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 .
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 1-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Kawaguchi et al (US 2020/0,380,326; hereinafter Kawaguchi).
Regarding claim 1, Kawaguchi disclose an integrated circuit (IC) for Bluetooth communication (¶ [0073]; Figs. 3-4), comprising:
an antenna unit (304, 306) that receives a first radio frequency (RF) signal (e.g. RFID signal) and a second RF signal (e.g. BLE signal) from an external terminal (e.g. devices 110, 104, 102, 130, 150) (paras. [0149], [0165], [0127], [0123], [0129]);
a power harvesting unit (energy harvester 308, 410) that generates power based on the first RF signal and the second RF signal (paras. [0150]-[0151]);
a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag (RFID transceiver/tag) that receives issuance data and initialization data (e.g. advertising packet, identifying/identifier information, and command/control data/structure in the BLE advertising packet to operate in the first/BLE mode or EPC header information to operate second/RFID mode), included in the first RF signal (RFID signal) through the antenna unit (306) (Figs. 1, 3-4; paras. [0127], [0142], [0149], [0147],
[0157], [0165], [0167]-[0169]);
a memory unit (424) that is initialized by the initialization data, receives the issuance data from the RFID tag, and stores the issuance data (paras. [0167]-[0168]);
a Bluetooth low energy (BLE) transmitting unit (BLE-enabled transmitter 310) that generates an output signal based on the issuance data and transmits the output signal to the external terminal through the antenna unit (302) (paras. [0123], [0156]-[0157], [0165], [0167], [0170]-[0171]);
a control unit (426) that loads the issuance data from the memory unit (424) and controls the BLE transmitting unit based on the issuance data (paras. [0156]-[0157], [0167], [0170]-[0171]); and
a power storage unit (energy storage device, e.g. a storage capacitor 414) that stores power generated from the power harvesting unit (paras. [0151], [0166]).
Regarding claim 2, Kawaguchi disclose the integrated circuit of claim 1, wherein the antenna unit includes: a first antenna unit (306) that receives the first RF signal from the external terminal; a second antenna unit (304) that receives the second RF signal from the external terminal; and a third antenna unit (302) that transmits the output signal (Figs. 3, 4; paras. [0149], [0165]).
Regarding claim 3, Kawaguchi disclose the integrated circuit of claim 1, wherein a frequency band of the first RF signal is a frequency band for RFID communication (RFID; paras. [0165], [0149]), a frequency band of the second RF signal is the frequency band for Bluetooth communication (Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE)); paras. [0165], [0149]), and a frequency band of the output signal (output signal at antenna 302) is a frequency band of the second RF signal (BLE signal; ¶ [0165], [0149]).
Regarding claim 4, Kawaguchi discloses the integrated circuit of claim 1, wherein a frequency band of the first RF signal is 900 MHz (first RF signal is an RFID signal on the 900 MHz frequency band), and a frequency band of the second RF signal is 2.4 GHz (second RF signal is BLE signal on 2.4GHz frequency band) (¶ [0165]; Figs. 3-4).
Regarding claim 5, Kawaguchi discloses the integrated circuit of claim 1, wherein the issuance data includes advertising (ADV) data including device information and BLE control data including transmission information (e.g. identifying/identifier information, and command data/structure in the BLE advertising packet to operate in the first/BLE mode or advertising packet containing EPC header and EPC command information to operate second/RFID mode; paras. [0127], [0156]-[0157], [0313]).
Regarding claim 6, Kawaguchi disclose the integrated circuit of claim 2, wherein the first antenna unit (306) receives the first RF signal from an RFID reader (RFID reader 154) of the external terminal (150) (paras. [0129], [0195], [0165]; Figs. 1, 4), the second antenna unit receives the second RF signal from a BLE transceiver unit of the external terminal (152, 110) (BLE-enabled transceiver of another BLE-enabled device; paras. [0127], [0123]), and the third antenna unit (302) transmits the output signal to the BLE transceiver unit ([0165], [0127]; Figs. 1, 4).
