Appeal No. 2006-0406
Application 09/497,865
similar limitations in claim 30) and whether these limitations
are taught by Aoki. We noted in the preceding paragraph that
Chiba discloses locking onto a strongest signal in a DBF circuit
to determine where the signal is coming from. Appellants argue
that Karlsson and Chiba fail to teach the retrodirective aspect
of the claims and that Chang teaches coding, but does not teach
the use of coding for retrodirectivity (Br5). "Retrodirective"
refers to transmitting a signal back in the direction from which
a signal is coming. Appellants admit that Aoki teaches a
retrodirective antenna, but argue (Br6):
The Aoki reference also fails to teach or suggest
determining a strongest signal from an element and locking
on to the strongest signal having a corresponding element,
so that the corresponding element can be used for
transmission. That is, the Aoki reference appears to teach
using each of the elements to determine the direction of the
incoming signal and transmits the transmitted signals using
the corresponding elements. The Aoki reference also fails
to teach the coding circuitry.
It is argued that none of the references teach or suggest a
digital receiver determining a strongest signal from a coded
element signal and locking on to the strongest signal having a
corresponding element (RBr2-3). It is argued that Aoki uses a
completely different method for determining the direction (RBr4).
The examiner provides the following interpretation (EA6):
The further addition of the teachings of Aoki et al make
obvious the retrodirective properties desired in a
communication system so as to direct the transmission in the
same direction as the arrival direction of a signal. The
claim language "so that the corresponding element can be
used for transmission" is met on several levels. Firstly,
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