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 § 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.
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.
Claims 1-5 and 7-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nurminen (US 20230194729, hereinafter “Nurminen”), and further in view of Grosman et al. (US 20120307645, hereinafter “Grosman”).
Regarding claim 1, Nurminen discloses,
A computer-implemented method of detecting an entrance point and an exit point for a site of interest using temporally-spaced satellite pings (where the one or more processors have access to counter data arranged to maintain a plurality of counters that each respectively represent a count of how many times GNSS service has been obtained or lost in a respective one of a plurality of sub-areas; based on the received GNSS-related information, detecting, by the one or more processors, a GNSS state change corresponding to an instance of GNSS service being obtained or lost in a particular sub-area of the plurality of sub-areas; in response to detecting the GNSS state change in the particular sub-area, incrementing, by the one or more processors, the respective counter associated with the particular sub-area, [0015]), the computer-implemented method comprising:
receiving satellite pings from a set of transmitting vehicles (the processor(s) could crowdsource GNSS-related information from device(s) in accordance with a crowdsourcing process, which may involve the processor(s) requesting GNSS-related information from mobile device of a large number of consumers and/or the mobile device transmitting GNSS-related information to the processor(s) (e.g., continuously and/or from time-to time), [0067]), each of the satellite pings indicating a location of a corresponding vehicle from the set of transmitting vehicles computed using global navigation satellite system (GNSS) signals received at the corresponding vehicle (As shown in block 302, method 300 may involve receiving, by one or more processors, GNSS-related information, where the one or more processors have access to counter data arranged to maintain a plurality of counters that each respectively represent a count of how many times GNSS service has been obtained or lost in a respective one of a plurality of sub-areas [0061]-[0063]…. GNSS-related information could take the form of a (e.g., sufficiently precise) GNSS location indicating that GNSS service was available to a device or a message that a GNSS location could not be obtained, which may indicate that GNSS service was not available to the device [0069]-[0070]);
receiving a request from a vehicle for the entrance point and the exit point for the site of interest (In one case, the server system 102 could use the radio map to estimate a position of a mobile device, such as in response to a request by the mobile device to do so…..In turn, the server system 102 could provide, to the mobile device, a position estimate indicative of the particular geographical location at the site, [0049]);
obtaining a geofence for the site of interest (the disclosed approach leverages an assumption that a locally exceptionally high extent of GNSS service being obtained and/or lost in a given sub-area may serve as an indication that an entrance is located in that given sub-area. Thus, the disclosed approach may help enable automated learning and mapping of entrance locations, which is useful for e.g., navigation and/or other purposes, [0057]-[0058]);
identifying a subset of the satellite pings that are within a set of cells (the disclosed approach leverages an assumption that a locally exceptionally high extent of GNSS service being obtained and/or lost in a given sub-area may serve as an indication that an entrance is located in that given sub-area. Thus, the disclosed approach may help enable automated learning and mapping of entrance locations, which is useful for e.g., navigation and/or other purposes [0012]…. the plurality of sub-areas could be defined e.g., by a grid (e.g., with 4-meter grid point spacing), such as a grid corresponding to map tiles of map data and/or the above-described grid associated with radio map data, among other possibilities [0064]… FIG. 4A illustrates a grid 400 representing a plurality of sub-areas 402A to 402P in and around the general location associated with indoor area 200 of FIG. 2A. And FIG. 4B then illustrates that sub-area 402F has an associated counter value (e.g., “576”) that is significantly higher compared to all other counter values associated with the other sub-areas shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B. Accordingly, processor(s) could determine that sub-area 402F has an exceptionally high extent of GNSS state changes and thus includes an entrance [0088]);
compiling a list of entrance satellite pings and a list of exit satellite pings by, for each satellite ping of the subset of the satellite pings (a given instance of GNSS service being obtained or lost (e.g., at a given device) could be referred to herein as a GNSS state change [0062]….GNSS-related information could take the form of a (e.g., sufficiently precise) GNSS location indicating that GNSS service was available to a device or a message that a GNSS location could not be obtained, which may indicate that GNSS service was not available to the device. Given this, the device providing a GNSS location and subsequently (e.g., within a threshold time period or in a subsequent communication) providing a message that a GNSS location could not be obtained may serve as an indication to the processor(s) that GNSS service was lost, and vice versa [0069]…. based on the received GNSS-related information, detecting, by the one or more processors, a GNSS state change corresponding to an instance of GNSS service being obtained or lost in a particular sub-area of the plurality of sub-areas [0073]):
counting the satellite pings from the list of entrance satellite pings and the list of exit satellite pings that are within each of the set of cells to respectively produce counts of entrance satellite pings and counts of exit satellite pings (the disclosed approach may involve dividing a collection area (e.g., the world or an urban area) into a plurality of sub-areas and maintaining counters respectively for these sub-areas. Each such counter may track the number of GNSS state changes that have been detected in a respective sub-area based on crowdsourced GNSS-related information gathered from one or more devices that are or were located in one or more of those sub area [0012]…in response to detecting the GNSS state change in the particular sub-area, incrementing, by the one or more processors, the respective counter associated with the particular sub-area [0015]….. The counter data may include a digital counter per respective sub-area so as to maintain a count of how many GNSS state changes have occurred in the respective sub-area. In practice, one or more of (or all of) the counters may maintain an overall count and may never expire, to enable tracking of the number of GNSS state changes over time [0063]); and
assigning the entrance point to a first cell from the set of cells and the exit point to a second cell from the set of cells respectively based on maximum values from the counts of entrance satellite pings and the counts of exit satellite pings (the processor(s) could make a determination that a particular sub-area has significantly more GNSS state change detections compared to other sub-area(s) in the vicinity and could responsively deem the particular sub-area as likely containing an entrance to a GNSS-denied area [0013]…. FIG. 4B then illustrates that sub-area 402F has an associated counter value (e.g., “576”) that is significantly higher compared to all other counter values associated with the other sub-areas shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B. Accordingly, processor(s) could determine that sub-area 402F has an exceptionally high extent of GNSS state changes and thus includes an entrance [0088]). However, Nurminen does not explicitly disclose, the satellite pings that are within a set of cells along a border of the geofence and compiling a list of entrance satellite pings and a list of exit satellite by in response to determining that the satellite ping is preceded by a satellite ping for a same vehicle that is outside the geofence or is followed by a satellite ping for the same vehicle that is inside the geofence, adding the satellite ping to the list of entrance satellite pings; or in response to determining that the satellite ping is preceded by a satellite ping for the same vehicle that is inside the geofence or is followed by a satellite ping for the same vehicle that is outside the geofence, adding the satellite ping to the list of exit satellite pings.
