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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
1. A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 1/23/2026 has been entered.
Response to Amendment
2. Claims 1, 6-11, and 16-28 are currently pending.
3. Claims 2-5 and 12-15 are canceled.
4. Claims 1 and 11 are currently amended.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
5. 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.
6. 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.
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
7. 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.
8. Claims 1, 7-9, 11, 17-19, and 21-28 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Li (US 20130085628 A1), in view of Goodzeit (US 20040069905 A1), and in further view of Stewart (US 20160282137 A1).
9. Regarding Claim 1, Li teaches a method of accounting for rotational bias of an inertial measurement unit in a setting where momentum is conserved, wherein the setting comprises a micro gravity or zero gravity environment, and wherein a vehicle in the setting comprises the inertial measurement unit, the method comprising (Li: [0006], [0015], and [0016]):
Obtaining, from the inertial measurement unit, an... initial directional rotational rates (Li: [0016]);
Iteratively updating an estimate of bias of magnitude of momentum... based at least on the obtaining and based at least on readings from the inertial measurement unit… (Li: [0008], [0018], and [0020] Note that updating an estimate of the bias of the directional rotational rates is equivalent to the attitude error correction data.);
Adjusting directional rotational rates obtained from the inertial measurement unit to account for the estimates of bias of directional rotational rates, wherein bias adjusted directional rotational rates are determined (Li: [0008], [0018], and [0020] Note that the attitude control module utilizing the attitude error correction data to counteract the drift is equivalent to determining the adjusted directional rotational rates.);
And providing the bias adjusted directional rotation rates (Li: [0031]).
Li fails to explicitly teach obtaining, from the inertial measurement unit, an initial magnitude of momentum...; iteratively updating an estimate of bias of magnitude of momentum and estimates of bias of directional rotational rates based at least on the obtaining and based at least on readings from the inertial measurement unit, and on outputs of an internal momentum storage device… wherein the updating comprises: determining momentum magnitude based on the readings from the inertial measurement unit, an inertial measurement unit bias estimate, and the outputs of the internal momentum storage device, computing a residual between predicted momentum and measured momentum, and updating the estimate of bias of magnitude of momentum and estimates of bias of directional rotational rates based on the residual… and changing an attitude of the vehicle based on the bias adjusted directional rotational rates, wherein the changing comprises at least one of activating a thruster of the vehicle or operating the internal momentum storage device.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Goodzeit teaches obtaining, from the inertial measurement unit, an initial magnitude of momentum and initial directional rotational rates (Goodzeit: [Abstract], [0010], and [0027]);
Iteratively updating an estimate of bias of magnitude of momentum and estimates of bias of directional rotational rates based at least on the obtaining and based at least on readings from the inertial measurement unit, and on outputs of an internal momentum storage device… (Goodzeit: [0010] and [0026]):
Wherein the updating comprises: determining momentum magnitude based on the readings from the inertial measurement unit, an inertial measurement unit bias estimate, and the outputs of the internal momentum storage device (Goodzeit: [0026] and [0031]),
Computing a residual between predicted momentum and measured momentum, and updating the estimate of bias of magnitude of momentum and estimates of bias of directional rotational rates based on the residual (Goodzeit: [0029]);
And changing an attitude of the vehicle based on the bias adjusted directional rotational rates, wherein the changing comprises at least one of activating a thruster of the vehicle or operating the internal momentum storage device (Goodzeit: [0026] and [0030]).
Li and Goodzeit are considered to be analogous to the claim invention because they are in the same field of spacecraft control. Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Li to incorporate the teachings of Goodzeit to obtain an initial magnitude of momentum and update an estimate of bias for the magnitude of momentum because it provides the benefit of making corrections to a spacecraft orientation and position to improve the accuracy of the positioning and control of spacecraft based on continually determining an error as explicitly explain in [0034] of Goodzeit.
Li and Goodzeit fail to explicitly teach the rotational rate bias errors in the inertial measurement unit are estimated without using any additional sensors.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Stewart teaches iteratively updating… estimates of bias of directional rotational rates based at least on the obtaining and based at least on readings from the inertial measurement unit, and on outputs of an internal momentum storage device, wherein rotational rate bias errors in the inertial measurement unit are estimated without using any additional sensors (Stewart: [0021] and [0022]).
