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 .
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 01/30/2026 has been entered.
Response to Amendment
The amendment filed 01/30/2026 is being entered. Claims 1, 2, 3, 5, 7-11, 14-19 are amended. Claim 6 and 12 are canceled. Claim 20 is a new claims. Claims 1-5, 7-11, and 13-20 are pending, and rejected as detailed below. This action is final as necessitated by amendment.
Claim rejections under 35 U.S.C. § 112(b)
Amendment to claim 1 and 9 are entered. Therefore the claim rejections for claim 1 and 9 under 35 U.S.C. § 112(b) have been withdrawn.
Response to Arguments
Claim Rejections under 35 U.S.C. §103
Arguments:
Applicant argues that, In view of Lee, the RF communication unit 130, LF communication unit 120, and UWB communication unit 110 each have their own antennas 131, 121, and 111, and their own conversion modules 132, 122, and 112, respectively. The conversion modules are wireless signal processing circuits. Since Lee fails to disclose the subject matter of "A switch device sequentially transmits two wireless signals of two antennas disposed at two different locations to a single wireless communication processing circuit", Lee fails to disclose, teach, or suggest the first feature of the amended claim 1 and the second feature of the amended claim 9 of the present application.
Response:
Applicant’s arguments, as amended herein, with respect to the first feature of the amended claim 1 and the second feature of the amended claim 9 under 35 U.S.C. §103 have been fully considered and persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection for the first feature of the amended claim 1 and the second feature of the amended claim 9 under 35 U.S.C. §103 is made in view of previously applied reference Lee (KR 20200005973 A), Maldonano (US 20190097715 A1), Saiki (US 20240336226 A1), and newly found reference CHO (WO 2022103187 A1). In particular, the amendments to claims 1 and 9 are addressed in the instant office action.
Arguments:
Applicant argues that the transmission line 206 of Maldonado is fundamentally different from the transmission line of the claimed invention. The amended claim 1 of the present application recites a "a first circuit board disposed in a first area of the vehicle" and "a second circuit board disposed in a second area of the vehicle and separated from the first circuit board". The claimed signal transmission line electrically connects the switch device on the first circuit board to the second antenna on the second circuit board. Maldonado discloses a wireless device 106, such as a mobile station or User Equipment (UE) (see FIG. 2). Maldonado discloses a transmission line 206 (or trace) which is configured to connect components (e.g., switches and antennas) that are disposed within the same device housing or chassis of a single mobile device. In other words, the transmission line 206 of Maldonado is essentially an internal trace within a single printed circuit board (PCB) or a compact enclosure. The transmission line of Maldonado serves as an intra-device connection within the same area, whereas the signal transmission line of the present application serves as an inter-board connection that spans across different areas (e.g., a head region and a rear region) of a vehicle to connect two physically separated circuit boards. Therefore, Maldonado fails to disclose, teach, or suggest such a distributed architecture where a transmission line connects distinct, separated circuit boards to enable a passive second circuit board to share the wireless signal processing circuit on the first circuit board. Moreover, Maldonado only discloses that the wireless device has multiple antennas but fails to disclose the contents of "the antennas of the wireless device are respectively disposed on different circuit boards".
Response:
Applicant’s arguments, as amended herein, with respect to that the transmission line 206 of Maldonado being fundamentally different from the transmission line of the claimed invention have been fully considered and not persuasive. More specifically, Maldonado teaches about the transmission line and the connections in between the two different antennas while the first circuit and the second circuit are taught by Lee with respect to the first antenna and the second antenna, respectively. Due to the two different physical locations of the first antenna and second antenna and the size of vehicle, it is obvious and inherent that the transmission line has to spanned across the first circuit and the second circuit to connect the second antenna with the switch device. Furthermore, according to the BRI of the claim, the combination of Lee and Maldonado teach such a distributed architecture where a transmission line connects distinct, separated circuit boards to enable a passive second circuit board to share the wireless signal processing circuit on the first circuit board.
Arguments:
Applicant argues that, Saiki requires to establish complex processing hardware at each of distributed communication nodes, it inevitably results in high manufacturing costs and system complexity. Saiki fails to disclose, teach, or suggest such a cost-effective architecture where the remote circuit board is passive and free of any signal processing components (e.g., processors or detection units). In other words, the vehicle remote control system only uses one wireless signal processing circuit, and the in-vehicle system of Sakai uses multiple wireless signal processing circuit, Therefore, Sakai fails to disclose "a wireless signal processing circuit disposed on the first circuit board; the second circuit board is free of any wireless signal processing circuit;" recited in the amended claims 1 and 9 of the present application. Since the vehicle remote control system only uses one wireless signal processing circuit, the cost of the vehicle remote control system of the present application is significantly lower than the in-vehicle system of Sakai.
Response:
Applicant’s arguments, as amended herein, with respect to the manufacturing cost and system complexity have been fully considered and not persuasive. More specifically, CHO teaches the wireless signal processing circuit. Saiki teaches a specific functionality (entering a sleep state) of the wireless signal processing circuit. Therefore, the combination of CHO and Saiki teaches the communication module 192 of CHO being able to execute the entering of sleep state of Saiki. Furthermore, the fact that a "combination would not be made by businessmen for economic reasons" does not mean that a person of ordinary skill in the art would not make the combination because of some technological incompatibility (MPEP 2145(VII)).
Arguments:
Applicant argues that, As disclosed in Lei, at least three slave node modules N1-Nn are located around the vehicle, and each slave node module includes a Bluetooth unit 21 and an ultra-wideband unit 22. Each of the slave node modules is used to wirelessly connect to a car key and determine the location of the car key. This indicates that the slave node module of Lei can perform distance measurement based on the received wireless signal. Clearly, each of the slave node module is equipped with a wireless signal processing circuit. Moreover, Lei fails to disclose the contents of "A switch device sequentially transmits two wireless signals of two antennas disposed at two different locations to a single wireless communication processing circuit". Therefore, Lei fails to disclose, teach, or suggest the first feature of the amended claim 1 and the second feature of the amended claim 9 of the present application.
Response:
Applicant’s arguments, as amended herein, with respect to Lei failing to disclose the contents of "A switch device sequentially transmits two wireless signals of two antennas disposed at two different locations to a single wireless communication processing circuit" have been fully considered and not persuasive. More specifically, the combination of Lee, Maldonano, and CHO the aforementioned limitation. Furthermore, One cannot show nonobviousness by attacking references individually where the rejections are based on combinations of references (MPEP 2145(IV)).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claims 1 and 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
Applicant has mentioned “wherein the second circuit board is free of any wireless signal processing circuit;” in claim 1 and claim 9. However, Applicant fails to provide any written description in the specification to support “wherein the second circuit board is free of any wireless signal processing circuit”.
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 1 recites the limitation " the motorcycle" in line 19. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 3 recites the limitation " the motorcycle" in line 2. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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.
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.
Claim(s) 1, 5, 7, 9, and 14-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee (KR 20200005973 A), and further in view of Maldonano (US 20190097715 A1), CHO (WO 2022103187 A1), and Saiki (US 20240336226 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Lee teaches (Currently amended) A vehicle remote control system (Lee, page 2 of translated copy; “The remote control system of the vehicle allows the driver to insert a separate key into the vehicle's key box or to open and close the vehicle door and start the vehicle from the outside without special operation for operation.”), which is adapted to a remote controller (Lee, FIG. 3; “the remote control device 200”) and a vehicle (Lee, FIG. 1; “the vehicle 100”), the vehicle remote control system comprising:
a first circuit board disposed in a first area of the vehicle (Lee, page 3 of translated copy and FIG. 3; “the front light 19aL and 19aR and the rear lights 19bL and 19bR may be provided with vehicle antennas 111a, 111b, 111c, and 111d capable of transmitting and receiving wireless signals”, wherein one of the antenna 111a or 111b can be the first antenna, For example, when the user approach the front end of the vehicle, the first antenna is in communication with the remote controller R. Resultantly, the wireless signal processing circuit only needs activate the first antenna (closest antenna to the remote controller R), and the second antenna can stay deactivated to reduce power consumption.) and (Lee, page 11 of translated copy; “Meanwhile, some of the components shown in FIG. 4 may be hardware components such as software and / or field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) and application specific integrated circuits (ASICs).”, in other words, antenna 111a and 111b have their own circuit boards in the front area of the vehicle);
a second circuit board disposed in a second area of the vehicle, wherein the second circuit board is separated from the first circuit board, and the second area is separated from the first area (Lee, page 3 of translated copy and FIG. 3; “the front light 19aL and 19aR and the rear lights 19bL and 19bR may be provided with vehicle antennas 111a, 111b, 111c, and 111d capable of transmitting and receiving wireless signals”, wherein one of the antenna 111c or 111d can be the second antenna since 111a or 111b is identified as the first antenna, For example, when the user approach the rear end of the vehicle, the second antenna is in communication with the remote controller R. Resultantly, the wireless signal processing circuit only needs activate the second antenna (closest antenna to the remote controller R), and the first antenna can stay deactivated to reduce power consumption.) and (Lee, page 11 of translated copy; “Meanwhile, some of the components shown in FIG. 4 may be hardware components such as software and / or field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) and application specific integrated circuits (ASICs).”, in other words, antenna 111c and 111d have their own circuit boards in the rear area of the vehicle);
a wireless signal processing circuit (Lee, page 6 of translated copy; “Referring to FIG. 4, the vehicle 100 according to an embodiment may include a UWB communication unit 110, an LF communication unit 120, and a control unit 140”)
wherein the second circuit board is free of any wireless signal processing circuit;
a first antenna disposed on the first circuit board (Lee, page 3 of translated copy and FIG. 3; “the front light 19aL and 19aR and the rear lights 19bL and 19bR may be provided with vehicle antennas 111a, 111b, 111c, and 111d capable of transmitting and receiving wireless signals”, wherein one of the antenna 111a or 111b can be the first antenna, For example, when the user approach the front end of the vehicle, the first antenna is in communication with the remote controller R. Resultantly, the wireless signal processing circuit only needs activate the first antenna (closest antenna to the remote controller R), and the second antenna can stay deactivated to reduce power consumption.) and (Lee, page 11 of translated copy; “Meanwhile, some of the components shown in FIG. 4 may be hardware components such as software and / or field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) and application specific integrated circuits (ASICs).”, in other words, antenna 111a and 111b have their own circuit boards in the front area of the vehicle);
