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 .
Status of Claims
This Action is in reply to the arguments / remarks (See “Response to office action under 37 C.F.R. 1.111”) filed on June 29, 2026.
Claims 7 and 9-10 were canceled.
Claims 1-6, 8, and 11-20 are currently pending in the application and have been examined.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim 1-8 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Amended claim 1 recites the following limitation: “determine a bearing between the leader node and at least one of the positions of the leader node;”. It is unclear to the examiner how one would determine the relationship between a node and its own position. A review of the specification describes in paragraph [0037] that the first node measures the relative bearing of the second node and not of itself. For examination purposes, the limitation will be examined to read as “determine a bearing between the follower node and at least one of the positions of the leader node;”.
Claims 2-8 are also rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) due to their dependency on claim 1.
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.
Claim(s) 1-2, 4, 8, 11-12, and 14-19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee et al. (US 20220137629 A1), hereinafter Lee, in view of Chen et al. (US 20230111347 A1), hereinafter Chen.
Regarding claim 1, Lee discloses a system to track personnel, comprising [Note: what is not clearly disclosed is strike-through]:
an Ultra-Wideband (UWB) radio circuitry(Lee [0025] “According to an embodiment, the unmanned following vehicle further includes ultra-wideband (UWB) sensor-receivers installed at different locations”) configured to communicatively couple with a leader node (Lee [0093] “The controller obtains respective distances, which are distances between the respective UWB sensor-receivers 801 and the UWB sensor-transmitter TR provided at the moving object 201.”); and
processor circuitry configured to:
(Lee Figs. 1, 3, and 6, further paragraph 0005 "Referring to FIG. 1, the unmanned following vehicle 102 follows a moving object 101 and controls a following speed to maintain a reference distance to the moving object 101.” Here examiner notes that this is equivalent to the ”towbar mode” of the application.) ;
determine a plurality of positions of the leader node based on the plurality of ranging responses (Lee [0069] “The unmanned following vehicle 202 increases the first reference value X.sub.R1 by a predetermined value when the Z-axis coordinate difference value Z.sub.D, which is the difference value between positions of the moving object 201 and the unmanned following vehicle 202 in the vertical direction, is increased for a predetermined time period.”, further, Lee Fig. 6 shows a loop with several position determinations of the leader module.);
determine a distance between the leader node and the follower node based on at least one of the plurality of positions of the leader (Lee [0025] “… calculate distances between respective ones of the UWB sensor-receivers and an UWB sensor-transmitter provided at the moving object”);
Lee fails to disclose the limitations below. Chen discloses:
including an antenna array (Chen [0111] “When using the TOA for the measurement, as shown in FIG. 10, at least three antennas need to be used by the UWB base station.”)
receive an operational mode via the UWB radio circuitry (Chen [0013] “The target following device includes: a data acquiring module configured to acquire first orientation data sent by an UWB base station and a following mode sent by an UWB beacon”)
send a plurality of ranging requests to the leader node (Chen [0042] “An update rate of positioning information between the UWB base station and the UWB beacon can range from 10 times per second to 200 times per second or more.”);
receive a plurality of ranging responses from the leader node (Chen [0042] “The UWB beacon is capable of sending pulse signals to the UWB base station according to a preset communication frequency, so as to realize real-time accurate positioning of the personnel.”);
determine a bearing between the leader node and at least one of the positions of the leader node; and (Chen Figs. 5 and 7, further, Chen [0006] “processing a lateral safety distance and the distance between the UWB beacon and the UWB base station by using an inverse trigonometric function to obtain a second angle between the straight line in which the UWB beacon and the UWB base station are located and the straight line in which the target position and the UWB base station are located”)
determine a direction for the follower node to follow based on the bearing and the operational mode (Chen [0013] “a data processing module configured to process the first orientation data to obtain second orientation data based on the following mode, the second orientation data including a current distance between a target position and the UWB base station, and a second azimuth angle of a straight line in which the target position and the UWB base station are located with respect to the current direction of the movement of the target following apparatus;”) .