Li, Goodzeit, and Stewart are considered to be analogous to the claim invention because they are in the same field of spacecraft control. Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Li and Goodzeit to incorporate the teachings of Stewart to estimate the rotational rate bias errors in the inertial measurement unit without using any additional sensors because it provides the benefit of calibrating the IMU to mitigate bias errors in a more simplistic and less expensive manner than other system as explicitly explained in [0022] of Stewart.
10. Regarding Claim 7, Li, Goodzeit, and Stewart remain as applied above in Claim 1, and further, Li teaches the iteratively updating comprises iteratively updating using a Kalman filter (Li: [0018]).
11. Regarding Claim 8, Li, Goodzeit, and Stewart remain as applied above in Claim 1, and further, Goodzeit teaches iteratively updating, the adjusting, and the providing are performed in real time (Goodzeit: [0029] and [0038]).
12. Regarding Claim 9, Li, Goodzeit, and Stewart remain as applied above in Claim 1, and further, Goodzeit teaches the directional rotational rates comprise three-dimensional directional rotational rates (Goodzeit: [0023] and [0035]).
13. Regarding Claim 11, Li teaches a system accounting for rotational bias of an inertial measurement unit in a setting where momentum is conserved, wherein the setting comprises a micro gravity or zero gravity environment, and wherein a vehicle in the setting comprises the inertial measurement unit, the system comprising: the inertial measurement unit; an electronic processor; and persistent non-transitory storage including instructions that, when executed by the electronic processor, configure the electronic processor to perform actions comprising (Li: [0006], [0015], and [0016]):
Obtaining, from the inertial measurement unit, an… initial directional rotational rates (Li: [0016]);
Iteratively updating an estimate of bias of magnitude of momentum... based at least on the obtaining and based at least on readings from the inertial measurement unit… (Li: [0008], [0018], and [0020] Note that updating an estimate of the bias of the directional rotational rates is equivalent to the attitude error correction data.);
Adjusting directional rotational rates obtained from the inertial measurement unit to account for the estimates of bias of directional rotational rates, wherein bias adjusted directional rotational rates are determined (Li: [0008], [0018], and [0020] Note that the attitude control module utilizing the attitude error correction data to counteract the drift is equivalent to determining the adjusted directional rotational rates.);
And providing the bias adjusted directional rotation rates (Li: [0031]).
Li fails to explicitly teach obtaining, from the inertial measurement unit, an initial magnitude of momentum...; iteratively updating an estimate of bias of magnitude of momentum and estimates of bias of directional rotational rates based at least on the obtaining and based at least on readings from the inertial measurement unit, and on outputs of an internal momentum storage device… wherein the updating comprises: determining momentum magnitude based on the readings from the inertial measurement unit, an inertial measurement unit bias estimate, and the outputs of the internal momentum storage device, computing a residual between predicted momentum and measured momentum, and updating the estimate of bias of magnitude of momentum and estimates of bias of directional rotational rates based on the residual… and changing an attitude of the vehicle based on the bias adjusted directional rotational rates, wherein the changing comprises at least one of activating a thruster of the vehicle or operating the internal momentum storage device.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Goodzeit teaches obtaining, from the inertial measurement unit, an initial magnitude of momentum and initial directional rotational rates (Goodzeit: [Abstract], [0010], and [0027]);
Iteratively updating an estimate of bias of magnitude of momentum and estimates of bias of directional rotational rates based at least on the obtaining and based at least on readings from the inertial measurement unit, and on outputs of an internal momentum storage device… (Goodzeit: [0010] and [0026]):
Wherein the updating comprises: determining momentum magnitude based on the readings from the inertial measurement unit, an inertial measurement unit bias estimate, and the outputs of the internal momentum storage device (Goodzeit: [0026] and [0031]),
Computing a residual between predicted momentum and measured momentum, and updating the estimate of bias of magnitude of momentum and estimates of bias of directional rotational rates based on the residual (Goodzeit: [0029]);
And changing an attitude of the vehicle based on the bias adjusted directional rotational rates, wherein the changing comprises at least one of activating a thruster of the vehicle or operating the internal momentum storage device (Goodzeit: [0026] and [0030]).
