ED ACTION
This Office Action is in response to the application as originally filed 10/23/2024.
Status of the Claim:
Claim 1 is cancelled.
New claims 2-21 are submitted and pending. The detail office action to the pending claims is as shown below.
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Response to Amendment
Receipt is acknowledged of Applicant’s request for entry of the Preliminary Amendment filed prior to the examination on the merits. By this amendment, the Claim has been amended by cancelling claim 1 and adding New claims 2-21. The Applicant Remarks (see Page 6) filed along with the Preliminary Amendment advises “..support for the amendments can be found throughout the application as filed, and no new matter is added”. Upon entry of the amendment the pending claims 2-21 will be fully examined for patentability.
Response to the Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement filed 12/13/2024. 9/19/2025, 10/23/2025, 02/05/2026 have been acknowledged and considered by the Examiner. Initialed copies of the PTO-1449s are included in this correspondence.
Claim Objections
Pending claims 3-10, 12-16, and 18-21 are objected to because each of these claims are missing a comma “,’ before translon words, such as “further” or “wherein” when joining two main/independent clauses. Appropriate correction is required.
Specification Objection
Receipt is acknowledged of Applicant’s disclosure filed 10/23/2024.The disclosure is objected to because of the following informality:
Para [0121] of the written disclosure recites “the source-side SERDES 253a, v253b, ... 253”. However, Paras [0122] and [0124] of the disclosure recite the “destination-side SERDES 253a, v253b, ... 253”. It is believed that the statement in para [0121] about the “SERDES 253a, v253b, ... 253” being a “source-side SERDES” appears to include a typo-graphical error. Hence, it is respectfully suggested amending the statement in para [0121] as “ destination-side SERDES 253a, v253b, ... 253.” Appropriate correction is respectfully requested. If the Applicant disagrees with the examiner’s interpretation of para [0121], applicant is requested to provide further explanation in response to this Office action.
PNG
media_image1.png
958
703
media_image1.png
Greyscale
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 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 2-4, 6-12, 16-21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US2022/0417472 to Mobbs in view of US12381587 to Notari et al. (“Notari”) (The remarks and/or references placed in the parentheses apply to the prior art)
RE claims 2, 11 and 17, Mobbs discloses a distributed radio frequency communication system for an automobile (e.g. Figs. 1-3, 5, 8); a method of distributed radio frequency communication in an automobile (e.g. Fig. 9); and an automobile (e.g. Figs. 1-3, 5, 8), the distributed radio frequency communication system/method/automobile comprising: a first transceiver (e.g. Camera 1 of Fig. 8); a baseband-side serializer/deserializer circuit (e.g. 836, 816 & 840 of Fig. 8); shared twisted pair cabling (e.g. Para [0114] of Mobbs, a high-speed data channel or communication path 815. The high-speed data channel 815 is a shielded-twisted pair cable); a first antenna-side serializer/deserializer circuit (e.g. 812A, 816A of Fig. 8) electrically connected to the first transceiver (as illustrated in Fig. 8) and configured to communicate a first serial data stream to the baseband-side serializer/deserializer circuit over the shared twisted pair cabling (e.g. paras [0114]-[0116]: the serializers (e.g. 815A) transmit a respective serialized image data over the high-speed data channel or communication path 815; and the deserializers (e.g. 816A) receive the respective serialized image data from the serializers (e.g. 812A) and convert the serialized image data into deserialized sensor data); a second transceiver (e.g. Camera 2 of Fig. 8); and a second antenna-side serializer/deserializer circuit (e.g. 812B, 816B of Fig. 8) electrically connected to the second transceiver (as illustrated in Fig. 8) and configured to communicate a second serial data stream to the baseband-side serializer/deserializer circuit over the shared twisted pair cabling (e.g. paras [0114]-[0116]: the serializers (e.g. 815B) transmit a respective serialized image data over the high-speed data channel or communication path 815; and the deserializers (e.g. 816B) receive the respective serialized image data from the serializers (e.g. 812B) and convert the serialized image data into deserialized sensor data).
