DETAILED ACTION
This action is in response to the initial filing filed on October 3, 2024, Claim 1-20 have been examined this application.
Information Disclosure Statement
The Information Disclosure Statement (IDS) filed on 5/5/2025 has been acknowledged.
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 § 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)(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.
Claims 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102 (a)(1) as being anticipated by Shin et al (US 2022/0300082 A1).
Regarding Claim 19, Shin discloses a method comprising: coupling, by an electromagnetic coupling circuit in a band configured to fit on the wrist of a user [0019 for using a wristband and a mobile device for processing movement and gestures],
a first drive signal to tissues of the wrist [0020 for generating bursts of radiation towards the wrist including muscles and ligaments and receiving the reflected energy];
and receiving a first reflected signal from the tissues of the wrist [0020 for a skin/band interface and 0023 for receiving radiation to resolve movement].
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.
Claims 1-3, 8-10, 13-14, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shin et al (US 2022/0300082 A1) in view of Yang et al (US 2009/0066597 A1).
Regarding Claim 1, Shin teaches a system, comprising: a band configured to fit on the wrist of a user [0019 for using a wristband and a mobile device for processing movement and gestures],
receive a first drive signal at the first feed port, couple the first drive signal to tissues of the wrist [0020 for generating bursts of radiation towards the wrist including muscles and ligaments and receiving the reflected energy],
receive a first reflected signal from the tissues of the wrist, and couple the first reflected signal to the first feed port [0020 for a skin/band interface and 0023 for receiving radiation to resolve movement].
Shin fails to explicitly teach the band comprising a first electromagnetic coupling circuit having a first feed port, the first electromagnetic coupling circuit being configured to.
Yang has a substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) slot full-array antenna fabricated employing printed circuit (abstract) and teaches the band comprising a first electromagnetic coupling circuit having a first feed port, the first electromagnetic coupling circuit being configured to [0105 for ingle element metallic waveguide slot array with PORT1 and PORT2].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the applicant’s invention for modifying the gesture recognition techniques, as disclosed by Shin, further including the waveguide excitation calculations as taught by Yang for the purpose to lower the physical steering requirements in the elevation plane (Yang, 0106).
Regarding Claim 2, Shin fails to explicitly teach the first electromagnetic coupling circuit comprises a leaky-wave antenna.
Yang has a substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) slot full-array antenna fabricated employing printed circuit (abstract) and teaches the first electromagnetic coupling circuit comprises a leaky-wave antenna [0075 for steerable antenna is a leaky-wave slot-array antenna].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the applicant’s invention for modifying the gesture recognition techniques, as disclosed by Shin, further including the waveguide excitation calculations as taught by Yang for the purpose to using printed board substrates (Yang, 0075).
Regarding Claim 3, Shin fails to explicitly teach the first electromagnetic coupling circuit comprises a substrate integrated waveguide comprising the leaky-wave antenna.
Yang has a substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) slot full-array antenna fabricated employing printed circuit (abstract) and teaches the first electromagnetic coupling circuit comprises a leaky-wave antenna [0081 for a viable leaky-wave antenna could be designed using this high leakage feature of the SIW structure].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the applicant’s invention for modifying the gesture recognition techniques, as disclosed by Shin, further including the waveguide excitation calculations as taught by Yang for the purpose to using printed board substrates (Yang, 0075).
Regarding Claim 8, Shin teaches a processing circuit, the processing circuit being configured to estimate, based on the first reflected signal, an aspect of a hand position of the user [0019 for movement of a hand in a specific direction, movement of a finger against another finger on the same hand to detect gesture (position)].
Regarding Claim 9, Shin teaches a machine learning model implemented in the processing circuit, the machine learning model being configured to estimate, based on the first reflected signal, the aspect of the hand position of the user [004-0046 for using CNN (machine learning) to distinguish gesture from noise].
Regarding Claim 10, Shin teaches the band further comprises a second electromagnetic coupling circuit having a second feed port, the second electromagnetic coupling circuit being configured to [0035 for the gesture recognition processing circuitry]:
receive a second drive signal at the second feed port, couple the second drive signal to tissues of the wrist, receive a second reflected signal from the tissues of the wrist, and couple the second reflected signal to the second feed port [0037 for having 3 receive antennas (multiple ports) and claim 10].
Regarding Claim 13, Shin teaches a processing circuit, the processing circuit being configured to estimate [0040 for machine learning model for filtering data],
based on the first reflected signal, an aspect of a hand position of the user in the presence of an air gap between the band and the wrist [].
Regarding Claim 14, Shin teaches a machine learning model implemented in the processing circuit, the machine learning model being configured to estimate [0040 for machine learning manager],
based on the first reflected signal [0041 for received EM radiation],
the aspect of the hand position of the user in the presence of the air gap [0041 for wear check manager configured to analyze background data].
Regarding Claim 20, Shin fails to explicitly teach the electromagnetic coupling circuit comprises a substrate integrated waveguide comprising a leaky-wave antenna.
