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 .
Response to Amendment
Applicant’s arguments and remarks filed on 06/08/2026 have been fully considered.
Applicant’s amendments to claims 2, 8, 9, 11, 17, 18, 19, and 20 resolve the identified indefiniteness issues. The 35 U.S.C. 112(b) rejection of claims 1-20 is withdrawn.
Applicant’s amendments overcome objections to the specification.
Applicant’s amendments overcome objections to the claims.
Claims 1-20 are pending.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 06/08/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Regarding the 35 U.S.C.103 rejection of claims 1, 6, and 7 over Lovinggood et al. (‘973) in view of Wang et al. (‘103):
Applicant argues at pages 14-15 of the Remarks that the Office’s rationale of minimizing “unnecessary reradiation and potential interference with other GPS receivers” is unsupported by the cited art and constitutes impermissible hindsight. This argument is not persuasive because the rejection does not rest solely on that rationale. The rejection is independently supported by the power conservation rationale. Lovinggood et al. (‘973), Figure 3 and column 3, lines 27-36, teaches powered RF circuitry including a low noise amplifier 20, a gain block 22, and a power amplifier 24. These active components consume supplied electrical power during operation. Wang et al. (‘103), paragraphs [0023-0024], teaches conserving electrical power by alternating between a sleep mode and a wake-up mode, powering off unnecessary RF and processing components while leaving necessary wake-up components such as a real-time clock operating. The motivation to reduce the energy consumed by Lovinggood’s active repeater circuitry during periods when indoor transmission is not needed is grounded in the references themselves and does not depend on any rationale drawn from Applicant’s specification.
Applicant argues at page 16 that the proposed combination would violate the principle of operation of Lovinggood because Lovinggood requires constant operation to satisfy mandated Enhanced 911 service requirements described at column 2, lines 4-19. This argument is not persuasive. Independent claim 1 does not recite E911 service. Independent claim 1 does not require uninterrupted operation. To the contrary, claim 1 expressly requires automatically preventing the at least one satellite-based navigation and positioning system re-radiator from reradiating satellite-based navigation and positioning system signals at temporal locations other than temporal locations in one or more reradiation windows. This requires a schedule with defined on and off periods. Lovinggood et al. (‘973), column 3, lines 14-26, teaches commercial applications beyond mandated E911 service, including “locator services (provide by, e.g., rental car companies) that provide location information that can be received inside structures such as parking garages, buildings and tunnels.” These commercial applications have predictable active and inactive service periods. The proposed modification applies Wang’s scheduled operating-state control to such a commercial application - it does not profess to preserve uninterrupted emergency-location availability during an intentional off period. Per MPEP § 2145, one need not show that the proposed modification would be useful in every possible application disclosed by the base reference.
Applicant argues at pages 16-17 and 21 that Wang permits only ephemeris-expiration scheduling and activity lasting, at most, a few seconds every few hours, and that such a schedule would be unfit for the function of the repeater in Lovinggood. This argument is not persuasive because it mischaracterizes Wang’s full disclosure. Wang et al. (‘103), paragraph [0024], teaches that wake-up intervals “may be periodic, aperiodic, random or programed.” Wang et al. (‘103), paragraph [0026], teaches that the wake-up time may be based on “usage patterns” - not only ephemeris expiration - and that the receiver “may be programmed not to wake up during a period of time when the user of the receiver is normally asleep” and to “download more frequently just before the user typically wakes up.” Wang claim 23 expressly recites “periodic, aperiodic, random, regular or pre-scheduled intervals.” These disclosures establish that Wang’s scheduling is not restricted to ephemeris-expiration timing but encompasses usage-based and programmed scheduling more broadly. Furthermore, the characterization of Wang as limited to “a few seconds, at most” misreads Wang’s initial signal-power detection procedure in paragraph [0024] as a universal maximum duration for the entire operation. Wang’s own background at paragraph [0005] describes a 30-second frame and a 12.5-minute super-frame, which are message-format durations that rebut a universal few-second cap. The rejection does not import every implementation detail of Wang’s complete receiver into Lovinggood’s repeater. It does, however, apply Wang’s technique of scheduled electronic operation and power control to Lovinggood’s active repeater circuitry. Per MPEP § 2145(III), combining teachings from references is not the same as bodily incorporation of one device into another.
Applicant argues at pages 17 and 21 that the Office cited Lovinggood claim 5 as support for the wireline electronic communication medium, and that Lovinggood claim 5 identifies the transmission line as being on the output side of the repeater (repeater to broadcast antenna), not the input side (link antenna to repeater). This argument is acknowledged to the extent that Lovinggood claim 5 describes the output-side transmission line. However, the wireline electronic communication medium between the link antenna and the repeater is independently supported by Lovinggood et al. (‘973), Figure 1 and column 3, lines 8-13, which teaches that external link antenna 12 “captures the GPS signal 6 and feeds it to the GPS repeater 14.” Figure 1 depicts a continuous wired connection carrying received signal 7 from link antenna 12 through the structure to repeater 14, distinct from the radiated transmissions depicted with radio-wave indications. The component mapping remains the same - link antenna 12 as the first receiver’s receiving antenna, received signal 7 as the wireline feed, and repeater 14 as the re-radiator. As presented here, this is a citation correction, not a change in the underlying mapping.
Applicant argues at page 16 that a general understanding regarding automatic timer-based activation of electronic devices does not provide a reasonable expectation of success with respect to the actual combination. This argument is not persuasive. The reasonable expectation of success is supported by the nature of the proposed modification: controlling the operation of powered RF circuitry by scheduled electronic switching. Wang et al. (‘103), paragraph [0030], teaches a sleep/wake up module 120 coupled to a power system 122 that powers components on and off. Lovinggood et al. (‘973) teaches the powered RF amplification components to be controlled (Figure 3; column 3, lines 27-36). Applying scheduled electronic power control to powered RF amplification circuitry - enabling the circuitry during defined service windows and disabling it outside those windows - is within the established capability of the disclosed electronic control technique. The expected result is intermittent indoor GPS retransmission with reduced active operating time.
Regarding claim 6: Applicant does not present separate arguments for claim 6 beyond those addressed above for independent claim 1. Lovinggood et al. (‘973), column 1, lines 45-53, teaches the need for unobstructed line-of-sight reception from enough satellites to determine position. Wang et al. (‘103), paragraph [0003], teaches that “a GPS receiver has to acquire and lock onto at least four satellite signals in order to derive the position and time.” Providing Lovinggood’s link antenna with unobstructed reception from the requisite satellites supplies at least the three unobstructed signal paths recited by claim 6.
Regarding claim 7: Applicant argues at page 19 that the proposed combination requires applying Wang’s sleep mode to the receiver, citing Wang paragraph [0023], and that the Office impermissibly picks and chooses from the references by applying the schedule to the repeater but not the receiver. Applicant cites Application of Wesslau, 353 F.2d 238, 241 (CCPA 1965). This argument is not persuasive. The combination as proposed expressly applies Wang’s scheduled control to the downstream re-radiator - that is, to Lovinggood’s repeater 14 and broadcast antenna 16 - while leaving the input receiving path (link antenna 12 and the feed carrying received signal 7) available. Wang et al. (‘103), paragraph [0030], teaches selective control of components through the power system 122, demonstrating that individual components can be independently controlled and not every component must share the same power state. The first receiver’s substantially continuous reception is preserved because the proposed modification does not disable the input receiving path. It controls when the downstream re-radiator is active. This is a stated implementation of the proposed combination.
