METHODS AND DEVICES FOR UWB-BASED DISTANCE MEASUREMENTS

§102 §103 §112

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 . Priority Examiner acknowledges Applicant’s claim to priority benefits of IN202341083025 filed 12/6/2023. ​ Information Disclosure Statement The information disclosure statement(s) (IDS) submitted on 11/4/2024 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement(s) is/are being considered if signed and initialed by the Examiner. Claim Objections Claim 1 is objected to because of the following informalities: Claim 1 recites “UWB” device. The examiner suggests replacing “UWB” with “UWB (Ultra-Wide Band)” on first instance of “UWB” in the claim. Appropriate correction is required. Claim 10 is objected to because of the following informalities: Claim 10 recites “UWB” device. The examiner suggests replacing “UWB” with “UWB (Ultra-Wide Band)” on first instance of “UWB” in the claim. 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. Claim 9 is 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. Claim 9 recites “the USB” device in line 1. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. “the USB” device needs to be replaced with “UWB” device. Appropriate correction is required. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102 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. 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 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. Claims 1-2, 5-8, 10-11, 14-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Nguyen et al. (US 2023/0246882 A1). Regarding claim 1, Nguyen et al. (‘882) anticipates “a method of determining a distance between a UWB device and an object of interest (Figure 3: radar device 302 and UWB radar 306, target object 304)paragraph 2: a system and method for distance measurement in close range using ultra-wideband (UWB) radar), wherein the UWB device comprises a transmitter and a receiver (paragraph 51: Figure 3: system 300 in which distance measurement of a target object in close range can be performed using UWB radar… the system 300 includes a radar device 302 and a target object 304…the radar device 302 is equipped with a UWB radar module 306 and one or more antennas 308 (which can represent, or be represented by, the transceiver 210), the method comprising: transmitting a pulse signal from the transmitter of the UWB device (paragraph 51: the radar module 306 can transmit a high-bandwidth pulse toward the target object 304), receiving a signal at the receiver of the UWB device, said signal comprising a reflection of the transmitted pulse signal caused by the object of interest (paragraph 51: receive the signal reflected back from the target object 304, and compute the CIR, which is a signature of the target object 304 and the surrounding environment), determining a first distance estimate by applying a peak-based analysis to the received signal (paragraph 5: estimating a first distance between the mobile device and the target object based on an energy of the CIR; paragraph 49: to obtain the energy-based distance estimate, the radar device calculates a range profile and frequency profile based on a channel impulse response (CIR)…when a dominant peak in the frequency profile is above a first threshold, the radar device estimates the energy-based distance based on the range profile; claim 1: obtaining a channel impulse response (CIR) based on multiple ultrawide band (UWB) measurements between a mobile device and a target object; estimating a first distance between the mobile device and the target object based on an energy of the CIR…estimating a second distance between the mobile device and the target object based on a phase of the CIR; and obtaining an estimated distance between the mobile device and the target object based on at least one of the first distance and the second distance + claim 4: estimating the first distance comprises: calculating a range profile and frequency profile based on the CIR; and when a dominant peak in the frequency profile is above a first threshold, estimating the first distance based on the range profile: Claims 8+1), determining a first confidence value associated with the first distance estimate (claim 1: obtaining a channel impulse response (CIR) based on multiple ultrawide band (UWB) measurements between a mobile device and a target object; estimating a first distance between the mobile device and the target object based on an energy of the CIR…estimating a second distance between the mobile device and the target object based on a phase of the CIR; and obtaining an estimated distance between the mobile device and the target object based on at least one of the first distance and the second distance+ claim 6: estimating a first figure of merit (FOM) associated with the first distance, the first FOM indicating a reliability of the estimation of the first distance; estimating a second FOM associated with the second distance, the second FOM indicating a reliability of the estimation of the second distance; and obtaining a reliability of the estimated distance between the mobile device and the target object based on at least one of the first FOM and the second FOM, claims 8+13), determining a second distance estimate by applying a phase-based analysis to the received signal (paragraph 5: estimating a second distance between the mobile device and the target object based on a phase of the CIR; paragraph 49: to obtain the phase-based distance estimate, the radar device obtains the following: (1) a clutter-removed CIR from the CIR using a high-pass filter; (2) a phase difference using range bins in the clutter-removed CIR that are closest to a previously estimated distance value; and (3) a