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the features as disclosed by Chen into the invention of Lee. Both Lee and Chen are considered analogous arts to the claimed invention as they both disclose UWB personnel tracking methods for guiding autonomous vehicles. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the apparatus as disclosed by Lee to receive an operational mode via UWB circuitry, as well as determine a bearing and a direction to follow based on the operational mode as taught by Chen. The invention of Lee includes only one following mode, and as such does not require a transmission of a following mode. If one were to implement several following modes, the method of Chen, where one transmits the mode in the UWB signal, would be a clear way to implement this. One of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have been motivated to modify the apparatus to follow a target at a minimum following distance, corresponding to a leashing mode as stated in the instant application, and to specify a location relative to the personnel where the electronic vehicle should aim to locate itself. For example, one may desire the following vehicle to be in front of the user so that they may observe it during transit (See Chen, [0063-0065], [0074]).
Regarding claim 2, Lee in view of Chen discloses the system of claim 1. Lee further discloses:
The system of claim 1, wherein the distance between the follower node and the leader node is determined using Time of Flight (ToF) ranging (Lee [0094] “For example, since a transmission signal from the UWB sensor-transmitter TR includes information regarding a transmission time, the controller may obtain respective distances according to transmission times.”).
Regarding claim 4, Lee in view of Chen discloses the system of claim 1. Lee further discloses:
The system of claim 1, wherein the follower node is configured to communicate with the leader node using an ultra-wide band (UWB) impulse radio (Lee paragraph 0025 "According to an embodiment, the unmanned following vehicle further includes ultra-wideband (UWB) sensor-receivers installed at different locations, wherein the controller is further configured to control movement of the unmanned following vehicle according to respective signals of the UWB sensor-receivers").
Regarding claim 8, Lee in view of Chen discloses the system of claim 1. Lee further discloses:
wherein the follower node and the leader node are each configured to operate in a towbar mode in which the follower node maintains a selected distance from the leader node (Lee Figs. 1, 3, and 6, further paragraph 0005 "Referring to FIG. 1, the unmanned following vehicle 102 follows a moving object 101 and controls a following speed to maintain a reference distance to the moving object 101.”).
Regarding claim 11, Lee discloses a system to track personnel, comprising [Note: what is not clearly disclosed is strike-through]:
A system to track personnel, the system comprising:
(Lee [0093] “The controller obtains respective distances, which are distances between the respective UWB sensor-receivers 801 and the UWB sensor-transmitter TR provided at the moving object 201.”);
and processor circuitry to:
(Lee Figs. 1, 3, and 6, further paragraph 0005 "Referring to FIG. 1, the unmanned following vehicle 102 follows a moving object 101 and controls a following speed to maintain a reference distance to the moving object 101.” Here examiner notes that this is equivalent to the ”towbar mode” of the application.);
determine a distance between the follower node and the leader node (Lee [0025] “… calculate distances between respective ones of the UWB sensor-receivers and an UWB sensor-transmitter provided at the moving object”); and
(Chen [0085] “By controlling the target following apparatus to continuously adjust the current direction of the movement and a positional relationship between the target following apparatus and the target position, the target following apparatus can maintain the following state corresponding to the following mode, and keep following the target position with the minimum following distance.”).
Lee fails to disclose the limitations below. Chen discloses:
an antenna array associated with (Chen [0111] “When using the TOA for the measurement, as shown in FIG. 10, at least three antennas need to be used by the UWB base station.”)
