DETAILED ACTION
This Non-Final Office Action is in response to application number 18/184,464 filed on March 15th 2023. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Information Disclosure Statements
The Information Disclosure Statement (IDS), submitted on September 19th 2024 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement has been considered by the examiner.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim 1 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 02/18/2026 has been entered.
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 may not be obtained though the invention is not identically disclosed or described as set forth in section 102 of this title, if the differences between the subject matter sought to be patented and the prior art are such that the subject matter as a whole would have been obvious at the time the invention was made to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which said subject matter pertains. Patentability shall not be negatived by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims1,3,5-8,16,18,20,22-25 and 29-31 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Okvist et al. (US 20210218466 A1) in view of Gummuluri et al. (US 10070370 B1).
Regarding claim 1,18,29 and 30, Okvist et al. disclose a user equipment (UE) for wireless communication (US 20210218466 A1 Paragraph 0049 discloses “…a wireless device 150, the WD residing in an aircraft 160, wherein an ABB 155 is arranged at the aircraft 160 and provides radio coverage to the WD 150.”) , comprising: a memory; and one or more processors, coupled to the memory, configured to: receive, from one or more data sources of the UE, sensor data or other data associated with identifying a characteristic associated with a mobility scenario (US 20210218466 A1 Paragraph 0050 discloses “ receiving 302 altitude information indicating at least one of the present altitude of the aircraft 160 and an altitude rate of change of the aircraft 160, from the ABB 155.”, and paragraph 0045 discloses “… providing the altitude information to the WD. By providing the altitude information to the WD, the WD may make use of the altitude information when communicating with other base stations, such as base stations on the ground…”. Additionally paragraph 0031 discloses ABB as “The ABB155 may be an eNB, eNodeB, a home Node B, a Home eNode B, a gNode B, or any other network unit capable to serve a WD in the wireless communications system 100.”); perform at least a portion of a cell selection procedure based at least in part on the characteristic associated with the mobility scenario, including the one or more processors configured to perform the receive-only cell selection procedure (US 20210218466 A1 Paragraph 0053 discloses “…performing 308 measurements on base stations other than the ABB, when the altitude is below the predefined threshold. The base stations other than the ABB may be ground base stations of the ground communications network. … it becomes possible to plan ahead for future cell selection decisions.”).
Okvist et al. fail to explicitly disclose determine, based at least in part on the sensor data or the other data, whether to perform a receive-only cell selection procedure; and perform a remainder of the cell selection procedure based at least in part on performing the at least the portion of the cell selection procedure
However in an analogous art Gummuluri et al. teaches determine, based at least in part on the sensor data or the other data, whether to perform a receive-only cell selection procedure (Paragraph 0042 discloses activation of the airplane mode “ In 325, the UE 110 initiates airplane mode where the application processor 210 of the UE 110 deactivates the baseband processor 205 of the UE 110. By initiating airplane mode and deactivating the baseband processor 205 of the UE 110, the UE 110 will no longer be camped on the network.” Paragraph 0037 discloses “ One exemplary embodiment the UE 110 may utilize for initial cell selection to determine if an alternative cell may provide service that exceeds the currently camped on cell may include storing the system information for a corresponding cell when the UE 110 is determining whether a cell is suitable for initial cell selection. The UE 110 may determine the system information by decoding SIBs or performing measurements. The UE 110 may store the system information for only the cells that were evaluated during the most recent initial cell selection process or the UE 110 may store the system information for cells that were evaluated over a plurality of initial cell selection processes.” and “However, the exemplary embodiments are not limited to these types of system information and the UE 110 may store any other type of system information that corresponds to initial cell selection. The UE 110 may use the stored system information of the respective cells to determine if any of the cells may provide service that exceeds the currently camped on cell and thus, the UE 110 may make this determination faster than if the UE 110 had to actively determine if any of the alternative cells may provide service that exceeds the currently camped on cell without using stored system information.”); and perform a remainder of the cell selection procedure based at least in part on performing the at least the portion of the cell selection procedure (Paragraph 0042 discloses deactivation of the airplane mode “Subsequently, the UE 110 deactivates airplane mode which activates the baseband processor 205. Coming out of airplane mode allows the UE 110 to perform cell selection and select the best available service based on information stored in the memory of the UE 110. It should be noted that the exemplary embodiments are not limited to airplane mode and may refer to any process of deactivating and activating the baseband processor 205 to perform cell selection. The use of airplane mode allows the UE 110 to initiate cell selection and camp on an alternative cell that the UE 110 had previously determined would provide service that exceeds the currently camped on cell. The UE 110 may prioritize the order of the alternative cells in which the UE 110 may attempt to camp on based on the information determined in 310.” Examiner Note: Receive only cell selection is demonstrated in the forementioned paragraph above as received and stored data is used to determine and identify the optimal cell).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified Okvist et al. to incorporate the teachings of Gummuluri et al., to determine, based at least in part on the sensor data or the other data, whether to perform a receive-only cell selection procedure; and perform a remainder of the cell selection procedure based at least in part on performing the at least the portion of the cell selection procedure, in order to optimize the cell selection process for latency.
