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 § 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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 1-2 and 5-8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim (US 2009/0003261) in views of Adachi (US 2007/0274406) and Sutivong (US 2005/0002324).
Kim discloses the following features.
Regarding claim 1, a wireless communication system (see system shown in Fig. 2) comprising: a transmission station of a wireless signal, which performs a variable transmission output (see BS 200 in Fig. 2, wherein a base station has variable transmission, for example, the BS may transmits different RREQs to different MSs as shown in steps 311-315 of Fig. 3); and a reception station having a function of relaying the wireless signal (see relay MS1-MS3 in Fig. 2, and see Fig. 3, wherein the relay MS1 303 is selected as a relay station that receives data to be relayed to the target MS4 309).
Regarding claim 5, a wireless communication method using a transmission station of a wireless signal, which performs variable transmission output (see BS 200 in Fig. 2, wherein a base station has variable transmission, for example, the BS may transmits different RREQs to different MSs as shown in steps 311-315 of Fig. 3) and a reception station having a function of relaying the wireless signal (see relay MS1-MS3 in Fig. 2, and see Fig. 3, wherein the relay MS1 303 is selected as a relay station that receives data to be relayed to the target MS4 309).
Regarding claim 7, a wireless signal receiving apparatus having a function of relaying a wireless signal (see relay MS1-MS3 in Fig. 2, and see Fig. 3, wherein the relay MS1 303 is selected as a relay station that receives data to be relayed to the target MS4 309) transmitted from a transmission station that performs a variable transmission output (see BS 200 in Fig. 2, wherein a base station has variable transmission, for example, the BS may transmits different RREQs to different MSs as shown in steps 311-315 of Fig. 3).
Kim does not disclose the following features: regarding claims 1, 5 and 7, the reception station includes an attenuator that attenuates a reception input captured from an antenna at a desired attenuation rate, and the reception station is configured to execute: detecting a C/I that is an intensity ratio between a carrier wave C that is sent form the transmission station and reaches the antenna and an interference wave I that reaches the antenna; requesting the transmission station to increase the transmission output in a case wherein the C/I is smaller than a request value to be secured; and requesting the attenuator to attenuate the reception input in a case where the C/I is smaller than the request value; regarding claims 2, 6 and 8, wherein the reception station is configured to execute calculating a shortage of the C/I of the reception input captured from the antenna with respect to the request value, the requesting an increase in the transmission output is demanding an increase in the transmission output corresponding to the shortage, and the requesting attenuation of the reception input is a process of demanding attenuation of the reception corresponding to the shortage.
Adachi discloses the following features.
Regarding claims 1, 5 and 7, the reception station (see OFDM receiver 100 in Fig. 1, which may be implemented on an OFDM “terminal” as shown in paragraph [0022], which may be implemented as an MS in Kim’s system) includes
an attenuator (see interpolation circuit that includes a digital filter as shown in paragraphs [0025]-[0026], wherein the interpolation circuit, including blocks 11, 111 and 23 in Fig. 4 being part of the equalization processing unit 105 of the OFDM receiver 100 shown in Fig. 1) that attenuates a reception input captured from an antenna at a desired attenuation rate (wherein the reception input is captured by the antenna shown in Fig. 1 and attenuated with a band-pass filter, where each band-pass filter has its own attenuation rate in its stopband), and the reception station is configured to execute:
detecting a C/I that is an intensity ratio between a carrier wave C that is sent form the transmission station and reaches the antenna and an interference wave I that reaches the antenna (see “power ratio of the main wave to the interference wave” recited in paragraph [0027]);
requesting the attenuator to attenuate the reception input in a case where the C/I is smaller than the request value (see “When the power ratio of the main wave to the interference wave is less than a threshold (i.e. the reception power of the interference wave is relatively large), the influence of the interference between symbols becomes large. Therefore, in such a case, filter pass band is controlled so as to pass the main wave and to remove the interference wave” recited in paragraph [0027], wherein the band-pass filter is considered as an attenuator, and the controlling of the filter may be considered as a request for the filter to remove the interference wave).
Regarding claims 2, 6 and 8, wherein the reception station is configured to execute calculating a shortage of the C/I of the reception input captured from the antenna with respect to the request value, the requesting attenuation of the reception input is a process of demanding attenuation of the reception corresponding to the shortage (see “When the power ratio of the main wave to the interference wave is less than a threshold (i.e. the reception power of the interference wave is relatively large), the influence of the interference between symbols becomes large. Therefore, in such a case, filter pass band is controlled so as to pass the main wave and to remove the interference wave” recited in paragraph [0027], wherein the power ratio being less than a threshold represents a shortage from the threshold value; the band-pass filter acting as an attenuator is put in action to eliminate that shortage by removing the effect of the interference wave).
