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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Species 1 in the reply filed on 05/18/2026 is acknowledged.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement filed 04/07/2025 fails to comply with 37 CFR 1.98(a)(2), which requires a legible copy of each cited foreign patent document; each non-patent literature publication or that portion which caused it to be listed; and all other information or that portion which caused it to be listed. It has been placed in the application file, but the information referred to therein has not been considered.
The JP-2009044428-A and WO-2014107283-A1 are considered but the non-patent literature document “International Search Report and Written Opinion” was not considered because there is only 1 page, and that page does not provide the information about the Search Report and/or Written Opinion.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 1-3, and 17-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over TANABE (JP-2009044428-A, IDS) (EPO English Translation Provided) in view of Mahapatra (US-9338592-B1) in further view of Brisebois (US-20190200254-A1).
Regarding Claim 1, TANABE discloses A method executed by a first user device to provide access point information, the method comprising:
obtaining, by the first user device from a first access point, geospatial information of the first access point (paragraph [0075], Fig.5:202, "In step S202, the own terminal location information acquisition unit 90, based on the value of the flag stored in advance in the memory 56, indicates the location to the access point 30 (when this information is received, this information is the location information). It is determined whether or not to request. If the value of the flag stored in the memory 56 instructs the access point 30 to request location information, the terminal location information acquisition unit 90 determines that the access point 30 is requested for location information. If it is determined that information indicating the location is requested (YES in step S202), the process proceeds to step S204." and paragraph [0076], "In step S undefined 204…The wireless communication unit 152 demodulates the signal and outputs it to the communication control unit 160. The communication control unit 160 reads information indicating its location from the storage unit 154 (in the case of the present embodiment, this information indicates the position of the access point 30 by latitude and longitude)," (i.e., obtaining the latitude and longitude of an access point by the UE.));
(paragraph [0053], "The location information created when the identification ID of the access point 30 is received is stored in the memory 56 under the control of the registration control unit 92. The second information is an identification ID of the access point 30 received immediately before the above-described first information is created (that is, the trigger for creating the first information)." and paragraph [0074], Fig.5:200, "In step S200, communication control unit 160 of access point 30 controls radio communication unit 152 so as to repeatedly transmit its identification ID using radio waves…" and paragraph [0076], "The wireless communication unit 152 modulates a signal indicating the information and transmits the modulated signal to the communication terminal 20. The antenna of the AP communication unit 40 of the communication terminal 20 receives the radio wave and outputs it to the AP demodulation unit 72. The AP demodulator 72 demodulates the signal and outputs it to the registration controller 92. The registration control unit 92 receives the identification ID received in step S200, a value indicating a type (“type” will be described later)…" (i.e., discloses of obtaining identification but does not disclose assigning ID tag.)).
However, TANABE does not disclose assigning a first identification (ID) tag to the first access point; and transmitting, to a server, at least the geospatial information of the first access point and the first ID tag assigned to the first access point by the first user device.
Mahapatra discloses assigning a first identification (ID) tag to the first access point (Col.06, lines 33-41, Fig.2:214, "The communication node identifier field 214 contains identifiers that are unique to the communication nodes 204(1)-(M) that are found by the device 202(1)-(N). For instance, continuing the illustrative implementation with regards to device 202(1), suppose the device 202(1) scans for nearby communication nodes within the range 206 and identifies communication node 204(1). The device 202(1) stores as part of the data 210 a communication node identifier 214 for the detected communication node 204(1)," and Col. 11, lines 25-30, "tagged data 116a-n comprises communication node identifier 322, latitude 324, longitude 326, altitude 328, accuracy 330, time 332, and signal strength 334. In certain implementations, communication node identifier 322 includes the unique device identifier of a communication node, such as communication node 110(1)." and Col. 19, Lines 59-63, Fig.5, "At 502, an electronic device 104 may generate tagged data and store it in device memory. In various implementations, the tagged data may include information corresponding to the location of the electronic device and communication nodes it has detected while positioned at that location." (i.e., The UE obtains communication nodes identifier and uses the identifier for the specific communication node detected by the UE.)).
