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 .
This action is responsive to the amendment of 07/22/2025.
Response to Arguments
Claim interpretation
As amended, claim 1 is now directed to at least one processor, a vibration generator, and an optical fiber, where the at least one processor is configured to control other devices outside of the claimed system and the vibration generator is configured to operate in a particular way. Neither claim 1 nor claim 6 is currently considered to require interpretation under 35 U.S.C. § 112(f), so that interpretation is withdrawn.
Rejections under 35 U.S.C. § 112(b)
The amendments are considered to clarify the scope of the claims, so the rejections under 35 U.S.C. § 112(b) are withdrawn.
Prior Art Rejections
Applicant’s first argument is that neither Barfoot nor Wikipedia discloses generating vibrations that are associated with latitude or longitude, however, this argument is not persuasive. Barfoot does disclose generating vibrations that encode location information via the acoustic waveform mentioned in Applicant’s remarks as being taught in paragraph 24 of Barfoot (see Barfoot, paragraph 24). An acoustic waveform transmitted by a speaker or vibrator is a vibration. The existing ground of rejection is maintained.
Applicant’s second argument is that the dependent claims are allowable due to their dependency, however, this argument is not persuasive, as the independent claims are not currently in condition for allowance, though incorporating subject matter from certain (now-canceled) dependent claims into the independent claims has changed the scope of uncanceled dependent claims in ways that necessitate corresponding adjustments to the prior art rejections thereto.
Near the end of the section of Applicant’s Remarks titled “Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102 and 35 USC § 103”, Applicant cites a list of claims as being dependent claims (characterizing those claims as allowable) and a second, overlapping list of claims as canceled (stating that rejections against them are moot), however, that first list does not match the dependent claims in the claim set as currently amended, and the second list does not match the list of claims that are described as canceled elsewhere in Applicant’s latest filing, such as at the beginning of the Remarks and in the list of claims itself. This is believed to by a typographic error rather than a desire to cancel any additional claims. Unless and until Applicant specifies otherwise, the “Status of Application” section is considered correct, and only claims 2-3, 7-8, and 11-12 are considered canceled, which exactly matches the subset of claims that have been replaced by “(Canceled)” in the most recent amendment. Likewise, claim dependency is judged based on the text of each claim as currently amended.
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, 9-10, and 13-14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Barfoot (US Patent Publication 20150098673) in view of Wikipedia (Non-Patent Literature “Frequency-division multiplexing”).
Regarding claim 1, Barfoot teaches a position specifying system comprising:
at least one processor configured to execute a position information acquisition unit configured to acquire position information (FIG. 3, navigational receiver 26, which may comprise a GPS (paragraph 56));
a vibration generator (FIG. 3, transmitter 30) configured to generate vibration (FIG. 3, signal 18) including the position information (FIG. 3, modulated by modulator 28); and
an optical fiber configured to detect the vibration (FIG. 3, optical waveguide 22);
wherein the at least one processor is configured to execute:
a communication unit configured to receive an optical signal including the position information included in the vibration (FIG. 2, interrogator 14);
a distance specifying unit (FIG. 2, computer 38) configured to specify, based on the optical signal, a distance of the optical fiber from a location of the communication unit to a location where the optical fiber detects vibration (paragraph 11); and
a position specifying unit configured to specify, based on the optical signal, the position information included in the optical signal and store the distance and the position information in association with each other (paragraph 83),
wherein the vibration generator is configured to generate vibration of a frequency associated with the position information (paragraph 58 lists frequency shift keying as a suitable modulation technique. Note also that generating vibrations that encode information associates generating vibrations with that information.),
wherein the position specifying unit is configured to specify a frequency of the vibration, based on the optical signal, and to further specify the position information included in the optical signal, based on the specified frequency (paragraph 39 describes decoding the acoustic information transmitted to the fiber to determine GPS coordinates. With frequency shift keying, this would involve specifying frequencies of the acoustic vibrations),
wherein the position information represents latitude and longitude (paragraph 24, final sentence), and
Barfoot does not explicitly teach that the vibration generation unit simultaneously generates vibration of a first frequency associated to latitude and vibration of a second frequency associated to longitude.
