DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
1. The instant application No. 18757048 has claims 1-20 are pending.
2 The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Double Patenting
The nonstatutory double patenting rejection is based on a judicially created doctrine grounded in public policy (a policy reflected in the statute) so as to prevent the unjustified or improper timewise extension of the “right to exclude” granted by a patent and to prevent possible harassment by multiple assignees. A nonstatutory double patenting rejection is appropriate where the conflicting claims are not identical, but at least one examined application claim is not patentably distinct from the reference claim(s) because the examined application claim is either anticipated by, or would have been obvious over, the reference claim(s). See, e.g., In re Berg, 140 F.3d 1428, 46 USPQ2d 1226 (Fed. Cir. 1998); In re Goodman, 11 F.3d 1046, 29 USPQ2d 2010 (Fed. Cir. 1993); In re Longi, 759 F.2d 887, 225 USPQ 645 (Fed. Cir. 1985); In re Van Ornum, 686 F.2d 937, 214 USPQ 761 (CCPA 1982); In re Vogel, 422 F.2d 438, 164 USPQ 619 (CCPA 1970); In re Thorington, 418 F.2d 528, 163 USPQ 644 (CCPA 1969).
A timely filed terminal disclaimer in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(c) or 1.321(d) may be used to overcome an actual or provisional rejection based on nonstatutory double patenting provided the reference application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with the examined application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement. See MPEP § 717.02 for applications subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA as explained in MPEP § 2159. See MPEP § 2146 et seq. for applications not subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . A terminal disclaimer must be signed in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(b).
The filing of a terminal disclaimer by itself is not a complete reply to a nonstatutory double patenting (NSDP) rejection. A complete reply requires that the terminal disclaimer be accompanied by a reply requesting reconsideration of the prior Office action. Even where the NSDP rejection is provisional the reply must be complete. See MPEP § 804, subsection I.B.1. For a reply to a non-final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.111(a). For a reply to final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.113(c). A request for reconsideration while not provided for in 37 CFR 1.113(c) may be filed after final for consideration. See MPEP §§ 706.07(e) and 714.13.
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Claims 1, 3-4 and 8-9 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 12, 14 and 18 of U.S. Patent No. 11729633 in view of Jeon et al. (Pub. No. US 2022/0104233 A1; hereinafter Jeon).
Instant Application: 18757048
Patent No: 11729633
1. An electronically-steered flat-panel antenna system comprising: electronically-steered antenna hardware configured to generate at least first and second beams configured to be used to generate first and second links to first and second satellite networks; network routing hardware configured to communicate with a network control to support determining when to use the first and second satellite links; and a Coordinated Multi-point (CoMP) coordinator communicably coupled to the first and second satellite networks to coordinate routing of network traffic between the antenna and the first and second satellite networks.
12. A satellite communication network topology comprising: a single electronically steered flat-panel antenna capable of generating a plurality of beams;
3. The electronically-steered flat-panel antenna system of claim 1 wherein the CoMP coordinator is configured to perform load balancing with respect to the first and second satellite links to first and second satellites.
14. wherein the network control is operable to determine to route the network traffic through the second hub in response to determining a disruption condition exist with respect to the first link and causes routing of the network traffic with the second hub via the second link between the antenna and the second satellite using the second beam.
4. The electronically-steered flat-panel antenna system of claim 3 wherein the CoMP coordinator is configured to load balance between the first and second satellite links during failovers.
14. wherein the network control is operable to determine to route the network traffic through the second hub in response to determining a disruption condition exist with respect to the first link and causes routing of the network traffic with the second hub via the second link between the antenna and the second satellite using the second beam.
8. The electronically-steered flat-panel antenna system of claim 5 wherein the MWAN edge router is part of a user terminal that includes the electronically-steered antenna hardware.
18. a multi-wide area network (MWAN) edge router associated with the single electronically steered flat-panel antenna;
9. The electronically-steered flat-panel antenna system of claim 5 wherein the MWAN edge router and the SDWAN controller work together to maintain a network connection on secondary networks for protected fail over during line-of-sight (LOS) blockages or other outages.