relative distance change based on the phase difference…the radar device can estimate the phase-based distance based on the relative distance change and the previously estimated distance value; claim 1: obtaining a channel impulse response (CIR) based on multiple ultrawide band (UWB) measurements between a mobile device and a target object; estimating a first distance between the mobile device and the target object based on an energy of the CIR; estimating a second distance between the mobile device and the target object based on a phase of the CIR; and obtaining an estimated distance between the mobile device and the target object based on at least one of the first distance and the second distance+ claim 5: estimating the second distance comprises: obtaining a clutter-removed CIR from the CIR using a high-pass filter; obtaining a phase difference using range bins in the clutter-removed CIR that are closest to a previously estimated distance value; obtaining a relative distance change based on the phase difference; and estimating the second distance based on the relative distance change and the previously estimated distance value; claims 8+12), determining a second confidence value associated with the second distance estimate (claim 1: obtaining a channel impulse response (CIR) based on multiple ultrawide band (UWB) measurements between a mobile device and a target object; estimating a first distance between the mobile device and the target object based on an energy of the CIR…estimating a second distance between the mobile device and the target object based on a phase of the CIR; and obtaining an estimated distance between the mobile device and the target object based on at least one of the first distance and the second distance+ claim 6: estimating a first figure of merit (FOM) associated with the first distance, the first FOM indicating a reliability of the estimation of the first distance; estimating a second FOM associated with the second distance, the second FOM indicating a reliability of the estimation of the second distance; and obtaining a reliability of the estimated distance between the mobile device and the target object based on at least one of the first FOM and the second FOM; claims 8+12), and determining the distance between the UWB device and the object of interest based on the first distance estimate, the first confidence value, the second distance estimate, and the second confidence value (claim 1: obtaining a channel impulse response (CIR) based on multiple ultrawide band (UWB) measurements between a mobile device and a target object; estimating a first distance between the mobile device and the target object based on an energy of the CIR; estimating a second distance between the mobile device and the target object based on a phase of the CIR; and obtaining an estimated distance between the mobile device and the target object based on at least one of the first distance and the second distance+ Claim 2: obtaining the estimated distance between the mobile device and the target object comprises: calculating the estimated distance as an average of the first distance and the second distance + claim 6: estimating a first figure of merit (FOM) associated with the first distance, the first FOM indicating a reliability of the estimation of the first distance; estimating a second FOM associated with the second distance, the second FOM indicating a reliability of the estimation of the second distance; and obtaining a reliability of the estimated distance between the mobile device and the target object based on at least one of the first FOM and the second FOM; claims 8+9+13).” Regarding claim 2, which is dependent on independent claim 1, Nguyen et al. (‘882) anticipates the method of claim 1. Nguyen et al. (‘882) further anticipates “the distance between the UWB device and the object of interest is determined as a weighted average of the first and second distance estimates (claim 2: obtaining the estimated distance between the mobile device and the target object comprises: calculating the estimated distance as an average of the first distance and the second distance; claim 9).” 1 Regarding claim 5, which is dependent on independent claim 1, Nguyen et al. (‘882) anticipates the method of claim 1. Nguyen et al. (‘882) further anticipates “determining the first confidence value comprises determining a first SNR-value associated with the first distance estimate (claim 7: estimating the first FOM comprises calculating the first FOM based on a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of a signal reflected from the target object; claim 14).” Regarding claim 6, which is dependent on independent claim 1, Nguyen et al. (‘882) anticipates the method of claim 1. Nguyen et al. (‘882) further anticipates “determining the second confidence value comprises determining a second SNR-value associated with the second distance estimate (claim 7: estimating the second FOM comprises calculating the second FOM using an exponential decay function; claim 14).” Regarding claim 7, which is dependent on independent claim 1, Nguyen et al. (‘882) anticipates the method of claim 1. Nguyen et al. (‘882) further anticipates “determining at least one quality indicator associated with at least one of the first distance estimate and the second distance estimate (paragraph 66: Returning to FIG. 5, once the RDM 602, the range profile 802, and the frequency profile 702 have been calculated in operation 510, the radar device 302 performs operation 512 to check the CIR window quality for absolute distance estimation. In some embodiments, the E-branch 504 estimates absolute distance only when the CIR window 502 has sufficiently high quality, in terms of