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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 8, 11, 13-14, and 23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) and (a)(2) as being anticipated by Starzer et al. (US 20200025899 A1), hereinafter Starzer.
Regarding claim 8, Starzer teaches a radar arrangement for performing radar signal processing, the radar arrangement comprising:
a first radar transceiver of a plurality of radar transceivers, the first radar transceiver being configured to transmit a first transmit radar signal and/or to receive a first receive radar signal, a second radar transceiver of the plurality of radar transceivers, the second radar transceiver being configured to transmit a second transmit radar signal and/or to receive a second receive radar signal (para. 33, “FIG. 3 is a block diagram which illustrates, by way of example, a possible structure of a radar apparatus 1 [radar sensor]. Similar structures can also be found in RF transceivers, for example, which are used in other applications, for example wireless communication systems. Therefore, at least one transmission antenna 5 [TX antenna] and at least one reception antenna 6 [RX antenna] are connected to an RF front-end 10 which can comprise all those circuit components which are required for RF signal processing.”; Fig. 7, embodiment with multiple transmitters; in reference to an embodiment with multiple transmitters and receivers, Examiner is construing each pair of transmitters and receivers to be a transceiver), and
a switch box configured to receive a plurality of phase-aligned radar signals via a millimeter-wave link, each radar signal having a corresponding time-frequency characteristic (para. 3, “Modern radar systems use highly integrated RF circuits which can combine all core functions of an RF front-end of a radar transceiver in a single housing [single-chip radar transceiver], which is often referred to as a monolithic microwave integrated circuit [MMIC].”; para. 35, “As described above with reference to FIG. 3, the signal sLO(t) may be frequency-modulated and is also referred to as an LO signal. In radar applications, the LO signal is usually in the SHF [Super High Frequency, centimeter wave] or in the EHF [Extremely High Frequency, millimeter wave] band, for example in the range of 76 GHz to 81 GHz in automotive applications.”; para. 42, “For example, it would be desirable for the mixers to receive the LO signal sLO(t) with a defined phase at the reference input in the RX channels [see FIG. 4, mixer 104]. In some exemplary embodiments [for example if a plurality of TX channels are used in one chip], it may also be desirable to simultaneously synchronize the transmission signals supplied to the TX channels.”; Fig. 2, two timing diagrams for illustrating the frequency modulation of the RF signal generated by the FMCW system; Fig. 7, sLO(t) switched between transmit antennas TX02 and TX03 by RF switch 111, the housings of MMICs 11 and 12 construed as switch boxes, where the signals in the embodiment described in para. 42 are synchronized in phase and received by said switch box 111),
wherein the switch box is configured, based on a switching scheme, to switch a first radar signal of the plurality of phase-aligned radar signals to the first radar transceiver for transmission as the first transmit radar signal and to switch a second radar signal of the plurality of phase-aligned radar signals to the second radar transceiver for transmission as the second transmit radar signal (para. 42, “FIG. 7 shows an exemplary implementation of the TX channels of an MMIC [for example the master MMIC 11] which enables coupling to further MMICs, as illustrated in FIG. 6. In some exemplary embodiments [for example if a plurality of TX channels are used in one chip], it may also be desirable to simultaneously synchronize the transmission signals supplied to the TX channels.”; para. 45, “The MMIC 11 therefore comprises a local oscillator 101 [LO] which generates the LO signal sLO(t). This LO signal is supplied, on the one hand, to an input of a first RF switch/splitter 110 and, on the other hand, to an input of a second RF switch/splitter 111. The RF switches/splitters are substantially splitter components with selectable inputs which are respectively denoted a and b in the figures. Depending on the position of the [electronic] switch, the signal applied to the input a or the signal applied to the input b is forwarded to the outputs. The control signals for the electronic switches are not illustrated for the sake of simplicity. In the present example, the RF switch/splitter 111 is connected in such a manner that input b is selected and the LO signal sLO(t) is forwarded to the TX channels TX01, TX02, TX03, etc. The individual TX channels can be implemented as illustrated in FIG. 4, for example.”; Fig. 7, sLO(t) switched between transmit antennas TX02 and TX03 by RF switch 111, the housings of MMICs 11 and 12 construed as switch boxes, where the signals in the embodiment described in para. 42 are synchronized in phase and received by said switch box 111; RF switches necessarily operate according to a control signal which Examiner is construing as applying a switching scheme).