receive an operational mode from the leader node (Chen [0013] “The target following device includes: a data acquiring module configured to acquire first orientation data sent by an UWB base station and a following mode sent by an UWB beacon”)
maintain a position relative to the leader node based on an operational mode (Chen [0085] “By controlling the target following apparatus to continuously adjust the current direction of the movement and a positional relationship between the target following apparatus and the target position, the target following apparatus can maintain the following state corresponding to the following mode, and keep following the target position with the minimum following distance.”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the features as disclosed by Chen into the invention of Lee. Both Lee and Chen are considered analogous arts to the claimed invention as they both disclose (limitation). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the apparatus as disclosed by Lee receive an operational mode via UWB circuitry, as well as maintain a position relative to the leader node based on the operational mode as taught by Chen. The invention of Lee includes only one following mode, and as such does not require a transmission of a following mode. If one were to implement several following modes, the method of Chen, where one transmits the mode in the UWB signal, would be a clear way to implement this. One of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have been motivated to modify the apparatus to follow a target at a minimum following distance, corresponding to a leashing mode as stated in the instant application, and to specify a location relative to the personnel where the electronic vehicle should aim to locate itself. For example, one may desire the following vehicle to be in front of the user so that they may observe it during transit (See Chen, [0063-0065], [0074]).
Regarding claim 12, Lee in view of Chen discloses the system of claim 11. Lee further discloses [Note: what is not clearly disclosed is strike-through]:
wherein the operational mode include at least one of an on/off mode, a start/stop mode, a leash mode, a towbar mode, a repel mode, a shield mode, an adjust distance/offset mode, a rescue beacon mode, and a waypoint mode (Lee Figs. 1, 3, and 6, further paragraph 0005 "Referring to FIG. 1, the unmanned following vehicle 102 follows a moving object 101 and controls a following speed to maintain a reference distance to the moving object 101.” Here examiner notes that this is equivalent to the ”towbar mode” of the application.).
Regarding claim 14, Lee in view of Chen discloses the system of claim 11. Lee fails to disclose the limitations below. Chen further discloses:
wherein a bearing to the leader node is determined by at least one of a rotating antenna (Chen [0117] “The rotating mechanism is configured to carry the antenna of the UWB base station to perform 360-degree rotation to track the direction of the UWB beacon, so that the antenna of the UWB base station always faces the UWB beacon.”), a power of arrival via directional antennas, and a phase difference of arrival of a signal generated by the leader node and received by the follower node.
Regarding claim 15, Lee in view of Chen discloses the system of claim 11. Lee further discloses:
wherein the follower node is configured to communicate with the leader node using an ultra-wide band (UWB) impulse radio (Lee paragraph 0025 "According to an embodiment, the unmanned following vehicle further includes ultra-wideband (UWB) sensor-receivers installed at different locations, wherein the controller is further configured to control movement of the unmanned following vehicle according to respective signals of the UWB sensor-receivers").
Regarding claim 16, Lee discloses a system to locate personnel, comprising [Note: what is not clearly disclosed is strike-through]:
a beacon module including a first Ultra-Wideband (UWB) radio to be body worn by a person (Lee [0010] “[0010] One or more embodiments of the present disclosure provide an unmanned following vehicle that follows a moving object like a person or vehicle by autonomous driving”, further Lee Fig. 8 element labeled “TR” is a UWB radio module worn by a person),
a finder module including a second UWB radio (Lee Fig. 8, further Lee [0091] “In FIG. 8, the reference numeral TR denotes an ultra-wideband (UWB) sensor-transmitter, the reference numeral 801 denotes UWB sensor-receivers”), ; and
responsive to detecting any of the plurality of ranging responses from the beacon module, locate the person (Lee [0095] “Also, the controller obtains Y-axis coordinates, X-axis coordinates, and Z-axis coordinates of the moving object 201 according to the obtained respective distances and calculates the Y-axis coordinate difference value Y.sub.D, the X-axis coordinate difference value X.sub.D, and the Z-axis coordinate difference value Z.sub.D based on the same.”).
Lee fails to disclose the limitations below. Chen discloses:
the beacon module configured to emit a plurality of ranging responses (Chen [0042] “The UWB beacon is capable of sending pulse signals to the UWB base station according to a preset communication frequency, so as to realize real-time accurate positioning of the personnel.”);
the finder module configured to scan for the plurality of ranging responses from the beacon module (Chen [0042] “An update rate of positioning information between the UWB base station and the UWB beacon can range from 10 times per second to 200 times per second or more.”)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the features as disclosed by Chen into the invention of Lee. Both Lee and Chen are considered analogous arts to the claimed invention as they both disclose UWB personnel tracking methods for guiding autonomous vehicles. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the apparatus as disclosed by Lee to configure a beacon module to emit a plurality of ranging pulses, and for the finder module to scan for said pulses, as taught by Chen. Lee teaches the real-time tracking of personnel, requiring a plurality of signals to continuously monitor the position of the leading node. One of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have been motivated to modify the apparatus to continuously monitor the position of personnel in real time (See Chen, [0042], [0003]).