a switch device disposed on the first circuit board and connected to the first antenna and the wireless signal processing circuit;
a signal transmission line, wherein a first end of the signal transmission line is electrically connected to the switch device;
a second antenna disposed on the second circuit board (Lee, page 3 of translated copy and FIG. 3; “the front light 19aL and 19aR and the rear lights 19bL and 19bR may be provided with vehicle antennas 111a, 111b, 111c, and 111d capable of transmitting and receiving wireless signals”, wherein one of the antenna 111c or 111d can be the second antenna since 111a or 111b is identified as the first antenna, For example, when the user approach the rear end of the vehicle, the second antenna is in communication with the remote controller R. Resultantly, the wireless signal processing circuit only needs activate the second antenna (closest antenna to the remote controller R), and the first antenna can stay deactivated to reduce power consumption.) and (Lee, page 11 of translated copy; “Meanwhile, some of the components shown in FIG. 4 may be hardware components such as software and / or field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) and application specific integrated circuits (ASICs).”, in other words, antenna 111c and 111d have their own circuit boards in the rear area of the vehicle)
wherein, according to a switch instruction of the wireless signal processing circuit, the switch device allows one of the first antenna and the second antenna to be used in a switching manner;
wherein the wireless signal processing circuit obtains first state information between the remote controller and the motorcycle by the first antenna (Lee, page 5 of translated copy and FIG. 3; “when a radio signal is transmitted from the remote control device 200 through the UWB communication network, the activated UWB antennas 111a to 111d respectively receive signals transmitted from the remote control device 200.” and “The vehicle 100 may measure a reception time of a wireless signal received by each of the UWB antennas”, wherein the information collected through antenna 111a is seen as the first state information between the remote control and the vehicle), and obtains second state information between the remote controller and the vehicle by the second antenna (Lee, page 5 of translated copy and FIG. 3; “when a radio signal is transmitted from the remote control device 200 through the UWB communication network, the activated UWB antennas 111a to 111d respectively receive signals transmitted from the remote control device 200.” and “The vehicle 100 may measure a reception time of a wireless signal received by each of the UWB antennas”, wherein the information collected through antenna 111c is seen as the second state information between the remote control and the vehicle);
wherein, when the wireless signal processing circuit determines that the first state information and the second state information (Lee, page 5 of translated copy; “The vehicle 100 may receive the reception intensity values of the radio signals transmitted by the LF antennas 121a and 121b from the remote control apparatus 200, and based on the received reception intensity values, the vehicle LF antennas 121a and 121b. And the distance between the remote control device 200 can be measured.”, wherein the first reception strength value is through 121a and the second reception strength value is through 121b)
Lee does not explicitly teach
a wireless signal processing circuit disposed on the first circuit board;
wherein the second circuit board is free of any wireless signal processing circuit;
a switch device disposed on the first circuit board and connected to the first antenna and the wireless signal processing circuit;
a signal transmission line, wherein a first end of the signal transmission line is electrically connected to the switch device;
a second antenna electrically connected to a second end of the signal transmission line;
wherein, according to a switch instruction of the wireless signal processing circuit, the switch device allows one of the first antenna and the second antenna to be used in a switching manner;
both comply with a threshold standard, the wireless signal processing circuit instructs the remote controller to enter a sleep state.
CHO, in the same field of endeavor (CHO, technical-field; “Various embodiments of the present invention relate to an apparatus and method for processing a wireless signal in an electronic device.”) teaches a wireless signal processing circuit disposed on the first circuit board (CHO, technical-field; “the communication module 190 is a wireless communication module 192 (eg, a cellular communication module, a short-range communication module, or a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) communication module) or a wired communication module 194 (eg, : It may include a local area network (LAN) communication module, or a power line communication module). A corresponding communication module among these communication modules is a first network 198 (eg, a short-range communication network such as Bluetooth, wireless fidelity (WiFi) direct, or infrared data association (IrDA)) or a second network 199 (eg, legacy It may communicate with the external electronic device 104 through a cellular network, a 5G network, a next-generation communication network, the Internet, or a computer network (eg, a telecommunication network such as a LAN or a WAN). These various types of communication modules may be integrated into one component (eg, a single chip) or may be implemented as a plurality of components (eg, multiple chips) separate from each other. ”) and (CHO, technical-field; “the wireless communication module 192 or the processor 120 may be disposed on the first substrate (eg, main PCB).”);
wherein the second circuit board is free of any wireless signal processing circuit (CHO, technical-field; “According to an embodiment, the third RFIC 226 and the antenna 248 may be disposed on the same substrate to form the third antenna module 246 . For example, the wireless communication module 192 or the processor 120 may be disposed on the first substrate (eg, main PCB). In this case, the third RFIC 226 is located in a partial area (eg, the bottom surface) of the second substrate (eg, sub PCB) separate from the first substrate”);
a switch device disposed on the first circuit board and connected to the first antenna and the wireless signal processing circuit;
a signal transmission line, wherein a first end of the signal transmission line is electrically connected to the switch device;
a second antenna electrically connected to a second end of the signal transmission line;
wherein, according to a switch instruction of the wireless signal processing circuit, the switch device allows one of the first antenna and the second antenna to be used in a switching manner;
both comply with a threshold standard, the wireless signal processing circuit instructs the remote controller to enter a sleep state.
Lee and CHO are both considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because Lee and CHO are in the same field of processing a wireless signal in an electronic device as the claimed invention. 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 the wireless signal processing circuit of Lee with teaching of CHO. One of the ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification because the claim would have been obvious because the substitution of one known element for another would have yielded predictable results.
The combination of Lee and CHO does not explicitly teach a switch device disposed on the first circuit board and connected to the first antenna and the wireless signal processing circuit;
a signal transmission line, wherein a first end of the signal transmission line is electrically connected to the switch device;
a second antenna electrically connected to a second end of the signal transmission line;
wherein, according to a switch instruction of the wireless signal processing circuit, the switch device allows one of the first antenna and the second antenna to be used in a switching manner;
both comply with a threshold standard, the wireless signal processing circuit instructs the remote controller to enter a sleep state.
Maldonano, in the same field of endeavor (Maldonano, at least one para. 0005; “According to an aspect, the present disclosure provides a method for controlling a wireless device having at least one radio frequency (RF) system. In particular, the method includes selecting an antenna for transmission of signals from radio components of the at least one RF system from between a first default antenna that is normally coupled to the radio components of the at least one RF system for transmission of signals and one of a plurality of other antennas in the wireless device.”) teaches a switch device disposed on the first circuit board and connected to the first antenna and the wireless signal processing circuit (Maldonano, at least one para. 0036 and FIG. 2; “Apparatus 200, as illustrated, includes an arrangement where Ant 1 241 and Ant 3 243 are coupled to antenna switches 202 and 204 with a transmission line or trace 206.”, wherein the antenna 241 is connected to the bottom receiver 224 through the antenna switch 204);
a signal transmission line, wherein a first end of the signal transmission line is electrically connected to the switch device (Maldonano, at least one para. 0036 and FIG. 2; “Apparatus 200, as illustrated, includes an arrangement where Ant 1 241 and Ant 3 243 are coupled to antenna switches 202 and 204 with a transmission line or trace 206.”, wherein the transmission line 206 is electrically connected to the antenna switch 204);
a second antenna electrically connected to a second end of the signal transmission line (Maldonano, at least one para. 0036 and FIG. 2; “Apparatus 200, as illustrated, includes an arrangement where Ant 1 241 and Ant 3 243 are coupled to antenna switches 202 and 204 with a transmission line or trace 206.”, wherein the antenna 243 is electrically connected to the transmission line 206);
wherein, according to a switch instruction of the wireless signal processing circuit, the switch device allows one of the first antenna and the second antenna to be used in a switching manner (Maldonano, at least one para. 0036; “The processing circuitry for determining the best antenna for signal transmission may be any of a number of various processing circuitry within the wireless device including a transceiver and processing circuitry 212 or some other processing circuitry shown represented by processor circuitry 214.”);
both comply with a threshold standard, the wireless signal processing circuit instructs the remote controller to enter a sleep state.
The combination of Lee, CHO, and Maldonano are considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because Lee and Maldonano are in the same field of vehicle remote control system as the claimed invention. 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 the first antenna and the second antenna of Lee with teaching of Maldonano. One of the ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification so that optimal antenna can be determined for signal transferring (Maldonano; 0043).
Saiki, in the same field of endeavor (Saiki, at least one para. 0003; “An electronic key system for a vehicle determines a position of a vehicle mobile device relative to a vehicle.”) teaches both comply with a threshold standard (Saiki, at least one para. 0144; “Step S402 is a step of determining the device position based on the combination of the reception strength and the device distance acquired in step S401. The processor 41 determines that the device is present in the interior area when the BLE_RSSI is greater than or equal to a predetermined first strength threshold and the device distance is less than a first distance.”, wherein the processor determine that the device is outside of the interior area when the BLE_RSSI is less than the predetermined first strength threshold), the wireless signal processing circuit instructs the remote controller to enter a sleep state (Saiki, at least one para. 0051; “In addition, when a state where no communication connection to the in-vehicle system 1 is detected continues for a given period in the active mode and when a state where the operation unit 21 is not operated continues for a given period, the key control unit 20 shifts the smart key 2 to the sleep mode.”);
The combination of Lee, CHO, Maldonano, and Saiki is considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because Lee and Saiki are in the same field of vehicle remote control system as the claimed invention. 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 the Bluetooth communication circuit of Lee with teaching of Saiki. One of the ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to save battery life of the smart key (Saiki; 0046) and to implement remote keyless entry system (Saiki; 0046).