Regarding claims 3 and 20, Okvist et al. disclose the UE of claim 1, wherein the sensor data includes information identifying a descent phase or a landing phase associated with an aircraft in which the UE is located (US 20210218466 A1 Paragraph 0045 discloses “By providing the altitude information to the WD, the WD may make use of the altitude information when communicating with other base stations, such as base stations on the ground when the aircraft is approaching ground level during landing, or when the aircraft is taking off.”).
Regarding claims 5 and 22, Okvist et al. disclose the UE of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors, to receive the sensor data, are configured to: receive the sensor data during an airplane mode of the UE (US 20210218466 A1 Paragraph 0048 discloses “the altitude information may be provided to the WD via a Wi-Fi-system on-board the aircraft, which may be useful when the WD is set to flight mode and has Wi-Fi enabled…”).
Regarding claims 6 and 23, Okvist et al. disclose the UE of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: predict that a cell selection is to occur within a threshold period of time based at least in part on the sensor data (US 20210218466 A1 Paragraph 0055 and FIG 6 Step 312 disclose “…the method may further comprise receiving instructions to predict 312 a future cell selection decision based on the measurements, in case of prior instructions to perform measurements and when the altitude information indicates an altitude rate of change.”); and wherein the one or more processors, to perform the at least the portion of the cell selection procedure, are configured to: perform the at least the portion of the cell selection procedure based at least in part on predicting that the cell selection is to occur (US 20210218466 A1 Paragraph 0051 discloses “ It may also comprise receiving instructions to perform measurements on signals from base stations other than the ABB when the altitude is below a predefined threshold and performing the measurements. It may further comprise receiving instructions regarding making a cell selection decision based on the measurements, such that the WD is instructed by the ABB to make a cell selection to a base station when the performed measurements are above a certain threshold, for example when the signal strength is above a predefined threshold.”).
Regarding claims 7 and 24, Okvist et al. disclose the UE of claim 6, wherein the one or more processors, to predict that the cell selection is to occur within the threshold period of time, are configured to predict that the cell selection is to occur is based at least in part on whether information identifying a UE location is available and a mapping of the UE location to an associated set of available cells (US 20210218466 A1 Paragraph 0051 discloses instructions to predict cell selection based on the availability of measurements as related to the altitude of the UE, “The step of receiving 304 instructions from the ABB on how to act may for example comprise receiving instructions to not perform measurements on any base stations other than the ABB when the altitude of the aircraft is above a predefined threshold. It may also comprise receiving instructions to perform measurements on signals from base stations other than the ABB when the altitude is below a predefined threshold and performing the measurements”).
Regarding claims 8 and 25 Okvist et al. disclose the UE of claim 1, wherein the sensor data includes information identifying a change of location of the UE (US 20210218466 A1 Paragraph 0050 discloses “…receiving 302 altitude information indicating at least one of the present altitude of the aircraft 160 and an altitude rate of change of the aircraft 160, from the ABB 155. Since the WD 150 resides in the aircraft 160, the altitude of the WD 150 will be the same as the altitude of the aircraft 160, and the same as the altitude of the ABB 155.”).
Regarding claim 16, Okvist et al. disclose the UE of claim 1, wherein the sensor data is from a plurality of sensors of the UE, (US 20210218466 A1 Paragraph 0094 discloses “ …sensors (not shown) may be deployed in or in association with communication devices…”), and the one or more data sources comprise the plurality of sensors (US 20210218466 A1 Paragraph 0050 discloses “ receiving 302 altitude information indicating at least one of the present altitude of the aircraft 160 and an altitude rate of change of the aircraft 160, from the ABB 155.”, and paragraph 0045 discloses “… providing the altitude information to the WD. By providing the altitude information to the WD, the WD may make use of the altitude information when communicating with other base stations, such as base stations on the ground…”. Additionally paragraph 0031 discloses ABB as “The ABB155 may be an eNB, eNodeB, a home Node B, a Home eNode B, a gNode B, or any other network unit capable to serve a WD in the wireless communications system 100.”).