Regarding claim 17, Lee in view of Chen discloses the system of claim 16. Lee further discloses:
wherein the finder module is configured to determine a distance to the beacon module using Time of Flight (ToF) ranging (Lee [0094] “For example, since a transmission signal from the UWB sensor-transmitter TR includes information regarding a transmission time, the controller may obtain respective distances according to transmission times.”).
Regarding claim 18, Lee in view of Chen discloses the system of claim 16. Lee further discloses [Note: what is not clearly disclosed is strike-through]:
(Lee paragraph 0025 "According to an embodiment, the unmanned following vehicle further includes ultra-wideband (UWB) sensor-receivers installed at different locations, wherein the controller is further configured to control movement of the unmanned following vehicle according to respective signals of the UWB sensor-receivers").
Lee fails to disclose the limitation below. Chen discloses:
wherein the finder module includes an antenna array (Chen [0111] “When using the TOA for the measurement, as shown in FIG. 10, at least three antennas need to be used by the UWB base station.”)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the features as disclosed by Chen into the invention of Lee. Both Lee and Chen are considered analogous arts to the claimed invention as they both disclose UWB personnel tracking methods for guiding autonomous vehicles. Lee clearly requires a UWB radar with an antenna but is silent on the details of said antenna. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the apparatus as disclosed by Lee to utilize an antenna array, as taught by Chen. One of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have been motivated to modify the apparatus to enable techniques such as ToA or TDOA, which allow for angular information regarding the personnel’s location to be calculated from the radio signals (See Chen, [0111]).
Regarding claim 19, Lee in view of Chen teaches the system of claim 18. Lee fails to disclose the limitation below. Chen discloses:
wherein the antenna array is further configured to calculate an angle of arrival (Chen [0111] “The UWB base station can use time of arrival (TOA), time difference of arrival (TDOA), or angle-of-arrival (AOA) to accurately measure the relative distance and angles relative to the UWB beacon arranged on the target to be followed.”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the features as disclosed by Chen into the invention of Lee. Both Lee and Chen are considered analogous arts to the claimed invention as they both disclose UWB personnel tracking methods for guiding autonomous vehicles. Lee clearly requires a UWB radar with an antenna but is silent on the details of said antenna. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the apparatus as disclosed by Lee to utilize an antenna array, as taught by Chen. One of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have been motivated to modify the apparatus to calculate an angle of arrival of the radar signal in order to determine a bearing between the vehicle travel direction and the personnel, which could then be used to determine steering parameters to drive the vehicle to an optimal location (See Lee [0012], Chen, [0005-0007],[0088-0089]).
Claim(s) 3, 6, 13, and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee et al. (US 20220137629 A1), hereinafter Lee, in view of Chen et al. (US 20230111347 A1), hereinafter Chen, and further in view of Kwak et al. (US 20220022719 A1), hereinafter Kwak.
Regarding claim 3, Lee discloses in view of Chen discloses the system of claim 2. Lee in view of Chen further discloses [Note: what is not clearly disclosed is strike-through]:
wherein the processor circuitry is further configured to:
and determining the distance based on the time of flight (Lee [0094] “For example, since a transmission signal from the UWB sensor-transmitter TR includes information regarding a transmission time, the controller may obtain respective distances according to transmission times.”).