While Mobbs discloses a high-speed data channel or communication cable 815 that is a shielded-twisted pair cable, as set forth above; and while it is well within the level of a person of ordinary skill in the art to comprehend that in automotive application data from a multitude of sensors are processed and shared among multiple processors and/or destination devices using shared data buses or shared cables or links to provide high-speed communication and self-driving capabilities (see for example, evidentiary prior art US10972108, col.10, lines 20-25), the subject matter of claims 2, 11, 17 differs from Mobbs in that Mobbs does not expressly disclose the term “shared” as in shared cabling, as recited. However, Notari teaches or fairly suggests, in the same technical field, said term (see for example, Figs. 8-9, and Col. 11, lines 35-55 of Notari). Hence, it would have been obvious at the time the invention was made to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify said language in Mobbs with the knowledge generally available to one of ordinary skill in the art given the broadest reasonable interpretation in light of the Specification or with Notari’s teaching or suggestion to enable efficient data transfer between various components of automobile network. Therefore one of ordinary skill in the art, such as an individual working in a field related to wireless communication system for vehicles could have combined the features/elements as claimed by known methods, and that in combination, each feature/method merely performs the same function as it does separately, with each feature/method retaining its advantageous function, yielding predictable result/s. It is for at least the aforementioned reasons that the Examiner has reached a conclusion of obviousness with respect to claims 2, 11, 17.
RE claims 3 and 12, Mobbs discloses the distributed radio frequency communication system of claim 2 and the method of claim 11 further comprising a baseband processer electrically connected to the baseband-side serializer/deserializer circuit and configured to receive data from the first serial data stream and the second serial data stream (e.g. Transceiver 350 and processing unit 814, electrically connected to the source-side serializer/deserializer and configured to receive data from the first serial data stream and the second serial data stream (see paras [0114]-[0116]. See also, the rejection of claim 2 (above) with respect to receiving first serial data stream and the second serial data stream and further processing.)
RE claims 4 and 18, Mobbs discloses the distributed radio frequency communication system of claim 2 and the system of claim 17 further comprising a first antenna and a first radio frequency front end electrically connected between the first transceiver and the first antenna (see for example, first antenna (116A-N, 112 of Figs. 1-2 of Mobbs).
RE claim 6, Mobbs discloses the distributed radio frequency communication system of claim 4 further comprising an automotive system electrically connected to the first antenna-side serializer/deserializer circuit (e.g. Figs. 1-3, 5, 8 of Mobbs).
RE claim 7, Mobbs discloses the distributed radio frequency communication system of claim 4 further comprising a second antenna and a second radio frequency front end electrically connected between the second transceiver and the second antenna (e.g. Figs. 1-3, 5, 8 of Mobbs).
RE claims 8 and 16, Mobbs discloses the distributed radio frequency communication system of claim 4 and the method of claim 13 wherein the first antenna is positioned on a roof, a bumper, a trunk or a mirror of the automobile (e.g. Fig. 1, Paras [0018], [0022], [0027] of Mobbs).
RE claims 9 and 19, Mobbs discloses the distributed radio frequency communication system of claim 4 and the automobile of claim 18 further comprising a baseband processor in a first location of the automobile and electrically connected to the baseband-side serializer/deserializer circuit, the first radio frequency front end being in a second location of the automobile (considering the “first location” being the location of “Digital processing circuit 251” that is away from CAMERA 259a-n, according to Fig. 6 and Paras [0012], [0023] of the Application. The vehicle systems of Mobbs (e.g. Fig. 3, 5, 8) comprise a digital processor circuit (340, 348, 350, 814) situated in a location away from the Camera 1-N of the automobile and electrically connected to the source-side serializer/deserializer circuit (836, 816 & 840), wherein the first radio frequency front end (116A-N, 112), being in a second location of the automobile).
RE claims 10 and 20, Mobbs discloses the distributed radio frequency communication system of claim 9 and the automobile of claim 19 wherein the first location is of a lower temperature than the second location (e.g. as the digital processor circuit (340, 348, 350, 814) are located in an interior of the Vehicle, hence the first location is of a lower temperature than an exterior (second location) of the vehicle).
RE claim 15, Mobbs discloses the method of claim 13 further comprising receiving a second radio frequency signal at a second antenna and amplifying the second radio frequency receive signal using a second radio frequency front end that is electrically connected between the second transceiver and the second antenna.
RE claim 21, Mobbs discloses the automobile of claim 17 wherein the at least one automotive system includes a radar or a camera (e.g. Mobbs, Figs. 1-3: comprises Radar 324 and Camera 332) .
Claims 5, 13-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mobbs in view of Notari, further in view of US11391814 to Cohen et al. (“Cohen”)
RE claims 5 and 14, Mobbs in view of Notari discloses the distributed radio frequency communication system of claim 4 wherein the first transceiver is configured to generate […..] data based on a radio frequency receive signal from the first radio frequency front end and to generate the first serial data stream based on the [….] data (e.g. Mobbs, paras [0111], [0114]-[0116], describes Camera 1 (i.e. first transceiver) which comprise serializers 815A generates a serialized data based on the received data from an environment around the vehicle and transmits the data over the high-speed data channel or communication path 815 to the source-side serializer/deserializer circuit for further processing).
