DETAILED ACTION
Response to Remark
This communication is considered fully responsive to the amendment filed on 06/10/26.
Independent claims have been amended.
The previous 103 rejection has been replaced with a new 103 rejection over Duan in view of Devoti and further in view of Gilbert.
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 of this title, 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.
Claims 1, 2, 4, 5, 9, 12, 13, and 15-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Duan et al. (SU 2024/0388361, “Duan”) in view of Devoti et al. (US 2022/0321198, “Devoti”) and further in view of Gilbert (US 2006/0264173, “Gilbert”).
Regarding claim 1, Duan discloses a system, comprising:
- at least one metasurface having a line-of-sight field of view to a satellite (See Fig.6, Fig.10, Fig.12, and See ¶.96, line of sight (LOS) field of view to a satellite; See 1230 Fig.12 and ¶.125, RIS (Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface); See ¶.32, a reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) is a programmable array structure that can be used to control the propagation of electromagnetic waves (e.g., steering the RF beam) by changing the electric and magnetic properties of the surface of the RIS. The RIS includes an array of metamaterial RIS elements (e.g., which may be referred to as meta-elements)); and
- a transcoder, mounted on a drone (See ¶.37, the airborne or space devices may include satellites, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), and/or high-altitude platform systems (HAPS), which have a higher altitude than UAVs, but have a lower altitude than satellites; See ¶.89, the computing system can include a coding-decoding device (or CODEC) configured to encode and/or decode data transmitted and/or received using the one or more wireless transceivers; See ¶.115, the network may configure a timer (e.g., for reducing UE power consumption) for the UE to switch from performing a legacy PRS search (e.g., searching for PRSs directly transmitted by the satellite to the UE) to performing a new PRS search (e.g., searching for PRSs transmitted by the satellite to the UE via a RIS); Examiners’ Note: Devoti discloses RIS/metasurface mounted on a drone, i.e. UAV), that converts first non-terrestrial communication signals from the satellite received by the transcoder as redirected via the at least one metasurface, to first terrestrial communication signals for at least one user equipment (See Fig.12 and ¶.125, downlink from satellite 1210a to UE), and that converts second terrestrial communication signals received by the transcoder from the at least one user equipment, to second non-terrestrial communication signals for redirection by the at least one metasurface to the satellite (See 1240 Fig.12, uplink to satellite from UE in RIS coverage; See ¶.125, In an NTN system, since the beams between the satellite and the RIS are dynamically changing over time, beam adaptation for RIS aided NTN UE positioning can be used to provide for accurate positioning of a UE. FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating an example of an NTN system with a dynamic satellite-RIS beam. In FIG. 12, the system is shown to include a satellite located in a first position 1210a, the same satellite located in a second position 1210b, a UE 1220 (e.g., a network device, in the form of a UE), and a RIS 1230. Over time, the satellite is sweeping left to right across earth from the first position 1210a in the sky to the second position 1210b in the sky. As the satellite moves across the sky, the incident angle of the beam transmitted from the satellite radiating onto the RIS 1230 is changing and, as such, with a constant voltage set applied to the RIS 1230, the reflection angle of the beam reflected from the RIS (e.g., RIS DL beam 1240) will also be changing. As such, the RIS DL beam 1240 and the UE UL beam 1250 will need to be aligned with each other dynamically for accurate positioning of the UE 1220; See further ¶.126-128 for RIS DL beam and UE UL beam; See ¶.37, Various different types of systems, such as terrestrial network (TN) and non-terrestrial network (NTN) systems, may employ RISs to assist in positioning (e.g., RIS-based positioning for UE positioning). TN systems are systems that rely solely upon a physical infrastructure built on the ground (e.g., a cellular network including base stations). Conversely, NTN systems are systems that utilize some ground-based technologies (e.g., a cellular network) as well as aerial devices (e.g., satellites)).