Regarding the 35 U.S.C. 103 rejection of claims 8 and 9 (and parallel system claims 17 and 18) over Lovinggood et al. (‘973) in view of Wang et al. (‘103):
Applicant argues at page 20 that Lovinggood’s general teaching that the link antenna is positioned to receive signals from outside the structure does not teach mounting on an exterior surface proximate to an exit. Regarding claim 8, Lovinggood et al. (‘973), column 3, lines 14-26, expressly identifies “parking garages” as a commercial application. A parking garage is a structure that inherently has an entrance/exit through which vehicles pass - it is a vehicle bay. Lovinggood et al. (‘973), Figure 1, teaches link antenna 12 positioned outside structure 10 and broadcast antenna 16 inside. Column 1, lines 45-53, teaches that GPS receivers require a “clear line-of-sight with the satellites” for operation. For a parking-garage application, a person of ordinary skill in the art would understand that the link antenna must be positioned where it has unobstructed access to satellite signals, which for a structure such as a parking garage is at or proximate to the opening or exit, because that is the transition point between open sky and the signal-obstructing structure. The broadest reasonable interpretation of “proximate to an exit” does not require the antenna to be physically attached to the exit frame - it requires the antenna to be on the exterior surface near enough to the exit to maintain unobstructed satellite reception while serving the interior. Lovinggood’s teaching of an external antenna positioned to receive GPS signals for retransmission inside a parking garage satisfies this limitation.
Regarding claim 9, Applicant argues at page 20 that the Office concluded Lovinggood teaches a repeater inside a structure but did not address the positioning recited by claim 9. Lovinggood et al. (‘973), Figure 1, teaches broadcast antenna 16 mounted inside structure 10, with its radiation directed into the interior of the structure to serve indoor GPS receivers. Column 1, lines 33-40, discusses antenna coupling and isolation as relevant to repeater operation, and column 4, lines 50-60, discusses the front-to-back ratio and beamwidth of the broadcast antenna. A broadcast antenna inside a structure near an exit whose radiation is directed toward the interior necessarily radiates away from the exit. The shielding of at least a portion of the re-radiating antenna proximate to the exit is addressed by the antenna’s own ground plane and the physical structure of the building wall or enclosure at the exit, which provides inherent shielding between the interior-facing radiator and the exterior. Lovinggood’s indoor receivers, which are obstructed from direct satellite reception by the structure itself, satisfy the requirement that zero or more second receivers (as amended to include at least one) are spatially located within the vehicle bay and obstructed from otherwise receiving satellite signals.
Regarding the 35 U.S.C. 103 rejection of claims 10, 15, and 16 over Lovinggood et al. (‘973) in view of Wang et al. (‘103) and Snyder et al. (‘424):
The rebuttals to Applicant’s arguments regarding the scheduling, power conservation, wireline, and continuous reception limitations of independent claim 10 are the same as those set forth above for claim 1 and are incorporated here. The additional limitations addressed below are the microcontroller and the system-claim form.
Applicant argues at pages 20-21 that the Office has failed to establish that the combination teaches a microcontroller configured to control the re-radiator in accordance with the minimal time controlled reradiation schedule. Regarding the wireline correction, the same Figure 1 / column 3 analysis for claim 1 applies. Regarding the microcontroller, Snyder et al. (‘424), column 12, lines 1-8, teaches programmable memory 156 coupled to microprocessor 155 in a GPS signal processing and retransmission context. It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement Wang’s taught scheduled operating-state control using a programmable microcontroller of the type taught by Snyder, incorporated into Lovinggood’s re-radiator, to execute the enable/disable operations on the RF output circuitry according to the defined schedule. One would have been motivated to do so because a programmable microcontroller provides the capability to store and execute the scheduled operating times taught by Wang, enabling automated control of Lovinggood’s repeater circuitry without manual intervention, which is consistent with the automated operation taught by Wang’s sleep/wake-up module 120 (Wang [0030]). There is a reasonable expectation of success because Snyder demonstrates that programmable processing architectures were known and used in GPS retransmission systems, and implementing a timed enable/disable function on powered RF components is within the capability of such a programmable controller.
Claims 15 and 16 are rejected for the same reasons as claims 6 and 7, respectively, with the addition of the microcontroller teaching from Snyder as applied to independent claim 10.
Regarding the 35 U.S.C. 103 rejection of claims 2-5, 11-14, and 20 (numerical schedule claims):
Applicant argues at pages 17-19 that the Office has failed to establish that the specific numerical parameters - the one-hour/thirty-second hot start window, the three-and-a-half-hour/one-minute warm start window, and the four-thousand-hour/fifteen-minute cold start window - are taught by the combination. These arguments are directed to the specific numerical intervals and durations recited in the dependent claims. Wang et al. (‘103), paragraph [0005], teaches a 30-second frame and a 12.5-minute super-frame. Paragraph [0009] identifies hot, warm, and cold start conditions. Paragraphs [0022-0023] teach a two-hour update cycle and four-hour ephemeris validity. These disclosures establish the relevant variables - message duration, ephemeris age, and start-state conditions - as recognized result-effective variables in GPS receiver operation. A person of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that the interval and duration of a reradiation window are parameters to be optimized based on these known variables: the interval should be selected to maintain receiver readiness for the applicable start state, and the duration should be sufficient to permit acquisition and data download for that start state. The selection of specific numerical values within ranges bounded by these known variables represents optimization of result-effective variables under MPEP § 2144.05(II).
Regarding claim 19 (CRM claim): The rebuttals set forth above for claims 1, 7, 8, and 9 apply to the corresponding limitations of independent claim 19. The CRM form - a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising executable instructions - is addressed by Snyder et al. (‘424), column 12, lines 1-8, which teaches programmable memory 156 for storing executable instructions in a GPS retransmission context.
Regarding claim 20: Claim 20 depends from claim 19 and adds the three numerical schedule windows. The analysis for claims 2-5 applies.
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 1-9 and 19-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lovinggood et al. (US 7,068,973 B1) in view of Wang et al. (US 2008/0117103 A1).
