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 .
Double Patenting
The nonstatutory double patenting rejection is based on a judicially created doctrine grounded in public policy (a policy reflected in the statute) so as to prevent the unjustified or improper timewise extension of the “right to exclude” granted by a patent and to prevent possible harassment by multiple assignees. A nonstatutory double patenting rejection is appropriate where the conflicting claims are not identical, but at least one examined application claim is not patentably distinct from the reference claim(s) because the examined application claim is either anticipated by, or would have been obvious over, the reference claim(s). See, e.g., In re Berg, 140 F.3d 1428, 46 USPQ2d 1226 (Fed. Cir. 1998); In re Goodman, 11 F.3d 1046, 29 USPQ2d 2010 (Fed. Cir. 1993); In re Longi, 759 F.2d 887, 225 USPQ 645 (Fed. Cir. 1985); In re Van Ornum, 686 F.2d 937, 214 USPQ 761 (CCPA 1982); In re Vogel, 422 F.2d 438, 164 USPQ 619 (CCPA 1970); In re Thorington, 418 F.2d 528, 163 USPQ 644 (CCPA 1969).
A timely filed terminal disclaimer in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(c) or 1.321(d) may be used to overcome an actual or provisional rejection based on nonstatutory double patenting provided the reference application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with the examined application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement. See MPEP § 717.02 for applications subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA as explained in MPEP § 2159. See MPEP § 2146 et seq. for applications not subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . A terminal disclaimer must be signed in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(b).
The filing of a terminal disclaimer by itself is not a complete reply to a nonstatutory double patenting (NSDP) rejection. A complete reply requires that the terminal disclaimer be accompanied by a reply requesting reconsideration of the prior Office action. Even where the NSDP rejection is provisional the reply must be complete. See MPEP § 804, subsection I.B.1. For a reply to a non-final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.111(a). For a reply to final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.113(c). A request for reconsideration while not provided for in 37 CFR 1.113(c) may be filed after final for consideration. See MPEP §§ 706.07(e) and 714.13.
The USPTO Internet website contains terminal disclaimer forms which may be used. Please visit www.uspto.gov/patent/patents-forms. The actual filing date of the application in which the form is filed determines what form (e.g., PTO/SB/25, PTO/SB/26, PTO/AIA /25, or PTO/AIA /26) should be used. A web-based eTerminal Disclaimer may be filled out completely online using web-screens. An eTerminal Disclaimer that meets all requirements is auto-processed and approved immediately upon submission. For more information about eTerminal Disclaimers, refer to www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/applying-online/eterminal-disclaimer.
Claims 134-140, 142-150, 152-154, 157-160 and 164-180 of the present application are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1-9, 12-16, 18-21, 24-27, 29-35 and 39-48 of U.S. Patent No. 12,401,424. Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because claims of the present application are an obvious subset, variation or rearrangement of the limitations presented in claims of U.S. Patent No. 12,401,424.
The following table illustrates a mapping of the limitations of claims of the present application when compared against the limitations of claims U.S. Patent No. 12,401,424.
Claim 1 of Present Application
Claims of U.S. Patent No. 12,401,424
134. A transceiver, comprising:
a transmitter, comprising:
a client-side input configured to receive one or more first baseband signals having first client data;
transmitter circuitry configured to receive the one or more first baseband signals from the client-side input and generate one or more antenna feed signals based on the one or more first baseband signals; and one or more first antennas configured to receive the one or more antenna feed signals from the transmitter circuitry, generate one or more first radiated signals based on the one or more antenna feed signals, and couple the one or more first radiated signals into a first Terahertz (THz) waveguide, each of the one or more first radiated signals being radiated electromagnetic waves having a first frequency in a range between 100 Gigahertz (GHz) and 10 THz; and
a receiver, comprising:
one or more second antennas configured to detect one or more second radiated signals received from one of the first THz waveguide and a second THz waveguide and generate one or more antenna output signals based on the one or more second radiated signals, each of the one or more second radiated signals being radiated electromagnetic waves having a second frequency in a range between 100 GHz and 10 THz and having second client data; receiver circuitry configured to receive the one or more antenna output signals from the one or more second antennas and generate one or more second baseband signals based on the one or more antenna output signals; and a client-side output configured to receive the one or more second baseband signals from the receiver circuitry and transmit the one or more second baseband signals.
135. The transceiver of claim 134, wherein each of the first THz waveguide and the second THz waveguide has a hollow waveguide core having a refractive index in a range between 1.0 and 1.4.
136. The transceiver of claim 134, wherein each of the first THz waveguide and the second THz waveguide has a hollow waveguide core and a tubular sidewall surrounding the hollow waveguide core, the hollow waveguide core being filled with one of a gas, a vacuum, and a porous material having a porosity in a range between 25% and 99%.
137. The transceiver of claim 136, wherein the tubular sidewall of each of the first THz waveguide and the second THz waveguide comprises a conductive layer.
138. The transceiver of claim 137, wherein the tubular sidewall of each of the first THz waveguide and the second THz waveguide further comprises a support layer surrounding the conductive layer.
139. The transceiver of claim 137, wherein the tubular sidewall of each of the first THz waveguide and the second THz waveguide further comprises a dielectric layer between the hollow waveguide core and the conductive layer.
140. The transceiver of claim 136, wherein the tubular sidewall of each of the first THz waveguide and the second THz waveguide has one or more conductive layers and one or more dielectric layers, the one or more conductive layers interleaved with the one or more dielectric layers.
142. The transceiver of claim 134, wherein the first THz waveguide is configured to support propagation of a single mode of the one or more first radiated signals and the second THz waveguide is configured to support propagation of a single mode of the one or more second radiated signals.
143. The transceiver of claim 134, wherein the first THz waveguide is configured to support propagation of a plurality of first modes of the one or more first radiated signals and the second THz waveguide is configured to support propagation of a plurality of second modes of the one or more second radiated signals.
144. The transceiver of claim 134, wherein the one or more antenna feed signals are provided to the one or more first antennas on one or more first transmission lines and the one or more antenna output signals are received from the one or more second antennas on one or more second transmission lines, each of the one or more first transmission lines and the one or more second transmission lines having two or more conductors.
145. The transceiver of claim 144, wherein each of the one or more first transmission lines and the one or more second transmission lines has a first transmission loss and each of the first THz waveguide and the second THz waveguide has a second transmission loss less than the first transmission loss, the second transmission loss being in a range between 0.001 and 20.00 decibels (dB) per meter (m) per Terabit (Tb) per second (s).
146. The transceiver of claim 134, wherein two or more of the client-side input, the transmitter circuitry, the one or more first antennas, the client-side output, the receiver circuitry, and the one or more second antennas are disposed on a single substrate.
147. The transceiver of claim 146, wherein at least two of the client-side input, the transmitter circuitry, the one or more first antennas, the client-side output, the receiver circuitry, and the one or more second antennas are disposed on a multi-layer substrate having a plurality of layers, at least one of the client-side input, the transmitter circuitry, the one or more first antennas, the client-side output, the receiver circuitry, and the one or more second antennas being disposed on a first layer of the plurality of layers, at least one of the client-side input, the transmitter circuitry, the one or more first antennas, the client-side output, the receiver circuitry, and the one or more second antennas being disposed on a second layer of the plurality of layers.
148. The transceiver of claim 146, wherein at least two of the client-side input, the transmitter circuitry, the one or more first antennas, the client-side output, the receiver circuitry, and the one or more second antennas are integrated into a single monolithic semiconductor die.
149. The transceiver of claim 134, wherein at least two of the client-side input, the transmitter circuitry, the one or more first antennas, the client-side output, the receiver circuitry, and the one or more second antennas are disposed on a plurality of substrates, at least one of the client-side input, the transmitter circuitry, the one or more first antennas, the client-side output, the receiver circuitry, and the one or more second antennas being disposed on a first substrate of the plurality of substrates, at least one of the client-side input, the transmitter circuitry, the one or more first antennas, the client-side output, the receiver circuitry, and the one or more second antennas being disposed on a second substrate of the plurality of substrates.
150. (Original) The transceiver of claim 149, wherein at least two of the plurality of substrates are in a stacked arrangement.
152. (Original) The transceiver of claim 134, wherein each of the client-side input, the transmitter circuitry, the one or more first antennas, the client-side output, the receiver circuitry, and the one or more second antennas are implemented using one or more of complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology, silicon-germanium (SiGe) semiconductor technology, and Ill-V compound semiconductor technology.
154. The transceiver of claim 134, wherein the first client data is encoded in the one or more first radiated signals and the second client data is encoded in the one or more second radiated signals using an encoding protocol conforming to requirements of one or more of return- to-zero (RZ) code, non-return-to-zero (NRZ) code, quadrature phase-shift keying (QPSK), quadrature-amplitude modulation (QAM), trellis coded modulation (TCM), and Bose-Chaudhuri- Hocquenghem (BCH) code.
157. The transceiver of claim 156, wherein each of the first polarization, the second polarization, the third polarization, and the fourth polarization is a linear polarization.
158. The transceiver of claim 157, wherein each of the one or more first antennas and the one or more second antennas is one of a differential waveguide probe antenna, a differential tapered antenna, and a differential patch antenna.
159. The transceiver of claim 156, wherein each of the first polarization, the second polarization, the third polarization, and the fourth polarization is a circular polarization.
160. The transceiver of claim 159, wherein each of the one or more first antennas and the one or more second antennas is one of a helix antenna and a spiral antenna.
164. (Original) The transceiver of claim 163, wherein combining the plurality of first parallel baseband signals into the first serial baseband signal and splitting the second serial baseband signal into the plurality of second parallel baseband signals utilizes at least one of polarization division multiplexing (PDM), time division multiplexing (TDM), and wavelength division multiplexing (WDM).
165. The transceiver of claim 134, wherein the one or more first baseband signals include a plurality of first parallel baseband signals and a first serial baseband signal and the one or more second baseband signals include a plurality of second parallel baseband signals and a second serial baseband signal, the transmitter further comprising a deserializer configured to receive the first serial baseband signal and split the first serial baseband signal into the plurality of first parallel baseband signals, the client-side input being configured to receive the plurality of first parallel baseband signals, the transmitter circuitry configured to receive the plurality of first parallel baseband signals from the client-side input and generate the one or more antenna feed signals based on the plurality of first parallel baseband signals, the receiver circuitry being configured to generate the plurality of second parallel baseband signals based on the one or more antenna output signals, the client-side output being configured to receive the plurality of second parallel baseband signals from the receiver circuitry and transmit the plurality of second parallel baseband signals, the receiver further comprising a serializer configured to receive the plurality of second parallel baseband signals and combine the plurality of second parallel baseband signals into the second serial baseband signal.
166. The transceiver of claim 165, wherein splitting the first serial baseband signal into the plurality of first parallel baseband signals and combining the plurality of second parallel baseband signals into the second serial baseband signal utilizes at least one of polarization division multiplexing (PDM), time division multiplexing (TDM), and wavelength division multiplexing (WDM).
167. The transceiver of claim 135, wherein the hollow waveguide core of each of the first THz waveguide and the second THz waveguide has a cross-section configured to support propagation of a plurality of polarizations.
