DETAILED ACTION
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 .
This is a first office action in response to the instant application for letters patent filed on 27 March 2025. Claims 1-20 are presented for examination.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 27 March 2025 was filed before the mailing date of the first office action on the merits. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Double Patenting
The nonstatutory double patenting rejection is based on a judicially created doctrine grounded in public policy (a policy reflected in the statute) so as to prevent the unjustified or improper timewise extension of the “right to exclude” granted by a patent and to prevent possible harassment by multiple assignees. A nonstatutory double patenting rejection is appropriate where the conflicting claims are not identical, but at least one examined application claim is not patentably distinct from the reference claim(s) because the examined application claim is either anticipated by, or would have been obvious over, the reference claim(s). See, e.g., In re Berg, 140 F.3d 1428, 46 USPQ2d 1226 (Fed. Cir. 1998); In re Goodman, 11 F.3d 1046, 29 USPQ2d 2010 (Fed. Cir. 1993); In re Longi, 759 F.2d 887, 225 USPQ 645 (Fed. Cir. 1985); In re Van Ornum, 686 F.2d 937, 214 USPQ 761 (CCPA 1982); In re Vogel, 422 F.2d 438, 164 USPQ 619 (CCPA 1970); In re Thorington, 418 F.2d 528, 163 USPQ 644 (CCPA 1969).
A timely filed terminal disclaimer in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(c) or 1.321(d) may be used to overcome an actual or provisional rejection based on nonstatutory double patenting provided the reference application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with the examined application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement. See MPEP § 717.02 for applications subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA as explained in MPEP § 2159. See MPEP § 2146 et seq. for applications not subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . A terminal disclaimer must be signed in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(b).
The filing of a terminal disclaimer by itself is not a complete reply to a nonstatutory double patenting (NSDP) rejection. A complete reply requires that the terminal disclaimer be accompanied by a reply requesting reconsideration of the prior Office action. Even where the NSDP rejection is provisional the reply must be complete. See MPEP § 804, subsection I.B.1. For a reply to a non-final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.111(a). For a reply to final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.113(c). A request for reconsideration while not provided for in 37 CFR 1.113(c) may be filed after final for consideration. See MPEP §§ 706.07(e) and 714.13.
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Claims 1-6, 8, 10, 12-15, 17, and 19 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1-6, 8-13, and 15-16 of U.S. Patent No. 12287399 in view of Birger PUB Number 20210133445A1.
The instant application is lacking at least one RF receiver is configured to digitize broadband RF signal data received by the broadband RF aperture array to generate digitized broadband RF signal data.
Birger discloses these features (see Birger par 0082, the data acquisition subsystem 306 collects and digitizes the signals from the transmit/receive subsystem 304 …). It would be obvious to a skilled artisan before the filing date of the invention as claimed to incorporate the lacking features into the instant application to assess and facilitate efficiency of short-burst communication system.
Application number: 19/092,041
Patent Number: 12287399
1. A broadband radio frequency (RF) imaging device comprising: a broadband RF aperture array comprising a differential segmented aperture (DSA) having at least four array elements and having a bandwidth of at least 700 MHz; at least one RF receiver connected to receive broadband RF signal data from the broadband RF aperture array; and a computer programmed to reconstruct an RF image from the received broadband RF signal data.
1. A broadband radio frequency (RF) imaging device comprising: a broadband RF aperture array comprising a differential segmented aperture (DSA) having at least four array elements and having a bandwidth of at least 700 MHZ; at least one RF receiver; and a computer; wherein the at least one RF receiver is configured to digitize broadband RF signal data received by the broadband RF aperture array to generate digitized broadband RF signal data; and wherein the computer is programmed to reconstruct an RF image from the digitized broadband RF signal data.
2. The broadband RF imaging device of claim 1 wherein the at least one RF receiver generates a local oscillator (LO) signal that is transmitted to the broadband RF aperture array, and the DSA includes: a two-dimensional array of electrically conductive tapered projections wherein neighboring pairs of the electrically conductive tapered projections form RF pixels; and RF mixers, wherein each RF mixer is connected to mix the RF signal received by a corresponding RF pixel with the LO signal to generate an RF intermediate frequency (IF) signal, the broadband RF signal data received by the at least one RF receiver being IF signals output by the RF mixers of the DSA.
2. The broadband RF imaging device of claim 1 wherein the at least one RF receiver generates a local oscillator (LO) signal that is transmitted to the broadband RF aperture array, and the DSA includes: a two-dimensional array of electrically conductive tapered projections wherein neighboring pairs of the electrically conductive tapered projections form RF pixels; and RF mixers, wherein each RF mixer is connected to mix the RF signal received by a corresponding RF pixel with the LO signal to generate an RF intermediate frequency (IF) signal, the broadband RF signal data received by the at least one RF receiver being IF signals output by the RF mixers of the DSA.