Duan discloses in ¶.[0037] that “various different types of systems, such as terrestrial network (TN) and non-terrestrial network (NTN) systems, may employ RISs to assist in positioning (e.g., RIS-based positioning for UE positioning). TN systems are systems that rely solely upon a physical infrastructure built on the ground (e.g., a cellular network including base stations). Conversely, NTN systems are systems that utilize some ground-based technologies (e.g., a cellular network) as well as aerial devices (e.g., satellites)” and in ¶.[0039] that “the airborne or space devices may include satellites, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), and/or high-altitude platform systems (HAPS), which have a higher altitude than UAVs, but have a lower altitude than satellites and a computing system can include a coding-decoding device (or CODEC) configured to encode and/or decode data transmitted and/or received using the one or more wireless transceivers, but does not explicitly disclose the limitation “a drone.”
However, Devoti discloses RIS mounted on the UAV such as a drone (Devoti, See Fig.5 and ¶.10, UAV equipped with a RIS; See ¶.51, serving BSs are selected to provide connectivity to the area through reflection on the RIS mounted on the UAV 210, for example a drone; See ¶.118, RIS is installed on a drone).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to apply “the RIS mounted on a drone” as taught by Devoti into the system of Duan, especially encoding and decoding system, so that it provides connectivity to the area through reflection on the RIS mounted on the UAV (Devoti, See ¶.51).
- wherein the transcoder performs Layer-1 physical air-interface protocol conversion (Duan, See 1230 Fig.12 and ¶.145, the RIS receives a positioning availability signal comprising PRS availability information and the positioning availability signal may be transmitted via L1 signaling) between a satellite communications air-interface protocol in which the first non-terrestrial communication signals are encoded (See 1210a&b Fig.12 and ¶.125, In an NTN system, since the beams between the satellite and the RIS are dynamically changing over time, beam adaptation for RIS aided NTN UE positioning can be used to provide for accurate positioning of a UE; See 1410 Fig.14; See ¶.37, various different types of systems, such as terrestrial network (TN) and non-terrestrial network (NTN) systems, may employ RISs to assist in positioning (e.g., RIS-based positioning for UE positioning). TN systems are systems that rely solely upon a physical infrastructure built on the ground (e.g., a cellular network including base stations). Conversely, NTN systems are systems that utilize some ground-based technologies (e.g., a cellular network) as well as aerial devices (e.g., satellites)), and a terrestrial mobile wireless air-interface protocol in which the first terrestrial communication signals are encoded (See ¶.126, In one or more aspects, network aided UE dynamic beam adaptation may be employed for beam adaptation for RIS aided NTN UE positioning. In a typical implementation, a limited number of pairs of control voltage sets may be configured for a RIS. In an NTN system, the satellite beam is sweeping over time, in which case the number of beam correspondences of the DL beam (e.g., of the RIS) and UL beam (e.g., of the UE) can be very large. In one or more examples, the network can calculate the best UL beam for the UE to choose (e.g., to align with the RIS DL beam), under the constraint of a limited number of pairs of control voltage sets configured for the RIS. The network may know, for a specific point in time, the location of the satellite and the location of the RIS as well as the control voltages applied to the RIS. By knowing this information, the network can determine (e.g., calculate) the optimum UE UL beam relative to the RIS DL beam. In some examples, the network can signal (e.g., report) to the UE, the optimum UE UL beam relative to the RIS DL beam. In some examples, the network can signal (e.g., report) to the UE, multiple sets of beams (e.g., each set including an optimum UE UL beam relative to a RIS DL beam) to be used over a duration of time; See 1420 Fig.14).