Regarding claim 11, Starzer teaches the radar arrangement of claim 8,
configured to receive information about the time-frequency characteristic of the radar signals via the millimeter-wave link (para. 35, “As described above with reference to FIG. 3, the signal sLO(t) may be frequency-modulated and is also referred to as an LO signal. In radar applications, the LO signal is usually in the SHF [Super High Frequency, centimeter wave] or in the EHF [Extremely High Frequency, millimeter wave] band, for example in the range of 76 GHz to 81 GHz in automotive applications.”; Fig. 2, time-frequency characteristics of transmit signal).
Regarding claim 13, Starzer teaches the radar arrangement of claim 8,
configured to transfer first echo data based on the first receive radar signal to a master processor, and/or configured to transfer second echo data based on the second receive radar signal to the master processor (para. 33, “FIG. 3 is a block diagram which illustrates, by way of example, a possible structure of a radar apparatus 1 [radar sensor]. Similar structures can also be found in RF transceivers, for example, which are used in other applications, for example wireless communication systems. Therefore, at least one transmission antenna 5 [TX antenna] and at least one reception antenna 6 [RX antenna] are connected to an RF front-end 10 which can comprise all those circuit components which are required for RF signal processing.”; Fig. 3, Rx antenna 6 outputs to RF front-end 10 which outputs to baseband signal processing 20).
Regarding claim 14, Starzer teaches the radar arrangement of claim 8,
configured to enable the first radar transceiver to receive the first receive radar signal that is based on a transmit radar signal from at least one other radar transceiver of the plurality of radar transceivers (para. 31, “In the present example, the radar apparatus 10 has separate transmission [TX] and reception [RX] antennas 5 and 6 [bistatic or pseudo-monostatic radar configuration].”; in a bistatic configuration, reception antennas may receive signals transmitted by any transmission antenna).
Regarding claim 23, Starzer teaches a method for performing radar signal processing, the method comprising:
transmitting, by a first radar transceiver of a plurality of radar transceivers, a first transmit radar signal and/or receiving, by the first radar transceiver, a first receive radar signal, transmitting, by a second radar transceiver of the plurality of radar transceivers, a second transmit radar signal and/or receiving, by the second radar transceiver, a second receive radar signal (para. 33, “FIG. 3 is a block diagram which illustrates, by way of example, a possible structure of a radar apparatus 1 [radar sensor]. Similar structures can also be found in RF transceivers, for example, which are used in other applications, for example wireless communication systems. Therefore, at least one transmission antenna 5 [TX antenna] and at least one reception antenna 6 [RX antenna] are connected to an RF front-end 10 which can comprise all those circuit components which are required for RF signal processing.”; Fig. 7, embodiment with multiple transmitters; in reference to an embodiment with multiple transmitters and receivers, Examiner is construing each pair of transmitters and receivers to be a transceiver),