In in the same field of endeavor, Grosman discloses, the satellite pings that are within a set of cells along a border of the geofence (a mobile device receives data defining the geofence. The mobile device can select, from multiple wireless access points, one or more wireless access points for monitoring the geofence. The selected wireless access points can be monitored by a wireless processor of the mobile device [0004]… Mobile device 100 can be configured to detect a potential entry into geofence 110 using wireless communication subsystem 104. Geofence 110 can include a fence location (e.g., a center of the fence) and a fence dimension (e.g., a radius when the fence is a circle) [0035] …. Mobile device 100 can receive geofence 110 from a user (e.g., as described in reference to FIG. 5). Upon receiving geofence 110, mobile device 100 can designate multiple geographic regions to correspond to geofence 110. For example, mobile device 100 can create virtual geographic grid 116 that corresponds to geofence 110. Mobile device 100 can select wireless access points based on virtual geographic grid 116 [0096]) and compiling a list of entrance satellite pings and a list of exit satellite by in response to determining that the satellite ping is preceded by a satellite ping for a same vehicle that is outside the geofence or is followed by a satellite ping for the same vehicle that is inside the geofence, adding the satellite ping to the list of entrance satellite pings; or in response to determining that the satellite ping is preceded by a satellite ping for the same vehicle that is inside the geofence or is followed by a satellite ping for the same vehicle that is outside the geofence, adding the satellite ping to the list of exit satellite pings (a mobile device can detect one or more entry gateways that are wireless access points selected for monitoring a geofence. The mobile device can determine that the mobile device is located in the geofence based on the detection. The mobile device can monitor the entry gateways and one or more exit gateways, which can be wireless access points observable by the mobile device when the mobile device is in the geofence [0005]…. Mobile device 100 can be configured to detect a potential entry into geofence 110 using wireless communication subsystem 104. Geofence 110 can include a fence location (e.g., a center of the fence) and a fence dimension (e.g., a radius when the fence is a circle). The fence location can include latitude and longitude coordinates. Geofence 110 can be associated with an entity (e.g., a company, school, or home) [0035]-[0037]… When the wireless processor does not detect a signal from any of the exit gateways in N consecutive scans, wireless communications subsystem 104 can determine that a potential exit of temporary geofence 152 has occurred. [0050]-0051]…..Upon receiving geofence 110 (as described above in reference to FIGS. 1 and 5), mobile device 100 can designate (602) multiple geographic regions to correspond to geofence 110. Mobile device 100 can select wireless access points for monitoring geofence 110 based on the geographic regions [0091]-[0094]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Nurminen by specifically providing the satellite pings that are within a set of cells along a border of the geofence and compiling a list of entrance satellite pings and a list of exit satellite by in response to determining that the satellite ping is preceded by a satellite ping for a same vehicle that is outside the geofence or is followed by a satellite ping for the same vehicle that is inside the geofence, adding the satellite ping to the list of entrance satellite pings; or in response to determining that the satellite ping is preceded by a satellite ping for the same vehicle that is inside the geofence or is followed by a satellite ping for the same vehicle that is outside the geofence, adding the satellite ping to the list of exit satellite pings, as taught by Grosman by specifically providing detecting a relative position between a mobile device and a geofence by monitoring wireless access points using a wireless processor with limited scanning capacity without sacrificing accuracy [0010].
Regarding claim 2, the combination of Nurminen and Grosman discloses everything claimed as applied above (see claim 1), further Nurminen discloses,
wherein an average temporal resolution of the satellite pings is greater than one minute (one or more of (or all of) the counters may maintain an overall count and may never expire, to enable tracking of the number of GNSS state changes over time. Additionally or alternatively, one or more of (or all of) the counters may respectively expire after a respective (e.g., pre-defined) duration, to e.g., enable tracking of the number of GNSS state changes over a certain (e.g., more recent) time period, [0063]).
