DETAILED ACTION
This action is in response to the initial filing filed on January 13, 2025, claim 1-20 have been examined this application.
Information Disclosure Statement
The Information Disclosure Statement (IDS) filed on January 13, 2025 has been acknowledged.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
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 § 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 1-7, 12-16, and 18-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang et al (US 2022/0317285 A1) in view of Wu et al (US 2020/0191940 A1).
Regarding Claim 1, Wang teaches a radar apparatus comprising [0032 for Doppler (radar) frequency]:
a plurality of transmission antennas including a first transmission antenna that forms a first beam and a second transmission antenna that forms a second beam different from the first beam [0032-0033 for using multiple transmit antenna such as third and fourth antenna];
and transmission circuitry, which, in operation, performs multiplexing transmission of a transmission signal from the plurality of transmission antennas [0032 for multiple transmitters for generating phase shifts and combining (multiplex) signals for chirp],
wherein, to each of the plurality of transmission antennas, the combination in which at least one of the Doppler shift amount or the code sequence is different is associated [0027 for first phase change and the second phase change are based on Doppler shifts, which allow the first phase change and the second phase change to be orthogonal].
Wang fails to explicitly teach the transmission signal being a signal to which a phase rotation corresponding to a combination of a Doppler shift amount and a code sequence has been applied and a first pattern of the Doppler shift amount and the code sequence that are assigned to the first transmission antenna is different from a second pattern of the Doppler shift amount and the code sequence that are assigned to the second transmission antenna.
Wu has a radar system including a number of transmit antennas (abstract) and teaches the transmission signal being a signal to which a phase rotation corresponding to a combination of a Doppler shift amount [0032 for transmitter is associated with a respective Doppler waveform block, which are transmitted simultaneously and 0060 for phase rotation between unit waveforms in one coded sequence due to Doppler shift]
and a code sequence has been applied and a first pattern of the Doppler shift amount and the code sequence that are assigned to the first transmission antenna is different from a second pattern of the Doppler shift amount and the code sequence that are assigned to the second transmission antenna [0052 for assigned a distinct transmitter code from the optimized transmitter code set, which is implemented at the respective PSK coder, also 0060 for phase rotation between unit waveforms in one coded sequence due to Doppler shift].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the applicant’s invention for modifying the beamforming techniques, as disclosed by Wang, further including the rotation calculations as taught by Wu for the purpose to extracts the correct target amplitude with an additional processing gain equal to the code length (Wu, 0062).
Regarding Claim 13, Wang teaches a method for transmitting a radar signal, the method comprising [0032 for Doppler (radar) frequency]:
and performing, from a plurality of transmission antennas [0032-0033 for using multiple transmit antenna such as third and fourth antenna],
multiplexing transmission of the radar signal to which the phase rotation amount is applied [0032 for multiple transmitters for generating phase shifts and combining (multiplex) signals for chirp],
wherein the plurality of transmission antennas includes a first transmission antenna that forms a first beam and a second transmission antenna that forms a second beam different from the first beam, to each of the plurality of transmission antennas [0034 for having a first and second transmission pattern for transmitters and time sets],
the combination in which at least one of the Doppler shift amount or the code sequence is different is associated [0027 for first phase change and the second phase change are based on Doppler shifts, which allow the first phase change and the second phase change to be orthogonal],
Wang fails to explicitly teach applying a phase rotation amount corresponding to a combination of a Doppler shift amount and a code sequence to the radar signal; and a first pattern of the Doppler shift amount and the code sequence that are assigned to the first transmission antenna is different from a second pattern of the Doppler shift amount and the code sequence that are assigned to the second transmission antenna.
Wu has a radar system including a number of transmit antennas (abstract) and teaches applying a phase rotation amount corresponding to a combination of a Doppler shift amount and a code sequence to the radar signal [0032 for transmitter is associated with a respective Doppler waveform block, which are transmitted simultaneously and 0060 for phase rotation between unit waveforms in one coded sequence due to Doppler shift]
and a first pattern of the Doppler shift amount and the code sequence that are assigned to the first transmission antenna is different from a second pattern of the Doppler shift amount and the code sequence that are assigned to the second transmission antenna [0052 for assigned a distinct transmitter code from the optimized transmitter code set, which is implemented at the respective PSK coder, also 0060 for phase rotation between unit waveforms in one coded sequence due to Doppler shift].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the applicant’s invention for modifying the beamforming techniques, as disclosed by Wang, further including the rotation calculations as taught by Wu for the purpose to extracts the correct target amplitude with an additional processing gain equal to the code length (Wu, 0062).
