DETAILED ACTION
The amendment filed May 27, 2026 has been entered.
Claim 1-6, 8-16, and 18-20 are amended.
Claims 1-20 are pending this application.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 1-3, 6, 11-13, and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Li et al (CN 112954589 A) in view of Zhao et al (US 2019/0360813 A1) and further in view of Rohr (US 2016/0349362 A1).
Regarding Claim 1, Li teaches a method for estimating a position of an object, the method comprising [0035 for improving position accuracy]:
receiving a motion event signal indicating a motion type of the object, the motion type being determined based on sensing data provided by one or more sensors [0036 for S101 getting receiver movement];
receiving from a ranging device, one or more ranging measurements for distances between the object and one or more anchor points [0038-0039 for getting round trip time (ranging measurement) using routers (anchors)];
determining a mode among a plurality of positioning modes based on the motion event signal and the one or more ranging measurements [0027 for WIFI round trip time with 0031 for using dynamic positioning for motion tracking by calculating distance between phone and routers];
and estimating a position of the object based on the determined mode [0038 for performing position calculations for a given error threshold].
Li fails to explicitly teach determining a plurality of position modes.
Zhao has a computer program product directed to dead reckoning for pedestrian navigation (“pedestrian dead reckoning”) and robust heading estimation in pedestrian dead reckoning (abstract) and teaches determining a plurality of position modes [0031 for using pedestrian dead-reckoning PDR and 0032-0034 for calculating step lengths (both PDR and step length positioning modes)].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the applicant’s invention for modifying the indoor position techniques, as disclosed by Li, further including the orientation calculations as taught by Zhao for the purpose for mapping integration with other positioning signals (Zhao, 0034).
Li fails to explicitly teach wherein at least one mode of the plurality of positioning modes is identified as a mode determined based on a number of ranging measurements.
Rohr has mobile localization of an object having an object positional frame of reference using sparse time-of-flight data and dead reckoning can be accomplished by creating a dead reckoning local frame of reference (abstract) and teaches wherein at least one mode of the plurality of positioning modes is identified as a mode determined based on a number of ranging measurements [0013 for using anchor nodes with trilateration for 2D and 3D positioning well known as prior art to calculate positions].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the applicant’s invention for modifying the indoor position techniques, as disclosed by Li, further including the positioning calculations as taught by Rohr for the purpose to pinpoint the mobile node by geometrically forming four or more spheres surrounding the anchor nodes (Rohr, 0013).
Regarding Claim 11, Li teaches a device for estimating a position of the device, comprising [0035 for improving position accuracy]:
one or more sensors configured to provide sensing data [0027 and 0032 for using inertial sensors];
and a processor coupled to the one or more sensors, the processor configured to cause [0032-0034]:
receives a motion event signal indicating a motion type of the device, the motion type being determined based on sensing data provided by the one or more sensors [0036 for S101 getting receiver movement];
measure distances between the device and one or more anchor points [0038-0039 for getting round trip time (ranging measurement) using routers (anchors)];
determine a mode among a plurality of positioning modes based on the motion event signal and one or more measurements of the distances [0027 for WIFI round trip time with 0031 for using dynamic positioning for motion tracking by calculating distance between phone and routers];
and estimate a position of the device based on the determined mode [0038 for performing position calculations for a given error threshold]
wherein at least one mode of the plurality of positioning modes is identified as a mode determined based on a number of ranging measurements.
Li fails to explicitly teach determining a plurality of position modes.
Zhao has a computer program product directed to dead reckoning for pedestrian navigation (“pedestrian dead reckoning”) and robust heading estimation in pedestrian dead reckoning (abstract) and teaches determining a plurality of position modes [0031 for using pedestrian dead-reckoning PDR and 0032-0034 for calculating step lengths (both PDR and step length positioning modes)].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the applicant’s invention for modifying the indoor position techniques, as disclosed by Li, further including the orientation calculations as taught by Zhao for the purpose for mapping integration with other positioning signals (Zhao, 0034).
Li fails to explicitly teach wherein at least one mode of the plurality of positioning modes is identified as a mode determined based on a number of ranging measurements.
Rohr has mobile localization of an object having an object positional frame of reference using sparse time-of-flight data and dead reckoning can be accomplished by creating a dead reckoning local frame of reference (abstract) and teaches wherein at least one mode of the plurality of positioning modes is identified as a mode determined based on a number of ranging measurements [0013 for using anchor nodes with trilateration for 2D and 3D positioning well known as prior art to calculate positions].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the applicant’s invention for modifying the indoor position techniques, as disclosed by Li, further including the positioning calculations as taught by Rohr for the purpose to pinpoint the mobile node by geometrically forming four or more spheres surrounding the anchor nodes (Rohr, 0013).
Regarding Claim 2 and 12, Li fails to explicitly teach the sensing data is associated with at least one of acceleration, orientation, rotational velocity, a step size, or a step heading.
