DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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 of this title, 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 1-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wei, P., Du, X., Yu, H. and Liu, J., 2017, July. Troposcatter transmission loss subsectoin model. In 2017 IEEE international symposium on antennas and propagation & USNC/URSI national radio science meeting (pp. 817-818) IEEE. (Wei), in view of Darizhapov, D.D. and Bazarov, A.V., 1999, May. Calculation of diffractional and tropospheric components of uhf trans-horizon field in mountainous terrain. In Application of the Conversion Research Results for International Cooperation. SIBCONVERS'99. Third International Symposium. Proceedings (Cat. No. 99EX246) (Vol. 2, pp. 367-369). IEEE (Darizhapov).
Regarding Claims 1 and 5-6:
A line design assisting device comprising: at least one memory configured to store instructions; andat least one processor configured to execute the instructions to: acquire a propagation loss calculation formula that calculates a propagation loss L of a radio communication path using at least an atmospheric structure parameter M corresponding to the region of the radio communication path between an installation location of the transmission-side antenna and the installation location of the reception-side antenna, a frequency f of the radio waves transmitted and received by the transmission-side antenna and the reception-side antenna, a propagation loss Ln of the radio waves in a radio wave scattering space of the troposphere in that radio communication path, an aerial line coupling loss Lc of the radio communication path, a transmission-side antenna gain Gt, and a reception-side antenna gain Or, aerial line coupling loss calculation formulas of a plurality of different techniques used for calculation of the aerial line coupling loss Lc, terrain data in the radio communication path, and a situation-specific parameter used for at least one of the propagation loss calculation formula and the aerial line coupling loss calculation formulas; calculate an estimated value of the propagation loss L using the propagation loss calculation formula, the aerial line coupling loss calculation formulas of a plurality of different techniques, and the situation-specific parameter; specify the propagation loss calculation formula using any of the plurality of aerial line coupling loss calculation formulas, and specifies the atmospheric structure parameter M used in that propagation loss calculation formula such that the estimated value of the propagation loss L approaches the actual measured value of the propagation loss, on the basis of the relationship between the actual measured value of propagation loss recorded based on the transmission and reception of the radio waves between the transmission-side and reception-side antennas, and the estimated value of the propagation loss L; record the propagation loss calculation formula and the atmospheric structure parameter specified by the learning means for each of a plurality of different combinations of the transmission-side antenna installation location and the reception-side antenna installation location (Wei: I-II, equations 1-4, troposcatter propagation loss model with atmospheric structure parameter M, Freq. f, troposcatter loss LN, coupling loss Lc, antenna gains Gt, Gr, as well as comparison between predicted and measured values and RMS-based model refinement, which are propagation loss formula acquisition, Parameterized modeling, and validation vs. measured data; I., multiple station values; multiple link scenarios, and per-link analysis).
Wei does not disclose explicitly on terrain-dependent obstacle modeling and atmospheric gradient adjustment. However, Darizhapov teaches (Darizhapov: teaches terrain-dependent obstacle modeling and atmospheric gradient adjustment that emphasizes on diffraction and tropospheric modeling, terrain-profile dependent calculations, atmospheric refraction gradient dependence and formalized computerized design (i.e., a processor + memory); oath-specific modeling for different terrain profiles).
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention was made to modify Wei with terrain-dependent obstacle modeling and atmospheric gradient adjustment as further taught by Darizhapov. The advantage of doing so is to incorporate the terrain/diffraction modeling, implement in a computerized line-design tool and adjust atmospheric parameters based on measured data to improve prediction accuracy.
Regarding Claims 2, 7 and 10, Wei as modified further teaches:
The line design assisting device according to claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is configured to execute the instructions to: for each period that represents a given season, specify the propagation loss calculation formula using any of the plurality of aerial line coupling loss calculation formulas, and specifies the atmospheric structure parameter M used in that propagation loss calculation formula such that the estimated value of the propagation loss L approaches the actual measured value of the propagation loss, on the basis of the relationship between the actual measured value of propagation loss recorded based on the transmission and reception of the radio waves between the transmission- side and reception-side antennas, and the estimated value of the propagation loss L; and for each period that represents a given season, records record the propagation loss calculation formula and the specified atmospheric structure parameter for each of a plurality of different combinations of the transmission-side antenna installation location and the reception-side antenna installation location (Wei: III. and Table I and II).
Regarding Claims 3, 8 and 11, Wei as modified further teaches:
The line design assisting device according to claim 1, wherein the propagation loss calculation formula is a propagation loss calculation formula that calculates a predetermined statistical value of the propagation loss that varies over a long period of time; wherein the at least one processor is configured to execute the instructions to: specify the propagation loss calculation formula and the atmospheric structure parameter M used in the propagation loss calculation formula in order to calculate the predetermined statistical value of the propagation loss; and record the specification of the propagation loss calculation formula and the specification of the atmospheric structure parameter M used in the propagation loss calculation formula in order to calculate the predetermined statistical value of the propagation loss for each combination of the plurality of different installation locations of the transmission-side antenna and the reception-side antenna (Wei: III. and Table I and II).
Regarding Claims 4, 9 and 12, Wei as modified further teaches:
The line design assisting device according to claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is configured to execute the instructions to: use machine learning to specify the propagation loss calculation formula and to specify the atmospheric structure parameter M used in the propagation loss calculation formula (Wei: I-II, formula and M parameters are known, where uses machine learning as a statistical calculation method is known in the computation field).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ZHITONG CHEN whose telephone number is (571) 270-1936. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 9:30am - 5pm.
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, Yuwen Pan can be reached on 571-272-7855. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/ZHITONG CHEN/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2649