18. a multi-wide area network (MWAN) edge router associated with the single electronically steered flat-panel antenna; and a software-defined wide area network (SDWAN) controller, the MWAN edge router and the SDWAN controller working together to maintain a network connection on second network for protected fail over during LOS blockages or other outages on the first network.
However, patent fails to disclose Coordinated Multi-point (CoMP) coordinator communicably coupled to the first and second satellite networks to coordinate routing of network traffic between the antenna and the first and second satellite networks
Jeon discloses Coordinated Multi-point (CoMP) coordinator communicably coupled to the first and second satellite networks to coordinate routing of network traffic between the antenna and the first and second satellite networks. (20220104233-See ¶0079, NTN refers to the networks, or segments of networks, using an airborne or space-borne vehicle to embark a transmission equipment relay node or base station; See 0093, For the case of CoMP between multiple spot beams of more than one satellite, the frequency gap between the received signals at a UE will be UE-specific)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify antenna system using multiple satellite networks to transmit data to include using CoMP to route traffic through the satellites. The motivation to combine is CoMP takes advantage of multiple geographical transmission points to improve the link performance (See 0081).
Claims 1-20 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1-2, 4-9, 11, 13-15 and 17 of U.S. Patent No. 12035150. Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because both instant application and patent discloses using multiple satellite networks to route data through.
Instant Application: 18757048
Patent No: 12035150
1. An electronically-steered flat-panel antenna system comprising: electronically-steered antenna hardware configured to generate at least first and second beams configured to be used to generate first and second links to first and second satellite networks; network routing hardware configured to communicate with a network control to support determining when to use the first and second satellite links; and a Coordinated Multi-point (CoMP) coordinator communicably coupled to the first and second satellite networks to coordinate routing of network traffic between the antenna and the first and second satellite networks.
1. A satellite communication network topology comprising: a single electronically steered flat-panel antenna capable of generating a plurality of beams;
2. The electronically-steered flat-panel antenna system of claim 1 wherein the COMP coordinator is configured to schedule windows for data transmission across the first and second satellite links.
2. the single electronically steered flat-panel antenna, and wherein the COMP is configured to schedule windows for data transmission across the first and second satellite links.
3. The electronically-steered flat-panel antenna system of claim 1 wherein the CoMP coordinator is configured to perform load balancing with respect to the first and second satellite links to first and second satellites.
4. wherein the CoMP coordinator is configured to perform load balancing with respect to the first and second satellite links to first and second satellites.
4. The electronically-steered flat-panel antenna system of claim 3 wherein the CoMP coordinator is configured to load balance between the first and second satellite links during failovers.
5. the CoMP coordinator is configured to load balance between the first and second satellite links during failovers.
5. The electronically-steered flat-panel antenna system of claim 1 wherein the network routing hardware includes a multi-wide area network (MWAN) edge router and further comprising a software-defined wide area network (SDWAN) controller communicably coupled to the first and second satellite networks and configured to cooperate with the MWAN edge router to route traffic over each of the first and second satellite links.
6. software-defined wide area network (SDWAN) controller, and wherein the network control includes a multi-wide area network (MWAN) edge router associated with the single electronically steered flat-panel antenna, and the MWAN edge router and SDWAN controller are configured to route traffic over each of the first and second satellite links according to one or more business rules
6. The electronically-steered flat-panel antenna system of claim 5 wherein the MWAN edge router and SDWAN controller are configured to route traffic over each of the first and second satellite links according to one or more business rules.
9. MWAN edge router and SDWAN controller are configured to route traffic over each of the first and second satellite links according to one or more business rules.
7. The electronically-steered flat-panel antenna system of claim 6 wherein, according to the one or more business rules, the MWAN edge router is configured to divide outgoing traffic among the first and second satellite links and the SDWAN controller is configured to divide incoming traffic among the first and second satellite links.
8. wherein, according to the one or more business rules, the MWAN edge router is configured to divide outgoing traffic from the user terminal among the first and second satellite links and the SDWAN controller is configured to divide incoming traffic for the user terminal among the first and second satellite links.
8. The electronically-steered flat-panel antenna system of claim 5 wherein the MWAN edge router is part of a user terminal that includes the electronically-steered antenna hardware.