Sutivong discloses the following features.
Regarding claims 1, 5 and 7, the reception station is configured to execute:
detecting a C/I that is an intensity ratio between a carrier wave C that is sent form the transmission station and reaches the antenna and an interference wave I that reaches the antenna (see “the terminal, for example 220i, can attempt to maintain the minimum received SINR or C/I required for achieving a predetermined quality of service… if the received SINR or C/I is below the predetermined level, the terminal 220i can transmit a signal to the base station 210f to request that the base station 210f increase the transmit signal power” recited in paragraph [0034]);
requesting the transmission station to increase the transmission output in a case wherein the C/I is smaller than a request value to be secured (see “the terminal, for example 220i, can attempt to maintain the minimum received SINR or C/I required for achieving a predetermined quality of service… if the received SINR or C/I is below the predetermined level, the terminal 220i can transmit a signal to the base station 210f to request that the base station 210f increase the transmit signal power” recited in paragraph [0034]).
Regarding claims 2, 6 and 8, wherein the reception station is configured to execute calculating a shortage of the C/I of the reception input captured from the antenna with respect to the request value, the requesting an increase in the transmission output is demanding an increase in the transmission output corresponding to the shortage (see “the terminal, for example 220i, can attempt to maintain the minimum received SINR or C/I required for achieving a predetermined quality of service… if the received SINR or C/I is below the predetermined level, the terminal 220i can transmit a signal to the base station 210f to request that the base station 210f increase the transmit signal power” recited in paragraph [0034], wherein C/I being below the predetermined level represents the claimed shortage).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the effective filing date of the current application to modify the system of Kim using features, as taught by Adachi and Sutivong, in order to maintain a minimums C/I for achieving a predetermined quality of service (see paragraph [0034] of Sutivong and paragraph [0027] of Adachi).
Claim(s) 3 and 9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim, Adachi and Sutivong as applied to claims 1-2 above, and further in view of Kelton (US 2013/0065544).
Kim, Adachi and Sutivong discloses the features as shown above.
Kim does not disclose the following features: regarding claims 3 and 9, wherein the request value is a standard reception input value defined by radio law-related examination standards.
Kelton discloses the following features.
Regarding claims 3 and 9, wherein the request value is a standard reception input value defined by radio law-related examination standards (see “a predetermined C/I level, which is the minimum C/I level that is compliant with a target communications standard” recited in paragraph [0033], e.g. IEEE 802.802.11n as shown in paragraph [0026]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the effective filing date of the current application to modify the system of Kim, Adachi and Sutivong using features, as taught by Kelton, in order to comply with a target communications standard (see paragraph [0033] of Kelton).
Claim(s) 4 and 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim, Adachi and Sutivong as applied to claims 1-2 above, and further in view of Ruijter (US 2012/0329415).
Kim, Adachi and Sutivong discloses the features as shown above.
Kim does not disclose the following features: regarding claims 4 and 10, wherein the attenuator is externally added to an existing reception station that does not include the attenuator.
Ruijter discloses the following features.
Regarding claim 4 and 10, wherein the attenuator is externally added to an existing reception station that does not include the attenuator (see “external attenuation circuitry (such as attenuator 106)” recited in paragraph [0020]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the effective filing date of the current application to modify the system of Kim, Adachi and Sutivong using features, as taught by Ruijter, in order to reduce interference for a receiver without an attenuator (see paragraph [0017] and [0020] of Ruijter).
Claim(s) 11-12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim, Adachi, Sutivong and Kelton as applied to claims 3 and 9 above, and further in view of Ruijter (US 2012/0329415).
Kim, Adachi, Sutivong and Kelton discloses the features as shown above.
Kim does not disclose the following features: regarding claims 11-12, wherein the attenuator is externally added to an existing reception station that does not include the attenuator.
Ruijter discloses the following features.
Regarding claim 11-12, wherein the attenuator is externally added to an existing reception station that does not include the attenuator (see “external attenuation circuitry (such as attenuator 106)” recited in paragraph [0020]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the effective filing date of the current application to modify the system of Kim, Adachi, Sutivong and Kelton using features, as taught by Ruijter, in order to reduce interference for a receiver without an attenuator (see paragraph [0017] and [0020] of Ruijter).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JUTAI KAO whose telephone number is (571)272-9719. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8:00-17:00 EST.
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/JUTAI KAO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2473
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