In the same field of endeavor of transmitting signals containing information, Wikipedia teaches using multiple frequency bands to carry separate signals (introduction, first sentence), which could be latitude and longitude signals in order to increase the amount of information that can be transmitted at one time, which would be an advantage in methods wherein the vibration generator simultaneously generates vibration of a first frequency associated with latitude and vibration of a second frequency associated with longitude (the first frequency would be in one frequency band and the second frequency would be in the second frequency band).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the fiber locating device of Barfoot with the frequency-domain multiplexing of Wikipedia to increase the rate at which measurements can be taken by sending multiple acoustic signals at once in first and second frequency bands to convey both latitude and longitude simultaneously.
Regarding claim 4, Barfoot, as modified by Wikipedia, teaches or renders obvious the position specifying system according to claim 1 (as described above).
Barfoot further teaches that the vibration generator is configured to generate vibration of the first frequency associated with latitude and vibration of the second frequency associated with longitude at different timings (paragraph 58 recites the use of frequency shift keying, whereby latitude would be specified by different timings of two frequencies, including a first frequency, and longitude would be specified by different timings of two frequencies, including a second frequency).
Regarding claim 5, Barfoot, as modified by Wikipedia, teaches or renders obvious the position specifying system according to claim 1 (as described above).
Barfoot further teaches that the vibration generator is configured to generate the vibration at a plurality of locations (paragraph 32),
wherein the distance specifying unit specifies is configured to specify the distance at each of the plurality of locations (paragraph 32), and
wherein the position specifying unit is configured to specify the position information at each of the plurality of locations, store the distance and the position information of each of the plurality of locations in association with each other, and specify an installation route of the optical fiber, based on the association between the distance and the position information of each of the plurality of locations (paragraph 32).
Regarding claim 6, Barfoot teaches a vibration generator comprising: at least one memory storing instructions (paragraph 58);
at least one processor configured to execute the instructions to acquire position information (paragraph 58, to run the software, firmware or other suitable form); and
a vibration generator (FIG. 3, transmitter 30) configured to apply vibration (FIG. 3, signal 18) including the position information to an optical fiber (FIG. 3, modulated by modulator 28),
wherein the vibration generator is configured to apply vibration of a frequency associated with the position information to the optical fiber (paragraph 58 lists frequency shift keying as a suitable modulation technique. Note also that generating vibrations that encode information associates generating vibrations with that information.),
wherein the position information represents latitude and longitude (paragraph 24, final sentence), and
Barfoot does not explicitly teach that the vibration generation unit simultaneously applies, to the optical fiber, vibration of a first frequency associated to latitude and vibration of a second frequency associated to longitude.
In the same field of endeavor of transmitting signals containing information, Wikipedia teaches using multiple frequency bands to carry separate signals (introduction, first sentence), which could be latitude and longitude signals in order to increase the amount of information that can be transmitted at one time, which would be an advantage in methods wherein the vibration generator simultaneously generates vibration of a first frequency associated with latitude and vibration of a second frequency associated with longitude (the first frequency would be in one frequency band and the second frequency would be in the second frequency band).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the vibration generating device of Barfoot with the frequency-domain multiplexing of Wikipedia to increase the rate at which measurements can be taken by sending multiple acoustic signals at once to convey both latitude and longitude simultaneously.
Regarding claim 9, Barfoot, as modified by Wikipedia, teaches or renders obvious the vibration generator according to claim 6 (as described above).
Barfoot further teaches that the vibration generator is configured to apply, to the optical fiber, vibration of the first frequency associated with latitude and vibration of the second frequency associated with longitude at different timings (paragraph 58 recites the use of frequency shift keying, whereby latitude would be specified by different timings of two frequencies, including a first frequency, and longitude would be specified by different timings of two frequencies, including a second frequency).
