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
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 of this title, 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 set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied 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.
Claims 1, 4, 12, 14, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Reynolds et al. (US 20150229133) in view of Wang et al. (US 20230189269).
Regarding claims 1, 12, and 20, Reynolds teaches measuring a first signal to obtain a first measurement result (Fig. 5b, Fig. 6A, and [0135] the backscatter coefficient is known, e.g., characterization measurements have been or can be taken); and transmitting, according to the first measurement result, a backscatter signal based on a second signal, wherein the first signal is transmitted by a second terminal device (Fig. 6A, 605, 620, Mobile backscatter device).
However, Reynolds does not expressly teach uplink signal and backscatter signal to a network device. Wang teaches Fig. 4, 105 Base Station. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine with Wang in order to support communications for multiple users by sharing the available network resources ([0002], Wang).
Regarding claims 4 and 14, Reynolds does not teach, however, Wang teaches wherein the processor is further configured to invoke and run the computer program stored in the memory to cause the first terminal device to perform: before the transmitting, according to the first measurement result, a backscatter signal to a network device based on a second uplink signal, receiving second information transmitted by the network device, wherein the second information comprises scheduling information of the second uplink signal (Fig. 4 and [0083] scheduling message 371 may include scheduling configuration for UE 115 to receive or detect backscatter transmissions or reflections from one or more wireless powered IoT device of wireless powered IoT device 410). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine with Wang in order to support communications for multiple users by sharing the available network resources ([0002], Wang).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2, 3, 5-11, 13, 15-19 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.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. HUANG et al. (US 20220174676) discloses Fig. 5 and Fig. 6.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to EUNSOOK CHOI whose telephone number is (571)270-1822. The examiner can normally be reached on 8am-4:30pm.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Hassan Phillips can be reached on 5712723940. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/EUNSOOK CHOI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2467