receiving, by a switch box, a plurality of phase-aligned radar signals via a millimeter-wave link, each radar signal having a corresponding time-frequency characteristic (para. 3, “Modern radar systems use highly integrated RF circuits which can combine all core functions of an RF front-end of a radar transceiver in a single housing [single-chip radar transceiver], which is often referred to as a monolithic microwave integrated circuit [MMIC].”; para. 35, “As described above with reference to FIG. 3, the signal sLO(t) may be frequency-modulated and is also referred to as an LO signal. In radar applications, the LO signal is usually in the SHF [Super High Frequency, centimeter wave] or in the EHF [Extremely High Frequency, millimeter wave] band, for example in the range of 76 GHz to 81 GHz in automotive applications.”; para. 42, “For example, it would be desirable for the mixers to receive the LO signal sLO(t) with a defined phase at the reference input in the RX channels [see FIG. 4, mixer 104]. In some exemplary embodiments [for example if a plurality of TX channels are used in one chip], it may also be desirable to simultaneously synchronize the transmission signals supplied to the TX channels.”; Fig. 2, two timing diagrams for illustrating the frequency modulation of the RF signal generated by the FMCW system; Fig. 7, sLO(t) switched between transmit antennas TX02 and TX03 by RF switch 111, the housings of MMICs 11 and 12 construed as switch boxes, where the signals in the embodiment described in para. 42 are synchronized in phase and received by said switch box 111), and
switching, by the switch box, based on a switching scheme, a first radar signal of the plurality of phase-aligned radar signals to the first radar transceiver for transmission as the first transmit radar signal and switching, by the switch box, a second radar signal of the plurality of phase-aligned radar signals to the second radar transceiver for transmission as the second transmit radar signal signal (para. 42, “FIG. 7 shows an exemplary implementation of the TX channels of an MMIC [for example the master MMIC 11] which enables coupling to further MMICs, as illustrated in FIG. 6. In some exemplary embodiments [for example if a plurality of TX channels are used in one chip], it may also be desirable to simultaneously synchronize the transmission signals supplied to the TX channels.”; para. 45, “The MMIC 11 therefore comprises a local oscillator 101 [LO] which generates the LO signal sLO(t). This LO signal is supplied, on the one hand, to an input of a first RF switch/splitter 110 and, on the other hand, to an input of a second RF switch/splitter 111. The RF switches/splitters are substantially splitter components with selectable inputs which are respectively denoted a and b in the figures. Depending on the position of the [electronic] switch, the signal applied to the input a or the signal applied to the input b is forwarded to the outputs. The control signals for the electronic switches are not illustrated for the sake of simplicity. In the present example, the RF switch/splitter 111 is connected in such a manner that input b is selected and the LO signal sLO(t) is forwarded to the TX channels TX01, TX02, TX03, etc. The individual TX channels can be implemented as illustrated in FIG. 4, for example.”; Fig. 7, sLO(t) switched between transmit antennas TX02 and TX03 by RF switch 111, the housings of MMICs 11 and 12 construed as switch boxes, where the signals in the embodiment described in para. 42 are synchronized in phase and received by said switch box 111; RF switches necessarily operate according to a control signal which Examiner is construing as applying a switching scheme).
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, 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 1-7, 15-16, and 18-22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Adams (US 7876261 B1) in view of Starzer.
