DETAILED ACTION
Response to Amendment
This action is in response to the amendment filing filed on June 4, 2026
Claims 1-3, 5-7, 9-10, 14 and 16 are amended.
Claims 13 and 15 are cancelled.
Claims 1-12, 14, and 16 are pending this application.
Claim Objections
Claim 2 is objected to because of the following informalities: claim 2 is missing a word at the end. For the purpose of this office action, “spoofing” is inserted at the end of claim 2. Appropriate correction is required.
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.
Claims 1-10, 12, and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhangvil et al (US 2022/0236425 A1) in view of Siriwongpairat et al (US 2011/0075641 A1).
Regarding Claim 1, Zhangvil teaches a method executed by one or more programmed processes at one or more remote computers in communication with a plurality of participating base stations comprising a wireless train control network [0142 for suing a n attacks detector for detecting attacks on satellites with processing circuits],
the one or more programmed processing configured to detect spoofing attacks on position, navigation, and time (PNT) systems used by remote railroad assets wireless train control network [0141-0144, 0340 for centralized server (remote control)],
receiving a resilient PNT (RPNT) message from at least two of the plurality of participating base stations that received a wireless packet transmitted by an asset radio of a remote railroad asset that contains PNT information [0351-0355 for getting PNT values with GNSS and cellular (base station) data to report position to determine spoofing threshold],
wherein the PNT information transmitted by the asset radio is determined by the asset radio of the railroad asset using one or more captive satellite navigation system sensors and comprises at least a reported position of the railroad asset determined from the one or more captive satellite navigation system sensos [0297, with 0340 for pseudoranges are sent by multiple source devices to a centralized attack detection server with 0359 for sensors]
and wherein each RPNT message contains a timestamp for a time of arrival of the wireless packet at the participating base station and the PNT information contained in the wireless packet [0354-0358 for using time and time differences to determining spoofing];
determining a calculated asset position based on the time of arrival of the wireless packet at each of the plurality of base stations [0281 for multiple navigation messages with transmission timing information to determine spoofing also 0352 for using cellular data];
comparing the calculated asset position to the reported position included in the PNT information in the wireless packet transmitted by the asset radio [0290 for source device that provided the navigation message and optionally to other devices in the vicinity of the source device that provided the navigation message with claim 1];
and detecting spoofing if the calculated asset position and asset position reported by the asset in the wireless packet differ by an amount that exceeds one or more predetermined thresholds and otherwise not detecting spoofing [0351 for deviation is beyond a predefined threshold, spoofing is detected. and claim 1 for source device differs from said consensus navigation message].
Zhangvil fails to explicitly teach the plurality of base stations having base radios configured for wireless transport of messages between railroad applications and asset radios on remote mobile railroad assets, the method comprising.
Siriwongpairat has a method for implementing communications in a railroad communications system having a base station radio and remote radios (abstract) and teaches the plurality of base stations having base radios configured for wireless transport of messages between railroad applications and asset radios on remote mobile railroad assets, the method comprising [0048-0050 for packet radio base stations dispersed over thousands of square miles of geographical area].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the applicant’s invention for modifying the position navigation techniques, as disclosed by Zhangvil, further including the base station calculations as taught by Siriwongpairat for the purpose to maintain multiple communications paths between various communications nodes within the system (Siriwongpairat, 0052).
Regarding Claim 2, Zhangvil teaches the PNT information in the wireless packet from the asset radio includes a transmission time of the wireless packet that is determined by the railroad asset or the asset radio [0316 for wireless time stamped packet];
the method further comprises a time validation process, the time validation process comprising [0313-0316]:
determining one or more time differences between any one or more of the following: base station times in the RPNT messages and a reference time [0357 for Compare the calculated time to trusted server time];
timestamps for the time of arrival of the wireless message from the railroad asset at any two or more of the plurality of participating base stations [0316, 0320-0323];
a time of arrival for any of the RPNT messages and the transmission time of the wireless packet [0329 for TOW values for a certain timeline];
the time of arrival for any of the RPNT messages and any time contained in RPNT message [ 0356];
and determining whether any of the one or more time differences exceed one or more predetermined thresholds [0356 predefined thresholds for certain durations]
and generating the a notice of spoofing comprises generating a notice of spoofing if the calculated asset position and asset position reported by the asset in the wireless packet differ by an amount that exceeds one or more predetermined thresholds or any of the one or more time differences exceed any of the one or more predetermined thresholds, generating the notice of spoofing time spoofing alert and otherwise not generating the notice of spoofing [0351 for deviation is beyond a predefined threshold, spoofing is detected. and claim 1 for source device differs from said consensus navigation message].