Duan and Devoti disclose,
- wherein the satellite communications air-interface protocol and the terrestrial mobile wireless air-interface protocol comprise mutually incompatible protocols (Duan, See ¶.2, 5G technologies between RIS and UEs; See ¶.37, Various different types of systems, such as terrestrial network (TN) and non-terrestrial network (NTN) systems, may employ RISs to assist in positioning (e.g., RIS-based positioning for UE positioning). TN systems are systems that rely solely upon a physical infrastructure built on the ground (e.g., a cellular network including base stations). Conversely, NTN systems are systems that utilize some ground-based technologies (e.g., a cellular network) as well as aerial devices (e.g., satellites); Devoti, See ¶.44, the RIS is passive and lightweight. The control of the RIS parameters is performed by means of an independent control channel that may rely on proprietary protocols running on a frequency such as 2.4 gigahertz (GHz) frequency. Advantageously, such a control channel requires very low communication capacity and may be performed with existing communication technologies; See ¶.83, a RIS mounted on a UAV is considered, composed of N reflecting elements and reflecting the signal coming from the BS towards the target area. Specifically, each aforementioned receiver may be reached by a signal experiencing a minimum SNR to successfully decode the upcoming packets. In some instances, the position of the first responder team is known with some uncertainty, whereas only a probability distribution function (pdf) of the spatial position of the victims may be known; See ¶.132, in particular, air-to-ground (A2G) communication has been recently promoted as an upcoming technology to deliver advanced and sophisticated services. Previously, effective A2G channel models were introduced while empirically validating them via realistic measurements. In particular, A2G can be implemented to support vehicular-based use-cases or to assist emergency communication. In both, an optimization-based approach is proposed to maximize the end-user coverage during the UAV flight).”
Duan and Devoti disclose a plurality of air-interface protocols, but do not explicitly disclose the limitations “conversion of signals between mutually incompatible protocols.” However, Gilbert discloses the method of “converting signals between mutually incompatible protocols (Gilbert, See ¶.29, As shown in FIG. 3, the relevant satellite ground earth stations for completing calls with the telecommunication system in the aircraft include a satellite, that receives signals from and transmits signals to the SATCOM system 218 (FIG. 2), and a SATCOM gateway 304 that converts the signals to the correct protocols for communication between the Cellular Network Switching Center and the SATCOM system; See ¶.30, The SATCOM gateway on the ground emulates a base station to the cellular network and its switching center and converts between SATCOM protocols and the cellular network protocols of the switching center).”
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to apply the method of “converting signals between mutually incompatible protocols” as taught by Gilbert into the system of Duan and Devoti, so that it provides a way of converting the SATCOM protocols into cellular protocols and vice versa (Gilbert, See ¶.31).
Regarding claim 2, Duan does not explicitly disclose what Devoti discloses “the at least one metasurface is mounted on the drone (Devoti, See ¶.51 and ¶.118, RIS is installed on a drone).” Therefore, this claim is rejected with the similar reasons and motivation set forth in the rejection of claim 1.
Regarding claim 4, Duan discloses “the transcoder comprises a frequency converter that converts downlink communication signals of the first non-terrestrial communication signals from the satellite in a satellite radio frequency (RF) band to downlink user equipment communication signals to the at least one user equipment in a user equipment RF band, and converts uplink communication signals of the second terrestrial communication signals from the at least one user equipment in the user equipment RF band to uplink satellite communication signals to the satellite in the satellite RF band (See Fig.12 and ¶.88, convert the RF signals of UL and DL).”
Regarding claim 5, Duan discloses “the transcoder comprises equalization logic to equalize downlink frequency of the downlink communication signals as converted by the frequency converter, and equalize uplink frequency of the uplink communication signals as converted by the frequency converter (See ¶.79 and ¶.81, equalizing subcarriers).”
Regarding claim 9, Duan discloses “the transcoder comprises packet conversion logic to decode uplink first packet data in the second terrestrial communication signals from the at least one user equipment, and reencode second uplink packet data, based on the first uplink packet data, in the second non-terrestrial communication signals to the satellite, and to decode downlink third packet data in the first non-terrestrial communication signals from the satellite, and reencode fourth downlink packet data, based on the third downlink packet data, in the first terrestrial communication signals to the at least one user equipment (See ¶.89, the computing system can include a coding-decoding device (or CODEC) configured to encode and/or decode data transmitted and/or received using the one or more wireless transceivers; See ¶.161 and ¶.168, logical blocks).”
