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 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.
Claims 1 and 5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Ofuji et al. (US 2010/0027483 A1).
Consider claim 1:
Ofuji discloses a spectrum sharing method through fast frequency hopping (FFH) in a plurality of cells assigned with different frequencies (see Fig. 3 and paragraphs 0010-0011, where Ofuji describes a mobile communication system that includes a plurality of cells and a plurality of user terminals; see paragraph 0022, where Ofuji describes that frequency bands may be shared by the cells), the spectrum sharing method comprising:
identifying occupied frequencies assigned to a cell at which a communication unit is positioned and at least one adjacent cell, respectively, by means of a processor (see Fig. 3 and paragraph 0011, where Ofuji describes a user terminal UE1 which is located in a cell C1; see Fig. 6 and paragraph 0155, where Ofuji describes the cell C1 and one adjacent cell C3, and a frequency band for cell C1 and a frequency band for cell C3 are selected; see Fig. 12 and paragraph 0162, where Ofuji describes a control station which includes a frequency band determining unit 101 for determining the frequency bands used in the respective cells); and
changing collision frequencies matching the occupied frequencies in a preset hopping pattern in the communication unit to a frequency that is not the occupied frequencies by means of the processor (see Fig. 6 and paragraph 0155, where Ofuji describes that within an interference area, the frequency band to be used in cell C1 is autonomously determined so as not to use frequency bands which are expected to be used in cell C3; see paragraph 0185, where Ofuji describes that interference is collision; see Fig. 22 and paragraph 0179, where Ofuji describes that the frequency bands of the cells are determined by a frequency hopping pattern determining unit 131 located in the control station).
Consider claim 5:
Ofuji discloses the spectrum sharing method of claim 1 above. Ofuji discloses: identifying a collision frequency, which matches an occupied frequency corresponding to a time slot, among a plurality of frequencies in a hopping pattern corresponding to the time slot; and changing the identified collision frequency to a certain frequency excluding the occupied frequency in the spectrum (see Fig. 6 and paragraph 0155, where Ofuji describes that within the interference area and a pre-determined time interval, the frequency band to be used in cell C1 is autonomously determined so as not to use frequency bands which are expected to be used in cell C3).
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 2 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ofuji et al. (US 2010/0027483 A1), as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Kim (US 2024/0422603 A1).
Consider claim 2:
Ofuji discloses the spectrum sharing method of claim 1 above. Ofuji discloses: the plurality of cells are virtual sections arranged in a predetermined pattern on the ground (see Fig. 6 and paragraph 0155, where Ofuji describes the cell C1 is centered at base station BS1, the cell C2 is centered at base station BS2, and the cell C3 is centered at base station BS3).
Ofuji does not specifically disclose: the plurality of cells are defined by beams output from aerial communication units.
Kim teaches: plurality of cells are defined by beams output from aerial communication units (see Fig. 13 and paragraph 0152, where Kim describes a first cell and a second cell which is adjacent to the first cell, the first cell is configured based on the beam index n+k, and the second cell is configured based on the beam index m+k, the beams are transmitted from base stations to aerial vehicles).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include: the plurality of cells are defined by beams output from aerial communication units, as taught by Kim to modify the method of Ofuji in order to recognize a plurality of cell coverages, as discussed by Kim (see paragraph 0151).
Claim 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ofuji et al. (US 2010/0027483 A1), as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Kiukkonen et al. (US 2007/0165754 A1).
Consider claim 3:
Ofuji discloses the spectrum sharing method of claim 1 above. Ofuji does not specifically disclose: the frequency assigned to each of the plurality of cells is changed for each time slot in accordance with slow frequency hopping (SFH).
Kiukkonen teaches: frequency assigned to each of a plurality of cells is changed for each time slot in accordance with slow frequency hopping (SFH) (see paragraph 0005, where Kiukkonen describes that a base station employes slow frequency hopping (SFH) to change operating frequency with every time division multiple access (TDMA) frame).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include: the frequency assigned to each of the plurality of cells is changed for each time slot in accordance with slow frequency hopping (SFH), as taught by Kiukkonen to modify the method of Ofuji in order to meet GSM standard, as discussed by Kiukkonen (see paragraph 0005).
Claim 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ofuji et al. (US 2010/0027483 A1), as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Meidan et al. (US 5,193,102).
Consider claim 4:
Ofuji discloses the spectrum sharing method of claim 1 above. Ofuji does not specifically disclose: identifying an occupied frequency for each time slot determined in accordance with slow frequency hopping (SFH).
Meidan teaches: identifying an occupied frequency for each time slot determined in accordance with slow frequency hopping (SFH) (see the Abstract, where Meidan describes a system that uses slow frequency hopping (SFH); see col. 3, lines 48-53, where Meidan describes that k data symbols are used to determine which one of M frequencies is to be transmitted in a period of the SFH system).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include: identifying an occupied frequency for each time slot determined in accordance with slow frequency hopping (SFH), as taught by Meidan to modify the method of Ofuji in order to have a frequency shift keying modulation, as discussed by Meidan (see col. 3, lines 45-53).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 6-8 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
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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