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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 .
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, 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 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.
Claims 1, 6-16, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Niesen (U.S. Pub. No. 2022/0276394 A1) in view of He et al. (CN 117390527 A), hereinafter He.
Regarding claim 1, Niesen teaches (note: what Niesen does not teach is struck through. Italicized text was added by the examiner for clarity),
A network device for positioning (para. 0001, “The subject matter disclosed herein relates generally to satellite based positioning systems, and in particular, to systems and methods for selecting a subset of satellites to be used for locating a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receiver.”), the network device comprising: at least one memory; and at least one processor coupled to the at least one memory (fig. 1, processor 150 is connected to memory 130 via connection 120) and configured to: determine an environment of the network device comprises an open sky based on a plurality of satellite vehicles (SVs) within the environment (para. 0036, “When all these systems are fully operational, a receiver may expect to see over 30 satellites in open-sky conditions. A standard GNSS receiver architecture generally uses a navigation filter to integrate satellite measurements across time.” See also fig. 4 and paras. 0074 and 0101. Para. 0074 notes that, “In operation, the SVs 280-1-280-8 are in motion and the associated ephemeris data may be used to predict an updated sky view for a given time and location. At the first location 404a, the UE 100 has a relatively unobstructed view of the sky and hence the SVs at lower elevation angles may be used in determining a fix,” while para. 0101 states, “The determination of which navigation satellites will be visible may be modified based on environment model data along the trajectory 520a. As discussed, environment model data, such as 3-D map data, may be received from a networked resource (e.g., the server 250), stored locally in the UE (e.g., the memory 130), or determined based on images from a forward looking camera 511 or other mapping sensors (e.g., LIDAR).”); determine, based on determining the environment comprises the open sky, an SV list comprising at least a minimum number of SVs of the plurality of SVs transmitting signals having signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) SNR (para. 0037, “In an example, the GNSS receiver may select a subset of the visible satellites to track in the receiver navigation filter. This selection may consider the signal SNR or the satellite elevation.” See also para. 0082, “In an example, the SNR values for various SVs and the corresponding elevation and azimuth values may be aggregated to generate obstruction models. The elevation and azimuth angles with relatively low SNR values may be considered as obstructed. This data may be used with map-aided satellite selection for subsequent trajectories through the location.”); determine a horizontal uncertainty (HUNC) estimate for the network device based on a statistical representation of measurement errors of the signals transmitted from SVs within the SV list (“para. 0102, “At stage 1306, the method includes storing information associated with the one or more navigation satellites in a navigation filter. The GNSS receiver 140 may be a means for storing navigation satellite information in a navigation system filter. The navigation system filter in a GNSS system is typically an extended Kalman filter. The information associated with the navigation satellites in a navigation filter typically includes satellite clock offset and drift, orbital parameters, carrier wave integer ambiguity estimates, solar radiation pressure parameters, biases of the monitoring stations clock, tropospheric effects, and earth rotational components.” The examiner notes that para. 0036 indicates that, “The extended Kalman filters are configured to track the receiver position and velocity as well as other satellite information such as the integer ambiguities of each satellite.” The examiner further notes that the extended Kalman filter is being understood to include a statistical representation of measurement errors); and determine one or more positions of the network device based on the HUNC estimate and measurements of the signals transmitted from the SVs within the SV list (para. 0103, “At stage 1308, the method includes computing a location based on signals received from the one or more navigation satellites. The LADP 158 and the GNSS receiver 140 may be a means for computing a location. The navigation filters in the GNSS receiver 140 may be configured based on the stored variables associated with the set of navigation satellites determined at stage 1306. The LADP 158 is configured to process location assistance information comprising updated GNSS satellite almanac and/or ephemeris information, which may then be used by the processor(s) 150 with the signals received by the GNSS receiver 140 to determine a current location.”).
