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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
IDS Dated 10/22/2024 is received and considered. See PTO-1444 attached.
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)(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 1-13, and 17-30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Elkotby et al. (USPN 12133255) (hereinafter Elkotby).
Regarding claim 1, Elkotby discloses a method for wireless communications at a user equipment (UE), comprising:
transmitting an indication of a capability to support radio frequency energy harvesting at the UE (col. 20, lines 10-22: message defining/reporting the EH device harvesting capability/parameters);
receiving control signaling indicating an energy harvesting configuration based at least in part on the indication of the capability (col. 20, lines 23-35: eNB or gNB sends WTRU message providing information about the EH dedicated signal transmission schedule or identifying a set of one or more carrier frequencies; also see col. 21, lines 23-56);
receiving, on a radio frequency spectrum band, a signal for the radio frequency energy harvesting to charge the UE based at least in part on the energy harvesting configuration (col. 30, lines 39-48: energy bearing signal may be a dedicated energy harvesting signal, an information bearing signal or a combination, also see col. 18, lines 13-26 which discloses the eNB assigning resources for energy harvesting signal transmission); and
transmitting an energy harvesting report based at least in part on the energy harvesting configuration (col. 31, lines 7-21: WTRU to transmit feedback in a feedback transmission slot).
Referring to claim 2, Elkotby discloses the received control signaling includes a resource allocation for the RF spectrum band (col. 20, lines 23-35: eNB or gNB sends WTRU message providing information about the EH dedicated signal transmission schedule or identifying a set of one or more carrier frequencies; also see col. 21, lines 23-56).
Referring to claim 3, Elkotby discloses the capability includes transmitting an indication of a charging storage capacity of the UE, wherein the signal for the radio frequency energy harvesting is received for a duration that is based at least in part on the charging storage capacity of the UE (col. 24, lines 35-38: request for energy transfer and maximum transfer duration, which would inherently depend on the charging storage capacity of the UE; also see col. 27, lines 55-60 sending feedback frame including current battery level or expected duration before battery reaches a threshold level).
Referring to claim 4, Elkotby discloses transmitting an indication that a battery of the UE satisfies a charge threshold based at least in part on receiving the signal for the radio frequency energy harvesting (col. 22, lines 9-20: WTRU can check current battery levels against some threshold and decide whether feedback requesting energy transfer is necessary or not, and if their battery levels are above a specified threshold; also see col. 24, lines 33-39).
Referring to claim 5, Elkotby discloses transmitting the energy harvesting report based at least in part on detecting a trigger to transmit the energy harvesting report corresponding to a battery level for a battery of the UE, a change to the battery level for the battery, a change to a radio frequency spectrum band of the signal for the radio frequency energy harvesting, or any combination thereof (col. 22, lines 9-20: WTRU can check current battery levels against some threshold and decide whether feedback requesting energy transfer is necessary or not and if their battery levels are above a specified threshold; also see ).
Referring to claim 6, Elkotby discloses reselecting to a second radio frequency spectrum band to receive the signal for the radio frequency energy harvesting, wherein energy harvesting report is transmitted on the radio frequency spectrum band or the second radio frequency spectrum band (col. 18, lines 13-26 which discloses the eNB assigning resources for energy harvesting signal transmission; col. 27, lines 50-67 discloses that the feedback message is transmitted based on configured time slot information received from base station; also see col. 28, lines 5-20).
Claim 7 is rejected for similar reasons as stated above. Furthermore col. 27, lines 55-60 discloses feedback frame includes expected duration before the battery level reaches a certain threshold.
Referring to claim 8, Elkotby discloses receiving an indication of a coverage range (i.e. CQI) of the signal for the radio frequency energy harvesting (col. 25, lines 53-59; col. 27, lines 24-30: since CQI value is received by WTRUs in range of the BS it can be interpreted as an indication of being in range of the BS).
Claims 9 and 10 are rejected for similar reasons as stated above.