Regarding Claim 18, Wang teaches a radar signal processing apparatus comprising [0032 for Doppler (radar) frequency];
and transmission circuitry, which, in operation, performs, from a plurality of transmission antennas [0032-0033 for using multiple transmit antenna such as third and fourth antenna],
multiplexing transmission of the radar signal to which the phase rotation amount is applied [0032 for multiple transmitters for generating phase shifts and combining (multiplex) signals for chirp],
wherein the plurality of transmission antennas includes a first transmission antenna that forms a first beam and a second transmission antenna that forms a second beam different from the first beam, to each of the plurality of transmission antennas [0034 for having a first and second transmission pattern for transmitters and time sets],
the combination in which at least one of the Doppler shift amount or the code sequence is different is associated [0027 for first phase change and the second phase change are based on Doppler shifts, which allow the first phase change and the second phase change to be orthogonal],
Wang fails to explicitly teach application circuitry, which, in operation, applies a phase rotation amount corresponding to a combination of a Doppler shift amount and a code sequence to a radar signal and a first pattern of the Doppler shift amount and the code sequence that are assigned to the first transmission antenna is different from a second pattern of the Doppler shift amount and the code sequence that are assigned to the second transmission antenna.
Wu has a radar system including a number of transmit antennas (abstract) and teaches application circuitry, which, in operation, applies a phase rotation amount corresponding to a combination of a Doppler shift amount and a code sequence to a radar signal [0032 for transmitter is associated with a respective Doppler waveform block, which are transmitted simultaneously and 0060 for phase rotation between unit waveforms in one coded sequence due to Doppler shift]
and a first pattern of the Doppler shift amount and the code sequence that are assigned to the first transmission antenna is different from a second pattern of the Doppler shift amount and the code sequence that are assigned to the second transmission antenna [0052 for assigned a distinct transmitter code from the optimized transmitter code set, which is implemented at the respective PSK coder, also 0060 for phase rotation between unit waveforms in one coded sequence due to Doppler shift].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the applicant’s invention for modifying the beamforming techniques, as disclosed by Wang, further including the rotation calculations as taught by Wu for the purpose to extracts the correct target amplitude with an additional processing gain equal to the code length (Wu, 0062).
Regarding Claim 2, 14, and 19, Wang teaches the first pattern and the second pattern relate to an interval of the Doppler shift amount [0027 for first phase change and the second phase change are based on Doppler shifts];
a Doppler multiplexing number of the transmission signal transmitted by the first transmission antenna and a Doppler multiplexing number of the transmission signal transmitted by the second transmission antenna are identical to each other [026 for first and third subset have two transmitters and equal group sizes].
Wu has a radar system including a number of transmit antennas (abstract) and teaches and at least one of a plurality of the intervals of the Doppler shift amount associated with the first transmission antenna is different from the interval of the Doppler shift amount associated with the second transmission antenna [0060 for phase rotation between unit waveforms in one coded sequence due to Doppler shift, 0065 for resulting maximum measurable unambiguous Doppler shift].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the applicant’s invention for modifying the beamforming techniques, as disclosed by Wang, further including the rotation calculations as taught by Wu for the purpose to extracts the correct target amplitude with an additional processing gain equal to the code length (Wu, 0062).
Regarding Claim 3 and 15, Wang teaches the first pattern and the second pattern relate to a Doppler multiplexing number other [026 for first and third subset have two transmitters and equal group sizes];
and the Doppler multiplexing number of the transmission signal transmitted by the first transmission antenna is different from the Doppler multiplexing number of the transmission signal transmitted by the second transmission antenna [0032 for signals radiating from each of the first antenna, the second antenna, the third antenna, and the fourth antenna combine to generate a first chirp].
Regarding Claim 4 and 16, Wang fails to explicitly teach the first pattern and the second pattern relate to an order of intervals of a plurality of the Doppler shift amounts; a plurality of first Doppler shift intervals between the Doppler shift amounts associated with the first transmission antenna is identical to a plurality of second Doppler shift intervals between the Doppler shift amounts associated with the second transmission antenna; and an order of the plurality of first Doppler shift intervals on a Doppler frequency axis is different from an order of the plurality of second Doppler shift intervals on the Doppler frequency axis.
Wu has a radar system including a number of transmit antennas (abstract) and teaches the first pattern and the second pattern relate to an order of intervals of a plurality of the Doppler shift amounts [0048-0049 for codes sequences including C1, C2 etc];
a plurality of first Doppler shift intervals between the Doppler shift amounts associated with the first transmission antenna is identical to a plurality of second Doppler shift intervals between the Doppler shift amounts associated with the second transmission antenna [0039 for a distinct Doppler shift of the carrier frequency reflected by the target, acting as Doppler gates configured to sort the echo signals into a K number of Doppler bins];
and an order of the plurality of first Doppler shift intervals on a Doppler frequency axis is different from an order of the plurality of second Doppler shift intervals on the Doppler frequency axis [0062 for measure Doppler shift, multiple code sequences must be transmitted and the outputs are collected and processed].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the applicant’s invention for modifying the beamforming techniques, as disclosed by Wang, further including the rotation calculations as taught by Wu for the purpose to sort the echo signals into a K number of Doppler bins (Wu, 0039).
