DETAILED ACTION
This Office Action is in response to the Applicants' communication filed on June 18, 2026, which amends claims 1, 9, 17, and presents arguments, is hereby acknowledged. Claims 1-20 are currently pending and have been examined.
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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed on June 18, 2026 have been fully considered.
Applicant argues in its Argument that cited arts fail to teach limitations of the amended independent Claim 1, specifically:
“(ii) identifying one anchor of the set of anchors as an initiator and each anchor of the set of anchors not identified as the initiator as responders"
Examiner replies: In response to applicant’s argument that there is no teaching, suggestion, or motivation to combine the references, the examiner recognizes that obviousness may be established by combining or modifying the teachings of the prior art to produce the claimed invention where there is some teaching, suggestion, or motivation to do so found either in the references themselves or in the knowledge generally available to one of ordinary skill in the art. See In re Fine, 837 F.2d 1071, 5 USPQ2d 1596 (Fed. Cir. 1988), In re Jones, 958 F.2d 347, 21 USPQ2d 1941 (Fed. Cir. 1992), and KSR International Co. v. Teleflex, Inc., 550 U.S. 398, 82 USPQ2d 1385 (2007).
During patent examination, the pending claims must be given their broadest reasonable interpretation consistent with the specification. See MPEP § 2111. Further, although the claims are interpreted in light of the specification, limitations from the specification are not read into the claims. See In re Van Geuns, 988 F.2d 1181, 26 USPQ2d 1057 (Fed. Cir. 1993). See also MPEP § 2145(VI).
Regarding limitations the Claim 1 of the instant case, Williams teaches in Fig. 3, a master node is selected among a set of anchor nodes to initialize pair-wise range measurements; [0050], “the master node may select an anchor node to act as an origin of a new RF-based reference grid. The new origin node may repeat the same grid establishment process previously performed by the master node to generate 314 a refined reference grid, and may distribute the position of all anchor nodes in the new, more accurate, reference grid.”, which clearly teaches the step (v) of amended claim limitations.
In view of the amended Claims and upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection, necessitated by the amendments is made in view of different interpretation of the previously applied references and new prior art as presented in this Office action. Therefore, Applicant’s arguments are moot. 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).
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 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 20180009112 A1 (Williams), in view of US 20220200656 A1 (Subraveti) and in further view of US 20230075389 A1 (Wu) and, US 20130046420 A1 (.Gottifredi) and Hamer, M. and D’Andrea, R., 2018. Self-calibrating ultra-wideband network supporting multi-robot localization. IEEE Access, 6, pp.22292-22304 (Hamer).
Regarding Claims 1, 9 and 17:
A method comprising: (i) identifying a set of anchors a plurality of anchors, the set of anchors including a first anchor and multiple second anchors, wherein the plurality of anchors are located in a service area to be traversed by a robot; (ii) identifying one anchor of the set of anchors as an initiator and each anchor of the set of anchors not identified as the initiator as responders; (iii) sending, to the initiator and the responders via a wireless side-link, ranging information and a command to start ultra-wideband (UWB) ranging; (iv) receiving, from the initiator via the wireless side-link, pair-wise range measurements representing UWB range measurements between the initiator and the responders, wherein the pair-wise range measurements are inter-anchor distances between the plurality of anchors obtained by taking an average of UWB ranging measurements between the initiator and the responders; (v) repeating (ii)-(iv) until each anchor of the set of anchors has been identified as the initiator; (vi) generating initial location values for the set of anchors based on the pair-wise range measurements and one or more geometric constraints imposed on the set of anchors; and (vii) estimating 3D coordinates of the set of anchors using the initial location values based on a local reference frame created by assigning the first anchor to be an origin of the local reference frame and creating an axis using one of the multiple second anchors (Williams: Figs. 1-2, a robot 100 in a servicing area with multiple anchor nodes 205; Fig. 3 and [0037]-[0050], a method of autonomously establishing an RF-reference grid or map based on UWB, which enables one of anchor nodes as master node (i.e., initiator); the master node initiates a pair-wise range measurements between the master node and other anchor nodes (i.e., responders) to form an initial course reference grid, and then go through a refine process to generate a refined reference grid/map, where Subraveti: Figs. 1-5 illustrate explicitly a method to do so based on UWB technology; Williams: [0069], additional constraints can be added onto the map; [0050], “the master node may select an anchor node to act as an origin of a new RF-based reference grid. The new origin node may repeat the same grid establishment process previously performed by the master node to generate 314 a refined reference grid, and may distribute the position of all anchor nodes in the new, more accurate, reference grid.”, which clearly teaches the step (v) of amended claim limitations).
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention was made to modify Williams with a method of conducting range measurement based on UWB as further taught by Subraveti. The advantage of doing so is to enable a secure and efficient communication method to conducting range measurement (Subraveti: [0001]-[0003]).