containing high enough forward or backward velocity), and adjusting at least one of the first confidence value and the second confidence value based on the at least one quality indicator (paragraph 67: the radar device 302 checks the CIR window quality in operation 512 by detecting if the corresponding frequency profile 702 has a dominant peak on either the positive velocity side or the negative velocity side. For example, in some embodiments, the radar device 302 first determines the highest peak value fpmax in the frequency profile 702. Then the radar device 302 sets a threshold fpthreshold based on the highest peak value…the threshold may be defined as fpthreshold =fpmax/20. After that, the radar device 302 collects all peaks on the frequency profile 702 that have a higher value than fpthreshold…if all of the collected peaks lie on only the positive velocity side or only the negative velocity side, then the radar device 302 determines that the CIR window 502 has high quality for determining absolute distance. In this case, the E-branch 504 can continue to operation 516…otherwise, the radar device 302 determines that the CIR window 502 has low quality and cannot be used for calculating absolute distance. In this case, at operation 514, the radar device 302 outputs no energy-based distance estimation).” Regarding claim 8, which is dependent on claim 7, Nguyen et al. (‘882) anticipates the method of claim 7. Nguyen et al. (‘882) further anticipates “the at least one quality indicator comprises at least one of: a variance of the first distance estimate over a predetermined number of measurement windows, a variance of the second distance estimate over a predetermined number of measurement windows, a doppler-based movement indicator associated with the first distance estimate, a doppler-based movement indicator associated with the second distance estimate, a movement indicator based on a monotonicity of an unwrapped phase during a predetermined number of measurement windows, a variance of a difference in unwrapped phase between successive measurement windows, a variance of a difference between the first distance estimate and the second distance estimate, and a variance of a radius of a circle that best fits complex points during the phase-based analysis. (paragraph 18: Figure 6: calculating a Range Doppler Map (RDM) from a CIR window; paragraphs 72-78: the per-window distance estimations can fluctuate over time, so an additional filter, such as a Kalman filter or a particle filter, can be added to the distance estimation operation 516…Q is the process noise covariance, P is the error covariance matrix, R is the measurement noise covariance matrix, K is the Kalman gain, and H is the Jacobian matrix).” Regarding independent claim 10, which is a corresponding device claim of independent claim 1, Nguyen et al. (‘882) anticipates all the claimed invention as shown above for claim 1. Regarding claim 11, which is dependent on independent claim 9, and which is a corresponding device claim of method claim 2, Nguyen et al. (‘882) anticipates all the claimed invention as shown above for claim 2. Regarding claim 14, which is dependent on independent claim 10, and which is a corresponding device claim of method claim 5, Nguyen et al. (‘882) anticipates all the claimed invention as shown above for claim 5. Regarding claim 15, which is dependent on independent claim 10, and which is a corresponding device claim of method claim 6, Nguyen et al. (‘882) anticipates all the claimed invention as shown above for claim 6. Regarding claim 16, which is dependent on independent claim 10, and which is a corresponding device claim of method claim 7, Nguyen et al. (‘882) anticipates all the claimed invention as shown above for claim 7. Regarding claim 17, which is dependent on independent claim 10, and which is a corresponding device claim of method claim 8, Nguyen et al. (‘882) anticipates all the claimed invention as shown above for claim 8. 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. Claims 3 and 12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nguyen et al. (US 2023/0246882 A1), and further in view of You et al. (US 2023/0125129 A1). Regarding claim 3, which is dependent on claim 2, Nguyen et al. (‘882) discloses the method of claim 2. Nguyen et al. (‘882) does not explicitly disclose “the first distance estimate is multiplied by a first weighting factor and the second distance estimate is multiplied by a second weighting factor, wherein each of the first weighting factor and the second weighting factor are based on the first confidence value and the second confidence value.” You et al. (‘129) relates to the field of wireless network communication technologies. You et al. (‘129) teaches “the first distance estimate is multiplied by a first weighting factor and the second distance estimate is multiplied by a second weighting factor, wherein each of the first weighting factor and the second weighting factor are based on the first confidence value and the second confidence value (paragraph 120: the terminal may first determine a first weight of the first candidate cell based on the correspondence between the channel quality of the cell and the weight, and then multiply the first weight by the distance between the terminal and the center of the first candidate cell, and take a multiplication result as the weight of the first candidate cell. Or, the terminal may determine a first weight of the first candidate cell based on the correspondence between the channel quality of the cell and the weight, determine a second weight of the first candidate cell based on the correspondence between the distance from the terminal to the center of the first candidate