Regarding claim 5, The combination of Lee, CHO, Maldonano, and Saiki teaches the limitations of claim 1, upon which the instant claim depends, as discussed supra. Further, Lee teaches (Currently amended) The vehicle remote control system according to claim 1, wherein the threshold standard is a strength threshold value (Lee, page 10 of translated copy; “RSSI1” and “RSSI2”, it is inherent that RSSI1 and RSSI2 values have predetermined ranges to determine the signal strength), the wireless signal processing circuit is a BLUETOOTH® communication circuit (Lee, page 5 of translated copy; “An RF communication network is a communication network for radio signals transmitted in a high frequency band of 300 kHz or more. For example, the RF communication network may be a network using an ultra-high frequency (UHF) frequency band of 300 MHz or more and 3 GHz”, wherein Bluetooth frequency ranges from 2.402 GHz to 2.48 GHz) and (Lee, page 10 of translated copy; “For another example, when the RF communication unit 130 receives the reception strength value of the LF signal, the control unit 140 may receive the reception strength value of the LF signal from the RF communication unit 130.”), the first state information is a first received signal strength between the remote controller and the vehicle, and the second state information is a second received signal strength between the remote controller and the vehicle (Lee, page 5 of translated copy; “The vehicle 100 may receive the reception intensity values of the radio signals transmitted by the LF antennas 121a and 121b from the remote control apparatus 200, and based on the received reception intensity values, the vehicle LF antennas 121a and 121b. And the distance between the remote control device 200 can be measured.”, wherein the first reception strength value is through 121a and the second reception strength value is through 121b);
wherein, when the BLUETOOTH® communication circuit determines that the first received signal strength and the second received signal strength are both less than the strength threshold value, the BLUETOOTH® communication circuit instructs the remote controller to enter the sleep state;
wherein, when the BLUETOOTH® communication circuit determines that at least one of the first received signal strength and the second received signal strength is greater than or equal to the strength threshold value, the BLUETOOTH® communication circuit determines a status reported by an electronic control unit of the vehicle.
Lee does not explicitly teach wherein, when the BLUETOOTH® communication circuit determines that the first received signal strength and the second received signal strength are both less than the strength threshold value, the BLUETOOTH® communication circuit instructs the remote controller to enter the sleep state;
wherein, when the BLUETOOTH® communication circuit determines that at least one of the first received signal strength and the second received signal strength is greater than or equal to the strength threshold value, the BLUETOOTH® communication circuit determines a status reported by an electronic control unit of the vehicle.
Saiki, in the same field of endeavor (Saiki, at least one para. 0003; “An electronic key system for a vehicle determines a position of a vehicle mobile device relative to a vehicle.”) teaches wherein, when the BLUETOOTH® communication circuit determines that the first received signal strength and the second received signal strength are both less than the strength threshold value (Saiki, at least one para. 0144; “Step S402 is a step of determining the device position based on the combination of the reception strength and the device distance acquired in step S401. The processor 41 determines that the device is present in the interior area when the BLE_RSSI is greater than or equal to a predetermined first strength threshold and the device distance is less than a first distance.” , wherein the processor determine that the device is outside of the interior area when the BLE_RSSI is less than the predetermined first strength threshold), the BLUETOOTH® communication circuit instructs the remote controller to enter the sleep state (Saiki, at least one para. 0051; “In addition, when a state where no communication connection to the in-vehicle system 1 is detected continues for a given period in the active mode and when a state where the operation unit 21 is not operated continues for a given period, the key control unit 20 shifts the smart key 2 to the sleep mode.”);
wherein, when the BLUETOOTH® communication circuit determines that at least one of the first received signal strength and the second received signal strength is greater than or equal to the strength threshold value (Saiki, at least one para. 0144; “Step S402 is a step of determining the device position based on the combination of the reception strength and the device distance acquired in step S401. The processor 41 determines that the device is present in the interior area when the BLE_RSSI is greater than or equal to a predetermined first strength threshold and the device distance is less than a first distance.”, wherein the processor determine that the device is outside of the interior area when the BLE_RSSI is less than the predetermined first strength threshold), the BLUETOOTH® communication circuit determines a status reported by an electronic control unit of the vehicle (Saiki, at least one para. 0059; “The smart ECU 4 is an ECU that determines a device position with respect to the vehicle Hv in cooperation with the BLE communication device 7 or the like and performs vehicle control according to the determination result of the device position.”).
The combination of Lee, CHO, Maldonano, and Saiki is considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because Lee, CHO, Maldonano, and Saiki are in the same field of vehicle remote control system as the claimed invention. 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 the Bluetooth communication circuit of Lee with teaching of Saiki. One of the ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to save battery life of the smart key (Saiki; 0046) and to implement remote keyless entry system (Saiki; 0046).
Regarding claim 7, The combination of Lee, CHO, Maldonano, and Saiki teaches the limitations of claim 1, upon which the instant claim depends, as discussed supra. Further, Lee teaches (Currently amended) The vehicle remote control system according to claim 1, wherein the threshold standard is a distance threshold value (Lee, page 8 of translated copy; “first reference distance” and “second reference distance”), the wireless signal processing circuit is an ultra-wideband communication circuit (Lee, page 5 of translated copy; “Referring to FIG. 3, when a radio signal is transmitted from the remote control device 200 through the UWB communication network, the activated UWB antennas 111a to 111d respectively receive signals transmitted from the remote control device 200.”), the first state information is a first distance between the remote controller and the vehicle, and the second state information is a second distance between the remote controller and the vehicle (Lee, page 5 of translated copy and FIG. 3; “The vehicle 100 remotely operates with each of the UWB antennas 111a-111d based on the transmission timing and reception timing of the radio signal of the vehicle 100, and the transmission timing and reception timing of the radio signal of the remote control apparatus 200. The distance between the devices 200 can be measured.” As illustrated in FIG. 3, a first distance is shown between 111a and remote. A second distance is shown between 111b and remote);
wherein, when the ultra-wideband communication circuit determines that the first distance and the second distance are both greater than the distance threshold value (Lee, page 8 of translated copy; “Referring back to FIG. 5, the controller 140 determines whether the calculated distance between the UWB antenna 111 and the remote control apparatus 200 is equal to or less than the first reference distance dref1 (1112), and the first If the reference distance (dref1) or less ("YES" of 1112), the UWB communication unit 110 reduces the period of the pulse transmitted through the UWB communication network (1113), if not less than or equal to the first reference distance (dref1) (1111) "No"), the UWB communication unit 110 may be controlled to transmit the radio signal while maintaining the pulse period (1111).”),
wherein, when the ultra-wideband communication circuit determines that at least one of the first distance and the second distance is less than or equal to the distance threshold value (Lee, page 8 of translated copy; “Referring back to FIG. 5, the controller 140 determines whether the calculated distance between the UWB antenna 111 and the remote control apparatus 200 is equal to or less than the first reference distance dref1 (1112), and the first If the reference distance (dref1) or less ("YES" of 1112), the UWB communication unit 110 reduces the period of the pulse transmitted through the UWB communication network (1113), if not less than or equal to the first reference distance (dref1) (1111) "No"), the UWB communication unit 110 may be controlled to transmit the radio signal while maintaining the pulse period (1111).”),
Lee does not explicitly teach the ultra-wideband communication circuit instructs the remote controller to enter the sleep state;
the ultra-wideband communication circuit determines a status reported by an electronic control unit of the vehicle.
Saiki, in the same field of endeavor (Saiki, at least one para. 0003; “An electronic key system for a vehicle determines a position of a vehicle mobile device relative to a vehicle.”) teaches the ultra-wideband communication circuit instructs the remote controller to enter the sleep state (Saiki, at least one para. 0051; “In addition, when a state where no communication connection to the in-vehicle system 1 is detected continues for a given period in the active mode and when a state where the operation unit 21 is not operated continues for a given period, the key control unit 20 shifts the smart key 2 to the sleep mode.”);
the ultra-wideband communication circuit determines a status reported by an electronic control unit of the vehicle (Saiki, at least one para. 0059; “The smart ECU 4 is an ECU that determines a device position with respect to the vehicle Hv in cooperation with the BLE communication device 7 or the like and performs vehicle control according to the determination result of the device position.”).
The combination of Lee, CHO, Maldonano, and Saiki is considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because Lee, CHO, Maldonano, and Saiki are in the same field of vehicle remote control system as the claimed invention. 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 the Bluetooth communication circuit of Lee with teaching of Saiki. One of the ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to save battery life of the smart key (Saiki; 0046) and to implement remote keyless entry system (Saiki; 0046).
