DETAILED ACTION
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
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 microwave emission module connected to the Rydberg Atom Antenna 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 § 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.
Claim(s) 1-4 and 9-10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Alvarez (U.S. Patent No. 11808910) in view of Zhang (WO2022120903). Alvarez teaches a mineral exploration system, comprising a microwave emission module (fig. 7, element 720), an Antenna (680, PWG tool), and a signal extraction module (fig. 7, 725/730), wherein both the microwave emission module and the signal extraction module are connected to the Antenna (both are connected to 680); the microwave emission module is used to emit probing microwaves into the subsurface (see fig. 6), where the probing microwaves interact with underground structures to generate reflected microwaves (see fig. 6); the Antenna is used to receive the reflected microwaves and generate a reflected signal based on the reflected microwaves (fig. 6); the signal extraction module is used to extract fingerprint signals of the underground structure from the reflected signals. (fig. 7, 735). Alvarez teaches the salient features of the claimed invention except for the antenna is not disclosed as a Rydberg Atom Antenna. Zhang teaches that it was known to use a Rydberg Atom Antenna to display a radar signal according to the converted reflection signal. See the abstract and figures. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to utilize the features of Zhang for the purpose of improving signal accuracy.
Italicized claim language is considered an intended use and is not being given patentable weight but the office action still shows where the intended use items are taught by the reference.
Regarding claim 2, Alvarez teaches in col. 8, lines 9-11 the frequency range of the probing microwaves is from 300 MHz to 40 GHz.
Regarding claim 3, the signal extraction module is used to perform full-spectrum analysis on the reflected signals to extract fingerprint signals of the underground structures. is considered an intended use. Alvarez teaches a surface control system that performs analysis on the received signals. Additionally, Rydberg atom antenna provide the ability to perform full spectrum analysis.
Regarding claim 4, the Rydberg Atom Antenna is connected to the signal processing module at least through the signal extraction module which is inherently connected to the signal processing module. signal processing module is used to amplify and filter the reflected signals to obtain processed signals; the signal extraction module is used to extract fingerprint signals of the underground structure from the processed signals. The italicized claim language is considered an intended use.
Regarding claim 9, Alvarez teaches a database module 136 connected to the signal extraction module; the database module stores various mineral information; the signal extraction module is also used to compare the fingerprint signal with the mineral information to obtain the accuracy of the fingerprint signal.
Regarding claim 10. Alvarez teaches emitting probing microwaves into the underground (fig. 6 as well as 720 in fig. 7), where the probing microwaves interact with underground structures to generate reflected microwaves (fig. 6); receiving the reflected microwaves based on the Rydberg Atom Antenna and generating a reflected signal based on the reflected microwaves (725, fig 7); extracting fingerprint signals of the underground structures from the reflected signal (735, fig. 7). Alvarez teaches the salient features of the claimed invention except for the antenna is not disclosed as a Rydberg Atom Antenna. Zhang teaches that it was known to use a Rydberg Atom Antenna to display a radar signal according to the converted reflection signal. See the abstract and figures. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to utilize the features of Zhang for the purpose of improving signal accuracy.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5-8 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. Chen (CN121069503) teaches a target entity detection method including using a quantum identification forming module may be used to generate an electromagnetic signal (i.e., an initial signal) having characteristics of a particular quantum state (e.g., a coherent state, an angular momentum state, a Rydberg excited state, etc.) to effect quantum modulation or information coding of the signal.
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/CHRISTOPHER E MAHONEY/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2852
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