cell of the array of reflectarray cells comprises a substrate, a patterned layer with the first plurality of conductive elements and the second plurality of conductive elements, a ground plane layer, a bonding layer, and a superstate, wherein the superstate is disposed on a top surface of the bonding layer, the bonding layer is disposed on a top surface of the patterned layer, the patterned layer is disposed on a top surface of the substrate, and the substrate is disposed on a top surface of the ground plane layer (figure 4 and second paragraph of section III).
Regarding claim 15,
Vaquero discloses
Wherein the superstate and the substrate comprise a same composite material (figure 4 and second paragraph of section III).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Diaz et al. US Pub. No. 2017/0179596 discloses the limitation of independent claims 1 and 8.
Ai et al. US Pub. No. 2024/0283164, Shahvirdi Dizaj Yekan et al. US Pub. No. 2023/0402750, Walker US Pub. No. 2011/0063181, Livadaru et al. US Patent No. 11145991.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to AWAT M SALIH whose telephone number is (571)270-5601. The examiner can normally be reached M-F: 8:30AM-5:00PM.
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/AWAT M SALIH/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2845