transmitting, to a server, (Col. 07, lines 37-52, Fig.2, "the data 210 of the various electronic devices 202(1)-(N) can be uploaded as tagged data at various times based on various methods described herein to one or more servers, such as the servers 102. For instance, the data may be uploaded as part of a crowdsourcing session or exercise. This is illustrated graphically in FIG. 2 as dashed flow line 228 from device 202(1) to servers 102. Since this data includes information about detected nodes, such as Wi-Fi access points, the uploaded data is termed “tagged data” herein to help explain that the location data is tied to the data about the communication nodes. The data 210 from device 202(1) may be uploaded at a different time from the data of other devices, such as device 202(2). Each device 202(1)-(N) may upload its data based on a predetermined time interval that may be unique to each device. " and Col. 19, Lines 64-65, Fig.5, "At 504, the electronic device may send the tagged data to a server at a predetermined time." (i.e., UE sending tagged data which include the tag id. Examiner also points to Fig.2, wherein top of the Fig.2 UE stores of communication nodes and bottom of Fig.2, the server has a collection of access points.)).
TANABE and Mahapatra are considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field wireless communication. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified TANABE to implement the method Mahapatra in order to help a server learn about things about the region such as various network access that can be shared with other devices in order to find access point effectively (Mahapatra, Col. 02, 16-26 “The device may subsequently upload the tagged data to a location database server. The device may send it periodically at timed intervals, or after a certain amount of data is collected, or upon any other event. The tagged data is stored at the location database server. As part of the crowdsourcing endeavors, the server essentially aggregates this tagged data from many devices throughout a common region to help learn things about the region, such as the various network access points available within the region as well the location of these various network access points.”).
However, TANABE in view of Mahapatra do not explicitly disclose transmitting, to a server, at least the geospatial information of the first access point.
Brisebois discloses transmitting, to a server, at least the geospatial information of the first access point (paragraph [0066], Fig.7, "Although the Wi-Fi AP list 700 can be stored internally to the UE 104, it can also be sent to a cloud 404 via a cloud-computing device (e.g., server) to be stored for use and access by other UEs or the same UE 104 at a later time. For example, data (e.g., threshold data, self-optimization data, SSID data, MAC data, location data, service specific data, etc.) associated with a newly detected AP such as the “New Work” Wi-Fi AP device can be sent to the cloud 404 and stored as Wi-Fi AP list 800 there." (i.e., UE sending location data to a server)).
TANABE in view of Mahapatra and Brisebois are considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field wireless communication. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified TANABE to implement the method Brisebois to provide location information of the access point in order to reduce the time it takes for other UE to find the access points and also provides a collection of database of access point with jitter-sensitive service thus allowing UE to have the best access point for communication (Brisebois, abstract, “Collection of crowd-sourced access point quality and selection data for intelligent network selection can be utilized by mobile devices to self-learn and optimize access point device selection. A cloud-based application can be utilized in conjunction with the mobile device to build a database of access point quality and thresholds suitable for real-time and other jitter-sensitive services. The mobile device jitter measurements and selection thresholds can be collected and sent to a cloud platform, which creates an access point performance and selection threshold profile.”).
Regarding Claim 2, TANABE in view of Mahapatra in further view of Brisebois discloses all the limitation of claim 1.
TANABE further discloses obtaining, by the first user device from a second access point, geospatial information of the second access point (paragraph [0075], Fig.5:202, "In step S202, the own terminal location information acquisition unit 90, based on the value of the flag stored in advance in the memory 56, indicates the location to the access point 30 (when this information is received, this information is the location information). It is determined whether or not to request. If the value of the flag stored in the memory 56 instructs the access point 30 to request location information, the terminal location information acquisition unit 90 determines that the access point 30 is requested for location information. If it is determined that information indicating the location is requested (YES in step S202), the process proceeds to step S204." and paragraph [0076], "In step S undefined 204…The wireless communication unit 152 demodulates the signal and outputs it to the communication control unit 160. The communication control unit 160 reads information indicating its location from the storage unit 154 (in the case of the present embodiment, this information indicates the position of the access point 30 by latitude and longitude)," and paragraph [0124], "FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating an example of a map displayed on the display unit 54 of the communication terminal 20b. The position of the communication terminal 20b itself is displayed as a white circle. Of the access points 30 received from the communication terminal 20a, those close to the communication terminal 20b are displayed as circles filled with hatching."(i.e., although does not explicitly disclose a second access point, Fig.12 shows the map of a plurality of access point generated by the UE, and in order to generate the plurality of the access point it must follow the steps disclosed in Fig.5.)).
