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 .
The IDS has been considered by the examiner.
The specification and drawings have been accepted by the examiner.
Double Patenting
The nonstatutory double patenting rejection is based on a judicially created doctrine grounded in public policy (a policy reflected in the statute) so as to prevent the unjustified or improper timewise extension of the “right to exclude” granted by a patent and to prevent possible harassment by multiple assignees. A nonstatutory obviousness-type double patenting rejection is appropriate where the conflicting claims are not identical, but at least one examined application claim is not patentably distinct from the reference claim(s) because the examined application claim is either anticipated by, or would have been obvious over, the reference claim(s). See, e.g., In re Berg, 140 F.3d 1428, 46 USPQ2d 1226 (Fed. Cir. 1998); In re Goodman, 11 F.3d 1046, 29 USPQ2d 2010 (Fed. Cir. 1993); In re Longi, 759 F.2d 887, 225 USPQ 645 (Fed. Cir. 1985); In re Van Ornum, 686 F.2d 937, 214 USPQ 761 (CCPA 1982); In re Vogel, 422 F.2d 438, 164 USPQ 619 (CCPA 1970); and In re Thorington, 418 F.2d 528, 163 USPQ 644 (CCPA 1969).
A timely filed terminal disclaimer in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(c) or 1.321(d) may be used to overcome an actual or provisional rejection based on a nonstatutory double patenting ground provided the conflicting application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with this application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement.
Effective January 1, 1994, a registered attorney or agent of record may sign a terminal disclaimer. A terminal disclaimer signed by the assignee must fully comply with 37 CFR 3.73(b).
Claims 1-20 are rejected on the ground of non-statutory obviousness-type double patenting as being unpatentable over claim 1 and 7-25 of U.S. Patent No. 12,574,295 B2 in view of Goekbora (US 2019/0180335).
The table below shows a direct comparison and mapping of the claims of the instant application and claims of the Patent. Please see the table below as each claim is compared to a corresponding patent claim.
Regarding Claim 1:
As it can be seen in the table below, independent claim 1 of Patent include all the limitations of independent claim 1 of the instant application, except that claim 1 of the instant application includes the phrase “census block”, while claim of the patent includes the phrase “block” instead.
However, a census block is a well-known term in the art, as it known that larger geographic areas are divided into census blocks for representing smaller geographic areas, as disclosed below by Goekbora.
In an analogous art, Goekbora discloses a network planning system includes geographic areas divided into smaller census blocks (Par. 4, 14, “Planning of the network”, “the census block data, for a given location, includes one or more of total population, population density, housing unit density, number of businesses, house price index, per capita income, size of census block, number of alternative infrastructure in each census block, and zoning”).
It would have been obvious to one skilled in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the Patent claims, by incorporating the teachings of Goekbora, as claimed, for the purpose of identifying the geographic area by census zones, motivation being to deploy network infrastructure efficiently according to the density and other characteristics of the census blocks. Further, this an example of use of known technique to improve similar devices, methods or products in the same way. MPEP 2143.
Regarding Claims 2-4:
Dependent claims 2-4 are identical to claims 12-14 of the patent claims, thus, they are rejected by being unpatentable over claim 12-14 of U.S. Patent claims.
Regarding Claims 5-9:
Dependent claims 5-9 are identical to claims 7-11 of the patent claims, thus, they are rejected by being unpatentable over claim 7-11 of U.S. Patent claims.
Regarding Claims 10-18:
Dependent claims 10-18 are identical to claims 15-23 of the patent claims, thus, they are rejected by being unpatentable over claim 15-24 of Patent claims.
Regarding Claim 19:
As it can be seen in the table below, independent claim 24 of Patent include all the limitations of independent claim 19 of the instant application, except that claim 19 of the instant application includes the phrase “census block” while claim of the patent include the phrase “block” instead.
However, census blocks is a well-known term in the art, as larger geographic areas are divided into census blocks for representing smaller geographic areas, as disclosed below by Goekbora.
In an analogous art, Goekbora discloses a network planning system includes geographic areas divided into smaller census blocks (Par. 4, 14, “Planning of the network”, “the census block data, for a given location, includes one or more of total population, population density, housing unit density, number of businesses, house price index, per capita income, size of census block, number of alternative infrastructure in each census block, and zoning”).