Regarding claim 9, The combination of Lee, CHO, Maldonano, and Saiki teaches the limitations of claim 1, upon which the instant claim depends, as discussed supra. Further, Lee teaches (Currently amended) An operation method of a vehicle remote control system (Lee, page 2 of translated copy; “The remote control system of the vehicle allows the driver to insert a separate key into the vehicle's key box or to open and close the vehicle door and start the vehicle from the outside without special operation for operation.”), which is adapted to a remote controller (Lee, FIG. 3; “the remote control device 200”) and a vehicle (Lee, FIG. 1; “the vehicle 100”), the operation method comprising:
obtaining, by a first antenna disposed on a first circuit board disposed in a first area of the vehicle (Lee, page 3 of translated copy and FIG. 3; “the front light 19aL and 19aR and the rear lights 19bL and 19bR may be provided with vehicle antennas 111a, 111b, 111c, and 111d capable of transmitting and receiving wireless signals”, wherein one of the antenna 111a or 111b can be the first antenna, For example, when the user approach the front end of the vehicle, the first antenna is in communication with the remote controller R. Resultantly, the wireless signal processing circuit only needs activate the first antenna (closest antenna to the remote controller R), and the second antenna can stay deactivated to reduce power consumption.) and (Lee, page 11 of translated copy; “Meanwhile, some of the components shown in FIG. 4 may be hardware components such as software and / or field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) and application specific integrated circuits (ASICs).”, in other words, antenna 111a and 111b have their own circuit boards in the front area of the vehicle), a first signal of the remote controller (Lee, page 5 of translated copy and FIG. 3; “when a radio signal is transmitted from the remote control device 200 through the UWB communication network, the activated UWB antennas 111a to 111d respectively receive signals transmitted from the remote control device 200.”);
reading, by a wireless signal processing circuit , the first signal to calculate first state information between the remote controller and the vehicle (Lee, page 5 of translated copy and FIG. 3; “The vehicle 100 may measure a reception time of a wireless signal received by each of the UWB antennas”, wherein the information collected through antenna 111a is seen as the first state information between the remote control and the vehicle);
performing, by a switch device disposed on the first circuit board, an antenna switching action;
obtaining, by a second antenna disposed on a second circuit board disposed in a second area of the vehicle (Lee, page 3 of translated copy and FIG. 3; “the front light 19aL and 19aR and the rear lights 19bL and 19bR may be provided with vehicle antennas 111a, 111b, 111c, and 111d capable of transmitting and receiving wireless signals”, wherein one of the antenna 111c or 111d can be the second antenna since 111a or 111b is identified as the first antenna, For example, when the user approach the rear end of the vehicle, the second antenna is in communication with the remote controller R. Resultantly, the wireless signal processing circuit only needs activate the second antenna (closest antenna to the remote controller R), and the first antenna can stay deactivated to reduce power consumption.) and (Lee, page 11 of translated copy; “Meanwhile, some of the components shown in FIG. 4 may be hardware components such as software and / or field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) and application specific integrated circuits (ASICs).”, in other words, antenna 111c and 111d have their own circuit boards in the rear area of the vehicle), a second signal of the remote controller (Lee, page 5 of translated copy and FIG. 3; “when a radio signal is transmitted from the remote control device 200 through the UWB communication network, the activated UWB antennas 111a to 111d respectively receive signals transmitted from the remote control device 200.”); and
reading, by the wireless signal processing circuit, the second signal to calculate second state information between the remote controller and the vehicle (Lee, page 5 of translated copy and FIG. 3; “The vehicle 100 may measure a reception time of a wireless signal received by each of the UWB antennas”, wherein the information collected through antenna 111c is seen as the second state information between the remote control and the vehicle).
determining, by wireless signal processing circuit, whether the first state information and the second state information (Lee, page 5 of translated copy; “The vehicle 100 may receive the reception intensity values of the radio signals transmitted by the LF antennas 121a and 121b from the remote control apparatus 200, and based on the received reception intensity values, the vehicle LF antennas 121a and 121b. And the distance between the remote control device 200 can be measured.”, wherein the first reception strength value is through 121a and the second reception strength value is through 121b)
wherein, when wireless signal processing circuit determines that the first state information and the second state information both comply with the threshold standard, the wireless signal processing circuit instructs the remote controller to enter a sleep state.
Lee does not explicitly teach a wireless signal processing circuit disposed on the first circuit board
performing, by a switch device disposed on the first circuit board, an antenna switching action;
both comply with a threshold standard;
wherein, when wireless signal processing circuit determines that the first state information and the second state information both comply with the threshold standard, the wireless signal processing circuit instructs the remote controller to enter a sleep state.
CHO, in the same field of endeavor (CHO, technical-field; “Various embodiments of the present invention relate to an apparatus and method for processing a wireless signal in an electronic device.”) teaches a wireless signal processing circuit disposed on the first circuit board (CHO, technical-field; “the communication module 190 is a wireless communication module 192 (eg, a cellular communication module, a short-range communication module, or a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) communication module) or a wired communication module 194 (eg, : It may include a local area network (LAN) communication module, or a power line communication module). A corresponding communication module among these communication modules is a first network 198 (eg, a short-range communication network such as Bluetooth, wireless fidelity (WiFi) direct, or infrared data association (IrDA)) or a second network 199 (eg, legacy It may communicate with the external electronic device 104 through a cellular network, a 5G network, a next-generation communication network, the Internet, or a computer network (eg, a telecommunication network such as a LAN or a WAN). These various types of communication modules may be integrated into one component (eg, a single chip) or may be implemented as a plurality of components (eg, multiple chips) separate from each other. ”) and (CHO, technical-field; “the wireless communication module 192 or the processor 120 may be disposed on the first substrate (eg, main PCB).”);
performing, by a switch device disposed on the first circuit board, an antenna switching action;
both comply with a threshold standard;
wherein, when wireless signal processing circuit determines that the first state information and the second state information both comply with the threshold standard, the wireless signal processing circuit instructs the remote controller to enter a sleep state.
Lee and CHO are both considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because Lee and CHO are in the same field of processing a wireless signal in an electronic device as the claimed invention. 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 the wireless signal processing circuit of Lee with teaching of CHO. One of the ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification because the claim would have been obvious because the substitution of one known element for another would have yielded predictable results.
The combination of Lee and Cho does not explicitly teaches performing, by a switch device disposed on the first circuit board, an antenna switching action;
both comply with a threshold standard;
wherein, when wireless signal processing circuit determines that the first state information and the second state information both comply with the threshold standard, the wireless signal processing circuit instructs the remote controller to enter a sleep state.
Maldonano, in the same field of endeavor (Maldonano, at least one para. 0005; “According to an aspect, the present disclosure provides a method for controlling a wireless device having at least one radio frequency (RF) system. In particular, the method includes selecting an antenna for transmission of signals from radio components of the at least one RF system from between a first default antenna that is normally coupled to the radio components of the at least one RF system for transmission of signals and one of a plurality of other antennas in the wireless device.”) teaches performing, by a switch device disposed on the first circuit board (Maldonano, at least one para. 0036 and FIG. 2; “Apparatus 200, as illustrated, includes an arrangement where Ant 1 241 and Ant 3 243 are coupled to antenna switches 202 and 204 with a transmission line or trace 206.”, wherein the antenna 241 is connected to the bottom receiver 224 through the antenna switch 204), an antenna switching action (Maldonano, at least one para. 0036; “The processing circuitry for determining the best antenna for signal transmission may be any of a number of various processing circuitry within the wireless device including a transceiver and processing circuitry 212 or some other processing circuitry shown represented by processor circuitry 214.”);
both comply with a threshold standard;
wherein, when wireless signal processing circuit determines that the first state information and the second state information both comply with the threshold standard, the wireless signal processing circuit instructs the remote controller to enter a sleep state.
The combination of Lee, CHO, and Maldonano is considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because Lee, CHO, and Maldonano are in the same field of vehicle remote control system as the claimed invention. 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 the first antenna and the second antenna of Lee with teaching of Maldonano. One of the ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification so that optimal antenna can be determined for signal transferring (Maldonano; 0043).
The combination of Lee, CHO and Maldonano does not explicitly teach both comply with a threshold standard;
wherein, when wireless signal processing circuit determines that the first state information and the second state information both comply with the threshold standard, the wireless signal processing circuit instructs the remote controller to enter a sleep state.
Saiki, in the same field of endeavor (Saiki, at least one para. 0003; “An electronic key system for a vehicle determines a position of a vehicle mobile device relative to a vehicle.”) teaches both comply with a threshold standard (Saiki, at least one para. 0144; “Step S402 is a step of determining the device position based on the combination of the reception strength and the device distance acquired in step S401. The processor 41 determines that the device is present in the interior area when the BLE_RSSI is greater than or equal to a predetermined first strength threshold and the device distance is less than a first distance.”, wherein the processor determine that the device is outside of the interior area when the BLE_RSSI is less than the predetermined first strength threshold);
wherein, when wireless signal processing circuit determines that the first state information and the second state information both comply with the threshold standard, the wireless signal processing circuit instructs the remote controller to enter a sleep state (Saiki, at least one para. 0051; “In addition, when a state where no communication connection to the in-vehicle system 1 is detected continues for a given period in the active mode and when a state where the operation unit 21 is not operated continues for a given period, the key control unit 20 shifts the smart key 2 to the sleep mode.”);
The combination of Lee, CHO, Maldonano, and Saiki is considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because Lee, CHO, Maldonano, and Saiki are in the same field of vehicle remote control system as the claimed invention. 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 the Bluetooth communication circuit of Lee with teaching of Saiki. One of the ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to save battery life of the smart key (Saiki; 0046) and to implement remote keyless entry system (Saiki; 0046).
Regarding claim 14, The combination of Lee, CHO, Maldonano, and Saiki teaches the limitations of claim 9, upon which the instant claim depends, as discussed supra. Further, Lee teaches (Currently amended) The operation method according to claim 9, wherein the threshold standard is a strength threshold value (Lee, page 10 of translated copy; “RSSI1” and “RSSI2”, it is inherent that RSSI1 and RSSI2 values have predetermined ranges to determine the signal strength), the wireless signal processing circuit is a BLUETOOTH* communication circuit (Lee, page 5 of translated copy; “An RF communication network is a communication network for radio signals transmitted in a high frequency band of 300 kHz or more. For example, the RF communication network may be a network using an ultra-high frequency (UHF) frequency band of 300 MHz or more and 3 GHz”, wherein Bluetooth frequency ranges from 2.402 GHz to 2.48 GHz) and (Lee, page 10 of translated copy; “For another example, when the RF communication unit 130 receives the reception strength value of the LF signal, the control unit 140 may receive the reception strength value of the LF signal from the RF communication unit 130.”), the first state information is a first received signal strength, and the second state information is a second received signal strength (Lee, page 5 of translated copy; “The vehicle 100 may receive the reception intensity values of the radio signals transmitted by the LF antennas 121a and 121b from the remote control apparatus 200, and based on the received reception intensity values, the vehicle LF antennas 121a and 121b. And the distance between the remote control device 200 can be measured.”, wherein the first reception strength value is through 121a and the second reception strength value is through 121b);
wherein, when the BLUETOOTH* communication circuit determines that the first received signal strength and the second received signal strength are both less than the strength threshold value, the BLUETOOTH* communication circuit instructs the remote controller to enter the sleep state;
wherein the operation method further comprises:
determining, by the BLUETOOTH® communication circuit, a status reported by an electronic control unit of the vehicle when at least one of the first received signal strength and the second received signal strength is greater than or equal to the strength threshold value.
Lee does not explicitly teach wherein, when the BLUETOOTH* communication circuit determines that the first received signal strength and the second received signal strength are both less than the strength threshold value, the BLUETOOTH* communication circuit instructs the remote controller to enter the sleep state;
wherein the operation method further comprises:
determining, by the BLUETOOTH® communication circuit, a status reported by an electronic control unit of the vehicle when at least one of the first received signal strength and the second received signal strength is greater than or equal to the strength threshold value.
