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 .
DETAILED ACTION
This Office Action is in response to the Applicants’ communication filed on 07/28/2025. In virtue of this communication, claims 1-20 are currently pending in the instant application.
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 of this title, 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 1-2, 5-6, 10, 13-14 and 18-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gravelle (US 2012/0215594 A1) in view of Patil et al. (US 2020/0389869 A1).
Regarding Claim 1 Gravelle teaches the limitations "A system comprising: at least one movable object that includes: a global positioning system (GPS) configured to track a location of the at least one movable object; (see abstract and fig. 3 (vehicle onboard unit and OBD with GPS 315));
a radio frequency (RF) reader interface configured to receive low-energy (LE) RF beacons from LE RF transmitters; and (see par. 0068 “mounting battery powered low power radio devices (not shown) in the median or other locations proximate to the lane of travel, that can communicate with the DIM and/or the OBU in the vehicle.” Par. 0088 shows “battery powered RF beacons can be placed proximate to the roads at jurisdiction border locations and their communication zones directed to cover the relevant roadways so that they can communicate with the OBU over its built in wireless link. The beacons will communicate with the OBU over the low power RF link supported by the OBU so that the OBU can determine that the vehicle is crossing the border.”);
a wireless backhaul interface to provide detection data associated with received LE RF beacons; (see fig. 3 (312 GSM)). Further Gravelle teaches “battery powered RF beacons can be placed proximate to the roads at jurisdiction border locations and their communication zones directed to cover the relevant roadways so that they can communicate with the OBU over its built in wireless link. The beacons will communicate with the OBU over the low power RF link supported by the OBU so that the OBU can determine that the vehicle is crossing the border.” See par. 0088) and (see fig. 3 and par. 0030 and 0033-0034, service center 340 receives vehicle data and stores in database 343).
wherein the RF reader interface is connected to the GPS, and (see fig. 3 (GPS 315);
wherein the RF reader interface is configured to: power on in response to a trigger event, (see par. 0036 and 0055showing user interface for triggering, i.e. turning toll on/off selection);
detect the LE RF beacons for a pre-determined time window, filter out LE RF beacons having a Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) value lower than a predetermined value, (see par. 0068 “Such devices are set with a radiation pattern directed towards the HOT lanes and monitored such that the peak signal strength expected to be received in vehicles within the monitored (HOT) lanes will be significantly higher than that received in vehicles in other lanes. By selecting a threshold in between these two expected peak values, the OBU or DIM can determine if the vehicle is actually in the monitored travel lane, thus providing a means to automatically charge tolls without the need for the driver to use the DIM to turn tolling on or off.”);
However, Gravelle does not explicitly disclose “locally store detection data associated with the filtered LE RF signals, the detection data comprising: a Media Access Control (MAC) address of an LE RF transmitter associated with each LE RF signal, the RSSI value of each LE RF signal, a time of detection of each LE RF signal, and a location of the at least one moveable object indicated by the GPS at the time of detection of each LE RF signal; and communicate via a wireless backhaul interface to provide the detection data associated with received LE RF beacons to a network server.”
In the same field of endeavor Patil teaches a uplink broadcast service used in asset tracking, where “The AP may embed AP-provided data (such as location information, a physical address, Global Positioning System (GPS) data, or the like) to the uplink communication when forwarding the uplink communication to the destination service. Other examples of AP-provided data may include a timestamp or other data useful for the service provider. The AP-provided data may be pre-provisioned at the AP (such as by an operator of the AP) or may be determined by the AP using a capability of the AP. For example, the AP may determine the AP-provided data using an on-board GPS unit of the AP.” (see par. 0085) and “the wireless device may listen for broadcast messages (such as beacon frames) that include detectable identifiers of nearby BSSs. Examples of the detectable identifiers may include BSS identifiers (BSSIDs), media access control (MAC) addresses, internet protocol (IP) addresses, cell identifiers, frequency modulation (FM) broadcast information, amplitude modulation (AM) broadcast information, Bluetooth™ identifiers, home automation protocol identifier, or the like. The wireless device may include a portion of the detected identifiers in an uplink broadcast message to an AP that supports forwarding to a destination service. The destination service may use the detected identifiers with an identifier fingerprinting to determine more about the location of the wireless device or the environment in which the wireless device is located.” (see par. 0091). Lastly, see par. 00207 “The wireless device 144 may select (shown as operation 1254) the first AP 102A based on the beacon frame. For example, the wireless device 144 may determine that the first AP 102A is nearest by comparing the RSSI values associated with the beacon frames 1234 and 1235.”). Gravelle shows filtering beacon signals based on RSSI, and sending detection data, including MAC address, RSSI, time stamp and location to the server via uplink communication.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to send detection data as claimed and as taught by Patil in the system of Gravelle, in order to allow for asset tracking (see par. 0092 of Patil).
