DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1, and 6 – 8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Lee et al (LEE et al. "Narrowband-UWB Coupling MAC"; Project: IEEE P802.15 Working Group for Wireless Personal Area Networks; 9/2021).
Regarding claim 1, Lee et al teach a method, comprising: scanning an arbitration channel for a first time period (see slide 7, “controller scans the mirroring channels”), wherein activity on the arbitration channel is indicative of activity on an ultra-wide band (UWB) channel (see slide 7, “packet is used for notifying the occupation status of the corresponding UWB channel to other devices”); determining, based on detecting activity on the arbitration channel during the scanning, that the arbitration channel is in use (see slide 11, “if channel found busy”); and initiating arbitration for access to the UWB channel during a subsequent arbitration event (see slide 11, “if channel found busy, reservation id aborted in this cycle and attempted in a newly chosen slot in next cycle”).
Regarding claim 6, which inherits the limitations of claim 1, Lee et al further teach wherein, initiating arbitration for access to the UWB channel comprises performing, during the subsequent arbitration event, a second channel access procedure on the arbitration channel for a second time period (see slide 14).
Regarding claim 7, which inherits the limitations of claim 6, Lee et al further teach further comprising: determining, based on the second channel access procedure, that the arbitration channel is not in use; and performing UWB communications on the UWB channel responsive to determining that the arbitration channel is not in use (see slide 7, 9, and 14 “if controller finds an idle period, it can send an advertisement packet for reserving the period”).
Regarding claim 8, which inherits the limitations of claim 6, Lee et al further teach further comprising: determining, based on the second channel access procedure, that the arbitration channel is in use; and waiting for a subsequent arbitration event to arbitrate for UBW channel access (see slide 11, “if channel found busy, reservation id aborted in this cycle and attempted in a newly chosen slot in next cycle” and slide 14).
Claim(s) 9 and 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Hariharan et al (US 2021/0076434).
Regarding claim 9, Hariharan et al teach an apparatus (see figure 2 and 3), comprising: a memory (see figure 2, component 206 “Memory”); and processing circuitry in communication with the memory (see figure 2, component 202, “processing element”) and configured to cause a wireless device to: transmit (see paragraph 0080 “Tx BT 406 may transmit an advertisement (or advertisement set) 420”), periodically, an advertisement packet on an advertisement channel associated with an ultra-wide band (UWB) channel (see paragraph 0080 “Tx BT 406 may transmit such an advertisement periodically, e.g., at regular intervals, such as 30 ms or 100 ms intervals"; and transmit, according to a UWB channel usage pattern indicated by the advertisement packet, on the UWB channel “see paragraph 0081 “In response to receiving the advertisement 420, the Rx BT radio 416 may transmit a connection request 422” and figure 4 “Start UWB Cmd” “UWB Beacon”).
Regarding claim 10, which inherits the limitations of claim 9, Hariharan et al further teach wherein, to indicate the UWB channel usage pattern, the advertisement packet includes one or more of: a UWB transmit start time offset; a UWB transmit duration; a UWB transmit interval; information to determine UWB transmit interval; or UWB transmission type (see paragraph 0008, 0023 “offset time”).
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)(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.
Claim(s) 9 - 11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Lee et al (US 2023/0037601 Lee et al ref1 hereafter).
Regarding claim 9, Lee et al ref 1 teach an apparatus (see figure 18 and 19), comprising: a memory (see figure 18, compoennt1830, and figure 19, component 1930); and processing circuitry in communication with the memory (see figure 18, component 1820, figure 19, component 1920 and paragraph 0372, 0384 “Processor”) and configured to cause a wireless device to: transmit, periodically, an advertisement packet on an advertisement channel associated with an ultra-wide band (UWB) channel (see paragraph 0053, 0080, 0355 “advertiser of RAN3 may periodically … transmit the discovery beacon”); and transmit, according to a UWB channel usage pattern indicated by the advertisement packet, on the UWB channel (see figure 8B, component 820b, send connection request message”).
Regarding claim 10, which inherits the limitations of claim 9, Lee et al ref 1 further teach wherein, to indicate the UWB channel usage pattern, the advertisement packet includes one or more of: a UWB transmit start time offset; a UWB transmit duration; a UWB transmit interval; information to determine UWB transmit interval; or UWB transmission type (see paragraph 0223 – 0228).
Regarding claim 11, which inherits the limitations of claim 9, Lee et al ref 1 further teach wherein the advertisement channel associated with the UWB channel comprises a narrowband advertisement channel (see paragraph 0080 “NB advertisement message”).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claim(s) 2 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee et al (LEE et al. "Narrowband-UWB Coupling MAC"; Project: IEEE P802.15 Working Group for Wireless Personal Area Networks; 9/2021) in view of Hariharan et al (US 2021/0076434).
Regarding claim 2, which inherits the limitations of claim 1, Lee et al does not expressly disclose that aligning a local synchronization timing to the arbitration channel. However in analogous art, Hariharan et al disclose a method of UWB transmission aligning a local synchronization timing to the arbitration channel (see paragraph 0072 “use timing information of one or more BT communication events to synchronize the timing of their respective UWB radios for communicating the subsequent UWB message” “BT events, such as receiving a BT advertisement”). Therefore it would have been obvious to an ordinary skilled in the art at the time the invention was filed to synchronize the local timing to arbitration channel. The motivation or suggestion to do so is to accurately detect the advertisement message that transmitted at a specific time of the ranging round and improve the power efficiency of the UWB radios.