cell and the weight, and then multiply the first weight by the second weight, and take a multiplication result as the weight of the first candidate cell).” It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill-in-the-art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the method of Nguyen et al. (‘882) with the teaching of You et al. (‘129) for more reliable position determination. In addition, both of the prior art references, (Nguyen et al. (‘882) and You et al. (‘129)) teach features that are directed to analogous art and they are directed to the same field of endeavor, such as, communication system for position determination. Regarding claim 12, which is dependent on claim 11, and which is a corresponding device claim of method claim 3, Nguyen et al. (‘882)/You et al. (‘129) discloses all the claimed invention as shown above for claim 3. Claims 9 and 18-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nguyen et al. (US 2023/0246882 A1), and further in view of Oswald et al. (US 2008/0204322 A1). Regarding claim 9, which is dependent on independent claim 1, Nguyen et al. (‘882) discloses the method of claim 1. Nguyen et al. (‘882) further discloses “the method further comprising: receiving a further signal at the further receiver of the UWB device, said further signal comprising a reflection of the transmitted pulse signal caused by the object of interest (paragraph 51: the radar module 306 can transmit a high-bandwidth pulse toward the target object 304…receive the signal reflected back from the target object 304, and compute the CIR, which is a signature of the target object 304 and the surrounding environment), determining a further first distance estimate by applying a peak-based analysis to the further received signal (paragraph 5: estimating a first distance between the mobile device and the target object based on an energy of the CIR; paragraph 49: to obtain the energy-based distance estimate, the radar device calculates a range profile and frequency profile based on a channel impulse response (CIR)…when a dominant peak in the frequency profile is above a first threshold, the radar device estimates the energy-based distance based on the range profile; claim 1: obtaining a channel impulse response (CIR) based on multiple ultrawide band (UWB) measurements between a mobile device and a target object; estimating a first distance between the mobile device and the target object based on an energy of the CIR…estimating a second distance between the mobile device and the target object based on a phase of the CIR; and obtaining an estimated distance between the mobile device and the target object based on at least one of the first distance and the second distance + claim 4: estimating the first distance comprises: calculating a range profile and frequency profile based on the CIR; and when a dominant peak in the frequency profile is above a first threshold, estimating the first distance based on the range profile: Claims 8+1), determining a further first confidence value associated with the further first distance estimate (claim 1: obtaining a channel impulse response (CIR) based on multiple ultrawide band (UWB) measurements between a mobile device and a target object; estimating a first distance between the mobile device and the target object based on an energy of the CIR…estimating a second distance between the mobile device and the target object based on a phase of the CIR; and obtaining an estimated distance between the mobile device and the target object based on at least one of the first distance and the second distance+ claim 6: estimating a first figure of merit (FOM) associated with the first distance, the first FOM indicating a reliability of the estimation of the first distance; estimating a second FOM associated with the second distance, the second FOM indicating a reliability of the estimation of the second distance; and obtaining a reliability of the estimated distance between the mobile device and the target object based on at least one of the first FOM and the second FOM, claims 8+13), determining a further second distance estimate by applying a phase-based analysis to the further received signal (paragraph 5: estimating a second distance between the mobile device and the target object based on a phase of the CIR; paragraph 49: to obtain the phase-based distance estimate, the radar device obtains the following: (1) a clutter-removed CIR from the CIR using a high-pass filter; (2) a phase difference using range bins in the clutter-removed CIR that are closest to a previously estimated distance value; and (3) a relative distance change based on the phase difference…the radar device can estimate the phase-based distance based on the relative distance change and the previously estimated distance value; claim 1: obtaining a channel impulse response (CIR) based on multiple ultrawide band (UWB) measurements between a mobile device and a target object; estimating a first distance between the mobile device and the target object based on an energy of the CIR; estimating a second distance between the mobile device and the target object based on a phase of the CIR; and obtaining an estimated distance between the mobile device and the target object based on at least one of the first distance and the second distance+ claim 5: estimating the second distance comprises: obtaining a clutter-removed CIR from the CIR using a high-pass filter; obtaining a phase difference using range bins in the clutter-removed CIR that are closest to a previously estimated distance value; obtaining a relative distance change based on the phase difference; and estimating the second distance based on the relative distance change and the