Mahapatra further discloses wherein (Col. 07, lines 37-52, Fig.2, "the data 210 of the various electronic devices 202(1)-(N) can be uploaded as tagged data at various times based on various methods described herein to one or more servers, such as the servers 102. For instance, the data may be uploaded as part of a crowdsourcing session or exercise. This is illustrated graphically in FIG. 2 as dashed flow line 228 from device 202(1) to servers 102. Since this data includes information about detected nodes, such as Wi-Fi access points, the uploaded data is termed “tagged data” …" (i.e., UE sending tagged data of plurality of access point which include the tag id send the server for crowdsourcing.)),
and wherein the method further comprises: assigning a second ID tag to the second access point (Col.06, lines 33-41, Fig.2:214, "The communication node identifier field 214 contains identifiers that are unique to the communication nodes 204(1)-(M) that are found by the device 202(1)-(N). For instance, continuing the illustrative implementation with regards to device 202(1), suppose the device 202(1) scans for nearby communication nodes within the range 206 and identifies communication node 204(1). The device 202(1) stores as part of the data 210 a communication node identifier 214 for the detected communication node 204(1)," and Col. 11, lines 25-30, "tagged data 116a-n comprises communication node identifier 322, latitude 324, longitude 326, altitude 328, accuracy 330, time 332, and signal strength 334. In certain implementations, communication node identifier 322 includes the unique device identifier of a communication node, such as communication node 110(1)." and Col. 19, Lines 59-63, Fig.5, "At 502, an electronic device 104 may generate tagged data and store it in device memory. In various implementations, the tagged data may include information corresponding to the location of the electronic device and communication nodes it has detected while positioned at that location." (i.e., Fig.2, shows a plurality of access point with assigned identifiers.)); and
transmitting, to the server, for inclusion in the database, (Col. 07, lines 37-52, Fig.2, "the data 210 of the various electronic devices 202(1)-(N) can be uploaded as tagged data at various times based on various methods described herein to one or more servers, such as the servers 102. For instance, the data may be uploaded as part of a crowdsourcing session or exercise. This is illustrated graphically in FIG. 2 as dashed flow line 228 from device 202(1) to servers 102. Since this data includes information about detected nodes, such as Wi-Fi access points, the uploaded data is termed “tagged data” herein to help explain that the location data is tied to the data about the communication nodes. The data 210 from device 202(1) may be uploaded at a different time from the data of other devices, such as device 202(2). Each device 202(1)-(N) may upload its data based on a predetermined time interval that may be unique to each device. " and Col. 19, Lines 64-65, Fig.5, "At 504, the electronic device may send the tagged data to a server at a predetermined time." (i.e., Fig.2, shows a plurality of access points transmitted to the base station.)).
Brisebois discloses wherein the at least the geospatial information of the first access point (paragraph [0066], Fig.7, "Although the Wi-Fi AP list 700 can be stored internally to the UE 104, it can also be sent to a cloud 404 via a cloud-computing device (e.g., server) to be stored for use and access by other UEs or the same UE 104 at a later time. (i.e., the server contains a plurality of access points.)),
and wherein the method further comprises: transmitting, to the server, for inclusion in the database, at least the geospatial information of the second access point (paragraph [0123], "The user device can report the collected access point data to the server (e.g. server device 170) when the user device was connected to the access point for more than a threshold period of time, and when the data transferred in/out between the user device and the access point was greater than a threshold amount of data. The user device can report the collected access point data to the server (e.g. server device 170)" and paragraph [0124], Fig.12, "At step 1210, the user device can send the access point data report for the current (or most recent) access point connection to the server device. For example, the access point data report can include any or all of the access point data attributes described herein." (i.e., UE reporting all the access point that has been collected.)).
