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 . In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group II (claims 14-19) in the reply filed on 3/11/2026 is acknowledged.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 14 and 16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Preston et al. (US 2019/0248391 A1).
Referring to Claim 14: Preston discloses a stationary gateway (910) for facilitating monitoring of the location of a mobile railway asset (930B) in a railway connected facility (900) (Fig. 10A), the stationary gateway comprising:
a GNSS receiver (912) configured to receive GNSS data from satellites (920) of a GNSS (Para. [0035]);
a communication interface (940) operable to communicate with a GNSS-enabled device of a mobile railway asset, the communication interface configured to facilitate communication between the GNSS-enabled device and a remote computer (930A) over a network (Para. [0036]);
a processor (“receiver’s computer”, Para. [0035]) operably coupled to the GNSS receiver and the communication interface, the processor configured to:
perform a self-survey using the GNSS data from the GNSS receiver (Para. [0035]);
determine a self-surveyed location (“actual known position”, Para. [0035]) of the stationary gateway (Para. [0034]);
determine a current location (“calculate its position from satellite data”, Para. [0035]) of the stationary gateway using current GNSS data received by the GNSS receiver, the current location of the stationary gateway being less accurate than the self-surveyed location;
determine current location error data (“find the difference”, Para. [0035]) by comparing the current location of the stationary gateway to the self-surveyed location of the stationary gateway; and
communicate the current location error data (“base station 910 corrections”, Para. [0035]) to a GNSS-enabled device (930B) (Para. [0036]) (see also step 320 in Fig. 10B) to facilitate the GNSS-enabled device determining a location of the mobile railway asset (step 340 in Fig. 10B) based at least in part on current location error data from the stationary gateway (Para. [0037]).
Referring to Claim 16: Preston discloses the stationary gateway of claim 14 wherein the communication interface (940) is configured to communicate (step 350 in Fig. 10B) information indicative of the location of the mobile railway asset (930B) from the GNSS-enabled device to an external device (930A) (Para. [0036-0037]).
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) 15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Preston et al. (US 2019/0248391 A1) in view of Breed et al. (US 2002/0198632 A1).
Referring to Claim 15: Preston does not specifically teach that the current location error data includes information identifying the satellites used by the stationary gateway to calculate the current location error data. However, Breed teaches a method and arrangement for communicating between vehicles comprising a Precise Positioning Station (PPS), wherein the current location error data includes information identifying the satellites used by the PPS to calculate the current location error data (Para. [0116]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, for Preston to use current location error data including satellite identification, as taught by Breed, in order that “[a]ll vehicles that are in communication with the vehicle at the PPS similarly can determine their exact position and the system approaches perfection,” (Breed, Para. [0116]) with a reasonable expectation of success.
Regarding the instant claimed steps of method claims 17-19, note that the operation of the prior structure of claims 14-16 inherently requires the method steps as claimed.
Conclusion
The references made of record and not relied upon are considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure because the references relate to GNSS, RTK and DGPS systems for use in railway vehicle location determination:
US-20190196026-A1, US-20210039692-A1, US-20200148238-A1, US-20200353961-A1, US-20040140405-A1, US-10859714-B2, US-10562553-B2, US-10814894-B2,
US-11697443-B2, US-11454728-B2, US-6135396-A, and US-5638078-A.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ZACHARY L KUHFUSS whose telephone number is (571)270-7858. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 10:00am to 6:00 pm CDT.
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, Samuel (Joe) Morano can be reached on (571)272-6682. 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.
/ZACHARY L KUHFUSS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3615A
Prosecution Insights