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 .
Remarks
This Office Action is in response to the application filed on 09/09/24. Examiner acknowledged that claims 6, 9, 11, 14, 16, 21, 24, 26 are amended; claims 10, 15, 19-20, 22-23 are canceled. Currently, claims 1-9, 11-14, 16-18, 21, 24-26 are pending.
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 06/27/25, 11/20/24 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
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) 1-3, 7-8, 14 and 26 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim (US 2019/0348752).
Regarding Claim 1, Kim teaches a wireless access device (Fig. 1), comprising: a housing ([0007] “a cylindrical canister”); a plurality of directional antennas (Fig. 1: 140), wherein the plurality of directional antennas are disposed in the housing and are distributed along a ring array (Fig. 1: 120, 130), and a central axis (Fig. 1: center point of 120, 130) of the ring array of the plurality of directional antennas is a first axis (Fig. 1: Y axis); and a driving apparatus ([0046] “driver motor 260”), wherein the driving apparatus is disposed in the housing, and the driving apparatus is configured to drive the plurality of directional antennas to rotate relative to the housing (Fig. 4), to respectively adjust beam directions of the plurality of directional antennas.
Kim does not explicitly teach in Fig. 4 each directional antenna radiates a signal in a direction away from the first axis; and beams of the plurality of directional antennas are respectively located in a plurality of sectors, the plurality of sectors are disposed around the first axis, and vertices of the plurality of sectors are located on the first axis. However, [0009] teaches “antenna assembly having a reflector steering structure that provides smooth steering in adjusting the horizontal azimuth angle of the reflector”; [0005] “the horizontal azimuth angle of the antenna reflector, when electrical horizontal steering is performed to control and adjust the phase of a signal transmitted from each radiating element.” It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Kim in order to pivot the antennas so the beams are in different sectors (portions of a 360 degree coverage) since it is necessary to adjust the orientation of the antenna in order to improve the call quality in an area where large amount of calls are generated due to change in arrangement of buildings around the base station. Therefore, the subject matter claimed would have been obvious in view of Kim.
Regarding Claim 2, Kim teaches the wireless access device according to claim 1, further comprising: a first support (Fig. 2: 154), wherein the plurality of directional antennas are fastened to the first support, the driving apparatus comprises a driving member (Fig. 3: 220), the driving member is connected to the first support, the driving member is configured to drive the first support to rotate around an axis, and the rotation axis around which the driving member drives the first support to rotate is collinear with the first axis, to drive the plurality of directional antennas to synchronously rotate, so as to respectively adjust the beam directions of the plurality of directional antennas in the plurality of sectors (Fig. 4).
Regarding Claim 3, Kim teaches the wireless access device according to claim 1, further comprising: a first support (Fig. 2: 154), wherein the first support and the housing are fastened relative to each other, wherein the directional antenna comprises a radiator and a reflection plate ([0043] “The reflector 110 includes various antennas”); and radiators of the plurality of directional antennas are fastened to the first support, reflection plates of the plurality of directional antennas are capable of respectively rotating around axes relative to the radiators, and the driving apparatus is configured to drive the reflection plates of the plurality of directional antennas to respectively rotate around the rotation axes of the reflection plates, to respectively adjust the beam directions of the plurality of directional antennas in the plurality of sectors (Fig. 4).
Regarding Claim 7, Kim teaches the wireless access device according to claim 1, further comprising: a first support (Fig. 2: 154), wherein the first support and the housing are fastened relative to each other, the plurality of directional antennas are capable of being respectively rotatably connected to the first support around axes, and the driving apparatus is configured to drive the plurality of directional antennas to respectively rotate around the rotation axes of the plurality of directional antennas, to respectively adjust the beam directions of the plurality of directional antennas in the plurality of sectors (Fig. 4).
Regarding Claim 8, Kim teaches the wireless access device according to claim 7, wherein the driving apparatus comprises a plurality of driving members (Fig. 2: 22_24), a quantity of the plurality of driving members is equal to a quantity of the plurality of directional antennas (Fig. 2: 1 driving member 22_24 drives 1 radome 140), the plurality of driving members are in a one-to-one correspondence with the plurality of directional antennas, each driving member is connected to a corresponding directional antenna, and the driving member is configured to drive the directional antenna to rotate around a rotation axis of the directional antenna (Fig. 4).
Regarding Claim 14, Kim teaches the wireless access device according to any one of claim 1, wherein there are N sectors (Fig. 4: 3 sections), N is a positive integer greater than 1, and a central angle of each sector is (360/N)"; and the plurality of sectors are head-to-tail connected in a circumferential direction of the first axis.
Regarding Claim 26, Kim teaches a communication system, comprising a wireless access device and user equipment, wherein the wireless access device is configured to provide a wireless access service for the user equipment; wherein the wireless access device comprising: a housing ([0007] “a cylindrical canister”); a plurality of directional antennas (Fig. 1: 140), wherein the plurality of directional antennas are disposed in the housing and are distributed along a ring array (Fig. 1: 120, 130), and a central axis (Fig. 1: center point of 120, 130) of the ring array of the plurality of directional antennas is a first axis (Fig. 1: Y axis); and a driving apparatus ([0046] “driver motor 260”), wherein the driving apparatus is disposed in the housing, and the driving apparatus is configured to drive the plurality of directional antennas to rotate relative to the housing (Fig. 4), to respectively adjust beam directions of the plurality of directional antennas in the plurality of sectors.
Kim does not explicitly teach in Fig. 4 each directional antenna radiates a signal in a direction away from the first axis; and beams of the plurality of directional antennas are respectively located in a plurality of sectors, the plurality of sectors are disposed around the first axis, and vertices of the plurality of sectors are located on the first axis. However, [0009] teaches “antenna assembly having a reflector steering structure that provides smooth steering in adjusting the horizontal azimuth angle of the reflector”; [0005] “the horizontal azimuth angle of the antenna reflector, when electrical horizontal steering is performed to control and adjust the phase of a signal transmitted from each radiating element.” It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Kim in order to pivot the antennas so the beams are in different sectors (portions of a 360 degree coverage) since it is necessary to adjust the orientation of the antenna in order to improve the call quality in an area where large amount of calls are generated due to change in arrangement of buildings around the base station. Therefore, the subject matter claimed would have been obvious in view of Kim.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4-6, 9, 11-13, 16-18, 21, 24-25 are 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
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HENRY T LUONG whose telephone number is (571)270-7008. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Thursday: 8:00-6:00.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Regis Betsch can be reached at (571) 270-7101. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Henry Luong/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2844