7. The satellite communication network topology of claim 6 wherein the MWAN edge router is part of a user terminal that includes the single electronically steered flat-panel antenna.
9. The electronically-steered flat-panel antenna system of claim 5 wherein the MWAN edge router and the SDWAN controller work together to maintain a network connection on secondary networks for protected fail over during line-of-sight (LOS) blockages or other outages.
13, he MWAN edge router and the SDWAN controller working together to maintain a network connection on one or more secondary networks for protected fail over during an outage on a first network.
14. The satellite communication network topology of claim 13 wherein the outage includes a line-of-sight (LOS) blockage on the first network.
10. The electronically-steered flat-panel antenna system of claim 1 wherein electronically-steered antenna hardware is configured to generate the first and second beams simultaneously by performing beam splitting to maintain the first and second satellite links for communication between the electronically steered antenna hardware and the first and second satellite networks at the same time.
15. the single electronically steered flat-panel antenna is operable to generate the first and second beams simultaneously by beam splitting to maintain the first and second links for communication between the single electronically steered flat-panel antenna and first and second satellites at the same time.
11. The electronically-steered flat-panel antenna system of claim 10 wherein the electronically steered flat-panel hardware is configured to perform beam splitting as part of receive operations when receiving data via the first and second satellite links.
18. the single electronically steered flat-panel antenna performs beam splitting as part of receive operations when receiving data via the two or more satellite links.
12. An electronically-steered flat-panel antenna system comprising: electronically-steered antenna hardware configured to generate at least first and second beams configured to be used to generate first and second links to first and second satellite networks; network routing hardware, including a multi-wide area network (MWAN) edge router, configured to communicate with a network control to support determining when to use the first and second satellite links; and a software-defined wide area network (SDWAN) controller communicably coupled to the first and second satellite networks and configured to cooperate with the MWAN edge router to route traffic over each of the first and second satellite links.
9. A satellite communication network topology comprising: a single electronically steered flat-panel antenna capable of generating a plurality of beams; a
13. The electronically-steered flat-panel antenna system of claim 12 wherein the MWAN edge router and SDWAN controller are configured to route traffic over each of the first and second satellite links according to one or more business rules.
9. wherein the MWAN edge router and SDWAN controller are configured to route traffic over each of the first and second satellite links according to one or more business rules.
14. The electronically-steered flat-panel antenna system of claim 13 wherein, according to the one or more business rules, the MWAN edge router is configured to divide outgoing traffic among the first and second satellite links and the SDWAN controller is configured to divide incoming traffic among the first and second satellite links.
11. The satellite communication network topology of claim 10 wherein, according to the one or more business rules, the MWAN edge router is configured to divide outgoing traffic from the user terminal among the first and second satellite links and the SDWAN controller is configured to divide incoming traffic for the user terminal among the first and second satellite links.
15. The electronically-steered flat-panel antenna system of claim 13 wherein the MWAN edge router is part of a user terminal that includes the electronically-steered antenna hardware.
7. The satellite communication network topology of claim 6 wherein the MWAN edge router is part of a user terminal that includes the single electronically steered flat-panel antenna.
16. The electronically-steered flat-panel antenna system of claim 12 wherein the MWAN edge router and the SDWAN controller work together to maintain a network connection on secondary networks for protected fail over during line-of-sight (LOS) blockages or other outages.
13. The satellite communication network topology of claim 9 wherein the MWAN edge router and the SDWAN controller working together to maintain a network connection on one or more secondary networks for protected fail over during an outage on a first network.
14. The satellite communication network topology of claim 13 wherein the outage includes a line-of-sight (LOS) blockage on the first network.
17. The electronically-steered flat-panel antenna system of claim 12 further comprising a software-defined modem to switch between the first and second satellite links.
2. The satellite communication network topology of claim 1 further comprising a user terminal including a plurality of soft modems and the single electronically steered flat-panel antenna, and wherein the COMP is configured to schedule windows for data transmission across the first and second satellite links.
18. The electronically-steered flat-panel antenna system of claim 17 wherein the software-defined modem switches between the first and second satellite links to improve quality of service (QOS).