Referring to claim 11, Elktoby discloses receiving an indication of one or more classes of UEs that are supported for the radio frequency energy harvesting within the coverage range of the signal (col. 25, lines 53-67 discloses the control message includes an information element indicating a number of EH WTRU groups supported by the cell/BS).
Referring to claim 12, Elktoby discloses transmitting capability information comprises an indication of a relationship between an output of an energy harvesting circuit of the UE and an input power to the energy harvesting circuit, a frequency of the signal for the radio frequency energy harvesting, a waveform of the signal for the radio frequency energy harvesting, a modulation of the signal for the radio frequency energy harvesting, or any combination thereof (col. 20, lines 10-22: WTRU discloses message reporting EH device harvesting capabilities such as RF-to-energy conversion efficiency and/or waveforms supported).
Claim 13 is rejected for similar reasons as stated above.
Referring to claim 17, Elktoby discloses transmitting the indication of the capability comprises: transmitting an indication of a capability for the UE to hold energy based at least in part on the radio frequency energy harvesting (i.e. WTRU transmits it is able to charge its battery by virtue that it is EH capable) (col. 24, lines 35-38: request for energy transfer and maximum transfer duration, which would inherently depend on the charging storage capacity of the UE; also see col. 27, lines 55-60 sending feedback frame including current battery level or expected duration before battery reaches a threshold level).
Claim 18-30 are rejected for similar reasons as stated above. Furthermore Elktoby discloses a network entity apparatus for receiving the transmitted signals from WTRU and for transmitting signals received by the WTRU in order to effect the disclosed invention in claim 1 and the above claims (see. Fig. 1C, refs. 160a-160c).
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.
Claim(s) 14-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Elktoby in view of Bean (USPN 10854960).
Referring to claim 14, Elktoby discloses selecting a corresponding one or more antenna elements to be connected to each of one or more selected power harvester circuits for the radio frequency energy harvesting based at least in part on an input power from the signal (Fig. 4 and col. 14, lines 15-22). Elktoby, however does not explicitly state that these power harvester circuits are rectifiers. In analogous art, Bean discloses another RF energy harvesting system which discloses rectifiers 316 connected to antenna elements 308 (Fig. 3 and col. 9, line 61 to col. 10, line 3). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to combine Bean’s power rectifiers into Elktoby’s power harvester circuits to provide efficient mechanisms to accumulate power from RF at different frequencies such as far infrared and microwave portions of the electromagnetic spectrum (col. 1, lines 32-40).
Referring to claims 15 and 16, Elktoby discloses the invention as described above. Although Elktoby discloses energy harvesting and collection circuits (Fig. 4) it does not explicitly disclose a first set of one or more rectifier circuits is associated with a first frequency configuration of a set of frequency configurations, and a second set of one or more rectifier circuits is associated with a second frequency configuration of the set of frequency configurations. In analogous art, Bean discloses another RF energy harvesting system which discloses two sets of rectifiers (316, 328) connected to antenna elements (308, 310) wherein the first rectifier 316 is a Schottky diode attached to an antenna suitable for operation at resonant frequencies in the microwave frequency range, and second rectifier 328 may be a MIM diode attached to an antenna suitable for operation at resonant frequencies in the far infrared frequency range (i.e. a first and second frequency configurations) (Fig. 3 and col. 9, line 61 to col. 10, line 3). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to combine Bean’s power rectifiers into Elktoby’s power harvester circuits to provide efficient mechanisms to accumulate power from RF at different frequencies such as far infrared and microwave portions of the electromagnetic spectrum (col. 1, lines 32-40).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
In order to advance prosecution, the office would also like to bring Applicant’s attention to Chen et al. (US PGPUB 20160134150) which discloses another RF energy harvesting system with multiple receiving antennas each connected to separate rectifiers which can improve rectifying efficiency since the converter circuitries can be tuned separately for each frequency band of signal being received (Fig. 3 and [0030]) as this would also read on the features recited in claims 14-16.
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JOSEPH E. AVELLINO
Supervisory Patent Examiner
Art Unit 2478
/JOSEPH E AVELLINO/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2478
Prosecution Insights