3. The broadband RF imaging device of claim 2 wherein each RF mixer includes an anti-aliasing filter.
3. The broadband RF imaging device of claim 2 wherein each RF mixer includes an anti-aliasing filter.
4. The broadband RF imaging device of claim 1 wherein the at least one RF receiver includes a plurality of RF receivers, and the two-dimensional array of electrically conductive tapered projections is disposed on two or more substrates whereby the DSA comprises a corresponding two or more DSA tiles, each DSA tile having RF connections with at least one RF receiver.
4. The broadband RF imaging device of claim 1 wherein the at least one RF receiver includes a plurality of RF receivers, and the two-dimensional array of electrically conductive tapered projections is disposed on two or more substrates whereby the DSA comprises a corresponding two or more DSA tiles, each DSA tile having RF connections with at least one RF receiver.
5. The broadband RF imaging device of claim 1 wherein the at least one RF receiver includes a plurality of RF receivers, the broadband RF imaging device further comprising a reference oscillator outputting a reference signal to the RF receivers to synchronize the RF receivers.
5. The broadband RF imaging device of claim 1 wherein the at least one RF receiver includes a plurality of RF receivers, the broadband RF imaging device further comprising a reference oscillator outputting a reference signal to the RF receivers to synchronize the RF receivers.
6. The broadband RF imaging device of claim 5 wherein the reference oscillator comprises a Global Positioning System (GPS) disciplined oscillator.
6. The broadband RF imaging device of claim 5 wherein the reference oscillator comprises a Global Positioning System (GPS) disciplined oscillator.
7. The broadband RF imaging device of claim 1 wherein the RF image has spatial dimensions and a time dimension.
8. The broadband RF imaging device of claim 1 further comprising: a calibration RF signal antenna positioned at a predefined location respective to the broadband RF aperture array and configured to output a calibration RF signal at a predefined time; wherein the computer is programmed to reconstruct the RF image by operations including performing frequency and/or phase correction of the broadband RF signal data based on the predefined location and a portion of the broadband RF signal data representing the calibration RF signal received at the broadband RF aperture array.
8. The broadband RF imaging device of claim 1 further comprising: a calibration RF signal antenna positioned at a predefined location respective to the broadband RF aperture array and configured to output a calibration RF signal at a predefined time; wherein the computer is programmed to reconstruct the RF image by operations including performing frequency and/or phase correction of the digitized broadband RF signal data based on the predefined location and a portion of the digitized broadband RF signal data representing the calibration RF signal received at the broadband RF aperture array.
9. The broadband RF imaging device of claim 8 wherein: the DSA includes a two-dimensional array of electrically conductive tapered projections wherein neighboring pairs of the electrically conductive tapered projections form RF pixels; the broadband RF signal data is received over a sampling time interval; and the computer is programmed to reconstruct the RF image by operations further including: dividing the sampling time interval into a sequence of time increments, and for each time increment, generating a map of the frequency and/or phase corrected RF signal received at each RF pixel of the DSA over that time increment.
10. A broadband radio frequency (RF) imaging method comprising: receiving a broadband RF signal from a physical environment with at least one RF receiver connected with a broadband RF aperture array comprising a differential segmented aperture (DSA) and having a bandwidth of at least 700 MHz; and using a computer, reconstructing an RF image of the physical environment from the received broadband RF signal data.
9. A broadband radio frequency (RF) imaging method comprising: receiving a broadband RF signal from a physical environment with a broadband RF aperture array having a bandwidth of at least 700 MHZ, wherein the broadband RF aperture array comprises a differential segmented aperture (DSA) and the receiving of the broadband RF signal from the physical environment includes detecting RF signals using RF pixels of the DSA wherein each RF pixel comprises a neighboring pair of electrically conductive tapered projections of the DSA; digitizing the received broadband RF signal with at least one RF receiver to produce a digitized broadband RF signal; and using a computer, reconstructing an RF image of the physical environment from the digitized broadband RF signal data.
11. The broadband RF imaging method of claim 10 wherein the receiving of the broadband RF signal from the physical environment includes detecting RF signals using RF pixels of the DSA wherein each RF pixel comprises a neighboring pair of electrically conductive tapered projections of the DSA.