Regarding claim 3, the combination of Nurminen and Grosman discloses everything claimed as applied above (see claim 1), further Nurminen discloses,
wherein the satellite pings are received from the set of transmitting vehicles over a time duration of at least one week (In practice, one or more of (or all of) the counters may maintain an overall count and may never expire, to enable tracking of the number of GNSS state changes over time. Additionally or alternatively, one or more of (or all of) the counters may respectively expire after a respective (e.g., pre-defined) duration, to e.g., enable tracking of the number of GNSS state changes over a certain (e.g., more recent) time period, [0063]).
Regarding claim 4, the combination of Nurminen and Grosman discloses everything claimed as applied above (see claim 1), further Nurminen discloses,
determining the set of cells along the border of the geofence such that each of the set of cells at least partially overlaps the border of the geofence (mobile device 100 can create virtual geographic grid 116 that corresponds to geofence 110. Mobile device 100 can select wireless access points based on virtual geographic grid 116.Geographic grid 116 can include N.times.N equally distributed tiles, [0096]-[0098]).
Regarding claim 5, the combination of Nurminen and Grosman discloses everything claimed as applied above (see claim 1), further Nurminen discloses,
wherein obtaining the geofence for the site of interest includes retrieving the geofence from a maps database (FIG. 6 illustrates a diagram of a geographic database 600, according to an example implementation. Geographic database 600 could be included within, integrated with, or be separate from another database, data storage device, memory, or the like described herein (e.g., memory 504), [0115]).
Regarding claim 7, the combination of Nurminen and Grosman discloses everything claimed as applied above (see claim 1), further Nurminen discloses,
wherein a count for the first cell is a maximum value from the counts of entrance satellite pings and a count for the second cell is a maximum value from the counts of exit satellite pings ( the processor(s) could make a determination that a particular sub-area has significantly more GNSS state change detections compared to other sub-area(s) in the vicinity and could responsively deem the particular sub-area as likely containing an entrance to a GNSS-denied area [0013]…. 4B then illustrates that sub-area 402F has an associated counter value (e.g., “576”) that is significantly higher compared to all other counter values associated with the other sub-areas shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B, [0088]).
Regarding claim 8, the combination of Nurminen and Grosman discloses everything claimed as applied above (see claim 1), further Nurminen discloses,
assigning a second entrance point to a third cell from the set of cells based on the maximum values from the counts of entrance satellite pings and the counts of exit satellite pings, wherein the entrance point is a first entrance point, and wherein a count for the third cell is within 50% of a count for the first cell; or assigning a second exit point to a fourth cell from the set of cells based on the maximum values from the counts of entrance satellite pings and the counts of exit satellite pings, wherein the exit point is a first exit point, and wherein a count for the fourth cell is within 50% of a count for the second cell (the processor(s) could make a determination that a particular sub-area has significantly more GNSS state change detections compared to other sub-area(s) in the vicinity and could responsively deem the particular sub-area as likely containing an entrance to a GNSS-denied area. In doing so, the processor(s) could generate or update a map to accurately represent the location of the detected entrance, so that such a mapped entrance can in turn be leveraged for e.g., navigation purposes, among various other options, [0011]-[0015]).
Regarding claim 9, the combination of Nurminen and Grosman discloses everything claimed as applied above (see claim 1), further Nurminen discloses,
determining a vehicle route for the vehicle based on the entrance point or the exit point for the site of interest ( the processor(s) could make a determination that a particular sub-area has significantly more GNSS state change detections compared to other sub-area(s) in the vicinity and could responsively deem the particular sub-area as likely containing an entrance to a GNSS-denied area. In doing so, the processor(s) could generate or update a map to accurately represent the location of the detected entrance, so that such a mapped entrance can in turn be leveraged for e.g., navigation purposes, among various other options, [0013]).
Regarding claim 10, the combination of Nurminen and Grosman discloses everything claimed as applied above (see claim 1), further Nurminen discloses,
displaying the entrance point on a display of the vehicle (the server system 102 could store the radio map in a database 108, so that the server system 102 could refer the radio map or a portion thereof on an as-needed basis and/or so that the server system 102 provide the radio map or portion thereof (e.g., to a mobile device) on an as-needed basis for positioning purposes, [0048]).
Regarding claim 11, the combination of Nurminen and Grosman discloses everything claimed as applied above (see claim 1), further Nurminen discloses,
wirelessly transmitting the entrance point or the exit point to the vehicle (the server system 102 could store the radio map in a database 108, so that the server system 102 could refer the radio map or a portion thereof on an as-needed basis and/or so that the server system 102 provide the radio map or portion thereof (e.g., to a mobile device) on an as-needed basis for positioning purposes, [0048]).
Regarding claim 12, the combination of Nurminen and Grosman discloses everything claimed as applied above (see claim 1), further Nurminen discloses,
storing the entrance point and the exit point in a maps database (the server system 102 could store the radio map in a database 108, so that the server system 102 could refer the radio map or a portion thereof on an as-needed basis, [0048]).