Regarding claim 12, Duan discloses “the at least one metasurface receives the first non-terrestrial communication signals from the satellite, and receives the second terrestrial communication signals from the transcoder, and is coupled to radio frequency circuitry that performs distortion compensation on at least one of: the second terrestrial communication signals, or the first non-terrestrial communication signals (See ¶.59, signal distortion by interference and increasing signal gain).”
Regarding claim 13, Duan discloses “the at least one metasurface receives the first non-terrestrial communication signals from the satellite, and receives the second terrestrial communication signals from the transcoder, and is coupled to radio frequency circuitry that performs signal leveling on at least one of: the second terrestrial communication signals, or the first non-terrestrial communication signals (See Fig.12 and ¶.59, signal gain level of RF signal).”
Regarding claim 15, Duan discloses “the at least one metasurface comprises a first metasurface for redirecting satellite non-terrestrial communication signals to and from the transcoder, and comprises a second metasurface for redirecting user equipment terrestrial communication signals to the transcoder (See ¶.39, a desired direction; See Fig.12 and ¶.125, a dynamic satellite RIS beam and reflection angle of the beam reflected).”
Regarding claim 16, Duan discloses a method, comprising:
- obtaining, by a system comprising at least one processor (See Fig.15), a first downlink communication signal from a satellite as redirected to the system by a metasurface (See 1230 Fig.12, RIS, i.e. metasurface, between satellite and UE; Examiner’s Note: Devoti discloses UAV as a system);
- modifying, by the system, the first downlink communication signal to a second downlink communication signal configured for reception by a user equipment (See Fig.12, a first DL signal from satellite(s) and UE in RIS coverage receives a second DL signal);
- transmitting, by the system, the second downlink communication signal to the user equipment (See 1220 Fig.12, receiving the second DL signal at UE in RIS coverage);
- obtaining, by the system, a third uplink communication signal received from the user equipment (See 1240 & 1250 Fig.12, uplink signals from the UE);
- modifying, by the system, the third uplink communication signal to a fourth uplink communication signal configured for reception by a satellite (See Fig.12 and ¶.125, RIS modifies the uplink signal to the satellite(s)); and
- transmitting, by the system, the fourth uplink communication signal to the metasurface for redirection, by the metasurface, of the fourth uplink communication signal to the satellite (See Fig.12, uplink signal to the satellite(s)).
Duan does not explicitly disclose what Devoti discloses “RIS/metasurface mounted on a drone, i.e. UAV” (Devoti, See Fig.5 and ¶.10, UAV equipped with a RIS; See Fig.3 and ¶.46, RIS configuration processor).”
- wherein the modifying of the first downlink communication signal and the modifying of the third uplink communication signal each comprise Layer-1 physical air-interface protocol conversion between a satellite communications air-interface protocol and a terrestrial mobile wireless air-interface protocol (As rejected in claim 1), and
- wherein the satellite communications air-interface protocol and the terrestrial mobile wireless air-interface protocol comprise mutually incompatible protocols (As rejected in claim 1).
Therefore, this claim is rejected with the similar reasons and motivation set forth in the rejection of claim 1.
Regarding claim 17, it is a claim corresponding to the claim 4 and is therefore rejected for the similar reasons set forth in the rejection of the claim.
Claims 3 and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Duan in view of Devoti and Gilbert and further in view of Raghavan et al. (US 2023/0142735, “Raghavan”).
