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, 2, 3, 10, 11, 12, 15, 16 and 17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Seol et al., US2013/0301454 A1, and further in view of Kalimuthu et al., US2024/0267098 A1.
Regarding claim 1, Seol teaches A second device (Fig. 4 item 420; MS 420 ) comprising: second antennas configured to transmit and receive radio frequency (RF) signals to and from a first device comprising first antennas in a wireless communication system (Figs. 3A and 3B; shows that the receiver 305 (i.e. MS 420) having an Ant Array #1 352 used for bi-directional communication with the transmitter 300 (i.e., BS 400) having an Ant Array #1 336.); at least one RF chain configured to transmit and receive the RF signals to and from the second antennas (par. 0066; The transmitter 300 forms analog beams having directivity in different directions by analog beamforming and transmits and receives data with improved performance in an analog Tx-Rx beam pair (i.e., the receiver 305 is also performing the same transceiving functions from the Ant Array #N as led by one of ordinary skill in the art.)); and a processing circuit configured to transmit and receive data signals to and from the at least one RF chain (par. 0065; The controller determines the best analog beam by performing channel estimation on analog beams received from the antenna arrays 352 mapped to the respective RF paths (i.e., RF chains).).
Seol fails to teach the following recited limitation. However, Kalimuthu teaches wherein the processing circuit is further configured to adjust a spacing between the second antennas based on a number of the first antennas, a number of the second antennas, and a number of the data signals (par. 0062; the one or more hardware processors 104 of the base station generate a gain and a plurality of phase adjusted modulated transmitting signals based on one or more precoder weights comprising a first pre-defined gain and a phase associated with the estimated communication channel (i.e., this process can also be performed by the UE as led by one of ordinary skill in the art).). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine Seol’s teachings with Kalimuthu’s teachings in order to have systems and methods for meta-surface-based beamforming (Kalimuthu, par. 0002).
Regarding claims 2, 12 and 17, Seol and Kalimuthu teach all the limitations in claims 1, 11 and 16. Seol further teaches wherein the spacing between the second antennas is an equal interval (Fig. 3B; clearly shows the Ant Array #1…#N being equally spaced.).
Regarding claims 3 and 12, Seol and Kalimuthu teach all the limitations in claims 1 and 11. Seol further teaches wherein an arrangement of the second antennas is one of a planar array or a linear array (par. 0037).
Regarding claims 10 and 15, Seol and Kalimuthu teach all the limitations in claims 1 and 11. Seol further teaches wherein a number of the at least one RF chain is less than the number of the second antennas (Fig. 2).
Regarding claim 11, Seol teaches An operating method of a second device (Fig. 9) comprising second antennas and at least one radio frequency (RF) chain and configured to perform wireless communication with a first device comprising first antennas (Figs. 3A and 3B; shows that the receiver 305 (i.e. MS 420) having an Ant Array #1 352 used for bi-directional communication with the transmitter 300 (i.e., BS 400) having an Ant Array #1 336.), the operating method comprising: reporting information about a number of the at least one RF chain to the first device (par. 0128; the MS feeds back information about the selected one or more beam pairs and the CSI (e.g., RSSIs, CINRs, etc.) of the beam pairs to the BS.); receiving antenna adjustment information generated based on the information about the number of the at least one RF chain (par. 0128; The MS receives a request message requesting feedback information for digital beamforming of the selected one or more beam pairs from the BS in step 914. The request message may include information about one or more beam pairs selected by the BS. The request message may further include digital beamforming information.).
Seol fails to teach the following recited limitation. However, Kalimuthu teaches adjusting a spacing between the second antennas based on the antenna adjustment information, wherein the antenna adjustment information comprises a number of the first antennas, a number of the second antennas, a distance between the first device and the second device, and a number of data signals received by the second device (par. 0062; the one or more hardware processors 104 of the base station generate a gain and a plurality of phase adjusted modulated transmitting signals based on one or more precoder weights comprising a first pre-defined gain and a phase associated with the estimated communication channel (i.e., this process can also be performed by the UE as led by one of ordinary skill in the art).). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine Seol’s teachings with Kalimuthu’s teachings in order to have systems and methods for meta-surface-based beamforming (Kalimuthu, par. 0002).
Regarding claim 16, Seol teaches A wireless communication system (Fig. 4) comprising: a first device comprising first antennas, at least one first radio frequency (RF) chain configured to transmit and receive RF signals to and from the first antennas (Figs. 3A and 3B; shows that the transmitter 300 (i.e., BS 400) having an Ant Array #1 336 used for bi-directional communication with the receiver 305 (i.e. MS 420) having an Ant Array #1 352.), and a first processing circuit configured to transmit and receive data signals to and from the at least one first RF chain (par. 0065; The controller determines the best analog beam by performing channel estimation on analog beams received from the antenna arrays 352 mapped to the respective RF paths (i.e., RF chains).); and a second device comprising second antennas configured to transmit and receive the RF signals to and from the first antennas (Figs. 3A and 3B; shows that the receiver 305 (i.e. MS 420) having an Ant Array #1 352 used for bi-directional communication with the transmitter 300 (i.e., BS 400) having an Ant Array #1 336.), at least one second RF chain configured to transmit and receive the RF signals to and from the second antennas (par. 0066; The transmitter 300 forms analog beams having directivity in different directions by analog beamforming and transmits and receives data with improved performance in an analog Tx-Rx beam pair (i.e., the receiver 305 is also performing the same transceiving functions from the Ant Array #N as led by one of ordinary skill in the art.)), and a second processing circuit configured to transmit and receive the data signals to and from the at least one second RF chain (par. 0065; The controller determines the best analog beam by performing channel estimation on analog beams received from the antenna arrays 352 mapped to the respective RF paths (i.e., RF chains).).
Seol fails to teach the following recited limitation. However, Kalimuthu teaches wherein the first processing circuit is further configured to adjust a spacing between the first antennas based on a number of the first antennas, a number of the second antennas, a distance between the first device and the second device, a wavelength of a carrier frequency, and a number of the data signals, and the second processing circuit is further configured to adjust a spacing between the second antennas based on the number of the first antennas, the number of the second antennas, the distance between the first device and the second device, the wavelength of the carrier frequency, and the number of the data signals (par. 0062; the one or more hardware processors 104 of the base station generate a gain and a plurality of phase adjusted modulated transmitting signals based on one or more precoder weights comprising a first pre-defined gain and a phase associated with the estimated communication channel (i.e., this process can also be performed by the UE as led by one of ordinary skill in the art).). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine Seol’s teachings with Kalimuthu’s teachings in order to have systems and methods for meta-surface-based beamforming (Kalimuthu, par. 0002).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 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. A request to incorporate the claimed limitations of claims 4-9, 13-14 and 18-20 into their perspective independent claims is necessary because none of the references taken alone or in combination provides the motivation to teach or suggest the claimed limitational elements.
Conclusion
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/AYODEJI O AYOTUNDE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2649
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