Regarding claim 13, the combination of Nurminen and Grosman discloses everything claimed as applied above (see claim 1), further Nurminen discloses,
wherein the set of transmitting vehicles are semi-trailer trucks (The road segment data records 606 and the node data records 604 may represent a road network, such as used by vehicles, cars, and/or other entities, [0132]).
Regarding claim 14, Nurminen discloses,
A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed by one or more processors (memory 504 could also take various form without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. In particular, memory 504 could be separate from processor(s) 502. Additionally or alternatively, memory 504 may be part of or otherwise integrated with one or more of the processor(s) 502, [0105]), cause the one or more processors to perform operations for detecting an entrance point and an exit point for a site of interest using temporally-spaced satellite pings (where the one or more processors have access to counter data arranged to maintain a plurality of counters that each respectively represent a count of how many times GNSS service has been obtained or lost in a respective one of a plurality of sub-areas; based on the received GNSS-related information, detecting, by the one or more processors, a GNSS state change corresponding to an instance of GNSS service being obtained or lost in a particular sub-area of the plurality of sub-areas; in response to detecting the GNSS state change in the particular sub-area, incrementing, by the one or more processors, the respective counter associated with the particular sub-area, [0015]), the operation comprising comprising:
receiving satellite pings from a set of transmitting vehicles (the processor(s) could crowdsource GNSS-related information from device(s) in accordance with a crowdsourcing process, which may involve the processor(s) requesting GNSS-related information from mobile device of a large number of consumers and/or the mobile device transmitting GNSS-related information to the processor(s) (e.g., continuously and/or from time-to time), [0067]), each of the satellite pings indicating a location of a corresponding vehicle from the set of transmitting vehicles computed using global navigation satellite system (GNSS) signals received at the corresponding vehicle (As shown in block 302, method 300 may involve receiving, by one or more processors, GNSS-related information, where the one or more processors have access to counter data arranged to maintain a plurality of counters that each respectively represent a count of how many times GNSS service has been obtained or lost in a respective one of a plurality of sub-areas [0061]-[0063]…. GNSS-related information could take the form of a (e.g., sufficiently precise) GNSS location indicating that GNSS service was available to a device or a message that a GNSS location could not be obtained, which may indicate that GNSS service was not available to the device [0069]-[0070]);
receiving a request from a vehicle for the entrance point and the exit point for the site of interest (In one case, the server system 102 could use the radio map to estimate a position of a mobile device, such as in response to a request by the mobile device to do so…..In turn, the server system 102 could provide, to the mobile device, a position estimate indicative of the particular geographical location at the site, [0049]);
obtaining a geofence for the site of interest (the disclosed approach leverages an assumption that a locally exceptionally high extent of GNSS service being obtained and/or lost in a given sub-area may serve as an indication that an entrance is located in that given sub-area. Thus, the disclosed approach may help enable automated learning and mapping of entrance locations, which is useful for e.g., navigation and/or other purposes, [0057]-[0058]);
identifying a subset of the satellite pings that are within a set of cells (the disclosed approach leverages an assumption that a locally exceptionally high extent of GNSS service being obtained and/or lost in a given sub-area may serve as an indication that an entrance is located in that given sub-area. Thus, the disclosed approach may help enable automated learning and mapping of entrance locations, which is useful for e.g., navigation and/or other purposes [0012]…. the plurality of sub-areas could be defined e.g., by a grid (e.g., with 4-meter grid point spacing), such as a grid corresponding to map tiles of map data and/or the above-described grid associated with radio map data, among other possibilities [0064]… FIG. 4A illustrates a grid 400 representing a plurality of sub-areas 402A to 402P in and around the general location associated with indoor area 200 of FIG. 2A. And FIG. 4B then illustrates that sub-area 402F has an associated counter value (e.g., “576”) that is significantly higher compared to all other counter values associated with the other sub-areas shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B. Accordingly, processor(s) could determine that sub-area 402F has an exceptionally high extent of GNSS state changes and thus includes an entrance [0088]);
compiling a list of entrance satellite pings and a list of exit satellite pings by, for each satellite ping of the subset of the satellite pings (a given instance of GNSS service being obtained or lost (e.g., at a given device) could be referred to herein as a GNSS state change [0062]….GNSS-related information could take the form of a (e.g., sufficiently precise) GNSS location indicating that GNSS service was available to a device or a message that a GNSS location could not be obtained, which may indicate that GNSS service was not available to the device. Given this, the device providing a GNSS location and subsequently (e.g., within a threshold time period or in a subsequent communication) providing a message that a GNSS location could not be obtained may serve as an indication to the processor(s) that GNSS service was lost, and vice versa [0069]…. based on the received GNSS-related information, detecting, by the one or more processors, a GNSS state change corresponding to an instance of GNSS service being obtained or lost in a particular sub-area of the plurality of sub-areas [0073]):
