DETAILED ACTION
Response to Amendment
Office action in response to remarks entered 4/24/2026. No claims are amended, added or canceled. Claims 1, 4-8, 19 and 28 are pending. Claims 2-3, 9-18, and 20-27, and 29-30 are withdrawn. Claims 1,4-8,19 and 28 rejected herein.
Claims have priority by PROVISIONAL filing 63/383,846 with date of 11/15/2022.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 4/24/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant submits that Astrom does not teach the “determining” limitation of claim 1 because Astrom’s disclosure pertains to a simulation to calculate system availability and as opposed to “a wireless communications device dynamically determining blockages during operation to actively route a communication.” And applicant further submits regarding the combination of Astrom and Ravishankar that the “transmitting” step of claim 1 is not taught because “Ravishankar does not disclose a user terminal (i.e., a wireless communications device) making its own blockage determination and then dynamically transmitting a message to an unblocked satellite in response to its own determination.”
Examiner respectfully disagrees.
Examiner disagrees with Applicants characterization that “Astrom's determining operations are part of a predictive software simulation.” The word “simulation” does not even appear in any of Astrom’s disclosure. Astrom teaches a satellite terminal that determines obstructions just as the rejection explains. See for example Astrom col. 3 lines 40-46 teaching the terminal is “continuously or intermittently mobile or positioned in a permanent location such as on the roof of a user's building/house. Terminals could be individual ground-based customer premises units or a primary communication system control facility.” See also Col. 13 Lines 30-37 teaching the “terminal 220 also includes measurement device 224. . . for example, a device for detecting Fresnel diffracted signals, an optical fisheye lens camera, or a backscatter signal detection device” which performs the claimed “determination.”
Regarding applicants comments on the combination with Ravishankar, as above Astrom has taught “a user terminal (i.e., a wireless communications device) making its own blockage determination.” It is true for example that Ravishankar teaches “Blockage data may be utilized to determine a blockage map associated with a UT.” ¶22. But this is no different from applicant’s instant invention as claimed in claim 1 and further described “first technique” of identifying obstructions using stored maps of obstructions, see specification ¶106-107.
Thus applicants remarks are not found persuasive and rejections of all pending claims are maintained for the same reasons.
Election/Restriction
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group I, claims 1-19 and 28-29. in the reply filed on 4/24/2026 is acknowledged. Claims 20-27 and 30 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 4/24/2026 is being considered by the examiner.
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, 4-7, 19 and 28 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 6070051 Astrom; Richard Lawrence et al. in view of WO 2020132201 A1 RAVISHANKAR CHANNASANDRA et al.
Claims 1 and 28
Astrom teaches A wireless communications device (Fig. 1 Terminal 16, Fig. 15 terminal 220), comprising: one or more memories (memory storage device 226 fig. 15); one or more transceivers (Fig. 1 antenna 19; Fig. 15 measurement device 224); and one or more processors communicatively coupled to the one or more memories and the one or more transceivers (Fig. 15 processor 222), the one or more processors, either alone or in combination, configured to and similarly A method of wireless communication performed by a wireless communications device (see column 1, lines 46-52: "a method that combines a sky blockage profile, satellite pass tracks across the sky and a radio location's weather model to predict an individual ground-to-satellite radio's percentage of successful communication linkage time with one or more satellites of a satellite communication system"; See also col. 3 lines 40-46 “continuously or intermittently mobile or positioned in a permanent location such as on the roof of a user's building/house. Terminals could be individual ground-based customer premises units or a primary communication system control facility”), comprising:
detect a trigger to communicate via non-terrestrial network (NTN) connectivity (Each of the times "T + increment" in step 422 of Figure 13 triggering determination which satellites are in visibility, or not. see column 12, lines 27-29 triggering event occurs every 3 seconds);
determine whether one or more obstructions are estimated to be blocking a subset of NTN space vehicles of a set of NTN space vehicles expected to be in view of the wireless communications device at a current location of the wireless communications device (Fig. 13 step 418-420; see Figure 14 and column 11, line 56 to column 12, line 21: see column 12, lines 11-17: "any satellite appearing below curve 472 such as satellites 483 and 484, are not in view of the antenna at this particular location for this instance in time (T). However, any satellite appearing above curve 472, such as satellites 481, 482 and 485, are all satellites that are in clear view of the antenna at this particular location and for this instance in time."; See also Col. 13 Lines 30-37 “terminal 220 also includes measurement device 224. . . for example, a device for detecting Fresnel diffracted signals, an optical fisheye lens camera, or a backscatter signal detection device”); and
transmit, via the one or more transceivers, at least one message towards at least one NTN space vehicle of the set of NTN space vehicles other than the subset of NTN space vehicles (Col. 3 Lines 22-40 “to maintain the communication pathways or links, it is necessary to switch or hand-off the communication link or links from the obstructed satellite to another satellite in clear line-of-sight of the terminal”; Col. 4 Lines 14-25 “unobstructed lines-of-sight are desirable or required between one or more satellites 12 and terminal 16 to maintain one or more communication pathways or links 15.”)