Lee in view of Chen fails to disclose the limitations below. Kwak discloses:
sending a ranging request to the leader node (Kwak [0232] “For example, as shown in FIG. 7B, the control unit of the second mobile robot 100b may output a first signal (Radio message 1) at the UWB anchor of the second mobile robot.”);
receiving a ranging response from the leader node, the ranging response including a timestamp indicating a time that the ranging response was sent by the leader node (Kwak [0233] “The first signal may be received in the UWB tag of the first mobile robot 100a.”, further Kwak [0236] “The second signal may include delay time (t_reply) information which is calculated based on a time at which the first mobile robot 100a has received the first signal and a time at which the first mobile terminal 100a has output the second signal.”);
determining a time of flight of the ranging response from the leader node based on a difference between the timestamp and a received time at the follower node (Kwak [0237] “The control unit of the second mobile robot 100b may calculate a signal transmission time, namely, Time of Flight (ToF) between the first mobile robot and the second mobile robot using an output time t1 of the first signal, a received time t2 of the second signal, and the delay time t_reply included in the second signal.”);
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the features as disclosed by Kwak into the invention of Lee in view of Chen. The set of Lee, Chen, and Kwak are considered analogous arts to the claimed invention as they disclose methods for colocation of radio devices for autonomous vehicle guidance. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the apparatus as disclosed by Lee in view of Chen to utilize a ranging request and response method for ranging between the leader and follower nodes, as taught by Kwak. This procedure is a common method for implementing ranging between mutually communicating radio devices, in order to account for time delays associated with processing. One of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have been motivated to modify the apparatus to calculate the distance between the leader and following nodes, while accounting for a time delay before the reply of the second signal. This enables frequent updates of the position data tracking the leader node (See Kwak [0236-0239], Chen [0042]).
Regarding claim 6, Lee in view of Chen discloses the system of claim 1. Lee in view of Chen fails to disclose the limitation below. Kwak discloses:
wherein the system includes a human- machine interface (HMI) that enables a human to control and observe the system (Kwak [0112] " In addition, the input unit 1200 may be implemented as a hard key, a soft key, a touch pad, or the like and may be disposed on a top of the mobile robot. For example, the input unit 1200 may implement a form of a touch screen together with the output unit 1500.").
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the features as disclosed by Kwak into the invention of Lee in view of Chen. The set of Lee, Chen, and Kwak are considered analogous arts to the claimed invention as they disclose methods for colocation of radio devices for autonomous vehicle guidance. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the apparatus as disclosed by Lee in view of Chen to include a human-machine interface, enabling a person to control the system, as taught by Kwak. One of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have been motivated to modify the apparatus to allow a user to confirm information detected by the autonomous vehicle, or to input a reset command to the vehicle (See Kwak [0110-0112]).
Regarding claim 13, Lee in view of Chen discloses the system of claim 11. [Note: what is not clearly disclosed is strike-through]:
wherein determine the distance between the follower node and the leader node further comprises:
and determining the distance based on the time of flight (Lee [0094] “For example, since a transmission signal from the UWB sensor-transmitter TR includes information regarding a transmission time, the controller may obtain respective distances according to transmission times.”).
Lee in view of Chen fails to disclose the limitations below. Kwak discloses:
sending a ranging request to the leader node (Kwak [0232] “For example, as shown in FIG. 7B, the control unit of the second mobile robot 100b may output a first signal (Radio message 1) at the UWB anchor of the second mobile robot.”);
receiving a ranging response from the leader node, the ranging response including a timestamp indicating a time that the ranging response was sent by the leader node (Kwak [0233] “The first signal may be received in the UWB tag of the first mobile robot 100a.”, further Kwak [0236] “The second signal may include delay time (t_reply) information which is calculated based on a time at which the first mobile robot 100a has received the first signal and a time at which the first mobile terminal 100a has output the second signal.”);
determining a time of flight of the ranging response from the leader node based on a difference between the timestamp and a received time at the follower node (Kwak [0237] “The control unit of the second mobile robot 100b may calculate a signal transmission time, namely, Time of Flight (ToF) between the first mobile robot and the second mobile robot using an output time t1 of the first signal, a received time t2 of the second signal, and the delay time t_reply included in the second signal.”);
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the features as disclosed by Kwak into the invention of Lee in view of Chen. The set of Lee, Chen, and Kwak are considered analogous arts to the claimed invention as they disclose methods for colocation of radio devices for autonomous vehicle guidance. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system as disclosed by Lee in view of Chen to utilize a ranging request and response method for ranging between the leader and follower nodes, as taught by Kwak. This procedure is a common method for implementing ranging between mutually communicating radio devices, in order to account for time delays associated with processing. One of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have been motivated to modify the apparatus to calculate the distance between the leader and following nodes, while accounting for a time delay before the reply of the second signal. This enables frequent updates of the position data tracking the leader node (See Kwak [0236-0239], Chen [0042]).
