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 .
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.
Claim(s) 1-2, 4-5, 7, 9-12, 14-15, 17, and 19-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tong et al (US 20200166631) in view of Kim et al (KR 20210042795)
Regarding claim 1 and 11, Tong teaches initiating station (STA), comprising: a transceiver (para 13); and a processor operably coupled to the transceiver (para 47), the processor configured to: provide one or more mechanisms to report carrier-phase information during a fine timing measurement (FTM) protocol between the ISTA and a responding station (fig3a and 3b and figure 14, items s241 251 261 271 and 281); enable, via the carrier-phase information, carrier-phase-based relative ranging (fig 14, items 261); and utilize the carrier-phase information to modify an accuracy for FTM ranging (para 81, “ a fine resolution method is used in the present embodiments to estimate the fractional (sub sampling clock) delay FD and thereby provide a high resolution ToA measurement. The fine resolution fractional delay is estimated in the embodiments herein based on DFT processing”)
Regarding claim 1 and 11, Kim teaches indicating a capability for supporting transmission of carrier phase measurements (CPM) within the FTM protocol via a Capabilities element of a frame (page 7, paragraph 7, “As an example, the first terminal STA1 may generate LTF symbols such that all sequence values of the first LTF symbol and the second LTF symbol have a phase difference of θ (T3_1-T2_1). In this case, the second terminal STA1 is an average of the phase difference values of the channel value of the k-the sub-carrier estimated from the first LTF symbol and the channel value of the k-th sub-carrier estimated from the second LTF symbol. The phase difference value θ can be estimated through. That is, the second terminal STA2 uses the average of the phase difference values of the first LTF symbols 31 and the second LTF symbols 32 of all subcarriers included in the preamble region of the received frame (T3_1)-( T2_1) can be seen.”). It would have been obvious to modify Tong to include indicating a capability for supporting transmission of carrier phase measurements (CPM) within the FTM protocol via a Capabilities element of a frame because it is merely a substitution of a well-known method to determine a distance between two devices of Tong with the method to determine a distance between two devices of Kim to yield a predictable method to determine distances between two devices.
Regarding claim 2 and 12, Tong teaches indicate a capability for reporting carrier phase measurements (fig 14, item 261); and receive, via the transceiver, an indication from the RSTA of the capability of reporting CPM in at least some FTM ranging protocols (fig 14, item s261 and s271).
Regarding claim 2 and 12, Kim teaches the SPM in at least some FTM ranging protocols ((“As an example, the first terminal STA1 may generate LTF symbols such that all sequence values of the first LTF symbol and the second LTF symbol have a phase difference of θ (T3_1-T2_1). In this case, the second terminal STA1 is an average of the phase difference values of the channel value of the k-th sub-carrier estimated from the first LTF symbol and the channel value of the k-th sub-carrier estimated from the second LTF symbol. The phase difference value θ can be estimated through. That is, the second terminal STA2 uses the average of the phase difference values of the first LTF symbols 31 and the second LTF symbols 32 of all subcarriers included in the preamble region of the received frame (T3_1)-( T2_1) can be seen.”). It would have been obvious to modify Tong to include the SPM in at least some FTM ranging protocols because it is merely a substitution of a well-known method to determine a distance between two devices of Tong with the method to determine a distance between two devices of Kim to yield a predictable method to determine distances between two devices.