Yang has a substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) slot full-array antenna fabricated employing printed circuit (abstract) and teaches the electromagnetic coupling circuit comprises a substrate integrated waveguide comprising a leaky-wave antenna [0081 for a viable leaky-wave antenna could be designed using this high leakage feature of the SIW structure].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the applicant’s invention for modifying the gesture recognition techniques, as disclosed by Shin, further including the waveguide excitation calculations as taught by Yang for the purpose to using printed board substrates (Yang, 0075).
Claims 4-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shin et al (US 2022/0300082 A1) in view of Yang et al (US 2009/0066597 A1), as applied to Claim 1 above, and further in view of El Misilmani et al (Progress In Electromagnetics Research, 2015).
Regarding Claim 4, Shin fails to explicitly teach the substrate integrated waveguide comprises a slot parallel to, and offset from a centerline between, two rows of ground vias, the slot having a length at least one half the length of the substrate integrated waveguide.
El Misilmani et al has a slotted wave antenna array (abstract) and teaches substrate integrated waveguide comprises a slot parallel to, and offset from a centerline between, two rows of ground vias [page 17, Section 2.3 for the distance between the center slot and the centerline of the waveguide],
the slot having a length at least one half the length of the substrate integrated waveguide [page 17, figure 2, and page 25, last paragraph for having an optimized slot length and slot width].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the applicant’s invention for modifying the gesture recognition techniques, as disclosed by Shin, further including the slot length calculations as taught by El Misilmani for the purpose to to ensure that all slots radiate in phase and hence result in higher efficiency of the antenna (El Misilmani, page 18, first paragraph).
Regarding Claim 5, Shin fails to explicitly teach the substrate integrated waveguide comprises: a first slot [page 17, Section 2.3 for the distance between the center slot and the centerline of the waveguide];
and a second slot, the first slot being parallel to two rows of ground vias, and offset on a first side of a centerline between the two rows of ground vias, the first slot having a length of at most one quarter the length of the substrate integrated waveguide [page 17 figure 2 for uniform slot displacements, all slots are at the same distance from the centerline];
and the second slot being parallel to the two rows of ground vias, and offset on a second side, opposite the first side, of the centerline, the second slot having a length of at most one quarter the length of the substrate integrated waveguide [page 20 and Table 1 for broadface center line].
El Misilmani et al has a slotted wave antenna array (abstract) and teaches substrate integrated waveguide comprises: a first slot; and a second slot, the first slot being parallel to two rows of ground vias, and offset on a first side of a centerline between the two rows of ground vias, the first slot having a length of at most one quarter the length of the substrate integrated waveguide; and the second slot being parallel to the two rows of ground vias, and offset on a second side, opposite the first side, of the centerline, the second slot having a length of at most one quarter the length of the substrate integrated waveguide [page 17, figure 2, and page 25, last paragraph for having an optimized slot length and slot width].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the applicant’s invention for modifying the gesture recognition techniques, as disclosed by Shin, further including the slot length calculations as taught by El Misilmani for the purpose to to ensure that all slots radiate in phase and hence result in higher efficiency of the antenna (El Misilmani, page 18, first paragraph).
Regarding Claim 6, Shin fails to explicitly teach the substrate integrated waveguide is on a flexible substrate having a thickness of less than 2 mm.
El Misilmani et al has a slotted wave antenna array (abstract) and teaches the substrate integrated waveguide is on a flexible substrate having a thickness of less than 2 mm [page 23, table 3 for slot displacement].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the applicant’s invention for modifying the gesture recognition techniques, as disclosed by Shin, further including the slot length calculations as taught by El Misilmani for the purpose to to ensure that all slots radiate in phase and hence result in higher efficiency of the antenna (El Misilmani, page 18, first paragraph).
Regarding Claim 7, Shin fails to explicitly teach the substrate integrated waveguide has a cutoff frequency of less than 14 gigahertz.
El Misilmani et al has a slotted wave antenna array (abstract) and teaches the substrate integrated waveguide has a cutoff frequency of less than 14 gigahertz [page 18, second paragraph for using 3GHz].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the applicant’s invention for modifying the gesture recognition techniques, as disclosed by Shin, further including the slot length calculations as taught by El Misilmani for the purpose to to ensure that all slots radiate in phase and hence result in higher efficiency of the antenna (El Misilmani, page 18, first paragraph).
Claims 11-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shin et al (US 2022/0300082 A1) in view of Yang et al (US 2009/0066597 A1), as applied to Claim 1 above, and further in view of Leabman (US 2020/0192428 A1).
Regarding Claim 11, Shin fails to explicitly teach the second electromagnetic coupling circuit comprises a microstrip transmission line.
Leabman has a device includes an attachment feature configured to engage with an attachment feature of an alignment element that is to be worn on the skin of a person (abstract) and teaches teach the second electromagnetic coupling circuit comprises a microstrip transmission line [0130 for microstrip patch antennas and the dimensions of the antennas are a function of the wavelength of the radio wave].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the applicant’s invention for modifying the gesture recognition techniques, as disclosed by Shin, further including the antenna calculations as taught by Leabman for the purpose to make the packaged IC more compact (Leabman, 0130).