Regarding Claim 5, Wang fails to explicitly teach the first pattern and the second pattern relate to the code sequence; and in a plurality of the combinations, an order of a plurality of the code sequences associated with the first transmission antenna on a Doppler frequency axis is different from an order of the plurality of code sequences associated with the second transmission antenna on the Doppler frequency axis.
Wu has a radar system including a number of transmit antennas (abstract) and teaches the first pattern and the second pattern relate to the code sequence [0052 for each transmitter is assigned a distinct transmitter code from the optimized transmitter code set];
and in a plurality of the combinations, an order of a plurality of the code sequences associated with the first transmission antenna on a Doppler frequency axis is different from an order of the plurality of code sequences associated with the second transmission antenna on the Doppler frequency axis [0050 for second transmitter code C2 above, the code chip c2,1, which is of the value of +1 in above example, means that a phase shift].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the applicant’s invention for modifying the beamforming techniques, as disclosed by Wang, further including the rotation calculations as taught by Wu for the purpose to sort the echo signals into a K number of Doppler bins (Wu, 0039).
Regarding Claim 6, Wang fails to explicitly teach the first pattern and the second pattern relate to a code multiplexing number by the code sequence; and in a plurality of the combinations, an order of a plurality of the code multiplexing numbers by the code sequence associated with the first transmission antenna on a Doppler frequency axis is different from an order of the plurality of code multiplexing numbers by the code sequence associated with the second transmission antenna on the Doppler frequency axis.
Wu has a radar system including a number of transmit antennas (abstract) and teaches the first pattern and the second pattern relate to a code multiplexing number by the code sequence [0052 for each transmitter is assigned a distinct transmitter code from the optimized transmitter code set];
and in a plurality of the combinations, an order of a plurality of the code multiplexing numbers by the code sequence associated with the first transmission antenna on a Doppler frequency axis is different from an order of the plurality of code multiplexing numbers by the code sequence associated with the second transmission antenna on the Doppler frequency axis [0050 for second transmitter code C2 above, the code chip c2,1, which is of the value of +1 in above example, means that a phase shift with 0051 for having a number of code chips].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the applicant’s invention for modifying the beamforming techniques, as disclosed by Wang, further including the rotation calculations as taught by Wu for the purpose to sort the echo signals into a K number of Doppler bins (Wu, 0039).
Regarding Claim 7, Wang fails to explicitly teach in a plurality of the combinations, with respect to at least one of the first transmission antenna or the second transmission antenna [0032-0033 for using multiple transmit antenna such as third and fourth antenna].
Wang fails to explicitly teach a code multiplexing number by the code sequence associated with at least one of a plurality of the Doppler shift amounts is different from the code multiplexing number by the code sequence associated with another Doppler shift amount.
Wu has a radar system including a number of transmit antennas (abstract) and teaches a code multiplexing number by the code sequence associated with at least one of a plurality of the Doppler shift amounts is different from the code multiplexing number by the code sequence associated with another Doppler shift amount [0050 for second transmitter code C2 above, the code chip c2,1, which is of the value of +1 in above example, means that a phase shift with 0051 for having a number of code chips].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the applicant’s invention for modifying the beamforming techniques, as disclosed by Wang, further including the rotation calculations as taught by Wu for the purpose to sort the echo signals into a K number of Doppler bins (Wu, 0039).
Regarding Claim 12, Wang teaches among the plurality of transmission antennas, a combination of transmission antennas used for the multiplexing transmission of the transmission signal is switched for each transmission period of the transmission signal, each period corresponding to a code length of the code sequence, or each measurement period in the radar apparatus [0034 for irst pattern and the second pattern alternate based on a time duration of each the first time set and the second time set].
Claims 8, 17, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang et al (US 2022/0317285 A1) in view of Wu et al (US 2020/0191940 A1), as applied to Claim 1, 13, and 18 above, and further in view of Takahashi (US 2021/0028826 A1).
Regarding Claim 8, 17, and 20, Wang fails to explicitly teach a plurality of reception antennas that receives a reflected wave signal resulted from the transmission signal being reflected by a target; and reception circuitry, which, in operation, performs direction estimation of the target using the reflected wave signal.
Takahashi has a correlation matrix calculating unit calculates an unnecessary signal correlation matrix (abstract) and teaches a plurality of reception antennas that receives a reflected wave signal resulted from the transmission signal being reflected by a target [0022 for reception antennas receive reflection waves of transmission signals transmitted from the N transmission antennas];
and reception circuitry, which, in operation, performs direction estimation of the target using the reflected wave signal [0030 for beam forming unit obtains a MIMO beam output by performing MIMO beam forming on a reception signal vector using a beam weight for a beam directivity angle].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the applicant’s invention for modifying the beamforming techniques, as disclosed by Wang, further including the reflection calculations as taught by Takahashi for the purpose to forming a beam on the basis of the reception signal (Takahashi, 0030).