Saiki, in the same field of endeavor (Saiki, at least one para. 0003; “An electronic key system for a vehicle determines a position of a vehicle mobile device relative to a vehicle.”) teaches wherein, when the BLUETOOTH* communication circuit determines that the first received signal strength and the second received signal strength are both less than the strength threshold value (Saiki, at least one para. 0144; “Step S402 is a step of determining the device position based on the combination of the reception strength and the device distance acquired in step S401. The processor 41 determines that the device is present in the interior area when the BLE_RSSI is greater than or equal to a predetermined first strength threshold and the device distance is less than a first distance.” , wherein the processor determine that the device is outside of the interior area when the BLE_RSSI is less than the predetermined first strength threshold), the BLUETOOTH* communication circuit instructs the remote controller to enter the sleep state (Saiki, at least one para. 0051; “In addition, when a state where no communication connection to the in-vehicle system 1 is detected continues for a given period in the active mode and when a state where the operation unit 21 is not operated continues for a given period, the key control unit 20 shifts the smart key 2 to the sleep mode.”);
wherein the operation method further comprises:
determining, by the BLUETOOTH® communication circuit, a status reported by an electronic control unit of the vehicle when at least one of the first received signal strength and the second received signal strength is greater than or equal to the strength threshold value (Saiki, at least one para. 0144; “Step S402 is a step of determining the device position based on the combination of the reception strength and the device distance acquired in step S401. The processor 41 determines that the device is present in the interior area when the BLE_RSSI is greater than or equal to a predetermined first strength threshold and the device distance is less than a first distance.”, wherein the processor determine that the device is outside of the interior area when the BLE_RSSI is less than the predetermined first strength threshold).
The combination of Lee, CHO, Maldonano, and Saiki is considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because Lee, CHO, Maldonano, and Saiki are in the same field of vehicle remote control system as the claimed invention. 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 the Bluetooth communication circuit of Lee with teaching of Saiki. One of the ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to save battery life of the smart key (Saiki; 0046) and to implement remote keyless entry system (Saiki; 0046).
Regarding claim 15, The combination of Lee, CHO, Maldonano, and Saiki teaches the limitations of claim 9, upon which the instant claim depends, as discussed supra. Further, Lee teaches (Currently amended) The operation method according to claim 9, wherein the threshold standard is a distance threshold value (Lee, page 8 of translated copy; “first reference distance” and “second reference distance”), the wireless signal processing circuit is an ultra-wideband communication circuit (Lee, page 5 of translated copy; “Referring to FIG. 3, when a radio signal is transmitted from the remote control device 200 through the UWB communication network, the activated UWB antennas 111a to 111d respectively receive signals transmitted from the remote control device 200.”), the first state information is a first distance, and the second state information is a second distance (Lee, page 5 of translated copy and FIG. 3; “The vehicle 100 remotely operates with each of the UWB antennas 111a-111d based on the transmission timing and reception timing of the radio signal of the vehicle 100, and the transmission timing and reception timing of the radio signal of the remote control apparatus 200. The distance between the devices 200 can be measured.” As illustrated in FIG. 3, a first distance is shown between 111a and remote. A second distance is shown between 111b and remote);
wherein, when the ultra-wideband communication circuit determines that the first distance and the second distance are both greater than the distance threshold value (Lee, page 8 of translated copy; “Referring back to FIG. 5, the controller 140 determines whether the calculated distance between the UWB antenna 111 and the remote control apparatus 200 is equal to or less than the first reference distance dref1 (1112), and the first If the reference distance (dref1) or less ("YES" of 1112), the UWB communication unit 110 reduces the period of the pulse transmitted through the UWB communication network (1113), if not less than or equal to the first reference distance (dref1) (1111) "No"), the UWB communication unit 110 may be controlled to transmit the radio signal while maintaining the pulse period (1111).”),
wherein the operation method further comprises:
determining, by the ultra-wideband communication circuit, a status reported by an electronic control unit of the vehicle when at least one of the first distance and the second distance is less than or equal to the distance threshold value (Lee, page 8 of translated copy; “Referring back to FIG. 5, the controller 140 determines whether the calculated distance between the UWB antenna 111 and the remote control apparatus 200 is equal to or less than the first reference distance dref1 (1112), and the first If the reference distance (dref1) or less ("YES" of 1112), the UWB communication unit 110 reduces the period of the pulse transmitted through the UWB communication network (1113), if not less than or equal to the first reference distance (dref1) (1111) "No"), the UWB communication unit 110 may be controlled to transmit the radio signal while maintaining the pulse period (1111).”).
Lee does not explicitly teach the ultra-wideband communication circuit instructs the remote controller to enter the sleep state;
Saiki, in the same field of endeavor (Saiki, at least one para. 0003; “An electronic key system for a vehicle determines a position of a vehicle mobile device relative to a vehicle.”) teaches the ultra-wideband communication circuit instructs the remote controller to enter the sleep state (Saiki, at least one para. 0051; “In addition, when a state where no communication connection to the in-vehicle system 1 is detected continues for a given period in the active mode and when a state where the operation unit 21 is not operated continues for a given period, the key control unit 20 shifts the smart key 2 to the sleep mode.”);
The combination of Lee, CHO, Maldonano, and Saiki is considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because Lee, CHO, Maldonano, and Saiki are in the same field of vehicle remote control system as the claimed invention. 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 the Bluetooth communication circuit of Lee with teaching of Saiki. One of the ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to save battery life of the smart key (Saiki; 0046) and to implement remote keyless entry system (Saiki; 0046).
Regarding claim 16, The combination of Lee, CHO, Maldonano, and Saiki teaches the limitations of claim 9, upon which the instant claim depends, as discussed supra. Further, Lee teaches (Currently amended) The operation method according to claim 9, wherein the threshold standard is a first strength threshold value (Lee, page 10 of translated copy; “RSSI1” and “RSSI2”, it is inherent that RSSI1 and RSSI2 values have predetermined ranges to determine the signal strength), the wireless signal processing circuit is a BLUETOOTH® communication circuit (Lee, page 5 of translated copy; “An RF communication network is a communication network for radio signals transmitted in a high frequency band of 300 kHz or more. For example, the RF communication network may be a network using an ultra-high frequency (UHF) frequency band of 300 MHz or more and 3 GHz”, wherein Bluetooth frequency ranges from 2.402 GHz to 2.48 GHz) and (Lee, page 10 of translated copy; “For another example, when the RF communication unit 130 receives the reception strength value of the LF signal, the control unit 140 may receive the reception strength value of the LF signal from the RF communication unit 130.”), the first state information is a first received signal strength, and the second state information is a second received signal strength (Lee, page 5 of translated copy; “The vehicle 100 may receive the reception intensity values of the radio signals transmitted by the LF antennas 121a and 121b from the remote control apparatus 200, and based on the received reception intensity values, the vehicle LF antennas 121a and 121b. And the distance between the remote control device 200 can be measured.”, wherein the first reception strength value is through 121a and the second reception strength value is through 121b);
wherein, when the BLUETOOTH® communication circuit determines that the first received signal strength and the second received signal strength are both less than the first strength threshold value, the BLUETOOTH® communication circuit instructs the remote controller to enter the sleep state;
wherein the operation method further comprises:
determining, by the BLUETOOTH® communication circuit, whether the first received signal strength is less than or equal to a second strength threshold value and whether the second received signal strength is greater than or equal to a third strength threshold value when at least one of the first received signal strength and the second received signal strength is greater than or equal to the first strength threshold value; and
determining, by the BLUETOOTH® communication circuit, a status reported by an electronic control unit of the vehicle when the first received signal strength is less than or equal to the second strength threshold value and the second received signal strength is greater than or equal to the third strength threshold value; wherein the third strength threshold value is greater than the first strength threshold value and the first strength threshold value is greater than the second strength threshold value.
Lee does not explicitly teach wherein, when the BLUETOOTH® communication circuit determines that the first received signal strength and the second received signal strength are both less than the first strength threshold value, the BLUETOOTH® communication circuit instructs the remote controller to enter the sleep state;
wherein the operation method further comprises:
determining, by the BLUETOOTH® communication circuit, whether the first received signal strength is less than or equal to a second strength threshold value and whether the second received signal strength is greater than or equal to a third strength threshold value when at least one of the first received signal strength and the second received signal strength is greater than or equal to the first strength threshold value; and
determining, by the BLUETOOTH® communication circuit, a status reported by an electronic control unit of the vehicle when the first received signal strength is less than or equal to the second strength threshold value and the second received signal strength is greater than or equal to the third strength threshold value; wherein the third strength threshold value is greater than the first strength threshold value and the first strength threshold value is greater than the second strength threshold value.