168. The transceiver of claim 167, wherein the cross-section of the hollow waveguide core of each of the first THz waveguide and the second THz waveguide has an elliptical or circular shape.
169. The transceiver of claim 167, wherein the cross-section of the hollow waveguide core of each of the first THz waveguide and the second THz waveguide has a rectangular or square shape.
170. The transceiver of claim 167, wherein the cross-section of the hollow waveguide core of each of the first THz waveguide and the second THz waveguide has a cross shape.
171. The transceiver of claim 134, wherein the first frequency of the one or more first radiated signals is a transmission frequency, the transmitter circuitry comprising: one or more local oscillators configured to generate one or more carrier signals, each of the one or more carrier signals having a baseband frequency less than the transmission frequency; one or more modulation circuits configured to receive the one or more first baseband signals from the client-side input and the one or more carrier signals from the one or more local oscillators and modulate the one or more first baseband signals onto the one or more carrier signals to generate one or more modulated signals; and one or more up-conversion circuits configured to receive the one or more modulated signals from the one or more modulation circuits and up-convert the one or more modulated signals to generate the one or more antenna feed signals, each of the one or more antenna feed signals having the transmission frequency.
172. The transceiver of claim 134, wherein the second frequency of the one or more second radiated signals is a transmission frequency, the receiver circuitry comprising: one or more local oscillators configured to generate one or more reference signals, each of the one or more reference signals having a baseband frequency less than the transmission frequency; one or more down-conversion circuits configured to receive the one or more antenna output signals from the one or more second antennas and the one or more reference signals from the one or more local oscillators and down-convert the one or more antenna output signals using the one or more reference signals to generate one or more modulated signals, each of the one or more modulated signals having the baseband frequency; and one or more demodulation circuits configured to receive the one or more modulated signals from the one or more down-conversion circuits and demodulate the one or more modulated signals to generate the one or more second baseband signals.
173. The transceiver of claim 134, wherein the one or more first baseband signals are a plurality of first baseband signals, the one or more antenna feed signals being a plurality of antenna feed signals including a combined antenna feed signal, the one or more first radiated signals including a first combined radiated signal, the first frequency of the one or more first radiated signals being a transmission frequency, the transmitter circuitry comprising: a plurality of local oscillators configured to generate a plurality of carrier signals, each of the plurality of carrier signals having a baseband frequency less than the transmission frequency; a plurality of modulation circuits configured to receive the plurality of first baseband signals from the client-side input and the plurality of carrier signals from the plurality of local oscillators and modulate the plurality of first baseband signals onto the plurality of carrier signals to generate a plurality of modulated signals; a plurality of up-conversion circuits configured to receive the plurality of modulated signals from the plurality of modulation circuits and up-convert the plurality of modulated signals to generate a plurality of up-converted signals; and a combiner configured to receive the plurality of up-converted signals from the plurality of up-conversion circuits and combine the plurality of up-converted signals into the combined antenna feed signal; wherein the one or more first antennas are configured to receive the combined antenna feed signal from the combiner, generate the first combined radiated signal based on the combined antenna feed signal, and couple the first combined radiated signal into the first THz waveguide.
174. (Original) The transceiver of claim 173, wherein combining the plurality of up-converted signals into the combined antenna feed signal utilizes at least one of time division multiplexing (TDM) and wavelength division multiplexing (WDM).
175. The transceiver of claim 134, wherein the one or more second baseband signals are a plurality of second baseband signals, the one or more antenna output signals being a plurality of antenna output signals including a combined antenna output signal, the one or more second radiated signals including a second combined radiated signal, the second frequency of the one or more second radiated signals being a transmission frequency, the one or more second antennas being configured to detect the second combined radiated signal received from the one of the first THz waveguide and the second THz waveguide and generate the combined antenna output signal based on the second combined radiated signal, the receiver circuitry comprising: a splitter configured to receive the combined antenna output signal from the one or more second antennas and split the combined antenna output signal into the plurality of antenna output signals; a plurality of local oscillators configured to generate a plurality of reference signals, each of the plurality of reference signals having a baseband frequency less than the transmission frequency; a plurality of down-conversion circuits configured to receive the plurality of antenna output signals from the splitter and the plurality of reference signals from the plurality of local oscillators and down-convert the plurality of antenna output signals using the plurality of reference signals to generate a plurality of modulated signals, each of the plurality of modulated signals having the baseband frequency; and a plurality of demodulation circuits configured to receive the plurality of modulated signals from the plurality of down-conversion circuits and demodulate the plurality of modulated signals to generate the plurality of second baseband signals.
176. The transceiver of claim 175, wherein splitting the combined antenna output signal into the plurality of antenna output signals utilizes at least one of time division multiplexing (TDM) and wavelength division multiplexing (WDM).
177. The transceiver of claim 134, wherein the one or more first baseband signals are a plurality of first baseband signals, the one or more antenna feed signals being a plurality of antenna feed signals, the one or more first radiated signals being a plurality of first radiated signals including a first combined radiated signal, the first frequency of the first radiated signals being a transmission frequency, the one or more first antennas being a first antenna array comprising a plurality of first antennas, the transmitter circuitry comprising: a plurality of local oscillators configured to generate a plurality of carrier signals, each of the plurality of carrier signals having a baseband frequency less than the transmission frequency; a plurality of modulation circuits configured to receive the plurality of first baseband signals from the client-side input and the plurality of carrier signals from the plurality of local oscillators and modulate the plurality of first baseband signals onto the plurality of carrier signals to generate a plurality of modulated signals; and a plurality of up-conversion circuits configured to receive the plurality of modulated signals from the plurality of modulation circuits and up-convert the plurality of modulated signals to generate the plurality of antenna feed signals; wherein the plurality of first antennas are configured to receive the plurality of antenna feed signals from the plurality of up-conversion circuits, generate the plurality of first radiated signals based on the plurality of antenna feed signals, and couple the plurality of first radiated signals into the first THz waveguide such that the plurality of first radiated signals interact in the first THz waveguide to form the first combined radiated signal.
178. The transceiver of claim 177, wherein coupling the plurality of first radiated signals into the first THz waveguide such that the plurality of first radiated signals interact in the first THz waveguide to form the first combined radiated signal utilizes at least one of polarization division multiplexing (PDM), time division multiplexing (TDM), and wavelength division multiplexing (WDM).
179. The transceiver of claim 134, wherein the one or more second baseband signals are a plurality of second baseband signals, the one or more antenna output signals being a plurality of antenna output signals, the one or more second radiated signals being a plurality of second radiated signals including a first complementary radiated signal, a second complementary radiated signal, and a second combined radiated signal formed by the first complementary radiated signal and the second complementary radiated signal interacting in the second THz waveguide, the second frequency of the one or more second radiated signals being a transmission frequency, the one or more second antennas being a second antenna array comprising a plurality of second antennas, the plurality of second antennas being configured to detect the first complementary radiated signal and the second complementary radiated signal based on the second combined radiated signal received from the one of the first THz waveguide and the second THz waveguide and generate the plurality of antenna output signals based on the first complementary radiated signal and the second complementary radiated signal, the receiver circuitry comprising: a plurality of local oscillators configured to generate a plurality of reference signals, each of the plurality of reference signals having a baseband frequency less than the transmission frequency; a plurality of down-conversion circuits configured to receive the plurality of antenna output signals from the plurality of second antennas and the plurality of reference signals from the plurality of local oscillators and down-convert the plurality of antenna output signals using the plurality of reference signals to generate a plurality of modulated signals, each of the plurality of modulated signals having the baseband frequency; and a plurality of demodulation circuits configured to receive the plurality of modulated signals from the plurality of down-conversion circuits and demodulate the plurality of modulated signals to generate the plurality of second baseband signals.
180. The transceiver of claim 179, wherein detecting the first complementary radiated signal and the second complementary radiated signal based on the second combined radiated signal received from the one of the first THz waveguide and the second THz waveguide utilizes at least one of polarization division multiplexing (PDM), time division multiplexing (TDM), and wavelength division multiplexing (WDM).
1. A transport network, comprising:
one or more hollow waveguides;
a transmitter, comprising:
a client-side input configured to receive one or more first baseband signals having client data encoded therein;
transmitter circuitry configured to receive the one or more first baseband signals from the client-side input and generate one or more antenna feed signals based on the one or more first baseband signals; and one or more first antennas configured to receive the one or more antenna feed signals from the transmitter circuitry, generate one or more radiated signals based on the one or more antenna feed signals, and couple the one or more radiated signals into at least one of the one or more hollow waveguides, each of the one or more radiated signals being radiated electromagnetic waves configured for coherent detection and having a frequency in a range between 300 Gigahertz (GHz) and 10 Terahertz (THz); and
a receiver, comprising:
one or more second antennas configured to detect the one or more radiated signals received from the at least one of the one or more hollow waveguides and generate one or more antenna output signals based on the one or more radiated signals; receiver circuitry configured to receive the one or more antenna output signals from the one or more second antennas and generate one or more second baseband signals based on the one or more antenna output signals, the one or more second baseband signals having the client data; and a client-side output configured to receive the one or more second baseband signals from the receiver circuitry and transmit the one or more second baseband signals.
2. The transport network of claim 1, wherein the at least one of the one or more hollow waveguides has a hollow waveguide core having a refractive index in a range between 1.0 and 1.4.
3. The transport network of claim 1, wherein the at least one of the one or more hollow waveguides has a hollow waveguide core and a tubular sidewall surrounding the hollow waveguide core, the hollow waveguide core being filled with one of a gas, a vacuum, and a porous material having a porosity in a range between 25% and 99%.
4. The transport network of claim 3, wherein the tubular sidewall of the at least one of the one or more hollow waveguides further comprises a conductive layer.
5. The transport network of claim 4, wherein the tubular sidewall of the at least one of the one or more hollow waveguides further comprises a support layer surrounding the conductive layer.
6. The transport network of claim 4, wherein the tubular sidewall of the at least one of the one or more hollow waveguides further comprises a dielectric layer between the hollow waveguide core and the conductive layer.
7. The transport network of claim 3, wherein the tubular sidewall of the at least one of the one or more hollow waveguides has one or more conductive layers and one or more dielectric layers, the one or more conductive layers interleaved with the one or more dielectric layers.
8. The transport network of claim 1, wherein the at least one of the one or more hollow waveguides is configured to support propagation of a single mode of the one or more radiated signals.
9. The transport network of claim 1, wherein the at least one of the one or more hollow waveguides is configured to support propagation of a plurality of modes of the one or more radiated signals.
12. The transport network of claim 1, wherein the one or more antenna output signals are received from the one or more second antennas on one or more second transmission lines, each of the one or more second transmission lines having two or more conductors.
13. The transport network of claim 12, wherein each of the one or more second transmission lines have a first transmission loss and the at least one of the one or more hollow waveguides has a second transmission loss less than the first transmission loss, the second transmission loss being in a range between 0.001 and 20.00 decibels (dB) per meter (m) per Terabit (Tb) per second(s).
14. The transport network of claim 1, wherein two or more of the client-side input, the transmitter circuitry, the one or more first antennas, the client-side output, the receiver circuitry, and the one or more second antennas are disposed on a single substrate.