The proposed combination as well as the motivations for combining the references presented in the rejection of the parent claim apply to this claim and are incorporated herein by reference.
Regarding Claim 3, TANABE in view of Mahapatra in further view of Brisebois discloses all the limitation of claim 2.
TANABE further discloses further comprising: creating a coverage map based on at least the information about the first access point and the second access point (paragraph [0058], Fig.9, "The information composition unit 96 creates a map image. The map image shows the position of the access point 30 and its communication range." and paragraph [0124], "FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating an example of a map displayed on the display unit 54 of the communication terminal 20b. The position of the communication terminal 20b itself is displayed as a white circle." and paragraph [0125], "the communication terminal 20 configuring the AP information exchange system according to the present embodiment can detect the position of the access point 30 (there may be a position that can be regarded as such) and the communicable range (predicted). Information indicating the range of the access point 30 may be exchanged with each other, and based on the exchanged information, the position of the access point 30 and the communicable range are displayed. Even if the user of the communication terminal 20 is outside the communication range of the access point 30, the user of the communication terminal 20 can easily know where to connect to the Internet via the access point 30."(i.e., par.50 discloses the composition unit 96 is part of the UE. Par.58, and par.124-125 Fig.12 shows a map of access point created by the UE.)); and
storing the coverage map in the database (paragraph [0019], "The communication terminal further includes storage means. The storage means stores the map data, and stores the position information and the time detected by the time detection means in association with each other. The map data includes image data and related information. The image data indicates a map image." and paragraph [0054], "The AP position information processing unit 94 selects and searches for AP information stored in the memory 56. " and paragraph [0058], Fig.9, "The information composition unit 96 creates a map image. The map image shows the position of the access point 30 and its communication range." (i.e., UE storing the coverage map.)).
Regarding Claim 17, which is similar in scope to claim 1, thus rejected under the same rationale.
Regarding Claim 18, which is similar in scope to claim 2, thus rejected under the same rationale.
Claim(s) 6 and 22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over TANABE (JP-2009044428-A, IDS) (EPO English Translation Provided) in view of Mahapatra (US-9338592-B1) in view of Brisebois (US-20190200254-A1) in further view of Jeon (US-20150351115-A1).
Regarding Claim 6, TANABE in view of Mahapatra in further view of Brisebois discloses all the limitation of claim 1.
However, TANABE in view of Mahapatra in further view of Brisebois do not disclose wherein the geospatial information of the first access point is obtained by the first user device from the first access point by using at least one of a location configuration information (LCI) format or a location civic report (LCR) format.
Jeon discloses wherein the geospatial information of the first access point is obtained by the first user device from the first access point by using at least one of a location configuration information (LCI) format (paragraph [0037], "More specifically, the eNB may transmit a request for the WLAN information to at least one UE that is served by the eNB." and paragraph [0042], "The measurement information defined for WLAN Measurement Report may include a number of reports…The LCI report may return a requested location in terms of latitude, longitude, and altitude. The LCI report may include types of altitude such as floors and permit various reporting resolutions." and paragraph [0045], "the UE may determine that the request contains a request for information defined for the WLAN Measurement Report…UE may request one or more other communication devices able to communicate via the WLAN…The RM Enabled Capabilities element may indicate whether the corresponding capability listed in Table 8-119 in IEEE Std 802.11-2012 is enabled which includes…LCI Measurement" and paragraph [0046], "The UE may collect the information listed in the request and generate a report containing the WLAN information." and paragraph [0052], "The additional location-related information may include, e.g., a LCI report." (i.e., UE sending measurement report in LCI format.))
or a location civic report (LCR) format (paragraph [0042], "The measurement information defined for WLAN Measurement Report may include a number of reports…The LCI report may return a requested location in terms of latitude, longitude, and altitude. The LCI report may include types of altitude such as floors and permit various reporting resolutions. The transmit stream/category measurement report may provide the transmit-side performance metrics for the measured traffic stream. Other reports may include the multicast diagnostics report, location Civic report and location identification report.").