13. The satellite communication network topology of claim 9 wherein the MWAN edge router and the SDWAN controller working together to maintain a network connection on one or more secondary networks for protected fail over during an outage on a first network.
19. The electronically-steered flat-panel antenna system of claim 17 wherein the software-defined modem switches between the first and second satellite links based on one or more network efficiency goals.
17. performing fast switching by the single electronically steered flat-panel antenna by repointing the single electronically steered flat-panel antenna from one of the two or more different satellites to another of the two or more different satellites when data is available.
20. The electronically-steered flat-panel antenna system of claim 12 wherein the electronically steered flat-panel hardware is operable to generate the first and second beams one at a time and toggles between use of first and second beams for the first and second satellite links when switching occurs between the first and second satellite links to communicate the network traffic between the electronically steered flat-panel hardware and the first and second satellites.
17. wherein using two or more beams comprises generating the two or more beams simultaneously by performing beam splitting to maintain the two or more links for communication between the single electronically steered flat-panel antenna and two or more different satellites at the same time, and performing fast switching by the single electronically steered flat-panel antenna by repointing the single electronically steered flat-panel antenna from one of the two or more different satellites to another of the two or more different satellites when data is available.
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 and 10-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Campbell et al. (Patent No. US 10,566,683 B1; hereinafter Campbell) in view of Jeon et al. (Pub. No. US 2022/0104233 A1; hereinafter Jeon).
Regarding claim 1, Campbell discloses an electronically-steered flat-panel antenna system comprising: electronically-steered antenna hardware configured to generate at least first and second beams configured to be used to generate first and second links to first and second satellite networks; (see figure 1 and column 1, lines 1-50: the terminal is located on the airplane; figure 2, there is an antenna assembly 100 on the aircraft and column 4, line 60-column 5, line 3: In some embodiments, the antenna assembly 100 is a multi-panel AESA antenna system for the communication system 50 that is installed on an outside skin of the aircraft 12 (FIG. 1). In some embodiments, the antenna assembly 100 provides a large aperture antenna constructed of multiple Electronically Scanned Array (ESA) panels. The multiple panel design of the antenna assembly 100, with single board element and amplifier design, provides for a large combined aperture without the aerodynamic, weight, manufacturing, and maintenance issues inherent with large panels in some embodiments; column 5, lines 14-29 In some embodiments, the satellite communication system 50 is configured to support links to multiple constellations simultaneously or near simultaneously, regardless of protocol constraints that may prevent fast beam-hopping. In some embodiments, the satellite communication system 50 is configured to support links simultaneously (whether using two satellite networks or one) using a multi-modem terminal with channel-bonding to improve overall throughput on the aircraft 12. The multi-modem terminal can service the same network to aggregate more channels or service different networks. In some embodiments, channel bonding is used to connect to the OneWeb network using the GEO satellite 20 and another network using the GEO satellite 30A. In some embodiments, half of a user's data is pulled from one network using the beam 48 and half of the user's data is pulled from another network using the beam 44) network routing hardware configured to communicate with a network control to support determining when to use the first and second satellite links; (Column 5 Lines 14-29, : In some embodiments, the satellite communication system 50 is configured to support links simultaneously (whether using two satellite networks or one) using a multi-modem terminal with channel-bonding to improve overall throughput on the aircraft 12)
However, Campbell fails to disclose Coordinated Multi-point (CoMP) coordinator communicably coupled to the first and second satellite networks to coordinate routing of network traffic between the antenna and the first and second satellite networks
Jeon discloses Coordinated Multi-point (CoMP) coordinator communicably coupled to the first and second satellite networks to coordinate routing of network traffic between the antenna and the first and second satellite networks. (20220104233-See ¶0079, NTN refers to the networks, or segments of networks, using an airborne or space-borne vehicle to embark a transmission equipment relay node or base station; See 0093, For the case of CoMP between multiple spot beams of more than one satellite, the frequency gap between the received signals at a UE will be UE-specific)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify antenna system using multiple satellite networks to transmit data to include using CoMP to route traffic through the satellites. The motivation to combine is CoMP takes advantage of multiple geographical transmission points to improve the link performance (See 0081).
