Obviousness

Under 35 U.S.C. § 103, a patent claim is obvious 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."

The present invention, US Patent 9485621, focuses on a method and system for monitoring a mobile station's presence in a special area, particularly emphasizing flexibility and avoiding modifications to radio transmitting devices.

Claimed Invention (Claim 1 of US9485621):

Claim 1 describes a method for monitoring a mobile station's presence in a special area, comprising steps where a radio communication defining device transmits a distinctive defining signal, the mobile station processes this signal to determine if it's distinctive, sends an updating signal to a mobile telephone network, and special operating means adapt an operating parameter.

The distinguishing characteristic (the "characterized in that" clause) is that "the special area is associated to the mobile station by transmitting to the mobile station a checking data, this checking data being used by the mobile station for determining whether or not the defining signal received is a distinctive defining signal that defines, alone or with other distinctive defining signals, the special area associated to the mobile station and the same checking data being sent to any mobile station whose presence in this special area is monitored."

The patent itself states the objective: "to provide a method for monitoring the presence of a mobile station in at least one special area, said method providing the flexibility to the mobile telephone network of associating new special areas for this mobile station in a secure way without modifying any radio transmitting device."

Prior Art References and their Limitations (as described in US9485621):

The "Background Art" section of US9485621 discusses two relevant prior art documents:

1. US20020094801: This document describes a fixed station sending an encoded signal to define a special area, with the fixed station and mobile station linked via the signal code. For abuse protection, it suggests providing the fixed station with receiving and comparison means for an access code applied by the mobile station to put the fixed station into operation. However, this document does not elaborate on the content of the coded signal.
2. WO 00/27152: This application discloses a "guide unit" that broadcasts a short-range radio signal defining a "home area." This signal contains the identity code of the mobile station, and the mobile station identifies its own identity code to notify a mobile switching center of its location, which can then be used for price/service definition.
   The patent specifically highlights the limitations of WO 00/27152: "the guide unit has to know the identity of the mobile station" and it "does not allow the mobile network, to add for a mobile station one or more special areas... without having to at least modify one or more guide units broadcasting in such areas." It concludes that this solution "lacks therefore of flexibility" and would be "difficult or even impossible" for environments with many mobile stations due to the radio spectrum limitations for transmitting all mobile station identity codes from a single device.

Obviousness Analysis based on WO 00/27152:

A person having ordinary skill in the art (PHOSITA) would have been motivated to combine the teachings of WO 00/27152 with a common understanding of addressing system flexibility and scalability issues.

1. Elements of Claim 1 present in WO 00/27152:

   • a. Radio communication defining device transmits distinctive defining signal: WO 00/27152 describes a "guide unit that broadcasts a short range radio signal which defines a home area."
   • b. & c. Mobile station observes and processes signal to determine if it's distinctive: WO 00/27152 states the mobile station "has to identify its own identity code" within the signal, implying observation and processing to recognize its presence in the home area.
   • d. Mobile station sends an updating signal to a mobile telephone network: The mobile station "transmits then a home message to the mobile network."
   • e. Mobile telephone network routes updating signal to special operating means that adapt an operating parameter: The home message is "possibly used notably for defining the price/service connected to telephone calls," which corresponds to adapting operating parameters.

2. Motivation to combine and achieve the "characterized in that" clause:
   The explicit problem identified by US9485621 with WO 00/27152 is its "lack of flexibility" because "the guide unit has to know the identity of the mobile station" and must be modified to add new special areas. Furthermore, for environments with many mobile stations, storing and transmitting all mobile station identity codes from a single radio communication defining device is deemed "difficult or even impossible" due to limited radio spectrum.

   A PHOSITA, confronted with these clear limitations, would be motivated to seek a solution that increases flexibility and scalability by offloading the mobile station-specific identification burden from the radio communication defining device (the "guide unit"). A logical design choice to address this would be to:

   • Shift the responsibility for knowing which special areas apply to a mobile station to the mobile station itself (or the network, which then provisions the mobile station).
   • Instead of the guide unit transmitting mobile station identity codes, it could transmit a general identifier for the special area.
   • The mobile station would then need to be pre-configured with or receive the information (the "checking data") necessary to recognize this general area identifier as distinctive for itself.

   Therefore, transmitting "checking data" to the mobile station for its use in determining if a received signal is distinctive, and sending the same checking data to any mobile station monitoring that special area (implying a general area identifier rather than an MS-specific one in the broadcast signal), directly resolves the specific problems of inflexibility and scalability identified in WO 00/27152. This re-architecture, shifting intelligence and data storage to the mobile station to avoid modifying the radio transmitting device for each new mobile station or special area, would have been an obvious design choice for a PHOSITA motivated to overcome the known deficiencies of WO 00/27152.

Conclusion:

Claim 1 of US9485621 would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art given the prior art of WO 00/27152. The patent itself articulates the precise problem (lack of flexibility, need to modify guide units, scalability issues) that the claimed invention resolves by transferring the identification data ("checking data") to the mobile station for comparison, rather than requiring the guide unit to maintain and broadcast mobile-specific identity codes. This motivation to improve upon the known shortcomings of WO 00/27152 would lead a PHOSITA directly to the claimed solution.