and determination that the one or more obstructions are estimated to be blocking the subset of NTN space vehicles, at least one message towards at least one NTN space vehicle of the set of NTN space vehicles other than the subset of NTN space vehicles (See Fig. 2 unobstructed link 15 column 12, lines 20-21 "a communication link does exist to at least one satellite"; column 5, lines 19-22 "ground-to- satellite terminal's percentage of successful communication"; Col. 12 Lines 15-20 “if at least one of the satellites at this particular instance in time (T) is above curve 472, then it may be indicated that the system is available and a communication link does exist to at least one satellite.”)
Astrom does not explicitly teach transmit, via the one or more transceivers, in response to the determination, at least one message towards at least one NTN space vehicle of the set of NTN space vehicles other than the subset of NTN space vehicles.
Ravishankar teaches transmit, via the one or more transceivers, in response to the determination, at least one message towards at least one NTN space vehicle of the set of NTN space vehicles other than the subset of NTN space vehicles (See Figure 5, in time 502a, transmission is made towards the first satellite because the second satellite is blocked, and during time 504B, transmission is made towards the second satellite because the first satellite is blocked. For the transmission to the satellites, see ¶20 The UTs may
comprise antennas that receive and transmit signals to one or more overhead satellites"
and ¶25: "UTs 104-106 may be devices capable of transmitting and receiving signals from satellites 114-116, via satellite connections 118-120"; See also ¶22 “Blockage data may be utilized to determine a blockage map associated with a UT.” ¶37 UTs on moving vessels).
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art, to modify the invention of Astrom to include the noted teachings of Ravishankar in order to mitigate blockage effects and the duration of interruptions associated with satellite communication systems. (Ravishankar ¶2)
The combination teaches Claim 4: The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether the one or more obstructions are estimated to be blocking the subset of NTN space vehicles comprises: obtaining image data from at least one camera of the wireless communications device (Astrom Fig. 12, Col. 5 Lines 25-45 “output of camera 350”);
identifying the one or more obstructions within the image data (Astrom Figure 4 and
column 5, lines 33-36: " shown is a representation of a terminal antenna field of view 50 taken at the site of terminal 16 and illustrating potential signal environment obstructions");
determining direction vectors from the wireless communications device to the set of NTN space vehicles (Astrom the picture from the fish eye camera indicating obstructions and displayed in Figure 4 in D3 is converted into a map of obstructions in azimuth and elevation as displayed in Figure 8 in D3. See column 5, lines 46-50: "The output of camera 350 is a fisheye photograph, similar to one shown in FIG. 4, that is input to optical processor 352 for creating a blockage map of the sky as its output. An example of such a blockage map created by processor 352 is illustrated in FIG. 8". The direction vectors to the satellites are determined as explained in column 5, lines 57-62: "the pointing angles, both azimuth and elevation, to all visible system satellites as a function of time");
identifying positions of the set of NTN space vehicles within the image data based on the direction vectors (see Astrom Figure 14 and corresponding explanations from column
11, line 56 to column 12, line 21. Especially see column 12, lines 11-17: "any satellite
appearing below curve 472" i.e. the curve of obstructions generated from the fish eye
camera in Figure 8 "such as satellites 483 and 484, are not in view of the antenna at
this particular location for this instance in time (T). However, any satellite appearing
above curve 472, such as satellites 481, 482 and 485, are all satellites that are in clear
view of the antenna at this particular location and for this instance in time); and
determining whether positions of the subset of NTN space vehicles overlay the one or more obstructions (see Astrom Figure 14 and corresponding explanations from column
11, line 56 to column 12, line 21: the satellites below curve 472, i.e. satellites 483 and 484
as explained above.).