previously estimated distance value; claims 8+12), and determining a further second confidence value associated with the further second distance estimate (claim 1: obtaining a channel impulse response (CIR) based on multiple ultrawide band (UWB) measurements between a mobile device and a target object; estimating a first distance between the mobile device and the target object based on an energy of the CIR…estimating a second distance between the mobile device and the target object based on a phase of the CIR; and obtaining an estimated distance between the mobile device and the target object based on at least one of the first distance and the second distance+ claim 6: estimating a first figure of merit (FOM) associated with the first distance, the first FOM indicating a reliability of the estimation of the first distance; estimating a second FOM associated with the second distance, the second FOM indicating a reliability of the estimation of the second distance; and obtaining a reliability of the estimated distance between the mobile device and the target object based on at least one of the first FOM and the second FOM: ; claims 8+12), wherein determining the distance between the UWB device and the object of interest is further based on the further first distance estimate, the further first confidence value, the further second distance estimate, and the further second confidence value (claim 1: obtaining a channel impulse response (CIR) based on multiple ultrawide band (UWB) measurements between a mobile device and a target object; estimating a first distance between the mobile device and the target object based on an energy of the CIR; estimating a second distance between the mobile device and the target object based on a phase of the CIR; and obtaining an estimated distance between the mobile device and the target object based on at least one of the first distance and the second distance+ Claim 2: obtaining the estimated distance between the mobile device and the target object comprises: calculating the estimated distance as an average of the first distance and the second distance + claim 6: estimating a first figure of merit (FOM) associated with the first distance, the first FOM indicating a reliability of the estimation of the first distance; estimating a second FOM associated with the second distance, the second FOM indicating a reliability of the estimation of the second distance; and obtaining a reliability of the estimated distance between the mobile device and the target object based on at least one of the first FOM and the second FOM,; claims 8+9+13).” Nguyen et al. (‘882) does not explicitly disclose “the USB device comprises a further receiver.” Oswald et al. (‘322) relates to apparatus for determining positional information. Oswald et al. (‘322) teaches “the USB device comprises a further receiver (Figure 1: receiving unit 200; receiving unit 202).” It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill-in-the-art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the method of Nguyen et al. (‘882) with the teaching of Oswald et al. (‘322) for more precise target range detection (Oswald et al. (‘322) – paragraph 23). In addition, both of the prior art references, (Nguyen et al. (‘882) and Oswald et al. (‘322)) teach features that are directed to analogous art and they are directed to the same field of endeavor, such as, radar communication for object ranging. Regarding claim 18, which is dependent on independent claim 10, and which is a corresponding device claim of method claim 9, Nguyen et al. (‘882)/Oswald et al. (‘322) discloses all the claimed invention as shown above for claim 9. Regarding independent claim 19, Nguyen et al. (‘882) discloses “a UWB device for determining a distance to an object of interest (Figure 3: radar device 302 and UWB radar 306, target object 304; paragraph 2: a system and method for distance measurement in close range using ultra-wideband (UWB) radar), the device comprising: a transmitter configured to transmit a pulse signal (paragraph 51: the radar module 306 can transmit a high-bandwidth pulse toward the target object 304), each of the plurality of receivers being configured to receive a signal, said signal comprising a reflection of the transmitted pulse signal caused by the object of interest (paragraph 51: receive the signal reflected back from the target object 304, and compute the CIR, which is a signature of the target object 304 and the surrounding environment), and processing circuitry configured to: determine a first distance estimate for each receiver of the plurality of receivers by applying a peak-based analysis to the received signal of the respective receiver (paragraph 5: estimating a first distance between the mobile device and the target object based on an energy of the CIR; paragraph 49: to obtain the energy-based distance estimate, the radar device calculates a range profile and frequency profile based on a channel impulse response (CIR) …when a dominant peak in the frequency profile is above a first threshold, the radar device estimates the energy-based distance based on the range profile; claim 1: obtaining a channel impulse response (CIR) based on multiple ultrawide band (UWB) measurements between a mobile device and a target object; estimating a first distance between the mobile device and the target object based on an energy of the CIR…estimating a second distance between the mobile device and the target object based on a phase of the CIR; and obtaining an estimated distance between the mobile device and the target object based on at least one of the first distance and the second distance + claim 4: estimating the first distance comprises: calculating a range