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 .
Claims 1-20 are pending.
Information Disclosure Statement
The IDS statements filed to date have been considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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) 1, 3-4, 7-8, 10-11, 14-15, and 18-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Huang et al., US 2022/0174676, (“Huang”).
Independent Claims
Regarding claim 1, Huang teaches “A wireless communication method, comprising:
receiving a carrier signal transmitted by a carrier transmitting device (Fig. 1, backscatter device receives signal transmitted by an exciter; see also, Fig. 4, backscatter device receives first excitation signal at step S110; paragraph no. 0102, “S110: An exciter sends a first excitation signal to a backscatter device, and the backscatter device receives the first excitation signal from the exciter”); and
transmitting a back scattering signal to the carrier transmitting device according to the carrier signal (Fig. 1, backscatter device transmits signal to the receiver; see also, Fig. 4, step S130, backscatter device transmits a backscattering signal to the receiver; note that the exciter and the receiver are part of one node (see paragraph no. 0098); paragraph no. 0119, “S130: The backscatter device sends a backscattered signal of the first excitation signal to the receiver based on the first resource, and the receiver may receive, on a second resource, the backscattered signal sent by the backscatter device”);
wherein a frequency-domain resource characteristic of the back scattering signal is related to a frequency-domain resource of the carrier signal” (paragraph no. 0119, “S130: The backscatter device sends a backscattered signal of the first excitation signal to the receiver based on the first resource, and the receiver may receive, on a second resource, the backscattered signal sent by the backscatter device”; see also, paragraph no. 0099, “In frequency domain, the backscattered signal obtained through modulation is equivalent to shifting a spectrum of the excitation signal by Δƒ=1/T, and the spectrum is shown in FIG. 3. To be specific, the exciter sends the excitation signal to the backscatter device on a frequency ƒc. The backscatter device sends the backscattered signal to the receiver on a frequency ƒc+Δƒ”).
Regarding independent claim 15, this independent claim is a corresponding apparatus (i.e. UE) claim of the method claim 1 and recites similar subject matter. As such, the rationale behind the above rejection of claim 1 applies with equal force to this independent claim and as further amplified below to highlight the minor differences between the claims. Regarding further independent claim 15, see Fig. 9 of Huang for the claimed structural elements of the claim. Note that the claimed “transceiver” reads on the communications interface 620 – see paragraph no. 0214 and see also, Fig. 7.
Regarding independent claim 8, Huang teaches “A wireless communication method, comprising:
transmitting a carrier signal to a terminal device, so that the terminal device transmits a back scattering signal to a carrier transmitting device according to the carrier signal (Fig. 1, backscatter device receives signal transmitted by an exciter; see also, Fig. 4, backscatter device receives first excitation signal at step S110; paragraph no. 0102, “S110: An exciter sends a first excitation signal to a backscatter device, and the backscatter device receives the first excitation signal from the exciter”; Fig. 1, backscatter device transmits signal to the receiver; see also, Fig. 4, step S130, backscatter device transmits a backscattering signal to the receiver; note that the exciter and the receiver are part of one node (see paragraph no. 0098); paragraph no. 0119, “S130: The backscatter device sends a backscattered signal of the first excitation signal to the receiver based on the first resource, and the receiver may receive, on a second resource, the backscattered signal sent by the backscatter device”);
wherein a frequency-domain resource characteristic of the back scattering signal is related to a frequency-domain resource of the carrier signal” (paragraph no. 0119, “S130: The backscatter device sends a backscattered signal of the first excitation signal to the receiver based on the first resource, and the receiver may receive, on a second resource, the backscattered signal sent by the backscatter device”; see also, paragraph no. 0099, “In frequency domain, the backscattered signal obtained through modulation is equivalent to shifting a spectrum of the excitation signal by Δƒ=1/T, and the spectrum is shown in FIG. 3. To be specific, the exciter sends the excitation signal to the backscatter device on a frequency ƒc. The backscatter device sends the backscattered signal to the receiver on a frequency ƒc+Δƒ”)
Regarding claims 3 and 10, Huang teaches “wherein the carrier signal comprises N carrier signals, N is a positive integer; and the back scattering signal comprises M back scattering signals, M is a positive integer” (see paragraph no. 0099: the “N” and “M” are each interpreted as an integer of 1).
Regarding claims 4 and 11, Huang teaches “wherein there is a correspondence between the N carrier signals and the M back scattering signals” (see paragraph no. 0099 and especially, “The backscatter device sends the backscattered signal to the receiver on a frequency fc +∆f”).
Regarding claim 18, see paragraph no. 0099 and the comments above regarding claims 3 and 4.
Regarding claims 7, 14, and 19, Huang teaches “wherein the frequency-domain resource of the carrier signal is related to a bandwidth of a channel on which the back scattering signal is located” (see paragraph no. 0099 and especially, “The backscatter device sends the backscattered signal to the receiver on a frequency fc +∆f”).
Regarding claim 20, Huang teaches “A carrier transmitting device, comprising: a processor and a memory for storing a computer program, wherein the processor is configured to invoke and execute the computer program stored in the memory, to perform the method according to claim 8” (Fig. 4, exciter and receiver, and paragraph no. 0098 which discloses that these two devices may be located on one node; see Fig. 8 and paragraph nos. 0212, 0221, 0223 which disclose a processor and memory for the one node including the exciter and receiver).
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, 5, 9, 12, and 16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Huang in view of Feuersaenger et al., US 2022/0408372, (“Feuersaenger”).
Regarding claims 2 and 9, Huang does not teach but Feuersaenger teaches “wherein the frequency-domain resource on which the carrier signal is located is non-continuous” (see paragraph nos. 0010, 0011).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of this claimed invention to modify Huang by incorporating the teachings of Feuersaenger to provide a larger frequency diversity gain than localized transmission, as suggested by Feuersaenger in paragraph no. 0013.
Regarding claims 5, 12, and 16, Huang teaches “wherein the frequency-domain resource of the carrier signal is predefined, indicated by the carrier transmitting device, or indicated by a third party device” (the “predefined” alternative limitation is taught by Huang – see Fig. 3 and paragraph no. 0099 which disclose that the excitation signal has a pre-defined frequency of fc).
Claim(s) 6, 13, and 17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Huang and Feuersaenger as applied to claims 2, 9, 16 above, and further in view of Casaccia et al., US 7,957,351, (“Casaccia”).
Regarding claims 6, 13, and 17, Huang does not teach but Casaccia teaches “transmitting capability information of a terminal device to the carrier transmitting device; wherein the frequency-domain resource of the carrier signal is related to the capability information of the terminal device” (col. 5, lines 7-14, 54-63) as recited in claim 6 and similarly recited in claims 13 and 17.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of this claimed invention to modify Huang and Feuersaenger by incorporating the teachings of Casaccia to enable the UE to inform the receiving device of its capabilities, thereby improving communications between the two devices.
Conclusion
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/WON TAE C KIM/Examiner, Art Unit 2414
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