Saiki, in the same field of endeavor (Saiki, at least one para. 0003; “An electronic key system for a vehicle determines a position of a vehicle mobile device relative to a vehicle.”) teaches wherein, when the BLUETOOTH® communication circuit determines that the first received signal strength and the second received signal strength are both less than the first strength threshold value (Saiki, at least one para. 0144; “Step S402 is a step of determining the device position based on the combination of the reception strength and the device distance acquired in step S401. The processor 41 determines that the device is present in the interior area when the BLE_RSSI is greater than or equal to a predetermined first strength threshold and the device distance is less than a first distance.”, wherein the processor determine that the device is outside of the interior area when the BLE_RSSI is less than the predetermined first strength threshold), the BLUETOOTH® communication circuit instructs the remote controller to enter the sleep state (Saiki, at least one para. 0051; “In addition, when a state where no communication connection to the in-vehicle system 1 is detected continues for a given period in the active mode and when a state where the operation unit 21 is not operated continues for a given period, the key control unit 20 shifts the smart key 2 to the sleep mode.”);
wherein the operation method further comprises: determining, by the BLUETOOTH® communication circuit, whether the first received signal strength is less than or equal to a second strength threshold value and whether the second received signal strength is greater than or equal to a third strength threshold value when at least one of the first received signal strength and the second received signal strength is greater than or equal to the first strength threshold value (Saiki, at least one para. 0145; “In addition, the processor 41 determines that the device is located in the left area EA_B when the BLE_RSSI is less than a predetermined second strength threshold and the device distance is less than a second distance. The second strength threshold can be set to a value that is a predetermined amount smaller than the first strength threshold, taking into consideration that the BLE communication device 7 is disposed on the interior side of the C-pillar. The second distance can be set to a value such as the distance from the left C-pillar to the outside door handle for the left front seat plus a predetermined value, such as 0.5 m. Furthermore, the processor 41 determines that the device is located in the right area EA_A or the rear area EA_C when the BLE_RSSI is less than a third strength threshold and the device distance is greater than the third distance and less than a fourth distance. The third strength threshold can be set to a value equal to or smaller than the second strength threshold, taking into account the presence of an obstruction such as a right door between the left C-pillar and the right area EA_A. ”); and
determining, by the BLUETOOTH® communication circuit, a status reported by an electronic control unit of the vehicle when the first received signal strength is less than or equal to the second strength threshold value and the second received signal strength is greater than or equal to the third strength threshold value; wherein the third strength threshold value is greater than the first strength threshold value and the first strength threshold value is greater than the second strength threshold value (Saiki, at least one para. 0059; “The smart ECU 4 is an ECU that determines a device position with respect to the vehicle Hv in cooperation with the BLE communication device 7 or the like and performs vehicle control according to the determination result of the device position.”).
The combination of Lee, CHO, Maldonano, and Saiki is considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because Lee, CHO, Maldonano, and Saiki are in the same field of vehicle remote control system as the claimed invention. 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 the Bluetooth communication circuit of Lee with teaching of Saiki. One of the ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to save battery life of the smart key (Saiki; 0046) and to implement remote keyless entry system (Saiki; 0046).
Regarding claim 17, The combination of Lee, CHO, Maldonano, and Saiki teaches the limitations of claim 9, upon which the instant claim depends, as discussed supra. Further, Lee teaches (Currently amended) The operation method according to claim 9, wherein the threshold standard is a first distance threshold value (Lee, page 8 of translated copy; “first reference distance” and “second reference distance”), the wireless signal processing circuit is an ultra-wideband communication circuit (Lee, page 5 of translated copy; “Referring to FIG. 3, when a radio signal is transmitted from the remote control device 200 through the UWB communication network, the activated UWB antennas 111a to 111d respectively receive signals transmitted from the remote control device 200.”), the first state information is a first distance, and the second state information is a second distance (Lee, page 5 of translated copy and FIG. 3; “The vehicle 100 remotely operates with each of the UWB antennas 111a-111d based on the transmission timing and reception timing of the radio signal of the vehicle 100, and the transmission timing and reception timing of the radio signal of the remote control apparatus 200. The distance between the devices 200 can be measured.” As illustrated in FIG. 3, a first distance is shown between 111a and remote. A second distance is shown between 111b and remote);
wherein, when the ultra-wideband communication circuit determines that the first distance and the second distance are both greater than the first distance threshold value (Lee, page 8 of translated copy; “Referring back to FIG. 5, the controller 140 determines whether the calculated distance between the UWB antenna 111 and the remote control apparatus 200 is equal to or less than the first reference distance dref1 (1112), and the first If the reference distance (dref1) or less ("YES" of 1112), the UWB communication unit 110 reduces the period of the pulse transmitted through the UWB communication network (1113), if not less than or equal to the first reference distance (dref1) (1111) "No"), the UWB communication unit 110 may be controlled to transmit the radio signal while maintaining the pulse period (1111).”),
wherein the operation method further comprises: determining, by the ultra-wideband communication circuit, whether the first distance is less than or equal to a second distance threshold value and whether the second distance is greater than or equal to a third distance threshold value when at least one of the first distance and the second distance is less than or equal to the first distance threshold value; and
determining, by a BLUETOOTH® communication circuit, a status reported by an electronic control unit of the vehicle when the first distance is less than or equal to the second distance threshold value and the second distance is greater than or equal to the third distance threshold value; wherein the third distance threshold value is greater than the first distance threshold value and the first distance threshold value is greater than the second distance threshold value.
Lee does not explicitly teach the ultra-wideband communication circuit instructs the remote controller to enter the sleep state;
wherein the operation method further comprises: determining, by the ultra-wideband communication circuit, whether the first distance is less than or equal to a second distance threshold value and whether the second distance is greater than or equal to a third distance threshold value when at least one of the first distance and the second distance is less than or equal to the first distance threshold value; and
determining, by a BLUETOOTH® communication circuit, a status reported by an electronic control unit of the vehicle when the first distance is less than or equal to the second distance threshold value and the second distance is greater than or equal to the third distance threshold value; wherein the third distance threshold value is greater than the first distance threshold value and the first distance threshold value is greater than the second distance threshold value.
Saiki, in the same field of endeavor (Saiki, at least one para. 0003; “An electronic key system for a vehicle determines a position of a vehicle mobile device relative to a vehicle.”) teaches the ultra-wideband communication circuit instructs the remote controller to enter the sleep state (Saiki, at least one para. 0051; “In addition, when a state where no communication connection to the in-vehicle system 1 is detected continues for a given period in the active mode and when a state where the operation unit 21 is not operated continues for a given period, the key control unit 20 shifts the smart key 2 to the sleep mode.”);
wherein the operation method further comprises: determining, by the ultra-wideband communication circuit, whether the first distance is less than or equal to a second distance threshold value and whether the second distance is greater than or equal to a third distance threshold value when at least one of the first distance and the second distance is less than or equal to the first distance threshold value (Saiki, at least one para. 0145; “In addition, the processor 41 determines that the device is located in the left area EA_B when the BLE_RSSI is less than a predetermined second strength threshold and the device distance is less than a second distance. The second strength threshold can be set to a value that is a predetermined amount smaller than the first strength threshold, taking into consideration that the BLE communication device 7 is disposed on the interior side of the C-pillar. The second distance can be set to a value such as the distance from the left C-pillar to the outside door handle for the left front seat plus a predetermined value, such as 0.5 m. Furthermore, the processor 41 determines that the device is located in the right area EA_A or the rear area EA_C when the BLE_RSSI is less than a third strength threshold and the device distance is greater than the third distance and less than a fourth distance. The third strength threshold can be set to a value equal to or smaller than the second strength threshold, taking into account the presence of an obstruction such as a right door between the left C-pillar and the right area EA_A. ”); and
determining, by a BLUETOOTH® communication circuit, a status reported by an electronic control unit of the vehicle when the first distance is less than or equal to the second distance threshold value and the second distance is greater than or equal to the third distance threshold value; wherein the third distance threshold value is greater than the first distance threshold value and the first distance threshold value is greater than the second distance threshold value (Saiki, at least one para. 0059; “The smart ECU 4 is an ECU that determines a device position with respect to the vehicle Hv in cooperation with the BLE communication device 7 or the like and performs vehicle control according to the determination result of the device position.”).
The combination of Lee, CHO, Maldonano, and Saiki is considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because Lee, CHO, Maldonano, and Saiki are in the same field of vehicle remote control system as the claimed invention. 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 the Bluetooth communication circuit of Lee with teaching of Saiki. One of the ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to save battery life of the smart key (Saiki; 0046) and to implement remote keyless entry system (Saiki; 0046).
Claim(s) 2-3 and 10-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee (KR 20200005973 A), CHO (WO 2022103187 A1), Maldonano (US 20190097715 A1), and Saiki (US 20240336226 A1), and in further view of Chang (US 20200151975 A1).
Regarding claim 2, The combination of Lee, CHO, Maldonano, and Saiki teaches the limitations of claim 1, upon which the instant claim depends, as discussed supra. Further, Lee teaches (Currently amended) The vehicle remote control system according to claim 1, wherein, when the remote controller is located between the first antenna and the second antenna (Lee, page 9 of translated copy and FIG. 3; “For example, when the UWB antennas 111a-111d are installed as shown in FIG. 3 and the remote control apparatus 200 approaches the left region of the vehicle 100, the controller 140 controls the left front light of the vehicle 100.”) and at least one of the first state information and the second state information complies with the threshold standard (Lee, page 8 of translated copy; “Referring back to FIG. 5, the controller 140 determines whether the calculated distance between the UWB antenna 111 and the remote control apparatus 200 is equal to or less than the first reference distance dref1 (1112), and the first If the reference distance (dref1) or less ("YES" of 1112), the UWB communication unit 110 reduces the period of the pulse transmitted through the UWB communication network (1113), if not less than or equal to the first reference distance (dref1) (1111) "No"), the UWB communication unit 110 may be controlled to transmit the radio signal while maintaining the pulse period (1111).”),
Lee does not explicitly teach the wireless signal processing circuit determines a status reported by an electronic control unit of the motorcycle.
Chang, in the same field of endeavor (Chang, at least one para. 0011; “Please refer to FIG. 1, which is a schematic diagram of a wireless control system 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention. In this example, the wireless control system 10 is an access control management system.”) teaches the wireless signal processing circuit determines a status reported by an electronic control unit of the vehicle (Chang, at least one para. 0023; “The central control device 300 includes a Bluetooth module 304 and a logic module 306. The Bluetooth module 304 is able to establish a Bluetooth connection with the portable electronic device 302 and to transmit related information to the logic module 306. The logic module 306 is able to determine whether to activate the vehicle 32 accordingly.”).
The combination of Lee, CHO, Maldonano, Saiki, and Chang is considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because Lee, CHO, Maldonano, Saiki, and Chang are in the same field of vehicle remote control system as the claimed invention. 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 the first state information and the second state information of Lee with teaching of Chang. One of the ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to adopt a secondary or auxiliary authentication between the remote control and the vehicle (Chang; 0023).
Regarding claim 3, The combination of Lee, CHO, Maldonano, Saiki, and Chang teaches the limitations of claim 2, upon which the instant claim depends, as discussed supra. Further, Chang teaches (Currently amended) The vehicle remote control system according to claim 2, wherein the status is a status of a power switch of the motorcycle or a status of an engine of the vehicle (Chang, at least one para. 0024; “Specifically, after a user enters the vehicle 32 (by utilizing a key or the portable electronic device 302 to unlock a car door), the user enables connection between the battery 320 and the logic module 306 via the activation switch 322 (for example, by rotating a key or pressing an activation button). Then, the battery 320 outputs an activation signal SI to the logic module 306 to start up the Bluetooth module 304 and the logic module 306.”).