15. The transport network of claim 12, wherein at least two of the client-side input, the transmitter circuitry, the one or more first antennas, the client-side output, the receiver circuitry, and the one or more second antennas are disposed on a multi-layer substrate having a plurality of layers, at least one of the client-side input, the transmitter circuitry, the one or more first antennas, the client-side output, the receiver circuitry, and the one or more second antennas being disposed on a first layer of the plurality of layers, at least one of the client-side input, the transmitter circuitry, the one or more first antennas, the client-side output, the receiver circuitry, and the one or more second antennas being disposed on a second layer of the plurality of layers.
16. The transport network of claim 14, wherein at least two of the client-side input, the transmitter circuitry, the one or more first antennas, the client-side output, the receiver circuitry, and the one or more second antennas are integrated into a single monolithic semiconductor die.
18. The transport network of claim 1, wherein at least two of the client-side input, the transmitter circuitry, the one or more first antennas, the client-side output, the receiver circuitry, and the one or more second antennas are disposed on a plurality of substrates, at least one of the client-side input, the transmitter circuitry, the one or more first antennas, the client-side output, the receiver circuitry, and the one or more second antennas being disposed on a first substrate of the plurality of substrates, at least one of the client-side input, the transmitter circuitry, the one or more first antennas, the client-side output, the receiver circuitry, and the one or more second antennas being disposed on a second substrate of the plurality of substrates.
19. The transport network of claim 18, wherein at least two of the plurality of substrates are in a stacked arrangement.
20. The transport network of claim 1, wherein each of the client-side input, the transmitter circuitry, the one or more first antennas, the client-side output, the receiver circuitry, and the one or more second antennas are implemented using one or more of complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology, silicon-germanium (SiGe) semiconductor technology, and Ill-V compound semiconductor technology.
21. The transport network of claim 1, wherein the client data is encoded in the one or more radiated signals using an encoding protocol conforming to requirements of one or more of return-to-zero (RZ) code, non-return-to-zero (NRZ) code, quadrature phase-shift keying (QPSK), quadrature-amplitude modulation (QAM), trellis coded modulation (TCM), and Bose-Chaudhuri-Hocquenghem (BCH) code.
24. The transport network of claim 23, wherein each of the first polarization and the second polarization is a linear polarization.
25. The transport network of claim 24, wherein each of the one or more first antennas and the one or more second antennas is one of a differential waveguide probe antenna, a differential tapered antenna, and a differential patch antenna.
26. The transport network of claim 23, wherein each of the first polarization and the second polarization is a circular polarization.
27. The transport network of claim 26, wherein each the one or more first antennas and the one or more second antennas is one of a helix antenna and a spiral antenna.
29. The transport network of claim 28, wherein combining the plurality of first parallel baseband signals into the first serial baseband signal and splitting the second serial baseband signal into the plurality of second parallel baseband signals utilizes at least one of polarization division multiplexing (PDM), time division multiplexing (TDM), and wavelength division multiplexing (WDM).
30. The transport network of claim 1, wherein the one or more first baseband signals include a plurality of first parallel baseband signals and a first serial baseband signal and the one or more second baseband signals include a plurality of second parallel baseband signals and a second serial baseband signal, the transmitter further comprising a deserializer configured to receive the first serial baseband signal and split the first serial baseband signal into the plurality of first parallel baseband signals, the client-side input being configured to receive the plurality of first parallel baseband signals, the transmitter circuitry configured to receive the plurality of first parallel baseband signals from the client-side input and generate the one or more antenna feed signals based on the plurality of first parallel baseband signals, the receiver circuitry being configured to generate the plurality of second parallel baseband signals based on the one or more antenna output signals, the client-side output being configured to receive the plurality of second parallel baseband signals from the receiver circuitry and transmit the plurality of second parallel baseband signals, the receiver further comprising a serializer configured to receive the plurality of second parallel baseband signals and combine the plurality of second parallel baseband signals into the second serial baseband signal.
31. The transport network of claim 30, wherein splitting the first serial baseband signal into the plurality of first parallel baseband signals and combining the plurality of second parallel baseband signals into the second serial baseband signal utilizes at least one of polarization division multiplexing (PDM), time division multiplexing (TDM), and wavelength division multiplexing (WDM).
32. The transport network of claim 1, wherein at least one of the one or more hollow waveguides has a hollow waveguide core having a cross-section configured to support propagation of a plurality of polarizations.
35. The transport network of claim 32, wherein the cross-section of the hollow waveguide core of the at least one of the one or more hollow waveguides has an elliptical or circular shape.
33. The transport network of claim 32, wherein the cross-section of the hollow waveguide core of the at least one of the one or more hollow waveguides has a rectangular or square shape.
34. The transport network of claim 32, wherein the cross-section of the hollow waveguide core of the at least one of the one or more hollow waveguides has a cross shape.
39. The transport network of claim 1, wherein the frequency of the one or more radiated signals is a transmission frequency, the transmitter circuitry comprising: one or more local oscillators configured to generate one or more carrier signals, each of the one or more carrier signals having a first baseband frequency less than the transmission frequency; one or more modulation circuits configured to receive the one or more first baseband signals from the client-side input and the one or more carrier signals from the one or more local oscillators and modulate the one or more first baseband signals onto the one or more carrier signals to generate one or more modulated signals; and one or more up-conversion circuits configured to receive the one or more modulated signals from the one or more modulation circuits and up-convert the one or more modulated signals to generate the one or more antenna feed signals, each of the one or more antenna feed signals having the transmission frequency.
40. The transport network of claim 1, wherein the frequency of the one or more radiated signals is a transmission frequency, the receiver circuitry comprising: one or more local oscillators configured to generate one or more reference signals, each of the one or more reference signals having a baseband frequency less than the transmission frequency; one or more down-conversion circuits configured to receive the one or more antenna output signals from the one or more second antennas and the one or more reference signals from the one or more local oscillators and down-convert the one or more antenna output signals using the one or more reference signals to generate one or more modulated signals, each of the one or more modulated signals having the baseband frequency; and one or more demodulation circuits configured to receive the one or more modulated signals from the one or more down-conversion circuits and demodulate the one or more modulated signals to generate the one or more second baseband signals.
41. The transport network of claim 1, wherein the one or more first baseband signals are a plurality of first baseband signals, the one or more antenna feed signals being a plurality of antenna feed signals including a combined antenna feed signal, the one or more radiated signals including a combined radiated signal, the frequency of the one or more radiated signals being a transmission frequency, the transmitter circuitry comprising: a plurality of local oscillators configured to generate a plurality of carrier signals, each of the plurality of carrier signals having a baseband frequency less than the transmission frequency; a plurality of modulation circuits configured to receive the plurality of first baseband signals from the client-side input and the plurality of carrier signals from the plurality of local oscillators and modulate the plurality of first baseband signals onto the plurality of carrier signals to generate a plurality of modulated signals; a plurality of up-conversion circuits configured to receive the plurality of modulated signals from the plurality of modulation circuits and up-convert the plurality of modulated signals to generate a plurality of up-converted signals; and a combiner configured to receive the plurality of up-converted signals from the plurality of up-conversion circuits and combine the plurality of up-converted signals into the combined antenna feed signal; and wherein the one or more first antennas are configured to receive the combined antenna feed signal from the combiner, generate the combined radiated signal based on the combined antenna feed signal, and couple the combined radiated signal into the at least one of the one or more hollow waveguides.
42. The transport network of claim 41, wherein combining the plurality of up-converted signals into the combined antenna feed signal utilizes at least one of time division multiplexing (TDM) and wavelength division multiplexing (WDM).
43. The transport network of claim 1, wherein the one or more second baseband signals are a plurality of second baseband signals, the one or more antenna output signals being a plurality of antenna output signals including a combined antenna output signal, the one or more radiated signals including a combined radiated signal, the frequency of the one or more radiated signals being a transmission frequency, the one or more second antennas being configured to detect the combined radiated signal received from the one or more hollow waveguides and generate the combined antenna output signal based on the combined radiated signal, the receiver circuitry comprising: a splitter configured to receive the combined antenna output signal from the one or more second antennas and split the combined antenna output signal into the plurality of antenna output signals; a plurality of local oscillators configured to generate a plurality of reference signals, each of the plurality of reference signals having a baseband frequency less than the transmission frequency; a plurality of down-conversion circuits configured to receive the plurality of antenna output signals from the splitter and the plurality of reference signals from the plurality of local oscillators and down-convert the plurality of antenna output signals using the plurality of reference signals to generate a plurality of modulated signals, each of the plurality of modulated signals having the baseband frequency; and a plurality of demodulation circuits configured to receive the plurality of modulated signals from the plurality of down-conversion circuits and demodulate the plurality of modulated signals to generate the plurality of second baseband signals.
44. The transport network of claim 43, wherein splitting the combined antenna output signal into the plurality of antenna output signals utilizes at least one of time division multiplexing (TDM) and wavelength division multiplexing (WDM).
45. The transport network of claim 1, wherein the one or more first baseband signals are a plurality of first baseband signals, the one or more antenna feed signals being a plurality of antenna feed signals, the one or more radiated signals being a plurality of radiated signals including a combined radiated signal, the frequency of the one or more radiated signals being a transmission frequency, the one or more first antennas being a first antenna array comprising a plurality of first antennas, the transmitter circuitry comprising: a plurality of local oscillators configured to generate a plurality of carrier signals, each of the plurality of carrier signals having a baseband frequency less than the transmission frequency; a plurality of modulation circuits configured to receive the plurality of first baseband signals from the client-side input and the plurality of carrier signals from the plurality of local oscillators and modulate the plurality of first baseband signals onto the plurality of carrier signals to generate a plurality of modulated signals; a plurality of up-conversion circuits configured to receive the plurality of modulated signals from the plurality of modulation circuits and up-convert the plurality of modulated signals to generate the plurality of antenna feed signals; and wherein the plurality of first antennas are configured to receive the plurality of antenna feed signals from the plurality of up-conversion circuits, generate the plurality of radiated signals based on the plurality of antenna feed signals, and couple the plurality of radiated signals into the at least one of the one or more hollow waveguides such that the plurality of radiated signals interact in the at least one of the one or more hollow waveguides to form the combined radiated signal.
46. The transport network of claim 45, wherein coupling the plurality of radiated signals into the at least one of the one or more hollow waveguides such that the plurality of radiated signals interact in the at least one of the one or more hollow waveguides to form the combined radiated signal utilizes at least one of polarization division multiplexing (PDM), time division multiplexing (TDM) and wavelength division multiplexing (WDM).
