Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
1. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
2. This communication is in response to the Application No. 18/188,783 filed on 3/23/23. Claims 1 – 19 has been examined.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
3. The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
4. The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
5. Claim 4 recites the limitation "the second number of communication channels" in line 1 which is depend on claim 3. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. It should be depended on claim 1.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
6. Claim(s) 1 - is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shapira et al. (US 2005/0143091, Shapira hereafter) in further view of Miyata (US 2008/0119192).
Regarding claim 1, A method for allocating receiving and processing resources for scanning communication channels over a scanning time, the method carried out by a wireless device location unit, operable within a system for controlling functionalities of at least one wireless device located within a defined volume,
wherein said wireless device location unit comprises a radio frequency "RF" receiver operative to scan and receive signals transmittable by the at least one wireless device located within the defined volume, the RF receiver further connected to a plurality of antennas and further connected to a processor operative to process received signals,
wherein the at least one wireless device transmits signals on at least one communication channel, selected from a first number of communication channels (The present invention is of a system and method for accurate location, in real time, of a mobile cellular telephone in an indoor environment during emergencies (e.g. upon a "911" emergency call). The invention is based advantageously on the fact that a distributed antenna system can be used to monitor the RF signals received in each floor or area of each building covered by the DAS; ¶ 21; System 200 comprises, in addition to the elements of DAS 100, at least one location identification unit (LIU) that is operative to extract the location of a mobile cellular telephone located indoors, by processing the energy of RF signals obtained from the DAS. The energy of the RF signals is obtained by the LIU by tapping into the DAS. The tapping may be done at different point of the DAS. However, preferably, the tapping is done close to a BU, which concentrates all RF signals from a plurality of RHUs connected thereto, ¶ 22; The LIU then searches all RHUs to identify the RHU with the highest signal energy at the tuning window (channel frequency and time slot or code). This RHU is then assumed as the RHU receiving the emergency call, and the location of the caller is identified as lying in the area covered by this RHU; ¶ 22; a) interfaces between the external system and the LIU. The external system provides a required channel frequency and time slot, or a required channel frequency and code related to the emergency call; b) tunes the receiver to the required channel frequency and time slot, or channel frequency and code ("tuning window"); c) measures, at the tuning window, the signal energy received from each RHU; d) identifies, by comparison, which RHU has received the highest energy; e) determines the location of the handset (cellular telephone) that conducts the emergency call in the coverage area of the RHU that received the highest energy at the given tuning window; ¶ 25 - 32) , and
wherein the RF receiver is capable of simultaneously receiving a second number of communication channels which is smaller than the first number of communication channels; said method comprising:(a) dividing the scanning time into time slots, wherein at each time slot, allocating the RF receiver to receive signals in a channel selected from the first number of communication channels, and allocating the processor to process signals received in an earlier time slot (The LIU then searches all RHUs to identify the RHU with the highest signal energy at the tuning window (channel frequency and time slot or code). This RHU is then assumed as the RHU receiving the emergency call, and the location of the caller is identified as lying in the area covered by this RHU; ¶ 22; a) interfaces between the external system and the LIU. The external system provides a required channel frequency and time slot, or a required channel frequency and code related to the emergency call; b) tunes the receiver to the required channel frequency and time slot, or channel frequency and code ("tuning window"), ¶ 22 - 24).
However, does not specifically disclose (b) assigning a scanning priority to each of the first number of communication channels; (c) scanning, by the wireless device location unit, in accordance with the assigned scanning priority, at least one of said second number of communication channels, to detect and process RF signals transmitted by the at least one wireless device; (d) processing, by the processor, the received signals and assigning an updated scanning priority to at least one of the first number of communication channels, wherein the assigned scanning priority is dynamically modifiable by the processor; and (e) repeating steps (c) and (d) with the updated scanning priority.
Miyata teaches (b) assigning a scanning priority to each of the first number of communication channels; (c) scanning, by the wireless device location unit, in accordance with the assigned scanning priority, at least one of said second number of communication channels, to detect and process RF signals transmitted by the at least one wireless device; (d) processing, by the processor, the received signals and assigning an updated scanning priority to at least one of the first number of communication channels, wherein the assigned scanning priority is dynamically modifiable by the processor; and (e) repeating steps (c) and (d) with the updated scanning priority (In step A5, the wireless LAN device 1 selects only a part of the entire available channels. In performing the selection of the channels, first, a priority level is assigned to the each channel; A first method for assigning a priority level to each channel is as adopted in the present embodiment wherein the order of priority level is predetermined. For example, the priority order of channels in the base station search is assigned in the ascending order from 1 to 14 or a descending order from 14 to 1, or a random order of: 1, 6, 11, 14, 2, 7, 12 . . . , etc.; The example of FIG. 5 is in the ascending order. Here, when the base station search is performed in a given channel, then the channel with the next priority is most priority subjected to the next base station search; In the descending order, when in a given search process the channels 14 to 12 are subjected to the base station search, in the next base station search the subjects are the channels 11 to 9; A second method for assigning a priority level to each channel is by according to the order of date and time after being stored of the base station information, among the base station detection results stored in step A9. For example, if the base station detection results are as shown in FIG. 3, channel 6 of which lapsed time after the base station search is the longest (here 7) is assigned a primary priority level, and channels 11 and 40, of which lapsed time is the second longest, here 5, is assigned a secondary priority level, ¶ 132; Then, of the records the channel whose lapsed time after the base station search is the longest (the channel determined in accordance with the second method) is given the secondary priority. And then, the channel with the next in a predetermined priority order (the channel determined in accordance with the first method) is assigned a tertiary priority, ¶ 138; repeating search operation; paragraph 112).