Regarding claim 1, Adams teaches a radar signal generator arrangement for generating a plurality of radar signals, the radar signal generator arrangement comprising:
a reference signal source configured to provide a reference signal (Fig. 6, master clock 18c),
a plurality of radar signal generators, each radar signal generator being configured to generate a respective radar signal based on the reference signal for transmission (col. 13 lines 40-44, “As illustrated in FIG. 6, each processor 220, 220, ..., 220N of set 220 of processors can may include a local oscillator [LO] which generates the clock signals for its associated transceiver/ADC/DAC [TADs] of set 214 of TADs.”),
wherein each radar signal generator is configured to align a phase of the respective radar signal with a phase of the reference signal (col. 14 lines 44-57, “According to an aspect of the invention, the electrical lengths of the various transmission lines are initially set to known or effective values, and thereafter phase or electrical lengths of the various transmission paths are continuously monitored, and the electrical lengths of the master-to-local-oscillator transmission paths are either automatically corrected toward known values, or more generally the electrical lengths or phase characteristics are reported to the control processor [18 of FIG. 1], which adjusts the digital commands of the radar system to take into account the measured value of the various paths. This allows the synchronization of the various local oscillators to ‘drift’ relative to the master oscillator standard, with corrective digital commands to the radar system to accommodate the drift.”), and
a scheduler configured to provide for each of the plurality of radar signal generators a respective scheduling signal, the scheduling signal indicating a time-frequency characteristic for the respective radar signal, wherein each radar signal generator is further configured to generate the respective radar signal having the time-frequency characteristic indicated by the respective scheduling signal (col. 5 lines 37-51, “Command processor 18 of FIG. 1 determines or establishes the various parameters or characteristics of the radar signal to be transmitted, such as the timing, carrier frequency, pulse width, pulse length, pulse coding, sidelobe level, steering angle, number of beams, and the like. The digital command signals are transmitted from processor 18 to the various processors of set 16, namely processors 161, 162, . . . , 16N. Each processor of set 16 of processors receives the command signals and in response generates digital signals which represent the analog signal to be transmitted from each elemental antenna of set 12 of antennas. That is, the digital signals produced by processors of set 14 of processors are digital equivalents of the baseband analog signals to be transmitted from the various elemental antennas of set 12 with which the processors are associated.”), but fails to teach
a plurality of radar signal generators, each radar signal generator being configured to generate a radar signal based on the reference signal for transmission via a millimeter-wave link.
However, Starzer teaches
a plurality of radar signal generators, each radar signal generator being configured to generate (Figs. 6-8, LO signal SLO of LOs 101 is based on clock signal sCLK-; para. 35, “In radar applications, the LO signal is usually in the SHF [Super High Frequency, centimeter wave] or in the EHF [Extremely High Frequency, millimeter wave] band, for example in the range of 76 GHz to 81 GHz in automotive applications.”).
Adams and Starzer are considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of vehicular MIMO radar systems. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Adams with the teachings of Starzer with the motivation that mmWave technology offers high data speeds and bandwidth.
Regarding claim 2, Adams in view of Starzer teaches the radar signal generator arrangement of claim 1,
wherein each radar signal generator comprises a voltage-controlled oscillator or digital numerical controlled oscillator and a phase locked loop controller for controlling the oscillators (Adams; col. 11, lines 3-20, “To enable the coherent summation of signals from all of the array elements, the digital data transmitted from, or received by, each antenna element must be ‘generated’ or processed in a manner that maintains phase alignment of the signals from each element. This is achieved by distributing a reference clock to the transceiver of each element, and more particularly to the phase-lock loop 343. In one embodiment of a radar according to Ehret et al., the reference clock is at 160 MHz. This distribution is accomplished, in part, by generating the desired clock signal, or at least digital signals representing the desired clock signal, within command processor 18 of FIG. 2, as for example by means of a master clock [CLK] generator 18 c. A distribution network including the data paths of set 224, processors of set 216 of processors, and the data paths of set 222, distributes to each blade of set 213 of blades, and within each blade, provides this clock signal to each transceiver of set 14 of transceivers.”; clock which controls LOs is digital numerically controlled),
wherein the scheduler is configured to provide each phase locked loop controller with a respective frequency control signal for controlling the oscillators to generate the radar signal having the time-frequency characteristic indicated by the respective scheduling signal (Adams; col. 5 lines 37-41, “Command processor 18 of FIG. 1 determines or establishes the various parameters or characteristics of the radar signal to be transmitted, such as the timing, carrier frequency, pulse width, pulse length, pulse coding, sidelobe level, steering angle, number of beams, and the like. The digital command signals are transmitted from processor 18 to the various processors of set 16, namely processors 161, 162, . . . , 16N.”).
Regarding claim 3, Adams teaches the radar signal generator arrangement of claim 1, but fails to teach
wherein each radar signal comprises a respective millimeter wave chirp signal.