Regarding claim 10, Barfoot teaches a position specifying method performed by a position specifying system, the method comprising:
an operation of acquiring position information (FIG. 3, navigational receiver 26, which may comprise a GPS (paragraph 56));
a vibration generating operation of generating vibration including the position information (FIG. 3, transmitter 30 emitting signal 18) including the position information (FIG. 3, modulated by modulator 28);
an operation of detecting the vibration by use of an optical fiber (paragraph 17 recites a number of distributed sensing techniques using optical fiber);
an operation of receiving an optical signal including the position information included in the vibration by use of a communication unit (FIG. 2, interrogator 14);
a distance specifying operation of specifying, based on the optical signal, a distance of the optical fiber from a location of the communication unit to a location where the optical fiber detects vibration (paragraph 11); and
a position specifying operation of specifying, based on the optical signal, the position information included in the optical signal and storing the distance and the position information in association with each other (paragraph 83)s
wherein the vibration generating operation includes generating vibration of a frequency associated with the position information (paragraph 58 lists frequency shift keying as a suitable modulation technique),
wherein the position specifying operation includes specifying a frequency of the vibration, based on the optical signal, and further specifying the position information included in the optical signal, based on the specified frequency (paragraph 39 describes decoding the acoustic information transmitted to the fiber to determine GPS coordinates. With frequency shift keying, this would involve specifying frequencies of the acoustic vibrations),
wherein the position information represents latitude and longitude (paragraph 24, final sentence).
Barfoot does not explicitly teach that the vibration generating step includes simultaneously generating vibration of a first frequency associated to latitude and vibration of a second frequency associated to longitude.
In the same field of endeavor of transmitting signals containing information, Wikipedia teaches using multiple frequency bands to carry separate signals (introduction, first sentence), which could be latitude and longitude signals in order to increase the amount of information that can be transmitted at one time, which would be an advantage in methods wherein the vibration generator simultaneously generates vibration of a first frequency associated with latitude and vibration of a second frequency associated with longitude (the first frequency would be in one frequency band and the second frequency would be in the second frequency band).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the fiber locating method of Barfoot with the frequency-domain multiplexing of Wikipedia to increase the rate at which measurements can be taken by sending multiple acoustic signals at once to convey both latitude and longitude simultaneously.
Regarding claim 13, Barfoot, as modified by Wikipedia, teaches or renders obvious the position specifying method according to claim 10 (as described above).
Barfoot further teaches that the vibration generating operation includes generating vibration of the first frequency associated with latitude and vibration of the second frequency associated with longitude at different timings (paragraph 58 recites the use of frequency shift keying, whereby latitude would be specified by different timings of two frequencies, including a first frequency, and longitude would be specified by different timings of two frequencies, including a second frequency).
Regarding claim 14, Barfoot, as modified by Wikipedia, teaches or renders obvious the position specifying method according to claim 10 (as described above).
Barfoot further teaches that the vibration generating operation includes generating the vibration at a plurality of locations (paragraph 32),
wherein the distance specifying operation includes specifying the distance at each of the plurality of locations (paragraph 32), and
wherein the position specifying operation includes specifying the position information at each of the plurality of locations, storing the distance and the position information of each of the plurality of locations in association with each other, and specifying an installation route of the optical fiber, based on the association between the distance and the position information of each of the plurality of locations (paragraph 32).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Champavere (US Patent Publication 20200309639) also teaches use of acoustic signals applied to an optical fiber cable are used to convey information to a detector at an end of the optical fiber cable. In particular, paragraph 23, final sentence of Champavere teaches the use of a particular frequency to convey particular information (i.e., the frequency of the acoustic signal is the message).
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). 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 nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) 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 PAUL D SCHNASE whose telephone number is (703)756-1691. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 8:30 AM - 5:00 PM ET.
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/PAUL SCHNASE/Examiner, Art Unit 2877
/UZMA ALAM/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2877
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