It would have been obvious to one skilled in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the Patent claim, by incorporating the teachings of Goekbora, as claimed, for the purpose of identifying the geographic area into census smaller zones, motivation being to deploy network infrastructure efficiently according to the density and other characteristics of the census blocks. Further, this an example of use of known technique to improve similar devices, methods or products in the same way. MPEP 2143.
Regarding Claim 20:
As it can be seen in the table below, independent claim 25 of Patent include all the limitations of independent claim 20 of the instant application, except that claim 20 of the instant application includes the phrase “census block” while claim of the patent include the phrase “block” instead.
However, census blocks is a well-known term in the art, as larger geographic areas are divided into census blocks for representing smaller geographic areas, as disclosed below by Goekbora.
Goekbora discloses a network planning system includes geographic areas divided into smaller census blocks (Par. 4, 14, “Planning of the network”, “the census block data, for a given location, includes one or more of total population, population density, housing unit density, number of businesses, house price index, per capita income, size of census block, number of alternative infrastructure in each census block, and zoning”).
It would have been obvious to one skilled in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the Patent claim, by incorporating the teachings of Goekbora, as claimed, for the purpose of identifying the geographic area into census smaller zones, motivation being to deploy network infrastructure efficiently according to the density and other characteristics of the census blocks. Further, this an example of use of known technique to improve similar devices, methods or products in the same way. MPEP 2143.
Table 1: Comparing Claims of instant application VS. Claim of Patent No. 12,574,295 B2
Claims of the instant application:
1.A method for deploying a communication network, the method comprising: at a computing system comprising a processor and memory:
obtaining geospatial data corresponding to a plurality of census blocks within a geographical area;
for each cohort of a plurality of cohorts: selecting a respective cohort that includes a census block of the plurality of census blocks;
adding a buffer zone of a predetermined size around the respective cohort;
appending, to the respective cohort, census blocks of the plurality of census blocks that touch the respective cohort or intersect with the buffer zone; and
repeating the adding and appending until there are no further census blocks to add to the respective cohort;
ranking the plurality of cohorts based on a total number of premises within each respective cohort; and
selecting where to deploy one or more communication networks based on the ranking.
2.The method of claim 1, further comprising: deploying the one or more communication networks in geographic areas based on the ranking of the plurality of cohorts.
3.The method of claim 1, further comprising: deploying a communication network in the geographic area that corresponds to the highest ranked cohort of the plurality of cohorts.
4.The method of claim 1, further comprising: prior to the ranking, combining into a single cohort any cohorts that touch one another or have an intersecting buffer zone.
5.The method of claim 1, further comprising: prior to the ranking, combining into a single cohort nearby cohorts that meet predetermined proximity criteria.
6.The method of claim 5, wherein the predetermined proximity criteria comprises ratio of road footage to total premises count for a combined cohort being below a predetermined ratio.
7.The method of claim 5, wherein the predetermined proximity criteria is based on a distance between cohorts.
8.The method of claim 1, further comprising: after the obtaining and prior to the selecting, filtering census blocks to only include those censor blocks that meet certain filtering criteria.
9.The method of claim 8, wherein the filtering criteria comprises (i) a respective census block having a premises density above a predetermined threshold, (ii) the respective census block having at least a predetermined number of premises, (iii) there being no broadband internet access in the respective census block, (iv) there being fewer than a predetermined number or percentage of premises within the respective census block with broadband access, or (v) a ratio of a total length of road in the respective census block to number of premises in the respective census block being less than a predetermined number.
10.The method of claim 1, wherein the predetermined size of the buffer zone is approximately 30 to 100 meters.
11.The method of claim 1, wherein the predetermined size of the buffer zone is approximately 40 to 60 meters.
12.The method of claim 1, further comprising: training a machine learning model using successful deployments of communication networks in census blocks over time; and either (i) applying the machine learning model to new census blocks in a geographic region to filter out unsuitable census blocks from suitable census blocks, or (ii) applying the machine learning model to rank the plurality of cohorts.