counting the satellite pings from the list of entrance satellite pings and the list of exit satellite pings that are within each of the set of cells to respectively produce counts of entrance satellite pings and counts of exit satellite pings (the disclosed approach may involve dividing a collection area (e.g., the world or an urban area) into a plurality of sub-areas and maintaining counters respectively for these sub-areas. Each such counter may track the number of GNSS state changes that have been detected in a respective sub-area based on crowdsourced GNSS-related information gathered from one or more devices that are or were located in one or more of those sub area [0012]…in response to detecting the GNSS state change in the particular sub-area, incrementing, by the one or more processors, the respective counter associated with the particular sub-area [0015]….. The counter data may include a digital counter per respective sub-area so as to maintain a count of how many GNSS state changes have occurred in the respective sub-area. In practice, one or more of (or all of) the counters may maintain an overall count and may never expire, to enable tracking of the number of GNSS state changes over time [0063]); and
assigning the entrance point to a first cell from the set of cells and the exit point to a second cell from the set of cells respectively based on maximum values from the counts of entrance satellite pings and the counts of exit satellite pings (the processor(s) could make a determination that a particular sub-area has significantly more GNSS state change detections compared to other sub-area(s) in the vicinity and could responsively deem the particular sub-area as likely containing an entrance to a GNSS-denied area [0013]…. FIG. 4B then illustrates that sub-area 402F has an associated counter value (e.g., “576”) that is significantly higher compared to all other counter values associated with the other sub-areas shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B. Accordingly, processor(s) could determine that sub-area 402F has an exceptionally high extent of GNSS state changes and thus includes an entrance [0088]). However, Nurminen does not explicitly disclose, the satellite pings that are within a set of cells along a border of the geofence and compiling a list of entrance satellite pings and a list of exit satellite by in response to determining that the satellite ping is preceded by a satellite ping for a same vehicle that is outside the geofence or is followed by a satellite ping for the same vehicle that is inside the geofence, adding the satellite ping to the list of entrance satellite pings; or in response to determining that the satellite ping is preceded by a satellite ping for the same vehicle that is inside the geofence or is followed by a satellite ping for the same vehicle that is outside the geofence, adding the satellite ping to the list of exit satellite pings.
In in the same field of endeavor, Grosman discloses, the satellite pings that are within a set of cells along a border of the geofence (a mobile device receives data defining the geofence. The mobile device can select, from multiple wireless access points, one or more wireless access points for monitoring the geofence. The selected wireless access points can be monitored by a wireless processor of the mobile device [0004]… Mobile device 100 can be configured to detect a potential entry into geofence 110 using wireless communication subsystem 104. Geofence 110 can include a fence location (e.g., a center of the fence) and a fence dimension (e.g., a radius when the fence is a circle) [0035] …. Mobile device 100 can receive geofence 110 from a user (e.g., as described in reference to FIG. 5). Upon receiving geofence 110, mobile device 100 can designate multiple geographic regions to correspond to geofence 110. For example, mobile device 100 can create virtual geographic grid 116 that corresponds to geofence 110. Mobile device 100 can select wireless access points based on virtual geographic grid 116 [0096]) and compiling a list of entrance satellite pings and a list of exit satellite by in response to determining that the satellite ping is preceded by a satellite ping for a same vehicle that is outside the geofence or is followed by a satellite ping for the same vehicle that is inside the geofence, adding the satellite ping to the list of entrance satellite pings; or in response to determining that the satellite ping is preceded by a satellite ping for the same vehicle that is inside the geofence or is followed by a satellite ping for the same vehicle that is outside the geofence, adding the satellite ping to the list of exit satellite pings (a mobile device can detect one or more entry gateways that are wireless access points selected for monitoring a geofence. The mobile device can determine that the mobile device is located in the geofence based on the detection. The mobile device can monitor the entry gateways and one or more exit gateways, which can be wireless access points observable by the mobile device when the mobile device is in the geofence [0005]…. Mobile device 100 can be configured to detect a potential entry into geofence 110 using wireless communication subsystem 104. Geofence 110 can include a fence location (e.g., a center of the fence) and a fence dimension (e.g., a radius when the fence is a circle). The fence location can include latitude and longitude coordinates. Geofence 110 can be associated with an entity (e.g., a company, school, or home) [0035]-[0037]… When the wireless processor does not detect a signal from any of the exit gateways in N consecutive scans, wireless communications subsystem 104 can determine that a potential exit of temporary geofence 152 has occurred. [0050]-0051]…..Upon receiving geofence 110 (as described above in reference to FIGS. 1 and 5), mobile device 100 can designate (602) multiple geographic regions to correspond to geofence 110. Mobile device 100 can select wireless access points for monitoring geofence 110 based on the geographic regions [0091]-[0094]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Nurminen by specifically providing the satellite pings that are within a set of cells along a border of the geofence and compiling a list of entrance satellite pings and a list of exit satellite by in response to determining that the satellite ping is preceded by a satellite ping for a same vehicle that is outside the geofence or is followed by a satellite ping for the same vehicle that is inside the geofence, adding the satellite ping to the list of entrance satellite pings; or in response to determining that the satellite ping is preceded by a satellite ping for the same vehicle that is inside the geofence or is followed by a satellite ping for the same vehicle that is outside the geofence, adding the satellite ping to the list of exit satellite pings, as taught by Grosman by specifically providing detecting a relative position between a mobile device and a geofence by monitoring wireless access points using a wireless processor with limited scanning capacity without sacrificing accuracy [0010].
