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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to because the Japanese language, including “φ”, shown in FIG. 1B should be deleted. Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Specification
The lengthy specification has not been checked to the extent necessary to determine the presence of all possible minor errors. Applicant’s cooperation is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant may become aware in the specification.
Claim Objections
Claims 1-12 are objected to because of the following informalities:
1. (Proposed Amendment) A radio wave generating apparatus, comprising:
a controlling section; and
a radio wave transmitting section, wherein
the controlling section includes
an orbital angular momentum (OAM) radio wave information setting section for generating a transmission radio wave signal according to an OAM mode order,
a phase changing section for linearly changing a phase of the transmission radio wave signal over time depending on the OAM mode order, and
a complex signal generating section for generating a complex signal from the transmission radio wave signal that has been changed in phase by the phase changing section and a reference signal, and
the radio wave transmitting section includes
a complex signal converting section for breaking down a signal component of the complex signal into a real part and an imaginary part,
a wireless processing section for generating a wireless signal from the signal component of the complex signal that has been broken down into the real part and the imaginary part, and
an array antenna for transmitting the wireless signal as an OAM radio wave.
2. (Proposed Amendment) A radio wave detecting apparatus, comprising:
a radio wave receiving section; and
an operating section, wherein
the radio wave receiving section includes
an antenna for receiving an orbital angular momentum (OAM) radio wave,
a wireless processing section for reproducing the received OAM radio wave as a wireless signal, and
a complex signal converting section for converting the reproduced wireless signal to a complex signal, and
the operating section includes
an QAM radio wave information calculating section for calculating an QAM mode order of the OAM radio wave from a frequency characteristic of the complex signal and a phase change coefficient representing a ratio at which a phase of the OAM radio wave has been changed depending on the QAM mode order at a time when the QAM radio wave has been transmitted.
3. (Proposed Amendment) A radio wave transmitting and receiving system, comprising:
the radio wave generating apparatus according to claim 1; and
a radio wave detecting apparatus comprising:
a radio wave receiving section; and
an operating section, wherein
the radio wave receiving section includes
an antenna for receiving an OAM radio wave,
a wireless processing section for reproducing the received OAM radio wave as a wireless signal, and
a complex signal converting section for converting the reproduced wireless signal to a complex signal, and
the operating section includes
an OAM radio wave information calculating section for calculating an OAM mode order of the OAM radio wave from a frequency characteristic of the complex signal and a phase change coefficient representing a ratio at which a phase of the OAM radio wave has been changed depending on the OAM mode order at a time when the OAM radio wave has been transmitted.
5. (Proposed Amendment) A radio wave generating apparatus, comprising:
a controlling section; and
a radio wave transmitting section, wherein
the controlling section includes
a structured radio wave setting section for generating a transmission radio wave signal according to an azimuth angle and an elevation angle that are represented by a sphere where two orbital angular momentum (OAM) mode orders are used as a basis and a pole is represented by the basis,
a phase changing section for linearly changing a phase of the transmission radio wave signal over time depending on the OAM mode orders, and
a complex signal generating section for generating a complex signal from the transmission radio wave signal that has been changed in phase by the phase changing section and a reference signal, and
the radio wave transmitting section includes
a complex signal converting section for breaking down a signal component of the complex signal into a real part and an imaginary part[[;]],
a wireless processing section for generating a wireless signal from the signal component of the complex signal that has been broken down into the real part and the imaginary part, and
an array antenna for transmitting the wireless signal as an QAM radio wave.
6. (Proposed Amendment) A radio wave detecting apparatus, comprising:
a radio wave receiving section; and
an operating section, wherein
the radio wave receiving section includes
an antenna for receiving an orbital angular momentum (OAM) radio wave generated according to an azimuth angle and an elevation angle that are represented by a sphere where two OAM mode orders are used as a basis and a pole is represented by the basis,
a wireless processing section for reproducing the received OAM radio wave as a wireless signal, and
a complex signal converting section for converting the reproduced wireless signal to a complex signal, and
the operating section includes
a phase correcting section for changing a frequency of the complex signal depending on the QAM mode orders, and
a structured information calculating section for calculating the azimuth angle and the elevation angle from a phase and an intensity of the complex signal that has been changed in phase.
