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 .
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.
The term “higher”, referring to “performance” in claim 9 is a relative term which renders the claim indefinite. The meaning of higher performance is not defined by the claim, the specification does not provide a standard for ascertaining the requisite degree, and one of ordinary skill in the art would not be reasonably apprised of the scope of the invention. The specification is found to largely mirror the language of the claim, establishing generically that the first and second antenna may have different “performances” and that of the first may be “higher” than the second. The limitation imposed by the requirement that one antenna have a higher performance than the other is indefinite. It is not clear what is meant by antenna “performance” in this context or what one would consider “higher performance” of one antenna as compared to another, as the specification provides no standard for interpretation.
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.
Claim(s) 1, 5, and 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Hwang (US 2017/0102463).
Regarding claim 1, Hwang discloses a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) signal sharing system for a vehicle (Fig. 1), the GNSS signal sharing system comprising:
a GNSS antenna (110) provided in the vehicle, wherein the GNSS antenna is configured to receive a GNSS signal ([0028]);
a distributor (120) configured to i) receive the GNSS signal from the GNSS antenna and ii) branch the GNSS signal; and
a plurality of GNSS receivers (133, 141) configured to receive the GNSS signal branched by the distributor;
wherein the GNSS antenna, the distributor, and a first GNSS receiver (133) among the plurality of GNSS receivers, are included in an emergency call device (100), and
a second GNSS receiver (141) among the plurality of GNSS receivers, is included in a device configured to use the GNSS signal (140), wherein the device configured to use the GNSS signal is provided in the vehicle (Abstract).
Regarding claim 5, Hwang discloses the device configured to use the GNSS signal includes a navigation device ([0027]).
Regarding claim 7, as Hwang discloses at [0029], “The GNSS signal distribution unit 120 transmits the GNSS signal received from the GNSS signal receiving unit 110 to the emergency call system 130 and the navigation system 140”, it is implicit that “a strength” of “the signal” to each system is equal.
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) 2-4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hwang as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Shino et al. (US 2021/0217304).
Regarding claims 2-4, Hwang does not specify that the device configured to use the GNSS signal (i.e. navigation system) includes an autonomous driving control device configured to generate vehicle location and map information around the vehicle and transmit the location and map information to a navigation device. Shino discloses a related GNSS based vehicle navigation system including an autonomous driving control device (Fig 1, 4) configured to generate vehicle location and map information around the vehicle and transmit the location and map information to a navigation device (6; [0050]). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art with a reasonable expectation of success to modify the system of Hwang to include autonomous driving control and mapping as taught by Shino for the conventional advantages of reducing driver operational effort ([0045]) while maintaining location awareness ([0050]).
Claim(s) 6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hwang as applied to claim 5 above, and further in view of Shino et al. (US 2021/0217304).
Hwang discloses the navigation device is configured to generate location information of the vehicle ([0040]) but does not disclose transmitting the information to an autonomous driving control device. Shino discloses a related GNSS based vehicle navigation system including an autonomous driving control device (Fig 1, 4). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art with a reasonable expectation of success to modify the system of Hwang to include an autonomous driving control device as taught by Shino and to provide the location information to the device for the conventional advantages of reducing driver operational effort ([0045]).
Claim(s) 8 and 9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hwang (US2017/0146661), hereinafter “Huang ‘661”, in view of the admitted prior art as indicated in the instant disclosure and Hwang (US 2017/0102463), hereinafter “Hwang ‘463”).
Regarding claim 8, Hwang ‘661 discloses a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) signal sharing system for a vehicle (Fig. 1), the GNSS signal sharing system comprising:
a plurality of antennas provided in the vehicle, wherein the plurality of antennas are configured to receive GNSS signals ([0041], [0054]);
and
a plurality of GNSS receivers configured to receive the GNSS signals (111, 211)
a second GNSS receiver among the plurality of GNSS receivers, is included in a navigation device (200), and
a second antenna among the plurality of antennas, is included in an emergency call device (100).
Hwang does not disclose autonomous driving capability and therefore does not disclose a first GNSS receiver among the plurality of GNSS receivers is included in an autonomous driving control device. However, the admitted prior art (Figure 4 labeled ‘prior art’; paragraph [0008]) shows a similar GNSS system for vehicle navigation having an autonomous driving controller in addition to an emergency call device and navigation receiver, demonstrating that it was known at the time the application was filed to include all three.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art with a reasonable expectation of success to modify Hwang ‘661 to add an autonomous driving control device and associated GNSS receiver among the plurality of GNSS receivers as is shown and described in the admitted prior art for the conventional advantages of reducing driver operational effort.