Li and Goodzeit are considered to be analogous to the claim invention because they are in the same field of spacecraft control. Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Li to incorporate the teachings of Goodzeit to obtain an initial magnitude of momentum and update an estimate of bias for the magnitude of momentum because it provides the benefit of making corrections to a spacecraft orientation and position to improve the accuracy of the positioning and control of spacecraft based on continually determining an error as explicitly explain in [0034] of Goodzeit.
Li and Goodzeit fail to explicitly teach the rotational rate bias errors in the inertial measurement unit are estimated without using any additional sensors.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Stewart teaches iteratively updating… estimates of bias of directional rotational rates based at least on the obtaining and based at least on readings from the inertial measurement unit, and on outputs of an internal momentum storage device, wherein rotational rate bias errors in the inertial measurement unit are estimated without using any additional sensors (Stewart: [0021] and [0022]).
Li, Goodzeit, and Stewart are considered to be analogous to the claim invention because they are in the same field of spacecraft control. Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Li and Goodzeit to incorporate the teachings of Stewart to estimate the rotational rate bias errors in the inertial measurement unit without using any additional sensors because it provides the benefit of calibrating the IMU to mitigate bias errors in a more simplistic and less expensive manner than other system as explicitly explained in [0022] of Stewart.
14. Regarding Claim 17, Li, Goodzeit, and Stewart remain as applied above in Claim 11, and further, Li teaches the iteratively updating comprises iteratively updating using a Kalman filter (Li: [0018]).
15. Regarding Claim 18, Li, Goodzeit, and Stewart remain as applied above in Claim 11, and further, Goodzeit teaches the iteratively updating, the adjusting, and the providing are performed in real time (Goodzeit: [0029] and [0038]).
16. Regarding Claim 19, Li, Goodzeit, and Stewart remain as applied above in Claim 11, and further, Goodzeit teaches the directional rotational rates comprise three-dimensional directional rotational rates (Goodzeit: [0023] and [0035]).
17. Regarding Claim 21, Li, Goodzeit, and Stewart remain as applied above in Claim 1, and further, Li teaches the vehicle comprises a space vehicle (Li: [0016]).
18. Regarding Claim 22, Li, Goodzeit, and Stewart remain as applied above in Claim 1, and further, Li teaches the inertial measurement unit comprises a gyroscope (Li: [0016]).
19. Regarding Claim 23, Li, Goodzeit, and Stewart remain as applied above in Claim 1, and further, Goodzeit teaches the obtaining, the iteratively updating, the adjusting, the providing, and the changing are performed in real time (Goodzeit: [0029], [0030], and [0038]).
20. Regarding Claim 24, Li, Goodzeit, and Stewart remain as applied above in Claim 1, and further, Goodzeit teaches the changing the attitude of the vehicle comprises activating the thruster of the vehicle (Goodzeit: [0026] and [0030]).
21. Regarding Claim 25, Li, Goodzeit, and Stewart remain as applied above in Claim 11, and further, Li teaches the vehicle comprises a space vehicle (Li: [0016]).
22. Regarding Claim 26, Li, Goodzeit, and Stewart remain as applied above in Claim 11, and further, Li teaches the inertial measurement unit comprises a gyroscope (Li: [0016]).
23. Regarding Claim 27, Li, Goodzeit, and Stewart remain as applied above in Claim 11, and further, Goodzeit teaches the obtaining, the iteratively updating, the adjusting, the providing, and the changing are performed in real time (Goodzeit: [0029], [0030], and [0038]).
24. Regarding Claim 28, Li, Goodzeit, and Stewart remain as applied above in Claim 11, and further, Goodzeit teaches the changing the attitude of the vehicle comprises activating the thruster of the vehicle (Goodzeit: [0026] and [0030]).
25. Claims 6 and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Li (US 20130085628 A1), in view of Goodzeit (US 20040069905 A1), in view of Stewart (US 20160282137 A1), and in further view of Yang (US 20050240347 A1).
26. Regarding Claim 6, Li, Goodzeit, and Stewart remain as applied above in Claim 1.
Li, Goodzeit, and Stewart fail to explicitly teach the inertial measurement unit comprises a micro electro-mechanical inertial measurement unit.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Yang teaches the inertial measurement unit comprises a micro electro-mechanical inertial measurement unit (Yang: [0102]).