However, Starzer teaches
wherein each radar signal comprises a respective millimeter wave chirp signal (para. 34, “In the case of a frequency-modulated continuous-wave radar system [FMCW radar system], the RF signals emitted via the TX antenna 5 may be, for example, in the range of approximately 20 GHz to 81 GHz [for example 77 GHz in some applications].”; Fig. 2, linear frequency ramp chirps).
Regarding claim 4, Adams in view of Starzer teaches the radar signal generator arrangement of claim 1,
wherein the time-frequency characteristic is different for any two of the radar signals (Adams; col. 5 lines 37-41, “Command processor 18 of FIG. 1 determines or establishes the various parameters or characteristics of the radar signal to be transmitted, such as the timing, carrier frequency, pulse width, pulse length, pulse coding, sidelobe level, steering angle, number of beams, and the like. The digital command signals are transmitted from processor 18 to the various processors of set 16, namely processors 161, 162, . . . , 16N.”; command processor 18 may transmit radar signals of various time-frequency characteristics).
Regarding claim 5, Adams in view of Starzer teaches the radar signal generator arrangement of claim 1,
wherein the scheduler is configured to provide information about the time-frequency characteristic of the respective radar signals for transmission over the millimeter-wave link (Adams; col. 5 lines 37-41, “Command processor 18 of FIG. 1 determines or establishes the various parameters or characteristics of the radar signal to be transmitted, such as the timing, carrier frequency, pulse width, pulse length, pulse coding, sidelobe level, steering angle, number of beams, and the like. The digital command signals are transmitted from processor 18 to the various processors of set 16, namely processors 161, 162, . . . , 16N.”).
Regarding claim 6, Adams in view of Starzer teaches the radar signal generator arrangement of claim 1,
wherein the scheduler is configured to transmit configuration information and trigger information over the millimeter-wave link, the configuration information enabling a radar arrangement to perform radar topology configuration based on the radar signals provided by the radar signal generator arrangement, and wherein the radar topology configuration is enabled at certain timing based on the trigger information (Adams; col. 5 lines 37-41, “Command processor 18 of FIG. 1 determines or establishes the various parameters or characteristics of the radar signal to be transmitted, such as the timing, carrier frequency, pulse width, pulse length, pulse coding, sidelobe level, steering angle, number of beams, and the like. The digital command signals are transmitted from processor 18 to the various processors of set 16, namely processors 161, 162, . . . , 16N.”).
Regarding claim 7, Adams in view of Starzer teaches the radar signal generator arrangement of claim 1,
wherein a frequency of the reference signal is at least one order of magnitude smaller than a frequency of the respective radar signal (Adams; col. 3 lines 46-48, “In another advantageous version, each of the transceivers conforms to dual-band 802.11a/g standards at 2.4 to 2.5 GHz and 4.9 to 5.87 GHz.”; col. 11 lines 7-11, “This is achieved by distributing a reference clock to the transceiver of each element, and more particularly to the phase-lock loop 343. In one embodiment of a radar according to Ehret et al., the reference clock is at 160 MHz.”).
Regarding claim 15, Adams teaches a radar system useable for automotive applications, the radar system comprising:
a radar signal generator arrangement of claim 1 (see rejection of claim 1), but fails to teach
at least one radar arrangement coupled to the radar signal generator arrangement via a millimeter-wave link.
However, Starzer teaches
at least one radar arrangement coupled to the radar signal generator arrangement via a millimeter-wave link (para. 5, “A radar method is described. According to one exemplary embodiment, the method includes generating a first RF oscillator signal in a first chip and supplying the first RF oscillator signal to a transmission [TX] channel of the first chip and transmitting the first RF oscillator signal from the TX channel of the first chip to the second chip via a transmission line.”; para. 34, “In the case of a frequency-modulated continuous-wave radar system [FMCW radar system], the RF signals emitted via the TX antenna 5 may be, for example, in the range of approximately 20 GHz to 81 GHz [for example 77 GHz in some applications].”).
