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 .
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(s) 1-4, 6, 11-14, 16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Maruyama et al. – US 2015/0070246 (hereinafter Maruyama) in view of Bengtsson et al. – US 2023/0224003 (hereafter Bengtsson).
Re claim 1, Maruyama disclsoes:
a digitally controllable scatterer (DCS), the DCS comprising a scattering surface (reflectarray) that comprises a plurality of scattering elements (plural elements of the refectarray) (Fig. 1-5; para. 0084 -0087, 0121) each having a controllable phase shift (phase difference; para. 0007, 0084);
a transmitter, configured to transmit an electromagnetic wave onto the scattering surface of the DCS (Fig. 1, the incident wave); and
a DCS controller configured to:
determine a codeword based on one or more parameters of the DCS, a characteristic of the electromagnetic wave transmitted by the transmitter, and a characteristic of a desired electromagnetic wave scattered by the scattering surface of the DCS (Fig. 1, 12-16; para. 0095-0098, 0101-0108; wherein Maruyama discloses determining reflection phases of the respective elements according to the incident wave direction, the desired reflected wave direction, and the geometrical arrangement of the reflecting elements), wherein the codeword determines a phase shift configuration for the plurality of scattering elements of the scattering surface of the DCS; and
control the plurality of scattering elements of the scattering surface of the DCS, using the codeword, to form the desired electromagnetic wave by scattering the electromagnetic wave transmitted by the transmitter.
Maruyama differs from the claimed invention in that it does not explicitly disclose the above underline claimed subject matter. That is, Maruyama discloses determining a reflection-phase controlling for a plurality of reflecting elements based on the geometric arrangement of the reflecting elements, the incident wave direction and the desired reflected wave direction, however, Maruyama does not explicitly discloses determining reflection phase control as a digital applicable codeword.
Bengtsson, in similar filed of endeavor, discloses “a transmitter” in para. 0015, 0026, 0045 for transmitting signal incident on reflective device; and the above underline claimed subject matter in that, Bengtsson teaches reconfiguring a reflective device using a predefined codebook having entries associated with selected spatial directions; the reflective device configuration can be calculated based on the angle of arrival and the frequency of the radio channel (para. 0057-0059, 0061-0063, 0072-0073).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the filing to have incorporated the such teaching from Bengtsson, into Maruyama, so as to represent the reflection phase control of Maruyama as selectable configuration of Bengtsson’s codebook-controlled reflective device, because doing so would allow the reflection phases of the elements to be electronically established and reconfigured for different incident desired outgoing directions.
Re claim 14, see corresponding claim 1 for similar claimed subject matter.
Re claim 16, see corresponding claim 1 for similar claimed subject matter and Bengtsson, para. 0023, 0025.
Re claim 2, the combination of Maruyama and Bengtsson further discloses “wherein the characteristic of the electromagnetic wave transmitted by the transmitter comprises at least one of a propagation vector and or a structure of the electromagnetic wave transmitted by the transmitter” in Maruyama, Fig. 12, para. 0095; wherein the incident direction corresponds to the claimed “propagation vector”.
Re claim 3, the above-mentioned combination further discloses “wherein the characteristic of the desired electromagnetic wave scattered by the scattering surface of the DCS comprises at least one of a desired propagation vector and-or a structure of the desired electromagnetic wave scattered by the scattering surface of the DCS” in Maruyama, Fig. 12-16; para. 0005, 0007, 0084, 0093-107; wherein the desired reflected wave direction corresponds to the claimed “desired propagation vector”.
Re claim 4, the above-mentioned combination further discloses “wherein the one or more parameters of the DCS comprise at least one of a position of the DCS, an orientation of the DCS, a size of each of the plurality of scattering elements of the scattering surface of the DCS, and or a total number of the plurality of scattering elements of the scattering surface of the DCS” in Maruyama, para. 0089, 0090, 0092, 0110; wherein a plurality of reflecting elements arranged at respective positions and spacings, wherein the positions and spacings are used in determining the reflected phase for reflecting an incident wave in a desired direction.
Re claim 6, the above-mentioned combination further discloses “wherein a position of the transmitter and a position and orientation of the DCS are fixed relative to each other” in Bengtsson, Fig. 5; para. 0053; wherein the relative position and orientation of the reconfigurable reflective device with respect to the access node are fixed and known.
Re claim 11, the above-mentioned combination further discloses “further comprising a target that is illuminated by the desired electromagnetic wave scattered by the scattering surface of the DCS” Bengtsson, Fig. 5, para. 0053 - 0057; wherein the UE constitutes a target of the electromagnetic wave reflected by the reconfigurable device; providing a supplemental path between the UE and access node and selecting an output spatial direction corresponding to the estimated direction of the UE relative to the reflective device.
Re claim 12, the above-mentioned combination further discloses “wherein the target is a receiver configured to receive the desired electromagnetic wave scattered by the scattering surface of the DCS” in Fig. 5-7 wherein the UE receives the signal transmitted by the access node redirected by the reconfigurable device.
Re claim 13, the above-mentioned combination further discloses “wherein the DCS controller is further configured to:
obtain the characteristic of the desired electromagnetic wave scattered by the scattering surface of the DCS by signaling from the target; or
obtain the characteristic of the desired electromagnetic wave scattered by the scattering surface of the DCS by using information about the target” in Bengtsson, Fig. 5, para. 0054; wherein the target UE receives a reference signal transmitted by an UE and estimating the UE’s angle of arrival relative to the reconfigurable device; and selects an output spatial direction for the reflected wave.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5, 7-10, 15, 17 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
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Leung et al. – US 11,476,587
Duarte Gelvez et al. – US 12,633,968
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/DAC V HA/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2633
