DETAILED ACTION
Notice of 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 Objections
Claims 1-14 are objected to because of the following informalities:
In claim 1, line 2, it is suggested that the “UAV” be replaced with “unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)”.
In claim 1, line 10, it is suggested that the “AoA” be replaced with “angle of arrival (AoA)”.
In claim 1, line 12, it is suggested that the “KF” be replaced with “Kalman filter (KF)”.
In claim 3, line 3, it is suggested that the “DFO” be replaced with “Doppler frequency offset (DFO)”.
In claim 5, line 3, it is suggested that the “UPA” be replaced with “uniform planar array (UPA)”.
In claim 14, line 2, it is suggested that the “UAV” be replaced with “unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)”.
In claim 14, line 7, it is suggested that the “AoA” be replaced with “angle of arrival (AoA)”.
In claim 14, line 7, it is suggested that the “KF” be replaced with “Kalman filter (KF)”.
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 1, 2 and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cummings et al. (US 2018/0115062 A1) in view of Singh et al. (US 2024/0414684 A1).
Consider claims 1 and 14:
Cummings discloses a method of performing beam tracking in high-speed mobile UAV communications by a base station (BS) (see Fig. 8 and paragraph 0033, where Cummings describes a method of performing antenna pointing towards a moving satellite with which communications are conducted; see Fig. 1 and paragraphs 0022-0023, where Cummings describes that the antenna 112 is phased array antenna; see Fig. 3 and paragraph 0024, where Cummings describes that the phased array antenna 112 includes an antenna element array 310), the method comprising:
an initial beam training (see Fig. 8 and paragraph 0033, block 802, where Cummings describes that the method performs an initial global search for a satellite) step including
an operation of confirming an initially estimated channel for a k-th UAV among a plurality of UAVs connected through an antenna (see Fig. 8 and paragraph 0033, block 802, where Cummings describes that the initial global search uses an antenna to determine a satellite which maximizes gain; see Fig. 3 and paragraph 0024, where Cummings describes that the maximized gain is determined on an antenna element channel 318; see Fig. 1 and paragraph 0022, where Cummings describes that the system includes a number of satellites 106, 108 and 110), and
an operation of confirming an mk-th column index that maximizes an absolute value of a domain channel as an initial AoA (see Fig. 8 and paragraphs 0039-0040, block 816, where Cummings describes that a local search is performed to determine azimuth angle and polar angle describing the antenna pointing direction that resulted in maximum gain; see paragraph 0030, where Cummings describes that in the local search , two indexes, (i, k), are identified that generate the maximum gain, where the index i identifies an ith polar angle and the index k identifies a kth azimuth angle; see paragraph 0048, where Cummings describes that the azimuth angle and polar angle determine the Angle of Arrival (AOA); see paragraph 0050, where Cummings describes that the AOA estimate is produced by the local search ; see paragraph 0064, where Cummings describes that the best antenna direction for maximum gain is AOA; see Fig. 3 and paragraph 0024, where Cummings describes that the antenna is coupled to antenna element channels 318); and
a beam tracking step including an operation of tracking an actual AoA by applying a KF to the initial AoA (see Fig. 8 and paragraph 0040, block 818, where Cummings describes that the determined azimuth angle and polar angle which maximize gain, i.e. the AOA, are input into a Kalman filter (KF)).
As discussed above, Cummings discloses antenna element channel (see Fig. 3 and paragraph 0024). However, Cummings does not specifically disclose: a beam domain channel.
Singh teaches: a beam domain channel (see Fig. 22(b) and paragraph 0177, where Singh describes that an AOA is estimated based on the peak in power of beam domain channel).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include: a beam domain channel, as taught by Singh to modify the method of Cummings in order to improve accuracy of estimation, as discussed by Singh (see paragraph 0014).
Consider claim 2:
Cummings in view of Singh discloses the method according to claim 1 above. Cummings does not specifically disclose: an operation of calculating the beam domain channel on the basis of the initially estimated channel.
Singh teaches: an operation of calculating a beam domain channel on the basis of an initially estimated channel (see paragraph 0183, where Singh describes an operation of calculating a beam domain channel by performing a Fourier transformation of an estimated channel along one or more antenna ports).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include: an operation of calculating the beam domain channel on the basis of the initially estimated channel, as taught by Singh to modify the method of Cummings in order to improve accuracy of estimation, as discussed by Singh (see paragraph 0014).
Claims 3 and 4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cummings et al. (US 2018/0115062 A1) in view of Singh et al. (US 2024/0414684 A1), as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Oshima et al. (US 2022/0030401 A1).
Consider claim 3:
Cummings in view of Singh discloses the method according to claim 1 above. Cummings does not specifically disclose: an operation of calculating the actual AoA by removing a relative DFO included in the initial AoA using a phase rotation matrix.
Oshima teaches: an operation of calculating an actual AoA by using a phase rotation matrix (see paragraph 0051, where Oshima describes a system with an array antenna which includes subarray #1 and subarray #2, the angle of arrival (AOA) of a radio wave is calculated by estimating a phase rotation matrix between the subarray #1 and the subarray #2).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include: an operation of calculating the actual AoA by removing a relative DFO included in the initial AoA using a phase rotation matrix, as taught by Oshima to modify the method of Cummings in order to avoid erroneous communications, as discussed by Oshima (see paragraph 0009).
Consider claim 4:
Cummings in view of Singh and Oshima discloses the method according to claim 3 above. Cummings does not specifically disclose: an operation of calculating the phase rotation matrix using a phase rotation vector and a rotation angle with respect to an x axis and a y axis for the k-th UAV.
Oshima teaches: an operation of calculating the phase rotation matrix using a phase rotation vector and a rotation angle with respect to an x axis and a y axis (see paragraph 0056-0057, where Oshima describes calculating the phase rotation matrix using equation (18), the phase rotation matrix includes a vector (φ1 0), where φ1 is a vertical angle; see Fig. 3 and paragraph 0038, where Oshima describes that the vertical angle is an angle with respect to the X-Y plane).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include: an operation of calculating the phase rotation matrix using a phase rotation vector and a rotation angle with respect to an x axis and a y axis for the k-th UAV, as taught by Oshima to modify the method of Cummings in order to avoid erroneous communications, as discussed by Oshima (see paragraph 0009).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5-13 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
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LIHONG YU whose telephone number is (571)270-5147. The examiner can normally be reached 10:00 am-6:00 pm EST Monday-Friday.
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/LIHONG YU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2631
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