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 Objections
Claims 1 and 13 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 1 lines 5-6 should read,
“receiving, by the GNSS processor and from the other processor, aiding data that is determined based on the stream I/Q of samples, wherein the aiding data
Claim 13 lines 7-8 should read,
“receive, .
Appropriate correction is required.
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.
Claims 1 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being incomplete for omitting essential steps, such omission amounting to a gap between the steps. See MPEP § 2172.01.
Regarding claim 1 and 13, Applicant fails to mention where “the other processor” as claimed, receives aiding data from. It is known to one of ordinary skill in the art that aiding data comprising a code phase and a time for a GNSS satellite is not generated within a mobile device or UE, but obtained from an external server. Thus, the claims are incomplete and lack an essential step to performing the method of claim 1 and functions of claim 13.
For the sake of examination, Examiner has construed claim 1 and claim 13 as containing the essential step of the other processor as claimed receiving aiding data from an external source.
Specification
A substitute specification is required because the only specification filed, filed April 18, 2024, is not of the instant application (18/702,699), but of a parent application (PCT/US2023/071197).
A substitute specification must not contain new matter. The substitute specification must be submitted with markings showing all the changes relative to the immediate prior version of the specification of record. The text of any added subject matter must be shown by underlining the added text. The text of any deleted matter must be shown by strike-through except that double brackets placed before and after the deleted characters may be used to show deletion of five or fewer consecutive characters. The text of any deleted subject matter must be shown by being placed within double brackets if strike-through cannot be easily perceived. An accompanying clean version (without markings) and a statement that the substitute specification contains no new matter must also be supplied. Numbering the paragraphs of the specification of record is not considered a change that must be shown.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-9 and 12-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) and (a)(2) as being anticipated by Gildea (US 20090309787 A1).
Regarding claims 1 and 13, Gildea teaches a method and a mobile computing device comprising:
a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) antenna, and a GNSS processor (Fig. 1, mobile electronic device 100 contains antenna 114 in GNSS system; para. 65, “The receiver detects the time difference between when a signal is received from a satellite and the time the satellite actually broadcasts the signal to determine the distance between the receiver and the satellite. The ephemeris data is used to determine the satellite's position when the signal was broadcast. In embodiments of the present invention, this functionality can be performed by GNSS system 112 of FIG. 1.”) configured to perform the method of:
obtaining, by a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) processor of a mobile computing device and based on signals received from GNSS satellites (paras. 125-127, “In particular, FIG. 10 illustrates a block diagram of a GNSS receiver [e.g., 113 of FIG. 1 and/or 570 of FIG. 5] in the form of a general purpose GPS receiver capable of demodulation of the L1 and/or L2 signal(s) received from one or more GPS satellites. […] IF processor 1050 takes the analog L1 and L2 signals at approximately 175 MHz and converts them into digitally sampled L1 and L2 in-phase [L1 I and L2 I] and quadrature signals [L1 Q and L2 Q] at carrier frequencies 420 KHz for L1 and at 2.6 MHz for L2 signals respectively.”),
providing, by the GNSS processor and for another processor, the stream of I/Q samples (Fig. 10, GNSS receiver contains at least one digital channel processor 1052; para. 128, “At least one digital channel processor 1052 inputs the digitally sampled L1 and L2 in-phase and quadrature signals. All digital channel processors 1052 are typically are identical by design and typically operate on identical input samples.”),
receiving, by the other processor, aiding data from an external source, receiving, by the GNSS processor and from the other processor, aiding data that is determined based on the stream of I/Q samples, wherein the aiding data includes: a code phase, a frequency, and a time for a GNSS satellite of the GNSS satellites, and processing, by the GNSS processor and based on the aiding data, the stream of I/Q samples to determine a first fix for the mobile computing device (para. 77, “A-GPS was developed to overcome the difficulties in acquiring a signal and to speed the time it takes a receiver to generate a position fix. […] In operation 602 of FIG. 6A, GNSS system 112 of mobile electronic device 100 uses the GNSS signal acquisition assistance data to more quickly acquire the satellites within view. As described in FIG. 6A, this includes, but is not limited to, synchronizing local oscillators to the desired carrier frequencies, tuning with the predicted Dopplers to account for frequency shift due to the relative motion of the satellite and GNSS system 112, and narrowing the code phase searches based upon the predicted GNSS code phases sent from the cellular base station 510. GNSS system 112 may further use a GPS time estimate for GPS data bit timing, pre-detection interval timing, generating a clock time tag for a GNSS signal, and for linearizing pseudoranges to satellites. It is noted that in one embodiment, Assisted-GPS data is not required for mobile electronic device 100 to determine its position. However, in one embodiment the use of Assisted-GPS data is beneficial in reducing the time to first fix for mobile electronic device 100.”).