Regarding claim 10, Campbell discloses electronically-steered antenna hardware is configured to generate the first and second beams simultaneously by performing beam splitting to maintain the first and second satellite links for communication between the electronically steered antenna hardware and the first and second satellite networks at the same time. (10566683-Col 2 Lines 1-9, The transceiver is configured to provide a first transmit signal for a first beam to a first satellite constellation system and a second transmit signal for a second beam to a second satellite constellation system. The transceiver is also configured to receive simultaneously a first receive signal from the first satellite constellation system and a second receive signal from the second satellite constellation system.)
Regarding claim 11, Campbell discloses the electronically steered flat-panel hardware (Col 4 Lines 60-68, the antenna assembly 100 is a multi-panel AESA antenna system for the communication system 50 that is installed on an outside skin of the aircraft 12 (FIG. 1).) is configured to perform beam splitting as part of receive operations when receiving data via the first and second satellite links. (10566683-Col 2 Lines 1-9, The transceiver is configured to provide a first transmit signal for a first beam to a first satellite constellation system and a second transmit signal for a second beam to a second satellite constellation system. The transceiver is also configured to receive simultaneously a first receive signal from the first satellite constellation system and a second receive signal from the second satellite constellation system.)
Claim(s) 2 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Trutna et al. ( US Patent 10659148)
Regarding claim 2, Campbell in view of Jeon fails to disclose the COMP coordinator is configured to schedule windows for data transmission across the first and second satellite links.
Trutna discloses the COMP coordinator is configured to schedule windows for data transmission across the first and second satellite links. (10659148-Col. 14 lines 20-24, he scheduling optimizer 408 can allocate portions of transits to different satellites or potentially overlap communication to multiple satellites which are located in the same part of the sky during their transits; Col. 14 Lines 14-18, the scheduling optimizer 408 may calculate all possible transits for every possible satellite 102 and ground station 108 combination, along with the associated available windows of communication)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify transmitting data through satellites in different networks to include scheduling windows are used for transmission of data through satellite networks. The motivation to combine is the optimizer module 227 may rely on historical data and/or future projections to provide an optimized and/or efficiency-enhanced schedule of commands (Col. 7 lines 43-45).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Radko et al. (Pub. No. US 2020/0008122 A1)-See 0087, nt, the antenna is an electronically steered flat-panel antenna and is used by generating an electronically steered antenna beam pattern for beamforming, sending the beam pattern to an antenna aperture of an electronically steered flat-panel antenna having a set of radio-frequency (RF) radiating antenna elements (e.g., surface scattering metamaterial antenna elements, such as, for example, but not limited to, those described below), and generating a receive beam with the RF radiating antenna elements based on the antenna pattern for the current communication connection and generating at least one additional receive beam with the antenna to track a second satellite (or the same first satellite) simultaneously while continuing to generate the receive beam pointing to and tracking the first satellite. In one embodiment, when the multi-beam mode is in a dual-beam mode, the antenna generates two receive beams for pointing to and tracking two satellites, where the two satellites include the satellite to which the antenna was pointing and tracking during the previous single-beam configuration and a new satellite from which the antenna acquired a signal and began tracking with the second beam while in the multi-beam configuration.
Rohaar et al. (Pub. No. US 2019/0379446 A1)-See 0155, that may optionally include prior to generating the first beam to track the first satellite, operating the electronically steered flat-panel antenna in a single-beam configuration in which the electronically steered flat-panel antenna is generating a single beam, including generating a third beam to track the second satellite using a first set of RF radiating antenna elements on an antenna aperture of the electronically steered flat-panel antenna, the first set of RF radiating antenna elements including RF radiating elements of a second set of RF radiating elements on the antenna aperture for generating the first beam and RF radiating elements of a third set of RF radiating elements on the antenna aperture for generating the second beam; and determining to switch the electronically steered flat-panel antenna to a two-beam configuration in which the electronically steered flat-panel antenna is generating the first and second beams.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TEJIS DAYA whose telephone number is (571)270-7817. The examiner can normally be reached 6:30-4:30.
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/Tejis Daya/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2472
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