Regarding claim 31, Okvist et al. disclose the UE of claim 1.
Okvist et al. fail to explicitly disclose wherein the one or more processors, to perform the receive-only cell selection procedure, are configured to: perform the receive-only cell selection procedure until radio resource configuration (RRC) camped on a cell. (Paragraph 0042 discloses activation of the airplane mode “ In 325, the UE 110 initiates airplane mode where the application processor 210 of the UE 110 deactivates the baseband processor 205 of the UE 110. By initiating airplane mode and deactivating the baseband processor 205 of the UE 110, the UE 110 will no longer be camped on the network.” Paragraph 0037 discloses “ One exemplary embodiment the UE 110 may utilize for initial cell selection to determine if an alternative cell may provide service that exceeds the currently camped on cell may include storing the system information for a corresponding cell when the UE 110 is determining whether a cell is suitable for initial cell selection. The UE 110 may determine the system information by decoding SIBs or performing measurements. The UE 110 may store the system information for only the cells that were evaluated during the most recent initial cell selection process or the UE 110 may store the system information for cells that were evaluated over a plurality of initial cell selection processes.” and “However, the exemplary embodiments are not limited to these types of system information and the UE 110 may store any other type of system information that corresponds to initial cell selection. The UE 110 may use the stored system information of the respective cells to determine if any of the cells may provide service that exceeds the currently camped on cell and thus, the UE 110 may make this determination faster than if the UE 110 had to actively determine if any of the alternative cells may provide service that exceeds the currently camped on cell without using stored system information.” Specification Paragraph 0074); (Paragraph 0042 discloses deactivation of the airplane mode “Subsequently, the UE 110 deactivates airplane mode which activates the baseband processor 205. Coming out of airplane mode allows the UE 110 to perform cell selection and select the best available service based on information stored in the memory of the UE 110. It should be noted that the exemplary embodiments are not limited to airplane mode and may refer to any process of deactivating and activating the baseband processor 205 to perform cell selection. The use of airplane mode allows the UE 110 to initiate cell selection and camp on an alternative cell that the UE 110 had previously determined would provide service that exceeds the currently camped on cell. The UE 110 may prioritize the order of the alternative cells in which the UE 110 may attempt to camp on based on the information determined in 310.” Specification Paragraph 0074).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified Okvist et al. to incorporate the teachings of Gummuluri et al., wherein the one or more processors, to perform the receive-only cell selection procedure, are configured to: perform the receive-only cell selection procedure until radio resource configuration (RRC) camped on a cell., in order to optimize the cell selection process for latency.
Claims 2,9,10,11, 12,15,19,26 and 28 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Okvist et al. (US 20210218466 A1) in view of Gummuluri et al. (US 10070370 B1) as applied to claim 1 above , and further in view of Nayak et al. (US 20200107291 A1).
Regarding claims 2 and 19, Okvist et al disclose the UE of claim 1.
Okvist et al. fail to explicitly disclose the one or more processors, to perform the at least the portion of the cell selection procedure, are configured to: perform a receive-based frequency or band search portion of the cell selection procedure.
However, in an analogous art, Nayak et al. teaches the one or more processors, to perform the at least the portion of the cell selection procedure, are configured to: perform a receive-based frequency or band search portion of the cell selection procedure (US 20200107291 A1 Paragraph 0055 discloses “…the system 200 selects the bands that the device 202 scans based on the initial location estimate 213 for the device 202”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified Okvist et al. to incorporate the teachings of Nayak et al., to perform a receive-based frequency or band search portion of the cell selection procedure, in order to optimize performance in terms of connectivity, battery life and user experience.
Regarding claims 9 and 26, Okvist et al. disclose the UE of claim 1.
Okvist et al. fail to explicitly disclose updating, based at least in part on performing the at least the portion of the cell selection procedure, at least one of a UE location or one or more parameters associated with the UE location.