Hwang ‘661 does not disclose a distributor configured to i) receive a GNSS signal from a first antenna among the plurality of antennas and ii) branch the GNSS signal, where a plurality of the GNSS receivers are configured to receive the GNSS signals branched by the distributor.
Hwang ‘463 discloses a similar GNSS system for a vehicle navigation (Figure 1) including a distributor (120) configured to i) receive a GNSS signal from an antenna and ii) branch the GNSS signal to GNSS receivers ([0029]). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to further modify Hwang ‘661 with a reasonable expectation of success to include a distributor to receive and branch a GNSS signal to the GNSS receivers in the navigation device and autonomous driving controller as taught by Hwang ‘463 in order to reduce the number of antennas required through sharing. As the “autonomous driving control device” claimed has no particular limit as to scope apart from the indicated function, the antenna shared with the navigation device and the distributor of Hwang ‘611 as modified in view of the admitted prior art and Hwang ‘463 are viewed as “included” in such autonomous driving control device.
Regarding claim 9, while the scope is indefinite, the first antenna of Hwang ‘463 as modified above at least in some respects has “higher” performance than performance of the second antenna of the emergency call device, as the latter relies upon battery which is subject to discharge (Hwang ‘463 [0005]).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
US 6,919,841 discloses a navigation GPS antenna is shared between a navigation GPS receiver and an assisted GPS receiver via a coupler.
2018/0341024 discusses a conventional system where a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) antenna is shared between two GNSS receivers, a radio frequency (RF) splitter is connected between the two GNSS receivers for splitting the received GNSS signal into two GNSS signals, which are fed to each of two GNSS receivers.
7,859,457 discloses an antenna device for use in a vehicle having a GPS antenna element that can be shared by a navigation apparatus and a communication device without deteriorating a GPS signal distributed for each of the sharing devices.
This Office action has an attached requirement for information under 37 CFR 1.105. A complete reply to this Office action must include a complete reply to the attached requirement for information. The time period for reply to the attached requirement coincides with the time period for reply to this Office action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Matthew M Barker whose telephone number is (571)272-3103. The examiner can normally be reached on a part time schedule, typically M-Fri 8:00 AM-4:30 PM Eastern Time, but having off alternating Monday-Tuesdays and Fridays.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Jack Keith can be reached at 571-273-6878. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MATTHEW M BARKER/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3646
REQUIREMENT FOR INFORMATION
Applicant and the assignee of this application are required under 37 CFR 1.105 to provide the following information that the examiner has determined is reasonably necessary to the examination of this application. Examples of highly relevant prior art having a common assignee with the instant application are identified and cited herein (Hwang references). No IDS is present. With the following inquiries, applicant and assignee are invited to provide citations of additional prior art which is known and material to patentability.
In response to this requirement, please provide the title, citation and copy of each publication that is a source used for the description of the prior art in the disclosure. For each publication, please provide a concise explanation of that publication’s contribution to the description of the prior art.
In response to this requirement, please provide copies of each publication which any of the inventors authored or co-authored and which describe the disclosed subject matter of multiple GNSS receivers for a vehicle.
In response to this requirement, please provide the title, citation and copy of each publication that any of the applicants relied upon to draft the claimed subject matter. For each publication, please provide a concise explanation of the reliance placed on that publication in distinguishing the claimed subject matter from the prior art.
In responding to those requirements that require copies of documents, where the document is a bound text or a single article over 50 pages, the requirement may be met by providing copies of those pages that provide the particular subject matter indicated in the requirement, or where such subject matter is not indicated, the subject matter found in applicant’s disclosure.
The timing fee and certification requirements of 37 CFR 1.97 are waived for those documents submitted in reply to the requirement. This waiver extends only to those documents within the scope of this requirement under 37 CFR 1.105 that are included in the applicant’s first complete communication responding to this requirement. Any supplemental replies subsequent to the first communication responding to this requirement and any information disclosures beyond the scope of this requirement under 37 CFR 1.105 are subject to the fee and certification requirements of 37 CFR 1.97 where appropriate.
The applicant is reminded that the reply to this requirement must be made with candor and good faith under 37 CFR 1.56. Where the applicant does not have or cannot readily obtain an item of required information, a statement that the item is unknown or cannot be readily obtained may be accepted as a complete reply to the requirement for that item.
This requirement is an attachment of the enclosed Office action. A complete reply to the enclosed Office action must include a complete reply to this requirement. The time period for reply to this requirement coincides with the time period for reply to the enclosed Office action.
/MATTHEW M BARKER/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3646
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