TANABE in view of Mahapatra in further view of Brisebois and Jeon are considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field wireless communication. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified TANABE to implement the method Jeon LCI in order to increase the precision of the location of the access point as it would allow to know the latitude, longitude, and the altitude (Jeon, paragraph [0042], "The LCI report may return a requested location in terms of latitude, longitude, and altitude. The LCI report may include types of altitude such as floors and permit various reporting resolutions."). Other advantages described in Jeon discloses of UE performing group measurement report wherein one UE can report for a group of proximity of UE thus saving battery life (Jeon, paragraph [0053], “the eNB may appoint one or more delegate UEs from the group of UEs to perform functions for the entire group of UEs. For example, if the eNB requests channel sensing for determining unlicensed band interference, the eNB may appoint the delegate UE(s) to provide the channel sensing on behalf of the other UEs in the group who suffer similar interference. By doing so, the energy consumption for channel sensing by non-delegate UEs can be reduced with negligible to no loss in available information.”).
Regarding Claim 22, which is similar in scope to claim 6, thus rejected under the same rationale.
Claim(s) 7-8, 19, and 23-24 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over TANABE (JP-2009044428-A, IDS) (EPO English Translation Provided) in view of Mahapatra (US-9338592-B1) in view of Brisebois (US-20190200254-A1) in further view of EDGE (US-20150133152-A1).
Regarding Claim 7, TANABE in view of Mahapatra in further view of Brisebois discloses all the limitation of claim 1.
Mahapatra discloses further comprising: generating location information of the first user device based on executing a location determination procedure (Col. 06 lines 65 – Col. 07 lines 03, Fig.2, “each device, such as device 202(1), may store the device's current location in the form of a latitude 216 and longitude 218. Latitude 216 and longitude 218 correspond to positions within a geographic coordinate system of the earth. In other embodiments, the device's current location can be recorded using any coordinate system that uniquely identifies locations on the surface of a sphere, such as a spherical coordinate system.” And Col. 03, lines 31-40, “The electronic device 104 may also include capabilities for detecting a location of the device and exchanging data over a wireless or wired network. The electronic device 104 may be configured to detect its own location by using any known navigation system. For instance, the detected location may be in terms of a latitude and longitude position on the surface of the earth. In an illustrative implementation, the electronic device 104 uses a Global Position System (GPS) resident on the device to determine location.”).
However, TANABE in view of Mahapatra in further view of Brisebois do not explicitly disclose and transmitting, to the server, location information of the first user device for use by the server to authenticate the geospatial information of the first access point.
Edge discloses further comprising: generating location information of the first user device based on executing a location determination procedure (paragraph [0025], "In order to be able to compute the location of a mobile device from measurements provided by the mobile device that comprise or include measurements of terrestrial transmitters, a location server may need certain data for each terrestrial transmitter for which measurements are provided such as its location (e.g. latitude, longitude and altitude)," and paragraph [0026], "a number of mobile devices may be instructed by a location server to crowdsource information on terrestrial transmitters to the location server. The information that is crowdsourced for any terrestrial transmitter may include…(ii), the location or locations of the mobile device at which measurements were obtained if the location or locations can be obtained by the mobile device without making user of the provided measurements, (iii) signal measurements of the transmitter (e.g. RSSI, RTD, time of arrival, time difference of arrival), (iv) data concerning the transmitter that may be sent openly (e.g. via broadcast) by the transmitter such as its location and transmission characteristics) and (v) information that may be inferred or calculated by the mobile device for the transmitter such as its location." (i.e., server obtains location information of the UE.));
and transmitting, to the server, location information of the first user device for use by the server to authenticate the geospatial information of the first access point (paragraph [0025], "a location server may need certain data for each terrestrial transmitter for which measurements are provided such as its location (e.g. latitude, longitude and altitude)…" and paragraph [0026], "a number of mobile devices may be instructed by a location server to crowdsource information on terrestrial transmitters to the location server. The information that is crowdsourced for any terrestrial transmitter may include…(ii), the location or locations of the mobile device at which measurements were obtained if the location or locations can be obtained by the mobile device without making user of the provided measurements, (iii) signal measurements of the transmitter (e.g. RSSI, RTD, time of arrival, time difference of arrival), (iv) data concerning the transmitter that may be sent openly (e.g. via broadcast) by the transmitter such as its location and transmission characteristics) and (v) information that may be inferred or calculated by the mobile device for the transmitter such as its location." and paragraph [0027], "The individual responses and the set of responses from the mobile devices may be referred to as crowd sourced measurements, crowdsourced data or crowdsourcing. Crowdsourcing may assist the location server at localization related tasks as previously described. For example, crowdsourcing may assist the location server at determining or verifying a location of a network AP or a BS." (i.e., Using mobile device location to verify the location of an access point.)).