Regarding claim 3, Duan, Devoti, and Gilbert do not explicitly disclose what Raghavan discloses “the transcoder comprises a repeater to perform at least one of: re-clocking operations, amplification operations, or power level adjustment operations with respect to at least one of: the first non-terrestrial communication signals, the first terrestrial communication signals, the second non-terrestrial communication signals, or the second terrestrial communication signals (Raghavan, See ¶.3, an assistive node may include circuitry for operating in an amplifying mode (e.g., a repeating mode or a relaying mode) and operating in a reflecting mode (e.g., via an IRS or a reflect-array); See ¶.43, Assistive nodes may serve as repeaters that may decode a transmitted symbol and amplify and forward the transmitted symbol; See further ¶.94, ¶.96, and ¶.98 for decoding an input signal and amplifying the input signal and feeding the signal forward to a second device).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to apply “the transcoder comprises a repeater to perform at least one of: re-clocking operations, amplification operations, or power level adjustment operations with respect to at least one of: the first non-terrestrial communication signals, the first terrestrial communication signals, the second non-terrestrial communication signals, or the second terrestrial communication signals” as taught by Raghavan into the system of Duan, Devoti, and Gilbert, so that it provides a way of decoding a transmitted symbol and amplify and forward the transmitted symbol (Raghavan, See ¶.43).
Regarding claim 18, it is a claim corresponding to the claim 3 and is therefore rejected for the similar reasons set forth in the rejection of the claim.
Claims 6, 7, 19, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Duan in view of Devoti and Gilbert and further in view of Jordan (US 6,522,116, “Jordan”).
Regarding claim 6, Duan discloses “the transcoder comprises negative slope compensation circuitry to compensate for loss in the downlink frequency of the downlink communication signals as converted by the frequency converter, and compensate for loss in the uplink frequency of the uplink communication signals as converted by the frequency converter (See ¶.56, compensate for the extremely high path loss and short range), but Duan, Devoti, and Gilbert do not explicitly disclose what Jordan discloses the limitation “negative slope (Jordan, See col.6, lns.20-37, conduct a slope compensation …the slope is negative).”
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to apply “negative slope compensation” as taught by Jordan into the system of Duan, Devoti, and Gilbert, so that it provides a way for the current (Islope) conducted by FET tends to increase or decrease depending on the slope of the ramping waveform (Jordan, See col.6, ln.35-37).
Regarding claim 7, Duan, Devoti, and Gilbert do not explicitly disclose what Jordan discloses “the negative slope compensation circuitry comprises a passive resistor network (Jordan, col.7, lns.39-47, voltage divider of resistors, i.e. passive resistor network/circuit).” Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to apply “the negative slope compensation circuitry comprises a passive resistor network” as taught by Jordan into the system of Duan, Devoti, and Gilbert, so that it provides a way for the slope compensation regulator to require the lower the equivalent resistance of control circuit (Jordan, col.3, lns.55-60).
Regarding claim 19, Duan discloses a system, comprising:
- at least one metasurface deployed on drone to have a line-of-sight field of view to a satellite, wherein the at least one metasurface receives non-terrestrial communication signals from the satellite (as rejected in claim 1; Examiner’s Note: as rejected in claim 1, Devoti discloses a UAV/drone equipped with RIS); and
- a transcoder, coupled to the at least one metasurface, that obtains the non-terrestrial communication signals as redirected by the at least one metasurface to the transcoder, the transcoder comprising (as rejected in claim 1):
- a repeater that performs at least one of: re-clocking operations, amplification operations, or power level adjustment operations with respect to the non-terrestrial communication signals (See ¶.59, the receiver uses a receive beam to amplify RF signals detected on a given channel. For example, the receiver can increase the gain setting and/or adjust the phase setting of an array of antennas in a particular direction to amplify (e.g., to increase the gain level of) the RF signals received from that direction; See ¶.88, power amplifier),
- a doppler shift adjuster that corrects the non-terrestrial communication signals for doppler shift based on a first current position of the satellite and a second current position of the drone (See ¶.58, estimate the Doppler shift; See ¶.99, measurement of Doppler for reflection positioning),
- a frequency converter that converts the non-terrestrial communication signals in a satellite radio frequency (RF) band to terrestrial communication signals in a user equipment RF band (See ¶.88, converting the RF signals),
- an equalizer that equalizes the terrestrial communication signals as converted by the frequency converter (See ¶.79, equalizing sub-bands),
- a negative slope adjuster that compensates for loss in the terrestrial communication signals as converted by the frequency converter (as rejected in claim 6, Duan, See ¶.56, compensate for the extremely high path loss and short range; Jordan, See col.6, lns.20-37, conduct a slope compensation …the slope is negative), and
- a packet converter that decodes first packet data in the non-terrestrial communication signals, and reencodes second packet data, based on the first packet data, in the terrestrial communication signals, wherein the transcoder transmits the terrestrial communication signals via the at least one metasurface to a user equipment (See Fig.12 and ¶.89, a combination of an encoder and a decoder).