Claims 14 and 18 are rejected for the same reasons set forth above as the claims have similar limitations and have been addressed.
Regarding Claim 2 Gravelle teaches the limitations "The system of claim 1, wherein the wireless backhaul interface comprises a cellular network interface" (see fig. 3 (312)).
Regarding Claim 5 Gravelle teaches the limitations "The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one movable object comprises a vehicle equipped with an onboard diagnostics (OBD) device" (see fig. 3 and par. 0037 “the OBU is interfaced to an on board diagnostic port (OBD) on the vehicle”).
Regarding Claim 6 Gravelle teaches the limitations "The system of claim 5, wherein the RF reader interface and wireless backhaul interface are included with the OBD device" (see fig. 3 and par. 0088 “battery powered RF beacons can be placed proximate to the roads at jurisdiction border locations and their communication zones directed to cover the relevant roadways so that they can communicate with the OBU over its built in wireless link.” i.e. reader on OBU with OBD to read RF beacons).
Regarding Claim 10 Gravelle teaches the limitations "The system of claim 1, wherein the RF reader interface is provided power from a battery of the at least one movable object" (see fig. 5 and par. 0052-0053).
Regarding Claim 13 Gravelle teaches the limitations "The system of claim 1, further comprising a programmable filter configured to filter out LE RF beacons having a particular MAC address or signal strength value, wherein the system provides filtered detection data to the network server" (see par. 0068 “infrastructure approach that involves mounting battery powered low power radio devices (not shown) in the median or other locations proximate to the lane of travel, that can communicate with the DIM and/or the OBU in the vehicle. Such devices are set with a radiation pattern directed towards the HOT lanes and monitored such that the peak signal strength expected to be received in vehicles within the monitored (HOT) lanes will be significantly higher than that received in vehicles in other lanes. By selecting a threshold in between these two expected peak values, the OBU or DIM can determine if the vehicle is actually in the monitored travel lane, thus providing a means to automatically charge tolls without the need for the driver to use the DIM to turn tolling on or off.”).
Regarding Claim 19 Gravelle teaches the limitations "The method of claim 18, wherein the wireless backhaul interface is a cellular network interface or a low-power, long-range (LoRa) network interface" (see fig. 3 (312)).
Regarding Claim 20 Gravelle teaches the limitations "The method of claim 18, further comprising an onboard diagnostics (OBD) device coupled to at least one RF reader interface of the plurality of RF reader interfaces and the wireless backhaul interface" (see fig. 3 and par. 0088 “battery powered RF beacons can be placed proximate to the roads at jurisdiction border locations and their communication zones directed to cover the relevant roadways so that they can communicate with the OBU over its built in wireless link.” i.e. reader on OBU with OBD to read RF beacons and fig. 3 shows OBU includes GSM).
Claims 3-4, 8-9 and 12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gravelle and Patil as applied to their respective parent claims above, and further in view of Manzari et al. (US 2018/0229744 A1).
Regarding Claim 3 Gravelle and Patil teach the system of claim 1, but do not explicitly disclose “wherein the wireless backhaul interface comprises a low-power, long-range (LoRa) network interface."
In the same field of endeavor Manzari discloses an engine monitoring and maintenance dispatch system where the OBD adapter communicates to cloud via cellular and LoRa (see abstract, fig. 1 and par. 0034 and 0037).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use LoRa and Cellular to connect to a server as taught by Manzari in the system of Gravelle and Patil, in order to allow for commands and instructions to be received by OBD-II adapter 120 from cloud 160, such as updating maintenance information data or commands to OBD-II adapter 120 (see par. 0040).
Claim 4 is rejected for the same reasons set forth above.
Regarding Claim 8 Gravelle and Patil teach the system of claim 1, but do not explicitly disclose “wherein the RF reader interface is configured to receive LE RF beacons from one or more of the LE RF transmitters, each LE RF transmitter having a power consumption of less than about 15 milliamperes (mA) and a frequency band of about 2.4 gigahertz (GHZ)" (see Manzari par. 0034 who shows the OBD can communicate via Bluetooth Low Energy (i.e. receive beacons from tags at 2.4Ghz)). It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use BLE as taught by Manzari in the system of Gravelle and Patil, in order to allow for commands and instructions to be received by OBD-II adapter 120 (see par. 0040).
Regarding Claim 9 Gravelle and Patil teach the limitations "The system of claim 1, wherein the RF reader interface includes an antenna having an omni-directional antenna pattern" (see par. 0034 showing BLE communication which utilizes general Bluetooth omni directional antenna).