Zhangvil fails to explicitly teach each RPNT message includes a time of transmission of the RPNT message by the participating base station radio, the transmission times of the RPNT message by any two or more of the plurality of participating base stations; the transmission times of the RPNT message from any two or more of the plurality of participating base stations and any other time contained in the RPNT messages from any two or more of the plurality of participating base stations.
Siriwongpairat has a method for implementing communications in a railroad communications system having a base station radio and remote radios (abstract) and teaches each RPNT message includes a time of transmission of the RPNT message by the participating base station radio [0135 for provide an alternative source of FTDMA slot timing to the remote radios],
the transmission times of the RPNT message by any two or more of the plurality of participating base stations [0048-0050 and 0290 for remote radios to derive the slot timing];
the transmission times of the RPNT message from any two or more of the plurality of participating base stations and any other time contained in the RPNT messages from any two or more of the plurality of participating base stations [0048-0050 for packet radio base stations dispersed over thousands of square miles of geographical area].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the applicant’s invention for modifying the position navigation techniques, as disclosed by Zhangvil, further including the base station calculations as taught by Siriwongpairat for the purpose to maintain multiple communications paths between various communications nodes within the system (Siriwongpairat, 0052).
Regarding Claim 3, Zhangvil teaches the time validation process is performed prior to determining a calculated asset position based on the time of arrival of the wireless packet at each of the plurality of base stations [0522-0523 for analysis mechanisms used are SNR pattern analysis and figure 7].
Regarding Claim 4, Zhangvil fails to explicitly teach requesting a current time from a plurality of non-participating base stations and using times returned by the non-participating base stations to determine a reference time.
Siriwongpairat has a method for implementing communications in a railroad communications system having a base station radio and remote radios (abstract) and teaches requesting a current time from a plurality of non-participating base stations and using times returned by the non-participating base stations to determine a reference time [0298-0299 for remote radio also keeps track of the number of received packets from each base station].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the applicant’s invention for modifying the position navigation techniques, as disclosed by Zhangvil, further including the base station calculations as taught by Siriwongpairat for the purpose to configure the local channel parameters (Siriwongpairat, 0298).
Regarding Claim 5, Zhangvil teaches the notice of spoofing is sent electronically to one or more of the following: the railroad asset, an operator of the railroad asset, an owner of the asset, and any one or more operators of any one or more of the plurality of participating base stations [0206 for the indicator (notice) to take control actions to mitigate the attack].
Regarding Claim 6, Zhangvil teaches the wireless packet is a first wireless packet transmitted by the asset radio, the first wireless packet including position, heading and speed information as determined by the asset from its captive GNSS sensor at the time the first wireless packet is transmitted [0102-0106 for navigational information calculated by the GNSS receiver with 0231-0242];
the asset radio subsequently transmits a second wireless packet containing PNT information determined by the asset using the one or more captive satellite navigation system sensors, the second wireless packet including position, heading and speed information as determined by the asset from its captive GNSS sensor at the time the second wireless packet is transmitted [0280-0282 for consensus navigation message serves as a standard for determining the legitimacy of other navigation messages];
the RPNT message from each of the plurality of participating base stations is a first RPNT message and two or more of the plurality of base stations subsequently send a second RPNT message in response to receiving the second wireless packet [0286-0288 for give information about which of the members of the set are legitimate navigation messages];
and the method further comprises performing a navigation validation process, the navigation validation process comprising [0286 for legitimate (valid) messages]:
calculating an actual asset position based on the time of arrival of the second wireless packet at each of the two or more of the plurality participating base stations that send the second RPNT message [0286 and 0339-0340 for large enough number of users report the same pseudorange];
comparing the speed and heading of the railroad asset in the second RPNT message through interpolation of change of calculated railroad asset locations between first and second RPNT packets over an elapsed time determined from a creation time contained in each of the first and second RPNT messages [0339-0340 for comparing large number of reports];
and detecting spoofing when there is a mismatch between speed and heading reported by the asset in the second wireless packet and the calculated speed and heading that exceeds a predetermined difference [0358 and 0369 for compare the predicted position to that obtained from GPS. If the error exceeds a threshold].