The newly added claim limitations are rejected in claim 1 and this claim is rejected with the similar reasons and motivation set forth in the rejection of claim 6.
Regarding claim 20, Duan and Jordan disclose “the non-terrestrial communication signals are first non-terrestrial communication signals, wherein the terrestrial communication signals are first terrestrial communication signals, wherein the transcoder receives second terrestrial communication signals from the user equipment via the at least one metasurface, and transmits second non-terrestrial communication signals, via the at least one metasurface, for redirection to the satellite (Duan, See Fig.12), wherein the repeater further performs at least one of: re-clocking operations, amplification operations, or power level adjustment operations with respect to the second terrestrial communication signals (as rejected in claim 19, Duan, See ¶.59), wherein the frequency converter converts the second terrestrial communication signals in the user equipment radio frequency (RF) band to the second non-terrestrial communication signals in the satellite RF band (as rejected in claim 19, Duan, See ¶.88), wherein the equalizer equalizes the second non-terrestrial communication signals as converted by the frequency converter (as rejected in claim 19, Duan, See ¶.79), wherein the negative slope adjuster compensates for loss in the second non-terrestrial communication signals as converted by the frequency converter (as rejected in claim 19, Duan, See ¶.56; Jordan, See col.6, lns.20-37), wherein the packet converter decodes third packet data in the second terrestrial communication signals, and reencodes fourth packet data, based on the third packet data, in the second non-terrestrial communication signals (as rejected in claim 19, Duan, See Fig.12 and ¶.89), and wherein the doppler shift adjuster corrects the second non-terrestrial communication signals for doppler shift based on the first current position of the satellite and the second current position of the drone (as rejected in claim 6). Therefore, this claim is rejected with the similar reasons and motivation set forth in the rejection of claim 6.
Claim 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Duan in view of Devoti and Gilbert and further in view of Kim et al. (US 2023/0403661, “Kim”).
Regarding claim 8, Duan discloses “the transcoder comprises three-dimensional doppler shift compensation circuitry that corrects for doppler shift based on a first current position of the satellite and a second current position of the drone (See Fig.12, 3-dimensional; See ¶.37, the airborne or space devices may include satellites, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), and/or high-altitude platform systems (HAPS), which have a higher altitude than UAVs, but have a lower altitude than satellites; ¶.58, use the source reference RF signal to estimate the doppler shift)”, but Duan and Devoti do not explicitly disclose what Kim discloses “three-dimensional doppler shift to correct for doppler shift” (Kim, See Fig.17, Fig.19, and Fig.20, doppler shift in 3-D; See ¶.209, calculating the amount of Doppler shift experienced by a signal transmitted from a satellite and received by a ground user according to the altitude and position of the satellite and the position of the UE user on the ground, and the calculated results. R is the Earth's radius, h is the altitude of the satellite, v is the velocity at which the satellite orbits the Earth, and fc is the frequency of the signal. The velocity of the satellite can be calculated from its altitude, and is the velocity at which the gravitational force being the force that pulls the satellite by the earth and the centripetal force generated as the satellite orbits are equal, where it can be calculated as shown in FIG.18).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to apply “three-dimensional doppler shift to correct for doppler shift” as taught by Kim into the system of Duan, Devoti, and Gilbert, so that it provides a way of calculating the amount of Doppler shift experienced by a signal transmitted from a satellite and received by a ground user according to the altitude and position of the satellite and the position of the UE user on the ground (Kim, ¶.209).
