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 .
Specification
The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities:
The “WiFi” described in paragraph [0003] and the “PHY” described in paragraph [0025] are undefined.
The phrases “4 us waveforms” and “1,6 us waveform” described in paragraph [0046] and [0047] are not understood.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Objections
Claims 2-14, 16, and 19-25 are objected to because of the following informalities:
In the independent claim 19, the preamble of claim 19 simple recites “[A] WiFi reader arranged to:” there are no transitional phrases, for example, "comprising", "consisting essentially of" and "consisting of" recited in the preamble of the claim. The transition phrases "comprising", "consisting essentially of" and "consisting of" define the scope of the claim with respect to what unrecited additional components or steps, if any, are excluded from the scope of the claim (See MPEP 2111.03).
2. (Proposed Amendment) The method of claim 1, wherein the preamble is compliant with a preamble defined by IEEE 802.11b or an orthogonal frequency division multiplexed (OFDM) preamble compliant with IEEE 802.11g/n/ac/ax/be.
5. (Proposed Amendment) The method of claim 1, wherein the downlink segment and the uplink segment[[s]] are defined by a carrier waveform with repeated same carrier symbols with an additional per-symbol phase or polarity.
8. (Proposed Amendment) The method of claim 1, wherein a carrier waveform which defines the downlink segment and the uplink segment are based on OFDM symbols.
11. (Proposed Amendment) The method of claim 8, wherein the OFDM symbols are based on a duration of 1.6 us waveform defined by a trigger based HE STF.
12. (Proposed Amendment) The method of claim 8, wherein the carrier symbols are based on OFDM symbols defined by a data sequence loaded in a subset of frequency bins defining subcarriers of an OFDM symbol.
13. (Proposed Amendment) The method of claim 1, a carrier waveform for the downlink segment and the uplink segment is based on a direct spread spectrum (DSSS) waveform generated based on a spreading code and has a bandwidth equal to or less than 22_MHz.
14. (Proposed Amendment) The method of claim 1, wherein the PPDU includes additional carrier symbols before the downlink segment to energize the AMP tag device.
16. (Proposed Amendment) The method of claim 1, further comprising detecting, by the WiFi reader, an uplink symbol boundary in a waveform that is backscattered based on a correlation filter with a duration being a function of a symbol duration of the carrier symbol and a maximum parts per million (ppm) modulation variation of the AMP tag device.
19. (Proposed Amendment) A WiFi reader arranged to: generate a preamble of a physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU), the preamble compliant with Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11; generate a downlink segment of the PPDU, wherein the downlink segment comprises a downlink synchronization field and modulated carrier symbols carrying downlink data; generate an uplink segment of the PPDU, wherein the uplink segment comprises reference symbols which the WiFi reader uses to performs signal leakage estimation and carrier symbols, and wherein an ambient power (AMP) tag device is arranged to backscatter a waveform based on the carrier symbols; and transmit, by the WiFi reader, the PPDU to the AMP tag device.
21. (Proposed Amendment) The WiFi reader of claim 19, wherein the WiFi reader is further arranged to detect an uplink modulated symbol boundary in a waveform that is backscattered based on a correlation filter with a duration being a function of a symbol duration of the carrier symbol and a maximum parts per million (ppm) modulation variation of the AMP tag device.
22. (Proposed Amendment) The WiFi reader of claim 19, wherein the uplink segment further comprises an uplink preamble that precedes the carrier symbols to indicate a start of backscattering.
23. (Proposed Amendment) The WiFi reader of claim 19, wherein the carrier symbols are based on orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols defined by a data sequence loaded in a subset of frequency bins defining subcarriers of the OFDM symbol.
24. (Proposed Amendment) The WiFi reader of claim 19, wherein the carrier symbols are 4 us waveforms defined by L-LTF or HT/VHT LTF or based on a duration of 1.6 us waveform defined by a trigger based HE STF.
Claim 3 depends from claim 2, therefore it is also objected.
Claims 6 and 7 both depend from claim 5, therefore they are also objected.
Claims 9 and 10 both depend from claim 8, therefore they are also objected.
Claims 20 and 25 both depend from claim 19, therefore they are also objected.