Claim(s) 14 and 15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee et al (US 2023/0037601 Lee et al ref1 hereafter) in view of Lee et al (LEE et al. "Narrowband-UWB Coupling MAC"; Project: IEEE P802.15 Working Group for Wireless Personal Area Networks; 9/2021).
Regarding claim 14, which inherits the limitations of claim 9, Lee et al ref 1 teaches wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to cause the wireless device to: perform a channel access scan on the advertisement channel (see paragraph 0057); determine based on the scanning, perform a channel access procedure (see figure 8B, component 820b and 830b). Lee et al does not expressly disclose that based on the determination of channel in use perform the channel access on the next time period. However in analogous art, Lee et al teach perform a channel access scan on the advertisement channel (see slide 7, “controller scans the mirroring channels”); determine, based on the channel access scan, that the advertisement channel is occupied (see slide 11, “if channel found busy, reservation id aborted in this cycle and attempted in a newly chosen slot in next cycle”); and repeat, at a next advertisement period, the channel access scan of the advertisement channel (see slide 11, “if channel found busy, reservation id aborted in this cycle and attempted in a newly chosen slot in next cycle”). Therefore, it would have been obvious to an ordinary skilled in the art at the time the invention was filed to process the channel access in next cycle. The motivation or suggestion to do so is to avoid collision between different UWB communication systems.
Regarding claim 15, which inherits the limitations of claim 14, Lee et al ref 1 in view of Lee et al further teach wherein the channel access scan includes performance of a clear channel access energy detection (CCA-ED) on the advertisement channel (see Lee et al slide 11, “if channel found busy”).
Claim(s) 16 – 18, and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hariharan et al (US 2021/0076434) in view of Lee et al (LEE et al. "Narrowband-UWB Coupling MAC"; Project: IEEE P802.15 Working Group for Wireless Personal Area Networks; 9/2021).
Regarding claim 16, Hariharan et al teach non-transitory computer readable memory medium (see paragraph 0069, 130, and 131) storing program instructions that, when executed by processing circuitry, cause a device to: determine, based on a scan result for an arbitration channel during a first time period (see paragraph 0010 “perform discovery”) and ; align local synchronization timing to a synchronization time sensed on the arbitration channel (see paragraph 0072 “use timing information of one or more BT communication events to synchronize the timing of their respective UWB radios for communicating the subsequent UWB message” “BT events, such as receiving a BT advertisement”). Hariharan et al does not expressly disclose that based on the determination of channel in use perform the channel access on the next time period. However in analogous art, Lee et al teach perform a channel access scan on the advertisement channel (see slide 7, “controller scans the mirroring channels”); determine, based on the channel access scan, that the advertisement channel is occupied (see slide 11, “if channel found busy, reservation id aborted in this cycle and attempted in a newly chosen slot in next cycle”); and repeat, at a next advertisement period, the channel access scan of the advertisement channel (see slide 11, “if channel found busy, reservation id aborted in this cycle and attempted in a newly chosen slot in next cycle”). Therefore, it would have been obvious to an ordinary skilled in the art at the time the invention was filed to process the channel access in next cycle. The motivation or suggestion to do so is to avoid collision between different UWB communication systems.
Regarding claim 17, which inherits the limitations of claim 16, Hariharan et al in view of Lee et al further teach wherein the arbitration channel is representative of activity on the UWB channel (see Hariharan figure 4 – 6 and Lee et al slides 11 – 14).
Regarding claim 18, which inherits the limitations of claim 16, Hariharan et al in view of Lee et al further teach wherein the first time period is greater than a UWB channel transmit opportunity (see Lee et al figure 11).
Regarding claim 20, which inherits the limitations of claim 17, Hariharan et al in view of Lee et al further teach wherein, to initiate the arbitration procedure for access to the UWB channel, the program instructions are further executable by processing circuitry to cause the device to perform, during the subsequent arbitration event, a second channel access procedure on the arbitration channel for a second time period (see slide 7, 9, and 14 “if controller finds an idle period, it can send an advertisement packet for reserving the period”).
Claim(s) 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hariharan et al (US 2021/0076434) in view of Lee et al (LEE et al. "Narrowband-UWB Coupling MAC"; Project: IEEE P802.15 Working Group for Wireless Personal Area Networks; 9/2021) and further in view of Lee et al (US 2023/0037601 Lee et al ref1 hereafter).
Regarding claim 19, which inherits the limitations of claim 16, Hariharan et al in view of Lee et al further teach wherein the arbitration channel comprises a narrowband advertisement channel (implicitly teaches in 802.15 BLE standard discovery/ advertisement channels are narrowband). Further, in analogous art Lee et al ref 1 teach a UWB communication system that uses arbitration channel comprises a narrowband advertisement channel (see paragraph 0080 “NB advertisement message”). Therefore it would have been obvious to an ordinary skilled in the art at the time the invention was filed to use narrowband advertisement channel. The motivation or suggestion to do so is to comply with 802.15 standards.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3 – 5, 12, and 13 objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
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JAISON . JOSEPH
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2633
/JAISON JOSEPH/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2633