It would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skilled in the art at the time of the filing to combine the teachings of Miyata’s priority search and selection with the system of Shapira. One would be motivated to combine these teachings because in doing so it can select the best channels or prioritizes the channels making the selection and use more accurate making the system more user friendly and reliable.
Regarding claim 2, Shapira with Miyata teaches claim 1, Shapira further teaches wherein the RF receiver comprises at least one RF receiver chain operative to receive signals in a selected communication channel and wherein the number of said at least one RF receiver chains is smaller than the number of said plurality of antennas; and wherein said receiving is performed by connecting at least one of the plurality of antennas to at least one of the RF receiver chains (Fig. 2, each RHU has multiple antennas so the number of RHU or receiver chain is smaller than the number of antennas).
Regarding claim 3, Shapira with Miyata teaches The method of claim 1, Shapira further teaches wherein each of the communication channels is defined by at least one of: a frequency band and frequency channel used by the at least one wireless device, a center frequency and bandwidth of the RF signals, a receiving antenna, and the RF receiver chain used to receive the signals (RHU, Fig. 2, has multiple antennas).
Regarding claim 4, Shapira with Miyata teaches The method of claim 3, Miyata further teaches wherein the second number of communication channels comprises a plurality of frequency channels and wherein the RF receiver is operative to simultaneously receive signals on no more than a subset of the frequency channels (frequency channels; ¶ 25, 43, 47, 59).
Regarding claim 5, Shapira with Miyata teaches The method of claim 1, Shapira further teaches wherein the at least one wireless device is one of a phone (mobile cellular telephone, Abstract), a smartphone, a tablet, a laptop, a PDA, a smartwatch, a wireless modem and, a game console.
Regarding claim 6, Shapira with Miyata The method of claim 3, Shapira further teaches wherein the frequency channels are associated with at least one of: cellular communication, Wi-Fi communication and, Bluetooth communication (cellular base station, Fig. 2).
Regarding claim 7, the examiner takes an official notice that wherein said defined volume is an interior space of a ground vehicle (indoor environment, Abstract Shapira; can be a ground vehicle, Abstract).
Regarding claim 8, the examiner takes an official notice that, wherein said defined volume is one of a classroom, a meeting room, a theater, a medical room and, a manufacturing area (indoor environment, Abstract; or inside buildings Shapira; can be a classroom, a meeting room, a theater, a medical room and, a manufacturing area).
Regarding claim 9, Shapira with Miyata The method of claim 1, Shapira further teaches wherein the wireless device location unit is further connected to an application server, and wherein the first number of communication channels is updated by the application server in accordance with an expected activity of said communication channels (The external system provides the channel frequency and time slot of the emergency call in case of time division multiple access (TDMA), or the channel frequency and code of the emergency call in the case of code division multiple access (CDMA). An external system according to the present invention may be a location identification system for the macro-network. As well known, this is a system that enables locating emergency calls outside of buildings. It identifies the fact that an emergency call has been made, and provides information on the frequency and time slot (or code) to the relevant equipment (in this case the LIU). Alternatively, an external system may include other elements or combination of elements of the cellular network, referred to collectively herein as a "subsystem" of the cellular network, Fig. 3; ¶ 23).
Regarding claim 10, Shapira with Miyata teaches The method of claim 1, Shapira further teaches wherein the wireless device location unit is further connected over a wireless link to at least one of the wireless devices and configured to send commands to the wireless device and wherein said commands comprise a request from the wireless device to transmit signals coordinated with said command (It identifies the fact that an emergency call has been made, and provides information on the frequency and time slot (or code) to the relevant equipment (in this case the LIU). Alternatively, an external system may include other elements or combination of elements of the cellular network, referred to collectively herein as a "subsystem" of the cellular network, Fig. 3; external system, ¶ 23).
Regarding claim 12, Shapira with Miyata teaches The method of claim 1, Miyata further teaches wherein the wireless device location unit is further configured to locate the wireless device within the defined volume, and wherein the updated scanning priority assigned to the at least one communication channel is related to at least one of the communication channels associated with the wireless device that has been located (Changing the methods of assigning the priority level to the channel, or changing the method of determining the number of channels, can reduce the time needed for searching a base station, to which the communication is reconnected by the handover, ¶ 64).
Regarding claim 17, the wireless device substantially has same limitations as claim 1, thus the same rejection is applicable.
Regarding claim 18, Shapira with Miyata teaches The wireless device location unit of claim 17, Miyata further comprising a scheduler for allocating receiving and processing resources for scanning communication channels over a scanning time (As shown in the record of the eighth line of FIG. 3, when no base station is detected even by the scanning performed by the base station search unit 11F, the base station search unit 11F stores only the wireless LAN classification P1, the channel P2, and the elapsed time after base station search P6, in the base station detection results storage area 124. A record after lapse of predetermined time after being stored in the base station detection results storage area 124 may be deleted by the control section 11, paragraph 79).
Regarding claim 19, the non-transitory computer readable medium substantially has same limitations as claim 1, thus the same rejection is applicable.
Allowable Subject Matter
7. Claims 11, 13 – 16 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
8. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TANMAY K SHAH whose telephone number is (571)270-3624. The examiner can normally be reached Mon - Fri - 8:00 - 5:00.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Chieh Fan can be reached at 571-272-3042. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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TANMAY K. SHAH
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2632
/TANMAY K SHAH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2632