Regarding claim 7, Kawaguchi discloses a Bluetooth communication method comprising:
receiving (via antenna 306 at RFID radio/transmitting and receiving unit) a first radio frequency (RF) signal (e.g. RFID signal) from an external terminal (154, 110) (Figs. 1, 3-4; paras. [0127], [0142], [0149], [0147], [0157], [0165], [0169]);
generating and storing power (via energy harvesting module 308 and energy storage unit 414) using the first RF signal (RFID signal) (paras. [0150]-[0151], [0166]; Figs. 3, 4);
storing issuance data (e.g. identifying/identifier information, and command data/structure in the BLE advertising packet to operate in the first/BLE mode or EPC header information to operate second/RFID mode), in the first RF signal in a memory unit (non-volatile memory 424) (paras. [0167]-[0169]);
receiving a second RF signal (BLE signal) from the external terminal (152, 110) (paras. [0127], [0123]);
generating and storing the power (via energy harvesting module 308 and energy storage unit 414) using the second RF signal (BLE signal in the first/BLE mode) (paras. [0150]-[0151], [0156]-[0157], [0166]; Figs. 3, 4);
loading the issuance data from the memory unit (NVM 424) (reading the identifier/identifying information and/or sensor data from the NVM 424; paras. [0167]-[0169]);
generating an output signal (output signal from transmitter 310 to antenna 302 or from transmitter 312 to antenna 306) based on the issuance data (paras. [0156]-[0157], [0165], [0149]); and
transmitting (via antenna 302) the output signal to the external terminal (150, 110) using the same frequency band (BLE frequency band) as the second RF signal (BLE signal)
(¶ [0165]).
Regarding claim 8, Kawaguchi discloses the Bluetooth communication method of claim 7, wherein the first RF signal (e.g. RFID signal) is received through a first antenna unit (306), the second RF signal (e.g. BLE signal) is received through a second antenna unit (304), and the output signal (BLE response signal) is transmitted through a third antenna unit (302) (Fig. 4, paras. [0165], [0149]).
Regarding claim 9, Kawaguchi discloses the Bluetooth communication method of claim 7, wherein a frequency band of the first RF signal is a frequency band for radio frequency identification (RFID) communication (RFID signal at 900 MHz band), and a frequency band of the second RF signal is the frequency band for Bluetooth communication (BLE signal on the 2.4GHz band) (¶ [0165]).
Regarding claim 10, Kawaguchi discloses the Bluetooth communication method of claim 7, wherein a frequency band of the first RF signal (RFID) is 900 MHz, and a frequency band of the second RF signal (BLE) is 2.4 GHz (¶ [0165]).
Regarding claim 11, Kawaguchi discloses the Bluetooth communication method of claim 7, wherein the issuance data includes advertising (ADV) data including device information and BLE control data including transmission information (e.g. identifying/identifier information, and command data/structure in the BLE advertising packet to operate in the first/BLE mode or advertising packet containing EPC header and EPC command information to operate second/RFID mode; paras. [0127], [0156]-[0157], [0313]).
Regarding claim 12, Kawaguchi discloses the Bluetooth communication method of claim 11, wherein the generating of the output signal based on the issuance data includes performing a parameter setup process for generating the output signal based on the ADV data (generating the BLE response output signal based on BLE advertising packets to operate in the first (BLE) mode, including identifying information and command structure embedded into the advertising data field, wherein the control unit 426 performs the parameter setup process, e.g. the state machine 426 transmits to the GFSK modulator 405 that generate the output signal, one or more of identifying information, e.g. an EPC ID, and sensor data in a format that conforms to BLE standards, and the GFSK modulator 405 reads the identifying information and/or sensor data from the non-volatile memory 424 based on the command structure and identifying information in the advertising data to generate the BLE response output signal, paras. [0127], [0156]-[0157], [0167]-[0168]).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
- Park (US 2023/0,246,490) discloses a wireless power receiver, which receives a wireless power from a wireless power transmitter having a power pickup unit configured to receive the wireless power from the wireless power transmitter by magnetic coupling with the wireless power transmitter at an operating frequency and a controller configured to communicate with the wireless power transmitter using at least one of in band communication and Bluetooth communication using the operating frequency and control the reception of the wireless power.
- Goodchild (US 2022/0,051,065) disclose a charging device including a radio interface configured for transmitting and receiving radio frequency identification (RFID) signals, the controller may be configured to transmit an interrogation signal to RFID tags through the radio interface when a chargeable device is initially placed on or near a surface of the wireless charger.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LANA N LE whose telephone number is (571)272-7891. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:00am-5:00pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Wesley Kim can be reached at (571) 272-7867. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/LANA N LE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2648
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