47. The transport network of claim 1, wherein the one or more second baseband signals are a plurality of second baseband signals, the one or more antenna output signals being a plurality of antenna output signals, the one or more radiated signals being a plurality of radiated signals including a first complementary radiated signal, a second complementary radiated signal, and a combined radiated signal formed by the first complementary radiated signal and the second complementary radiated signal interacting in the at least one of the one or more hollow waveguides, the frequency of the one or more radiated signals being a transmission frequency, the one or more second antennas being an antenna array comprising a plurality of antennas, the plurality of antennas being configured to detect the first complementary radiated signal and the second complementary radiated signal based on the combined radiated signal received from the at least one of the one or more hollow waveguides and generate the plurality of antenna output signals based on the first complementary radiated signal and the second complementary radiated signal, the receiver circuitry comprising: a plurality of local oscillators configured to generate a plurality of reference signals, each of the plurality of reference signals having a baseband frequency less than the transmission frequency; a plurality of down-conversion circuits configured to receive the plurality of antenna output signals from the plurality of antennas and the plurality of reference signals from the plurality of local oscillators and down-convert the plurality of antenna output signals using the plurality of reference signals to generate a plurality of modulated signals, each of the plurality of modulated signals having the baseband frequency; and a plurality of demodulation circuits configured to receive the plurality of modulated signals from the plurality of down-conversion circuits and demodulate the plurality of modulated signals to generate the plurality of second baseband signals.
48. The transport network of claim 47, wherein detecting the first complementary radiated signal and the second complementary radiated signal based on the combined radiated signal received from the at least one of the one or more hollow waveguides utilizes at least one of polarization division multiplexing (PDM), time division multiplexing (TDM) and wavelength division multiplexing (WDM).
As the table above illustrates, since the limitations of claims of the present application are taught by claims of U.S. Patent No. 12,401,424, claims of the present application would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, the limitations “…a multi-layer substrate having a plurality of layers…” of claims 56 and 147; the limitations “…a single monolithic semiconductor die.” of claims 57 and 148; the limitations “…a plurality of substrates…” of claims 58 and 149; the limitations “…plurality of substrates are in a stacked arrangement.” of claims 59 and 150 must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). No new matter should be entered.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
Claims 56-59 and 147-50 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claims contain subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
Claims 56 recites “…wherein at least two of the client-side output, the receiver circuitry, and the one or more antennas are disposed on a multi-layer substrate having a plurality of layers, at least one of the client-side output, the receiver circuitry, and the one or more antennas being disposed on a first layer of the plurality of layers, at least one of the client- side output, the receiver circuitry, and the one or more antennas being disposed on a second layer of the plurality of layers.” There is no figure or sufficient description in the specification, as originally filed, to teach a person of ordinary skill how the circuitries are arranged on a multi-layer substrate having a plurality of layers.
Claims 57 recites “…at least two of the client-side output, the receiver circuitry, and the one or more antennas are integrated into a single monolithic semiconductor die.” There is no figure or sufficient description in the specification, as originally filed, to teach a person of ordinary skill how the circuitries are integrated into a single monolithic semiconductor die.
Claims 58 recites “…at least two of the client-side output, the receiver circuitry, and the one or more antennas are disposed on a plurality of substrates, at least one of the client-side output, the receiver circuitry, and the one or more antennas being disposed on a first substrate of the plurality of substrates, at least one of the client-side output, the receiver circuitry, and the one or more antennas being disposed on a second substrate of the plurality of substrates.” There is no figure or sufficient description in the specification, as originally filed, to teach a person of ordinary skill how the circuitries are arranged on a on a plurality of substrates and how the substrates are connected to each other.
Claims 59 recites “…least two of the plurality of substrates are in a stacked arrangement.” There is no figure or sufficient description in the specification, as originally filed, to teach a person of ordinary skill how the circuitries are arranged in a stacked arrangement.
Claim 147 recites “…wherein at least two of the client-side input, the transmitter circuitry, the one or more first antennas, the client-side output, the receiver circuitry, and the one or more second antennas are disposed on a multi-layer substrate having a plurality of layers, at least one of the client-side input, the transmitter circuitry, the one or more first antennas, the client-side output, the receiver circuitry, and the one or more second antennas being disposed on a first layer of the plurality of layers, at least one of the client-side input, the transmitter circuitry, the one or more first antennas, the client-side output, the receiver circuitry, and the one or more second antennas being disposed on a second layer of the plurality of layers.” There is no figure or sufficient description in the specification, as originally filed, to teach a person of ordinary skill how the circuitries are arranged on a multi-layer substrate having a plurality of layers.
Claim 148 recites “…wherein at least two of the client-side input, the transmitter circuitry, the one or more first antennas, the client-side output, the receiver circuitry, and the one or more second antennas are integrated into a single monolithic semiconductor die.” There is no figure or sufficient description in the specification, as originally filed, to teach a person of ordinary skill how the circuitries are integrated into a single monolithic semiconductor die.
Claim 149 recites “…wherein at least two of the client-side input, the transmitter circuitry, the one or more first antennas, the client-side output, the receiver circuitry, and the one or more second antennas are disposed on a plurality of substrates, at least one of the client-side input, the transmitter circuitry, the one or more first antennas, the client-side output, the receiver circuitry, and the one or more second antennas being disposed on a first substrate of the plurality of substrates, at least one of the client-side input, the transmitter circuitry, the one or more first antennas, the client-side output, the receiver circuitry, and the one or more second antennas being disposed on a second substrate of the plurality of substrates.” There is no figure or sufficient description in the specification, as originally filed, to teach a person of ordinary skill how the circuitries are arranged on a on a plurality of substrates and how the substrates are connected to each other.
Claims 150 recites “…wherein at least two of the plurality of substrates are in a stacked arrangement.” There is no figure or sufficient description in the specification, as originally filed, to teach a person of ordinary skill how the circuitries are arranged in a stacked arrangement.
In view of the drawing objections and 112(a) rejections and interpreting the claims to the broadest reasonable interpretation, the lack of disclosure suggests that the various circuits arrangement of claims 56-59 and 147-150 are not novel and considered obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art.
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 43-52, 62, 63, 76-80, 134-143, 153, 154, 167-172 and 181-186 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chung (KR 101316957 B1; English machine translation is used in this office action) in view of Mittleman et al (US Pub. No. 2008/0309577 A1).
Regarding claim 43, Chung teaches a receiver (200), shown on Fig. 1, comprising:
one or more antennas (240) configured to detect one or more radiated signals received from a Terahertz (THz) antenna (140) (page 5, lines 57-59; “Referring to FIG. 1, a radio frequency transmission apparatus 100 operating in a terahertz band according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a baseband transmission interface module 120, an 58 RF transmitter module 130, and a transmission antenna 140, ...”; page 6, lines 1-2; “A radio frequency transmitter 100 operating in the terahertz band receives four types of Gbps signals 111-114 from a multi-gigabit data source 110 and provides a baseband transmit interface (Tx I / F) module 120.”) and generate one or more antenna output signals based on the one or more radiated signals, each of the one or more radiated signals being radiated electromagnetic waves (page 6, lines 25-30; “The RF receiver module 230 frequency downconverts the terahertz band radio frequency signal RF_Rx 241 received from the receiving antenna 240 to generate a received data signal. [0062] The RF receiver module 230 also detects the multi-gigabit data source 110 signal transmitted from the RF transmitter 100 and outputs the received data signal Rx_Data 221 to the baseband reception interface Rx I / 29 F”), having a frequency in a range between 100 Gigahertz (GHz) and 10 THz (page 1, lines 54-55; “Terahertz technology typically uses electromagnetic waves in the frequency range between 100 GHz and 10 THz.”);
receiver circuitry (220) configured to receive the one or more antenna output signals from the one or more antennas and generate one or more baseband signals based on the one or more antenna output signals (page 6, lines 18-26; “The frequency receiver 200 operating in the terahertz band according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a baseband receive interface module 220, an RF receiver module 230, and a receive antenna 240. [0060] The baseband receive interface module 220 transmits a plurality of output signals by recovering the clock and data from the received data signal. [0061] The RF receiver module 230 frequency downconverts the terahertz band radio frequency signal RF_Rx 241 received from the receiving antenna 240 to generate a received data signal.”); and
output (210) configured to receive the one or more baseband signals from the receiver circuitry and transmit the one or more baseband signals (page 6, lines 37-39; “The baseband receiving interface (Rx I / F) module 220 restores clocks and data from the 10 Gbps-level received data signal (Rx_Data) 221 and demultiplexes or processes the data to generate a multi-gigabit data sink (Data Sinks) And transmits a plurality of output signals including Gbps data 211 to 214 to the base station 210.”).
Chung teaches users of the terahertz wireless communication system (page 2, lines 18-19; “Receiving apparatus and a transmitting / receiving system operating in a terahertz (THz) band capable of increasing the number of users of the wireless communication system.”) wherein modulated terahertz band radiates through the antenna (page 6, lines 12-16; “The RF transmitter module 130 up-converts (modulates) the transmit data signal Tx_Data 121 output 12 from the baseband transmit interface module 120 into a radio frequency (RF) signal in the terahertz band. [0058] The radio frequency signal (RF_Tx) 141 in the modulated terahertz band radiates through the transmission antenna 140 into the atmosphere.”) and differs from the claimed invention in that Chung does not specifically teach that the data is a client data. However, since Chung teaches transmission and reception of modulated data and user of the wireless communication system, therefore, it would have been obvious to an artisan of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to receive and transmit the modulated data from client (user) to other client (user) in order to provide access and communication across multiple clients (users).
Chung teaches transmitting and receiving terahertz signals using antennas (page 6, lines 25-30; “The RF receiver module 230 frequency downconverts the terahertz band radio frequency signal RF_Rx 241 received from the receiving antenna 240 to generate a received data signal. [0062] The RF receiver module 230 also detects the multi-gigabit data source 110 signal transmitted from the RF transmitter 100 and outputs the received data signal Rx_Data 221 to the baseband reception interface Rx I / 29 F”) and differs from the claimed invention in that Chung does not specifically that the terahertz signal is received from terahertz waveguide. Mittleman et al teaches waveguide for receiving terahertz signal (para [0011]; “The present invention provides an effective THz waveguide and a method and apparatus that allow very efficient coupling of THz energy into the waveguide. The present devices are compatible with existing terahertz generation and detection techniques.”). Since it is well known to coupled terahertz signal into waveguide, therefore, it would have been obvious to an artisan of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify the communication system of Chung, by providing waveguide to couple the transmitter and receiver system in order to lower power loss due to atmospheric effects and optimize signal to noise ratio.