Regarding claim 20, Lee in view of Chen discloses the system of claim 18. Lee in view of Chen fails to disclose the limitation below. Kwak discloses:
wherein two finder modules are each used to track a relative position of any other finder module (Kwak [0162] "In FIG. 5A, the communication unit of the first autonomous mobile robot 100a and the communication unit of the second autonomous mobile robot 100b may also directly communicate with each other or indirectly communicate with each other via another router (not shown), to recognize information related to a traveling state and positions of counterparts.").
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the features as disclosed by Kwak into the invention of Lee in view of Chen. The set of Lee, Chen, and Kwak are considered analogous arts to the claimed invention as they disclose methods for colocation of radio devices for autonomous vehicle guidance. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the apparatus as disclosed by Lee in view of Chen to allow the communication of finder module locations between one other, as taught by Kwak. One of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have been motivated to modify the apparatus to coordinate or track of a fleet or robotic vehicles, such that they can collaborate and perform tasks in the same area without colliding (See Kwak [0006, 0163, 0175, 0177-0178]).
Claim 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee et al. (US 20220137629 A1), hereinafter Lee, in view of Chen et al. (US 20230111347 A1), hereinafter Chen, and further in view of Fox, V., et al. "Bayesian filtering for location estimation." IEEE pervasive computing 2.3 (2003): 24-33., hereinafter Fox.
Regarding claim 5, Lee in view of Chen discloses the system of claim 1. Lee in view of Chen fails to disclose the limitation below. Fox discloses:
wherein a Bayesian filter uses mathematical models to estimate a true state/position of the leader node. (Fox page 2, “Second, estimating an object’s location is arguably the most fundamental sensing task in many pervasive computing scenarios. It is thus a natural domain in which to illustrate the application of Bayesian filter techniques. Representing locations statistically enables a unified interface for location information. This lets us write applications independent of the sensors used—even when using very different sensor types, such as GPS and infrared badges. (A comparative survey of location systems appears elsewhere.1)”)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the features as disclosed by Fox into the invention of Lee in view of Chen. The set of Lee, Chen, and Fox are considered analogous arts to the claimed invention as they both disclose processing methods for radio location data. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the apparatus as disclosed by Lee in view of Chen to incorporate a Bayesian filter as taught by Fox. One of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have been motivated to modify the apparatus in order to apply the well-known radar processing method of Bayesian filtering, providing a good estimate of the current personnel location as they move accounting for measurement uncertainties (See Fox Pg. 24, Pgs. 24-26).
Response to Arguments
Applicant has amended claims 3, 6, 17, and 19 have been corrected in order to address informalities. The amendments have been accepted and these rejections are therefore withdrawn.
Applicant has amended the specification in order to address informalities. These changes are accepted and therefore the objection to the specification has been withdrawn.
Applicant has amended the drawings in order to comply with objections discussed in the previous office action. The amended drawings are accepted, and objection is withdrawn.
Applicant’s arguments with respect to the rejection of claims 1-15 on the grounds of 35 U.S.C. 101 have been fully considered and are persuasive. The rejection of claims 1-15 under 35 U.S.C 101 has been withdrawn.
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 16 and 18 under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) 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.
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 THOMAS JAMES HALLORAN whose telephone number is (571)272-8643. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri. 7:30am-5pm.
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/T.J.H./Examiner, Art Unit 3648
/RESHA DESAI/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3648
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