The combination teaches Claim 5: The method of claim 4, wherein determining the direction vectors comprises: determining azimuth and elevation angles of the set of NTN space vehicles with respect to the wireless communications device based on ephemeris data for the set of NTN space vehicles and a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) position fix of the wireless communications device; and determining the direction vectors based on the azimuth and elevation angles and an orientation of the at least one camera (Astrom Figure 14 and associated explanations from column 11, line 56 to column 12, line 21 in D3. The position of the satellites are computed, as explained in column 12, lines 13-14 of D3, "at this particular location for this instance in time (T)" and it is implicit hat the location is determined using a positioning system. In order to correlate Figure 4 and Figure 8 in D3, the orientation for the camera needs to be known with respect to the azimuths of the satellites. See steps S2 and S4 in Figure 4 of D4 and corresponding paragraphs 43 and 45. Especially in D4, the "pitch angle" corresponds to claimed direction vector.)
The combination teaches Claim 6. (Original) The method of claim 4, wherein identifying the positions of the set of NTN space vehicles within the image data comprises: mapping the direction vectors to points in the image data using perspective projection based on parameters of the at least one camera. (Astrom projection of the picture from the fish eye camera, Figure 4 to the azimuth and elevation map of obstructions, Figure 8. See column 5, lines 46-50: "The output of camera 350 is a fisheye photograph, similar to one shown in FIG. 4, that is input to optical processor 352 for creating a blockage map of the sky as its output. An example of such a blockage map created by processor 352 is illustrated in FIG. 8")
7. (Original) The method of claim 4, wherein determining whether the positions of the subset of NTN space vehicles overlay the one or more obstructions comprises: determining whether the positions of the subset of NTN space vehicles overlay the one or more obstructions by at least a threshold distance. (Astrom Figure 14 and corresponding explanations from column 11, line 56 to column 12, line 21: “curve 472” acts as threshold).
19. (Original) The method of claim 1, wherein detecting the trigger comprises:
receiving a request from a user or another component of the wireless communications device to communicate via NTN connectivity; detecting an emergency event at the wireless communications device; or any combination thereof (Astrom Col. 12 Lines 10-40 time increment based trigger is equivalent to receiving a request from ‘another component’ i.e. clock or controller).
Claim(s) 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 6070051 Astrom; Richard Lawrence et al. in view of WO 2020132201 A1 RAVISHANKAR CHANNASANDRA et al.
The combination teaches The method of claim 4 but does not teach prompting a user of the wireless communications device to capture the image data with the at least one camera of the wireless communications device.
However, the feature is an ordinary feature of camera devices and further taught by Cooper prompting a user of the wireless communications device to capture the image data with the at least one camera of the wireless communications device. See Cooper ¶23 “configured to track the locations on the surface of the fabric at which the camera captures the images, and to prompt a user of the apparatus, responsively to the tracked locations, to shift the camera to an area of the garment in which the images of the pattern have not yet been captured.”)