Regarding claim 15, the combination of Nurminen and Grosman discloses everything claimed as applied above (see claim 14), further Nurminen discloses,
wherein an average temporal resolution of the satellite pings is greater than one minute (one or more of (or all of) the counters may maintain an overall count and may never expire, to enable tracking of the number of GNSS state changes over time. Additionally or alternatively, one or more of (or all of) the counters may respectively expire after a respective (e.g., pre-defined) duration, to e.g., enable tracking of the number of GNSS state changes over a certain (e.g., more recent) time period, [0063]).
Regarding claim 16, the combination of Nurminen and Grosman discloses everything claimed as applied above (see claim 14), further Nurminen discloses,
wherein the satellite pings are received from the set of transmitting vehicles over a time duration of at least one week (In practice, one or more of (or all of) the counters may maintain an overall count and may never expire, to enable tracking of the number of GNSS state changes over time. Additionally or alternatively, one or more of (or all of) the counters may respectively expire after a respective (e.g., pre-defined) duration, to e.g., enable tracking of the number of GNSS state changes over a certain (e.g., more recent) time period, [0063]).
Regarding claim 17, the combination of Nurminen and Grosman discloses everything claimed as applied above (see claim 14), further Nurminen discloses,
determining the set of cells along the border of the geofence such that each of the set of cells at least partially overlaps the border of the geofence (mobile device 100 can create virtual geographic grid 116 that corresponds to geofence 110. Mobile device 100 can select wireless access points based on virtual geographic grid 116.Geographic grid 116 can include N.times.N equally distributed tiles, [0096]-[0098]).
Regarding claim 18, the combination of Nurminen and Grosman discloses everything claimed as applied above (see claim 14), further Nurminen discloses,
wherein obtaining the geofence for the site of interest includes retrieving the geofence from a maps database (FIG. 6 illustrates a diagram of a geographic database 600, according to an example implementation. Geographic database 600 could be included within, integrated with, or be separate from another database, data storage device, memory, or the like described herein (e.g., memory 504), [0115]).
Regarding claim 19, the combination of Nurminen and Grosman discloses everything claimed as applied above (see claim 14), further Nurminen discloses,
assigning a second entrance point to a third cell from the set of cells based on the maximum values from the counts of entrance satellite pings and the counts of exit satellite pings, wherein the entrance point is a first entrance point, and wherein a count for the third cell is within 50% of a count for the first cell; or assigning a second exit point to a fourth cell from the set of cells based on the maximum values from the counts of entrance satellite pings and the counts of exit satellite pings, wherein the exit point is a first exit point, and wherein a count for the fourth cell is within 50% of a count for the second cell (the processor(s) could make a determination that a particular sub-area has significantly more GNSS state change detections compared to other sub-area(s) in the vicinity and could responsively deem the particular sub-area as likely containing an entrance to a GNSS-denied area. In doing so, the processor(s) could generate or update a map to accurately represent the location of the detected entrance, so that such a mapped entrance can in turn be leveraged for e.g., navigation purposes, among various other options, [0011]-[0015]).
Regarding claim 20, Nurminen discloses,
A system (see, system 100) comprising:
one or more processors (processor 502; Fig. 5);
a computer-readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed by one or more processors (memory 504 could also take various form without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. In particular, memory 504 could be separate from processor(s) 502. Additionally or alternatively, memory 504 may be part of or otherwise integrated with one or more of the processor(s) 502, [0105]), cause the one or more processors to perform operations for detecting an entrance point and an exit point for a site of interest using temporally-spaced satellite pings (where the one or more processors have access to counter data arranged to maintain a plurality of counters that each respectively represent a count of how many times GNSS service has been obtained or lost in a respective one of a plurality of sub-areas; based on the received GNSS-related information, detecting, by the one or more processors, a GNSS state change corresponding to an instance of GNSS service being obtained or lost in a particular sub-area of the plurality of sub-areas; in response to detecting the GNSS state change in the particular sub-area, incrementing, by the one or more processors, the respective counter associated with the particular sub-area, [0015]), the operation comprising comprising:
receiving satellite pings from a set of transmitting vehicles (the processor(s) could crowdsource GNSS-related information from device(s) in accordance with a crowdsourcing process, which may involve the processor(s) requesting GNSS-related information from mobile device of a large number of consumers and/or the mobile device transmitting GNSS-related information to the processor(s) (e.g., continuously and/or from time-to time), [0067]), each of the satellite pings indicating a location of a corresponding vehicle from the set of transmitting vehicles computed using global navigation satellite system (GNSS) signals received at the corresponding vehicle (As shown in block 302, method 300 may involve receiving, by one or more processors, GNSS-related information, where the one or more processors have access to counter data arranged to maintain a plurality of counters that each respectively represent a count of how many times GNSS service has been obtained or lost in a respective one of a plurality of sub-areas [0061]-[0063]…. GNSS-related information could take the form of a (e.g., sufficiently precise) GNSS location indicating that GNSS service was available to a device or a message that a GNSS location could not be obtained, which may indicate that GNSS service was not available to the device [0069]-[0070]);
