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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 01/12/2024 has been considered by the examiner.
Preliminary Amendment
The present Office Action is based upon the original patent application filed on January 12, 2024 as modified by the preliminary amendment filed on January 12, 2024. Claims 1-14 are now pending in the present application.
Drawings
The subject matter of this application admits of illustration by a drawing to facilitate understanding of the invention. Applicant is required to furnish a drawing under 37 CFR 1.81. No new matter may be introduced in the required drawing.
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, Figures 1 thru 9 must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). For example, at least Figure 1 discloses the device 2 including a memory 4, an anonymizer 6, and a counter 8. All figures fail to label (i.e., anonymizer, counter, geographical space 20…etc..). No new matter should be entered.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claims 1-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to non-statutory subject matter. As per Alice, the claim(s) as a whole, considering all claim elements both individually and in combination, do not amount to significantly more than an abstract idea. The claim(s) is/are directed to the abstract idea of signal generation and processing. The additional element(s) or combination of elements in the claim(s) other than the abstract idea per se amount(s) to no more than: additional signal generation. Viewed as a whole, these additional claim element(s) do not provide meaningful limitation(s) to transform the abstract idea into a patent eligible application of the abstract idea such that the claim(s) amounts to significantly more than the abstract idea itself. Therefore, the claim(s) are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 as being directed to non-statutory subject matter. The examiner recommends the claims be amended to show the method run on a processor, signal generating unit or something similar.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claims 1 and 10 recite the limitation “the density of location cells”. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
The term “detection quantum” in claims 1-14 are a relative term which renders the claim indefinite. The term “quantum” is not defined by the claim, the specification does not provide a standard for ascertaining the requisite degree, and one of ordinary skill in the art would not be reasonably apprised of the scope of the invention.
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.
Claim(s) 1-3, 5-11, 13, and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Opshaug et al. (US 2021/0329586) in view of Kwon et al. (US 2020/0084574).
Regarding claims 1 and 10, Opshaug discloses a counting deceive and a counting method, the method comprising:
receiving a set of data in relation to geographical areas together forming a grid of a geographical space, mobile telephony location cell data associating a location cell identifier, a location cell position and a location cell geographical coverage (paragraphs [0008], [0089]; e.g., obtain, at the cellular entity, cell identity data and position data for a plurality of positions within a coverage area of a serving cell), and
determining for a given location cell, one or more geographical areas overlapping the geographical coverage of the given location cell, the geographical coverage of each given location cell being modified by determining an effective radius based on the density of location cells around the given location cell (paragraphs [0052], [0059], [0068]; e.g., refinements to the definition of the coverage sub-area 420 are shown with a circle overlaid on top of the coverage sub-area 420),
receiving mobile telephony signaling data associating, each time, a mobile telephony identifier, a location cell identifier and a time marker, and to determine, for a given time range, a count of mobile telephony devices for each geographical area based on the mobile telephony signaling (paragraphs [0070]-[0071], [0078]; e.g., For each position: (i) the position data includes the respective position, and (ii) the cell identity data includes one or more cell identities detected at the respective position of one or more mobile devices).
Opshaug fails to specifically disclose compute a detection quantum for each geographical area and determine the one or more detection quantums associated with each geographical area.
However, Kwon discloses compute a detection quantum for each geographical area (paragraphs [0053], [0067], [0143]) and determine the one or more detection quantums associated with each geographical area (paragraphs [0053], [0067], [0143]).
Therefore, taking the teachings of Opshaug in combination of Kwon as a whole, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention by applicant to compute a detection quantum for each geographical area and determine the one or more detection quantums associated with each geographical area in order to identify a current location of the electronic device based on at least part of the obtained detection frequency data (Kwon: Abstract).
Regarding claim 2, Opshaug in combination with Kwon discloses the counting device according to claim 1 wherein the anonymizer (6) is arranged, for a given location cell, to associate a detection quantum equal to 1 with a geographical area that contains the antenna of the location cell, or that contains an estimated barycenter of the geographical coverage of the location cell weighted by transmission power, and a detection quantum equal to 0 for the other geographical areas (Opshaug: paragraph [0067]; e.g., The UE's position fix (e.g., a most likely position 640) can be determined as a weighted position between the sector center 610 of the serving cell 210 and the sector center 630 of the coverage sub-area 620).