Appropriate correction is required.
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.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-25 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 1 (line 2) and claim 19 (line 1), “WiFi” recited in both of the claims is undefined by defining the meaning of it.
Claim 4 (line 2) and claim 20 (line 2), “PHY” recited in both of the claims is also undefined by defining the meaning of it.
Claim 6 indirectly depends from claim 1, and the same phrase “carrier symbols” recited in claim 6 is already recited in claim 1 (line 10). Clarification is required to clarify the difference. Without defining the difference, claim 6 does not tie to any of the claimed subject matter of the precedent claims 1 and 5.
Claims 10, 11 and 24, the phrases “4 us waveforms” and “1,6 us waveform” recited in the claims are not understood.
Claims 10, 11 and 24, at least the phrases “HT”, “VHT”, and “HE” recited in the claims are undefined by defining the meaning of them.
Claim 16 (line 3), claim 21 (line 3) and claim 23 (line 3), the phrases “the carrier symbol” and “the OFDM symbol” lack antecedent basis.
Claims 2-3, 5, 7-9, 12-15, and 17-18 depend either directly or indirectly from claim 1, therefore they are also rejected.
Claims 22 and 25 both depend from claim 19, therefore they are also rejected.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-14, 16, and 19-25 would be allowable if rewritten or amended to overcome the objection(s) set forth in this Office action.
Claims 1-25 would be allowable if rewritten or amended to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Chemishkian et al. (US 2015/0091706 A1) relates to a system comprises: an RF-energy harvesting sensor tag operable to generate a first backscatter signal and at least one base station operable to deliver RF power to the sensor tag by emitting a first waveform comprising a plurality of subcarriers, wherein the first backscatter signal is generated by the sensor tag by modulated scattering of the first waveform as incident upon the sensor tag, and further wherein the at least one base station subsequently emits a second waveform determined at least in part by a closed-loop feedback control algorithm responsive to measurements of the first backscatter signal.
Caglayan et al. (US 2023/0085960 A1) relates to a wireless power receiver configured to produce a modulated backscatter signal and transmit such to a power delivery system to initiate a wireless power transfer linkage. In some examples, a dual-band technique can be implemented where a first band can be used as a dedicated retrodirective wireless power transfer (WPT) channel while a data communication node can utilize a second band for a low energy compatible data communication type. Both a beacon signal (the backscattered signal) for retrodirective linkage at the first band and the communication signals at the second band can be produced via backscattering at the wireless power receiver. A backscattered beacon signal and a communication signal may be modulated and frequency multiplexed.
PATCHAVE et al. (US 2025/0310160 A1) relates to an ambient IoT device configured to receive an OOK orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) waveform that includes a CP. The ambient IoT device configured to sample symbols of the received OOK OFDM waveform at a pre-defined sampling rate. The pre-defined sampling rate may be based upon a pre-defined duration of the symbols of the received OOK OFDM waveform. In particular, the pre-defined duration of each of the symbols of the received OOK OFDM waveform may be defined such that a last OOK OFDM symbol duration is set to be the same as a first OOK OFDM symbol duration, in which, the first OOK OFDM symbol includes the CP.
VIN et al. (US 2026/0221805 A1) relates to a first wireless device configured to transmit, for a first duration, a first portion of an energy harvesting signal to an ambient IoT device, the first duration being less than a total duration for energy harvesting to complete at the ambient IoT device. The first wireless device configured to receive one of (a) an indication that a first radio access technology (RAT)-based signal is to be transmitted by the first wireless device or (b) a second RAT-based signal from a second wireless device, where each of the first RAT-based signal and the second RAT-based signal interrupts transmission of the energy harvesting signal. The first wireless device may perform an action to mitigate interruption of the energy harvesting signal.
However, the prior art references fail to show or teach the details of a hybrid downlink/uplink PPDU structure that integrates an IEEE 802.11-compliant preamble, downlink data, and an uplink backscatter segment utilizing reference symbols for signal leakage estimation. It solves the traditional self-interference and synchronization hurdles of running passive backscatter via standard Wi-Fi radios.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Young T. Tse whose telephone number is (571)272-3051. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 10:30am-7pm.
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/Young T. Tse/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2632
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