12. The broadband RF imaging method of claim 11 wherein the receiving of the broadband RF signal from the physical environment further includes: generating a local oscillator (LO) signal using the at least one RF receiver; transmitting the LO signal from the at least one RF receiver to the DSA; at the DSA and for each RF pixel of the DSA, mixing the signal RF detected using the RF pixel with the LO signal using a mixer integrated with the DSA to generate an intermediate frequency (IF) signal, wherein the received broadband RF signal data comprises the IF signals output by the RF mixers of the DSA.
10. The broadband RF imaging method of claim 9 wherein the receiving of the broadband RF signal from the physical environment further includes: generating a local oscillator (LO) signal using the at least one RF receiver; transmitting the LO signal from the at least one RF receiver to the DSA; at the DSA and for each RF pixel of the DSA, mixing the signal RF detected using the RF pixel with the LO signal using a mixer integrated with the DSA to generate an intermediate frequency (IF) signal, wherein the received broadband RF signal data comprises the IF signals output by the RF mixers of the DSA.
13. The broadband RF imaging method of claim 12 wherein generating of the IF signal further includes performing antialiasing filtering of the IF signal.
11. The broadband RF imaging method of claim 10 wherein generating of the IF signal further includes performing antialiasing filtering of the IF signal.
14. The broadband RF imaging method of claim 10 wherein at least one RF receiver includes a plurality of RF receivers and the receiving of the broadband RF signal from the physical environment further includes: synchronizing the RF receivers using reference RF signal that is output to the RF receivers by a reference oscillator.
12. The broadband RF imaging method of claim 9 wherein at least one RF receiver includes a plurality of RF receivers and the receiving of the broadband RF signal from the physical environment further includes: synchronizing the RF receivers using reference RF signal that is output to the RF receivers by a reference oscillator.
15. The broadband RF imaging method of claim 14 further comprising generating the reference RF signal using a Global Positioning System (GPS) disciplined oscillator in which a crystal oscillator is disciplined by a GPS receiver in a tracking loop.
13. The broadband RF imaging method of claim 12 further comprising generating the reference RF signal using a Global Positioning System (GPS) disciplined oscillator in which a crystal oscillator is disciplined by a GPS receiver in a tracking loop.
16. The broadband RF imaging method of claim 10 wherein the RF image has spatial dimensions and a time dimension.
17. The broadband RF imaging method of claim 10 further comprising: during a predefined time, outputting a calibration RF signal from a predefined location; wherein the reconstructing of the RF image of the physical environment includes performing frequency and/or phase correction of the broadband RF signal data based on the predefined location and a portion of the broadband RF signal data representing the calibration RF signal received at the broadband RF aperture array.
15. The broadband RF imaging method of claim 9 further comprising: during a predefined time, outputting a calibration RF signal from a predefined location; wherein the reconstructing of the RF image of the physical environment includes performing frequency and/or phase correction of the digitized broadband RF signal data based on the predefined location and a portion of the digitized broadband RF signal data representing the calibration RF signal received at the broadband RF aperture array.
18. The broadband RF imaging method of claim 17 wherein: the DSA includes a two-dimensional array of electrically conductive tapered projections wherein neighboring pairs of the electrically conductive tapered projections form RF pixels; the broadband RF signal data is received over a sampling time interval; and the reconstructing of the RF image further includes: dividing the sampling time interval into a sequence of time increments, and for each time increment, generating a map of the frequency and/or phase corrected RF signal received at each RF pixel of the DSA over that time increment.
19. A broadband radio frequency (RF) imaging device comprising: a differential segmented aperture (DSA) comprising a two-dimensional array of electrically conductive tapered projections; at least one RF receiver configured to receive RF signal data from the DSA; and a computer programmed to perform processing of the RF signal data to generate an RF image.
16. A broadband radio frequency (RF) test device comprising: a differential segmented aperture (DSA) comprising a two-dimensional array of electrically conductive tapered projections; at least one RF receiver configured to digitize RF signal data received by the DSA; and a computer programmed to perform processing of the digitized RF signal data.
20. The broadband RF imaging device of claim 19 wherein: the RF image has spatial dimensions and a time dimension; the broadband RF signal data is received over a sampling time interval; and the computer is programmed to process the RF signal data to generate the RF image by operations including dividing the sampling time interval into a sequence of time increments and, for each time increment, generating a map of the RF signal received at each RF pixel of the DSA over that time increment.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 1-8, 1-17, and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee et al hereinafter Lee 20060214832 and Welsh et al. hereinafter Welsh 20200343929.
As per claim 1, Lee teaches a broadband radio frequency (RF) imaging device (see par 0030, “microwave imaging system 10 includes a one or more scanning panels 50 (only one of which is shown for convenience), each capable of transmitting microwave radiation and/or receiving microwave radiation via antenna elements 80 to capture a microwave image of an object (e.g., suitcase, human subject or any other item of interest)”; see also par 0038 and 0069)comprising: a broadband RF aperture array (see fig 1 and 4); comprising at least one RF receiver connected to receive broadband RF signal data from the broadband RF aperture array (see par 0056, "microwave illumination reflected from the target 155 and received at the scanning panel 50 ...).