13.The method of claim 1, further comprising: ranking the plurality of cohorts further based on build costs and available grant funding obtained from one or more records of national and regional networks and infrastructure.
14.The method of claim 1, further comprising: identifying optimal starting points for cohort construction considering data factors, competition presence, and/or fastest routes to complete regional interconnection, thereby enabling build sequencing to maximize build speed and efficiency.
15.The method of claim 1, further comprising: generating geographic and map visualizations based on regions of the cohort.
16.The method of claim 1, wherein the geospatial data includes associated data for each census block including density of premises and broadband internet connections, the method further comprising: applying a set of filters to the geospatial data to select one or more census blocks from the plurality of census blocks, each census block of the one or more census blocks (i) having premises density above a predetermined threshold and (ii) having either no broadband internet connection using optical fiber or connection counts for a particular type of broadband internet connection that is less than a predetermined number of units in the census block.
17.The method of claim 16, wherein applying the set of filters to the geospatial data comprises selecting census blocks that either have no broadband internet connection using optical fiber or have connection counts for a particular type of broadband internet connection that is less than a predetermined number of units in the census block.
18.The method of claim 1, further comprising: obtaining a geospatial representation of a state road network; generating a new set of cohorts by iterating through the plurality of cohorts based on the geospatial representation; and selecting where to deploy the one or more communication networks further based on the new set of cohorts.
19.A computer system for deploying a communication network, comprising: one or more processors; and memory; wherein the memory stores one or more programs configured for execution by the one or more processors, and the one or more programs comprising instructions for: obtaining geospatial data corresponding to a plurality of census blocks within a geographical area; for each cohort of a plurality of cohorts: selecting a respective cohort that includes a census block of the plurality of census blocks; adding a buffer zone of a predetermined size around the respective cohort; appending, to the respective cohort, census blocks of the plurality of census blocks that touch the respective cohort or intersect with the buffer zone; and repeating the adding and appending until there are no further census blocks to add to the respective cohort; ranking the plurality of cohorts based on a total number of premises within each respective cohort; and selecting where to deploy one or more communication networks based on the ranking.
20.A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing one or more programs configured for execution by a computer system having one or more processors, the one or more programs comprising instructions for: obtaining geospatial data corresponding to a plurality of census blocks within a geographical area; for each cohort of a plurality of cohorts: selecting a respective cohort that includes a census block of the plurality of census blocks; adding a buffer zone of a predetermined size around the respective cohort; appending, to the respective cohort, census blocks of the plurality of census blocks that touch the respective cohort or intersect with the buffer zone; and repeating the adding and appending until there are no further census blocks to add to the respective cohort; ranking the plurality of cohorts based on a total number of premises within each respective cohort; and selecting where to deploy one or more communication networks based on the ranking
Claims of the Patent No. 12,574,295 B2
1. A method for deploying a communication network, the method comprising: at a computing system comprising a processor and memory:
obtaining geospatial data corresponding to a plurality of blocks within a geographical area;
for each cohort of a plurality of cohorts: selecting as the respective cohort a block of the plurality of blocks;
adding a buffer zone of a predetermined size around the respective cohort;
appending, to the respective cohort, blocks of the plurality of blocks that touch the respective cohort or intersect with the buffer zone; and
repeating the adding and appending until there are no further blocks to add to the respective cohort;
ranking the plurality of cohorts based on a total number of premises within each respective cohort; and
selecting where to deploy one or more communication networks based on the ranking.
12. The method of claim 1, further comprising: deploying the one or more communication networks in geographic areas based on the ranking of the plurality of cohorts.
13. The method of claim 1, further comprising: deploying a communication network in the geographic area that corresponds to the highest ranked cohort of the plurality of cohorts.
14. The method of claim 1, further comprising: prior to the ranking, combining into a single cohort any cohorts that touch one another or have an intersecting buffer zone.
7. The method of claim 1, further comprising: prior to the ranking, combining into a single cohort nearby cohorts that meet predetermined proximity criteria.
8. The method of claim 7, wherein the predetermined proximity criteria comprises ratio of road footage to total premises count for a combined cohort being below a predetermined ratio.