Regarding claim 10, The combination of Lee, CHO, Maldonano, and Saiki teaches the limitations of claim 9, upon which the instant claim depends, as discussed supra. Further, Lee teaches (Currently amended) The operation method according to claim 9, wherein, when the remote controller is located between the first antenna and the second antenna (Lee, page 9 of translated copy and FIG. 3; “For example, when the UWB antennas 111a-111d are installed as shown in FIG. 3 and the remote control apparatus 200 approaches the left region of the vehicle 100, the controller 140 controls the left front light of the vehicle 100.”) and at least one of the first state information and the second state information complies with the threshold standard (Lee, page 8 of translated copy; “Referring back to FIG. 5, the controller 140 determines whether the calculated distance between the UWB antenna 111 and the remote control apparatus 200 is equal to or less than the first reference distance dref1 (1112), and the first If the reference distance (dref1) or less ("YES" of 1112), the UWB communication unit 110 reduces the period of the pulse transmitted through the UWB communication network (1113), if not less than or equal to the first reference distance (dref1) (1111) "No"), the UWB communication unit 110 may be controlled to transmit the radio signal while maintaining the pulse period (1111).”),
Lee does not explicitly teach the wireless signal processing circuit determines a status reported by an electronic control unit of the vehicle.
Chang, in the same field of endeavor (Chang, at least one para. 0011; “Please refer to FIG. 1, which is a schematic diagram of a wireless control system 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention. In this example, the wireless control system 10 is an access control management system.”) teaches the wireless signal processing circuit determines a status reported by an electronic control unit of the vehicle (Chang, at least one para. 0023; “The central control device 300 includes a Bluetooth module 304 and a logic module 306. The Bluetooth module 304 is able to establish a Bluetooth connection with the portable electronic device 302 and to transmit related information to the logic module 306. The logic module 306 is able to determine whether to activate the vehicle 32 accordingly.”).
The Lee and Chang are both considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because Lee and Chang are in the same field of vehicle remote control system as the claimed invention. 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 the first state information and the second state information of Lee with teaching of Chang. One of the ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to adopt a secondary or auxiliary authentication between the remote control and the vehicle (Chang; 0023).
Regarding claim 11, The combination of Lee, CHO, Maldonano, Saiki, and Chang teaches the limitations of claim 10, upon which the instant claim depends, as discussed supra. Further, Chang teaches (Currently amended) The operation method according to claim 10, wherein the status is a status of a power switch of the vehicle or a status of an engine of the vehicle (Chang, at least one para. 0024; “Specifically, after a user enters the vehicle 32 (by utilizing a key or the portable electronic device 302 to unlock a car door), the user enables connection between the battery 320 and the logic module 306 via the activation switch 322 (for example, by rotating a key or pressing an activation button). Then, the battery 320 outputs an activation signal SI to the logic module 306 to start up the Bluetooth module 304 and the logic module 306.”).
Claim(s) 4 and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee (KR 20200005973 A), CHO (WO 2022103187 A1), Maldonano (US 20190097715 A1), and Saiki (US 20240336226 A1), and in further view of Hsin (US 20210297143 A1).
Regarding claim 4, The combination of Lee, CHO, Maldonano, and Saiki teaches the limitations of claim 1, upon which the instant claim depends, as discussed supra. Further, Maldonano teaches (Previously Presented) The vehicle remote control system according to claim 1, wherein, when the switch device is in a first state (Maldonano, at least one para. 0036 and FIG. 2; “Apparatus 200, as illustrated, includes an arrangement where Ant 1 241 and Ant 3 243 are coupled to antenna switches 202 and 204 with a transmission line or trace 206.”, wherein the antenna 241 is connected to the bottom receiver 224 through the antenna switch 204), a first signal transmission path between the first antenna and the wireless signal processing circuit is in a conductive state, a second transmission path between the second antenna and the wireless signal processing circuit is in a non-conductive state, and the wireless signal processing circuit reads a first signal of the remote controller received by the first antenna to calculate the first state information;
wherein, when the switch device is in a second state (Maldonano, at least one para. 0036 and FIG. 2; “Apparatus 200, as illustrated, includes an arrangement where Ant 1 241 and Ant 3 243 are coupled to antenna switches 202 and 204 with a transmission line or trace 206.”, wherein the antenna 241 is connected to the bottom receiver 224 through the antenna switch 204), the first signal transmission path is in the non-conductive state, the second signal transmission path is in the conductive state, and the wireless signal processing circuit reads a second signal of the remote controller received by the second antenna to calculate the second state information.
Maldonano does not explicitly teach a first signal transmission path between the first antenna and the wireless signal processing circuit is in a conductive state, a second transmission path between the second antenna and the wireless signal processing circuit is in a non-conductive state, and the wireless signal processing circuit reads a first signal of the remote controller received by the first antenna to calculate the first state information;
the first signal transmission path is in the non-conductive state, the second signal transmission path is in the conductive state, and the wireless signal processing circuit reads a second signal of the remote controller received by the second antenna to calculate the second state information.
Hsin, in the same field of endeavor (Hsin, at least one para. 0004; “One embodiment of the present invention discloses an antenna selection method.”) teaches a first signal transmission path between the first antenna and the wireless signal processing circuit is in a conductive state, a second transmission path between the second antenna and the wireless signal processing circuit is in a non-conductive state, and the wireless signal processing circuit reads a first signal of the remote controller received by the first antenna to calculate the first state information (Hsin, at least one para. 0014; “In particular, the baseband circuit 160 within the processing circuit 102 generates the control signal Vc to the switch circuit 110 for setting the vertical polarized antenna ANT_V2, i.e. the two vertical polarized antenna ANT_V1 and ANT_V2 are configured as the first type of antenna combination for signal transmission and reception. The switch circuit 110 may disable connection between the horizontal polarized antenna ANT_H and the bandpass filter 120 at this point.”);
the first signal transmission path is in the non-conductive state, the second signal transmission path is in the conductive state, and the wireless signal processing circuit reads a second signal of the remote controller received by the second antenna to calculate the second state information (Hsin, at least one para. 0015; “In particular, the baseband circuit 160 within the processing circuit 102 generates the control signal Vc to the switch circuit 110 to switch to the horizontal polarized antenna ANT_H, i.e. the vertical polarized antenna ANT_V1 and the horizontal polarized antenna ANT_H are configured as the second type of antenna combination for signal transmission and reception. The switch circuit 110 may disable connection between the vertical polarized antenna ANT_V2 and the bandpass filter 120 at this point.”).
The combination of Lee, CHO, Maldonano, Saiki, and Hsin is considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because Lee, CHO, Maldonano, Saiki, and Hsin are in the same field of antenna selection as the claimed invention. 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 the antenna switch of Maldonano with teaching of Hsin. One of the ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification so that the processing circuit is able to select between the first signal quality parameter and the second signal quality parameter (Hsin; 0016).
Regarding claim 13, The combination of Lee, CHO, Maldonano, and Saiki teaches the limitations of claim 9, upon which the instant claim depends, as discussed supra. Further, Maldonano teaches (Original ) The operation method according to claim 9, wherein the antenna switching action includes (Maldonano, at least one para. 0036 and FIG. 2; “Apparatus 200, as illustrated, includes an arrangement where Ant 1 241 and Ant 3 243 are coupled to antenna switches 202 and 204 with a transmission line or trace 206.”, wherein the antenna 241 is connected to the bottom receiver 224 through the antenna switch 204): switching a first signal transmission path between the first antenna and the wireless signal processing circuit to be in a non-conductive state;
and switching a second signal transmission path between the second antenna and the wireless signal processing circuit to be in a conductive state.
Maldonano does not explicitly teach switching a first signal transmission path between the first antenna and the wireless signal processing circuit to be in a non-conductive state;
and switching a second signal transmission path between the second antenna and the wireless signal processing circuit to be in a conductive state.
Hsin, in the same field of endeavor (Hsin, at least one para. 0004; “One embodiment of the present invention discloses an antenna selection method.”) teaches switching a first signal transmission path between the first antenna and the wireless signal processing circuit to be in a non-conductive state (Hsin, at least one para. 0014; “In particular, the baseband circuit 160 within the processing circuit 102 generates the control signal Vc to the switch circuit 110 for setting the vertical polarized antenna ANT_V2, i.e. the two vertical polarized antenna ANT_V1 and ANT_V2 are configured as the first type of antenna combination for signal transmission and reception. The switch circuit 110 may disable connection between the horizontal polarized antenna ANT_H and the bandpass filter 120 at this point.”);
and switching a second signal transmission path between the second antenna and the wireless signal processing circuit to be in a conductive state (Hsin, at least one para. 0015; “In particular, the baseband circuit 160 within the processing circuit 102 generates the control signal Vc to the switch circuit 110 to switch to the horizontal polarized antenna ANT_H, i.e. the vertical polarized antenna ANT_V1 and the horizontal polarized antenna ANT_H are configured as the second type of antenna combination for signal transmission and reception. The switch circuit 110 may disable connection between the vertical polarized antenna ANT_V2 and the bandpass filter 120 at this point.”).
The combination of Lee, CHO, Maldonano, Saiki, and Hsin is considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because Lee, CHO, Maldonano, Saiki, and Hsin are in the same field of antenna selection as the claimed invention. 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 the antenna switch of Maldonano with teaching of Hsin. One of the ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification so that the processing circuit is able to select between the first signal quality parameter and the second signal quality parameter (Hsin; 0016).
Claim(s) 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee (KR 20200005973 A), CHO (WO 2022103187 A1), Maldonano (US 20190097715 A1), and Saiki (US 20240336226 A1), and further in view of Lei (CN 114299644 A).