receiving a request from a vehicle for the entrance point and the exit point for the site of interest (In one case, the server system 102 could use the radio map to estimate a position of a mobile device, such as in response to a request by the mobile device to do so…..In turn, the server system 102 could provide, to the mobile device, a position estimate indicative of the particular geographical location at the site, [0049]);
obtaining a geofence for the site of interest (the disclosed approach leverages an assumption that a locally exceptionally high extent of GNSS service being obtained and/or lost in a given sub-area may serve as an indication that an entrance is located in that given sub-area. Thus, the disclosed approach may help enable automated learning and mapping of entrance locations, which is useful for e.g., navigation and/or other purposes, [0057]-[0058]);
identifying a subset of the satellite pings that are within a set of cells (the disclosed approach leverages an assumption that a locally exceptionally high extent of GNSS service being obtained and/or lost in a given sub-area may serve as an indication that an entrance is located in that given sub-area. Thus, the disclosed approach may help enable automated learning and mapping of entrance locations, which is useful for e.g., navigation and/or other purposes [0012]…. the plurality of sub-areas could be defined e.g., by a grid (e.g., with 4-meter grid point spacing), such as a grid corresponding to map tiles of map data and/or the above-described grid associated with radio map data, among other possibilities [0064]… FIG. 4A illustrates a grid 400 representing a plurality of sub-areas 402A to 402P in and around the general location associated with indoor area 200 of FIG. 2A. And FIG. 4B then illustrates that sub-area 402F has an associated counter value (e.g., “576”) that is significantly higher compared to all other counter values associated with the other sub-areas shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B. Accordingly, processor(s) could determine that sub-area 402F has an exceptionally high extent of GNSS state changes and thus includes an entrance [0088]);
compiling a list of entrance satellite pings and a list of exit satellite pings by, for each satellite ping of the subset of the satellite pings (a given instance of GNSS service being obtained or lost (e.g., at a given device) could be referred to herein as a GNSS state change [0062]….GNSS-related information could take the form of a (e.g., sufficiently precise) GNSS location indicating that GNSS service was available to a device or a message that a GNSS location could not be obtained, which may indicate that GNSS service was not available to the device. Given this, the device providing a GNSS location and subsequently (e.g., within a threshold time period or in a subsequent communication) providing a message that a GNSS location could not be obtained may serve as an indication to the processor(s) that GNSS service was lost, and vice versa [0069]…. based on the received GNSS-related information, detecting, by the one or more processors, a GNSS state change corresponding to an instance of GNSS service being obtained or lost in a particular sub-area of the plurality of sub-areas [0073]):
counting the satellite pings from the list of entrance satellite pings and the list of exit satellite pings that are within each of the set of cells to respectively produce counts of entrance satellite pings and counts of exit satellite pings (the disclosed approach may involve dividing a collection area (e.g., the world or an urban area) into a plurality of sub-areas and maintaining counters respectively for these sub-areas. Each such counter may track the number of GNSS state changes that have been detected in a respective sub-area based on crowdsourced GNSS-related information gathered from one or more devices that are or were located in one or more of those sub area [0012]…in response to detecting the GNSS state change in the particular sub-area, incrementing, by the one or more processors, the respective counter associated with the particular sub-area [0015]….. The counter data may include a digital counter per respective sub-area so as to maintain a count of how many GNSS state changes have occurred in the respective sub-area. In practice, one or more of (or all of) the counters may maintain an overall count and may never expire, to enable tracking of the number of GNSS state changes over time [0063]); and
assigning the entrance point to a first cell from the set of cells and the exit point to a second cell from the set of cells respectively based on maximum values from the counts of entrance satellite pings and the counts of exit satellite pings (the processor(s) could make a determination that a particular sub-area has significantly more GNSS state change detections compared to other sub-area(s) in the vicinity and could responsively deem the particular sub-area as likely containing an entrance to a GNSS-denied area [0013]…. FIG. 4B then illustrates that sub-area 402F has an associated counter value (e.g., “576”) that is significantly higher compared to all other counter values associated with the other sub-areas shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B. Accordingly, processor(s) could determine that sub-area 402F has an exceptionally high extent of GNSS state changes and thus includes an entrance [0088]). However, Nurminen does not explicitly disclose, the satellite pings that are within a set of cells along a border of the geofence and compiling a list of entrance satellite pings and a list of exit satellite by in response to determining that the satellite ping is preceded by a satellite ping for a same vehicle that is outside the geofence or is followed by a satellite ping for the same vehicle that is inside the geofence, adding the satellite ping to the list of entrance satellite pings; or in response to determining that the satellite ping is preceded by a satellite ping for the same vehicle that is inside the geofence or is followed by a satellite ping for the same vehicle that is outside the geofence, adding the satellite ping to the list of exit satellite pings.