Regarding claims 44 and 135, the combination of Chung as modified by Mittleman et al, teaches wherein the THz waveguide has a hollow waveguide core having a refractive index in a range between 1.0 and 1.4 (Mittleman et al: para [0042]; “As shown in FIG. 3, a coaxial waveguide 40 is preferably constructed with an inner core 46 and an outer wall 48 constructed from a material that is substantially opaque to terahertz radiation such as copper or any other highly conductive material. The annular region 44 between inner core 46 and outer wall 48 is preferably either evacuated or filled with a substance that is transparent or substantially transparent to terahertz radiation, such as a gas.”; para [0048]; “Some embodiments of the waveguide include a core and outer wall, as described above. In addition, because some embodiments include an evacuated or gas-filled annulus, it is preferred in those embodiments to provide means for maintaining the core at the center of the waveguide.” para [0049]; “…shown in phantom in FIG. 5, is to use a plurality of cylindrical plugs 60, spaced apart along the length of the waveguide cylinder, with holes 62 drilled in their centers through which the inner conductor is inserted. If these holes are positioned accurately and plugs 60 are sized correctly, plugs 60 will hold inner conductor 46 in precise coaxial alignment with outer wall 48. Plugs 60 are preferably composed of a material that has a low refractive index and is as nearly invisible to THz radiation as possible, such as rigid polystyrene foam, other polymeric foams, or, less preferably, non-foamed materials.”). The combination does not specifically teach the waveguide core having a refractive index in a range between 1.0 and 1.4. However, since Mittleman et al teaches waveguide core, it would have been obvious to an artisan of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify the waveguide core to have a refractive index in a range between 1.0 and 1.4 depending on the core material, geometry and operating frequency in order to enhance security and sensitivity. Furthermore, where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, it is not inventive to discover the optimum or workable ranges by routine experimentation. In re Swain et al., 33 CCPA (Patents) 1250, 156 F.2d 239, 70 USPQ 412; Minnesota Minning and Mfg. Co. v. Coe, 69 App D.C. 217, 99 F.2d 986, 38 USPQ 213; Allen et al. v. Coe, 77 App D.C. 324, 135 F.2d 11, 57 USPQ 136. In addition, discovery of an optimum value of a result effective variable in a known process is ordinarily within the skill of the art. In re Antonie, 559 F.2d 239, 618, 195 USPQ 6 (CCPA 1977); In re Aller, 42 CCPA 824, 220 F.2d 454, 105 USPQ 233 (1955). See also In re Aller, 105 USPQ 233 (CCPA 1955) and In re Boesch, 617 F.2d 272, 205 USPQ 215 (CCPA 1980).
Regarding claims 45 and 136, the combination of Chung as modified by Mittleman et al, teaches wherein the THz waveguide has a hollow waveguide core and a tubular sidewall surrounding the hollow waveguide core, the hollow waveguide core being filled with one of a gas, a vacuum, and a porous material having a porosity in a range between 25% and 99% (Mittleman et al: para [0048]; “Some embodiments of the waveguide include a core and outer wall, as described above. In addition, because some embodiments include an evacuated or gas-filled annulus, it is preferred in those embodiments to provide means for maintaining the core at the center of the waveguide.”).
Regarding claims 46 and 137, the combination of Chung as modified by Mittleman et al, teaches wherein the tubular sidewall comprises a conductive layer (Mittleman et al: para [0042]; “As shown in FIG. 3, a coaxial waveguide 40 is preferably constructed with an inner core 46 and an outer wall 48 constructed from a material that is substantially opaque to terahertz radiation such as copper or any other highly conductive material.”).
Regarding claims 47 and 138, the combination of Chung as modified by Mittleman et al, teaches wherein the tubular sidewall further comprises a support layer surrounding the conductive layer (Mittleman et al: para [0045]; “…the inner electrode rather than the outer electrode may be separate from the waveguide and may support a radially extending semiconducting web.”; para [0049]; “Other means for supporting core 46 may be used, including but not limited to braces, fins, and legs.”).
Regarding claims 48 and 139, the combination of Chung as modified by Mittleman et al, teaches wherein the tubular sidewall further comprises a dielectric layer between the hollow waveguide core and the conductive layer (Mittleman et al: para [0042]; “The annular region 44 between inner core 46 and outer wall 48 is preferably either evacuated or filled with a substance that is transparent or substantially transparent to terahertz radiation, such as a gas.”; gas is considered dielectric layer).
Regarding claims 49 and 140, the combination of Chung as modified by Mittleman et al, teaches wherein the tubular sidewall has one or more conductive layers and one or more dielectric layers, the one or more conductive layers interleaved with the one or more dielectric layers (Mittleman et al: para [0042]; “The annular region 44 between inner core 46 and outer wall 48 is preferably either evacuated or filled with a substance that is transparent or substantially transparent to terahertz radiation, such as a gas.”; gas is considered dielectric layer).
Regarding claims 50 and 141, Chung teaches wherein each particular one of the one or more radiated signals has a bandwidth in a range between 10% and 40% of the frequency of the particular one of the one or more radiated signals (Chung: Fig. 1 shown on the original document shows relationship between various bandwidths and frequencies).
Regarding claims 51 and 142, the combination of Chung as modified by Mittleman et al, teaches wherein the THz waveguide is configured to support propagation of a single mode of the one or more radiated signals (Mittleman et al: para [0041]; “It is possible to use a similar antenna design for photoconductive detection of the THz pulses emerging from a waveguide. This has the unique advantage that only the fundamental transverse electromagnetic (TEM) mode of the guide are detectable, so even if the launched wave were propagating in a multi-mode regime, this would not lead to measurable group velocity dispersion but only to increased propagation losses.”).
Regarding claims 52 and 143, the combination of Chung as modified by Mittleman et al, teaches wherein the THz waveguide is configured to support propagation of a plurality of modes of the one or more radiated signals (Mittleman et al: para [0041]; “It is possible to use a similar antenna design for photoconductive detection of the THz pulses emerging from a waveguide. This has the unique advantage that only the fundamental transverse electromagnetic (TEM) mode of the guide are detectable, so even if the launched wave were propagating in a multi-mode regime, this would not lead to measurable group velocity dispersion but only to increased propagation losses.”).
Regarding claims 62 and 153, the combination of Chung as modified by Mittleman et al, teaches wherein the client data is encoded in the one or more baseband signals using an encoding conforming to one or more of return-to-zero (RZ) code, non-return-to-zero (NRZ) code, pulse-amplitude modulation (PAM), and quadrature-amplitude modulation (QAM) (Chung: page 7, lines 37-39; “The RF transmitter module 130 according to an embodiment of the present invention receives a 10 Gbps-level transmission data signal Tx_Data 121 from a baseband transmission interface (Tx I / F) module 120. At this time, the transmission data signal (Tx_Data) 121 may be a non-return-to-zero (NRZ) rectangular wave…”; page 16, lines 32-33, “…a transmission rate of 15 Gbps can be obtained by using a 16QAM modulation scheme with 3 bits per symbol.”).
Regarding claims 63 and 154, the combination of Chung as modified by Mittleman et al, teaches wherein the client data is encoded in the one or more radiated signals using an encoding conforming to one or more of return-to-zero (RZ) code, non- return-to-zero (NRZ) code, quadrature phase-shift keying (QPSK), quadrature-amplitude modulation (QAM), trellis coded modulation (TCM), and Bose-Chaudhuri-Hocquenghem (BCH) code (Chung: page 7, lines 37-39; “The RF transmitter module 130 according to an embodiment of the present invention receives a 10 Gbps-level transmission data signal Tx_Data 121 from a baseband transmission interface (Tx I / F) module 120. At this time, the transmission data signal (Tx_Data) 121 may be a non-return-to-zero (NRZ) rectangular wave…”; page 16, lines 32-33, “…a transmission rate of 15 Gbps can be obtained by using a 16QAM modulation scheme with 3 bits per symbol.”).
Regarding claims 76 and 167, the combination of Chung as modified by Mittleman et al, teaches wherein the hollow waveguide core has a cross-section (Mittleman et al: para [0054]; “…the present coaxial waveguide can have a small cross-section…”) configured to support propagation of a plurality of polarizations (para [0052]; “…radially polarized beam can be focused on the end of the waveguide… a linearly polarized THz beam may be focused on a scattering object placed near the waveguide.”).
Regarding claims 77 and 168, the combination of Chung as modified by Mittleman et al, teaches wherein the cross-section of the hollow waveguide core has an elliptical or circular shape (Mittleman et al: Figs. 1-5 shows circular shape waveguide).
Regarding claims 78, 79, 169 and 170, the combination of Chung as modified by Mittleman et al, teaches hollow waveguide core with a circulator shape and differs from the claimed invention in that the combination does not specifically teach that the cross-section of the hollow waveguide core has a rectangular or square shape or wherein the cross-section of the hollow waveguide core has a cross shape. However, since the combination teaches hollow core, it would have been obvious to an artisan of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify the hollow core to be in a different shape such as a rectangular or a square shape or a cross shape in order to provide desired bandwidth, power capacity and polarization benefits.
Regarding claim 80, the combination of Chung as modified by Mittleman et al, teaches wherein the frequency of the one or more radiated signals is a transmission frequency, the receiver circuitry comprising:
one or more local oscillators (150) configured to generate one or more reference signals, each of the one or more reference signals having a baseband frequency less than the transmission frequency (Chung: Fig. 5, page 11, lines 31-34; “…the local oscillation signal RF_LO 151 of the local oscillation signal generator 150 is supplied to the receiving antenna 240 at a frequency of about 10 to 20 GHz lower than the frequency of the radio frequency signal RF_Rx 241 of the terahertz band Or higher. By doing so, the RF receiver module 230 becomes a heterodyne receiver.”);
one or more down-conversion circuits configured to receive the one or more antenna output signals from the one or more antennas and the one or more reference signals from the one or more local oscillators and down-convert the one or more antenna output signals using the one or more reference signals to generate one or more modulated signals, each of the one or more modulated signals having the baseband frequency (page 10, lines 53-54; “The sub harmonic mixer 136 mixes the radio frequency signal and the local oscillation signal to frequency downconvert the radio frequency signal in the terahertz band.”); and
one or more demodulation circuits configured to receive the one or more modulated signals from the one or more down-conversion circuits and demodulate the one or more modulated signals to generate the one or more baseband signals (page 11, lines 39-42; “…the LPF 134 connected to the outside can be replaced with a band pass filter (BPF) having a center frequency of 10 to 20 GHz and a bandwidth of about 20 GHz. The baseband signal is detected through the first IF amplifier 231 and the detector 232 and the received data signal Rx_Data 221 is detected through the low-pass filter (LPF) 233 and the amplifier 234 …”).