However, in an analogous art, Nayak et al. teaches updating, based at least in part on performing the at least the portion of the cell selection procedure, at least one of a UE location or one or more parameters associated with the UE location (US 20200107291 A1 Paragraphs 50,51 and 55 disclose that “…the system 200 selects the bands that the device 202 scans based on the initial location estimate 213 for the device 202.”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified Okvist et al. to incorporate the teachings of Nayak et al., to perform at least the portion of the cell selection procedure, at least one of a UE location or one or more parameters associated with the UE location, in order to optimize performance in terms of connectivity, battery life and user experience.
Regarding claim 10, Okvist et al. disclose the UE of claim 9.
Okvist et al. fail to explicitly disclose wherein the one or more parameters include at least one of: a UE clock time zone, a communication satellite beam information, a magnetic compass declination, or a country level seed position for signal searching.
However, in an analogous art, Nayak et al. teaches wherein the one or more parameters include at least one of: a UE clock time zone, a communication satellite beam information, a magnetic compass declination, or a country level seed position for signal searching (US 20200107291 A1 Paragraph 0058 discloses “The cell-identifier data can indicate to the location engine 210, in some examples, that the device 202 is located in near a border between two regions (e.g., countries) having networks that operate in different frequency bands. The location engine 210 can use the cell-identifier data to predict that it is in a border area, and thus employ appropriate scanning protocols that combine neighbor MCC bands in the next out of coverage occurrence or occurrence of device power-on.”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified Okvist et al. to incorporate the teachings of Nayak et al., wherein the parameter includes a country level seed position for signal searching, in order to ensure the correct and accurate selection of signals near country border regions.
Regarding claims 11 and 28, Okvist et al. disclose the UE of claim 1.
Okvist et al. fail to explicitly disclose identifying a UE location or a set of candidate UE locations based at least in part on the sensor data; and wherein the one or more processors, to perform the at least the portion of the cell selection procedure, are configured to: perform the at least the portion of the cell selection procedure using a prioritized list of bands, the prioritized list of bands being based at least in part on the UE location or the set of UE locations.
However, in an analogous art, Nayak et al. teaches identifying a UE location or a set of candidate UE locations based at least in part on the sensor data (US 20200107291 A1 Paragraph 0051 discloses “The device 202 also includes one or more sensors 260 that provide data to a mobility engine 270. Based on processing data from the sensors 260 and/or other data, the engine 270 periodically generates a current location estimate 271 and/or an estimated mobility characteristic 272 for the device.”; and wherein the one or more processors, to perform the at least the portion of the cell selection procedure, are configured to: perform the at least the portion of the cell selection procedure using a prioritized list of bands, the prioritized list of bands being based at least in part on the UE location or the set of UE locations (US 20200107291 A1 Paragraph 0055 discloses “the system 200 selects the bands that the device 202 scans based on the initial location estimate 213 for the device 202. The initial location estimate 213 can indicate, for example, a geographic region (e.g., a country, city, metropolitan area, locality, or other region) in which the device 202 is estimated to be located.”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified Okvist et al. to incorporate the teachings of Nayak et al., to identify device location based on sensor data and to select specific bands that the device scans based on location, in order to optimize performance in terms of connectivity, battery life and user experience by minimizing latency associated with the procedure.
Regarding claim 12, Okvist et al. and Nayak et al. disclose the UE of claim 11, wherein the UE location or the set of candidate UE locations is based at least in part on at least one of: data associated with a Wi-Fi connection, a barometric pressure, a temperature, a travel duration, a travel distance, a departure location, or a heading (US 20210218466 A1 Paragraph 0048 discloses that “…the altitude information may be provided to the WD via a Wi-Fi-system on-board the aircraft…”).
Regarding claim 15, Okvist et al. and Nayak et al. disclose the UE of claim 11, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: predict the UE location based at least in part on flight data (US 20210218466 A1 Paragraph 0036 discloses “The method comprises obtaining 202 altitude information indicating at least one of a present altitude of the aircraft and an altitude rate of change of the aircraft.”).
Claims 4 and 21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Okvist et al. (US 20210218466 A1) in view of Gummuluri et al. (US 10070370 B1) as applied to claim 3 above, and further in view of Wilmering et al. (US 20210171221 A1).
Regarding claims 4 and 21, Okvist et al. disclose the UE of claim 3.
Okvist et al. fail to explicitly disclose wherein the sensor data includes information identifying: a set of pre-landing turns, a landing gear extension, a touchdown vibration, a cabin pressure value change, or a cabin pressure value.
