DETAILED ACTION
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 2-16 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1-9, 12-17 of U.S. Patent No. 12,044,788. Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because even though there are variations in the wording of the claims, the differences in the claims would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made (i.e. Processing circuitry and receiver as claimed reads on the control circuitry of the electronic device of the US Patent 12,044,788).
Application 18/777,049
Claim 2. Processing circuitry comprising:
one or more processors configured to:
identify a phase difference based on first and second radio-frequency signals,
identify an angle of arrival value for the first and second radio-frequency signals based on the identified phase difference,
identify an offset value based on the identified phase difference and a predetermined set of phase difference values, and
generate a corrected angle of arrival value
by adjusting the angle of arrival value using the identified offset value.
Claim 15. The processing circuitry defined in claim 2, wherein the first radio-frequency signal is received by a first antenna and the second radio-frequency signal is received by a second antenna.
Claim 16. The processing circuitry defined in claim 2 further comprising a receiver configured to receive the first and second radio-frequency signals.
Claim 3. The processing circuitry defined in claim 2, wherein the predetermined set of phase difference values comprises a plurality of curves of phase difference values, each
curve corresponding to a respective impedance loading condition.
Claim 4. The processing circuitry defined in claim 3, wherein the one or more processors is configured to identify the offset value by identifying a curve in the plurality of curves that matches the identified phase difference.
Claim 5. The processing circuitry defined in claim 3, wherein the respective impedance loading conditions include a condition indicative of loading by a removable case for an electronic device.
Claim 6. The processing circuitry defined in claim 3, wherein the respective impedance loading conditions include a condition indicative of loading by a body part.
Claim 7. The processing circuitry defined in claim 2, wherein the first and second radio-frequency signals comprise ultra-wideband signals at a frequency between 5.0 GHz and 8.3 GHz.
Claim 8. The processing circuitry defined in claim 2, wherein the one or more processors are configured to identify an additional phase difference based on the second radio-
frequency signal and a third radio-frequency signal, the identified angle of arrival value being for the first, second, and third radio-frequency signals and based on the phase
difference and the additional phase difference.
Claim 9. The processing circuitry defined in claim 8, wherein the angle of arrival value for the first, second, and third radio-frequency signals comprises
a three-dimensional angle of arrival value indicative of an azimuth angle and an elevation angle.
Claim 10. The processing circuitry defined in claim 2, wherein the offset value is indicative of one or more shifts in phase based on a presence of an external object.
Claim 11. The processing circuitry defined in claim 2, wherein the one or more processors are configured to determine reception of the first and second radio-frequency signals in a non-free-space environment prior to identifying the offset value.
Claim 12. The processing circuitry defined in claim 11, wherein the one or more processors are configured to determine reception of the first and second radio-frequency signals in the non-free-space environment by comparing the
identified phase difference to a predetermined free-space phase difference value.
Claim 13. The processing circuitry defined in claim 12, wherein the one or more processors are configured to store the predetermined free-space phase difference value and the
predetermined set of phase difference values.
Claim 14. The processing circuitry defined in claim 2, wherein the one or more processors are configured to obtain a first phase measurement for the first radio-frequency signal and to obtaining a second phase measurement for the second radio-
frequency signal and
are configured to identify the phase difference by subtracting the second phase measurement from the first phase measurement.
U.S. Patent No. 12,044,788
Claim 1. An electronic device comprising: first and second antennas configured to receive radio-frequency signals; and
control circuitry coupled to the first and second antennas, wherein the control circuitry is configured to:
identify a phase difference between the radio-frequency signals received by the first antenna and the radio-frequency signals received by the second antenna,
identify an angle of arrival value for the radio-frequency signals based on the identified phase difference,
identify an offset value based on the identified phase difference and a predetermined set of phase difference values, and
generate a corrected angle of arrival value by adjusting the angle of arrival value using the identified offset value.
Claim 1 of the US Patent No. 12,044,788 above is also not patentably distinct from claim 15 as claimed.
Claim 1 of the US Patent No. 12,044,788 above is also not patentably distinct from claim 16 as claimed.
Claim 2. The electronic device defined in claim 1, wherein the predetermined set of phase difference values comprises a plurality of curves of phase difference values, each curve corresponding to a respective impedance loading condition for the first and second antennas.
Claim 3. The electronic device defined in claim 2, wherein the control circuitry is configured to identify the offset value by identifying a curve in the plurality of curves that matches the identified phase difference.