Adams and Starzer are considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of vehicular MIMO radar systems. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Adams with the teachings of Starzer with the motivation that mmWave technology offers high data speeds and bandwidth.
Regarding claim 16, Adams in view of Starzer teaches the radar system of claim 15, but Adams fails to teach
wherein the millimeter-wave link comprises a plurality of millimeter-wave links for transmission of the plurality of radar signals.
However, Starzer teaches
wherein the millimeter-wave link comprises a plurality of millimeter-wave links for transmission of the plurality of radar signals (Fig. 7, multiple transmission mmWave links).
Adams and Starzer are considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of vehicular MIMO radar systems. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Adams with the teachings of Starzer with the motivation that mmWave technology offers high data speeds and bandwidth.
Regarding claim 18, Adams in view of Starzer teaches the radar system of claim 15,
configured to process one or more antenna beams, wherein each antenna beam is based on one or more transmit and/or receive radar signals of a plurality of radar transceivers of the at least one radar arrangement (Adams; col. 6 line 48 – col. 7 line 4, “Thus, in a transmit mode of operation, the radar system 10 of FIG. 1 transmits from each elemental antenna of an antenna array 12 analog signals controllable in amplitude, frequency, relative phase, and modulation characteristics under control of generalized processor 15. By selecting the characteristics of the underlying digital signals to represent plural beams, multiple instantaneous transmit beams can be generated. In a receive mode of operation of the arrangement of FIG. 1, return or reflected signals from one or more targets [not illustrated] are received at each elemental antenna of set 12 of antennas. The received signals are downconverted in the associated U/DC-Tx ADC/DAC of set 14 of U/DC-Tx ADC/DACs, to thereby generate baseband or possibly intermediate-frequency [IF] signals. The baseband or IF signals are converted into digital form, conserving the amplitude and phase information. The digital data generated by each U/DC-Tx ADC/DAC, representing the analog signal received at the corresponding elemental antenna of set 12 of antennas, is or are applied to the associated processor of set 16 of processors. The individual processors of set 16 of processors process the data to define the various receive beams selected by command processor 18, and to extract the return information from a subarray of antenna elements.”).
Regarding claim 19, Adams in view of Starzer teaches the radar system of claim 18,
configured to process multiple antenna beams simultaneously, wherein each antenna beam is based on at least one different transmit and/or receive radar signal (Adams; col. 7 lines 4-16, “Thus, the information extracted by U/DC-Tx ADC/DACs 14a, . . . , 14c from the return signals received by antenna subarray 12a, . . . 12c is processed by processor 161 to produce a portion of the target information. The extracted subarray data from processor 161 is combined with subarray data from other subarrays in control processor 18, which produces data for display or further processing. Thus, the receive signal processing is performed by generalized processor 15. Multiple simultaneous receive beams are advantageous, as noted in a paper by Merril Skolnik of the Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, D.C. and entitled ATTRIBUTES OF THE UBIQUITOUS PHASED ARRAY RADAR, published 2003 by the IEEE.”).
Regarding claim 20, Adams in view of Starzer teaches the radar system of claim 18,
configured to adjust a beam width of an antenna beam by assigning specific transmit and/or receive radar signals of the plurality of radar transceivers to the antenna beam (Adams; col. 10 lines 15-21, “The radar system incorporates many structures such as that of FIG. 3. The command processor 18 of FIGS. 1 and 2 establishes the characteristics of the signals which are transmitted from each of the elemental antennas of set or array 12 of antennas, in such a manner as to define the transmit beam or beams and their steering direction, beam width, sidelobe levels; inserted nulls, and the like.”).