Regarding claims 2 and 14, Gildea teaches the method of claim 1 and the mobile computing device of claim 13,
wherein the other processor further determines the aiding data based on seed data (para. 66, “In operation 601, cellular base station 510 generates a set of predicted GNSS satellite Dopplers, predicted GNSS code phases, GNSS data bit times, and the current time [e.g., the GNSS clock time] which are then sent to mobile electronic device 100 in an offline message. In contrast to a typical cellular telephone initiation sequence, embodiments of the present invention also send GNSS signal acquisition assistance data to mobile electronic device 100 automatically as well. In the example of FIG. 6A, this may comprise, but is not limited to, the predicted GNSS Doppler frequency shifts, predicted approximate GNSS code phase offsets, and GNSS satellite data bit times as measured at cellular base station 510 using GNSS receiver 570 as well as the current GNSS clock time.”).
Regarding claim 3, Gildea teaches the method of claim 2, wherein the seed data comprises one or more of:
an approximate time, satellite orbital data, and an approximate location of the mobile computing device (para. 74, “In the example of FIG. 6A, this may comprise, but is not limited to, the predicted GNSS Doppler frequency shifts, predicted approximate GNSS code phase offsets, and GNSS satellite data bit times as measured at cellular base station 510 using GNSS receiver 570 as well as the current GNSS clock time. It is noted that embodiments of the present invention may also send additional GNSS data such as carrier frequencies, satellite positions and clock information, ephemeris data, and adjustment data for correcting signal distortion due to ionospheric or tropospheric effects. The carrier frequency assistance may be performed by phase or frequency locking a local oscillator in the mobile electronic device 100 to a carrier or other stable frequency, or a frequency related by M/N to a carrier frequency or other stable frequency, of the communication signal transmitted from the system 500.”; ephemeris data is considered satellite orbital data).
Regarding claim 4, Gildea teaches the method of claim 1, wherein:
processing the stream of I/Q samples comprises commencing processing, by the GNSS processor, the stream of I/Q samples prior to receiving the aiding data (para. 74, “In operation 601, cellular base station 510 generates a set of predicted GNSS satellite Dopplers, predicted GNSS code phases, GNSS data bit times, and the current time [e.g., the GNSS clock time] which are then sent to mobile electronic device 100 in an offline message. In contrast to a typical cellular telephone initiation sequence, embodiments of the present invention also send GNSS signal acquisition assistance data to mobile electronic device 100 automatically as well. In the example of FIG. 6A, this may comprise, but is not limited to, the predicted GNSS Doppler frequency shifts, predicted approximate GNSS code phase offsets, and GNSS satellite data bit times as measured at cellular base station 510 using GNSS receiver 570 as well as the current GNSS clock time.”; paras. 126-128, “FIG. 10 shows GPS signals [L1=1575.42 MHz, L2=1227.60 MHz] entering GPS receiver 113 through a dual frequency antenna 114. […] At least one digital channel processor 1052 inputs the digitally sampled L1 and L2 in-phase and quadrature signals. All digital channel processors 1052 are typically are identical by design and typically operate on identical input samples.”; aiding data is derived from processed I/Q samples), and
accelerating, by the GNSS processor, the processing of the stream of I/Q samples based on the aiding data (para. 78, “In operation 602 of FIG. 6A, GNSS system 112 of mobile electronic device 100 uses the GNSS signal acquisition assistance data to more quickly acquire the satellites within view. As described in FIG. 6A, this includes, but is not limited to, synchronizing local oscillators to the desired carrier frequencies, tuning with the predicted Dopplers to account for frequency shift due to the relative motion of the satellite and GNSS system 112, and narrowing the code phase searches based upon the predicted GNSS code phases sent from the cellular base station 510. GNSS system 112 may further use a GPS time estimate for GPS data bit timing, pre-detection interval timing, generating a clock time tag for a GNSS signal, and for linearizing pseudoranges to satellites.”).
