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 restriction to the Application No. 18/308,095 filed on 1/26/26. Elected group I (without traverse), Claims 1 - 11 has been examined.
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 – 3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Freestone et al. (US 2019/0324154, Freestone hereafter) in further view of Zavadsky et al. (US 2018/0034617, Zavadsky hereafter).
Regarding claim 1, Freestone teaches A Global Positioning System (GPS) digital antenna controller (Referring to FIGS. 1A and 1B, a system 100, e.g., a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS)/Inertial Navigation System (INS) system, includes an antenna side (A) and a receiver side (B), paragraph 30), comprising:
antenna electronics configured to receive a GPS signal (The antenna enclosure 105 includes a GNSS antenna 110 configured to receive one or more GNSS signals from one or more GNSS satellites, wherein the one or more GNSS signals contain GNSS information, paragraph 30);
a digital antenna controller clock (The antenna side controller 130 includes at least a sensor clock 132 and an RF modulator/de-modulator 135. The sensor clock 132 of the antenna side controller 130 may be synchronized with GNSS time, paragraph 33);
a code generator configured to generate a code signal synchronized with the digital antenna controller clock (the antenna side controller 130 may utilize the sensor clock 132 to time-tag the sensor data. The RF modulator/de-modulator 135 modulates the sensor data, which may or may not be time-tagged, onto a RF communication signal to produce a sensor RF communication signal that utilizes a RF frequency that is different than the RF frequency utilized by the one or more GNSS signals (e.g., 1176-1610 MHz), paragraph 33, 41); and
an interface configured to send the GPS signal and the code signal to a GPS receiver (The receiver side controller 174 may format the sensor data according to a protocol utilized to transmit the sensor data as packets to the GNSS receiver 155 via a communication port 170, paragraph 37; antenna enclosure 105 such that the antenna side controller 130 can synchronize the sensor clock 132 with GNSS time. Specifically, the receiver side controller 174 may utilize time messages (e.g., variable frequency (VARF) signals) and pulse per second (PPS) signals received from the GNSS receiver 155 via the communication port 170 to synchronize the receiver side controller clock 172 with GNSS time, paragraph 41). However, does not specifically teach and/or suggest a digital antenna controller clock configured to regulate antenna sampling of the antenna electronics or to provide a reference for downconversion.
Zavadsky teaches a digital antenna controller clock configured to regulate antenna sampling of the antenna electronics or to provide a reference for downconversion (each signal interface unit 102 includes a clock conversion unit or functionality to convert the clock of a downlink asynchronous radio carrier signal received from an external device 108 to a common clock of a signal interface unit 102 and/or the distributed antenna system 100, paragraph 26, 33, 46).
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 Zavadsky’s downconversion with the system of Freestone. One would be motivated to combine these teachings because it will provide desired signal to control/regulate based on the user requirement.
Regarding claim 2, Freestone with Zavadsky teaches the GPS digital antenna controller of claim 1,
Zavadsky further teaches wherein the interface comprises an asynchronous data interface (A signal interface unit in a radio system includes an external device interface configured to receive a downlink asynchronous radio carrier signal for a radio frequency carrier from an external device; a clock conversion unit communicatively coupled to the external device interface and configured to re-clock the downlink asynchronous radio carrier signal to a master clock of the radio system from the clock of the external device, paragraph 3, 26, 94).
Regarding claim 3, Freestone with Zavadsky teaches the GPS digital antenna controller of claim 1.
Freestone teaches wherein wherein the GPS digital antenna controller does not comprise a serializer / deserializer (SERDES) interface, and wherein the interface comprises at least one of Ethernet, Universal Serial Bus (USB), Infiniband, or Firewire (USB, paragraph 38, 85).
7. Claim(s) 4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Freestone et al. (US 2019/0324154, Freestone hereafter) in further view of Zavadsky et al. (US 2018/0034617, Zavadsky hereafter) in further view of Rowitch (US 2003/0207681).
Regarding claim 4, Freestone with Zavadsky teaches claim 1, however, does not specifically disclose wherein the code signal comprises a direct sequence spread spectrum (DSSS) waveform and the code generator comprises a pseudo-random noise (PN) code generator.
Rowitch teaches wherein the code signal comprises a direct sequence spread spectrum (DSSS) waveform and the code generator comprises a pseudo-random noise (PN) code generator (Each SV transmits its navigation message at a data rate of 50 bits per second via a direct sequence spread spectrum signal (DSSS) that is BPSK (binary phase-shift-keying) modulated onto a 1.57542-GHz carrier (also called L1 frequency), paragraph 7).
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 Rowitch’s DSSS with the combined system of Freestone and Zavadsky. One would be motivated to combine these teachings because DSSS has high interference immunity.
7. Claim(s) 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Freestone et al. (US 2019/0324154, Freestone hereafter) in further view of Zavadsky et al. (US 2018/0034617, Zavadsky hereafter) in further view of Zhuge et al. (US 2022/0322259).
Regarding claim 5, Freestone with Zavadsky teaches claim 1, however, does not specifically disclose wherein the GPS receiver is remote from the GPS digital antenna controller.
Zhuge teaches wherein wherein the GPS receiver is remote from the GPS digital antenna controller (These data acquisition units 11a-11c also receive streams of broadcast radio messages 13a-13c from a constellation of orbiting satellites 15 that together form a satellite radio beacon positioning system, such the United States' Global Positioning System (GPS), the Russian Federation's Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS), the European Union's GALILEO system, or any of the regional satellite navigation systems provided by India, China, or Japan, paragraph 26, 35-36).
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 Zhyge’s remote GPS controller with the combined system of Freestone and Zavadsky. One would be motivated to combine these teachings because it can remotely control the GPS unit; making it user friendly.
Allowable Subject Matter
8. Claims 6 – 11 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
9. 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