Lee does not teach a differential segmented aperture (DSA) having at least four array elements and having a bandwidth of at least 700 MHz; and a computer programmed to reconstruct an RF image from the received broadband RF signal data. Welsh teaches these features (see Welsh par 0087, “ For the frequencies-of-interest to the current generation of DSA design, i.e., 100 MHz and greater, the skin depth is less than 10 micrometers. The result is that the conductive surface of the DSA protrusions only needs to be a few skin depths, e.g. 5-10 microns, in thickness on each side to support the current flow from the protrusion to the signal chain”; see par 0053 and 0075 as well). It would be obvious to a skilled artisan before the effective filing date of the invention as claimed to incorporate DSA and a computer to reconstruct RF image to facilitate a paradigm shift in hardware versatility and image reconstruction quality.
As per claim 2, Welsh teaches the broadband RF imaging device of claim 1 wherein the at least one RF receiver generates a local oscillator (LO) signal that is transmitted to the broadband RF aperture array, and the DSA includes: a two-dimensional array of electrically conductive tapered projections wherein neighboring pairs (adjacent) of the electrically conductive tapered projections form RF pixels; and RF mixers, wherein each RF mixer is connected to mix the RF signal received by a corresponding RF pixel with the LO signal to generate an RF intermediate frequency (IF) signal, the broadband RF signal data received by the at least one RF receiver being IF signals output by the RF mixers of the DSA (see par 0053).
As per claim 3, Lee-Welsh teaches the broadband RF imaging device of claim 2 wherein each RF mixer includes an anti-aliasing filter (see Welsh par 0138, appropriate filtering).
As per claim 4, Lee-Welsh teaches the broadband RF imaging device of claim 1 wherein the at least one RF receiver includes a plurality of RF receivers, and the two-dimensional array of electrically conductive tapered projections is disposed on two or more substrates whereby the DSA comprises a corresponding two or more DSA tiles, each DSA tile having RF connections with at least one RF receiver (see Welsh par 0053).
As per claim 5, Lee-Welsh teaches the broadband RF imaging device of claim 1 wherein the at least one RF receiver includes a plurality of RF receivers, the broadband RF imaging device further comprising a reference oscillator outputting a reference signal to the RF receivers to synchronize the RF receivers (see Welsh par 0053).
As per claim 6, Lee-Welsh implicitly teaches the broadband RF imaging device of claim 5 wherein the reference oscillator comprises a Global Positioning System (GPS) disciplined oscillator (see Welsh par 0053-0054 and 0052 which describes UAV electronic).
As per claim 7, Lee-Welsh implicitly teaches the broadband RF imaging device of claim 1 wherein the RF image has spatial dimensions and a time dimension (see par 0052-0053).
As per claim 8, Lee-Welsh teaches The broadband RF imaging device of claim 1 further comprising: a calibration RF signal antenna positioned at a predefined location respective to the broadband RF aperture array and configured to output a calibration RF signal at a predefined time; wherein the computer is programmed to reconstruct the RF image by operations including performing frequency and/or phase correction of the broadband RF signal data based on the predefined location and a portion of the broadband RF signal data representing the calibration RF signal received at the broadband RF aperture array (see Welsh par 0052-0053).
As per claim 10, It contains the same limitations as claim 1. Therefore, it is rejected under the same rationale.
As per claims 11-13, they have been rejected above in claims 2-8.
As per claim 14, Lee-Welsh teaches the broadband RF imaging method of claim 10 wherein at least one RF receiver includes a plurality of RF receivers and the receiving of the broadband RF signal from the physical environment further includes: synchronizing the RF receivers using reference RF signal that is output to the RF receivers by a reference oscillator (see par 0052-0053).
As per claim 15, Lee-Welsh implicitly teaches the broadband RF imaging method of claim 14 further comprising generating the reference RF signal using a Global Positioning System (GPS) disciplined oscillator in which a crystal oscillator is disciplined by a GPS receiver in a tracking loop (see Welsh par 0052).
As per claim 16, see claim 7’s rejection.
As per claim 17, (see the rejection of claim 8).
As per claim 19, It’s a broader version of claim 1. It is rejected under the same rationale as claim 1.
Claims 9, 18, and 20 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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to FRANTZ B JEAN whose telephone number is (571)272-3937. The examiner can normally be reached 8-5 M-F.
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/FRANTZ B JEAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2454
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