Regarding claim 134, Chung teaches a transceiver, shown on Fig. 1, comprising:
a transmitter (100), comprising:
an input configured to receive one or more first baseband signals (110) having first data (page 6, lines 1-2; “A radio frequency transmitter 100 operating in the terahertz band receives four types of Gbps signals 111-114 from a multi-gigabit data source 110 and provides a baseband transmit interface (Tx I / F) module 120.”);
transmitter circuitry (120) configured to receive the one or more first baseband signals from the client-side input and generate one or more antenna feed signals based on the one or more first baseband signals (page 5; lines 57-59; “Referring to FIG. 1, a radio frequency transmission apparatus 100 operating in a terahertz band according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a baseband transmission interface module 120, an RF transmitter module 130, and a transmission antenna 140.”); and
one or more first antennas (140) configured to receive the one or more antenna feed signals from the transmitter circuitry, generate one or more first radiated signals based on the one or more antenna feed signals, and generate a first Terahertz (THz) signal (page 6; lines 12-16; “The RF transmitter module 130 up-converts (modulates) the transmit data signal Tx_Data 121 output from the baseband transmit interface module 120 into a radio frequency (RF) signal in the terahertz band. [0058] The radio frequency signal (RF_Tx) 141 in the modulated terahertz band radiates through the transmission antenna 140…”), each of the one or more first radiated signals being radiated electromagnetic waves having a first frequency in a range between 100 Gigahertz (GHz) and 10 THz (page 1, lines 54-55; “Terahertz technology typically uses electromagnetic waves in the frequency range between 100 GHz and 10 THz.”); and
a receiver (200), shown on Fig. 1, comprising:
one or more second antennas (240) configured to detect one or more second radiated signals received from one of the first Terahertz (THz) antenna and a second THz waveguide (140) (page 5, lines 57-59; “Referring to FIG. 1, a radio frequency transmission apparatus 100 operating in a terahertz band according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a baseband transmission interface module 120, an 58 RF transmitter module 130, and a transmission antenna 140, ...”; page 6, lines 1-2; “A radio frequency transmitter 100 operating in the terahertz band receives four types of Gbps signals 111-114 from a multi-gigabit data source 110 and provides a baseband transmit interface (Tx I / F) module 120.”) and generate one or more antenna output signals based on the one or more radiated signals, each of the one or more radiated signals being radiated electromagnetic waves (page 6, lines 25-30; “The RF receiver module 230 frequency downconverts the terahertz band radio frequency signal RF_Rx 241 received from the receiving antenna 240 to generate a received data signal. [0062] The RF receiver module 230 also detects the multi-gigabit data source 110 signal transmitted from the RF transmitter 100 and outputs the received data signal Rx_Data 221 to the baseband reception interface Rx I / 29 F”), having a second frequency in a range between 100 Gigahertz (GHz) and 10 THz (page 1, lines 54-55; “Terahertz technology typically uses electromagnetic waves in the frequency range between 100 GHz and 10 THz.”);
receiver circuitry (220) configured to receive the one or more antenna output signals from the one or more second antennas and generate one or more baseband signals based on the one or more antenna output signals (page 6, lines 18-26; “The frequency receiver 200 operating in the terahertz band according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a baseband receive interface module 220, an RF receiver module 230, and a receive antenna 240. [0060] The baseband receive interface module 220 transmits a plurality of output signals by recovering the clock and data from the received data signal. [0061] The RF receiver module 230 frequency downconverts the terahertz band radio frequency signal RF_Rx 241 received from the receiving antenna 240 to generate a received data signal.”); and
output (210) configured to receive the one or more baseband signals from the receiver circuitry and transmit the one or more second baseband signals (page 6, lines 37-39; “The baseband receiving interface (Rx I / F) module 220 restores clocks and data from the 10 Gbps-level received data signal (Rx_Data) 221 and demultiplexes or processes the data to generate a multi-gigabit data sink (Data Sinks) And transmits a plurality of output signals including Gbps data 211 to 214 to the base station 210.”).
Chung teaches users of the terahertz wireless communication system (page 2, lines 18-19; “Receiving apparatus and a transmitting / receiving system operating in a terahertz (THz) band capable of increasing the number of users of the wireless communication system.”) wherein modulated terahertz band radiates through the antenna (page 6, lines 12-16; “The RF transmitter module 130 up-converts (modulates) the transmit data signal Tx_Data 121 output 12 from the baseband transmit interface module 120 into a radio frequency (RF) signal in the terahertz band. [0058] The radio frequency signal (RF_Tx) 141 in the modulated terahertz band radiates through the transmission antenna 140 into the atmosphere.”) and differs from the claimed invention in that Chung does not specifically teach that the data is a client data. However, since Chung teaches transmission and reception of modulated data and user of the wireless communication system, therefore, it would have been obvious to an artisan of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to receive and transmit the modulated data from client (user) to other client (user) in order to provide access and communication across multiple clients (users).
Chung teaches transmitting and receiving terahertz signals using antennas (page 6, lines 25-30; “The RF receiver module 230 frequency downconverts the terahertz band radio frequency signal RF_Rx 241 received from the receiving antenna 240 to generate a received data signal. [0062] The RF receiver module 230 also detects the multi-gigabit data source 110 signal transmitted from the RF transmitter 100 and outputs the received data signal Rx_Data 221 to the baseband reception interface Rx I / 29 F”) and differs from the claimed invention in that Chung does not specifically that the terahertz signal is received from terahertz waveguide. Mittleman et al teaches waveguide for receiving terahertz signal (para [0011]; “The present invention provides an effective THz waveguide and a method and apparatus that allow very efficient coupling of THz energy into the waveguide. The present devices are compatible with existing terahertz generation and detection techniques.”). Since it is well known to coupled terahertz signal into waveguide, therefore, it would have been obvious to an artisan of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify the communication system of Chung, by providing waveguide to couple the transmitter and receiver system in order to lower power loss due to atmospheric effects and optimize signal to noise ratio.
Regarding claim 171, the combination of Chung as modified by Mittleman et al, teaches wherein the first frequency of the one or more first radiated signals is a transmission frequency, the transmitter circuitry comprising:
one or more local oscillators (150) configured to generate one or more carrier signals, each of the one or more carrier signals having a baseband frequency less than the transmission frequency (page 7, lines 53-55; “…the local oscillation signal 151 may be dependent on the frequency of the radio frequency signal, and may have a frequency corresponding to, for example, 1/2 of the frequency of the radio frequency signal.”);
one or more modulation circuits configured to receive the one or more first baseband signals from the client-side input and the one or more carrier signals from the one or more local oscillators and modulate the one or more first baseband signals onto the one or more carrier signals to generate one or more modulated signals (page 5, lines 57-59; “Referring to FIG. 1, a radio frequency transmission apparatus 100 operating in a terahertz band according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a baseband transmission interface module 120, an RF transmitter module 130, and a transmission antenna 140, ...”; page 6, lines 1-2; “A radio frequency transmitter 100 operating in the terahertz band receives four types of Gbps signals 111-114 from a multi-gigabit data source 110 and provides a baseband transmit interface (Tx I / F) module 120”; page 6, lines 15-16; “The radio frequency signal (RF_Tx) 141 in the modulated terahertz band radiates through the transmission antenna 140…”); and
one or more up-conversion circuits configured to receive the one or more modulated signals from the one or more modulation circuits and up-convert the one or more modulated signals to generate the one or more antenna feed signals, each of the one or more antenna feed signals having the transmission frequency (page 6, lines 12-13; “The RF transmitter module 130 up-converts (modulates) the transmit data signal Tx_Data 121 output from the baseband transmit interface module 120 into a radio frequency (RF) signal in the terahertz band.”).
Regarding claim 172, the combination of Chung as modified by Mittleman et al, teaches wherein the second frequency of the one or more second radiated signals is a transmission frequency, the receiver circuitry comprising:
one or more local oscillators (150) configured to generate one or more reference signals, each of the one or more reference signals having a baseband frequency less than the transmission frequency (Chung: Fig. 5, page 11, lines 31-34; “…the local oscillation signal RF_LO 151 of the local oscillation signal generator 150 is supplied to the receiving antenna 240 at a frequency of about 10 to 20 GHz lower than the frequency of the radio frequency signal RF_Rx 241 of the terahertz band Or higher. By doing so, the RF receiver module 230 becomes a heterodyne receiver.”);
one or more down-conversion circuits configured to receive the one or more antenna output signals from the one or more second antennas and the one or more reference signals from the one or more local oscillators and down-convert the one or more antenna output signals using the one or more reference signals to generate one or more modulated signals, each of the one or more modulated signals having the baseband frequency (page 10, lines 53-54; “The sub harmonic mixer 136 mixes the radio frequency signal and the local oscillation signal to frequency downconvert the radio frequency signal in the terahertz band.”); and
one or more demodulation circuits configured to receive the one or more modulated signals from the one or more down-conversion circuits and demodulate the one or more modulated signals to generate the one or more second baseband signals (page 11, lines 39-42; “…the LPF 134 connected to the outside can be replaced with a band pass filter (BPF) having a center frequency of 10 to 20 GHz and a bandwidth of about 20 GHz. The baseband signal is detected through the first IF amplifier 231 and the detector 232 and the received data signal Rx_Data 221 is detected through the low-pass filter (LPF) 233 and the amplifier 234 …”).
Regarding claim 181, the combination of Chung as modified by Mittleman et al, teaches wherein the THz waveguide comprises a dielectric core (Mittleman et al: para [0042]; “The annular region 44 between inner core 46 and outer wall 48 is preferably either evacuated or filled with a substance that is transparent or substantially transparent to terahertz radiation, such as a gas.”; gas is considered dielectric).
Regarding claim 182, the combination of Chung as modified by Mittleman et al, teaches wherein each of the one or more radiated signals is configured for direct detection (Mittleman et al: para [0066]; “…electric field of the guided mode is directly detected at the end of the waveguide.”).
Regarding claim 183, the combination of Chung as modified by Mittleman et al, teaches wherein each of the one or more radiated signals is configured for coherent detection (Mittleman et al: para [0067]; “…the broadband single-cycle pulses of free-space THz radiation are generated and coherently detected…”).
Regarding claim 184, the combination of Chung as modified by Mittleman et al, teaches wherein each of the first THz waveguide and the second THz waveguide comprises a dielectric core (Mittleman et al: para [0042]; “The annular region 44 between inner core 46 and outer wall 48 is preferably either evacuated or filled with a substance that is transparent or substantially transparent to terahertz radiation, such as a gas.”; gas is considered dielectric).
Regarding claim 185, the combination of Chung as modified by Mittleman et al, teaches wherein each of the one or more first radiated signals and each of the one or more second radiated signals are configured for direct detection (Mittleman et al: para [0066]; “…electric field of the guided mode is directly detected at the end of the waveguide.”).
Regarding claim 186, the combination of Chung as modified by Mittleman et al, teaches wherein each of the one or more first radiated signals and each of the one or more second radiated signals are configured for coherent detection (Mittleman et al: para [0067]; “…the broadband single-cycle pulses of free-space THz radiation are generated and coherently detected…”).
Claims 55-61 and 146-152 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chung (KR 101316957 B1; English machine translation is used in this office action) in view of Mittleman et al (US Pub. No. 2008/0309577 A1) and further in view of Yan (US Pub. No. 2015/0002355 A1).
Regarding claim 55, the combination of Chung as modified by Mittleman et al, teaches two or more of the client-side output (Chung: Fig. 1 show multiple client side output such as HD-SDI, 10GbE, OC-192 and GbE), the receiver circuitry (220), and the one or more antennas (240) and differs from the claimed invention in that the combination does not specifically teach that the two or more of the client-side output, the receiver circuitry, and the one or more antennas are disposed on a single substrate. Integrating circuitry components on a single substrate is well known. Yan teaches receiver circuities on a substrate (Yan: para [0024]; “The operating frequencies of system 100 enable the antenna 140 to be shrunken to a size compatible with being integrated onto semiconductor (e.g., Si) substrate 110 with all other components of the system 100. Associated components are small and integrated onto the substrate 110, including modules 120, 130 (e.g., a serializer, mixer, driver, etc.) along with antenna 140. The on-die antenna 140 may enable system 100 to couple output directly from the substrate 110 onto the waveguide 150. System 100 may be fabricated on one substrate, and subsequently may be integrated with, and enjoy the benefits of, other CMOS process technologies such as digital signal processors (DSPs) amenable to fabrication on one substrate.”; para [0029]; “…a receiver substrate 212 according to an example. …. The CMOS receiver chip substrate 212 is to use receiver antenna 242 to receive mm wave frequencies 204 from the HMWG 250.”). Therefore, it would have been obvious to an artisan of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify the communication system of the combination by providing the two or more of the client-side output, the receiver circuitry, and the one or more antennas are disposed on a single substrate, as taught by Yan, in order to reduce size, lower mass-production costs, and increase reliability.