profile and frequency profile based on the CIR; and when a dominant peak in the frequency profile is above a first threshold, estimating the first distance based on the range profile: Claims 8+1), determine a first confidence value associated with the first distance estimate of each receiver (claim 1: obtaining a channel impulse response (CIR) based on multiple ultrawide band (UWB) measurements between a mobile device and a target object; estimating a first distance between the mobile device and the target object based on an energy of the CIR…estimating a second distance between the mobile device and the target object based on a phase of the CIR; and obtaining an estimated distance between the mobile device and the target object based on at least one of the first distance and the second distance+ claim 6: estimating a first figure of merit (FOM) associated with the first distance, the first FOM indicating a reliability of the estimation of the first distance; estimating a second FOM associated with the second distance, the second FOM indicating a reliability of the estimation of the second distance; and obtaining a reliability of the estimated distance between the mobile device and the target object based on at least one of the first FOM and the second FOM, claims 8+13), determine a second distance estimate for each receiver of the plurality of receivers by applying a phase-based analysis to the received signal of the respective receiver (paragraph 5: estimating a second distance between the mobile device and the target object based on a phase of the CIR; paragraph 49: to obtain the phase-based distance estimate, the radar device obtains the following: (1) a clutter-removed CIR from the CIR using a high-pass filter; (2) a phase difference using range bins in the clutter-removed CIR that are closest to a previously estimated distance value; and (3) a relative distance change based on the phase difference…the radar device can estimate the phase-based distance based on the relative distance change and the previously estimated distance value; claim 1: obtaining a channel impulse response (CIR) based on multiple ultrawide band (UWB) measurements between a mobile device and a target object; estimating a first distance between the mobile device and the target object based on an energy of the CIR; estimating a second distance between the mobile device and the target object based on a phase of the CIR; and obtaining an estimated distance between the mobile device and the target object based on at least one of the first distance and the second distance+ claim 5: estimating the second distance comprises: obtaining a clutter-removed CIR from the CIR using a high-pass filter; obtaining a phase difference using range bins in the clutter-removed CIR that are closest to a previously estimated distance value; obtaining a relative distance change based on the phase difference; and estimating the second distance based on the relative distance change and the previously estimated distance value; claims 8+12), determine a second confidence value associated with the second distance estimate of each receiver (claim 1: obtaining a channel impulse response (CIR) based on multiple ultrawide band (UWB) measurements between a mobile device and a target object; estimating a first distance between the mobile device and the target object based on an energy of the CIR…estimating a second distance between the mobile device and the target object based on a phase of the CIR; and obtaining an estimated distance between the mobile device and the target object based on at least one of the first distance and the second distance+ claim 6: estimating a first figure of merit (FOM) associated with the first distance, the first FOM indicating a reliability of the estimation of the first distance; estimating a second FOM associated with the second distance, the second FOM indicating a reliability of the estimation of the second distance; and obtaining a reliability of the estimated distance between the mobile device and the target object based on at least one of the first FOM and the second FOM; claims 8+12), and determine the distance to the object of interest based on the first distance estimates, the first confidence values, the second distance estimates, and the second confidence values (claim 1: obtaining a channel impulse response (CIR) based on multiple ultrawide band (UWB) measurements between a mobile device and a target object; estimating a first distance between the mobile device and the target object based on an energy of the CIR; estimating a second distance between the mobile device and the target object based on a phase of the CIR; and obtaining an estimated distance between the mobile device and the target object based on at least one of the first distance and the second distance+ Claim 2: obtaining the estimated distance between the mobile device and the target object comprises: calculating the estimated distance as an average of the first distance and the second distance + claim 6: estimating a first figure of merit (FOM) associated with the first distance, the first FOM indicating a reliability of the estimation of the first distance; estimating a second FOM associated with the second distance, the second FOM indicating a reliability of the estimation of the second distance; and obtaining a reliability of the estimated distance between the mobile device and the target object based on at least one of the first FOM and the second FOM; claims 8+9+13).” Nguyen et al. (‘882) does not explicitly disclose “a plurality of receivers.” Oswald et al. (‘322) relates to apparatus for determining positional information. Oswald et al. (‘322) teaches “a plurality of receivers (Figure 1: receiving unit 200; receiving unit 202).” It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill-in-the-art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the method of Nguyen et al. (‘882) with the teaching of Oswald et al. (‘322) for more precise target range detection (Oswald et al. (‘322) – paragraph 23). In addition, both of the prior art references, (Nguyen et al. (‘882) and Oswald et al. (‘322)) teach features that are directed to analogous art and they are directed to the same field of endeavor, such as, radar communication for object ranging. Regarding claim 20, which is dependent on independent claim 19, Nguyen et al. (‘882)/Oswald et al. (‘322) discloses the device of claim 19. Nguyen et al. (‘882) further discloses “the processing circuitry is configured to determine the distance to the object of interest as a weighted average of the first and second distance estimates (claim 2: obtaining the estimated distance between the mobile device and the target object comprises: calculating the estimated distance as an average of the first distance and the second distance; claim 9).” 2 Allowable Subject Matter Claim 4 is 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. Allowable subject matter: “the first weighting factor is calculated by dividing the first confidence value with the sum of the first and second confidence values, and wherein the second weighting factor is calculated by dividing the second confidence value with the sum of the first and second confidence values.” Claim 14 is 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. Allowable subject matter: “the processing circuitry is configured to calculate the first weighting factor by dividing the first confidence value with the sum of the first and second confidence values, and wherein the processing circuitry is configured to calculate the second weighting factor by dividing the second confidence value with the sum of the first and second confidence values.” Citation of Pertinent Prior Art The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Hertzog et al. (US 2010/0225541 A1) describes provides a position estimation system and method by a wireless communication network (paragraph 4); a network as disclosed herein, often includes transmitter and receiver nodes distributed randomly within a predetermined area depending upon the ranging capabilities of the utilized wireless communication frequency bands, e.g., IEEE, Ultra-Wideband, etc. … transmitters in the present invention have known positions via, for example, satellites or other methods known in the art, while receivers have unknown positions…transmitters can determine receiver(s) position through time-of-flight ranging and information sharing (paragraph 32); as a beneficial wireless communication embodiment, system 100, as shown in FIG. 1, can include Ultra-Wideband (UWB) communication interfaces…in UWB communication systems, pulses are often transmitted as a sequence of impulses; wherein there is no carrier frequency…there is no specific frequency associated with this technique; rather, its frequency spectrum is related by, for example, the Fourier transform of the pulse and can generally span hundreds of megahertz to several gigahertz. It is inherently spread spectrum…such a technique spreads the signal so that it overlays any other signals in its bandwidth…tthe key to utilizing such a technique is its very low power level, which makes it appear as noise to most other narrowband or spread-spectrum equipment (paragraph 35). Kishigami (US 2017/0299711 A1) describes relates to a radar device and a position-determination method that detect a relative speed between a radar and a target by detecting a Doppler frequency (paragraph 1); he techniques disclosed in the present disclosure feature a radar device directed to a radar device mounted on a moving object. The radar devices includes: a radar transmitter, which in operation, repeatedly transmits a corrected radar transmission signal in each radar transmission interval Tr, the corrected radar transmission signal including pulse compression codes and having a corrected Doppler frequency component based on a movement speed of the moving object; a radar receiver, which in operation, includes one or more reception branches, each receiving a reflection wave signal resulting from reflection of the corrected radar transmission signal by a target; and a doppler correction phase-rotation controller, which in operation, determines a Doppler correction phase-rotation amount for correcting the Doppler frequency component, based on the movement speed of the moving object. The radar transmitter includes: a radar-transmission-signal generator, which in operation, generates a radar transmission signal; and a phase rotator, which in operation, corrects the radar transmission signal for each radar transmission interval Tr, based on the Doppler correction phase-rotation amount, and that outputs the corrected radar transmission signal. The radar receiver includes a position-determination result outputted, which in operation, calculates a position-determination result of the target by using a result of Doppler-frequency analysis on the reflection wave signal received by the one or more reception branches and the Doppler correction phase-rotation amount (paragraph 9). Contact Information Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to NUZHAT PERVIN whose telephone number is (571)272-9795. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:00AM-5:00PM. 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. /NUZHAT PERVIN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3648 1 whereby the applied weight is 1:1. 2 whereby the applied weight is 1:1.