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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
IDS(es) submitted on 11/26/2024 has/have been considered.
Oath/Declaration
Oath/Declaration filed on 6/17/2025 has been acknowledged.
Drawings
Drawing(s) submitted on 11/13/2024 have been acknowledged.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Zhang et al. (US 2024/0183935; hereinafter Zhang).
Regarding claims 1, 9, and 17-19, Zhang discloses a method for a wireless device for transmitting a joint sensing and communication (JSC) signal ([0094]: joint communication and sensing; Figs. 5, 7, 8; [0090]-[0111], comprising:
obtaining a first waveform for a first signal, wherein the first waveform comprises two or more discrete steps of a chirp in a first frequency range, wherein each discrete step of the first waveform has a constant frequency (Fig. 8, [0100]: being able to transmit/receive an FMCW signal along with an OFDM signal via a same set of time and frequency resources; [0096]: wherein the OFDM and FMCW can be modeled as a slope line (e.g., a chirp) in the time frequency),
obtaining a second waveform for a second signal, wherein the second waveform comprises two or more discrete steps of a chirp in a second frequency range, wherein each discrete step of the second waveform has a constant frequency (Fig. 8, [0100]: being able to transmit/receive an FMCW signal along with an OFDM signal via a same set of time and frequency resources; [0096]: wherein the OFDM and FMCW can be modeled as a slope line (e.g., a chirp) in the time frequency), and
transmitting the JSC signal, which is based on the first signal comprising the first waveform and the second signal comprising the second waveform (Fig. 8, 9, [0100]: being able to transmit/receive an FMCW signal along with an OFDM signal via a same set of time and frequency resources),
wherein the JSC signal comprises steps, wherein each step of the JSC signal comprises one step out of the discrete steps of the first signal comprising the first waveform and one step out of the discrete steps of the second signal comprising the second waveform (Fig. 8, [0101]: wherein the transmission of the waveforms are separated by a time gap/frequency gap), and
wherein in the JSC signal, a discrete step out of the first signal or a discrete step out of the second signal is associated with at least one bit (Fig. 8, [0101]: wherein the transmission of the waveforms are separated by a time gap/frequency gap; [0109]: wherein the duration separation could be one symbol, two symbols etc.).
Regarding claims 2 and 10, Zhang discloses wherein the chirp in the first frequency range is a linear chirp, and/or the chirp in the second frequency range is a linear chirp ([0091]: chirp that varies linearly).
Regarding claims 3 and 11, Zhang discloses wherein the discrete steps in the first frequency range are based on a first set of predetermined parameters, the first set of predetermined parameters comprising a first starting frequency, a step duration, a step frequency and a sweep bandwidth (Figs. 8 and 9 depicting the joint signal parameters), and/or
the discrete steps in the second frequency range are based on a second set of predetermined parameters, the second set of predetermined parameters comprising a second starting frequency, the step duration, the step frequency and the sweep bandwidth (Figs. 8 and 9 depicting the joint signal parameters).
Regarding claims 4 and 12, Zhang discloses the method according to claim 1, wherein the transmitted JSC signal is a first JSC signal, the method further comprising
obtaining a measurement result based on the first JSC signal, the measurement result comprising one or more of a range and a velocity ([0110]-[0111]: range; [0090]: speed measured),
obtaining a third set of parameters comprising adapting one or more parameters of the first waveform based on the obtained measurement result, and/or
obtaining a fourth set of parameters comprising adapting one or more parameters of the second waveform based on the obtained measurement result.
Regarding claims 5 and 13, Zhang discloses wherein an adapting of one or more parameters of a respective waveform comprises adapting one or more of:
The first starting frequency ([0091]:starting frequency changes),
The second starting frequency
The step duration
The step frequency, and/or
The sweep bandwidth
Regarding claims 6 and 14, Zhang discloses wherein the method further comprises transmitting a second JSC signal, wherein the second JSC signal is based on the third set of parameters for the first waveform and/or the fourth set of parameters for the second waveform ([0111]: later transmissions can be based on measurements).
Regarding claims 7 and 15, Zhang discloses wherein in the JSC signal, a frequency of a discrete step out of the first waveform is associated with a first predetermined bit sequence comprising one or more bits, and/or a frequency of a discrete step out of the second waveform is associated with a second predetermined bit sequence comprising one or more bits (Fig. 8, [0101]: wherein the transmission of the waveforms are depicted accordingly and are separated by a time gap/frequency gap; [0109]: wherein the duration separation could be one symbol, two symbols etc.).
Regarding claims 8 and 16, Zhang discloses wherein in the JSC signal, a first value of an amplitude of a discrete step out of the first waveform is associated with a bit of value one, and a second value of an amplitude of a discrete step out of the first waveform is associated with a bit of value zero, and the transmitting of the JSC signal comprises modulating the amplitude of the discrete steps of the first signal comprising the first waveform according to a bit sequence, which is to be transmitted (Figs. 8 and 9, [0101]: wherein the transmission of the waveforms are depicted accordingly and are separated by a time gap/frequency gap; [0109]: wherein the duration separation could be one symbol, two symbols etc.).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHUCK HUYNH whose telephone number is (571)272-7866. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 10am - 6pm.
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/CHUCK HUYNH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2644
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