Claims 10, 11, and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Duan in view of Devoti and Gilbert and further in view of Abu Haija et al. (US 2025/0343577, “Haija”).
Regarding claim 10, Duan, Devoti, and Gilbert do not explicitly disclose what Haija discloses “the at least one metasurface receives the first non-terrestrial communication signals from the satellite, and receives the second terrestrial communication signals from the transcoder, and increases at least one of: a first amplitude of the first non-terrestrial communication signals from the satellite based on a first array gain, or a second amplitude of the second terrestrial communication signals from the transcoder based on a second array gain (Haija, See 110i Fig.3A, a drone having RIS; See ¶.46, the RIS consists of an array of elements that can change the phase (and also amplitude, polarization, or even the frequency) of an incident wave/signal. Such changes are achieved by configuring the RIS elements via bias voltages (or other methods like mechanical deformation and phase change materials), that are controlled by a control circuit connected to the RIS).”
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to apply “the at least one metasurface receives the first non-terrestrial communication signals from the satellite, and receives the second terrestrial communication signals from the transcoder, and increases at least one of: a first amplitude of the first non-terrestrial communication signals from the satellite based on a first array gain, or a second amplitude of the second terrestrial communication signals from the transcoder based on a second array gain” as taught by Haija into the system of Duan, Devoti, and Gilbert, so that it provides a way of changing amplitude of an incident wave (Haija, See ¶.46).
Regarding claim 11, Duan, Devoti, and Gilbert do not explicitly disclose what Haija discloses “the at least one metasurface receives the first non-terrestrial communication signals from the satellite, and receives the second terrestrial communication signals from the transcoder, and changes at least one of at least one of: a first phase of the first non-terrestrial communication signals, or a second phase of the second terrestrial communication signals (Haija, See 110i Fig.3A, a drone having RIS; See ¶.46, the RIS consists of an array of elements that can change the phase (and also amplitude, polarization, or even the frequency) of an incident wave/signal. Such changes are achieved by configuring the RIS elements via bias voltages (or other methods like mechanical deformation and phase change materials), that are controlled by a control circuit connected to the RIS).” Therefore, this claim is rejected with the similar reasons and motivation set forth in the rejection of claim 10.
Regarding claim 14, Duan and Haija disclose “the transcoder is integrated into the at least one metasurface, or the at least one metasurface is integrated into the transcoder (Duan, See ¶.32, the RIS includes an array of metamaterial RIS elements (e.g., which may be referred to as meta-elements), which are composed of ultra-thin surfaces inlaid with multiple wavelength scatters; See ¶.89, the computing system can include a coding-decoding device (or CODEC) configured to encode and/or decode data transmitted and/or received using the one or more wireless transceivers; Haija, See 110i Fig.3A, a drone; See ¶.124, RIS having a function of encoding and decoding).” Therefore, this claim is rejected with the similar reasons and motivation set forth in the rejection of claim 10.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed have been considered. But, in view of the applicant’s amendment to the claims, examiner has clarified and totally remapped the rejection to the argued claim limitations, using the prior art of record in the current prosecution of the claims. The previous 103 rejection over Duan and Devoti has been replaced with a new 103 rejection over Duan in view of Devoti and further in view of Gilbert.
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 date of this final action.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Jung H Park whose telephone number is 571-272-8565. The examiner can normally be reached M-F: 7:00 AM-3:00 PM.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Derrick Ferris can be reached on 571-272-3123. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/JUNG H PARK/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2411
Prosecution Insights