TANABE in view of Mahapatra in further view of Brisebois and Edge are considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field wireless communication. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified TANABE to implement the method Edge of verifying the location of the access point in order to have a reliable source of access points that can be shared with other users and having an accurate location of the access point would reduce in frequency in updating the location of the access point thus saving battery life and memory use (Edge, paragraph [0027], “For example, crowdsourcing may assist the location server at determining or verifying a location of a network AP or a BS. Crowdsourcing may assist the location server at determining probable locations of other mobile devices by providing information that can be later used by the location server to determine such locations from measurements provided by these other mobile devices… Crowdsourcing may also assist the location server at determining environmental parameters of a specific location, for example, if a location is indoors or outdoors.” And paragraph [0028], “Thus, preferably, controlling crowdsourcing to maximize useful measurement reporting from mobile devices over a long time period is desired without imposing excessive battery drain and use of memory in a mobile device, without imposing excessive use of memory in a crowdsourcing server,”).
Regarding Claim 8, TANABE in view of Mahapatra in view of Brisebois in further view of Edge discloses all the limitation of claim 7.
Mahapatra discloses wherein the first ID tag is based at least in part on at least one of (Col. 11, Lines 26-35, Fig.3, "tagged data 116a-n comprises communication node identifier 322, latitude 324, longitude 326, altitude 328, accuracy 330, time 332, and signal strength 334. In certain implementations, communication node identifier 322 includes the unique device identifier of a communication node, such as communication node 110(1). In this example, the communication node identifier 322 may be a media access control address (MAC address) that may be assigned to the communication node 110(1) by a manufacturer of the communication node 110(1) and stored in the hardware of the communication node 110(1)." (i.e., tag data can be the MAC address.)),
Edge further discloses and wherein the location determination procedure is based on at least one of Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) signals received from one or more GNSS satellite vehicles (paragraph [0023], "A location server can typically obtain the location of a mobile device or assist a mobile device to obtain its own location--for example by requesting location related measurements from the mobile device and then computing a location for the mobile device based on the received measurements. The measurements may be of signals transmitted from navigation satellite vehicles (SVs) such as SVs belonging to a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) such as GPS…In some embodiments, a location server may provide assistance to a mobile device to enable the mobile device to determine its own location from the signal measurements obtained by the mobile device." (i.e., server sends assistance information for the UE to measure GNSS signals to perform measurement location to send back to the location server.)).
The proposed combination as well as the motivations for combining the references presented in the rejection of the parent claim apply to this claim and are incorporated herein by reference.
Regarding Claim 19, TANABE in view of Mahapatra in further view of Brisebois discloses all the limitation of claim 18 (See claim 2 rejection).
However, TANABE in view of Mahapatra in further view of Brisebois do not explicitly disclose wherein the information about the one or more access points is provided in the form of a coverage map of access points in a geographical area.