Williams does not teach explicitly on generating a 3D map. However Wu teaches (Wu: Figs. 2-3 and [0029]-[0033], using UWB to determine a range between devices, tags, anchors that are equipped with UWB transceivers; Figs. 4-9, a method of generating 3D maps based on position/range info from UWB measurements).
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention was made to modify Williams with generating a 3D map as further taught by Wu. The advantage of doing so is to provide a mechanism to cover the practical applications of establishing UWB ranging-based reference frames, and do not reflect determinations of a robot position and pose without additional types of sensors (e.g., non-UWB based) (Wu: [0001]-[0006]).
Williams as modified does not teach explicitly on using average measurements. However, Gottifredi teaches (Gottifredi: par. 212).
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention was made to modify Williams with using average measurements as further taught by Gottifredi. The advantage of doing so is to provide a navigation system for exploring and/or monitoring unknown and/or difficult (or inaccessible) environments (Gottifredi: par. 1-4).
Williams does not teach explicitly on a local reference frame created by assigning the first anchor to be an origin of the local reference frame and creating an axis using one of the multiple second anchors. However, Hamer teaches (Hamer: IV., e.g., IV.B., anchor A lies at the origin, anchor B along the positive x-axis, anchor C in the positive y-direction, and anchor D in the positive z-direction; in addition, II.B., using both LOS and NLOS for localization).
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention was made to modify Williams with a local reference frame created by assigning the first anchor to be an origin of the local reference frame and creating an axis using one of the multiple second anchors as further taught by Hamer. The advantage of doing so is to provide a localization system that permits multiple robots to localize themselves simultaneously within a given area (Hamer: Abstract).
Regarding Claims 2, 10 and 18, Williams as modified further teaches:
The method of Claim 1, further comprising: determining that an additional anchor is in a severe non-line-of-sight (NLoS) condition; determining a location of the robot in the service area; identifying the robot as a responder and identifying some of the plurality of anchors as either a responder or an initiator; and performing the UWB ranging again to estimate a location of the additional anchor (Hamer: II.B., using both LOS and NLOS for localization).
Regarding Claims 3, 11 and 19, Williams as modified further teaches:
The method of Claim 1, further comprising: receiving, from the initiator via the wireless side-link, channel information obtained by the initiator during the UWB range measurements between the initiator and the responders, the channel information comprising at least one of: Channel Impulse Response (CIR), Channel State Information (CSI), Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) (It is noted that the side link shared channel communication is standardize by LTE standard, where CIR, CSI and RSSI are known channel info formats per LTE standard; the side link is a direct communication link that can use various technologies, e.g., 4G, BT, WIFI, and in 5G to use UWB).
Regarding Claims 4, 12 and 20, Williams as modified further teaches:
The method of Claim 3, further comprising: determining, based on the channel information, if one or more anchors of the plurality of anchors are in a severe non-line-of-sight (NLoS) condition such that accuracy of range measurement is affected; and sending a user notification to move the one or more anchors to a new position (Hamer: II.B., both LOS and NLOS performance are studied; where methods of generating indicators to adjust an anchor, beacon, or a device is known in the field).
Regarding Claims 5, 13, Williams as modified further teaches:
The method of Claim 1, wherein the wireless side-link comprises a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) or Wi-Fi connection (It is noted that the side link shared channel communication is standardize by LTE standard, where CIR, CSI and RSSI are known channel info formats per LTE standard; the side link is a direct communication link that can use various technologies, e.g., 4G, BT, WIFI, and in 5G to use UWB).
Regarding Claims 6, 14, Williams as modified further teaches:
The method of Claim 1, wherein the 3D coordinates of the initiator and the responders are estimated using a least-squares method (Williams: [0071]).
Regarding Claims 7, 15, Williams as modified further teaches:
The method of Claim 1, wherein sending, to the initiator and the responders via the wireless side-link, the ranging information comprises: sending, to the initiator, an initiator anchor role, unique session IDs of each of the responders, and one or more UWB ranging parameters; and sending, to each of the responders, a responder anchor role, a unique session ID corresponding to that responder, and the one or more UWB ranging parameters (Wu: Figs. 2-4 and [0029]-[0033], performing pair-wise measurements that can be UWB ranging parameters, e.g., range, range and angle, relative elevation, and IDs in 1+ anchor case; Williams: Fig. 3 and [0037]-[0050], a method of autonomously establishing an RF-reference grid or map based on UWB, which enables one of anchor nodes as master node, i.e., role of initiator)
Regarding Claims 8, 16, Williams as modified further teaches:
The method of Claim 1, wherein the one or more geometric constraints comprise: the anchors form a quadrangle; and the anchors are arranged in the quadrangle in a counter-clockwise sequence (Williams: Fig. 2, where anchors are arranged in clockwise or counter clockwise are design choices).
Conclusion
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 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 ZHITONG CHEN whose telephone number is (571)270-1936. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 9:30am - 5pm.
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, Yuwen Pan can be reached on 571-272-7855. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ZHITONG CHEN/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2649
