DETAILED ACTION
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1-20 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
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)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1, 7-9, 16-17, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Ganwani et al. (US 11346918 B1).
Considering claims 1, 9, Ganwani teaches a Bluetooth positioning method/an electronic device (Fig.1, 5, col.1, lines 19-29: Bluetooth® devices), comprising steps of:
acquiring a sampled message (DFE, Fig.1, 5,col.9, lines 34-39: a packet reception operation 140, with receiver 26 of interrogation device 20 receiving a signal that carries a BLE packet from wireless device 22, col.5, lines 46-52), wherein the sampled message comprises a sampled IQ data (a sequence of in-phase (“I”) samples and a corresponding sequence of quadrature (“Q”) samples) and a data signal strength indicator (, and the sampled IQ data comprises a plurality of sampled IQ values obtained by sequentially sampling, according to a preset order (switching pattern), signals received or transmitted by a plurality of antennas in a Bluetooth antenna array (Fig.4, col.8, line 61 to col.9, line 3), wherein the signals received or transmitted by the plurality of antennas are signals transmitted by an identical signal source (Fig.1, 5, col.1, lines 54-69: received signal levels of the multiple temporal sections of the signal, col.3, lines 47-62; col.9, lines 34-39; col.5, lines 46-52); and
judging whether the data signal strength indicator (signal level) is greater than a preset threshold (col.1, lines 54-69: received signal levels of the multiple temporal sections of the signal, col.6, lines 33-52, DFE magnitude samples higher than this threshold),
wherein when the data signal strength indicator (signal level) is greater than the preset threshold, a position angle of the signals is obtained based on the sampled IQ data in the sampled message (col.1, lines 54-69: received signal levels of the multiple temporal sections of the signal, and to estimate the position of the wireless device responsively to respective phases of the multiple temporal sections of the signal; col.3, line 47 to col.4, line 14, col.6, lines 33-52, DFE magnitude samples higher than this threshold).
Considering claim 8, Ganwani teaches a terminal device (Fig.1-2, 5, col.1, lines 19-29: Bluetooth® devices), comprising:
a Bluetooth module, comprising a Bluetooth antenna array (24, Fig.1-2) and a Bluetooth chip (30, Fig.1-2), wherein the Bluetooth chip is configured for sequentially sampling (a sequence of in-phase (“I”) samples and a corresponding sequence of quadrature (“Q”) samples), according to a preset order (switching pattern) to obtain a plurality of sampled IQ values (signal level), signals received or transmitted by a plurality of antennas in the Bluetooth antenna array (24, Fig.1-2), acquiring a data signal strength indicator of the signals received or transmitted by the Bluetooth antenna array (Fig.4, col.8, line 61 to col.9, line 3), and generating a sampled message based on the plurality of sampled IQ values and the data signal strength indicator (Fig.1, 5, col.1, lines 54-69: received signal levels of the multiple temporal sections of the signal, col.3, lines 47-62; col.9, lines 34-39; col.5, lines 46-52); and
a processor (30), wherein the processor is configured for acquiring the sampled message transmitted by the Bluetooth module (DFE, Fig.1, 5, col.9, lines 34-39: a packet reception operation 140, with receiver 26 of interrogation device 20 receiving a signal that carries a BLE packet from wireless device 22, col.5, lines 46-52), and
judging whether the data signal strength indicator (signal level) is greater than a preset threshold (col.1, lines 54-69: received signal levels of the multiple temporal sections of the signal, col.6, lines 33-52, DFE magnitude samples higher than this threshold),
wherein when the data signal strength indicator (signal level) is greater than the preset threshold, a position angle of the signals is obtained based on the sampled IQ data in the sampled message (col.1, lines 54-69: received signal levels of the multiple temporal sections of the signal, and to estimate the position of the wireless device responsively to respective phases of the multiple temporal sections of the signal; col.3, line 47 to col.4, line 14, col.6, lines 33-52, DFE magnitude samples higher than this threshold).
Considering claims 7, 20, Ganwani teaches acquiring number of the sampled messages whose data signal strength indicator is lower than the preset threshold within a preset duration (col.1, lines 54-69); and adjusting the preset threshold according to the number of the sampled messages whose data signal strength indicator (signal level) is lower than the preset threshold (col.1, lines 54-69: received signal levels of the multiple temporal sections of the signal; col.3, line 47 to col.4, line 14, col.6, lines 33-52, DFE magnitude samples lower than this threshold).
16, wherein the method further comprises, before the step of obtaining based on the plurality of phase differences after the phase compensation processing the position angle at a current time point (col.1, lines 54-69: position of the wireless device responsively to respective phases of the multiple temporal sections of the signal), a step of: determining that a standard deviation of the plurality of phase differences is smaller than a preset standard deviation threshold (col.3, line 59 to col.4, line 14, phase differences, col.6, lines 33-52, threshold).
17, wherein the method further comprises, after the step of obtaining the position angle at a current time point, a step of: determining a target position angle based on the position angle and a plurality of position angles adjacent to the position angle (col.1, lines 54-69: estimate the position of the wireless device responsively to respective phases of the multiple temporal sections of the signal).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-6, 10-15, and 18-19 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
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KHAI MINH NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)272-7923. The examiner can normally be reached 6-3.
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, Charles Appiah can be reached at 571-272-7904. 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.
/KHAI M NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2641