8. (Proposed Amendment) A radio wave transmitting and receiving system, comprising:
the radio wave generating apparatus according to claim 5; and
a radio wave detecting apparatus comprising:
a radio wave receiving section; and
an operating section, wherein
the radio wave receiving section includes
an antenna for receiving an OAM radio wave generated according to an azimuth angle and an elevation angle that are represented by a sphere where two OAM mode orders are used as a basis and a pole is represented by the basis,
a wireless processing section for reproducing the received OAM radio wave as a wireless signal, and
a complex signal converting section for converting the reproduced wireless signal to a complex signal, and
the operating section includes
a phase correcting section for changing a frequency of the complex signal depending on the OAM mode orders, and
a structured information calculating section for calculating the azimuth angle and the elevation angle from a phase and an intensity of the complex signal that has been changed in phase,
wherein the phase correcting section determines an amount by which to change the frequency according to a phase change coefficient representing a ratio at which the phase of the OAM radio wave has been changed depending on the OAM mode orders at a time when the OAM radio wave has been transmitted.
10. (Proposed Amendment) The radio wave transmitting and receiving system according to claim 8, wherein
the radio wave generating apparatus further comprises a symbol information setting section for inputting symbol information where a combination of the azimuth angle and the elevation angle is associated with bit information to the structured radio wave setting section, and
the radio wave detecting apparatus further comprises a symbol information analyzing section for acquiring the bit information from the combination of the azimuth angle and the elevation angle output from the structured information calculating section.
Claim 4 depends on claim 3, therefore it is also objected.
Claims 9, 11, and 12 depend either directly or indirectly from claim 8, therefore they are also objected.
Claim 7 depends on claim 6, therefore it is 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 3-5 and 8-12 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.
The phrases “an OAM radio wave”, “a wireless signal”, “a complex signal”, and “an OAM mode order” recited in lines 7, 9, 11, and 14 of claim 3 are common phrases already recited in the precedent claim 1. Clarifications are required to clarify the differences.
Like claim 3, the phrases “an OAM radio wave”, “two OAM mode”, “a wireless signal”, and “a complex signal” recited in lines 7, 9, 12, and 14 of claim 8 are common phrases already recited in the precedent claim 5. Clarifications are required to clarify the differences.
The term “… from the transmission radio wave signal that has been changed in phase by the phase changing section and a reference signal, …” recited in lines 13-14 of claim 5 is unclear whether the “phase” is the same or different as recited in lines 9-11 of the claim.
Claim 3 (lines 14, 15, 16, 17, and 17-18), claim 8 (lines 16-17, 17, 19-20, 23, and 24), claim 9 (line 4), and claim 12 (lines 3-4, 6, 9, and 9-10), the phrases “the OAM radio wave”, “the complex signal”, “the OAM mode order”, “the OAM mode orders”, “the azimuth angles”, and “the elevation angles” all lack antecedent basis.
Claim 4 depends on claim 3, therefore it is also rejected.
Claims 10 and 11 depend either directly or indirectly from claim 8, therefore they are also rejected.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-12 would be allowable if rewritten or amended to overcome the objection(s) set forth in this Office action.
Claims 3-5 and 8-12 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.
Klemes et al. (US 11,088,752 B1) relates to an orbital angular momentum (OAM) receiver. The OAM receiver comprising: at least three receiver antenna elements configured to receive radiated OAM-RF waves and generate antenna element output signals; a selection-antenna switch operative to receive and switch between a second receiver antenna element output and a third receiver antenna element output; a phase adjusting unit configured to adjust a phase of the output of the selection-antenna switch; a hybrid coupler configured to provide a proportional summation and difference of the two modulated signals; a switching unit configured to limit the coupler output signal to gating time-intervals during which fractional pseudo-Doppler frequency shifts occur; an orthogonal filter bank configured to generate a vector X(t) containing shifted low-frequency values associated with all of the K OAM modes; and an adaptive unit configured to facilitate separation of the OAM-RF waves.