However, in an analogous art, Wilmering et al. teaches wherein the sensor data includes information identifying: a set of pre-landing turns, a landing gear extension, a touchdown vibration, a cabin pressure value change, or a cabin pressure value (US 20210171221 A1 Paragraph 0043 discloses “…sensor data that is communicated via an aircraft data communications bus…”, where by “The data collected by the ACMS is used, for example, to perform cabin pressure and temperature monitoring,”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified Okvist et al. to incorporate the teachings of Wilmering et al., whereby the sensor data includes information identifying: a cabin pressure value change, or a cabin pressure value, in order optimize performance in terms of connectivity, battery life and user experience by minimizing latency of the cell selection procedure by identifying altitude of the device base on cabin pressure.
Claims 13 and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Okvist et al. (US 20210218466 A1) in view of Gummuluri et al. (US 10070370 B1) in view of Nayak et al. (US 20200107291 A1) as applied to claim 11 above, and further in view of Lee et al. (US 20160381218 A1). in view of Lee et al. (US 20160381218 A1).
Regarding claim 13, Okvist et al., Gummuluri et al. and Nayak et al. disclose the UE of claim 11.
Okvist et al.,Gummuluri et al. and Nayak et al. fail to explicitly disclose acquiring a set of satellites, wherein a threshold quantity of satellites is associated with a determination of the UE location, wherein a quantity of satellites in the acquired set of satellites is less than the threshold quantity; and predict the UE location using the acquired set of satellites.
However, in an analogous art, Lee et al. teaches acquiring a set of satellites, wherein a threshold quantity of satellites is associated with a determination of the UE location, wherein a quantity of satellites in the acquired set of satellites is less than the threshold quantity; and predict the UE location using the acquired set of satellites (US 20160381218 A1 Paragraph 0068 discloses “To assist resolution of altitude and reduce the minimum number of satellite paths that must be recovered to establish a position fix…”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified Okvist et al., Gummuluri et al. and Nayak et al. to incorporate the teachings of Lee et al., to acquire a set of satellites and predict the UE location using the acquired set of satellites, in order optimize performance in terms of connectivity, battery life and user experience by minimizing latency of the cell selection procedure.
Regarding claim 14, Okvist et al. Gummuluri et al. and Nayak et al. disclose the UE of claim 11.
Okvist et al., Gummuluri et al. and Nayak et al. fail to explicitly disclose wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: acquire a plurality of satellites in a sequence; and predict the UE location based at least in part on an order of acquisition of the plurality of satellites acquired in the sequence.
However, in an analogous art, Lee et al. teaches acquiring a plurality of satellites in a sequence; and predict the UE location based at least in part on an order of acquisition of the plurality of satellites acquired in the sequence (US 20160381218 A1 Paragraph 0068 discloses “To assist resolution of altitude and reduce the minimum number of satellite paths that must be recovered to establish a position fix…”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified Okvist et al., Gummuluri et al. and Nayak et al. to incorporate the teachings of Lee et al., to acquire a set of satellites and predict the UE location using the acquired set of satellites, in order optimize performance in terms of connectivity, battery life and user experience by minimizing latency of the cell selection procedure.
Claim 17 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Okvist et al. (US 20210218466 A1) in view of Gummuluri et al. (US 10070370 B1) as applied to claim 1 above , and further in view of Lee et al. (US 20160381218 A1).
Regarding claim 17, Okvist et al. disclose the UE of claim 1. wherein the sensor data includes data from a satellite, the satellite including a navigation system satellite.
Okvist et al. fail to explicitly disclose wherein the sensor data includes data from a satellite, the satellite including a navigation system satellite.
However, in an analogous art, Lee et al. teaches wherein the sensor data includes data from a satellite, the satellite including a navigation system satellite (US 20160381218 A1 Paragraph 0068 discloses “To assist resolution of altitude and reduce the minimum number of satellite paths that must be recovered to establish a position fix…”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified Okvist et al. to incorporate the teachings of Lee et al., whereby sensor data includes data from a satellite, the satellite including a navigation system satellite, in order optimize performance in terms of connectivity, battery life and user experience by minimizing latency of the cell selection procedure.
Conclusion
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/Samuel Dilan Rutnam/
Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2471
/MOHAMMAD S ADHAMI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2471
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