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 .
Examiner’s Note: For applicant’s benefit portions of the cited reference(s) have been cited to aid in the review of the rejection(s). While every attempt has been made to be thorough and consistent within the rejection it is noted that the PRIOR ART MUST BE CONSIDERED IN ITS ENTIRETY, INCLUDING DISCLOSURES THAT TEACH AWAY FROM THE CLAIMS. See MPEP 2141.02 VI.
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) 1, 3, 11 and 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Sheen, et. al., U.S. Patent Application Publication Number 2020/0320731, published October 8, 2020.
As per claims 1 and 11, Sheen discloses a time division duplexed (TDD) frequency modulation continuous wave (FMCW) radar system, comprising:
P transmitter circuit chains, configured to transmit a plurality of FMCW signals, wherein a pth transmitter circuit chain is coupled to a single pole Qp throw (SPQpT) radio frequency (RF) switch, the SPQpT RF switch is coupled to Qp antennas, Qp and P are positive integers, and p is a positive integer not larger than P (Sheen, ¶136 using FMCW and Fig. 5);
and M receiver circuit chains, configured to receive a plurality of reflected FMCW signals, wherein an mth receiver circuit chain is coupled to a single pole Nm throw (SPNmT) radio frequency (RF) switch, the SPNmT RF switch is coupled to Nm antennas, Nm and M are positive integers, and m is a positive integer not larger than M (Sheen, Fig. 6).
As per claims 3 and 13, Sheen further discloses the time division duplexed (TDD) frequency modulation continuous wave (FMCW) radar system of claim 1, wherein the M receiver circuit chains comprise M mixers, configured to mix the plurality of reflected FMCW signals with the plurality of FMCW signals to generate a plurality of beat frequency signals (Sheen, ¶60-61 and 138 where the difference is a beat signal).
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 2, 4-7, 9, 12, 14-17 and 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sheen in view of Jansen, U.S. Patent Application Publication Number 2015/0153445, published June 4, 2015.
As per claims 2 and 12, Sheen discloses the system of claim 1 but fails to disclose use of a phase locked loop for signal generation.
Jansen uses a phase locked loop (¶49).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to use a phase locked loop in order to gain the benefit of providing a stable frequency source through feedback.
As per claims 4 and 14, Sheen as modified by Jansen discloses the time division duplexed (TDD) frequency modulation continuous wave (FMCW) radar system of claim 3, wherein the plurality of beat frequency signals are analyzed to generate ranges, velocities, and angles of a plurality of objects (Sheen, ¶96, range and Jansen, ¶45 and 467).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to determine speed and angle in order to gain the benefit of having as much information about the target as possible when making decisions.
As per claims 5-7 and 15-17, Sheen as modified by Jansen further discloses the system of claim 3 using FFTs to transform the data when determining range, velocity and angle (Sheen, ¶99 and Jansen, ¶60 and 93).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to use FFTs in order to gain the obvious benefit of well-known techniques.
As per claims 9 and 19, Sheen as modified by Jansen further discloses the time division duplexed (TDD) frequency modulation continuous wave (FMCW) radar system of claim 1, wherein P is 2, Q1 is 2, Q2 is 2, M is 2, N1 is 2, and N2 is 2 (Sheen, Fig. 4 and 5).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made, to contrive any number of desirable ranges for the variable limitation disclosed by Applicant, since it has been held that where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, discovering the optimum or workable ranges involves only routine skill in the art. In re Aller, 105 USPQ 233.
Claim(s) 8, 10, 18 and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sheen and Jansen 1, 9, 11 and 19 above and further in view of Meier, et. al., U.S. Patent Application Publication Number 2024/0102123, filed February 2, 2022.
As per claims 8, 10, 18 and 20, Sheen as modified by Jansen discloses the system but fails to explicitly disclose the use of binary phase shift modulation.
Meier teaches binary phase shift modulation (¶54).
It would have been an obvious matter of design choice to use BPM, as Applicant has not disclosed that it solves any stated problem of the prior art or is for any particular purpose. It appears that the invention would perform equally well as the invention disclosed by Sheen. It is well within the skill of a person in the art to determine a transmission scheme.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure and is provided on form PTO-892.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MARCUS E WINDRICH whose telephone number is (571)272-6417. The examiner can normally be reached M-F ~7-3:30.
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/MARCUS E WINDRICH/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3646
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