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art, to modify the combination include the noted teachings of Cooper in order to to measurement of body size and shape, and particularly to apparatus and methods for automating such measurements. Cooper ¶2
Pertinent Prior Art(s)
The prior art made of record though not relied upon in the current rejection is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Art as cited in ISR dated May 28, 2024 of PCT/US2023/075682
WO 2020132201 A1 RAVISHANKAR CHANNASANDRA et al.
discloses: A method of wireless communication performed by a wireless communications device (see paragraph 3: "a method for initiating handover of a user terminal" involving communication with first and second satellites as explained later in paragraph 3), comprising:
detecting a trigger to communicate via non-terrestrial network connectivity
(implicit from the handover mentioned in paragraphs 3 to 6: the handover is triggered by the detection that the current satellite will be obstructed, see Figures 4, 5 and 6. See
claim 1 of D1: "determining, based at least in part on the first blockage data the first
satellite data and the second satellite data, a handover time to initiate a handover from
the first satellite to the second satellite; and causing the first user terminal to initiate a
satellite handover at the handover time". In that case the handover is the trigger to
communicate with the second satellite);
determining whether one or more obstructions are estimated to be blocking a
subset of NTN space vehicles of a set of NTN space vehicles expected to be in
view of the wireless communications device at a current location of the wireless
communications device (see the "blockage map" in figure 4. See paragraph 39: A
satellite is blocked where its satellite track intersects with a blockage angle indicated on
blockage map". See Figure 5 based on the blockage data of Figure 4 and corresponding
explanations paragraph 41: "For example, 502B may represent a time period where the
first UT no longer has a direct line of sight to the first satellite. In such an example, 502B
may be caused by the orbital movement of the first satellite. 504A may represent a time
period when the first UT has a direct line of sight to a second satellite". The set of
satellites are all the satellites of the constellation of satellite); and
transmitting, in response to a determination that the one or more obstructions are
estimated to be blocking the subset of NTN space vehicles, at least one message
towards at least one NTN space vehicle of the set of NTN space vehicles other
than the subset of NTN space vehicles (In Figure 5, in time 502a, transmission is made towards the first satellite because the second satellite is blocked, and during time
504B, transmission is made towards the second satellite because the first satellite is
blocked. For the transmission to the satellites, see paragraph 20 The UTs may
comprise antennas that receive and transmit signals to one or more overhead satellites"
and paragraph 25: "UTs 104-106 may be devices capable of transmitting and receiving
signals from satellites 114-116, via satellite connections 118-120").
US 5 946 603 A (IBANEZ-MEIER RODRIGO [US] ET AL) 31 August 1999
D2 disclosing in Figures 1 to 10 and from column 2, line 18 to column 11, line 32, a method of improving communications between ground terminals and satellites in a fade and blockage environment including real and potential line-of-sight obstructions. A terminal blockage profile is based on detecting Fresnel diffracted signals, optical fisheye lens, or backscatter signal detection (see Figure 8). Especially in Figure 8, handover is performed from satellite at position 202 to satellite at position 204, because it is determined that satellite at position 202 will be soon blocked, see column 10, lines 20 to 32. An obstruction map indicates the presence of semi-permanent obstruction, buildings, mountains, and overpasses, affecting communications with terminals in proximity to the obstruction (see column 11, lines 13-32).
CN 113 300 757 A (SHANGHAI ADVANCED AVIONICS CO LTD) 24 August 2021 (2021-08-24)
MASATO TAKAHASHI ED - ANONYMOUS: "An Effective Satellite Handover System in Future-Oriented Vehicular Communication Society on Collaborative GPS Archive with Distributed Sensors", COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS, 2006. ICCS 2006. 10TH IEEE SINGAPORE INTERNATIO NAL CONFERENCE ON, IEEE, PI, 1 October 2006 (2006-10-01), pages 1-5, XP031042156,
LINES TERENCE ET AL: "3D map creation using crowdsourced GNSS data", COMPUTERS ENVIRONMENT AND URBAN SYSTEMS, NEW YORK, NY, US, vol. 89, 19 June 2021 (2021-06-19)
CA 2 633 051 A1 (TESSIER THOMAS RONALD [CA]) 12 November 2009 (2009-11-12)
US 2017/310382 A1 (DARBY III PAUL J [US]) 26 October 2017
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to UMAIR AHSAN whose telephone number is (571)272-1323. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 10-5 PM EST or by emailing UMAIR.AHSAN@USPTO.GOV.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Alison Slater can be reached at (571) 270-0375. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/UMAIR AHSAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2647
Prosecution Insights