Regarding Claim 1, Lovinggood et al. (‘973) in view of Wang et al. (‘103) teaches:
Lovinggood et al. (‘973) teaches A method comprising: operating a first satellite-based navigation and positioning system receiver having an unobstructed signal path with respect to at least one satellite-based navigation and positioning system satellite from a constellation of satellite-based navigation and positioning system satellites (col. 1, lines 46-53: “a GPS receiving antenna must have an unobstructed view of the sky such that a minimum number of GPS satellites are always in view at any particular time”; col. 3, lines 1-5: “antenna system 5 includes a link antenna 12 for receiving the GPS signal 6 from a GPS transmitting antenna 8”);
Lovinggood et al. (‘973) does not explicitly teach operating, in accordance with a minimal time controlled reradiation schedule, but Wang et al. (‘103) teaches this element ([0023]: “the receiver uses a background sleep/wake up process in which the receiver alternatively operates in a sleep mode and a wake up mode to conserve power”; claim 1: “alternating between a sleep mode and a wake up mode; and downloading current ephemeris if a last downloaded ephemeris is no longer current”).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the GPS re-radiation system of Lovinggood et al. (‘973) with the time-controlled scheduled operation of Wang et al. (‘103). One would have been motivated to do so because Wang et al. (‘103) expressly teaches that operating a GPS-related device only during defined time windows conserves power and reduces unnecessary signal transmission ([0023]: “the receiver uses a background sleep/wake up process…to conserve power so that the required download can be accomplished with minimal power drain from the battery”). A person of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that applying this same scheduled, time-controlled operation to the GPS re-radiator of Lovinggood et al. (‘973) would similarly conserve power and minimize unnecessary reradiation and potential interference with other GPS receivers — well-understood design goals in GPS retransmission systems at the time of the invention. There is a reasonable expectation of success because both systems operate on the same GPS signal infrastructure and the scheduling mechanism functions independently of whether it controls a receiver or a re-radiator, making the combination a straightforward application of a known technique to a known system to yield predictable results;
Lovinggood et al. (‘973) teaches at least one satellite-based navigation and positioning system re-radiator operatively coupled with the first satellite-based navigation and positioning system receiver via a wireline electronic communication medium (Claim 8: “a link antenna, positioned generally to receive signals from outside of the structure, for receiving the GPS signal; a primary repeater coupled to the link antenna”; claim 5: “the primary repeater is coupled to the broadcast antenna by a transmission line”);
Lovinggood et al. (‘973) teaches wherein the satellite-based navigation and positioning system re-radiator includes a satellite-based navigation and positioning system re-radiating antenna (col. 3, lines 4-7: “a broadcast antenna 16 for retransmitting the second GPS signal 15 inside the structure 10”);
Lovinggood et al. (‘973) does not explicitly teach wherein operating the at least one satellite-based navigation and positioning system re-radiator in accordance with the minimal time controlled reradiation schedule includes: automatically preventing the at least one satellite-based navigation and positioning system re-radiator from reradiating satellite-based navigation and positioning system signals at temporal locations other than temporal locations in one or more reradiation windows defined by the minimal time controlled reradiation schedule, but Wang et al. (‘103) teaches this element ([0023]: “the receiver uses a background sleep/wake up process in which the receiver alternatively operates in a sleep mode and a wake up mode to conserve power”; [0027]: “if no signals can be acquired after several wake up trials, then the receiver may stop the background sleep/wakeup process until the user makes a manual start”).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to apply the sleep/wake-up scheduling of Wang et al. (‘103) to the re-radiator of Lovinggood et al. (‘973) such that the re-radiator is prevented from reradiating outside of defined operational windows. One would have been motivated to do so because Wang et al. (‘103) teaches that preventing GPS device operation outside of defined windows is the direct mechanism by which power is conserved and unnecessary signal activity is eliminated ([0023]: “the receiver uses a background sleep/wake up process in which the receiver alternatively operates in a sleep mode and a wake up mode to conserve power”). A person of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that applying this same on/off control mechanism to the re-radiator of Lovinggood et al. (‘973) would yield the same well-known benefits of power conservation and reduced interference, with a reasonable expectation of success because the on/off control of an electronic device during defined time windows is a basic and predictable engineering technique that requires no more than ordinary skill to implement;
Lovinggood et al. (‘973) does not explicitly teach automatically operating the at least one satellite-based navigation and positioning system re-radiator to reradiate satellite-based navigation and positioning system signals obtained from the first satellite-based navigation and positioning system receiver at temporal locations in the one or more reradiation windows defined by the minimal time controlled reradiation schedule to zero or more second satellite-based navigation and positioning system receivers, but Wang et al. (‘103) in combination with Lovinggood et al. (‘973) teaches this element, as Wang et al. (‘103) teaches operating a GPS device during defined wake-up windows ([0023]: “the receiver uses a background sleep/wake up process in which the receiver alternatively operates in a sleep mode and a wake up mode”; claim 1: “alternating between a sleep mode and a wake up mode”) and
Lovinggood et al. (‘973) teaches retransmitting GPS signals inside a structure to GPS receivers located therein (col. 3, lines 11-13: “The GPS repeater 14 boosts the received GPS signal 7 and drives an internal broadcast antenna 16 that radiates the second GPS signal 15 inside the structure 10”).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement the automatic wake-up operation of Wang et al. (‘103) in the re-radiator of Lovinggood et al. (‘973) so that the re-radiator automatically reradiates GPS signals during defined operational windows. One would have been motivated to do so because Wang et al. (‘103) teaches that automatic operation during defined windows is the mechanism by which GPS devices efficiently serve their intended function while conserving power ([0023]: “the receiver uses a background sleep/wake up process in which the receiver alternatively operates in a sleep mode and a wake up mode to conserve power”), and a person of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that automatically activating the re-radiator of Lovinggood et al. (‘973) during such windows would similarly enable efficient, unattended operation of the GPS re-radiation system. There is a reasonable expectation of success because automatic timer-based activation of electronic devices was a well-understood and routinely implemented technique in the art at the time of the invention.
Regarding Claim 2, Lovinggood et al. (‘973) in view of Wang et al. (‘103) teaches the method of claim 1.
Lovinggood et al. (‘973) does not explicitly teach, but Wang et al. (‘103) teaches wherein the one or more reradiation windows include: at least one hot start reradiation window having an interval of one hour and having a duration of thirty seconds; at least one warm start reradiation window having an interval of three and a half hours and having a duration of one minute; and at least one cold start reradiation window having an interval of four thousand hours and having a duration of fifteen minutes ([0022]: “In the case of GPS, the transmitted ephemeris are updated every two hours even though they are valid for a period of four hours”; [0026]: “the receiver may determine when the stored ephemeris for a satellite is due to expire, e.g., four or six hours after the time stamp on the ephemeris, and schedule the next wake up when the ephemeris expires”; [0027]: “if no signals can be acquired after several wake up trials, then the receiver may stop the background sleep/wakeup process until the user makes a manual start”; claim 3: “going into the wake up mode at periodic, aperiodic, random, regular or pre-scheduled intervals”).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to define specific interval and duration parameters for each reradiation window based on the well-known GPS receiver start state timing requirements. One would have been motivated to do so because Wang et al. (‘103) teaches that GPS scheduled operation windows are driven directly by the known timing characteristics of GPS signals and ephemeris validity periods ([0022]: “In the case of GPS, the transmitted ephemeris are updated every two hours even though they are valid for a period of four hours”), and a person of ordinary skill in the art would have known that the hot start, warm start, and cold start operational states of GPS receivers have well-established timing parameters that dictate how frequently a GPS receiver needs to acquire updated signals. Applying those same well-known GPS timing parameters to define the interval and duration of each reradiation window would have been a straightforward and predictable design choice, with a reasonable expectation of success because the specific timing parameters for GPS hot, warm, and cold start states were part of the common general knowledge of a person of ordinary skill in the GPS arts at the time of the invention.