Claims 9-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang et al (US 2022/0317285 A1) in view of Wu et al (US 2020/0191940 A1), as applied to Claim 1, 13, and 18 above, and further in view of Alland (US 2015/0253420 A1).
Regarding Claim 9, Wang fails to explicitly teach a plurality of reception antennas arranged at a first interval in a first direction, wherein antennas included in the first transmission antenna are arranged at the first interval in the first direction and arranged at different positions in a second direction orthogonal to the first direction, antennas included in the second transmission antenna are arranged at the first interval in the first direction and arranged at different positions in the second direction orthogonal to the first direction, and the first transmission antenna and the second transmission antenna are arranged at an interval larger than an aperture length of the plurality of reception antennas in the first direction.
Alland has a multiple input multiple output antenna for a radar system that includes a receive antenna, a first transmit antenna, and a second transmit antenna (abstract) and teaches a plurality of reception antennas arranged at a first interval in a first direction [0036 for partial” grating lobes may occur at a level determined by the vertical offset distance],
wherein antennas included in the first transmission antenna are arranged at the first interval in the first direction and arranged at different positions in a second direction orthogonal to the first direction [0032 for a horizontal offset distance selected so the virtual receive antenna],
antennas included in the second transmission antenna are arranged at the first interval in the first direction and arranged at different positions in the second direction orthogonal to the first direction [0032],
and the first transmission antenna and the second transmission antenna are arranged at an interval larger than an aperture length of the plurality of reception antennas in the first direction [0031 for the first transmit antenna is vertically offset from a second transmit phase-center].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the applicant’s invention for modifying the beamforming techniques, as disclosed by Wang, further including the antenna design calculations as taught by Alland for the purpose to adapt the antenna for operation at a different radar frequency (Alland, 0030).
Regarding Claim 10, Wang fails to explicitly teach a plurality of reception antennas arranged at a first interval in a first direction, wherein antennas included in the first transmission antenna are arranged at a second interval in the first direction and arranged at different positions in a second direction orthogonal to the first direction, antennas included in the second transmission antenna are arranged at the second interval in the first direction and arranged at different positions in the second direction orthogonal to the first direction, the first transmission antenna and the second transmission antenna are arranged at an interval larger than an aperture length of the plurality of reception antennas in the first direction, and a difference between the first interval and the second interval is a specified value based on a wavelength of the transmission signal.
Alland has a multiple input multiple output antenna for a radar system that includes a receive antenna, a first transmit antenna, and a second transmit antenna (abstract) and teaches a plurality of reception antennas arranged at a first interval in a first direction [0036 for partial” grating lobes may occur at a level determined by the vertical offset distance],
wherein antennas included in the first transmission antenna are arranged at a second interval in the first direction and arranged at different positions in a second direction orthogonal to the first direction [0032 for a horizontal offset distance selected so the virtual receive antenna],
antennas included in the second transmission antenna are arranged at the second interval in the first direction and arranged at different positions in the second direction orthogonal to the first direction [0032],
the first transmission antenna and the second transmission antenna are arranged at an interval larger than an aperture length of the plurality of reception antennas in the first direction, and a difference between the first interval and the second interval is a specified value based on a wavelength of the transmission signal [0038 for the horizontal offset distance is selected so the second group of phase-centers with appropriate spacing between the transmit antennas is 3.5 wavelengths].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the applicant’s invention for modifying the beamforming techniques, as disclosed by Wang, further including the antenna design calculations as taught by Alland for the purpose to adapt the antenna for operation at a different radar frequency (Alland, 0030).
Regarding Claim 11, Wang fails to explicitly teach the specified value is a value in a range of 0.45 times to 0.8 times the wavelength.
Alland has a multiple input multiple output antenna for a radar system that includes a receive antenna, a first transmit antenna, and a second transmit antenna (abstract) and teaches the specified value is a value in a range of 0.45 times to 0.8 times the wavelength [0038 for the horizontal offset distance is selected so the second group of phase-centers with appropriate spacing between the transmit antennas is 3.5 wavelengths].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the applicant’s invention for modifying the beamforming techniques, as disclosed by Wang, further including the antenna design calculations as taught by Alland for the purpose to adapt the antenna for operation at a different radar frequency (Alland, 0030).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Israel et al (US 2021/0025961 A1) has a method for resolving an angle of arrival in an antennae array.
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/SAMARINA MAKHDOOM/
Examiner, Art Unit 3648
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