Claim 4. The electronic device defined in claim 2, wherein the respective impedance loading conditions include a condition indicative of the electronic device being loaded by a removable case for the electronic device.
Claim 5. The electronic device defined in claim 2, wherein the respective impedance loading conditions include a condition indicative of one of the first and second antennas being loaded by a body part.
Claim 6. The electronic device defined in claim 1, wherein the radio-frequency signals comprise ultra-wideband signals at a
frequency between 5.0 GHz and 8.3 GHz.
Claim 7. The electronic device defined in claim 1 further comprising: a third antenna configured to receive the radio-frequency signals, wherein the control circuitry is configured to: identify an additional phase difference between the radio-frequency signals received by the second antenna and the radio-frequency signals received by the third antenna, the angle of arrival value for the radio-frequency signals being further associated with the identified additional phase difference.
Claim 8. The electronic device defined in claim 7, wherein the angle of arrival value for the radio-frequency signals comprises a three-dimensional angle of arrival value for the radio-frequency signals.
Claim 9. The electronic device defined in claim 8, wherein the control circuitry is configured to identify the three-dimensional angle of arrival value based on the identified phase difference between the radio-frequency signals received by the first antenna and the radio-frequency signals received by the second antenna and based on the identified additional phase difference between the radio-frequency signals received by the second antenna and the radio-frequency signals received by the third antenna, the three-dimensional angle of arrival value being indicative of an azimuth angle and an elevation angle.
Claim 12. The electronic device defined in claim 1, wherein the offset value is indicative of one or more shifts in phase values, based on a presence of an external object.
Claim 13. The electronic device defined in claim 1, wherein the control circuitry is configured to identify information indicative of the first and second antennas operating in a non-free-space environment prior to identifying the offset value.
Claim 14. The electronic device defined in claim 13, wherein the control circuitry is configured to identify the information indicative of the first and second antennas operating in the non-free-space environment by comparing the identified phase difference between the radio-frequency signals received by the first antenna and the radio-frequency signals received by the second antenna with a predetermined free-space phase difference associated with the first and second antennas.
Claim 15. The electronic device defined in claim 14, wherein the control circuitry is configured to store the predetermined free-space phase difference and the predetermined set of phase difference values.
Claim 16. The electronic device defined in claim 1 further comprising: phase measurement circuitry coupled to the first and second antennas and configured to generate a first phase measurement based on the radio-frequency signals received by the first antenna and to generate a second phase measurement based on the radio-frequency signals received by the second antenna.
Claim 17. The electronic device defined in claim 16, wherein the control circuitry is configured to identify the phase difference between the radio-frequency signals received by the first antenna and the radio-frequency signals received by the second antenna by subtracting the second phase measurement from the first phase measurement.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-16 are allowed over prior art. However, double patenting rejection must be overcome.
Claims 17-21 allowed.
Conclusion
The cited prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
US 2023/0176171 discloses an electronic device includes a processor configured to: receive a Radio Frequency (RF) signal of a designated frequency band from an external electronic device by using at least two antennas among the multiple antennas; acquire first angle-of-arrival data of the RF signal, based on at least a part of the RF signal; determine a posture of the electronic device based on tilt information of the electronic device provided from a sensor module; based on the electronic device that is determined to be tilted in the first direction or the second direction; identify a compensation value corresponding to tilt information of the electronic device; acquire second angle-of-arrival data by applying the compensation value to the first angle-of-arrival data; and determine a location of the external electronic device based on the second angle-of-arrival data.
US 2023/0168329 discloses an estimation method includes: receiving, by first and second antennas, radio waves including reflected radio waves that are radio waves transmitted from a transmitting antenna and reflected by a target; calculating a phase difference between first received radio waves that are radio waves received by the first antenna in the receiving and second received radio waves that are radio waves received by the second antenna in the receiving; calculating an amount of correction based on the amplitude of the first received radio waves and the amplitude of the second received radio waves, adding the calculated amount of correction to the phase difference calculated in the calculating of the phase difference, and obtaining a corrected phase difference resulting from correction of the phase difference; and estimating, based on the corrected phase difference and the distance between the first and second antennas, a direction in which the target is located.