Regarding claim 56 (as far as understood in view of the 112 rejection), the combination of Chung as modified by Mittleman et al, teaches two or more of the client-side output (Chung: Fig. 1 show multiple client side output such as HD-SDI, 10GbE, OC-192 and GbE), the receiver circuitry (220), and the one or more antennas (240) and differs from the claimed invention in that the combination does not specifically teach at least two of the client-side output, the receiver circuitry, and the one or more antennas are disposed on a multi-layer substrate having a plurality of layers, at least one of the client-side output, the receiver circuitry, and the one or more antennas being disposed on a first layer of the plurality of layers, at least one of the client- side output, the receiver circuitry, and the one or more antennas being disposed on a second layer of the plurality of layers. Integrating circuitry components on a single substrate is well known. Yan teaches receiver circuities on a substrate (Yan: para [0024]; “The operating frequencies of system 100 enable the antenna 140 to be shrunken to a size compatible with being integrated onto semiconductor (e.g., Si) substrate 110 with all other components of the system 100. Associated components are small and integrated onto the substrate 110, including modules 120, 130 (e.g., a serializer, mixer, driver, etc.) along with antenna 140. The on-die antenna 140 may enable system 100 to couple output directly from the substrate 110 onto the waveguide 150. System 100 may be fabricated on one substrate, and subsequently may be integrated with, and enjoy the benefits of, other CMOS process technologies such as digital signal processors (DSPs) amenable to fabrication on one substrate.”; para [0029]; “…a receiver substrate 212 according to an example. …. The CMOS receiver chip substrate 212 is to use receiver antenna 242 to receive mm wave frequencies 204 from the HMWG 250.”). Therefore, it would have been obvious to an artisan of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify the communication system of the combination by providing at least two of the client-side output, the receiver circuitry, and the one or more antennas are disposed on a multi-layer substrate having a plurality of layers, at least one of the client-side output, the receiver circuitry, and the one or more antennas being disposed on a first layer of the plurality of layers, at least one of the client- side output, the receiver circuitry, and the one or more antennas being disposed on a second layer of the plurality of layers in order to reduce size, lower mass-production costs, and increase reliability.
Regarding claim 57 (as far as understood in view of the 112 rejection), the combination of Chung as modified by Mittleman et al, teaches two or more of the client-side output (Chung: Fig. 1 show multiple client side output such as HD-SDI, 10GbE, OC-192 and GbE), the receiver circuitry (220), and the one or more antennas (240) and differs from the claimed invention in that the combination does not specifically teach wherein at least two of the client-side output, the receiver circuitry, and the one or more antennas are integrated into a single monolithic semiconductor die. Yan teaches receiver circuities on a substrate (Yan: para [0024]; “The operating frequencies of system 100 enable the antenna 140 to be shrunken to a size compatible with being integrated onto semiconductor (e.g., Si) substrate 110 with all other components of the system 100. Associated components are small and integrated onto the substrate 110, including modules 120, 130 (e.g., a serializer, mixer, driver, etc.) along with antenna 140. The on-die antenna 140 may enable system 100 to couple output directly from the substrate 110 onto the waveguide 150. System 100 may be fabricated on one substrate, and subsequently may be integrated with, and enjoy the benefits of, other CMOS process technologies such as digital signal processors (DSPs) amenable to fabrication on one substrate.”; para [0029]; “…a receiver substrate 212 according to an example. …. The CMOS receiver chip substrate 212 is to use receiver antenna 242 to receive mm wave frequencies 204 from the HMWG 250.”). Therefore, it would have been obvious to an artisan of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify the communication system of the combination by providing at least two of the client-side output, the receiver circuitry, and the one or more antennas are integrated into a single monolithic semiconductor die in order to reduce size, lower mass-production costs, and increase reliability.
Regarding claim 58, (as far as understood in view of the 112 rejection), the combination of Chung as modified by Mittleman et al, teaches two or more of the client-side output (Chung: Fig. 1 show multiple client side output such as HD-SDI, 10GbE, OC-192 and GbE), the receiver circuitry (220), and the one or more antennas (240) and differs from the claimed invention in that the combination does not specifically teach wherein at least two of the client-side output, the receiver circuitry, and the one or more antennas are disposed on a plurality of substrates, at least one of the client-side output, the receiver circuitry, and the one or more antennas being disposed on a first substrate of the plurality of substrates, at least one of the client-side output, the receiver circuitry, and the one or more antennas being disposed on a second substrate of the plurality of substrates. Yan teaches receiver circuities on a substrate (Yan: para [0024]; “The operating frequencies of system 100 enable the antenna 140 to be shrunken to a size compatible with being integrated onto semiconductor (e.g., Si) substrate 110 with all other components of the system 100. Associated components are small and integrated onto the substrate 110, including modules 120, 130 (e.g., a serializer, mixer, driver, etc.) along with antenna 140. The on-die antenna 140 may enable system 100 to couple output directly from the substrate 110 onto the waveguide 150. System 100 may be fabricated on one substrate, and subsequently may be integrated with, and enjoy the benefits of, other CMOS process technologies such as digital signal processors (DSPs) amenable to fabrication on one substrate.”; para [0029]; “…a receiver substrate 212 according to an example. …. The CMOS receiver chip substrate 212 is to use receiver antenna 242 to receive mm wave frequencies 204 from the HMWG 250.”). Therefore, it would have been obvious to an artisan of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify the communication system of the combination by providing at least two of the client-side output, the receiver circuitry, and the one or more antennas are disposed on a plurality of substrates, at least one of the client-side output, the receiver circuitry, and the one or more antennas being disposed on a first substrate of the plurality of substrates, at least one of the client-side output, the receiver circuitry, and the one or more antennas being disposed on a second substrate of the plurality of substrates in order to reduce size, lower mass-production costs, and increase reliability.
Regarding claim 59, (as far as understood in view of the 112 rejection), the combination of Chung as modified by Mittleman et al, teaches two or more of the client-side output (Chung: Fig. 1 show multiple client side output such as HD-SDI, 10GbE, OC-192 and GbE), the receiver circuitry (220), and the one or more antennas (240) and differs from the claimed invention in that the combination does not specifically teach wherein at least two of the plurality of substrates are in a stacked arrangement. Yan teaches receiver circuities on a substrate (Yan: para [0024]; “The operating frequencies of system 100 enable the antenna 140 to be shrunken to a size compatible with being integrated onto semiconductor (e.g., Si) substrate 110 with all other components of the system 100. Associated components are small and integrated onto the substrate 110, including modules 120, 130 (e.g., a serializer, mixer, driver, etc.) along with antenna 140. The on-die antenna 140 may enable system 100 to couple output directly from the substrate 110 onto the waveguide 150. System 100 may be fabricated on one substrate, and subsequently may be integrated with, and enjoy the benefits of, other CMOS process technologies such as digital signal processors (DSPs) amenable to fabrication on one substrate.”; para [0029]; “…a receiver substrate 212 according to an example. …. The CMOS receiver chip substrate 212 is to use receiver antenna 242 to receive mm wave frequencies 204 from the HMWG 250.”). Therefore, it would have been obvious to an artisan of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify the communication system of the combination by providing at least two of the plurality of substrates are in a stacked arrangement. Yan teaches receiver circuities on a substrate in order to reduce size, lower mass-production costs, and increase reliability.
Regarding claim 60, the combination of Chung as modified by Mittleman et al, teaches two or more of the client-side output (Chung: Fig. 1 shows multiple client side output such as HD-SDI, 10GbE, OC-192 and GbE), the receiver circuitry (220), and the one or more antennas (240) not disposed on the single substrate.
Regarding claim 61, the combination of Chung as modified by Mittleman et al, teaches each client-side output (Chung: Fig. 1 show multiple client side output such as HD-SDI, 10GbE, OC-192 and GbE), the receiver circuitry (220), and the one or more antennas (240) and differs from the claimed invention in that the combination does not specifically teach wherein each of the client-side output, the receiver circuitry, and the one or more antennas are implemented using one or more of complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology, silicon-germanium (SiGe) semiconductor technology, and Ill-V compound semiconductor technology. Yan teaches receiver circuities on a substrate (Yan: para [0024]; “The operating frequencies of system 100 enable the antenna 140 to be shrunken to a size compatible with being integrated onto semiconductor (e.g., Si) substrate 110 with all other components of the system 100. Associated components are small and integrated onto the substrate 110, including modules 120, 130 (e.g., a serializer, mixer, driver, etc.) along with antenna 140. The on-die antenna 140 may enable system 100 to couple output directly from the substrate 110 onto the waveguide 150. System 100 may be fabricated on one substrate, and subsequently may be integrated with, and enjoy the benefits of, other CMOS process technologies such as digital signal processors (DSPs) amenable to fabrication on one substrate.”; para [0029]; “…a receiver substrate 212 according to an example. …. The CMOS receiver chip substrate 212 is to use receiver antenna 242 to receive mm wave frequencies 204 from the HMWG 250.”). Therefore, it would have been obvious to an artisan of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify the communication system of the combination by providing each of the client-side output, the receiver circuitry, and the one or more antennas are implemented using one or more of complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology, silicon-germanium (SiGe) semiconductor technology, and Ill-V compound semiconductor technology. Yan teaches receiver circuities on a substrate in order to reduce size, lower mass-production costs, and increase reliability.
Regarding claim 146 (as far as understood in view of the 112 rejection), the combination of Chung as modified by Mittleman et al, teaches two or more of the client-side output (Chung: Fig. 1 show multiple client side output such as HD-SDI, 10GbE, OC-192 and GbE), the receiver circuitry (220), and the one or more antennas (240) and differs from the claimed invention in that the combination does not specifically teach wherein two or more of the client-side input, the transmitter circuitry, the one or more first antennas, the client-side output, the receiver circuitry, and the one or more second antennas are disposed on a single substrate.. Integrating circuitry components on a single substrate is well known. Yan teaches receiver circuities on a substrate (Yan: para [0024]; “The operating frequencies of system 100 enable the antenna 140 to be shrunken to a size compatible with being integrated onto semiconductor (e.g., Si) substrate 110 with all other components of the system 100. Associated components are small and integrated onto the substrate 110, including modules 120, 130 (e.g., a serializer, mixer, driver, etc.) along with antenna 140. The on-die antenna 140 may enable system 100 to couple output directly from the substrate 110 onto the waveguide 150. System 100 may be fabricated on one substrate, and subsequently may be integrated with, and enjoy the benefits of, other CMOS process technologies such as digital signal processors (DSPs) amenable to fabrication on one substrate.”; para [0029]; “…a receiver substrate 212 according to an example. …. The CMOS receiver chip substrate 212 is to use receiver antenna 242 to receive mm wave frequencies 204 from the HMWG 250.”). Therefore, it would have been obvious to an artisan of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify the communication system of the combination by providing wherein two or more of the client-side input, the transmitter circuitry, the one or more first antennas, the client-side output, the receiver circuitry, and the one or more second antennas are disposed on a single substrate in order to reduce size, lower mass-production costs, and increase reliability.