Zhao has a computer program product directed to dead reckoning for pedestrian navigation (“pedestrian dead reckoning”) and robust heading estimation in pedestrian dead reckoning (abstract) and teaches the sensing data are associated with at least one of acceleration, orientation, rotational velocity, step size or step heading [0029 for using an accelerometer and gyroscope, with 0034-0035].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the applicant’s invention for modifying the indoor position techniques, as disclosed by Li, further including the orientation calculations as taught by Zhao for the purpose to estimate of angular position of the device (Zhao, 0029).
Regarding Claim 3 and 13, Li teaches and the second positioning mode estimates a position of the object based on round trip time (RTT) based distance measurement [0027 for using round trip timing].
Li fails to explicitly teach wherein the plurality of positioning modes includes a first positioning mode and a second positioning mode, and wherein: the first positioning mode estimates a position of the object based on a combination of the one or more ranging measurements for the distances and the sensing data associated with step size and a step heading.
Zhao has a computer program product directed to dead reckoning for pedestrian navigation (“pedestrian dead reckoning”) and robust heading estimation in pedestrian dead reckoning (abstract) and teaches wherein the plurality of positioning modes includes a first positioning mode and a second positioning mode, wherein: the first positioning mode estimates a position of the object based on a combination of the ranging measurements for the distances and the sensor data associated with step size and step heading [0031 for using pedestrian dead-reckoning PDR and 0032-0034 for calculating step lengths (both PDR and step length positioning modes)].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the applicant’s invention for modifying the indoor position techniques, as disclosed by Li, further including the orientation calculations as taught by Zhao for the purpose for mapping integration with other positioning signals (Zhao, 0034).
Regarding Claim 6 and 16, Li teaches the determining the mode comprises: switching the mode from the first positioning mode to the second positioning mode when a difference between a position estimate based on the first positioning mode and the position estimate based on the second positioning mode is larger than a threshold [0036-0038 for having RTT error smaller than a threshold value].
Claims 4-5 and 14-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Li et al (CN 112954589 A) in view of Zhao et al (US 2019/0360813 A1) and Rohr (US 2016/0349362 A1), as applied to Claims 1 and 11 above, and further in view of Kim et al (WO 2023/022305 A1).
Regarding Claim 4 and 14, Li teaches the determining the mode comprises [0030-0031 for using static and dynamic positioning].
Li fails to explicitly teach switching the mode from the second positioning mode to the first positioning mode when a motion event signal indicating that the object moves in a straight line is received.
Kim has an indoor positioning apparatus and method for pedestrians (abstract) and teaches switching the mode from the second positioning mode to the first positioning mode when a motion event signal indicating that the object moves in a straight line is received [0011-0012].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the applicant’s invention for modifying the indoor position techniques, as disclosed by Li, further including the selection calculations as taught by Kim for the purpose for obtaining the initial local angle based on the estimated step length and bias (Kim, 0011).
Regarding Claim 5 and 15, Li teaches the determining the mode comprises [0030-0031 for using static and dynamic positioning].
Li fails to explicitly teach switching the mode from the first positioning mode to the second positioning mode when the motion event signal indicating stop, fluctuation, or change in a heading of the object is received.
Kim has an indoor positioning apparatus and method for pedestrians (abstract) and teaches switching the mode from the first positioning mode to the second positioning mode when the motion event signal indicating stop, fluctuation, or change in a heading of the object is received [0011-0012].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the applicant’s invention for modifying the indoor position techniques, as disclosed by Li, further including the selection calculations as taught by Kim for the purpose for obtaining the initial local angle based on the estimated step length and bias (Kim, 0011).
Claims 7-9 and 17-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Li et al (CN 112954589 A) in view of Zhao et al (US 2019/0360813 A1) Rohr (US 2016/0349362 A1), as applied to Claims 1 and 11 above, and further in view of Bruemmer et al (US 2017/0023659A1).
Regarding Claim 7 and 17, Li fails to explicitly teach the plurality of positioning modes further includes a third positioning mode that estimates a position of the object using a trilateration algorithm.
Bruemmer has a method for directing and tracking position, motion and orientation of mobile vehicles, people (abstract) and teaches the plurality of positioning modes further includes a third positioning mode that estimates a position of the object using a trilateration algorithm [0064].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the applicant’s invention for modifying the indoor position techniques, as disclosed by Li, further including the ranging calculations as taught by Bruemmer for the purpose to ensure objects do not enter a certain region (Bruemmer, 0064).
Regarding Claim 8 and 18, Li fails to explicitly teach the determining the mode comprises: switching the mode from the first positioning mode or the second positioning mode to the third positioning mode when a number of ranging measurements for the distances is smaller than a predetermined number.
Zhao has a computer program product directed to dead reckoning for pedestrian navigation (“pedestrian dead reckoning”) and robust heading estimation in pedestrian dead reckoning (abstract) and teaches determining the mode comprises: switching the mode from the first positioning mode or the second positioning mode to the third positioning mode when a number of ranging measurements for the distances is smaller than a predetermined number [0043-0045 for using PDR, walking direction, device orientation, and magnetometer measurements].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the applicant’s invention for modifying the indoor position techniques, as disclosed by Li, further including the orientation calculations as taught by Zhao for the purpose for mapping integration with other positioning signals (Zhao, 0034).
