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 .
Election/Restrictions
Newly amended claims 6-7, 9-20 and 22 are directed to an invention that is independent or distinct from the invention originally claimed for the following reasons:
Restriction to one of the following inventions is required under 35 U.S.C. 121:
I. Claims 1-2, 4-5 and 21, drawn to “wherein the receiver portions comprise at least one of a low noise amplifier, a signal detector, or an RF diplexer or filter that is configured to support shared transmit and receive functions through a common set of antenna elements”, classified in G01R 29/0878.
II. Claims 6-7, 9-10 and 22, drawn to “utilizing the Rydberg sensor to detect a modulated signal corresponding to radio frequency (RF) carrier signals during transmission of an outgoing RF signal by one or more radiating elements of the active antenna radio system”, classified in G01R 29/0878.
III. Claims 11-20, drawn to “wherein the one or more Rydberg sensors receive the incoming RF signal by sensing an electric field of an arriving electromagnetic field at the antenna array aperture during transmission of the outgoing RF signal by the one or more radiating elements”, classified in G01R 29/0878.
The inventions are independent or distinct, each from the other because: Inventions I and II/III are related as subcombinations disclosed as usable together in a single combination. The subcombinations are distinct if they do not overlap in scope and are not obvious variants, and if it is shown that at least one subcombination is separately usable. In the instant case, subcombination of invention I has separate utility such as used without the subcombination of invention II or without the subcombination of invention III. See MPEP § 806.05(d).
Since applicant has received an action on the merits for the originally presented invention, this invention has been constructively elected by original presentation for prosecution on the merits. Accordingly, claims 6-7, 9-20 and 22 are withdrawn from consideration as being directed to a non-elected invention. See 37 CFR 1.142(b) and MPEP § 821.03.
To preserve a right to petition, the reply to this action must distinctly and specifically point out supposed errors in the restriction requirement. Otherwise, the election shall be treated as a final election without traverse. Traversal must be timely. Failure to timely traverse the requirement will result in the loss of right to petition under 37 CFR 1.144. If claims are subsequently added, applicant must indicate which of the subsequently added claims are readable upon the elected invention.
Should applicant traverse on the ground that the inventions are not patentably distinct, applicant should submit evidence or identify such evidence now of record showing the inventions to be obvious variants or clearly admit on the record that this is the case. In either instance, if the examiner finds one of the inventions unpatentable over the prior art, the evidence or admission may be used in a rejection under 35 U.S.C. 103 or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) of the other invention.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-2 and 4-5 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.
Claim(s) 1 and 4-5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Anderson et al. (US 2022/0196716 A1) in view of Bussey (US 2024/0204876 A1) and Admitted Prior Art (APA).
Regarding claim 1, Anderson et al. teach one or more non-transitory computer-readable media having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon (embodiments of the disclosure may also be implemented as instructions stored on a machine-readable medium, which may be read and executed by one or more processors; [0118]; atomic receiver with antenna 700; FIG. 7) that, when executed, perform a method of utilizing a Rydberg sensor in an active antenna radio system (the laser fields that are modulated are employed in Rydberg atom RF sensing, e.g. atomic receiver 100; [0273]), the method comprising:
utilizing the Rydberg sensor to detect a modulated signal corresponding to radio frequency, RF, carrier signals, wherein the Rydberg sensor replaces receiver portions of an active antenna (unlike traditional antenna and receiver technology, atomic receivers include RF amplitude, frequency, and phase domains that are specific to the spectroscopic response of an atom to an incident EM wave; [0199], [0210], [0248]; modulated RF signal; [0210]-[0214]; oscillator 420 can be configured to form a PLL for synchronous frequency-modulated or phase-modulated signal reception; [0254]; FIG. 4).
Further regarding claim 1, Anderson et al. do not teach providing the modulated signal corresponding to the RF carrier signals from the Rydberg sensor to a base station,
wherein the receiver portions comprise at least one of a low noise amplifier, a signal detector, or an RF diplexer or filter that is configured to support shared transmit and receive functions through a common set of antenna elements.
Further regarding claim 1, Bussey teaches providing a modulated signal corresponding to RF carrier signals from a Rydberg sensor to a base station (the base station 100 to utilize a Rydberg-atom based RF receiver; [0053]; FIG. 2) for the purpose of transferring the information in the RF signals to a broadband ground network.
Further regarding claim 1, the applicant admits that receiver portions comprising at least one of a low noise amplifier, a signal detector, or an RF diplexer or filter that is configured to support shared transmit and receive functions through a common set of antenna elements are prior art of conventional communications technology ([0001], [0062]) and that replacing these receiver portions would benefit by improving the uplink link budget.
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to incorporate providing the modulated signal corresponding to the RF carrier signals from the Rydberg sensor to a base station, wherein the receiver portions comprise at least one of a low noise amplifier, a signal detector, or an RF diplexer or filter that is configured to support shared transmit and receive functions through a common set of antenna elements, as taught by Bussey and APA, into Anderson et al. for the purpose of transferring the information in the RF signals to a broadband ground network and improving the uplink link budget.
Regarding claim 4, Anderson et al. teach adjusting an orientation of the Rydberg sensor to correspond to a polarization of an arriving electromagnetic, EM, field (measurements can be taken with transmitting antenna 654 oriented so that the microwave polarization is both parallel and perpendicular to the axis of the atomic receiver 100; [0287]; FIG. 6A).
Regarding claim 5, Anderson et al. teach extracting, by the Rydberg sensor, an in-phase component and a quadrature-phase component, IQ, of the modulated signal (input signal 410 can be demodulated by atoms 107 with both in-phase and quadrature/out-of-phase waves generated by VCO 424; [0261]; Figs 4).
Claim(s) 2 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Anderson et al. (US 2022/0196716 A1) as modified by Bussey (US 2024/0204876 A1) and Admitted Prior Art (APA) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Anderson et al. (US 2024/0413829 A1).
Regarding claim 2, Anderson et al. ‘716 as modified by Bussey and APA do not teach selecting a wavelength of a laser in the Rydberg sensor to correspond to an RF operating frequency.
Further regarding claim 2, Anderson et al. ‘829 teach selecting a wavelength of a laser in a Rydberg sensor to correspond to an RF operating frequency (laser wavelength coupling and RF carrier frequency resonant Rydberg transition; [0128]-[0129]; Figs 8-9) for the purpose of selecting the laser wavelength for a corresponding RF frequency to achieve the highest signal-to-noise ratio.
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to incorporate selecting a wavelength of a laser in the Rydberg sensor to correspond to an RF operating frequency, as taught by Anderson et al. ‘829, into Anderson et al. ‘716 as modified by Bussey and APA for the purpose of selecting the laser wavelength for a corresponding RF frequency to achieve the highest signal-to-noise ratio.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 21 is objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
The primary reason for indicating allowable subject matter of claim(s) 21 is the inclusion of “wherein, while one or more radiating elements of the active antenna radio system transmit an outgoing RF signal, the Rydberg sensor detects the modulated signal by sensing an electric field of an arriving electromagnetic field”. These limitations, as they are claimed in the combination, have not been found, taught or suggested by the prior art of record, making claim(s) 21 allowable over the prior art.
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 KENDRICK X LIU whose telephone number is (571)270-3798. The examiner can normally be reached MWFSa 10am-8pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Douglas X Rodriguez can be reached at (571) 431-0716. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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8 January 2026
/KENDRICK X LIU/Examiner, Art Unit 2853
/DOUGLAS X RODRIGUEZ/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2853
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