DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1 – 5, 7, and 15 - 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Choi et al. (Pub. No.: US 2026/0156024; hereinafter Choi).
Regarding claim 1, Choi discloses a method, comprising: generating, by a processor of a reader apparatus (see Fig. 11, para. 0136, first device 100 includes processor(s) 102), an on-off keying (OOK) signal with an orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) waveform, wherein a start of an OOK signal transmission is aligned with a boundary of a symbol of the OFDM waveform (see Fig. 4, para. 0119, for example: Option B, note the start of an OOK symbol is aligned with the OFDM symbol); and transmitting, by the processor, the OOK signal to an Internet of Things (IoT) device (see Fig. 10, para. 0134, transmission (ex: OOK signal of Fig. 4) between BSs 100 and IoT device 100f).
Regarding claim 2, Choi discloses wherein the OOK signal comprises at least one of a preamble, a payload (see para. 0067, The OOK-4 method may be considered as follows: to transmit an M-bit LP-WUS payload) and cyclic redundancy check (CRC) bits.
Regarding claim 3, Choi discloses wherein the OFDM waveform comprises a primary synchronization signal (PSS) or a secondary synchronization signal (SSS) (see para. 0035, a primary synchronization signal (PSS), and a secondary synchronization signal (SSS)).
Regarding claim 4, Choi discloses wherein the OOK signal comprises at least one of an OOK-1 modulation and an OOK-4 modulation (see para. 0067, OOK-4, para. 0111, OOK-1).
Regarding claim 5, Choi discloses further comprising: transmitting, by the processor, a configuration associated with the OOK signal to the IoT device, wherein the configuration comprises at least one of a signal format and a bandwidth allocation of the OOK signal (see para. 0065, Table 5 shows configuration options for LP-WUS waveform generation that includes OOK formats and OOK options).
Regarding claim 7, Choi discloses wherein the OOK signal comprises a wake-up signal to wake up the IoT device (see para. 0110, the LP-WUS is generated based on the OOK-4 method, Fig. 10, transmission to IoT device).
Regarding claim 15, Choi discloses an apparatus, comprising: a transceiver which, during operation, wirelessly communicates with at least one network node of a wireless network; and a processor communicatively coupled to the transceiver such that, during operation, the processor performs operations (see Fig. 11, para. 0134, 0136, first device 100 includes processor(s) 102 coupled to transceiver(s) 106 for communication to other wireless devices) comprising: generating an on-off keying (OOK) signal with an orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) waveform, wherein a start of an OOK signal transmission is aligned with a boundary of a symbol of the OFDM waveform (see Fig. 4, para. 0119, for example: Option B, note the start of an OOK symbol is aligned with the OFDM symbol); and transmitting, via the transceiver, the OOK signal to an Internet of Things (IoT) device (see Fig. 10, para. 0134, transmission (ex: OOK signal of Fig. 4) between BSs 100 and IoT device 100f).
Regarding claim 16, Choi discloses wherein the OOK signal comprises at least one of a preamble, a payload (see para. 0067, The OOK-4 method may be considered as follows: to transmit an M-bit LP-WUS payload) and cyclic redundancy check (CRC) bits.
Regarding claim 17, Choi discloses wherein the OFDM waveform comprises a primary synchronization signal (PSS) or a secondary synchronization signal (SSS) (see para. 0035, a primary synchronization signal (PSS), and a secondary synchronization signal (SSS)).
Regarding claim 18, Choi discloses wherein the OOK signal comprises at least one of an OOK-1 modulation and an OOK-4 modulation (see para. 0067, OOK-4, para. 0111, OOK-1).
Regarding claim 19, Choi discloses wherein the processor is further configured to perform operations comprising: transmitting, via the transceiver, a configuration associated with the OOK signal to the IoT device, wherein the configuration comprises at least one of a signal format and a bandwidth allocation of the OOK signal (see para. 0065, Table 5 shows configuration options for LP-WUS waveform generation that includes OOK formats and OOK options).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 8 – 12 and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Choi et al. (Pub. No.: US 2026/0156024; hereinafter Choi) in view of Giustiniano et al. (Pub. No.: US 2024/0080098; hereinafter Giustiniano).
Regarding claim 8, Choi discloses a method, comprising: receiving, by a processor of an Internet of Things (IoT) device (see Fig. 11, para. 0134, 0136, second device (ex: IoT device) includes processor(s) 202), an on-off keying (OOK) signal from a reader apparatus, wherein the OOK signal is formed by an orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) waveform, and wherein a start of an OOK signal transmission is aligned with a boundary of a symbol of the OFDM waveform (see Fig. 4, para. 0119, for example: Option B, note the start of an OOK symbol is aligned with the OFDM symbol).
Choi does not disclose the claimed features of: regarding claim 8, performing, by the processor, a backscattering transmission according to the OOK signal.
Regarding claim 8, Giustiniano discloses performing, by the processor, a backscattering transmission according to the OOK signal (see para. 0047, to generate the baseband signal that supports the RF backscatter-based uplink communication channel, by turning the chirp signal on and off over the entire chirp symbol following an on-off keying (OOK) modulation scheme…).
It would have been obvious to one ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Choi, and have the features, as taught by Giustiniano, in order to use RF backscatter for transmitting IoT data to the network because of its energy efficiency and absence of power-hungry active radio for transmission, as discussed by Giustiniano (para. 0006).
Regarding claim 9, Choi discloses wherein the OOK signal comprises at least one of a preamble, a payload (see para. 0067, The OOK-4 method may be considered as follows: to transmit an M-bit LP-WUS payload) and cyclic redundancy check (CRC) bits.
Regarding claim 10, Choi discloses wherein the OFDM waveform comprises a primary synchronization signal (PSS) or a secondary synchronization signal (SSS) (see para. 0035, a primary synchronization signal (PSS), and a secondary synchronization signal (SSS)).
Regarding claim 11, Choi discloses wherein the OOK signal comprises at least one of an OOK-1 modulation and an OOK-4 modulation (see para. 0067, OOK-4, para. 0111, OOK-1).
Regarding claim 12, Choi discloses further comprising: receiving, by the processor, a configuration associated with the OOK signal from the reader apparatus, wherein the configuration comprises at least one of a signal format and a bandwidth allocation of the OOK signal (see para. 0065, Table 5 shows configuration options for LP-WUS waveform generation that includes OOK formats and OOK options).
Regarding claim 14, Choi discloses wherein the OOK signal comprises a wake-up signal to wake up the IoT device (see para. 0110, the LP-WUS is generated based on the OOK-4 method, Fig. 10, transmission to IoT device).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 6, 13, and 20 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.
Pertinent Prior Arts
The following prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Shi et al. (US Pub. No. 2026/0143455), in the same field of endeavor as the present invention, disclose a system for sending, to at least one of the plurality of A-IoT devices, backscatter configuration indicating a mapping relationship between the signal received by the at least one of the plurality of A-IoT devices and a backscatter reflected by the at least one of the plurality of A-IoT devices (abstract).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Anh Ngoc M Nguyen whose telephone number is (571) 270-5139. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday to Friday, from 7:30 am to 4:00 pm.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Kwang Bin Yao can be reached on ((571) 272-3182. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ANH NGOC M NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2473
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