Regarding claim 147 (as far as understood in view of the 112 rejection), the combination of Chung as modified by Mittleman et al, teaches two or more of the client-side output (Chung: Fig. 1 show multiple client side output such as HD-SDI, 10GbE, OC-192 and GbE), the receiver circuitry (220), and the one or more antennas (240) and differs from the claimed invention in that the combination does not specifically wherein at least two of the client-side input, the transmitter circuitry, the one or more first antennas, the client-side output, the receiver circuitry, and the one or more second antennas are disposed on a multi-layer substrate having a plurality of layers, at least one of the client-side input, the transmitter circuitry, the one or more first antennas, the client-side output, the receiver circuitry, and the one or more second antennas being disposed on a first layer of the plurality of layers, at least one of the client-side input, the transmitter circuitry, the one or more first antennas, the client-side output, the receiver circuitry, and the one or more second antennas being disposed on a second layer of the plurality of layers. Integrating circuitry components on a single substrate is well known. Yan teaches receiver circuities on a substrate (Yan: para [0024]; “The operating frequencies of system 100 enable the antenna 140 to be shrunken to a size compatible with being integrated onto semiconductor (e.g., Si) substrate 110 with all other components of the system 100. Associated components are small and integrated onto the substrate 110, including modules 120, 130 (e.g., a serializer, mixer, driver, etc.) along with antenna 140. The on-die antenna 140 may enable system 100 to couple output directly from the substrate 110 onto the waveguide 150. System 100 may be fabricated on one substrate, and subsequently may be integrated with, and enjoy the benefits of, other CMOS process technologies such as digital signal processors (DSPs) amenable to fabrication on one substrate.”; para [0029]; “…a receiver substrate 212 according to an example. …. The CMOS receiver chip substrate 212 is to use receiver antenna 242 to receive mm wave frequencies 204 from the HMWG 250.”). Therefore, it would have been obvious to an artisan of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify the communication system of the combination by providing wherein at least two of the client-side input, the transmitter circuitry, the one or more first antennas, the client-side output, the receiver circuitry, and the one or more second antennas are disposed on a multi-layer substrate having a plurality of layers, at least one of the client-side input, the transmitter circuitry, the one or more first antennas, the client-side output, the receiver circuitry, and the one or more second antennas being disposed on a first layer of the plurality of layers, at least one of the client-side input, the transmitter circuitry, the one or more first antennas, the client-side output, the receiver circuitry, and the one or more second antennas being disposed on a second layer of the plurality of layers in order to reduce size, lower mass-production costs, and increase reliability.
Regarding claim 148 (as far as understood in view of the 112 rejection), the combination of Chung as modified by Mittleman et al, teaches two or more of the client-side output (Chung: Fig. 1 show multiple client side output such as HD-SDI, 10GbE, OC-192 and GbE), the receiver circuitry (220), and the one or more antennas (240) and differs from the claimed invention in that the combination does not specifically teach wherein at least two of the client-side input, the transmitter circuitry, the one or more first antennas, the client-side output, the receiver circuitry, and the one or more second antennas are integrated into a single monolithic semiconductor die. Yan teaches receiver circuities on a substrate (Yan: para [0024]; “The operating frequencies of system 100 enable the antenna 140 to be shrunken to a size compatible with being integrated onto semiconductor (e.g., Si) substrate 110 with all other components of the system 100. Associated components are small and integrated onto the substrate 110, including modules 120, 130 (e.g., a serializer, mixer, driver, etc.) along with antenna 140. The on-die antenna 140 may enable system 100 to couple output directly from the substrate 110 onto the waveguide 150. System 100 may be fabricated on one substrate, and subsequently may be integrated with, and enjoy the benefits of, other CMOS process technologies such as digital signal processors (DSPs) amenable to fabrication on one substrate.”; para [0029]; “…a receiver substrate 212 according to an example. …. The CMOS receiver chip substrate 212 is to use receiver antenna 242 to receive mm wave frequencies 204 from the HMWG 250.”). Therefore, it would have been obvious to an artisan of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify the communication system of the combination by providing wherein at least two of the client-side input, the transmitter circuitry, the one or more first antennas, the client-side output, the receiver circuitry, and the one or more second antennas are integrated into a single monolithic semiconductor die in order to reduce size, lower mass-production costs, and increase reliability.
Regarding claim 149 (as far as understood in view of the 112 rejection), the combination of Chung as modified by Mittleman et al, teaches two or more of the client-side output (Chung: Fig. 1 show multiple client side output such as HD-SDI, 10GbE, OC-192 and GbE), the receiver circuitry (220), and the one or more antennas (240) and differs from the claimed invention in that the combination does not specifically teach that wherein at least two of the client-side input, the transmitter circuitry, the one or more first antennas, the client-side output, the receiver circuitry, and the one or more second antennas are disposed on a plurality of substrates, at least one of the client-side input, the transmitter circuitry, the one or more first antennas, the client-side output, the receiver circuitry, and the one or more second antennas being disposed on a first substrate of the plurality of substrates, at least one of the client-side input, the transmitter circuitry, the one or more first antennas, the client-side output, the receiver circuitry, and the one or more second antennas being disposed on a second substrate of the plurality of substrates. (Yan: para [0024]; “The operating frequencies of system 100 enable the antenna 140 to be shrunken to a size compatible with being integrated onto semiconductor (e.g., Si) substrate 110 with all other components of the system 100. Associated components are small and integrated onto the substrate 110, including modules 120, 130 (e.g., a serializer, mixer, driver, etc.) along with antenna 140. The on-die antenna 140 may enable system 100 to couple output directly from the substrate 110 onto the waveguide 150. System 100 may be fabricated on one substrate, and subsequently may be integrated with, and enjoy the benefits of, other CMOS process technologies such as digital signal processors (DSPs) amenable to fabrication on one substrate.”; para [0029]; “…a receiver substrate 212 according to an example. …. The CMOS receiver chip substrate 212 is to use receiver antenna 242 to receive mm wave frequencies 204 from the HMWG 250.”). Therefore, it would have been obvious to an artisan of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify the communication system of the combination by providing at least two of the client-side input, the transmitter circuitry, the one or more first antennas, the client-side output, the receiver circuitry, and the one or more second antennas are disposed on a plurality of substrates, at least one of the client-side input, the transmitter circuitry, the one or more first antennas, the client-side output, the receiver circuitry, and the one or more second antennas being disposed on a first substrate of the plurality of substrates, at least one of the client-side input, the transmitter circuitry, the one or more first antennas, the client-side output, the receiver circuitry, and the one or more second antennas being disposed on a second substrate of the plurality of substrates in order to reduce size, lower mass-production costs, and increase reliability.
Regarding claim 150, (as far as understood in view of the 112 rejection), the combination of Chung as modified by Mittleman et al, teaches two or more of the client-side output (Chung: Fig. 1 show multiple client side output such as HD-SDI, 10GbE, OC-192 and GbE), the receiver circuitry (220), and the one or more antennas (240) and differs from the claimed invention in that the combination does not specifically teach wherein at least two of the plurality of substrates are in a stacked arrangement. Yan teaches receiver circuities on a substrate (Yan: para [0024]; “The operating frequencies of system 100 enable the antenna 140 to be shrunken to a size compatible with being integrated onto semiconductor (e.g., Si) substrate 110 with all other components of the system 100. Associated components are small and integrated onto the substrate 110, including modules 120, 130 (e.g., a serializer, mixer, driver, etc.) along with antenna 140. The on-die antenna 140 may enable system 100 to couple output directly from the substrate 110 onto the waveguide 150. System 100 may be fabricated on one substrate, and subsequently may be integrated with, and enjoy the benefits of, other CMOS process technologies such as digital signal processors (DSPs) amenable to fabrication on one substrate.”; para [0029]; “…a receiver substrate 212 according to an example. …. The CMOS receiver chip substrate 212 is to use receiver antenna 242 to receive mm wave frequencies 204 from the HMWG 250.”). Therefore, it would have been obvious to an artisan of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify the communication system of the combination by providing at least two of the plurality of substrates are in a stacked arrangement. Yan teaches receiver circuities on a substrate in order to reduce size, lower mass-production costs, and increase reliability.
Regarding claim 151, the combination of Chung as modified by Mittleman et al, teaches at least one of the client-side input (Chung: Fig. 1 shows multiple client side input such as HD-SDI, 10GbE, OC-192 and GbE), the transmitter circuitry (120), the one or more antennas (140), the client-side output (Chung: Fig. 1 shows multiple client side output such as HD-SDI, 10GbE, OC-192 and GbE), the receiver circuitry (220), and the one or more antennas (240) not disposed on the single substrate.
Regarding claim 152, (as far as understood in view of the 112 rejection), the combination of Chung as modified by Mittleman et al, teaches two or more of the client-side output (Chung: Fig. 1 show multiple client side output such as HD-SDI, 10GbE, OC-192 and GbE), the receiver circuitry (220), and the one or more antennas (240) and differs from the claimed invention in that the combination does not specifically teach wherein each of the client-side input, the transmitter circuitry, the one or more first antennas, the client-side output, the receiver circuitry, and the one or more second antennas are implemented using one or more of complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology, silicon-germanium (SiGe) semiconductor technology, and Ill-V compound semiconductor technology. Yan teaches receiver circuities on a substrate (Yan: para [0024]; “The operating frequencies of system 100 enable the antenna 140 to be shrunken to a size compatible with being integrated onto semiconductor (e.g., Si) substrate 110 with all other components of the system 100. Associated components are small and integrated onto the substrate 110, including modules 120, 130 (e.g., a serializer, mixer, driver, etc.) along with antenna 140. The on-die antenna 140 may enable system 100 to couple output directly from the substrate 110 onto the waveguide 150. System 100 may be fabricated on one substrate, and subsequently may be integrated with, and enjoy the benefits of, other CMOS process technologies such as digital signal processors (DSPs) amenable to fabrication on one substrate.”; para [0029]; “…a receiver substrate 212 according to an example. …. The CMOS receiver chip substrate 212 is to use receiver antenna 242 to receive mm wave frequencies 204 from the HMWG 250.”). Therefore, it would have been obvious to an artisan of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify the communication system of the combination by providing wherein each of the client-side input, the transmitter circuitry, the one or more first antennas, the client-side output, the receiver circuitry, and the one or more second antennas are implemented using one or more of complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology, silicon-germanium (SiGe) semiconductor technology, and Ill-V compound semiconductor technology in order to reduce size, lower mass-production costs, and increase reliability.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 53, 54, 64-75, 81-84, 144, 145, 155-166, 173-180 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. Harrington (US Patent No. 5,815,627) is cited to show co-axial hollow waveguide.
Henry et al (US Pub. No. 2019/0393612 A1) is cited to show launching guided waves via plural waveguide system.
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DALZID E. SINGH
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2635
/DALZID E SINGH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2635
Prosecution Insights