9. The method of claim 7, wherein the predetermined proximity criteria is based on a distance between cohorts.
10. The method of claim 1, further comprising: after the obtaining and prior to the selecting, filtering blocks to only include those blocks that meet certain filtering criteria.
11. The method of claim 10, wherein the filtering criteria comprises (i) a respective block having a premises density above a predetermined threshold, (ii) the respective block having at least a predetermined number of premises, (iii) there being no broadband internet access in the respective block, (iv) there being fewer than a predetermined number or percentage of premises within the respective block with broadband access, or (v) a ratio of a total length of road in the respective block to number of premises in the respective block being less than a predetermined number.
15. The method of claim 1, wherein the predetermined size of the buffer zone is approximately 30 to 100 meters.
16. The method of claim 1, wherein the predetermined size of the buffer zone is approximately 40 to 60 meters.
17. The method of claim 1, further comprising: training a machine learning model using successful deployments of communication networks in blocks over time; and either (i) applying the machine learning model to new blocks in a geographic region to filter out unsuitable blocks from suitable blocks, or (ii) applying the machine learning model to rank the plurality of cohorts.
18. The method of claim 1, further comprising: ranking the plurality of cohorts further based on build costs and available grant funding obtained from one or more records of national and regional networks and infrastructure.
19. The method of claim 1, further comprising: identifying optimal starting points for cohort construction considering data factors, competition presence, and/or fastest routes to complete regional interconnection, thereby enabling build sequencing to maximize build speed and efficiency.
20. The method of claim 1, further comprising: generating geographic and map visualizations based on regions of the cohort.
21. The method of claim 1, wherein the geospatial data includes associated data for each block including density of premises and broadband internet connections, the method further comprising: applying a set of filters to the geospatial data to select one or more blocks from the plurality of blocks, each block of the one or more blocks (i) having premises density above a predetermined threshold and (ii) having either no broadband internet connection using optical fiber or connection counts for a particular type of broadband internet connection that is less than a predetermined number of units in the block.
22. The method of claim 21, wherein applying the set of filters to the geospatial data comprises selecting blocks that either have no broadband internet connection using optical fiber or have connection counts for a particular type of broadband internet connection that is less than a predetermined number of units in the block.
23. The method of claim 1, further comprising: obtaining a geospatial representation of a state road network; generating a new set of cohorts by iterating through the plurality of cohorts based on the geospatial representation; and selecting where to deploy the one or more communication networks further based on the new set of cohorts.
24. A computer system for deploying a communication network, comprising: one or more processors; and memory; wherein the memory stores one or more programs configured for execution by the one or more processors, and the one or more programs comprising instructions for: obtaining geospatial data corresponding to a plurality of blocks within a geographical area; for each cohort of a plurality of cohorts: selecting as the respective cohort a block of the plurality of blocks; adding a buffer zone of a predetermined size around the respective cohort; appending, to the respective cohort, blocks of the plurality of blocks that touch the respective cohort or intersect with the buffer zone; and repeating the adding and appending until there are no further blocks to add to the respective cohort; ranking the plurality of cohorts based on a total number of premises within each respective cohort; and selecting where to deploy one or more communication networks based on the ranking.
25. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing one or more programs configured for execution by a computer system having one or more processors, the one or more programs comprising instructions for: obtaining geospatial data corresponding to a plurality of blocks within a geographical area; for each cohort of a plurality of cohorts: selecting as the respective cohort a block of the plurality of blocks; adding a buffer zone of a predetermined size around the respective cohort; appending, to the respective cohort, blocks of the plurality of blocks that touch the respective cohort or intersect with the buffer zone; and repeating the adding and appending until there are no further blocks to add to the respective cohort; ranking the plurality of cohorts based on a total number of premises within each respective cohort; and selecting where to deploy one or more communication networks based on the ranking.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-20 would be allowed once the double patenting is overcome.
The following is the reasons for allowance:
Allowed patent claims 12,574, 295 B2 are broader than the instant claims.