Li, Goodzeit, Stewart, and Yang are considered to be analogous to the claim invention because they are in the same field of inertial navigation systems and attitude determination. Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Li, Goodzeit, and Stewart to incorporate the teachings of Yang to use a MEMS IMU because it provides the benefit of a low-cost inertial measurement until with low power consumption with a small scale. Determining error of the inertial measurement unit provides the additional benefit of improving the capability of the sensor. These benefits are explicitly explained in [0014] and [0030] of Yang.
27. Regarding Claim 16, Li, Goodzeit, and Stewart remain as applied above in Claim 11.
Li, Goodzeit, and Stewart fail to explicitly teach the inertial measurement unit comprises a micro electro-mechanical inertial measurement unit.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Yang teaches the inertial measurement unit comprises a micro electro-mechanical inertial measurement unit (Yang: [0102]).
Li, Goodzeit, Stewart, and Yang are considered to be analogous to the claim invention because they are in the same field of inertial navigation systems and attitude determination. Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Li, Goodzeit, and Stewart to incorporate the teachings of Yang to use a MEMS IMU because it provides the benefit of a low-cost inertial measurement until with low power consumption with a small scale. Determining error of the inertial measurement unit provides the additional benefit of improving the capability of the sensor. These benefits are explicitly explained in [0014] and [0030] of Yang.
28. Claims 10 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Li (US 20130085628 A1), in view of Goodzeit (US 20040069905 A1), in view of Stewart (US 20160282137 A1), and in further view of Frey (US 20160223357 A1).
29. Regarding Claim 10, Li, Goodzeit, and Stewart remains as applied above in Claim 1.
Li fails to explicitly teach the iteratively updating comprises iteratively updating using one of: a fixed gain filter, a batch filter, recursive least squares, H-infinity control, or moving horizon estimation.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Frey teaches the iteratively updating comprises iteratively updating using one of: a fixed gain filter, a batch filter, recursive least squares, H-infinity control, or moving horizon estimation (Frey: [0028]).
Li, Goodzeit, Stewart, and Frey are considered to be analogous to the claim invention because they are in the same field of inertial navigation systems. Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Li, Goodzeit, and Stewart to incorporate the teachings of Frey to update using a recursive least square because it provides the benefit determining error of the inertial measurement unit to improve the outputs of the gyroscope measurements as explicitly explained in [0028] of Frey. This provides the additional benefit of increased accuracy of vehicle positioning and control.
30. Regarding Claim 20, Li, Goodzeit, and Stewart remains as applied above in Claim 1.
Li fails to explicitly teach the iteratively updating comprises iteratively updating using one of: a fixed gain filter, a batch filter, recursive least squares, H-infinity control, or moving horizon estimation.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Frey teaches the iteratively updating comprises iteratively updating using one of: a fixed gain filter, a batch filter, recursive least squares, H-infinity control, or moving horizon estimation (Frey: [0028]).
Li, Goodzeit, Stewart, and Frey are considered to be analogous to the claim invention because they are in the same field of inertial navigation systems. Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Li, Goodzeit, and Stewart to incorporate the teachings of Frey to update using a recursive least square because it provides the benefit determining error of the inertial measurement unit to improve the outputs of the gyroscope measurements as explicitly explained in [0028] of Frey. This provides the additional benefit of increased accuracy of vehicle positioning and control.
Response to Arguments
31. Applicant’s arguments with respect to Claims 1, 6-11, and 16-28 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. Stewart (US 20160282137 A1) has been applied to teach the amended subject matter of estimating the rotational rate bias errors in the inertial measurement unit without using any additional sensors in the rejection above as cited in at least paragraphs [0021] and [0022]. Stewart teaches to using only a single accelerometer/gyroscope for the calibration system because it operates in a less expensive manner.
32. The rejections with the cited prior art teach all aspects of the invention. The rejection is modified according to the newly amended language but still maintained with the current prior art of record.
33. Claims 1, 6-11, and 16-28 remain rejected under their respective grounds and rational as cited above, and as stated in the prior office action which is incorporated herein. Also, although not specifically argued, all remaining claims remain rejected under their respective grounds, rationales, and applicable prior art for these reasons cited above, and those mentioned in the prior office action which is incorporated herein.
Conclusion
34. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MICHAEL T SILVA whose telephone number is (571)272-6506. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Tues: 7AM - 4:30PM ET; Wed-Thurs: 7AM-6PM ET; Fri: OFF.
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/MICHAEL T SILVA/Examiner, Art Unit 3663