He teaches,
…determine, based on determining the environment comprises the open sky, an SV list comprising at least a minimum number of SVs of the plurality of SVs transmitting signals having carrier-to-noise (CNo) ratios greater than a CNo ratio threshold (“NVS_F represents the visible satellite number whose C/N0 is greater than the carrier-to-noise ratio threshold.”)…
Niesen and He are both analogous to the claimed invention because both references are in the same field of endeavor. It would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Niesen to use the CNo ratio of He. The invention of Niesen already uses a signal-to-noise ratio to determine if a satellite signal is strong enough to be used. Both signal-to-noise and carrier-to-noise ratios are known in the art, and carrier-to-noise ratio can be calculated using signal-to-noise ratio. Both are measurements of signal strength; ergo using one instead of the other would have the predictable result of accurately measuring GNSS signal strength. Thus, substituting signal-to-noise ratio with carrier-to-noise ratio is a simple substitution of one known element for another to obtain predictable results. See MPEP 2143, Rationale B.
Regarding claim 6,
The network device of claim 1, wherein the minimum number of SVs is four SVs (para. 0006, “However, in practice GPS receivers use signals from four or more satellites to determine an accurate three-dimensional location solution because an offset between the receiver clock and GPS time introduces an additional unknown into the calculation.” See also fig. 4, which indicates that four satellites are used at each of the locations 406a-c).
Regarding claim 7, Niesen in view of He teaches the network device of claim 1. Niesen further teaches,
…wherein, to determine the SV list further, the at least one processor is configured to: determine the CNo ratios of the signals transmitted from one or more SVs of the plurality of SVs are greater than the CNo ratio threshold (fig. 17, step 1704, noting that para. 0082 states that SNR values are used to determine which elevation and azimuth angles are unobstructed); and determine the elevations of one or more SVs of the plurality of SVs are greater than the satellite elevation threshold (fig. 17, step 1708. See also fig. 16 and para. 0111, “The LOS limits 1610a-b define obstructed and unobstructed areas of the sky. For example, a first obstructed area 1612a is defined by the elevation angles between the west side LOS limit 1610a and the ground 1614, and a second obstructed area 1612c is defined by the elevation angles between the east side LOS limit 1610b and the ground 1614. An unobstructed area 1612b (i.e., a clear view) is defined as the elevation angles between the LOS limits 1610a-b. In this example, a first navigation satellite 1602a and a fourth navigation satellite 1602d are obstructed, while a second navigation satellite 1602b and a third navigation satellite 1602c are unobstructed.”).
Regarding claim 8, Niesen in view of He teaches the network device of claim 1. Niesen does not teach,
…wherein the CNo ratio threshold is a tunable value
He teaches,
…wherein the CNo ratio threshold is a tunable value (“The carrier-to-noise ratio (C/N0) threshold in the feature extracting process uses the empirical value in many researches, and there is no clear determining method. The present invention provides a method for determining C/N0 threshold: and taking the minimum value of the lower quartile number of the C/N0 in the four types of scenes as the threshold.”).
It would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Niesen with the tunable CNo ratio of He because the method of tuning the CNo threshold of He ensures that abnormal signals are appropriately filtered out.
Regarding claim 9, Niesen in view of He teaches the network device of claim 1. Niesen further teaches,
…wherein the satellite elevation threshold is a threshold value in degrees (para. 0111, “In an example, mean, medium, or other statistical values based on a plurality of building heights may be used for the height dimensions 1608a-b. The locations of the buildings 1606a-b, the heights 1608a-b and the location of the vehicle relative to the buildings 1606a-b may be used to determine a west side line-of-sight (LOS) limit 1610a and an east side line-of-sight (LOS) limit 1610b. The building heights 1608a-b and locations may be obtained from environment model information such as 3-D map data or images obtained by the UE 100 as previously described. In general, the LOS limits 1610a-b are elevation angles associated with respective azimuth angle or range of azimuth angles (e.g., 090+/−10 degrees, 270+/−10 degrees).”).