Regarding Claim 12, Shin fails to explicitly teach the band further comprises a third electromagnetic coupling circuit having a third feed port, the third electromagnetic coupling circuit being configured to: receive a third drive signal at the third feed port, couple the third drive signal to tissues of the wrist, receive a third reflected signal from the tissues of the wrist, and couple the third reflected signal to the third feed port, wherein the third electromagnetic coupling circuit comprises a microstrip transmission line.
Leabman has a device includes an attachment feature configured to engage with an attachment feature of an alignment element that is to be worn on the skin of a person (abstract) and teaches teach the band further comprises a third electromagnetic coupling circuit having a third feed port [0130 for an IC device 820 that includes two TX antennas 844 and four RX antenna (multiple feed ports)],
the third electromagnetic coupling circuit being configured to: receive a third drive signal at the third feed port, couple the third drive signal to tissues of the wrist [0135 for wearable device is worn on a portion of a limb such as the wrist, the TX antennas are distributed in a transverse configuration relative to the limb],
receive a third reflected signal from the tissues of the wrist, and couple the third reflected signal to the third feed port, wherein the third electromagnetic coupling circuit comprises a microstrip transmission line [0130 for microstrip patch antennas and the dimensions of the antennas are a function of the wavelength of the radio wave].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the applicant’s invention for modifying the gesture recognition techniques, as disclosed by Shin, further including the antenna calculations as taught by Leabman for the purpose to make the packaged IC more compact (Leabman, 0130).
Claims 15-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shin et al (US 2022/0300082 A1) in view of Yang et al (US 2009/0066597 A1), as applied to Claim 1 above, and further in view of Hu et al (WO 2013/067740 A1).
Regarding Claim 15, Shin fails to explicitly teach the first electromagnetic coupling circuit comprises: a slot; and one or more diodes connected across the slot.
Hu has reconfigurable waveguide mixing slot antenna based on S-PIN diode (abstract) and teaches the first electromagnetic coupling circuit comprises: a slot [10 for having a hybrid slot antenna];
and one or more diodes connected across the slot [10 for having a S-PIN diode for controlling the gaps].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the applicant’s invention for modifying the gesture recognition techniques, as disclosed by Shin, further including the circuit design calculations as taught by Hu for the purpose to implement omnidirectional scanning and omnidirectional radiation in the antenna pattern (Hu, 10).
Regarding Claim 16, Shin fails to explicitly teach the diodes are pin diodes.
Hu has reconfigurable waveguide mixing slot antenna based on S-PIN diode (abstract) and teaches the diodes are pin diodes [10 for having a S-PIN diode for controlling the gaps].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the applicant’s invention for modifying the gesture recognition techniques, as disclosed by Shin, further including the circuit design calculations as taught by Hu for the purpose to implement omnidirectional scanning and omnidirectional radiation in the antenna pattern (Hu, 10).
Regarding Claim 17, Shin fails to explicitly teach a processing circuit, the processing circuit being configured: to estimate, based on the first reflected signal, a rotational shift of the band, and to adjust one or more respective biases of the one or more diodes so as to adjust an effective position of the slot to compensate for the rotational shift.
Hu has reconfigurable waveguide mixing slot antenna based on S-PIN diode (abstract) and teaches a processing circuit, the processing circuit being configured: to estimate, based on the first reflected signal, a rotational shift of the band [10 for having a S-PIN diode for controlling the bias of the voltage],
and to adjust one or more respective biases of the one or more diodes so as to adjust an effective position of the slot to compensate for the rotational shift [10 for having a S-PIN diode for controlling the bias of the voltage].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the applicant’s invention for modifying the gesture recognition techniques, as disclosed by Shin, further including the circuit design calculations as taught by Hu for the purpose to implement omnidirectional scanning and omnidirectional radiation in the antenna pattern (Hu, 10).
Claim 18 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shin et al (US 2022/0300082 A1) in view of Yang et al (US 2009/0066597 A1) and Hu et al (WO 2013/067740 A1), as applied to Claim 1 above, and further in view of Leabman (US 2020/0192428 A1).
Regarding Claim 18, Shin fails to explicitly teach the estimating comprises estimating based on signal characteristics affected by time-varying characteristics of arteries in the wrist.
Leabman has a device includes an attachment feature configured to engage with an attachment feature of an alignment element that is to be worn on the skin of a person (abstract) and teaches estimating based on signal characteristics affected by time-varying characteristics of arteries in the wrist [0158 for basilic or cephalic vein in the wrist area of a person and 0164 for near-surface blood vessels (e.g., blood vessels in the subcutaneous layer) such as arteries may be targeted].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the applicant’s invention for modifying the gesture recognition techniques, as disclosed by Shin, further including the antenna calculations as taught by Leabman for the purpose to allow for health monitoring (Leabman, 0164).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Katz et al (US 2009/0121931 A1) has a wrist-worn wireless communication device coupled with an RF antenna configured to operate folded or coiled in the device.
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/SAMARINA MAKHDOOM/
Examiner, Art Unit 3648
Prosecution Insights