Regarding Claim 3, Lovinggood et al. (‘973) in view of Wang et al. (‘103) teaches the method of claim 1.
Lovinggood et al. (‘973) does not explicitly teach, but Wang et al. (‘103) teaches wherein the one or more reradiation windows include: at least one hot start reradiation window having an interval of one hour and having a duration of thirty seconds ([0022]: “In the case of GPS, the transmitted ephemeris are updated every two hours even though they are valid for a period of four hours”; [0026]: “the receiver may determine when the stored ephemeris for a satellite is due to expire, e.g., four or six hours after the time stamp on the ephemeris, and schedule the next wake up when the ephemeris expires”).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to define a hot start reradiation window with a one-hour interval and thirty-second duration. One would have been motivated to do so because Wang et al. (‘103) teaches that GPS operational windows are scheduled based on known ephemeris update cycles ([0022]: “the transmitted ephemeris are updated every two hours even though they are valid for a period of four hours”), and a person of ordinary skill in the art would have known that a hot start condition — where the GPS receiver retains valid ephemeris and recent position data — requires only a brief reradiation window at a relatively frequent interval to maintain receiver synchronization. There is a reasonable expectation of success because defining a short-duration, frequent-interval window for a hot start scenario requires only the straightforward application of known GPS timing characteristics to the scheduling framework taught by Wang et al. (‘103).
Regarding Claim 4, Lovinggood et al. (‘973) in view of Wang et al. (‘103) teaches the method of claim 1.
Lovinggood et al. (‘973) does not explicitly teach, but Wang et al. (‘103) teaches wherein the one or more reradiation windows include: at least one warm start reradiation window having an interval of three and a half hours and having a duration of one minute ([0022]: “In the case of GPS, the transmitted ephemeris are updated every two hours even though they are valid for a period of four hours”; [0026]: “the receiver may determine when the stored ephemeris for a satellite is due to expire, e.g., four or six hours after the time stamp on the ephemeris, and schedule the next wake up when the ephemeris expires”).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to define a warm start reradiation window with a three-and-a-half-hour interval and one-minute duration. One would have been motivated to do so because Wang et al. (‘103) teaches that GPS operational windows are scheduled based on known ephemeris validity periods of approximately four hours ([0022]: “the transmitted ephemeris are updated every two hours even though they are valid for a period of four hours”), and a person of ordinary skill in the art would have known that a warm start condition — where the GPS receiver retains some valid data but requires updated ephemeris — necessitates a slightly longer duration and moderately frequent interval compared to a hot start window. There is a reasonable expectation of success because selecting a window interval within the known ephemeris validity period and a duration sufficient for ephemeris acquisition is a straightforward application of known GPS timing parameters to the scheduling framework of Wang et al. (‘103).
Regarding Claim 5, Lovinggood et al. (‘973) in view of Wang et al. (‘103) teaches the method of claim 1.
Lovinggood et al. (‘973) does not explicitly teach, but Wang et al. (‘103) teaches wherein the one or more reradiation windows include: at least one cold start reradiation window having an interval of four thousand hours and having a duration of fifteen minutes ([0026]: “the receiver may determine when the stored ephemeris for a satellite is due to expire, e.g., four or six hours after the time stamp on the ephemeris, and schedule the next wake up when the ephemeris expires”; [0027]: “if no signals can be acquired after several wake up trials, then the receiver may stop the background sleep/wakeup process until the user makes a manual start”).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to define a cold start reradiation window with a very long interval and extended duration. One would have been motivated to do so because Wang et al. (‘103) teaches that when GPS signals cannot be acquired, the device stops its scheduled operation until manually restarted ([0027]: “if no signals can be acquired after several wake up trials, then the receiver may stop the background sleep/wakeup process until the user makes a manual start”), and a person of ordinary skill in the art would have known that a cold start condition — where the GPS receiver has no valid stored data — occurs rarely and requires a longer reradiation duration to allow full GPS signal and almanac acquisition. There is a reasonable expectation of success because defining a long-interval, extended-duration window for a cold start scenario is a straightforward application of well-known GPS cold start timing characteristics to the scheduling framework of Wang et al. (‘103).
Regarding Claim 6, Lovinggood et al. (‘973) in view of Wang et al. (‘103) teaches the method of claim 1.
Lovinggood et al. (‘973) teaches wherein the first satellite-based navigation and positioning system receiver has: a first unobstructed signal path with respect to a first satellite-based navigation and positioning system satellite from the constellation of satellite-based navigation and positioning system satellites; a second unobstructed signal path with respect to a second satellite-based navigation and positioning system satellite from the constellation of satellite-based navigation and positioning system satellites; and a third unobstructed signal path with respect to a third satellite-based navigation and positioning system satellite from the constellation of satellite-based navigation and positioning system satellites (col. 1, lines 46-53: “a GPS receiving antenna must have an unobstructed view of the sky such that a minimum number of GPS satellites are always in view at any particular time. Consequently, accurately determining the position of a GPS receiver requires the GPS receiving antenna to be in the line-of-sight of these GPS transmitting antennas at all times”).
Regarding Claim 7, Lovinggood et al. (‘973) in view of Wang et al. (‘103) teaches the method of claim 1.
Lovinggood et al. (‘973) teaches wherein operating the first satellite-based navigation and positioning system receiver includes operating the first satellite-based navigation and positioning system receiver such that the first satellite-based navigation and positioning system receiver substantially continuously receives satellite-based navigation and positioning system signals transmitted by the constellation of satellite-based navigation and positioning system satellites (col. 1, lines 46-53: “a GPS receiving antenna must have an unobstructed view of the sky such that a minimum number of GPS satellites are always in view at any particular time”; col. 3, lines 1-5: “antenna system 5 includes a link antenna 12 for receiving the GPS signal 6 from a GPS transmitting antenna 8”).
Regarding Claim 8, Lovinggood et al. (‘973) in view of Wang et al. (‘103) teaches the method of claim 1.
Lovinggood et al. (‘973) teaches wherein the first satellite-based navigation and positioning system receiver is mounted on an exterior surface of a vehicle bay proximate to an exit of the vehicle bay, wherein the vehicle bay is a satellite-based navigation and positioning system signal obstruction (Claim 8: “a link antenna, positioned generally to receive signals from outside of the structure, for receiving the GPS signal”; col. 2, lines 8-13: “GPS receivers are blocked from communicating with GPS satellites when the receivers are inside a structure such as a building, a car garage, a tunnel, etc.”; ).
Regarding Claim 9, Claim 9 depends from claim 8. Lovinggood et al. (‘973) in view of Wang et al. (‘103) teaches the method of claim 8.
