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 Objections
Claim 2 is objected to because of the following informalities: Claim 2, line 18, recites “the estimator receives…”. The limitation should be “the estimator system receives…” to be consistent with “an estimator system” of line 2. Appropriate correction is required.
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, 2 and 15-21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by McCorkle (US 2016/0018509 A1).
Regarding claim 1, McCorkle teaches an RF emitter characterization system (abstract, para [0001]) comprising:
an antenna array (Figure 2B and 3) including at least one multiport antenna (DPA) with at least two ports 340A and 340B, the antenna element comprising two or more conductive pieces 305 and 310 with two or more ports physically distributed around the two or more conductive pieces, each port having two terminals, a first terminal and a second terminal, wherein each port’s first terminal is connected to one conductive piece, and each port’s second terminal is connected to a different conductive piece, and at least two of the ports form current loops through each other via their connection to the two or more conductive pieces (Figure 11, para [0122]), the two or more conductive elements being arranged around a center axis of the multiport antenna with their respective longitudinal sections together defining a circular periphery of the multiport antenna around an at least partially enclosed volume (para [0046] and [0048]),
a receiver system (Figure 13), and
an estimator system 103 (Figure 1A),
wherein the antenna array picks up a signal, wherein the receiver digitizes the signal picked up by the antenna array (para [0155]), wherein the estimator system measures or estimates various characteristics of the signal and outputs one or more of them, and wherein the characteristics that are output include one or more of the signal’s angle of arrival, range, polarization, frequency, magnitude, phase, bandwidth, time of occurrence, and its JTFA characteristics (para [0048]).
Regarding claim 2, McCorkle teaches an RF emitter characterization system (abstract, para [0001]) comprised of an antenna array, a receiver system, and an estimator system,
wherein the RF emitter characterization system receives configuration and filtering parameters (para [0154]),
wherein the antenna array (Figures 2B and 3) is comprised of at least one multiport antenna with at least two ports 340A and 340B, the antenna element comprising two or more conductive pieces 305 and 310 with two or more ports physically distributed around the two or more conductive pieces, each port having two terminals, a first terminal and a second terminal, wherein each port’s first terminal is connected to one conductive piece, and each port’s second terminal is connected to a different conductive piece, and at least two of the ports form current loops through each other via their connection to the two or more conductive pieces (Figure 11, para [0122]), the two or more conductive elements being arranged around a center axis of the multiport antenna with their respective longitudinal sections together defining a circular periphery of the multiport antenna around an at least partially enclosed volume (para [0046] and [0048]), and outputs signals,
wherein the receiver system (Figure 13) receives the signals output by the antenna array, and outputs digitized records (para [0048]),
wherein the estimator “system” receives the digitized records from the receiver system, calculates digitized SoI records, uses them to compute characteristics of the SoI including an estimated AoA for the SoI, which it outputs along with other characteristics specified in the configuration and filtering parameters (para [0048]), and
wherein the RF emitter characterization system outputs a characterization of a signal that includes characteristics specified in the configuration and filtering parameters (para [0154]).
Regarding claim 15, McCorkle (Figures 2B and 3) teaches a multiport antenna having a multiport antenna element (DPA) with at least two ports 340A and 340B, the antenna element comprising two or more conductive pieces 305 and 310 with two or more ports physically distributed around the two or more conductive pieces, each port having two terminals, a first terminal and a second terminal, wherein each port’s first terminal is connected to one conductive piece, and each port’s second terminal is connected to a different conductive piece, and at least two of the ports form current loops through each other via their connection to the two or more conductive pieces, the two or more conductive elements being arranged around a center axis of the multiport antenna with their respective longitudinal sections together defining a circular periphery of the multiport antenna around an at least partially enclosed volume (para [0048]).
Regarding claim 16, as applied to claim 15, McCorkle (Figure 11, para [0122]) teaches that each current loop has an axis, the axis being perpendicular to the plane centered on the loop and containing the at least two ports.
Regarding claim 17, as applied to claim 15, McCorkle (Figure 11, para [0122]) teaches that the current loops are H-field sensing current loops having a current flowing through the same shared conductive pieces and across the same shared terminals of the same set of physically distributed ports, that are sensing E-fields, the E-fields inducing a voltage across those same ports.
Regarding claim 18, as applied to claim 15, McCorkle (Figure 2B) further comprising a second multiport antenna element (bottom antenna element) with at least two second multiport antenna element ports 340A and 340B (Figure 3, same configuration as top multiport antenna element), the second multiport antenna element antenna element comprising two or more second multiport antenna element conductive pieces 305 and 310 with two or more second multiport antenna element ports physically distributed around the two or more second multiport antenna element conductive pieces, each second multiport antenna element port having two terminals, a first terminal and a second terminal, wherein each port’s first terminal is connected to one second multiport antenna element conductive piece, and each port’s second terminal is connected to a different second multiport antenna element conductive piece, and at least two of the ports form second multiport antenna element current loops through each other via their connection to the two or more conductive pieces, the second multiport antenna element being oriented to be capable of sensing EM field components not sensed by the multiport antenna element to permit unambiguous direction finding on any polarization wave from any angle (para [0048]).
Regarding claim 19, McCorkle (Figures 2B and 3) teaches a multiport antenna comprising a first multiport antenna element 305 and a second multiport antenna element 310, wherein each of the first multiport antenna element and a second multiport antenna element senses two E-field components and two H field components, the first multiport antenna element and the second multiport antenna element being arranged to define an at least partially enclosed volume (para [0048] and [0063]).
Regarding claim 20, as applied to claim 19, McCorkle (Figure 2b) teaches that the second multiport antenna element is oriented perpendicularly to the multiport antenna element which would be considered to the second multiport antenna element being oriented to sense EM field components not sensed by the multiport antenna element to permit unambiguous direction finding on any polarization wave from any angle.
Regarding claim 21, as applied to claim 19, McCorkle (para [0002]) teaches that the multiport antenna is dimensioned and configured to fit within a payload compartment of an unmanned aerial vehicle.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-14 and 22-25 are 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:
Regarding claim 3, McCorkle fails to further teach that the estimator uses an array manifold.
Claims 4-14 and 22-25 would have been found allowable for at least the reason for depending, either directly or indirectly, on claim 3.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. McCorkle et al (US 2021/0098881) discloses an RF emitter characterization system comprising a multiport antenna.
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/HOANG V NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2845