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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The references listed in the Information Disclosure Statement(s) filed on 11/14/2024 have been considered by the examiner (see attached PTO-1449 form or PTO/SB/08A and 08B forms).
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)(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) 4 and 9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Strong (US 2017/0331533).
Regarding claims 4 and 9, Strong discloses wireless communication circuit comprising:
a transceiver circuit (Fig. 2, access point 1, see also Fig. 4) comprising:
a signal processing circuit configured to generate a radio frequency, RF, signal (modulated data 9, Fig. 2, implemented as a processor, para. 0127, data streams 1-3, OFDM tones correspond to “RF signal”, para. 0095, Fig. 4);
a beamformer circuit configured to process the RF signal to generate a plurality of processed signals each associated with a respective one of a plurality of predefined phases (beamforming weights 16, Fig. 2, beamforming matrix 20, Fig. 4, streams of OFDM tones A and B are fed into the beamforming weights matrix 20, which apply applies a weight set generated by beamforming function 18 with a corresponding amplitude and phase, para. 0095-0096); and
a phase correction circuit (phase shift block 21, Fig. 4) configured to:
determine a plurality of phase correction terms for the plurality of processed signals, respectively (phase shift values are calculated by calculation 13, and applied to each output of the beamforming weights matrix 20, para. 0101, Fig. 4); and
apply the plurality of determined phase correction terms to the plurality of predefined phases, respectively (phase correction applied to each output of the beamforming weights matrix 20, para. 0101, Fig. 4).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-3 allowed.
Claims 5-8, 10-14 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 DAVID S HUANG whose telephone number is (571)270-1798. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday, 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m., EST.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Hannah Wang can be reached at (571) 272-9018. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/David S Huang/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2631 1/24/2026