Regarding Claim 7, Zhangvil teaches method for use in detecting detect attacks on position, navigation, and time (PNT) systems used by a wireless train control network [0142 for suing a n attacks detector for detecting attacks on satellites with processing circuits]:
receiving at a base station radio of a base station a wireless packet transmitted by an asset radio of a remote mobile railroad asset [0141-0144, 0340 for centralized server (remote control)],
the wireless packet containing PNT information determined by the railroad asset using one or more satellite navigation system sensors at the remote railroad asset [0142 for communicating over a network],
the PNT information indicative of any one or more of the railroad asset's position, heading, speed, and time [0140-0142 and 0283 for using PNT solutions];
and in response to receiving the wireless packet, the base station sending a message over a network to a predetermined server process running on one or more servers for detecting spoofing attacks on PNT systems used by the wireless network [0140-0143 and 0352 for using satellite and cellular (base station) data for determining spoofing],
the message containing a timestamp for the time of arrival of the wireless packet at the base station radio and the PNT information from the wireless packet [0144-0146 and 0316 for using time stamps for navigation messages from internal receiver].
Zhangvil fails to explicitly teach the wireless train control network comprising base stations with base station radios for wireless transport of messages of railroad applications to and from asset radios of remote mobile railroad assets, the method comprising.
Siriwongpairat has a method for implementing communications in a railroad communications system having a base station radio and remote radios (abstract) and teaches the wireless train control network comprising base stations with base station radios for wireless transport of messages of railroad applications to and from asset radios of remote mobile railroad assets, the method comprising [0048-0050 for packet radio base stations dispersed over thousands of square miles of geographical area].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the applicant’s invention for modifying the position navigation techniques, as disclosed by Zhangvil, further including the base station calculations as taught by Siriwongpairat for the purpose to maintain multiple communications paths between various communications nodes within the system (Siriwongpairat, 0052).
Regarding Claim 8, Zhangvil fails to explicitly teach the base station radio inserts in the message a time of transmission of the message by the base station radio.
Siriwongpairat has a method for implementing communications in a railroad communications system having a base station radio and remote radios (abstract) and teaches the base station radio inserts in the message a time of transmission of the message by the base station radio [0298-0299 for remote radio also keeps track of the number of received packets from each base station].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the applicant’s invention for modifying the position navigation techniques, as disclosed by Zhangvil, further including the base station calculations as taught by Siriwongpairat for the purpose to configure the local channel parameters (Siriwongpairat, 0298).
Regarding Claim 9, Zhangvil teaches the wireless packet is a first wireless packet transmitted by the asset radio of the remote mobile asset and the message sent by the base stations is a first message [0280-0282 for attacks are detected by comparing a specific navigation message];
the method further comprises: receiving at the base station radio after the first wireless packet a transmission by the asset radio of a second wireless packet containing PNT information determined by the asset radio using the one or more captive satellite navigation system sensors [0286 for obtains navigation messages extracted by multiple source device];
and sending with the base station a second message to the predetermined server process in response to receiving the second wireless packet at the base station [0145-0146 for navigation message is the navigation message having a maximum count with 0280-0286].
Regarding Claim 10, Zhangvil teaches a method implemented by computer for use in detecting detect attacks on position, navigation, and time (PNT) systems on railroad assets by a wireless train control network, comprising [0142 for suing a n attacks detector for detecting attacks on satellites with processing circuits]:
and transmitting with the radio a wireless packet containing the message to at least one base station of the wireless train control network [0351-0355 for getting PNT values with GNSS and cellular (base station) data to report position to determine spoofing threshold]:
wherein at least one of the one or more GNSS sensors is a captive GNSS sensor. and the method further comprises obtaining the at least one PNT parameter from the captive GNSS sensor and generating the message containing at least one PNT parameter [0149 for parameters from the receiver and 0156-0158 for using timing parameters also 0355]:
and wherein the wireless packet is a predefined packet tvpe for transmitting PNT information, and wherein transmitting the wireless packet comprises transmitting the wireless packet at a predetermined data rate, with predefined modulation, coding,. and error correction parameters, based on the predefined packet type for transmitting PNT information [0339 for all of the receivers within its range will calculate the same PNT solution since they all receive the same spoofed signal transmitted from a nearby source with 0369-0370].
Zhangvil fails to explicitly teach generating in response to a trigger a message containing information representing at least one PNT parameter obtained from one or more GNSS sensors at the railroad asset, the message having an application-level protocol header for exchanging data between railroad applications that allows for multiple different message transport protocols.
Siriwongpairat has a method for implementing communications in a railroad communications system having a base station radio and remote radios (abstract) and teaches generating in response to a trigger a message containing information representing at least one PNT parameter obtained from one or more GNSS sensors at the railroad asset, the message having an application-level protocol header for exchanging data between railroad applications that allows for multiple different message transport protocols [0048-0050 for packet radio base stations dispersed over thousands of square miles of geographical area with 0059].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the applicant’s invention for modifying the position navigation techniques, as disclosed by Zhangvil, further including the base station calculations as taught by Siriwongpairat for the purpose to maintain multiple communications paths between various communications nodes within the system (Siriwongpairat, 0052).