In in the same field of endeavor, Grosman discloses, the satellite pings that are within a set of cells along a border of the geofence (a mobile device receives data defining the geofence. The mobile device can select, from multiple wireless access points, one or more wireless access points for monitoring the geofence. The selected wireless access points can be monitored by a wireless processor of the mobile device [0004]… Mobile device 100 can be configured to detect a potential entry into geofence 110 using wireless communication subsystem 104. Geofence 110 can include a fence location (e.g., a center of the fence) and a fence dimension (e.g., a radius when the fence is a circle) [0035] …. Mobile device 100 can receive geofence 110 from a user (e.g., as described in reference to FIG. 5). Upon receiving geofence 110, mobile device 100 can designate multiple geographic regions to correspond to geofence 110. For example, mobile device 100 can create virtual geographic grid 116 that corresponds to geofence 110. Mobile device 100 can select wireless access points based on virtual geographic grid 116 [0096]) and compiling a list of entrance satellite pings and a list of exit satellite by in response to determining that the satellite ping is preceded by a satellite ping for a same vehicle that is outside the geofence or is followed by a satellite ping for the same vehicle that is inside the geofence, adding the satellite ping to the list of entrance satellite pings; or in response to determining that the satellite ping is preceded by a satellite ping for the same vehicle that is inside the geofence or is followed by a satellite ping for the same vehicle that is outside the geofence, adding the satellite ping to the list of exit satellite pings (a mobile device can detect one or more entry gateways that are wireless access points selected for monitoring a geofence. The mobile device can determine that the mobile device is located in the geofence based on the detection. The mobile device can monitor the entry gateways and one or more exit gateways, which can be wireless access points observable by the mobile device when the mobile device is in the geofence [0005]…. Mobile device 100 can be configured to detect a potential entry into geofence 110 using wireless communication subsystem 104. Geofence 110 can include a fence location (e.g., a center of the fence) and a fence dimension (e.g., a radius when the fence is a circle). The fence location can include latitude and longitude coordinates. Geofence 110 can be associated with an entity (e.g., a company, school, or home) [0035]-[0037]… When the wireless processor does not detect a signal from any of the exit gateways in N consecutive scans, wireless communications subsystem 104 can determine that a potential exit of temporary geofence 152 has occurred. [0050]-0051]…..Upon receiving geofence 110 (as described above in reference to FIGS. 1 and 5), mobile device 100 can designate (602) multiple geographic regions to correspond to geofence 110. Mobile device 100 can select wireless access points for monitoring geofence 110 based on the geographic regions [0091]-[0094]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Nurminen by specifically providing the satellite pings that are within a set of cells along a border of the geofence and compiling a list of entrance satellite pings and a list of exit satellite by in response to determining that the satellite ping is preceded by a satellite ping for a same vehicle that is outside the geofence or is followed by a satellite ping for the same vehicle that is inside the geofence, adding the satellite ping to the list of entrance satellite pings; or in response to determining that the satellite ping is preceded by a satellite ping for the same vehicle that is inside the geofence or is followed by a satellite ping for the same vehicle that is outside the geofence, adding the satellite ping to the list of exit satellite pings, as taught by Grosman by specifically providing detecting a relative position between a mobile device and a geofence by monitoring wireless access points using a wireless processor with limited scanning capacity without sacrificing accuracy [0010].
Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nurminen, in view of Grosman and further in view of Exner et al. (US 20200204945, hereinafter “Exner”).
Regarding claim 6, the combination of Nurminen and Grosman discloses everything claimed as applied above (see claim 1), however the combination of Nurminen and Grosman does not disclose, wherein obtaining the geofence for the site of interest includes predicting the geofence using a trained machine-learning model using an overhead image of the site of interest.
In the same field of endeavor, Exner discloses, wherein obtaining the geofence for the site of interest includes predicting the geofence using a trained machine-learning model using an overhead image of the site of interest (the disclosed method uses a GIS database to create initial geofences that surrounds a Point of Interest POI. The initial geofence is paired with a corresponding aerial image to train a machine-learning model. In the cases when no GIS information is available for a POI, the machine-learning processing scheme enables extracting a set of enclosing features for geofence from an aerial image. The disclosed methods allow extracting an initial data from a GIS database, and training a machine-learning processing scheme and generating geofence parameters from the output of the machine-learning processing scheme, [0074]-[0077]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the combination of Nurminen and Grosman by specifically providing wherein obtaining the geofence for the site of interest includes predicting the geofence using a trained machine-learning model using an overhead image of the site of interest, as taught by Exner for the purpose of providing a geofence solution, which detects e.g. the arrival, rest stops and departure of elements with an improved accuracy in order to provide more robust geofencing techniques [0008].
Prior Art of the Record:
The prior art made of record not relied upon and considered pertinent to
Applicant’s disclosure:
US 20250157345: A navigation system is provided. A GNSS receiver is used to receive satellite signals from a plurality satellites and an local positioning system (LPS) receiver is used to receive LPS signals from a plurality of fixed location LPS transmitters that are positioned to form an LPS coverage region. A controller is in communication with the GNSS receiver and the LPS receiver.
US 11790761: A system may employ one or more satellite sensors to monitor an area; detect a body or thing that should not be present in an area; formulate a response, such as documentation, notifying authorities, or deploying unmanned aerial vehicles; and execute the response. Monitoring an area can be based on a request for surveillance at the area.
US 20230056836: A road usage charge system uses a proprietary blockchain to conduct transactions for road usage fees. While driving, a mobile device or equivalent tracks the vehicle location, speed, time of day, day of week, and any other parameter that may be used to modify a base road use fee are tracked and applied to conditional modifiers of the smart contract to create a new transaction block. As a result, the tedious reconciliation process normally associated with vehicular payments can be avoided.
Conclusion
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/GOLAM SOROWAR/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2641
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