Regarding claim 4 and 14, Tong teaches wherein the processor is further configured, via the transceiver, to receive an indication from the RSTA that carrier phase measurements (CPM) are included from the RSTA during an FTM measurement reporting phase of an FIM session (para 133)
Regarding claim 5 and 15, Tong teaches the processor is further configured, via the transceiver, to receive a report of one or more CPM values, the report including one or more of: one or more CPM values, subcarrier indices corresponding to the one or more CPM values, link identifiers corresponding to the one or more CPM values, and an index of an FIM frame corresponding to the one or more CPM values (fig 14, items s261)
Regarding claim 7 and 17, Tong teaches the processor is further configured, via the transceiver, to receive reporting of carrier phase measurements (CPM) from the RSTA during an FTM measurement reporting phase of an FIM session (fig 14, items s261)
Regarding claim 9 and 19, Tong teaches the processor is further configured, via the transceiver, to report carrier phase measurements (CPM) during an FTM measurement reporting phase of an FTM session (fig 14, items s261)
Regarding claim 10 and 20, Tong teaches the processor is further configured, via the transceiver, to receive an indication from the RSTA that carrier phase measurements (CPM) reporting is enabled during an availability window (fig 14, items s261)
Claim(s) 3 and 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tong in view of Kim as applied to claim 1 and 11 above, and further in view of Zhang et al (US 20200099495).
Regarding claim 3 and 13, Zhang teaches the processor is further configured, via the transceiver, to request a carrier phase measurements (CPM) reporting from the RSTA when initiating an FTM ranging session corresponding to at least some FTM ranging protocols (para 87). It would have been obvious to modify Tong in view of Kim to include the processor is further configured, via the transceiver, to request a carrier phase measurements (CPM) reporting from the RSTA when initiating an FTM ranging session corresponding to at least some FTM ranging protocols because it is merely a substitution of a method to get the phase data used for ranging of Tong with the method to get phase data of Zhang to yield a predictable distance measuring device.
Regarding claim 3 and 13, Kim teaches a request for the CPM reporting is included in a CPM Request field of a Parameters element (“As an example, the first terminal STA1 may generate LTF symbols such that all sequence values of the first LTF symbol and the second LTF symbol have a phase difference of θ (T3_1-T2_1). In this case, the second terminal STA1 is an average of the phase difference values of the channel value of the k-th sub-carrier estimated from the first LTF symbol and the channel value of the k-th sub-carrier estimated from the second LTF symbol. The phase difference value θ can be estimated through. That is, the second terminal STA2 uses the average of the phase difference values of the first LTF symbols 31 and the second LTF symbols 32 of all subcarriers included in the preamble region of the received frame (T3_1)-( T2_1) can be seen.”). It would have been obvious to modify Tong to include a request for the CPM reporting is included in a CPM Request field of a Parameters element because it is merely a substitution of a well-known method to determine a distance between two devices of Tong with the method to determine a distance between two devices of Kim to yield a predictable method to determine distances between two devices.
Claim(s) 6, 8, 16 and 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tong in view of Kim as applied to claim 1, 4, 11, and 14 above, and further in view of Bao et al (US 20240089894).
Regarding claim 6 and 16, Bao teaches the processor is further configured to perform carrier phase estimation based on the received CPM to produce a carrier phase estimate; and the transceiver is further configured to transmit the carrier phase estimate to the RSTA (para 113). It would have been obvious to modify Tong in view of Kim to include the processor is further configured to perform carrier phase estimation based on the received CPM to produce a carrier phase estimate; and the transceiver is further configured to transmit the carrier phase estimate to the RSTA because it is merely a substitution of a method to get the phase data used for ranging of Tong with the method to get phase data of Bao to yield a predictable distance measuring device.
Regarding claim 8 and 18, Bao teaches the processor is further configured, via the transceiver, to request carrier frequency offset (CFO) and Line-of-Sight (LoS) assessment reporting from the RSTA during the FTM measurement reporting phase of an FTM session (para 11 and 30). It would have been obvious to modify Tong in view of Kim to include the processor is further configured, via the transceiver, to request carrier frequency offset (CFO) and Line-of-Sight (LoS) assessment reporting from the RSTA during the FTM measurement reporting phase of an FTM session because it is merely a substitution of a method to get the phase data used for ranging of Tong with the method to get phase data of Bao to yield a predictable distance measuring device.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1 and 11 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.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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TIMOTHY A. BRAINARD
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 3648
/TIMOTHY A BRAINARD/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3648
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