Regarding claim 21, Adams in view of Starzer teaches the radar system of claim 20,
configured to adjust a beam width of the antenna beam by assigning specific transmit and/or receive radar signals of radar transceivers which are located at different radar arrangements to the antenna beam (Adams; col. 2 lines 7-10, “It is very desirable to be able to set the inter-antenna-element spacing based on operational factors such as operating frequency, beam width, sidelobe level, grating lobes, and the like.”; col. 10 lines 15-21, “The radar system incorporates many structures such as that of FIG. 3. The command processor 18 of FIGS. 1 and 2 establishes the characteristics of the signals which are transmitted from each of the elemental antennas of set or array 12 of antennas, in such a manner as to define the transmit beam or beams and their steering direction, beam width, sidelobe levels; inserted nulls, and the like.”).
Regarding claim 22, Adams teaches a method for generating a plurality of radar signals, the method comprising:
providing a reference signal by a reference signal source (Fig. 6, master clock 18c generates clock signal),
generating a respective radar signal, by a plurality of radar signal generators, based on the reference signal for transmission (col. 13 lines 40-44, “As illustrated in FIG. 6, each processor 220, 220, ..., 220N of set 220 of processors can may include a local oscillator [LO] which generates the clock signals for its associated transceiver/ADC/DAC [TADs] of set 214 of TADs.”),
wherein a phase of the respective radar signal is aligned with a phase of the reference signal link (col. 14 lines 44-57, “According to an aspect of the invention, the electrical lengths of the various transmission lines are initially set to known or effective values, and thereafter phase or electrical lengths of the various transmission paths are continuously monitored, and the electrical lengths of the master-to-local-oscillator transmission paths are either automatically corrected toward known values, or more generally the electrical lengths or phase characteristics are reported to the control processor [18 of FIG. 1], which adjusts the digital commands of the radar system to take into account the measured value of the various paths. This allows the synchronization of the various local oscillators to ‘drift’ relative to the master oscillator standard, with corrective digital commands to the radar system to accommodate the drift.”),
providing, by a scheduler, for each of the plurality of radar signal generators a respective scheduling signal, the scheduling signal indicating a time-frequency characteristic for the respective radar signal, and generating, by each radar signal generator, the respective radar signal having the time-frequency characteristic indicated by the respective scheduling signal (col. 5 lines 37-51, “Command processor 18 of FIG. 1 determines or establishes the various parameters or characteristics of the radar signal to be transmitted, such as the timing, carrier frequency, pulse width, pulse length, pulse coding, sidelobe level, steering angle, number of beams, and the like. The digital command signals are transmitted from processor 18 to the various processors of set 16, namely processors 161, 162, . . . , 16N. Each processor of set 16 of processors receives the command signals and in response generates digital signals which represent the analog signal to be transmitted from each elemental antenna of set 12 of antennas. That is, the digital signals produced by processors of set 14 of processors are digital equivalents of the baseband analog signals to be transmitted from the various elemental antennas of set 12 with which the processors are associated.”), but fails to teach
generating a respective radar signal, by a plurality of radar signal generators, based on the reference signal for transmission via a millimeter-wave link.
However, Starzer teaches
generating a respective radar signal, by a plurality of radar signal generators, based on the reference signal for transmission via a millimeter-wave link.
(Figs. 6-8, LO signal SLO of LOs 101 is based on clock signal sCLK-; para. 35, “In radar applications, the LO signal is usually in the SHF [Super High Frequency, centimeter wave] or in the EHF [Extremely High Frequency, millimeter wave] band, for example in the range of 76 GHz to 81 GHz in automotive applications.”).
Adams and Starzer are considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of vehicular MIMO radar systems. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Adams with the teachings of Starzer with the motivation that mmWave technology offers high data speeds and bandwidth.
Claim 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Starzer in view of Stettiner et al. (US 20210156982 A1), hereinafter Stettiner.
Regarding claim 9, Starzer teaches the radar arrangement of claim 8,
comprising a switch box configured to switch phase-aligned radar signals to a plurality of radar transceivers (see rejection of claim 8), but fails to teach
wherein the switch box is configured to arbitrarily switch any of the radar signals to any of the plurality of radar transceivers.