Lovinggood et al. (‘973) teaches the at least one satellite-based navigation and positioning system re-radiator is mounted on an interior surface of the vehicle bay such that satellite-based navigation and positioning system signals reradiated by the satellite-based navigation and positioning system re-radiator are directed away from the exit (col. 3, lines 11-13: “The GPS repeater 14 boosts the received GPS signal 7 and drives an internal broadcast antenna 16 that radiates the second GPS signal 15 inside the structure 10”);
Lovinggood et al. (‘973) teaches at least a portion of the satellite-based navigation and positioning system re-radiating antenna proximate to the exit is shielded (col. 1, lines 32-41: “The isolation depends on the antenna type, front to back (F/B) ratio, beamwidth and antenna placement/separation”; col. 1, lines 21-30: “a link antenna which is directed/aimed at the transmitting antenna…The broadcast antenna has a larger beamwidth which is determined by the intended area to be covered”);
Lovinggood et al. (‘973) teaches: the zero or more second satellite-based navigation and positioning system receivers, including at least one second satellite-based navigation and positioning system receiver, are spatially located within the vehicle bay such that the zero or more second satellite-based navigation and positioning system receivers are obstructed from otherwise receiving the satellite-based navigation and positioning system signals transmitted by the constellation of satellite-based navigation and positioning system satellites (col. 2, lines 4-18: “However, a major deficiency with using the GPS for the mandated Enhanced 911 service is the inability of GPS receivers to determine location information when their antennas do not have a clear line-of-sight with the satellites. For example, GPS receivers are blocked from communicating with GPS satellites when the receivers are inside a structure such as a building, a car garage, a tunnel, etc. Since many wireless users spend a significant amount of time inside structures, this represents a major problem in trying to meet the 67% reliability requirement.”).
Regarding Claim 19, Lovinggood et al. (‘973) in view of Wang et al. (‘103) teaches:
Claim 19 is directed to a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising executable instructions that, when executed by a processor, facilitate performance of operations. The operative claim elements track those of claim 1 with the additional structural limitations of claims 8 and 9 incorporated directly into claim 19. Each element is addressed below in the sequential order as written in claim 19.
Lovinggood et al. (‘973) teaches operating a first satellite-based navigation and positioning system receiver having an unobstructed signal path with respect to at least one satellite-based navigation and positioning system satellite from a constellation of satellite-based navigation and positioning system satellites such that the first satellite-based navigation and positioning system receiver substantially continuously receives satellite-based navigation and positioning system signals transmitted by the constellation of satellite-based navigation and positioning system satellites (col. 1, lines 46-53: “a GPS receiving antenna must have an unobstructed view of the sky such that a minimum number of GPS satellites are always in view at any particular time”; col. 3, lines 1-5: “antenna system 5 includes a link antenna 12 for receiving the GPS signal 6 from a GPS transmitting antenna 8”);
Lovinggood et al. (‘973) teaches wherein the first satellite-based navigation and positioning system receiver is mounted on an exterior surface of a vehicle bay proximate to an exit of the vehicle bay, wherein the vehicle bay is a satellite-based navigation and positioning system signal obstruction (Claim 8: “a link antenna, positioned generally to receive signals from outside of the structure, for receiving the GPS signal”; col. 2, lines 4-18: “However, a major deficiency with using the GPS for the mandated Enhanced 911 service is the inability of GPS receivers to determine location information when their antennas do not have a clear line-of-sight with the satellites. For example, GPS receivers are blocked from communicating with GPS satellites when the receivers are inside a structure such as a building, a car garage, a tunnel, etc. Since many wireless users spend a significant amount of time inside structures, this represents a major problem in trying to meet the 67% reliability requirement.”);
Lovinggood et al. (‘973) does not explicitly teach operating, in accordance with a minimal time controlled reradiation schedule, but Wang et al. (‘103) teaches this element ([0023]: “the receiver uses a background sleep/wake up process in which the receiver alternatively operates in a sleep mode and a wake up mode to conserve power”; claim 1: “alternating between a sleep mode and a wake up mode; and downloading current ephemeris if a last downloaded ephemeris is no longer current”).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to apply the time-controlled scheduled operation of Wang et al. (‘103) to the GPS re-radiation system of Lovinggood et al. (‘973). One would have been motivated to do so because Wang et al. (‘103) teaches that operating a GPS-related device only during defined time windows conserves power and reduces unnecessary GPS signal activity ([0023]: “the receiver uses a background sleep/wake up process…to conserve power so that the required download can be accomplished with minimal power drain from the battery”), and a person of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that applying this same scheduled operation to the GPS re-radiator of Lovinggood et al. (‘973) would yield the same well-known benefits. There is a reasonable expectation of success because the scheduling mechanism of Wang et al. (‘103) functions independently of whether it controls a receiver or a re-radiator, making the combination a straightforward application of a known technique to a known system to yield predictable results;
Lovinggood et al. (‘973) teaches at least one satellite-based navigation and positioning system re-radiator operatively coupled with the first satellite-based navigation and positioning system receiver via a wireline electronic communication medium (Claim 8: “a link antenna, positioned generally to receive signals from outside of the structure, for receiving the GPS signal; a primary repeater coupled to the link antenna”; claim 5: “the primary repeater is coupled to the broadcast antenna by a transmission line”);
Lovinggood et al. (‘973) teaches wherein the at least one satellite-based navigation and positioning system re-radiator is mounted on an interior surface of the vehicle bay such that satellite-based navigation and positioning system signals reradiated by the satellite-based navigation and positioning system re-radiator are directed away from the exit (col. 3, lines 11-13: “The GPS repeater 14 boosts the received GPS signal 7 and drives an internal broadcast antenna 16 that radiates the second GPS signal 15 inside the structure 10”);
Lovinggood et al. (‘973) teaches wherein the satellite-based navigation and positioning system re-radiator includes a satellite-based navigation and positioning system re-radiating antenna (col. 3, lines 1-7: “a broadcast antenna 16 for retransmitting the second GPS signal 15 inside the structure 10”);
Lovinggood et al. (‘973) teaches wherein at least a portion of the satellite-based navigation and positioning system re-radiating antenna proximate to the exit is shielded (col. 1, lines 31-41: “The isolation depends on the antenna type, front to back (F/B) ratio, beamwidth and antenna placement/separation”; col. 1, lines 21-30: “a link antenna which is directed/aimed at the transmitting antenna…The broadcast antenna has a larger beamwidth which is determined by the intended area to be covered”);
Lovinggood et al. (‘973) does not explicitly teach wherein operating the at least one satellite-based navigation and positioning system re-radiator in accordance with the minimal time controlled reradiation schedule includes: automatically preventing the at least one satellite-based navigation and positioning system re-radiator from reradiating satellite-based navigation and positioning system signals at temporal locations other than temporal locations in one or more reradiation windows defined by the minimal time controlled reradiation schedule, but Wang et al. (‘103) teaches this element ([0023]: “the receiver uses a background sleep/wake up process in which the receiver alternatively operates in a sleep mode and a wake up mode to conserve power”; [0027]: “if no signals can be acquired after several wake up trials, then the receiver may stop the background sleep/wakeup process until the user makes a manual start”).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement the sleep/wake-up scheduling of Wang et al. (‘103) in the re-radiator of Lovinggood et al. (‘973) such that the re-radiator is prevented from reradiating outside of defined operational windows. One would have been motivated to do so because Wang et al. (‘103) teaches that preventing GPS device operation outside of defined windows is the direct mechanism by which power is conserved and unnecessary GPS signal activity is eliminated ([0023]: “the receiver uses a background sleep/wake up process…to conserve power”), and a person of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that applying this same on/off control mechanism to the re-radiator of Lovinggood et al. (‘973) would yield the same power conservation and interference reduction benefits. There is a reasonable expectation of success because the on/off control of an electronic device during defined time windows is a basic and predictable engineering technique that requires no more than ordinary skill to implement;
Lovinggood et al. (‘973) does not explicitly teach automatically operating the at least one satellite-based navigation and positioning system re-radiator to reradiate satellite-based navigation and positioning system signals obtained from the first satellite-based navigation and positioning system receiver at temporal locations in the one or more reradiation windows defined by the minimal time controlled reradiation schedule to zero or more second satellite-based navigation and positioning system receivers, but Wang et al. (‘103) in combination with Lovinggood et al. (‘973) teaches this element, as Wang et al. (‘103) teaches automatic operation during defined wake-up windows ([0023]: “the receiver uses a background sleep/wake up process in which the receiver alternatively operates in a sleep mode and a wake up mode”; claim 1: “alternating between a sleep mode and a wake up mode”) and
Lovinggood et al. (‘973) teaches retransmitting GPS signals inside a structure to GPS receivers located therein (col. 3, lines 11-13: “The GPS repeater 14 boosts the received GPS signal 7 and drives an internal broadcast antenna 16 that radiates the second GPS signal 15 inside the structure 10”).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement automatic reradiation during defined operational windows in the system of Lovinggood et al. (‘973) as taught by Wang et al. (‘103). One would have been motivated to do so because automatic operation during defined windows is expressly taught by Wang et al. (‘103) as the mechanism by which GPS devices efficiently serve their intended function while conserving power ([0023]: “the receiver uses a background sleep/wake up process…to conserve power”), and a person of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that automatically activating the re-radiator of Lovinggood et al. (‘973) during such windows would similarly enable efficient, unattended operation of the GPS re-radiation system. There is a reasonable expectation of success because automatic timer-based activation of electronic devices was a well-understood and routinely implemented technique in the embedded systems arts at the time of the invention.