Berretta et al. (US 2015/0146815 A1) relates to a device for generating Orbital Angular Momentum (OAM) modes for radio communications. The device is designed to receive one or more input digital signals, each of which has a respective sampling period which is a respective multiple of a given sampling period and occupies a frequency bandwidth which is a respective fraction of a given available frequency bandwidth. The device is operable to apply, to each input digital signal, a respective space modulation associated with a respective OAM mode having a respective topological charge to generate a corresponding digital signal carrying the respective OAM mode. The device is configured to apply, to each input digital signal, the respective space modulation by interpolating said input digital signal and phase-modulating the interpolated input digital signal to generate a corresponding phase-modulated digital signal carrying the respective OAM mode, having the given sampling period, and occupying the given available frequency bandwidth.
LUDDY et al. (US 2017/0187442 A1) relates to a system for providing underwater communication using orbital angular momentum (OAM) includes a transmitter that processes input data to be transmitted using pre-coding information based on current transmission channel conditions to maximize data rate based on channel conditions. A receiver receives a transmitted multiplexed OAM optical signal and analyzes the received signal for channel state information. The channel state information is used to determine a set of pre-coding values that allow the transmitter to pre-code the input data to maximize the data rate based on current channel conditions. The pre-coding values are mapped to a codebook entry which identifies the pre-coding values. The codebook entry is transmitted from the receiver to the transmitter. The transmitter uses the received codebook entry to identify pre-coding values used to process subsequent input data to be transmitted to enhance data rate across the transmit channel.
LEE et al. (US 2020/0304180 A1) relates to an OAM multiplexing transmission device includes a unit generating each of the transmission streams in a baseband (BB), in which a channel estimation signal sequence is disposed before a transmission target data signal sequence, and a CP having a predetermined length is disposed in the first half of the channel estimation signal sequence, the channel estimation signal sequence is time-shifted with a channel estimation signal sequence (a basic channel estimation signal sequence) having a predetermined length and a zero correlation, by a predetermined shift value for each of the transmission streams; a unit converting a baseband signal sequence of the generated transmission streams to frequency conversion into RF band, or converting into IF band and then converting into the RF band; and a unit converting a plurality of the frequency-converted transmission streams into a plurality of OAM mode signals having different orders, and multiplexing spatially by using the UCA.
ZHANG et al. (US 2024/0356600 A1) relates to orbital angular momentum (OAM) multiplexing based communication. A transmitter of the OAM multiplexing based communication is configured to determine an azimuth mode configuration for transmitting a data stream, wherein the azimuth mode configuration indicates one or more azimuth modes; and configured to transmit, to a receiver of the OAM multiplexing based communication, the data stream based at least in part on the azimuth mode configuration.
Huang et al. (US 2024/0357703 A1) relates to a first device configured to select, from multiple orbital angular momentum (OAM) modes, a set of one or more primary OAM modes and a set of one or more secondary OAM modes, where at least one primary OAM mode is activated periodically and at least one secondary OAM mode is activated based on a trigger; and transmit, to a second device, a message indicating a configuration for the selected set of one or more primary OAM modes, the selected set of one or more secondary OAM modes, and discontinuous reception (DRX) parameters for each of the sets of OAM modes. The second device is configured to monitor for a signal using a primary OAM mode using the DRX parameters for the set of primary OAM modes; and activate a second OAM mode based on receiving the signal.
WO 2022137470 A1 relates to a reception device comprises: an antenna for receiving a radio wave in a plurality of orbital angular momentum (OAM) modes from a transmission device; a separation circuit for separating the signal of each OAM mode having been received by the antenna; and a generation unit for selecting a first OAM mode from among the OAM modes on the basis of channel information of each OAM mode extracted on the basis of a preamble signal of each OAM mode having been separated by the separation circuit, and generating a signal for the first OAM mode on the basis of the signal of the first OAM mode having been separated by the separation circuit and the signal for a second OAM mode having been separated by the separation circuit and not used for reception of data from the transmission device.
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.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Chieh M Fan can be reached at 571-272-3042. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/Young T. Tse/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2632