While Mobbs in view of Notari discloses wherein the first transceiver is configured to generate data based on a radio frequency receive signal from the first radio frequency front end and to generate the first serial data stream based on the data, as discussed above, the subject matter of claims 5 and 14 differ from Mobbs in view of Notari in that Mobbs in view of Notari does not expressly disclose the term/phrase [in-phase data and quadrature-phase] as recited. However, Cohen teaches or fairly suggests, in the same technical field, said term/phrase (see for example, col. 12, line 45 through col. 13, line 10 of Cohen). Hence, it would have been obvious at the time the invention was made to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Mobbs in view of Notari with Cohen’s teachings or suggestions to modulate in-phase and quadrature baseband waveform data applied to the input of the RF unit and to generate an RF signal to be output via respective antenna pots. Therefore one of ordinary skill in the art, such as an individual working in a field related to wireless communication system for vehicles could have combined the features/elements as claimed by known methods, and that in combination, each feature/method merely performs the same function as it does separately, with each feature/method retaining its advantageous function, yielding predictable result/s. It is for at least the aforementioned reasons that the Examiner has reached a conclusion of obviousness with respect to claims 5 and 14.
RE claim 13, Mobbs in view of Notari discloses the method of claim 11 further comprising receiving a first radio frequency signal at a first antenna and […..] the first radio frequency receive signal using a first radio frequency front end that is electrically connected between the first transceiver and the first antenna (see for example, first antenna (116A-N, 112 of Figs. 1-2 of Mobbs).
While Mobbs in view of Notari discloses the method for distributed radio frequency communication system further comprising receiving a first radio frequency signal at a first antenna, as noted above, the subject matter of claim 13 differs from Mobbs in view of Notari in that Mobbs in view of Notari does not expressly disclose the term/phrase [amplifying] as recited. However, Cohen teaches or fairly suggests, in the same technical field, said term as recited (see for example, col. 12, lines 55-65 and col. 15, lines 20-30 of Cohen). Hence, it would have been obvious at the time the invention was made to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Mobbs in view of Notari with Cohen’s teachings or suggestions to control the gain applied to the RF signal received via the antenna ports (see Cohen, col 15, line 25-30). Therefore one of ordinary skill in the art, such as an individual working in a field related to wireless communication system for vehicles could have combined the features/elements as claimed by known methods, and that in combination, each feature/method merely performs the same function as it does separately, with each feature/method retaining its advantageous function, yielding predictable result/s. It is for at least the aforementioned reasons that the Examiner has reached a conclusion of obviousness with respect to claim 13.
RE claim 15, Mobbs in view of Notari discloses the method of claim 13 further comprising receiving a second radio frequency signal at a second antenna and [……] the second radio frequency receive signal using a second radio frequency front end that is electrically connected between the second transceiver and the second antenna. (see for example, Figs. 1-3, 5, 8 of Mobbs).
While Mobbs in view of Notari discloses the method for distributed radio frequency communication system further comprising receiving a first radio frequency signal at a first antenna, as noted above, the subject matter of claim 15 differs from Mobbs in view of Notari in that Mobbs in view of Notari does not expressly disclose the term/phrase [amplifying] as recited. However, Cohen teaches or fairly suggests, in the same technical field, said term as recited (see for example, col. 12, lines 55-65 and col. 15, lines 20-30 of Cohen). Hence, it would have been obvious at the time the invention was made to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Mobbs in view of Notari with Cohen’s teachings or suggestions to control the gain applied to the RF signal received via the antenna ports (see Cohen, col 15, line 25-30). Therefore one of ordinary skill in the art, such as an individual working in a field related to wireless communication system for vehicles could have combined the features/elements as claimed by known methods, and that in combination, each feature/method merely performs the same function as it does separately, with each feature/method retaining its advantageous function, yielding predictable result/s. It is for at least the aforementioned reasons that the Examiner has reached a conclusion of obviousness with respect to claim 15.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure are (See the attached Notice of References Cited (PTO-892)). These prior arts are considered pertinent because they relate generally to the field of wireless communication system and, more particularly to an operation method and apparatus in relation to in-vehicle distributed signal communication systems.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BERHANU TADESE whose telephone number is (571)272-2478. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday (9 - 5 PM EST).
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http//www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Chieh M. Fan can be reached on 571.272.3042. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit https//patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https//www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https//www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/BERHANU TADESE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2632