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 .
The information disclosure statement filed on 10/7/2024 has been entered. The preliminary amendment filed on 12/12/2024 has been entered. Claims 1-14 are presented for examination.
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.
(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, 5-8 and 13-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102 (a) (1) as being anticipated by Wennerlof et al. (Wennerlof et al. – 2017/0155456; herein after referred to as “Wennerlof”).
Regarding claim 1 and 8, Wennerlof discloses a system for
a deploying unit configured to deploy an unmanned aerial vehicle, UAV,(Wennerof; par. 0003, 0011- system for measuring antenna alignment; 0008, 0045 – 0054 - “Thus, aligning directional radio antennas is cumbersome and usually involves a lot of travel between near-end and far-end antennas, in particular during network roll-out when many directional antennas should be aligned at the same time”; Fig 2, - system 250 for antenna alignment of a directional antenna 101 used for wireless communication with respect to target location X, Y, Z”; Abstract - UAV to be deployed in relation to the target location)
a transmitting unit configured to transmit, in at least one UAV position ('AV), and via a UAV a first coordinate system; ((Wennerof; par. 0003, 0011- system for measuring antenna alignment; 0008 – “Thus, aligning directional radio antennas is cumbersome and usually involves a lot of travel between near-end and far-end antennas, in particular during network roll-out when many directional antennas should be aligned at the same time”; Fig 2, - system 250 for antenna alignment of a directional antenna 101 used for wireless communication with respect to target location X, Y, Z; Fig. 5 – positioning module 400 )
a detecting unit configured to detect signals corresponding to the received UAV signal at the antenna ports- (par. 0075 – volt-meter discussed above can be used for the purpose of measuring received signal strength, given that a receiver connected to the directional antenna is equipped with a suitable received signal strength measurement port ); and
a determining unit configured to determine a determined array antenna orientation As) using determined phase differences between the detected signals, the antenna position (WAAs), the initial array antenna orientation (-f(0s) and the UAV position information ('AV) (par. 0081-0082 - the alignment module 210 is arranged to measure a signal quality of the received alignment signal. This signal quality may, according to different aspects, comprise any of measured or estimated; received signal strength, bit-error rate, packet-error rate, block-error rate, mutual information between the directional antenna and the UAV, or log-likelihood ratio).
Regarding claim 5, Wennerlof discloses the system according to claim 1, wherein the determined array antenna orientation ( UAAs) comprises at least one angle and where the initial array antenna orientation comprises at least one angle (par. 0057, - realignment and adjustment of orientation of the directional antenna 101).
Regarding claim 6 and 13, Wennerlof discloses the system according to claim 1, wherein the antenna system is an active antenna system, AAS (par. 0063, 0100 – actively transmitting far-end antenna).
Regarding claims 7 and 14, Wennerlof discloses the system according to claim 1, wherein the system further comprises a network monitoring system (Wennerlof; par. 0082 – “The antenna alignment level measurement report can be transmitted to the control entity over various communication channels. Examples of such communication channels comprise a cellular communications network such as Global System for Telecommunications (GSM), 3G, or Long Term Evolution (LTE). It is also possible to use a wireless local area network implementing, e.g., Wi-Fi, or a proprietary communications link for transmission of the antenna alignment level measurement report 220” indicating a network monitoring function of the system) .
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-4, and 9-12 are 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: The prior fails to disclose:
i. the system according to claim 1, further comprising a second determining unit configured to determine a transformed first vector (PTT) and a second vector (#TT), both vectors (,PTT) being defined relative a second coordinate system that is associated with the array antenna system, the transformed first vector indicating an expected pointing direction from the antenna aperture plane towards the UAV position ('AV), and the second vector (PTT) indicating a determined pointing direction from the antenna aperture plane towards the UAV position ('AV), where the method further comprises determining an error angle (3e) between the vectors (the prior art fails to disclose the second determining unit having the features as recited in claim 2; claims 3-4 depend on claim 2; claim 9 recites similar limitations to claim 2; claims 10-12 depend on claim 9).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to THIEN MINH LE whose telephone number is (571)272-2396. The examiner can normally be reached 6:30-5:00 PM M-Th..
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/THIEN M LE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2876