Regarding claim 10, Niesen in view of He teaches the network device of claim 1. Niesen further teaches,
…wherein the satellite elevation threshold is a tunable value (para. 0111, “In an example, mean, medium, or other statistical values based on a plurality of building heights may be used for the height dimensions 1608a-b. The locations of the buildings 1606a-b, the heights 1608a-b and the location of the vehicle relative to the buildings 1606a-b may be used to determine a west side line-of-sight (LOS) limit 1610a and an east side line-of-sight (LOS) limit 1610b. The building heights 1608a-b and locations may be obtained from environment model information such as 3-D map data or images obtained by the UE 100 as previously described. In general, the LOS limits 1610a-b are elevation angles associated with respective azimuth angle or range of azimuth angles (e.g., 090+/−10 degrees, 270+/−10 degrees).”).
Regarding claim 11, Niesen in view of He teaches the network device of claim 1. Niesen further teaches,
…wherein the at least one processor is configured to obtain the measurement errors of the signals transmitted from the SVs within the SV list (para. 0082, “In an example, the EphemerisData table 1006 may persist on a remote server and may be accessed via a query based on the SV id, location or date and time information. The EphemerisData table 1006 may include ephemeris data used on pseudo-range navigation calculations as known in the art. For example, the EphemerisData table 1006 may contain one or more parameters associated with the Galileo system such as an ephemerides reference epoch in seconds within the week, the square root of semi-major axis, eccentricity, mean anomaly at reference epoch, argument of perigee (i.e., the angle measured from the ascending node to the perigee point), inclination at reference epoch, longitude of ascending node at the beginning of the week, mean motion difference, rate of inclination angle, rate of node's right ascension, latitude argument correction, orbital radius correction, inclination correction, SV clock offset, SV clock drift and SV clock drift rate.”).
Regarding claim 12, Niesen in view of He teaches the network device of claim 11. Niesen further teaches,
…wherein, to obtain the measurement errors of the signals transmitted from the SVs within the SV list, the at least one processor is configured to: send a request to a measurement engine (ME) for the measurement errors; and receive, in response to the request, the measurement errors from the ME (para. 0082, “In an example, the EphemerisData table 1006 may persist on a remote server and may be accessed via a query based on the SV id, location or date and time information. The EphemerisData table 1006 may include ephemeris data used on pseudo-range navigation calculations as known in the art. For example, the EphemerisData table 1006 may contain one or more parameters associated with the Galileo system such as an ephemerides reference epoch in seconds within the week, the square root of semi-major axis, eccentricity, mean anomaly at reference epoch, argument of perigee (i.e., the angle measured from the ascending node to the perigee point), inclination at reference epoch, longitude of ascending node at the beginning of the week, mean motion difference, rate of inclination angle, rate of node's right ascension, latitude argument correction, orbital radius correction, inclination correction, SV clock offset, SV clock drift and SV clock drift rate.” The examiner notes that querying the remote server is being understood to be sending a request to a remote engine, and receiving the EphemerisData in response is being understood to be the response).
Regarding claim 13, Niesen in view of He teaches the network device of claim 1. Niesen further teaches,
…wherein the at least one processor is configured to report the one or more positions of the network device to a session manager (SM) (para. 0078, “In an example, the vehicle 510 may provide current location and vehicle state information to the base station 602 via the wireless communication link 604. The vehicle state information may include information from the sensors 185 (e.g., speed, direction, altitude), as well as information from the GNSS receiver 140 (e.g., tracked SVs).”).
Regarding claim 14, Niesen in view of He teaches the network device of claim 1. Niesen further teaches,
…wherein each SV of the plurality of SVs is a respective Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) satellite (para. 0071, “The UE 100 is configured to receive signals from one or more Earth orbiting Space Vehicles (SVs) 280 such as SVs 280-1-280-4, which may be part of a GNSS.”).