Further, the closest prior art, Tuli (2024/0406836) discloses Systems and methods for improving telecommunications network performance are disclosed. The system selects a geographic area from a set of geographic areas, where the geographic area satisfies a network-ready condition. The system obtains user-mobility data indicating movement of user locations from the selected geographic area to other geographic areas. The system generates a set of neighboring geographic areas using the user-mobility data, where each neighboring geographic area satisfies a network-traffic condition. The system filters the set of neighboring geographic areas using a threshold distance. The system determines a user-mobility metric for the selected geographic area using the user-mobility data. In response to the user-mobility metric satisfying a user-mobility metric threshold value, the system deploys one or more telecommunications network resources to the selected geographic area (Abstract and Par. 15).
Tuli further discloses to ensure adequate and consistent network coverage in underserved geographies and populations, such as small towns and rural geographic areas, deploying enhanced network resources (e.g., network antennas, wireless sites, etc.) can ensure that users within such areas experience better network connectivity. While existing systems that provide additional network resources to these geographies may enable a better user experience, resources for deploying network resources are limited and constrained by material shortages, property availability, and other factors. For example, small town and rural areas have low population densities and span large geographic areas. To ensure adequate network coverage in small towns and rural areas, a large amount of network resources needs to be deployed to such geographic areas. However, due to the limited availability of network resources, existing systems that relocate network resources from well-served geographies to underserved geographies cause a decreased user experience in the well-served geographies. Moreover, due to the range limitations of wireless sites, these sites must be positioned within proximity of one another to ensure adequate coverage. As underserved geographic areas are large, the amount of available sites to be deployed to such locations may be limited, further amplifying adequate network coverage issues (see FIG. 1-5 and Par. 11, 12-15, 39 and 41).
Another very relevant prior art, Tyagi (US 9,760840), disclose a system that allows a geographic data layer 306 may store boundaries of geographic units such as, borders or boundaries of regions, trade areas, census blocks, mini-markets, designated market areas (DMA's), etc. A Map entities layer 308 may represent entities placed within geographic areas and related data. Examples of entities may include existing retail units, existing and/or planned competitor retail units, targets, sites, etc. An integration layer 310 may integrate the unit planning system 302 with various other systems including data systems such as publicly-available data sources as well as internal sources associated with the company implementing and/or utilizing the unit planning system 302. For example, an accounting system 324 may provide the unit planning system 302 with various data describing existing company retail units including, for example, revenue, EBITDA or other measures of profitability, etc. A personnel system 326 may provide the unit planning system 302 with various data describing company personnel including, for example, salaries, staffing, employee hours, etc. An inventory system 328 may provide the unit planning system 302 with various data describing company inventory including, for example, inventory stored at central warehouse locations as well as inventory stored at retail units. A real estate system 330 may provide the unit planning system 102 with various data describing real estate arrangements for other retail units of the company including, for example, lease terms, mortgage terms, property taxes, etc. A customer relationship management (CRM) system 332 may provide the unit planning system 302 with various data describing customers of other retail units of the company including, for example, purchase histories, residences, etc. A demographic system 334 may be publicly available and may provide the unit planning system 102 with data describing the demographic make-up of various geographic areas. Demographic data provided by the demographic system may comprise, privately collected data as well as publicly (e.g., government) collected data such as, for example, census results (see Col. 7, line 39 to Col. 8, line 8).
However, the cited prior art does not disclose the claim language: “at a computing system comprising a processor and memory: obtaining geospatial data corresponding to a plurality of census blocks within a geographical area; for each cohort of a plurality of cohorts: selecting a respective cohort that includes a census block of the plurality of census blocks; adding a buffer zone of a predetermined size around the respective cohort; appending, to the respective cohort, census blocks of the plurality of census blocks that touch the respective cohort or intersect with the buffer zone; and repeating the adding and appending until there are no further census blocks to add to the respective cohort; ranking the plurality of cohorts based on a total number of premises within each respective cohort; and electing where to deploy one or more communication networks based on the ranking”, as claimed in independent claims 1, 19 and 20.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to FRED A CASCA whose telephone number is (571)272-7918. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday through Friday from 9 to 5. 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, Kathy Wang-Hurst, can be reached at (571) 270-5371. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is (571) 273-8300.
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/FRED A CASCA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2644
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