Regarding claim 5, Gildea teaches the method of claim 4, wherein:
processing, by the GNSS processor, the stream of I/Q samples prior to receiving the aiding data comprises processing the stream of I/Q samples to search for the code phase, the frequency, and the time estimate for the GNSS satellite, and accelerating the processing of the stream of I/Q samples comprises narrowing, based on the aiding data, the search for the code phase, the frequency, and the time for the GNSS satellite (para. 78, “In operation 602 of FIG. 6A, GNSS system 112 of mobile electronic device 100 uses the GNSS signal acquisition assistance data to more quickly acquire the satellites within view. As described in FIG. 6A, this includes, but is not limited to, synchronizing local oscillators to the desired carrier frequencies, tuning with the predicted Dopplers to account for frequency shift due to the relative motion of the satellite and GNSS system 112, and narrowing the code phase searches based upon the predicted GNSS code phases sent from the cellular base station 510. GNSS system 112 may further use a GPS time estimate for GPS data bit timing, pre-detection interval timing, generating a clock time tag for a GNSS signal, and for linearizing pseudoranges to satellites.”).
Regarding claim 6, Gildea teaches the method of claim 5,
wherein processing, by the GNSS processor, the stream of I/Q samples prior to receiving the aiding data comprises processing the stream of I/Q samples using assisted GNSS (A-GNSS) (para. 74, “The carrier frequency assistance may be performed by phase or frequency locking a local oscillator in the mobile electronic device 100 to a carrier or other stable frequency, or a frequency related by M/N to a carrier frequency or other stable frequency, of the communication signal transmitted from the system 500.”; para. 126, “FIG. 10 shows GPS signals (L1=1575.42 MHz, L2=1227.60 MHz) entering GPS receiver 113 through a dual frequency antenna 114. Master oscillator 1048 provides the reference oscillator which drives all other clocks in the system. Frequency synthesizer 1038 takes the output of master oscillator 1048 and generates important clock and local oscillator frequencies used throughout the system. For example, in one embodiment frequency synthesizer 1038 generates several timing signals such as a 1st LO1 (local oscillator) signal 1400 MHz, a 2nd LO2 signal 175 MHz, a [sampling clock] SCLK signal 25 MHz, and a MSEC (millisecond) signal used by the system as a measurement of local reference time.”).
Regarding claim 7, Gildea teaches the method of claim 1,
wherein providing the stream of I/Q samples to the other processor comprises providing the stream of I/Q samples to the other processor in all situations when determining the first fix (para. 128, “At least one digital channel processor 1052 inputs the digitally sampled L1 and L2 in-phase and quadrature signals. All digital channel processors 1052 are typically are identical by design and typically operate on identical input samples.”; paras. 77-78, “A-GPS was developed to overcome the difficulties in acquiring a signal and to speed the time it takes a receiver to generate a position fix. […] However, in one embodiment the use of Assisted-GPS data is beneficial in reducing the time to first fix for mobile electronic device 100.”; see Van Dierendonck paras. 7, 9, and 25 for further evidence of providing I/Q samples to a dedicated processor in all cases of TTFF determination).
Regarding claims 8 and 16, Gildea teaches the method of claims 1 and the mobile computing device of claim 13, wherein providing the stream of I/Q samples to the other processor comprises providing the stream of I/Q samples to the other processor responsive to one or more of:
determining that the GNSS processor has not determined the first fix within a threshold time period,
determining that a signal strength of a signal received from the GNSS satellite is less than a threshold signal strength, and
determining that an approximate location of the mobile computing device is in a particular area (para. 73, “FIGS. 6A, 6B, 6C, and 6D are flowcharts showing sequences of events performed by a communication system in accordance with embodiments of the present invention. As stated above, in one embodiment mobile electronic device 100 comprises a cellular telephone. It is again noted that while the following description is in terms of a cellular telephone network, embodiments of the present are not limited to cellular telephones or cellular networks in general. Typically, when a cellular telephone is first powered on, it is not receiving and/or transmitting an online message. The cellular telephone contacts a cellular base station [e.g., cellular base station 510 of FIG. 5] and a series of offline [e.g., not initiated by the cellular telephone user] communications are exchanged between the cellular telephone and the cellular base station within range of the cellular telephone.”; Fig. 6A, process cannot begin if mobile device is not in range of a base station).
Regarding claims 9 and 17, Gildea teaches the method of claim 1 and the mobile computing device of claim 13,
wherein the other processor is included in the mobile computing device (para. 22, “Returning to FIG. 1, mobile electronic device 100 further comprises a wireless communication system 109, comprising a wireless modem 110 and a wireless antenna 111, coupled with bus 102. A GNSS system 112, comprising a GNSS receiver 113 and a GNSS antenna 114, is also coupled with bus 102.”; Fig. 10, digital channel processors are part of GNSS receiver 113 which is a part of mobile electronic device 100).