However, Stettiner teaches
wherein the switch box is configured to arbitrarily switch any of the radar signals to any of the plurality of radar transceivers (para. 154, “A hop frequency for the start of the chirp to be transmitted is then chosen [step 122]. The transmitter then generates the chirp waveform at the selected hop frequency [step 124]. In the optional case of a MIMO radar system, a TX antenna element is randomly selected for transmission of the chirp [step 125].”).
Starzer and Stettiner are considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of vehicular MIMO radar systems. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Starzer with the teachings of Stettiner with the motivation of reducing interference.
Claims 10 and 12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Starzer in view of Adams.
Regarding claim 10, Starzer teaches the radar arrangement of claim 8, but fails to teach
wherein the time-frequency characteristic is different for any two of the radar signals.
However, Adams teaches
wherein the time-frequency characteristic is different for any two of the radar signals (col. 5 lines 37-41, “Command processor 18 of FIG. 1 determines or establishes the various parameters or characteristics of the radar signal to be transmitted, such as the timing, carrier frequency, pulse width, pulse length, pulse coding, sidelobe level, steering angle, number of beams, and the like. The digital command signals are transmitted from processor 18 to the various processors of set 16, namely processors 161, 162, . . . , 16N.”; command processor 18 may transmit radar signals of various time-frequency characteristics).
Starzer and Adams are considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of vehicular MIMO radar systems. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Starzer with the teachings of Adams with the motivation of reducing interference.
Regarding claim 12, Starzer teaches the radar arrangement of claim 8,
including a millimeter-wave link (see rejection of claim 8), but fails to teach
being configured to receive configuration information via the millimeter-wave link, the configuration information enabling a configuration of the first radar transceiver and the second radar transceiver.
However, Adams teaches
being configured to receive configuration information via the millimeter-wave link, the configuration information enabling a configuration of the first radar transceiver and the second radar transceiver (col. 10 lines 15-21, “The radar system incorporates many structures such as that of FIG. 3. The command processor 18 of FIGS. 1 and 2 establishes the characteristics of the signals which are transmitted from each of the elemental antennas of set or array 12 of antennas, in such a manner as to define the transmit beam or beams and their steering direction, beam width, sidelobe levels; inserted nulls, and the like.”; see Slobodyanyuk paras. 32 and 42 for further evidence of configuration information via a millimeter-wave link enabling a configuration of radar transceivers).
Starzer and Adams are considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of vehicular MIMO radar systems. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Starzer with the teachings of Adams with the motivation of being able to easily adjust transceiver configurations and thus signal characteristics.
Claim 17 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Adams in view of Starzer and further in view of Slobodyanyuk (US 20210152245 A1), hereinafter Slobodyanyuk.
Regarding claim 17, Adams in view of Starzer teaches the radar system of claim 16, but fails to teach
wherein the plurality of millimeter-wave links comprises at least one of an optical link, a flexible waveguide, or a wireless link.
However, Slobodyanyuk teaches
wherein the plurality of millimeter-wave links comprises at least one of an optical link, a flexible waveguide, or a wireless link (para. 40, “In an embodiment, the sensor transceiver 330 is functionally coupled with the fiber optic link 340 via the fiber optic interface 350. Aspects provide that the sensor transceiver 330 may transmit a SYNC signal via the fiber optic interface 350, via the fiber optic link 340. The sensor transceiver may in turn receive a master SYNC signal, again via the fiber optic link 340 and the fiber optic interface 350.”).
Adams, Starzer, and Slobodyanyuk are considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of vehicular radar systems. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Adams in view of Starzer with the teachings of Slobodyanyuk with the motivation that optical links provide high bandwidth and near immunity to interference.
Conclusion
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/ERIC K HODAC/Examiner, Art Unit 3648
/OLUMIDE AJIBADE AKONAI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3648
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