Lovinggood et al. (‘973) teaches: wherein the zero or more second satellite-based navigation and positioning system receivers, including at least one second satellite-based navigation and positioning system receiver, are spatially located within the vehicle bay such that the zero or more second satellite-based navigation and positioning system receivers are obstructed from otherwise receiving the satellite-based navigation and positioning system signals transmitted by the constellation of satellite-based navigation and positioning system satellites (col. 2, lines 4-18: “However, a major deficiency with using the GPS for the mandated Enhanced 911 service is the inability of GPS receivers to determine location information when their antennas do not have a clear line-of-sight with the satellites. For example, GPS receivers are blocked from communicating with GPS satellites when the receivers are inside a structure such as a building, a car garage, a tunnel, etc. Since many wireless users spend a significant amount of time inside structures, this represents a major problem in trying to meet the 67% reliability requirement.”).
It would have further been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement the combined system’s control operations as executable instructions stored on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. One would have been motivated to do so because encoding control logic in such a medium was a well-known, routine, and predictable design choice in the electronics and embedded systems arts at the time of the invention, and there is a reasonable expectation of success because non-transitory computer-readable storage media for storing executable control instructions were widely available and commonly used in GPS and embedded system applications at that time.
Regarding Claim 20, Claim 20 depends from claim 19. Lovinggood et al. (‘973) in view of Wang et al. (‘103) teaches the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 19.
Lovinggood et al. (‘973) does not explicitly teach, but Wang et al. (‘103) teaches wherein the one or more reradiation windows include: at least one hot start reradiation window having an interval of one hour and having a duration of thirty seconds; at least one warm start reradiation window having an interval of three and a half hours and having a duration of one minute; and at least one cold start reradiation window having an interval of four thousand hours and having a duration of fifteen minutes ([0022]: “In the case of GPS, the transmitted ephemeris are updated every two hours even though they are valid for a period of four hours”; [0026]: “the receiver may determine when the stored ephemeris for a satellite is due to expire, e.g., four or six hours after the time stamp on the ephemeris, and schedule the next wake up when the ephemeris expires”; [0027]: “if no signals can be acquired after several wake up trials, then the receiver may stop the background sleep/wakeup process until the user makes a manual start”).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to define specific interval and duration parameters for hot, warm, and cold start reradiation windows in the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 19. One would have been motivated to do so because Wang et al. (‘103) teaches that GPS operational windows are driven by the known timing characteristics of GPS ephemeris validity and satellite signal acquisition requirements ([0022]: “the transmitted ephemeris are updated every two hours even though they are valid for a period of four hours”), and a person of ordinary skill in the art would have known that the hot, warm, and cold start states of GPS receivers have well-established timing parameters that directly inform how frequently and for how long a GPS re-radiator needs to operate to serve each state. There is a reasonable expectation of success because the specific timing parameters for GPS start states were part of the common general knowledge of a person of ordinary skill in the GPS arts at the time of the invention, making their application to the reradiation window schedule a predictable design choice.
Claims 10-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lovinggood et al. (US 7,068,973 B1) in view of Wang et al. (US 2008/0117103 A1) and further in view of Snyder et al. (US 6,707,424 B1).