Regarding Claim 12, Zhangvil teaches the GNSS sensor is integrated with the radio, the radio being configured to obtain the at least one PNT parameter from the integrated GNSS sensor and to generate the packet [0218-0221 for integrating resources for performing attack detection].
Regarding Claim 16, Zhangvil teaches the PNT information in the message contains: position (latitude, longitude, altitude), navigation (heading, speed), and time (UTC date, UTC time) from at least one of the one or more GNSS sensors [0216 and 0244 for all default parameters].
Claims 11 and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhangvil et al (US 2022/0236425 A1) in view of Siriwongpairat et al (US 2011/0075641 A1) as applied to claim 10 above and further in view of Potter et al (US 2019/0126961 A1).
Regarding Claim 11, Zhangvil fails to explicitly teach the message encapsulated with an envelope that complies with AAR (Association of American Railroads) S-9354 Edge Message Protocol (EMP), the header being part of an EMP envelop.
Potter has a method for exchanging application messages generated by an applications with a format specified by a predetermined protocol and then encapsulating the message with a railroad edge messaging (abstract) and teaches the message encapsulated with an envelope that complies with AAR (Association of American Railroads) S-9354 Edge Message Protocol (EMP), the header being part of an EMP envelop [0045 and 0048].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the applicant’s invention for modifying the position navigation techniques, as disclosed by Zhangvil, further including the wireless position calculations as taught by Potter for the purpose of exchanging CTC control signal for changing switch positions and signal indications (Potter, 0047).
Regarding Claim 14, Zhangvil fails to explicitly teach the message is encapsulated in an envelope that complies with AAR (Association of American Railroads) S-9354 Edge Message Protocol (EMP), and wherein the method further comprises adding a Class C or Class D AAR standard messaging protocol header to the EMP envelope before it is routed over a captive local area network to a network interface of the asset radio using UDP/IP or TCP/IP headers.
Potter has a method for exchanging application messages generated by an applications with a format specified by a predetermined protocol and then encapsulating the message with a railroad edge messaging (abstract) and teaches the message is encapsulated in an envelope that complies with AAR (Association of American Railroads) S-9354 Edge Message Protocol (EMP), and wherein the method further comprises adding a Class C or Class D AAR standard messaging protocol header to the EMP envelope before it is routed over a captive local area network to a network interface of the asset radio using UDP/IP or TCP/IP headers [0045 and 0048].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the applicant’s invention for modifying the position navigation techniques, as disclosed by Zhangvil, further including the wireless position calculations as taught by Potter for the purpose of exchanging CTC control signal for changing switch positions and signal indications (Potter, 0047).
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1-12, 14, and 16 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.
In applicant’s arguments page 10, third paragraph of applicant’s arguments, the applicant states that Zhangvil does not supply a timestamp. The examiner respectfully disagrees: Zhangvil teaches using time stramps from receiver devices to a server to determine spoofing [Zhangvil, 0316].
In applicant’s arguments page 11, fourth paragraph of applicant’s arguments, the applicant states that Zhangvil does not teach independent spoofing calculations. The examiner respectfully disagrees: Zhangvil teaches using time of flight of the message arriving from the satellite to calculate pseudo ranges and uses those values to detect spoofing [Zhangvil, 0339].
In applicant’s arguments page 12, third paragraph of applicant’s arguments, the applicant states that neither Mason nor Zhangvil teach the claim limitations of claim 1. The examiner thanks the applicant for the amendments. The rejection now included Siriwongpiarat et al.
In applicant’s arguments page 13, second paragraph of applicant’s arguments, the applicant questions the combination of Mason and Zhangvil. The examiner thanks the applicant for the amendments. The rejection now the combination of Zhangvil et al and Siriwongpiarat et al.
In applicant’s arguments page 14, first paragraph of applicant’s arguments, the applicant questions the combination of Mason and Potter for claim 7. The examiner thanks the applicant for the amendments. The rejection now the combination of Zhangvil et al and Siriwongpiarat et al are not used on the limitations of claim 7.
In applicant’s arguments page 15, table of applicant’s arguments, the applicant questions the citations of Mason on the rejection. The examiner thanks the applicant for the amendments, Mason is no longer used in this application. The rejection now the combination of Zhangvil et al and Siriwongpiarat et al are not used on the limitations of claim 7.
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.
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/SAMARINA MAKHDOOM/
Examiner, Art Unit 3648
Prosecution Insights