DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1, 2, 8, 9, 15 and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Ray et al., US 2019/0235127.
Regarding claim 1, Ray discloses a system for global positioning system (GPS) receiver timekeeping, the system comprising: a GPS receiver (106) comprising a system clock configured to generate a system clock signal at a reference frequency [0040], the system clock configured to operate at a first frequency stability (Fig 4 and [0041]); an auxiliary clock coupled to the GPS receiver and configured to generate an auxiliary clock signal at an auxiliary clock frequency (sample clock 110, [0038]), the auxiliary clock configured to operate at a second frequency stability that is greater than the first frequency stability, wherein the auxiliary clock frequency differs from the reference frequency by a frequency offset [0042]; and a receiver processor configured to calculate corrections to the auxiliary clock signal based on a measure of error in the frequency offset and on an estimate of error in the auxiliary clock frequency (difference in time stamps used to determine the error stored in frequency compensation table 119).
Regarding claim 2, Ray discloses an auxiliary processor coupled to the GPS receiver and configured to measure the error in the frequency offset by counting cycles of the system clock signal and the auxiliary clock signal over periodic intervals (Fig 4 and see [0041]).
Regarding claim 8, Ray discloses a computer program product including one or more non-transitory machine-readable mediums encoded with instructions that when executed by one or more processors cause a process to be carried out for global positioning system (GPS) receiver timekeeping, the process comprising: generating a system clock signal at a reference frequency [0040], the system clock signal having a first frequency stability (Fig 4 and [0041]); generating an auxiliary clock signal at an auxiliary clock frequency (sample clock 110, [0038]), the auxiliary clock signal having a second frequency stability that is greater than the first frequency stability, wherein the auxiliary clock frequency differs from the reference frequency by a frequency offset [0042]; and calculating corrections to the auxiliary clock signal based on a measure of error in the frequency offset and on an estimate of error in the auxiliary clock frequency (difference in time stamps used to determine the error stored in frequency compensation table 119, [0041]).
Regarding claim 9, Ray discloses the process further comprises measuring the error in the frequency offset by counting cycles of the system clock signal and the auxiliary clock signal over periodic intervals (Fig 4 and see [0041]).
Regarding claim 15, Ray discloses a method for global positioning system (GPS) receiver timekeeping, the method comprising: generating, by a processor-based system, a system clock signal at a reference frequency [0040], the system clock signal having a first frequency stability (Fig 4 and [0041]); generating, by the processor-based system, an auxiliary clock signal at an auxiliary clock frequency (sample clock 110, [0038]), the auxiliary clock signal having a second frequency stability that is greater than the first frequency stability, wherein the auxiliary clock frequency differs from the reference frequency by a frequency offset [0042]; and calculating, by the processor-based system, corrections to the auxiliary clock signal based on a measure of error in the frequency offset and on an estimate of error in the auxiliary clock frequency (difference in time stamps used to determine the error stored in frequency compensation table 119, [0041]).
Regarding claim 16, Ray discloses measuring the error in the frequency offset by counting cycles of the system clock signal and the auxiliary clock signal over periodic intervals (Fig 4 and see [0041]).
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 4 and 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ray in view of Liu, CN 109299496.
Regarding claims 4 and 11, Ray does not explicitly disclose generating linear regression parameters for modelling the error in the auxiliary clock frequency, based on timing data received from GPS satellite signals.
Liu discloses generating linear regression parameters for modelling the error in the auxiliary clock frequency, based on timing data received from GPS satellite signals (abstract).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing day of the claimed invention to modify Ray to include the error modeling taught by Liu for the purpose of allowing a synchronous clock to be generated using an estimated error value of a crystal oscillator, thereby allowing the clock to achieve high precision and stability, while providing flexible real-time performance.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3, 5-7, 10, 12-14 and 17-20 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Regarding claims 3, 10 and 17, the prior art fails to explicitly disclose or reasonably suggest the claimed invention particularly including wherein the reference frequency is 10.949296875 Megahertz (MHz), the auxiliary clock frequency is 10 MHz, and the periodic intervals are 8 seconds.
Regarding claims 5, 12 and 18, the prior art fails to explicitly disclose or reasonably suggest the claimed invention particularly including estimating the error in the auxiliary clock frequency using the generated linear regression parameters, during times when less than four GPS satellite signals are received.
Regarding claims 6, 13 and 19, the prior art fails to explicitly disclose or reasonably suggest the claimed invention particularly including wherein the receiver processor is further configured to use the calculated corrections to generate a timing signal, during times when less than four GPS satellite signals are received.
Conclusion
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/JASON M COLLINS/ Examiner, Art Unit 2844
/EDWIN A. LEON/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2833