Regarding claims 3 and 11, Opshaug in combination with Kwon discloses the counting device and the method according to claims 1 and 10, wherein the anonymizer (6) is arranged, for a given location cell, to determine a respective ratio between an overlapping surface between each respective geographical area and the geographical coverage of the given location cell and the surface of the geographical coverage of the given location cell, and to assign to each respective geographical area a detection quantum equal to the respective ratio (Opshaug: paragraphs [0052], [0059], [0068]).
Regarding claims 5 and 13, Opshaug in combination with Kwon discloses the counting device and the method according to claims 1 and 10, wherein the anonymizer (6) is arranged, for a given location cell, to determine the detection quantum of each respective geographical area based on one or more probabilistic presence distributions characterizing a distance and/or an angle of the respective geographical area in relation to the geographical coverage of the given location cell (Kwon: paragraphs [0053], [0067], [0122], [0143]).
Regarding claim 6, Opshaug in combination with Kwon discloses the counting device according to claim 5, fails to specially discloses wherein the anonymizer (6) is arranged to determine two Gaussians, each according to a respective axis of the geographical space and with parameters depending on the geographical coverage of the given location cell, and to determine the detection quantum of each respective geographical area by calculating the product of said Gaussians applied with coordinates of the center of each respective geographical area.
However, However, the Examiner takes Official Notice of the fact that it was notoriously well known in the art at the time of invention by applicant that the anonymizer (6) is arranged to determine two Gaussians, each according to a respective axis of the geographical space and with parameters depending on the geographical coverage of the given location cell, and to determine the detection quantum of each respective geographical area by calculating the product of the Gaussians applied with coordinates of the center of each respective geographical area are often used in the natural and social sciences to represent real-valued random variables whose distributions are not known. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to determine two Gaussians, each according to a respective axis of the geographical space and with parameters depending on the geographical coverage of the given location cell, and to determine the detection quantum of each respective geographical area by calculating the product of the Gaussians applied with coordinates of the center of each respective geographical area in order to represent real-valued random variables.
Regarding claim 7, Opshaug in combination with Kwon discloses the counting device according to claim 5, fails to specifically disclose wherein the anonymizer (6) is arranged to determine two Gaussians, each according to a respective axis of the geographical space and with parameters depending on the geographical coverage of the given location cell, and to determine the detection quantum of each respective geographical area by calculating the product of all of said Gaussians on the portion of each respective geographical area overlapping the geographical coverage of the given location cell.
However, However, the Examiner takes Official Notice of the fact that it was notoriously well known in the art at the time of invention by applicant that the anonymizer (6) is arranged to determine two Gaussians, each according to a respective axis of the geographical space and with parameters depending on the geographical coverage of the given location cell, and to determine the detection quantum of each respective geographical area by calculating the product of all of said Gaussians on the portion of each respective geographical area overlapping the geographical coverage of the given location cell are often used in the natural and social sciences to represent real-valued random variables whose distributions are not known.
Regarding claim 8, Opshaug in combination with Kwon discloses the counting device according to claim 5, wherein the anonymizer (6) is arranged to determine a Gaussian with parameters depending on the geographical coverage of the given location cell, and to determine the detection quantum of each respective geographical area by computing the value of the Gaussian with the distance between the center of each respective geographical area and the antenna of the given location cell, and by normalizing the resulting detection quantums so that their sum is 1 (Kwon: paragraphs [0053], [0067], [0122], [0143]).
Regarding claim 9, Opshaug in combination with Kwon discloses the counting device according to claim 1, wherein the counter (8) is arranged to determine a count value for each geographical area based on the sum, for each location cell the geographical coverage of which overlaps said geographical area, of the product of the detection quantum of this geographical area for this location cell by the number of unique mobile telephony device identifiers in said given location cell over a chosen time period (Opshaug: paragraphs [0070]-[0071], [0078]; e.g., the cell identity data includes one or more cell identities detected at the respective position of one or more mobile devices).
Claim 14 is drawn to a program comprising instructions for implementing the method according to claim 10, when said computer program is run by a computer. Therefore, the same rationale applied to claim 10 applies. In addition, Opshaug in combination with Kwon inherently discloses an article comprising one or more computer-readable signal-bearing media, i.e., given that Opshaug/Kwon discloses a process, the process would be implemented by a processor that requires a computer-readable medium, e.g., a RAM, to function.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4 and 12 are 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
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TIMOTHY X PHAM whose telephone number is (571)270-7115. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri: 8:30-5:00.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Vladimir Magloire can be reached at 571-270-5144. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/TIMOTHY X PHAM/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3648