US 2022/0390541 discloses a mobile device may receive, from a transmitting device, the signal by a plurality of antennas. The mobile device may measure one or more phase differences among the signal received at the plurality of antennas. The mobile device may determine a first set of possible values for the angle of arrival that are consistent with the one or more phase differences. The mobile device may measure one or more signal values using one or more sensors of the mobile device. The mobile device may for each of the first set of possible values, determining a confidence score based on the one or more signal values. The mobile device may select, based on the confidence scores, one of the first set of possible values as the angle of arrival.
US 11,751,008 discloses a method includes obtaining channel information, range information, and angle of arrival (AoA) information based on wireless signals communicated between an electronic device and an external electronic device. The method also includes generating an initial prediction of a presence of the external electronic device relative to a field of view (FoV) of the electronic device based on the channel information and at least one of the range information or the AoA information. The initial prediction includes an indication of whether the external electronic device is within the FoV or outside the FoV of the electronic device. The method further includes performing, using a tracking filter, a smoothing operation on the range information and the AoA information. Additionally, the method includes determining that the external electronic device is within the FoV of the electronic device based on the AoA information, the smoothed AoA information, and the initial prediction.
US 11,768,266 discloses antenna configuration in an antenna array of limited array size and channel state information (CSI) collection and analysis, to improve accuracy of angle of arrival (AoA) estimations for localizing a client device's position. Signals can be received from groups of antennas and CSI data can be generated from the signals. The CSI data can be combined, where the combined CSI data represents CSI data measurements of multiple signals received from a plurality of antenna subsets, without requiring physical installation of additional antennas to the limited antenna array to make the CSI data measurements. The angle of arrival (AoA) of the signals is estimated based on the combined CSI, and the AoA estimation can be used to determine the client device's location, and for other location services, such as identifying a person's location, tracking and managing inventory of objects, commute prediction, and the like.
US 2020/0386844 discloses a method for determining an angle of arrival (AOA) of a received signal is disclosed, comprising: generating a baseband information signal by mixing a received signal with a local oscillator (LO) signal, the received signal being an in-phase signal and quadrature signal uncorrelated with each other and derived from different input data sets; obtaining baseband signal samples of the baseband information signal having an in-phase signal sample and a quadrature signal sample; determining a transmitter phase offset based on an estimated correlation between the in-phase signal samples and the quadrature signal samples; performing a plurality of phase measurements using a plurality of antennas to obtain a plurality of phase measurements; correcting the plurality of phase measurements based on the transmitter phase offset to produce a plurality of corrected phase measurement; and calculating an AOA of the received signal based on the difference between the plurality of corrected phase measurements.
US 11,320,509 discloses an electronic device may use information about the location of nearby devices to make sharing with those devices more intuitive for a user. The electronic device may include control circuitry, wireless circuitry including first and second antennas, and motion sensor circuitry. The control circuitry may determine the location of a nearby electronic device by calculating the angle of arrival of signals that are transmitted by the nearby electronic device. To obtain a complete, unambiguous angle of arrival solution, the electronic device may be moved into different positions during angle of arrival measurement operations. At each position, the control circuitry may calculate a phase difference associated with the received signals. Motion sensor circuitry may gather motion data as the electronic device is moved into the different positions. The control circuitry may use the received antenna signals and the motion data to determine the complete angle of arrival solution.
US 2013/0271323 discloses a direction finding apparatus includes: a first and second antennas configured to receive radio signals respectively; a travel guide unit mechanically coupled with the first and second antennas and configured to provide a travel path along which the first and second antennas are linearly movable; a driver configured to provide a driving force for linearly moving at least one antenna of the first and second antennas in response to a driving control signal; a driving controller configured to provide the driving control signal, wherein the driving control signal is used to separate the first and second antennas from each other by a predetermined distance; and a direction finding unit configured to calculate an angle of arrival (AOA) of radio signals respectively received through the first and second antennas, based on the phase difference between the radio signals, and the predetermined distance.
US 6,239,747 discloses an array antenna for direction-finding includes antenna elements which define a triangular outline well-suited for meeting space constraints or reducing reflections from mounting conditions associated with the array antenna. The actual geometric configuration of the antenna elements is limited to certain triangular configurations with corresponding geometric correction factors to maintain the accuracy of estimating the angle of arrival. A processing system determines the appropriate angle of arrival based upon differential phases received in the antenna elements and the appropriate geometric correction factor.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHUONG P NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)272-3445. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri, 10:00-10:00 EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, JACK KEITH can be reached at (571) 272-6878. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/CHUONG P NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3646
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