Ex Parte Hoult

Patent Trial and Appeal Board

Jul 14, 2017

11738006 (P.T.A.B. Jul. 14, 2017)

United States Patent and Trademark Office
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
United States Patent and Trademark Office
Address: COMMISSIONER FOR PATENTS
P.O.Box 1450
Alexandria, Virginia 22313-1450
www.uspto.gov
APPLICATION NO. FILING DATE FIRST NAMED INVENTOR ATTORNEY DOCKET NO. CONFIRMATION NO.
11/738,006 04/20/2007 NIGEL SHERIDEN HOULT ETF0095US 6669
23413 7590 07/18/2017
TANTOR TOT RTTRN T T P
EXAMINER
20 Church Street MUSTAFA, IMRAN K
22nd Floor
Hartford, CT 06103 ART UNIT PAPER NUMBER
3663
NOTIFICATION DATE DELIVERY MODE
07/18/2017 ELECTRONIC
Please find below and/or attached an Office communication concerning this application or proceeding.
The time period for reply, if any, is set in the attached communication.
Notice of the Office communication was sent electronically on above-indicated "Notification Date" to the
following e-mail address(es):
usptopatentmail@cantorcolbum.com
PTOL-90A (Rev. 04/07)
UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD
Ex parte NIGEL SHERIDEN HOULT
Appeal 2016-004800
Application 11/738,0061
Technology Center 3600
Before BRUCE R. WINSOR, KARA L. SZPONDOWSKI, and
DAVID J. CUTITTA II, Administrative Patent Judges.
WINSOR, Administrative Patent Judge.
DECISION ON APPEAL
Appellant appeals under 35 U.S.C. § 134(a) from the final rejection of
claims 1, 2, 6, 7, 17, and 19-25, which constitute all the claims pending in
this application. We have jurisdiction under 35 U.S.C. § 6(b). Claims 3-5,
8-16, and 18 are cancelled. App. Br. (Claims App’x) 10-12.
We affirm and designate a new ground of rejection within the
provisions of 37 C.F.R. § 41.50(b).
1 The real party in interest identified by Appellant is the European Union,
Represented by The European Commission. App. Br. 1.
Appeal 2016-004800
Application 11/738,006
RELATED PROCEEDINGS
Appellant identifies co-pending application 12/559,874 as a divisional
application of the present application. App. Br. 2. Application 12/559,874
is the subject of Appeal 2016-004731, decided concurrently herewith.
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Appellant’s disclosed invention relates to “signal modulation, in
particular with regard to satellite navigation systems” (Spec. ^ 1), and more
particularly to “producing a spread-spectrum signal and . . . receiving such a
spread-spectrum signal, in particular with regard to satellite navigation
systems” {id.). Claims 1 and 7, which are illustrative, read as follows:
1. In a navigation system, a method of generating a
spread-spectrum signal, comprising the steps:
providing a carrier wave and a modulation waveform,
wherein said modulation waveform includes a pilot
signal and a data signal,
wherein said pilot signal comprises an anti-phase linear
combination of a BOC(l,l) waveform and a BOC(6,l)
waveform having a common pseudo-random noise code with
chips at a chip rate of 1.023 Mcps,
wherein said BOC(l,l) waveform and said BOC(6,l)
waveform of said anti-phase linear combination are of opposite
polarity at a beginning of each chip,
wherein said data signal comprises an in-phase linear
combination of a BOC(l,l), waveform and a BOC(6,l)
waveform having a common pseudo-random noise code with
chips at said chip rate,
wherein said BOC(l,l) waveform and said BOC(6, 1)
waveform of said in-phase linear combination are of same
polarity at a beginning of each chip, said anti-phase linear
2
Appeal 2016-004800
Application 11/738,006
combination being expressible as a-BOC(l,l)-p-BOC(6,l) and
said in-phase linear combination being expressible as
a-BOC(l,l)+p-BOC(6,l),
wherein a and [3 are non-zero coefficients indicating the
relative power split between said BOC(l,l) waveform and said
BOC(6,l) waveform,
wherein a and [3 are of same sign, said anti-phase linear
combination exhibiting a broader spectral peak at 6MHz from a
center frequency of said carrier wave than said in-phase linear
combination; and
modulating said carrier wave with said modulation
waveform.
7. At least one of a satellite and a pseudolite[2] to
broadcast a spread-spectrum signal including a carrier wave and
a modulation waveform, by which said carrier wave is
modulated and a receiver to receive the broadcast;
wherein said modulation waveform includes a pilot
signal and a data signal,
wherein said pilot signal comprises an antiphase linear
combination of a BOC(l, 1) waveform and a BOC(6,l)
waveform having a common pseudo-random noise code with
chips at a chip rate of 1.023 Mcps,
wherein said BOC(l,l) waveform and said BOC(6,l)
waveform of said anti-phase linear combination are of opposite
polarity at a beginning of each chip
wherein said data signal comprises an in-phase linear
combination of a BOC(l,l) waveform and a BOC (6,1)
2 “Pseudolite is a contraction of the term ‘pseudo-satellite,’ used to refer to
something that is not a satellite which performs a function commonly in the
domain of satellites. Pseudolites are most often small transceivers that are
used to create a local, ground-based Global Positioning System (GPS)
alternative.” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudolite (edited
Aug. 3, 2016, accessed July 10, 2017).
3
Appeal 2016-004800
Application 11/738,006
waveform having a common pseudo-random noise code with
chips at said chip rate,
wherein said BOC(l,l) waveform and said BOC(6,l)
waveform of said in-phase linear combination are of same
polarity at a beginning of each chip, said anti-phase linear
combination being expressible as a-BOC(l,l)-p-BOC(6,l) and
said in-phase linear combination being expressible as