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
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) 1-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sadri et al. (2024/0,223,266) in view of Ashrafi (11,152,991).
For claims 1, 10, 14, Sadri teaches a system (abstract; background, summary and claims), comprising:
a Layer-1 (Para 50) physical interface (L1-PHY) (Para 47) transcoder (Paras 37-40) that:
obtains uplink wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) (Paras 36-37) communication signals (Para 25; wireless) from a Wi-Fi- enabled device (Para 26),
converts the uplink Wi-Fi communication signals to non-terrestrial (Para 23) uplink (Paras 3-4) communication signals for a satellite (Para 24),
outputs the non-terrestrial uplink communication signals for redirection to the satellite via the surface (Para 23, 32),
obtains non-terrestrial downlink communication signals from the satellite, as redirected to the L1-PHY transcoder via the surface (Paras 33-35),
converts the non-terrestrial downlink communication signals to downlink Wi-Fi communication signals for the Wi-Fi-enabled device (Paras 43-45), and
outputs the downlink Wi-Fi communication signals to the Wi-Fi-enabled device (Para 45).
Sadri does not expressly disclose a metasurface; and downlink signals redirected via the metasurface. Ashrafi teaches a method and system (abstract) in the relevant art (background, summary and claims) that includes this limitation (Figs 20A and 20B). At the time of filing, one of ordinary skill in the art would have added Ashrafi in order to provide improvements to the NTN system (background).
For claim 2, Sadri teaches wherein the metasurface is incorporated into the L1-PHY transcoder (Para 36).
For claim 3, Sadri teaches that the metasurface comprises a device externally radio frequency coupled to the L1-PHY transcoder (Para 61).
For claim 4, Sadri teaches wherein the L1-PHY transcoder performs at least one of: filtering (N/A), amplification (Para 24), or frequency conversion (Paras 38-39) on the uplink Wi-Fi communication signals (Paras 40-41).
For claim 5, Sadri teaches wherein the uplink Wi-Fi communication signals comprise first encoded packet data (Paras 41-42), and wherein the L1-PHY transcoder converts the uplink Wi-Fi communication signals to the non-terrestrial uplink communication signals based on decoding the first encoded packet data into decoded packet data (Paras 43-44), and encoding the decoded packet data into second encoded packet data. (Para 45)
For claim 6, 11, 12, 15, 16, Sadri teaches wherein the L1-PHY transcoder performs at least one of: equalization (N/A), demodulation (Paras 52-55), or forward-error-correction decoding (N/A), to extract the first encoded packet data from the uplink Wi-Fi communication signals (Paras 43-45).
For claim 7, Sadri teaches wherein the L1-PHY transcoder performs at least one of: filtering (N/A), amplification (Para 24), or frequency conversion (Paras 38-39) on the uplink Wi-Fi communication signals (Paras 40-41).
For claims 8, 18, Sadri teaches that the non-terrestrial downlink communication signals comprise first encoded packet data (Paras 41-42), and wherein the L1-PHY transcoder converts the non-terrestrial downlink communication signals to the downlink Wi-Fi communication signals based on decoding the first encoded packet data into decoded packet data (Paras 43-44), and encoding the decoded packet data into second encoded packet data (Para 45).
For claims 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, 19, Sadri teaches wherein the L1-PHY transcoder performs at least one of: filtering (N/A), amplification (Para 24), or frequency conversion (Paras 38-39), to extract the first encoded packet data from the non-terrestrial downlink communication signals (Paras 40-41).
For claim 20, Sadri teaches that the first packet converter decodes the first packet data based on digital video broadcasting logic blocks (Para 5), and wherein the second packet converter decodes the third packet data based on Wi-Fi logic blocks (Paras 54-59).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MELVIN H POLLACK whose telephone number is (571)272-3887. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:30-5:00.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Oscar Louie can be reached at (571)270-1684. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MELVIN H POLLACK/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2445
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