Regarding claim 12, Gildea teaches the method of claim 1, further comprising:
tracking, by the GNSS processor and based on the first fix, a position of the mobile computing device (paras. 78-80, “However, in one embodiment the use of Assisted-GPS data is beneficial in reducing the time to first fix for mobile electronic device 100. […] In embodiments of the present invention, the cellular base station 510 uses this data to determine the position and speed of mobile electronic device 100 when it is in motion. In embodiments of the present invention, the sending of A-GPS data to mobile electronic device 100 and the receiving of raw, or processed, data from mobile electronic device 100 is performed periodically based upon a pre-determined time interval. This facilitates monitoring the speed of mobile electronic device 100 for as long as it is powered on.”).
Regarding claim 15, Gildea teaches the mobile computing device of claim 14,
wherein the GNSS processor processes the stream of I/Q samples to search for the code phase, the frequency, and the time estimate for the GNSS satellite in parallel with the other processor determining the aiding data (para. 78, “In operation 602 of FIG. 6A, GNSS system 112 of mobile electronic device 100 uses the GNSS signal acquisition assistance data to more quickly acquire the satellites within view. As described in FIG. 6A, this includes, but is not limited to, synchronizing local oscillators to the desired carrier frequencies, tuning with the predicted Dopplers to account for frequency shift due to the relative motion of the satellite and GNSS system 112, and narrowing the code phase searches based upon the predicted GNSS code phases sent from the cellular base station 510. GNSS system 112 may further use a GPS time estimate for GPS data bit timing, pre-detection interval timing, generating a clock time tag for a GNSS signal, and for linearizing pseudoranges to satellites.”; para. 128, “At least one digital channel processor 1052 inputs the digitally sampled L1 and L2 in-phase and quadrature signals. All digital channel processors 1052 are typically are identical by design and typically operate on identical input samples. Each digital channel processor 1052 is designed to digitally track the L1 and L2 signals produced by one satellite by tracking code and carrier signals and to form code and carrier phase measurements in conjunction with the microprocessor system 1054.”).
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 10 and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gildea in view of Li (CN 101651789 A).
Regarding claims 10 and 18, Gildea teaches the method of claim 9 and the mobile computing device of claim 17, but fails to teach
wherein the other processor is an application processor of the mobile computing device.
However, Li teaches
wherein the other processor is an application processor of the mobile computing device (para. 8, “The application processor is a combination of a mobile phone baseband chip and an external memory.”; para. 29, “The RF receiver front-end provides I /Q signals [two pairs of four quadrature RF signals] to the application processor.”).
Gildea and Li are considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of GNSS systems. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Gildea with the teachings of Li with the motivation that application processors allow for software-defined modifications and upgrades without hardware changes.
Claim 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gildea in view of Stegmaier et al. (US 20230076938 A1), hereinafter Stegmaier.
Regarding claim 11, Gildea teaches the method of claim 1, but fails to teach
wherein the other processor is not included in the mobile computing device, and
wherein providing the stream of I/Q samples to the other processor comprises providing the stream of I/Q samples to the other processor via an Internet connection of the mobile computing device.
However, Stegmaier teaches
wherein the other processor is not included in the mobile computing device, and wherein providing the stream of I/Q samples to the other processor comprises providing the stream of I/Q samples to the other processor via an Internet connection of the mobile computing device (para. 47, “All the information simultaneously obtained is combined by the radio frequency measurement device, wherein output metadata may be generated. Hence, the output metadata encompasses I/Q data indicative of the analog radio frequency signal as well as control data indicative of the switching state of the switch, namely which of the several individual directional antenna(s) was/were turned on during the measurement, as well as position and/or bearing data. This metadata is passed to a separate processing circuit, included, for instance in a laptop, tablet, PC, server, cloud-based processing, etc.), for further processing, e.g. baseband processing.”).
Gildea and Stegmaier are considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of GNSS systems. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Gildea with the teachings of Stegmaier with the motivation that clouds allow for massive scalability of data streams and real-time remote data access.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ERIC K HODAC whose telephone number is (571) 270-0123. The examiner can normally be reached M-Th 8-6.
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, VLADIMIR MAGLOIRE can be reached at (571) 270-5144. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/ERIC K HODAC/Examiner, Art Unit 3648
/VLADIMIR MAGLOIRE/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3648