Regarding Claim 9 and 19, Li fails to explicitly teach the plurality of positioning modes further includes a fourth positioning mode that estimates, based on step size and step heading, a position of the object using a positioning algorithm.
Zhao has a computer program product directed to dead reckoning for pedestrian navigation (“pedestrian dead reckoning”) and robust heading estimation in pedestrian dead reckoning (abstract) and teaches the plurality of positioning modes further includes a fourth positioning mode that estimates, based on step size and step heading, a position of the object using a positioning algorithm [0043-0045 for using PDR, walking direction, device orientation, and magnetometer measurements].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the applicant’s invention for modifying the indoor position techniques, as disclosed by Li, further including the orientation calculations as taught by Zhao for the purpose for mapping integration with other positioning signals (Zhao, 0034).
Claims 10 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Li et al (CN 112954589 A) in view of Zhao et al (US 2019/0360813 A1), Rohr (US 2016/0349362 A1), and Bruemmer et al (US 2017/0023659A1), as applied to Claim 1 and 11 above, and further in view of Kim et al (WO 2023/022305 A1).
Regarding Claim 10 and 20, Li teaches the determining the mode comprises [0030-0031 for using static and dynamic positioning].
Li fails to explicitly teach switching the mode from the first positioning mode or the second positioning mode to the fourth positioning mode when a number of ranging measurements for the distances is smaller than a predetermined number.
Kim has an indoor positioning apparatus and method for pedestrians (abstract) and teaches switching the mode from the first positioning mode or the second positioning mode to the fourth positioning mode when a number of ranging measurements for the distances is smaller than a predetermined number [0011-0012].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the applicant’s invention for modifying the indoor position techniques, as disclosed by Li, further including the selection calculations as taught by Kim for the purpose for obtaining the initial local angle based on the estimated step length and bias (Kim, 0011).
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1-20 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
In applicant’s arguments page 10, first paragraph of applicant’s arguments, the applicant states that Li does not disclose positioning modes and the mode determined based on a number of ranging measurements. The examiner respectfully disagrees: Li teaches a positioning system that switches between static and dynamic position algorithms based on the receiver motion using data preprocessing of the RTT ranging from multiple routers [Li, 0017, steps 1-9]. Further more Li also teaches judging whether the semi-system error in the state is obtained before selecting a position algorithm directly conditions mode selection on the availability and quality of ranging measurement results [Li, 0017, step 2].
In applicant’s arguments page 10, first paragraph of applicant’s arguments, the applicant states that Zhao does not disclose wherein at least one mode of the plurality of positioning modes is identified as a mode determined based on a number of ranging measurements. The examiner thanks the applicant for the amendments, new reference Rohr address wherein at least one mode of the plurality of positioning modes is identified as a mode determined based on a number of ranging measurements [Rohr, 0013].
The examiner acknowledges that this is a broader interpretation than Applicant’s.
However, examiners are not only allowed to apply broad interpretations, but are required to do so, as it reduces the possibility that the claims, once issued, will be interpreted more broadly than is justified. MPEP §2111. Patentability is determined by the “broadest reasonable interpretation
consistent with the specification” (MPEP §2111), not the narrowest reasonable interpretation. And Applicant does not have an explicit lexicographical statement in line with MPEP §2111.01
subsection IV requiring a specific interpretation of the relevant phrases which forces the examiner to interpret them only one way.
The express, implicit, and inherent disclosures of a prior art reference may be relied upon in the rejection of claims under 35 U.S.C. 102 or 103. "The inherent teaching of a prior art reference, a question of fact, arises both in the context of anticipation and obviousness." In re Napier, 55 F.3d 610, 613, 34 USPQ2d 1782, 1784 (Fed. Cir. 1995).
For applicant’s benefit, portions of the cited reference(s) have been cited to aid in the review of the rejection(s). While every attempt has been made to be thorough and consistent within the rejection it is noted that the PRIOR ART MUST BE CONSIDERED IN ITS ENTIRETY, including disclosures that teach away from the claims. See MPEP 2141.02 VI.
“The use of patents as references is not limited to what the patentees describe as their own inventions or to the problems with which they are concerned. They are part of the literature of the art, relevant for all they contain.” In re Heck, 699 F.2d 1331, 1332-33, 216 USPQ 1038, 1039 (Fed. Cir. 1983) (quoting In re Lemelson, 397 F.2d 1006, 1009, 158 USPQ 275, 277 (CCPA 1968)). A reference may be relied upon for all that it would have reasonably suggested to one having ordinary skill in the art, including non-preferred embodiments. Merck & Co. v.Biocraft Laboratories, 874 F.2d 804, 10 USPQ2d 1843 (Fed. Cir.), cert. denied, 493 U.S. 975 (1989). See also Upsher-Smith Labs. v. Pamlab, LLC, 412 F.3d 1319, 1323, 75 USPQ2d 1213, 1215 (Fed. Cir. 2005) See MPEP 2123.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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.
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/SAMARINA MAKHDOOM/
Examiner, Art Unit 3648
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