Regarding claim 15, Niesen in view of He teaches the network device of claim 1. Niesen further teaches,
…wherein the one or more positions of the network device are used for location services (para. 0010, “An example of a method for determining a current location with a user equipment according to the disclosure includes determining a future trajectory of the user equipment, estimating an environment model associated with the future trajectory, determining a plurality of expected navigation satellites based on the future trajectory and the environment model, selecting a set of navigation satellites to use in computing the current location based in part on the plurality of expected navigation satellites, and computing the current location based on the selected set of navigation satellites.”).
Claim 16 is rejected using the same citations and reasoning as claim 1.
Claim 20 is rejected using the same citations and reasoning as claim 7.
Claims 2-5 and 17-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Niesen in view of He as applied to claims 1 and 16, respectively, above, in view of Xie et al. (WO 2020/248200), hereinafter Xie, and further in view of Robinson et al. (U.S. Pub. No. 2016/0266259 A1), hereinafter Robinson.
Regarding claim 2, Niesen in view of He teaches the network device of claim 1. Niesen does not teach,
…wherein, to determine the environment of the network device comprises an open sky further, the at least one processor is configured to: determine the network device is static determine a number of the plurality of SVs is greater than a satellite count threshold; and determine a statistical representation of elevations of the plurality of SVs is greater than an elevation threshold
Xie teaches (note: what Xie does not teach is struck through),
…wherein, to determine the environment of the network device comprises an open sky further, the at least one processor is configured to: (“In a possible design, the set of characteristic features further comprises one or more of statistical information comprising number of satellites in tracking.”); and determine a statistical representation of elevations of the plurality of SVs is greater than an elevation threshold (“For elevation angles, the possible range (0-90 degrees) is divided into 8 categories of degrees: [0 14; 14 24; 24 34; 34 44; 44 54; 54 64; 64 74; 74 90] . The normalized probability of each category is computed for the current second…When the above steps are executed, 17 states (7+8+2 probabilities) characterizing the GNSS received signals for a particular second can be obtained. This serves as the input for the classification model described below…The computational model then determines 300 a specific environmental context of the GNSS receiver according to the set of characteristic features of the received GNSS signals.”).
Robinson teaches,
…wherein, to determine the environment of the network device comprises an open sky further, the at least one processor is configured to: determine the network device is static (para. 0032, “The vehicle 302 (via a GPS receiver located in the vehicle 302) can determine the geographical location using less than four GPS satellites (e.g., one to three GPS satellites), depending upon the number of available constraints. In other words, the four unknowns of the vehicle's location (i.e., latitude, longitude, altitude, and time) can be solved using fewer than four GPS satellites, as compared to traditional GPS receivers which require at least four GPS satellites. In addition, if N GPS satellites are desired, then the N GPS satellites can be observed at multiple positions, wherein N is an integer. In the example shown in FIG. 3, N=1. In other words, the constraint can indicate that the GPS receiver is static and is at a known altitude, and therefore, one satellite can be measured over time in order to determine the geographical location of the vehicle 302. “)…
Xie and Robinson are analogous to the claimed invention because it is in the same field of endeavor. It would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Niesen in view of He with the statistical determination of the openness of the sky of Xie because the statistical determination of the environmental context of Xie helps the GNSS system strike a balance between location accuracy and resource usage, as noted by Xie on p. 2, para. 2.
The determination that the device is static of Robinson further improves the system of Niesen by offering a method of determining the minimum number of satellite vehicles that need to be tracked, further reducing the resource usage of the GNSS system when possible. As noted by Niesen in para. 0075, minimizing the number of satellites being tracked reduces the computational load on the UE. However, Niesen is silent as to how the minimum number of satellites should be determined. Robinson’s method—involving determining whether the vehicle is static—is one method of making said determination.
