Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 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.
Similarly, claim 3 recites the limitation " predetermined second time interval " in line 4. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
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.
Claim(s) 1, 3, 8 and 10-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over MCLAUGHLIN (EP-3667931-A1).
Regarding claims 1, 10, MCLAUGHLIN discloses a circuit apparatus (see Fig. 1) for locating at least one device in a respective locating session, wherein the circuit apparatus and the at least one device unit communicate with one another via ultra-wide-band radio (ultra-wideband ("UWB") communication system, Abstract), UWB, in a predetermined common frequency band (methods are disclosed for transmitting packets in multiple portions, each having a different pulse repetition frequency ("PRF"), Abstract)(transmitter and receiver works in the common frequency band), wherein the circuit apparatus
comprises a unit configured to control a transceiver unit of the circuit apparatus to emit a respective locating signal to the respective device unit in successive time blocks of a predetermined time grid of the locating session (packets are arranged in a predetermined time grids/windows, paragraph 0045),
wherein the circuit apparatus comprises a unit configured to check, before the a respective transmission of a locating signal to be transmitted, whether a predetermined transmission condition specifying a maximum permissible degree of utilization (transmit power limit which is set forth in the Standards to a fixed Tx power maximum per 1ms of transmission time, paragraph 0045) for the frequency band is fulfilled by the transmission of the locating signal to be transmitted, and enable the an emission of an locating signal to be transmitted when the transmission condition is fulfilled (not exceeding Tx power), and otherwise to block the emission of the locating signal to be transmitted (if the Tx power is reached, no more transmission).
MCLAUGHLIN does not specifically disclose use of a monitoring unit or control unit in fulfilling the functions above. The use of calibration management and power management in figure 1 would be obviously modifiable to do the functions.
Regarding claim 3, to the best understanding of The Examiner, MCLAUGHLIN discloses wherein the monitoring unit is configured to record an accumulated duration of pulse times of already transmitted locating signals in a predetermined second time interval (a calibration and power management unit can be joined to limit the Tx power in the limited time period), and the transmission condition comprises a transmission criterion which specifies that the transmission of the locating signal to be transmitted is enabled only when a permissible maximum accumulated duration of the locating signals is undershot (not exceeding the power limit) when the locating signal to be transmitted is transmitted in the second predetermined time interval (in a second time interval, if Tx power is not exceeded, transmission keeps).
Regarding claim 8, MCLAUGHLIN discloses circuit apparatus as claimed in claim l the time grid is set based on a random function or a pseudo-random function (transmission time window is limited to Tx power when it reaches the limit which is a random function).
Regarding claim11, MCLAUGHLIN discloses a vehicle comprising a circuit apparatus as claimed in claim1 (Such applications include, for example, small car key fobs or other small wearable items, paragraph 0045).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2, 4-7, 9 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HARRY K LIU whose telephone number is (571)270-1338. The examiner can normally be reached on every M-F 10 AM to 6:30 PM.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, please leave a voice message with application serial number and nature of call, a response within 24 hours can be expected during regular business days. Also, the Examiner’s supervisor Hodge, Robert W. can be reached at (571) 272-6496. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-270-2338.
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/HARRY K LIU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3645 Tel: (571) 270-1338
Fax: (571) 270-2338
Email: harry.liu@uspto.gov