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 § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
Claims 23-26, 28, 34-37 and 39 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b), as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor, regards as the invention.
Claim 23 recites the limitation “the STDC matrix B” in lines 1-2. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 24 recites the limitation “the STDC matrix B” in lines 1-3. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 25 recites the limitation “the respective code Bd” in line 5. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 26 recites the limitation “the STDC matrix B” in lines 5-10. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 28 recites the limitation “the information symbol x” in line 3. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 28 recites the limitation “the estimated one or more propagation channels” in lines 4-5. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 34 recites the limitation “the STDC matrix B” in lines 1-2. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 35 recites the limitation “the STDC matrix B” in lines 1-3. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 36 recites the limitation “the respective code Bd” in line 5. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 37 recites the limitation “the STDC matrix B” in lines 6-11. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 39 recites the limitation “the information symbol x” in lines 2-3. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 39 recites the limitation “the estimated one or more propagation channels” in lines 4-5. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
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 21, 27, 32, 38 and 40 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Makki et al. (US 2025/0309973 A1) in view of Gurelli et al. (US 2023/0291460 A1).
Consider claims 21, 32 and 40:
Makki discloses a system (see Fig. 1 and paragraph 0029, where Makki describes a communication system that includes a network node 200, a user equipment 140 and a reflector node 110; see Fig. 7 and paragraph 0011, where Makki describes a non-transitory computer readable storage medium on which computer program is stored) comprising:
at least one transmitter, configured to transmit a coded radiofrequency signal to at least one receiver during a plurality of time slots (see Fig. 4 and paragraph 0051, where Makki describes that the network node 200 transmits a burst of reference signal resources in one beam B0 to the user equipment 140 via the reflector node 110; see paragraph 0031, where Makki describes that the network node 200 transmits the burst of reference signal resources in a first set of time slots);
at least one digitally controllable scatterer (DCS) (see Fig. 4 and paragraph 0054, where Makki describes that the reflector node 110 is configured by the network node 200; see Fig. 7 and paragraph 0070, where Makki describes that the network node 200 processes digital signal),
the at least one DCS comprising a scattering surface that comprises a set of scattering elements (see Fig. 2 and paragraph 0004, where Makki describes that the reflector node 110 is a meta-surface with patch antennas for reflecting a received signal to signals of different angles),
scattering element having a controllable phase shift (see Fig. 1 and paragraph 0027, where Makki describes that the reflector node 110 is configured to change phase rotation of received signal);
a controller, configured to: control, based on a space time DCS code (STDC), the at least one transmitter to generate the coded radiofrequency signal during the plurality of time slots (see Fig. 4 and paragraph 0051, where Makki describes that the network node 200 is configured to use one and the same beam B0 to transmit all the reference signal resources in a reflector node beam sweep; Examiner’s note: the reflector node beam sweep is interpreted as a “space time DCS code”; see paragraph 0031, where Makki describes that the network node 200 transmits all the reference signal resources in a first set of time slots);
control, based on the STDC, the set of scattering elements of the at least one DCS during the plurality of time slots (see Fig. 4 and paragraph 0054, where Makki describes that the antennas of the reflector node 110 is configured by the network node 200 to transmit the reference signal resources; see paragraph 0031, where Makki describes that all the reference signal resources are transmitted in a first set of time slots); and
at least one receiver, configured to obtain by reception, during the plurality of time slots, the coded radiofrequency signal transmitted by the at least one transmitter (see Fig. 4 and paragraph 0051, where Makki describes that the user equipment 140 receives the reference signal resources transmitted by the network node 200; see paragraph 0031, where Makki describes that the reference signal resources are transmitted in a first set of time slots);
wherein the coded radiofrequency signal transmitted by the at least one transmitter during the plurality of time slots propagates from the at least one transmitter to the at least one receiver through one or more propagation channels, the one or more propagation channels comprising one or more propagation channels via the at least one DCS and/or one or more direct propagation channels (see Fig. 4 and paragraphs 0050-0051, where Makki describes that the reference signal resources are transmitted by the network node 200 to the user equipment 140 via the reflector node 110); and
wherein the STDC depends on a total number of the at least one DCS and a maximum number of the plurality of time slots Tmax (see Fig. 4 and paragraph 0051, where Makki describes that the reflector node beam sweep depends on a total number of eight reflector node beams B1-B8; see paragraph 0030, where Makki describes that the eight reflector node beams B1-B8 are configured for the first set of time slots).
Makki does not specifically disclose: each scattering element having a controllable phase shift.
Gurelli teaches: each scattering element having a controllable phase shift (see Fig. 4 and paragraph 0054, where Gurelli describes an intelligent reflecting surface which includes small surface elements, each surface element has a controllable reflection coefficient, by which the phase-shift can be controlled).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include: each scattering element having a controllable phase shift, as taught by Gurelli to modify the method of Makki in order to be controlled to reflect electromagnetic waves in specified directions, as discussed by Gurelli (see paragraph 0054).
Consider claims 27 and 38:
Makki in view of Gurelli discloses the invention according to claims 21 and 32 above. Makki discloses: the at least one receiver is configured to: estimate the one or more propagation channels via the at least one DCS or the one or more direct propagation channels (see paragraph 0051, where Makki describes that the user equipment 140 will perform measurements on the received reference signal resources and report channel state information (CSI)).
Claim 31 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Makki et al. (US 2025/0309973 A1) in view of Gurelli et al. (US 2023/0291460 A1), as applied to claim 21 above, and further in view of Oh et al. (US 2026/0213791 A1).
Consider claim 31:
Makki in view of Gurelli discloses the system according to claim 21 above. Makki and Gurelli do not specifically disclose: the at least one transmitter and the at least one DCS are synchronized.
Oh teaches: at least one transmitter and at least one DCS are synchronized (see Fig. 12 and paragraph 0157, where Oh describes that a base station 1210 may be synchronized with a Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface (RIS) 1220).
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 at least one transmitter and the at least one DCS are synchronized, as taught by Oh to modify the method of Makki and Gurelli in order to perform an initial connection, as discussed by Oh (see paragraph 0038).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 22, 29, 30 and 33 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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