Regarding Claim 10, Lovinggood et al. (‘973) in view of Wang et al. (‘103) and further in view of Snyder et al. (‘424) teaches:
Lovinggood et al. (‘973) teaches A system comprising: a first satellite-based navigation and positioning system receiver having an unobstructed signal path with respect to at least one satellite-based navigation and positioning system satellite from a constellation of satellite-based navigation and positioning system satellites (col. 1, lines 45-52: “a GPS receiving antenna must have an unobstructed view of the sky such that a minimum number of GPS satellites are always in view at any particular time”; col. 3, lines 1-5: “antenna system 5 includes a link antenna 12 for receiving the GPS signal 6 from a GPS transmitting antenna 8”);
Lovinggood et al. (‘973) teaches a satellite-based navigation and positioning system re-radiator operatively coupled with the first satellite-based navigation and positioning system receiver via a wireline electronic communication medium (Claim 8: “a link antenna, positioned generally to receive signals from outside of the structure, for receiving the GPS signal; a primary repeater coupled to the link antenna”; claim 5: “the primary repeater is coupled to the broadcast antenna by a transmission line”);
Lovinggood et al. (‘973) teaches wherein the satellite-based navigation and positioning system re-radiator includes a satellite-based navigation and positioning system re-radiating antenna (col. 3, lines 4-13: “a broadcast antenna 16 for retransmitting the second GPS signal 15 inside the structure 10”);
Lovinggood et al. (‘973) does not explicitly teach wherein the satellite-based navigation and positioning system re-radiator includes a microcontroller configured to control the satellite-based navigation and positioning system re-radiator in accordance with a minimal time controlled reradiation schedule, but Snyder et al. (‘424) teaches a microprocessor in the GPS re-radiation context (col. 12, lines 3-7: “A user programmable memory 156 is associated with microprocessor 155 such that coordinates defining the space where no line of sight exists between GNSS beacons…may be stored in memory 156 and accessed by microprocessor 155”) and
Wang et al. (‘103) teaches the time-controlled scheduled operation concept ([0023]: “the receiver uses a background sleep/wake up process in which the receiver alternatively operates in a sleep mode and a wake up mode to conserve power”).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate a microcontroller into the GPS re-radiator of Lovinggood et al. (‘973) to implement the time-controlled scheduling of Wang et al. (‘103), as taught by Snyder et al. (‘424). One would have been motivated to do so because Snyder et al. (‘424) expressly teaches that a microprocessor with programmable memory is the appropriate component for controlling when GPS signals are used or disregarded in a GPS re-radiation context — specifically in a system comprising a first exterior antenna collecting satellite signals coupled to a second interior antenna that rebroadcasts those signals (claim 3: “a first antenna exterior to said line-of-sight barrier collects data transmitted by said satellites, a second antenna within said line-of-sight barrier coupled to said first antenna to rebroadcast said data collected by said first antenna”). A person of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that incorporating such a microcontroller into the repeater of Lovinggood et al. (‘973) to implement the scheduling of Wang et al. (‘103) is a straightforward combination of known elements, each performing its known function, with a reasonable expectation of success because microcontrollers were well-known, widely available components for implementing scheduling and control logic in electronic systems, and Snyder et al. (‘424) specifically demonstrates their suitability in the directly analogous GPS re-radiation context;
Lovinggood et al. (‘973) does not explicitly teach wherein to control the satellite-based navigation and positioning system re-radiator in accordance with the minimal time controlled reradiation schedule, the microcontroller controls the satellite-based navigation and positioning system re-radiator to: omit reradiating satellite-based navigation and positioning system signals at temporal locations other than temporal locations in one or more reradiation windows defined by the minimal time controlled reradiation schedule, but Wang et al. (‘103) teaches this element ([0023]: “the receiver uses a background sleep/wake up process in which the receiver alternatively operates in a sleep mode and a wake up mode to conserve power”; [0027]: “if no signals can be acquired after several wake up trials, then the receiver may stop the background sleep/wakeup process until the user makes a manual start”) and
Snyder et al. (‘424) teaches the microcontroller used to control GPS signal operations (col. 13, lines 30-34: “receiver/processor is instructed by a suitable algorhythm to disregard the GNSS data being received by the GNSS receiver 154 of the receiver/processor”).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement in the microcontroller of the combined system the function of omitting reradiation outside defined windows, as this is the direct operational mechanism by which the sleep/wake-up scheduling of Wang et al. (‘103) is carried out in hardware. One would have been motivated to do so because preventing device operation outside defined windows is expressly taught by Wang et al. (‘103) as the mechanism for conserving power and reducing unnecessary GPS signal activity ([0023]: “the receiver uses a background sleep/wake up process…to conserve power”), and Snyder et al. (‘424) confirms that a microprocessor executing an algorithm is the appropriate means by which GPS signal operations are selectively controlled in a GPS re-radiation system (col. 13, lines 30-34). There is a reasonable expectation of success because programming a microcontroller to disable a device output during defined time periods is a basic and well-understood embedded systems design technique that was routine in the art at the time of the invention;
Lovinggood et al. (‘973) teaches reradiate satellite-based navigation and positioning system signals obtained from the first satellite-based navigation and positioning system receiver at temporal locations in the one or more reradiation windows defined by the minimal time controlled reradiation schedule to zero or more second satellite-based navigation and positioning system receivers (col. 3, lines 8-13: “The GPS repeater 14 boosts the received GPS signal 7 and drives an internal broadcast antenna 16 that radiates the second GPS signal 15 inside the structure 10”).
Regarding Claim 11, Lovinggood et al. (‘973) in view of Wang et al. (‘103) and further in view of Snyder et al. (‘424) teaches the system of claim 10.
Lovinggood et al. (‘973) does not explicitly teach, but Wang et al. (‘103) teaches wherein the one or more reradiation windows include: at least one hot start reradiation window having an interval of one hour and having a duration of thirty seconds; at least one warm start reradiation window having an interval of three and a half hours and having a duration of one minute; and at least one cold start reradiation window having an interval of four thousand hours and having a duration of fifteen minutes ([0022]: “In the case of GPS, the transmitted ephemeris are updated every two hours even though they are valid for a period of four hours”; [0026]: “the receiver may determine when the stored ephemeris for a satellite is due to expire, e.g., four or six hours after the time stamp on the ephemeris, and schedule the next wake up when the ephemeris expires”; [0027]: “if no signals can be acquired after several wake up trials, then the receiver may stop the background sleep/wakeup process until the user makes a manual start”).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to define specific interval and duration parameters for hot, warm, and cold start reradiation windows in the system of claim 10. One would have been motivated to do so because Wang et al. (‘103) teaches that GPS operational windows are driven by the known timing characteristics of GPS ephemeris validity and satellite signal acquisition requirements ([0022]: “the transmitted ephemeris are updated every two hours even though they are valid for a period of four hours”), and a person of ordinary skill in the art would have known that the hot, warm, and cold start states of GPS receivers have well-established timing parameters that directly inform how frequently and for how long a GPS re-radiator needs to operate to serve each state. There is a reasonable expectation of success because the specific timing parameters for GPS start states were part of the common general knowledge of a person of ordinary skill in the GPS arts at the time of the invention, making their application to the reradiation window schedule a predictable design choice.
Regarding Claim 12, Lovinggood et al. (‘973) in view of Wang et al. (‘103) and further in view of Snyder et al. (‘424) teaches the system of claim 10.
Lovinggood et al. (‘973) does not explicitly teach, but Wang et al. (‘103) teaches wherein the one or more reradiation windows include: at least one hot start reradiation window having an interval of one hour and having a duration of thirty seconds ([0022]: “In the case of GPS, the transmitted ephemeris are updated every two hours even though they are valid for a period of four hours”; [0026]: “the receiver may determine when the stored ephemeris for a satellite is due to expire, e.g., four or six hours after the time stamp on the ephemeris, and schedule the next wake up when the ephemeris expires”).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to define a hot start reradiation window with a one-hour interval and thirty-second duration in the system of claim 10. One would have been motivated to do so because Wang et al. (‘103) teaches that GPS operational windows are scheduled based on known ephemeris update cycles ([0022]: “the transmitted ephemeris are updated every two hours even though they are valid for a period of four hours”), and a person of ordinary skill in the art would have known that a hot start condition requires only a brief reradiation window at a relatively frequent interval to maintain GPS receiver synchronization. There is a reasonable expectation of success because defining a short-duration, frequent-interval window for a hot start scenario requires only the straightforward application of known GPS hot start timing characteristics to the scheduling framework of Wang et al. (‘103).
Regarding Claim 13, Lovinggood et al. (‘973) in view of Wang et al. (‘103) and further in view of Snyder et al. (‘424) teaches the system of claim 10.