Regarding Claim 12 Gravelle and Patil teach the limitations "The system of claim 1, wherein the RF reader interface includes a transmitter and a receiver" (see par. 0011 “The communications system is designed for bi-directional communications with a mobile communication device and/or a cloud computing application and is configured to receive dispatch information and send status information.”).
Claim 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gravelle and Patil as applied to their respective parent claims above, and further in view of Lakshimi (WO 2020/089643 A1).
Regarding Claim 7 Gravelle and Patil teach the system of claim 5, and having Bluetooth and cellular backhaul interface, but do not explicitly disclose “wherein the RF reader interface and wireless backhaul interface are included as an integrated device on a silicon chip and coupled to the OBD device, the system further comprising a battery for powering the integrated device."
In the same field of endeavor Lakshimi teaches an automotive device comprising: a processor; a memory; a network connection; and an On-Board Diagnostic (OBD) connection connectable to an OBD port of a vehicle, where transmitting the data from the dongle 101 within the vehicle 200 include WiFi, Bluetooth®, cellular, Vehicle-to-everything (V2X), which may include Dedicated Short- Range Communications (DSRC) and the dongle comprises a System-on-a-Chip (SoC) 205, which is an integrated circuit (IC) that integrates all components of a computer or other electronic system. . (see abstract par. 0020-0022).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include the backhaul and reader on chip as taught by Lakshimi in the system of Gravelle and Patil, in order to consume less power (see par. 0021).
Claims 11 and 15-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gravelle as applied to their respective parent claims above, and further in view of Khoche (US 2019/0370624 A1).
Regarding Claim 11 Gravelle and Patil teach the limitations "The system of claim 1, wherein the RF reader interface is powered on to receive LE RF beacons based on a trigger event that includes at least one of:
connection to a power source,
motion of the at least one movable object, a
location of the at least one movable object,
a voltage level of a battery of the at least one movable object,
disconnection from the power source,
continuous motion,
end of motion or motion stop, and
a network-based trigger, (see par. 0088, where vehicle onboard unit and ODB has reader that reads beacons from battery powered RF beacon transmitters throughout locations and the OBU is powered on via the vehicle turning on (i.e. connection to a power source).
However, Gravelle and Patil do not disclose “wherein the network server instructs the RF reader interface to scan.”
In the same field of endeavor Khoche teaches a method of creating a communications network. In this method, a first tape node includes a first type of wireless communication interface and a second type of wireless communication interface having a longer range than the first type of wireless communication interface. A second tape node includes the first type of wireless communication interface that is operable to communicate with the first tape node over a wireless communication connection established between the first type of wireless communication interfaces of the first and second tape nodes. Over a wireless communication connection, the first tape node sends programmatic code executable by the first tape node to function as a master tape node with respect to the second tape node, where the network schedules the node to detect RF beacons at trigger events and windows (see abstract and fig. 7 and par. 0067).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to schedule wakeups to detect RF beacons as taught by Khoche in the system of Gravelle and Patil, in order to optimize battery consumption (see par. 0043 of Khoche).
Regarding Claim 15 is rejected for the same reasons set forth above as the limitations have been addressed.
Regarding Claim 16 Gravelle, Patil and Khoche teach the limitations "The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the trigger event includes a timing event, a voltage level change of the battery, or movement of the apparatus" (see Gravelle par. 0088, where vehicle onboard unit and ODB has reader that reads beacons from battery powered RF beacon transmitters throughout locations and the OBU is powered on via the vehicle turning on (i.e. connection to a power source equates to voltage level change of battery).
Regarding Claim 17 Gravelle, Patil and Khoche teach the limitations "The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the wireless backhaul interface is configured to provide filtered detection data associated with received LE RF beacons to a network server according to a defined time, event, or location" (see par. 0068 “mounting battery powered low power radio devices (not shown) in the median or other locations proximate to the lane of travel, that can communicate with the DIM and/or the OBU in the vehicle. Such devices are set with a radiation pattern directed towards the HOT lanes and monitored such that the peak signal strength expected to be received in vehicles within the monitored (HOT) lanes will be significantly higher than that received in vehicles in other lanes. By selecting a threshold in between these two expected peak values, the OBU or DIM can determine if the vehicle is actually in the monitored travel lane, thus providing a means to automatically charge tolls without the need for the driver to use the DIM to turn tolling on or off” (i.e. threshold filtered data sent to tolling authority based on location).
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any extension fee pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DAVID BILODEAU whose telephone number is (571)270-3192. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Thursday 6:00am-4:00pm Eastern Standard Time.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Wesley Kim can be reached at (571) 272-7867. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/David Bilodeau/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2648