Regarding claim 3, Niesen in view of He, further in view of Xie, and further in view of Robinson teaches the network device of claim 2. Niesen further teaches (note: what Niesen does not teach is struck through),
…wherein the satellite count (para. 0075, “The map-aided satellite selection process reduces computational load on the UE 100 because the number of SVs in the tracking filters may be reduced.” See also para. 0102, “Since each tracked navigation satellites may consume memory and processing cycles, tracking a large number of navigation satellites can consume the computing processes (and battery power) of the UE 100. Conversely, limiting the number of navigation satellites to be tracked may significantly reduce the computational load on the UE 100.” The indication that a decision is made about the number of satellites being tracked suggests that satellite count threshold is tunable, but a satellite count threshold is not explicitly taught by Niesen).
Robinson teaches,
…wherein the satellite count threshold is a tunable value (para. 0032, “In addition, if N GPS satellites are desired, then the N GPS satellites can be observed at multiple positions, wherein N is an integer. In the example shown in FIG. 3, N=1. In other words, the constraint can indicate that the GPS receiver is static and is at a known altitude, and therefore, one satellite can be measured over time in order to determine the geographical location of the vehicle 302.” See also para. 0038, “As another example, when N=2, two satellites can be measured at multiple positions over time in order to determine the geographical location of the vehicle 302.”).
It would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Niesen with the tunable satellite count threshold of Robinson because the method of Robinson achieves the goal set out in para. 0075 of Niesen. Niesen teaches that limiting the number of navigation satellites being tracked reduces computational load, but is silent as to how the minimum number of satellites should be determined. Robinson teaches a practical method for making said determination.
Regarding claim 4, Niesen in view of He, further in view of Xie, and further in view of Robinson teaches the network device of claim 2. Niesen further teaches,
…wherein the elevation threshold is a threshold value in degrees (para. 0111, “In an example, mean, medium, or other statistical values based on a plurality of building heights may be used for the height dimensions 1608a-b. The locations of the buildings 1606a-b, the heights 1608a-b and the location of the vehicle relative to the buildings 1606a-b may be used to determine a west side line-of-sight (LOS) limit 1610a and an east side line-of-sight (LOS) limit 1610b. The building heights 1608a-b and locations may be obtained from environment model information such as 3-D map data or images obtained by the UE 100 as previously described. In general, the LOS limits 1610a-b are elevation angles associated with respective azimuth angle or range of azimuth angles (e.g., 090+/−10 degrees, 270+/−10 degrees).”).
Regarding claim 5, Niesen in view of He, further in view of Xie, and further in view of Robinson teaches the network device of claim 2. Niesen further teaches,
…wherein the elevation threshold is a tunable value (para. 0111, “In an example, mean, medium, or other statistical values based on a plurality of building heights may be used for the height dimensions 1608a-b. The locations of the buildings 1606a-b, the heights 1608a-b and the location of the vehicle relative to the buildings 1606a-b may be used to determine a west side line-of-sight (LOS) limit 1610a and an east side line-of-sight (LOS) limit 1610b. The building heights 1608a-b and locations may be obtained from environment model information such as 3-D map data or images obtained by the UE 100 as previously described. In general, the LOS limits 1610a-b are elevation angles associated with respective azimuth angle or range of azimuth angles (e.g., 090+/−10 degrees, 270+/−10 degrees).”).
Claim 17 is rejected using the same citations and reasoning as claim 2.
Claim 18 is rejected using the same citations and reasoning as claim 3.
Claim 19 is rejected using the same citations and reasoning as claim 4.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Grosso et al. (EP 1965219 A1) teaches a method for modeling the performance of a GNSS receiver
Zhan et al. (CN 109521450 A) teaches a method for determining GNSS position drift
Yoshida et al. (WO 2020/013278 A1) teaches a method for GNSS signal reception in non-open sky environments
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/Anna K. Gosling/Examiner, Art Unit 3648
/VLADIMIR MAGLOIRE/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3648
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