Lovinggood et al. (‘973) does not explicitly teach, but Wang et al. (‘103) teaches wherein the one or more reradiation windows include: at least one warm start reradiation window having an interval of three and a half hours and having a duration of one minute ([0022]: “In the case of GPS, the transmitted ephemeris are updated every two hours even though they are valid for a period of four hours”; [0026]: “the receiver may determine when the stored ephemeris for a satellite is due to expire, e.g., four or six hours after the time stamp on the ephemeris, and schedule the next wake up when the ephemeris expires”).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to define a warm start reradiation window with a three-and-a-half-hour interval and one-minute duration in the system of claim 10. One would have been motivated to do so because Wang et al. (‘103) teaches that GPS operational windows are scheduled based on known ephemeris validity periods of approximately four hours ([0022]: “the transmitted ephemeris are updated every two hours even though they are valid for a period of four hours”), and a person of ordinary skill in the art would have known that a warm start condition necessitates a moderately longer duration and moderately frequent interval compared to a hot start window to allow sufficient time for ephemeris update acquisition. There is a reasonable expectation of success because selecting a window interval within the known ephemeris validity period and a duration sufficient for ephemeris acquisition is a straightforward application of known GPS warm start timing characteristics to the scheduling framework of Wang et al. (‘103).
Regarding Claim 14, Lovinggood et al. (‘973) in view of Wang et al. (‘103) and further in view of Snyder et al. (‘424) teaches the system of claim 10.
Lovinggood et al. (‘973) does not explicitly teach, but Wang et al. (‘103) teaches wherein the one or more reradiation windows include: at least one cold start reradiation window having an interval of four thousand hours and having a duration of fifteen minutes ([0026]: “the receiver may determine when the stored ephemeris for a satellite is due to expire, e.g., four or six hours after the time stamp on the ephemeris, and schedule the next wake up when the ephemeris expires”; [0027]: “if no signals can be acquired after several wake up trials, then the receiver may stop the background sleep/wakeup process until the user makes a manual start”).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to define a cold start reradiation window with a very long interval and extended duration in the system of claim 10. One would have been motivated to do so because Wang et al. (‘103) teaches that when GPS signals cannot be acquired the device stops its scheduled operation until manually restarted ([0027]: “if no signals can be acquired after several wake up trials, then the receiver may stop the background sleep/wakeup process until the user makes a manual start”), and a person of ordinary skill in the art would have known that a cold start condition occurs rarely and requires a longer reradiation duration to allow full GPS signal and almanac acquisition. There is a reasonable expectation of success because defining a long-interval, extended-duration window for a cold start scenario is a straightforward application of well-known GPS cold start timing characteristics to the scheduling framework of Wang et al. (‘103).
Regarding Claim 15, Lovinggood et al. (‘973) in view of Wang et al. (‘103) and further in view of Snyder et al. (‘424) teaches the system of claim 10.
Lovinggood et al. (‘973) teaches wherein the first satellite-based navigation and positioning system receiver has: a first unobstructed signal path with respect to a first satellite-based navigation and positioning system satellite from the constellation of satellite-based navigation and positioning system satellites; a second unobstructed signal path with respect to a second satellite-based navigation and positioning system satellite from the constellation of satellite-based navigation and positioning system satellites; and a third unobstructed signal path with respect to a third satellite-based navigation and positioning system satellite from the constellation of satellite-based navigation and positioning system satellites (col. 1, lines 46-53: “a GPS receiving antenna must have an unobstructed view of the sky such that a minimum number of GPS satellites are always in view at any particular time. Consequently, accurately determining the position of a GPS receiver requires the GPS receiving antenna to be in the line-of-sight of these GPS transmitting antennas at all times”).
Regarding Claim 16, Lovinggood et al. (‘973) in view of Wang et al. (‘103) and further in view of Snyder et al. (‘424) teaches the system of claim 10.
Lovinggood et al. (‘973) teaches wherein the first satellite-based navigation and positioning system receiver substantially continuously receives satellite-based navigation and positioning system signals transmitted by the constellation of satellite-based navigation and positioning system satellites (col. 1, lines 46-53: “a GPS receiving antenna must have an unobstructed view of the sky such that a minimum number of GPS satellites are always in view at any particular time”; col. 3, lines 1-5: “antenna system 5 includes a link antenna 12 for receiving the GPS signal 6 from a GPS transmitting antenna 8”).
Regarding Claim 17, Lovinggood et al. (‘973) in view of Wang et al. (‘103) and further in view of Snyder et al. (‘424) teaches the system of claim 10.
Lovinggood et al. (‘973) teaches wherein the first satellite-based navigation and positioning system receiver is mounted on an exterior surface of a vehicle bay proximate to an exit of the vehicle bay, wherein the vehicle bay is a satellite-based navigation and positioning system signal obstructing vehicle bay (Claim 8: “a link antenna, positioned generally to receive signals from outside of the structure, for receiving the GPS signal”; col. 2, lines 4-18: “However, a major deficiency with using the GPS for the mandated Enhanced 911 service is the inability of GPS receivers to determine location information when their antennas do not have a clear line-of-sight with the satellites. For example, GPS receivers are blocked from communicating with GPS satellites when the receivers are inside a structure such as a building, a car garage, a tunnel, etc. Since many wireless users spend a significant amount of time inside structures, this represents a major problem in trying to meet the 67% reliability requirement.”).
Regarding Claim 18, Claim 18 depends from claim 17. Lovinggood et al. (‘973) in view of Wang et al. (‘103) and further in view of Snyder et al. (‘424) teaches the system of claim 17.
Lovinggood et al. (‘973) teaches the satellite-based navigation and positioning system re-radiator is mounted on an interior surface of the vehicle bay such that satellite-based navigation and positioning system signals reradiated by the satellite-based navigation and positioning system re-radiator are directed away from the exit (col 3, lines 14-26: “locator services (provide by, e.g., rental car companies) that provide location information that can be received inside structures such as parking garages, buildings and tunnels”; col. 3, lines 8-13: “The GPS repeater 14 boosts the received GPS signal 7 and drives an internal broadcast antenna 16 that radiates the second GPS signal 15 inside the structure 10”);
Lovinggood et al. (‘973) teaches at least a portion of the satellite-based navigation and positioning system re-radiating antenna proximate to the exit is shielded (col. 1, lines 31-41: “The isolation depends on the antenna type, front to back (F/B) ratio, beamwidth and antenna placement/separation”; col. 1, lines 21-30: “a link antenna which is directed/aimed at the transmitting antenna…The broadcast antenna has a larger beamwidth which is determined by the intended area to be covered”);
Lovinggood et al. (‘973) teaches: the zero or more second satellite-based navigation and positioning system receivers, including at least one second satellite-based navigation and positioning system receiver, are spatially located within the vehicle bay such that the zero or more second satellite-based navigation and positioning system receivers are obstructed from otherwise receiving the satellite-based navigation and positioning system signals transmitted by the constellation of satellite-based navigation and positioning system satellites (col. 2, lines 4-18: “However, a major deficiency with using the GPS for the mandated Enhanced 911 service is the inability of GPS receivers to determine location information when their antennas do not have a clear line-of-sight with the satellites. For example, GPS receivers are blocked from communicating with GPS satellites when the receivers are inside a structure such as a building, a car garage, a tunnel, etc. Since many wireless users spend a significant amount of time inside structures, this represents a major problem in trying to meet the 67% reliability requirement.”)).
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to REMASH R GUYAH whose telephone number is (571)270-0115. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 7:30-4:30.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Resha H Desai can be reached at (571) 270-7792. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/REMASH R GUYAH/Examiner, Art Unit 3648
/RESHA DESAI/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3648
Prosecution Insights