EDGE discloses wherein the information about the one or more access points is provided in the form of a coverage map of access points in a geographical area (paragraph [0022], “A mobile device may sometimes be referred to as a device, a target, a target device,” and paragraph [0120], “A WLAN AP measurements parameter may be included in the measurement parameters for advanced crowdsourcing to define requested or confirmed WLAN AP related measurements for WiFi access that a target will obtain for crowdsourcing… an estimated location for an AP obtained by a target,” and paragraph [0125], "measurement related data that is reported by a target to a data server for crowdsourcing (e.g. at steps 3 and 4 in FIG. 2) may comprise at least one of the following parameters: a crowdsourcing common data parameter, a sequence number parameter, a basic measurements parameter and an advanced measurements parameter." and paragraph [0133], "The measurement location parameter may provide an absolute location and/or a relative location for the target at the time the measurements reported for the corresponding measurement subset were obtained. An absolute location may include latitude, longitude and possibly altitude or may refer to a location using a map or some coordinate system known to the data server." (i.e., User device can send map data of access points to a server.)).
TANABE in view of Mahapatra in further view of Brisebois and EDGE are considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field wireless communication. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified TANABE to implement the system of EDGE wherein the UE sends map information in order to help verify the location of a network AP or a BS thus providing a server with high accuracy location of access points (Edge, paragraph [0027], " The individual responses and the set of responses from the mobile devices may be referred to as crowd sourced measurements, crowdsourced data or crowdsourcing. Crowdsourcing may assist the location server at localization related tasks as previously described. For example, crowdsourcing may assist the location server at determining or verifying a location of a network AP or a BS. Crowdsourcing may assist the location server at determining probable locations of other mobile devices by providing information that can be later used by the location server to determine such locations from measurements provided by these other mobile devices and/or from measurements provided by network entities (e.g. including BSs, APs and Femtocells) that measure signals transmitted by these mobile devices. Crowdsourcing may also assist the location server at determining environmental parameters of a specific location, for example, if a location is indoors or outdoors.”).
Regarding Claim 23, which is similar in scope to claim 7, thus rejected under the same rationale.
Regarding Claim 24, which is similar in scope to claim 8, thus rejected under the same rationale.
Claim(s) 19 (Alternative) is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over TANABE (JP-2009044428-A, IDS) (EPO English Translation Provided) in view of Mahapatra (US-9338592-B1) in view of Brisebois (US-20190200254-A1) in further view of Kachemir (US-20230308921-A1).
Regarding Claim 19 (Alternative), TANABE in view of Mahapatra in further view of Brisebois discloses all the limitation of claim 18 (See claim 2 rejection).
However, TANABE in view of Mahapatra in further view of Brisebois do not explicitly disclose wherein the information about the one or more access points is provided in the form of a coverage map of access points in a geographical area.
Kachemir discloses wherein the information about the one or more access points is provided in the form of a coverage map of access points in a geographical area (paragraph [0114], Fig.10, "User device 402 can use the access point location information to identify errors regarding the shapes of physical structures in map data…the user of user device 402 can initiate a process to correct the shape of building 1002 in the corresponding map data. In some implementations, user device 402 can automatically submit a map data correction request to an appropriate map server suggesting that the shape of the building in the map data be corrected to correspond to network shape 1004, as represented by indication 1004." (i.e., TANABE discloses of creating a coverage map, see Fig.12, and Kachemir discloses of UE transmitting the map to the server.)).
TANABE in view of Mahapatra in further view of Brisebois and Kachemir are considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field wireless communication. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified TANABE to implement the method Kachemir in order to enable the UE to have the ability to send coverage map of data in order to provide the an accurate coverage map to the server as Kchemir method enables the UE to correct coverage map for any errors (Kachemir, paragraph [0105], " access point data (e.g., access point location data in particular) received from server device 170 can be used by user device 402 to validate map data, place map labels, and/or suggest corrections to map data. For example, user device 402 can obtain map data (e.g., map tiles including data defining roads, buildings, points of interest, etc.) from a map data server. User device 402 can obtain access point tiles from server device 170. " and paragraph [0107], “In some implementations, user device 904 can automatically submit a map data correction request to an appropriate map server suggesting the corrected location as represented by indication 904.”).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4-5, and 20-21 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
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ERKIN S. ABDULLAEV
Examiner
Art Unit 2648
/ERKIN ABDULLAEV/Examiner, Art Unit 2648
/WESLEY L KIM/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2648
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