Regarding claim 8, The combination of Lee, CHO, Maldonano, and Saiki teaches the limitations of claim 1, upon which the instant claim depends, as discussed supra. Further, Lee teaches (Currently amended) The vehicle remote control system according to claim 7, further comprising a BLUETOOTH® communication circuit and a BLUETOOTH® antenna, wherein the BLUETOOTH® communication circuit is connected to the BLUETOOTH® antenna (Lee, page 4 of translated copy; “the vehicle 100 may further include an RF antenna for receiving a radio signal through a radio frequency (RF) communication network.”), the ultra-wideband communication circuit (Lee, page 5 of translated copy; “Referring to FIG. 3, when a radio signal is transmitted from the remote control device 200 through the UWB communication network”),
wherein, when the BLUETOOTH® communication circuit determines that a received signal strength between the remote controller and the vehicle is greater than a strength threshold value, the BLUETOOTH® communication circuit enables the ultra-wideband communication circuit.
Lee does not explicitly teach the switch device;
wherein, when the BLUETOOTH® communication circuit determines that a received signal strength between the remote controller and the vehicle is greater than a strength threshold value, the BLUETOOTH® communication circuit enables the ultra-wideband communication circuit.
Maldonano, in the same field of endeavor (Maldonano, at least one para. 0005; “According to an aspect, the present disclosure provides a method for controlling a wireless device having at least one radio frequency (RF) system. In particular, the method includes selecting an antenna for transmission of signals from radio components of the at least one RF system from between a first default antenna that is normally coupled to the radio components of the at least one RF system for transmission of signals and one of a plurality of other antennas in the wireless device.”) teaches the switch device (Maldonano, at least one para. 0036 and FIG. 2; “Apparatus 200, as illustrated, includes an arrangement where Ant 1 241 and Ant 3 243 are coupled to antenna switches 202 and 204 with a transmission line or trace 206.”, wherein the antenna 241 is connected to the bottom receiver 224 through the antenna switch 204);
wherein, when the BLUETOOTH® communication circuit determines that a received signal strength between the remote controller and the vehicle is greater than a strength threshold value, the BLUETOOTH® communication circuit enables the ultra-wideband communication circuit.
Lee and Maldonano are both considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because Lee and Maldonano are in the same field of vehicle remote control system as the claimed invention. 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 the first antenna and the second antenna of Lee with teaching of Maldonano. One of the ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification so that optimal antenna can be determined for signal transferring (Maldonano; 0043).
The combination of Lee and Maldonano does not explicitly teach wherein, when the BLUETOOTH® communication circuit determines that a received signal strength between the remote controller and the vehicle is greater than a strength threshold value, the BLUETOOTH® communication circuit enables the ultra-wideband communication circuit.
Saiki, in the same field of endeavor (Saiki, at least one para. 0003; “An electronic key system for a vehicle determines a position of a vehicle mobile device relative to a vehicle.”) teaches wherein, when the BLUETOOTH® communication circuit determines that a received signal strength between the remote controller and the vehicle is greater than a strength threshold value (Saiki, at least one para. 0144; “Step S402 is a step of determining the device position based on the combination of the reception strength and the device distance acquired in step S401. The processor 41 determines that the device is present in the interior area when the BLE_RSSI is greater than or equal to a predetermined first strength threshold and the device distance is less than a first distance.”),
The combination of Lee, Maldonano, and Saiki is all considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because Lee, Maldonano, and Saiki are all in the same field of vehicle remote control system as the claimed invention. 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 the Bluetooth communication circuit of Lee with teaching of Saiki. One of the ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to save battery life of the smart key (Saiki; 0046) and to implement remote keyless entry system (Saiki; 0046).
The combination of Lee, Maldonano, and Saiki does not explicitly teach the BLUETOOTH® communication circuit enables the ultra-wideband communication circuit.
Lei, in the same field of endeavor (Lei, page 2 of translated copy; “In view of this, the purpose of the invention is to provide a vehicle entering system and vehicle entering method capable of more accurately locating the vehicle key to improve the user experience.”) teaches the BLUETOOTH® communication circuit enables the ultra-wideband communication circuit (Lei, page 6 of translated copy; “the signal intensity of at least 2 from the Bluetooth unit 21 of the slave node module 2 after receiving the second distance measuring control signal to open the first ultra-wideband unit 22”).
The combination of Lee, Maldonano, Saiki, and Lei is all considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because Lee, Maldonano, Saiki, and Lei are all in the same field of vehicle remote control system as the claimed invention. 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 selection of ultra-wideband communication circuit of Lee with teaching of Lei. One of the ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to precisely calculate the position of the vehicle key to improve the sensitivity of unlocking and locking doors (Lei; page 6 of translated copy).
Claim(s) 18-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee (KR 20200005973 A), CHO (WO 2022103187 A1), Maldonano (US 20190097715 A1), and Saiki (US 20240336226 A1), and further in view of Wu (US 20230193869 A1).
Regarding claim 18, The combination of Lee, CHO, Maldonano, and Saiki teaches the limitations of claim 1, upon which the instant claim depends, as discussed supra. Further, Saiki teaches (Currently Amended) The vehicle remote control system according to claim 1, wherein, when at least one of the first state information and the second state information does not comply with the threshold standard (Saiki, at least one para. 0144; “Step S402 is a step of determining the device position based on the combination of the reception strength and the device distance acquired in step S401. The processor 41 determines that the device is present in the interior area when the BLE_RSSI is greater than or equal to a predetermined first strength threshold and the device distance is less than a first distance.” , wherein the processor determine that the device is outside of the interior area when the BLE_RSSI is less than the predetermined first strength threshold), the wireless signal processing circuit checks whether an engine of the vehicle is started; when the engine is started, the wireless signal processing circuit instructs the remote controller to enter the sleep state; when the engine of the vehicle is not started, the wireless signal processing circuit instructs an electronic control unit of the vehicle to start the engine.
Saiki does not explicitly teach that the wireless signal processing circuit checks whether an engine of the vehicle is started; when the engine is started, the wireless signal processing circuit instructs the remote controller to enter the sleep state; when the engine of the vehicle is not started, the wireless signal processing circuit instructs an electronic control unit of the vehicle to start the engine.
However, Wu, in the same field of endeavor (Wu, at least one para. 0003; “The present disclosure relates to a remote controller, a remote-control system and a control method thereof.”) teaches the wireless signal processing circuit checks whether an engine of the vehicle is started; when the engine is started, the wireless signal processing circuit instructs the remote controller to enter the sleep state; when the engine of the vehicle is not started, the wireless signal processing circuit instructs an electronic control unit of the vehicle to start the engine (Wu, at least one para. 0037; “When the received signal strength indication is greater than or equal to the strength threshold, the first micro-control unit 142 of the first BLUETOOTH circuit 14 transmits the motion index value saved in the third register 146 to the controlled device E. Or, when the received signal strength indication is greater than or equal to the strength threshold and the remote controller KS1 is in communication with the controlled device E, the first micro-control unit 142 of the first BLUETOOTH circuit 14 transmits the motion index value saved in the third register 146 to the controlled device E. When the controlled device E receives the motion index value, the controlled device E notifies the remote controller KS1 to be switched from the working state to the sleep state. When the received signal strength indication is less than the strength threshold, the first BLUETOOTH circuit 14 is switched from the working state to the sleep state.”) and (Wu, at least one para. 0036; “The first BLUETOOTH circuit 14 is switched from the sleep state to a working state due to the interrupt signal, and the working state includes a startup state.”).
The combination of Lee, CHO, Maldonano, Saiki, and Wu is considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because Lee, CHO, Maldonano, Saiki, and Wu are in the same field of vehicle remote control system as the claimed invention. 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 the Bluetooth communication circuit of Lee Saiki teaching of Wu. One of the ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to set a safe distance between the remote controller and controlled device (Wu; 0037). Furthermore, All the claimed elements were known in the prior art and one skilled in the art could have combined the elements as claimed by known methods with no change in their respective functions, and the combination would have yielded predictable results to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention.
Regarding claim 19, The combination of Lee, CHO, Maldonano, and Saiki teaches the limitations of claim 9, upon which the instant claim depends, as discussed supra. Further, Saiki teaches (Currently Amended) The operation method according to claim 9, wherein, when at least one of the first state information and the second state information does not comply with the threshold standard (Saiki, at least one para. 0144; “Step S402 is a step of determining the device position based on the combination of the reception strength and the device distance acquired in step S401. The processor 41 determines that the device is present in the interior area when the BLE_RSSI is greater than or equal to a predetermined first strength threshold and the device distance is less than a first distance.” , wherein the processor determine that the device is outside of the interior area when the BLE_RSSI is less than the predetermined first strength threshold), the wireless signal processing circuit checks whether an engine of the vehicle is started; when the engine is started, the wireless signal processing circuit instructs the remote controller to enter the sleep state; when the engine of the vehicle is not started, the wireless signal processing circuit instructs an electronic control unit of the vehicle to start the engine.
Saiki does not explicitly teach that the wireless signal processing circuit checks whether an engine of the vehicle is started; when the engine is started, the wireless signal processing circuit instructs the remote controller to enter the sleep state; when the engine of the vehicle is not started, the wireless signal processing circuit instructs an electronic control unit of the vehicle to start the engine.
However, Wu, in the same field of endeavor (Wu, at least one para. 0003; “The present disclosure relates to a remote controller, a remote-control system and a control method thereof.”) teaches the wireless signal processing circuit checks whether an engine of the vehicle is started; when the engine is started, the wireless signal processing circuit instructs the remote controller to enter the sleep state; when the engine of the vehicle is not started, the wireless signal processing circuit instructs an electronic control unit of the vehicle to start the engine (Wu, at least one para. 0037; “When the received signal strength indication is greater than or equal to the strength threshold, the first micro-control unit 142 of the first BLUETOOTH circuit 14 transmits the motion index value saved in the third register 146 to the controlled device E. Or, when the received signal strength indication is greater than or equal to the strength threshold and the remote controller KS1 is in communication with the controlled device E, the first micro-control unit 142 of the first BLUETOOTH circuit 14 transmits the motion index value saved in the third register 146 to the controlled device E. When the controlled device E receives the motion index value, the controlled device E notifies the remote controller KS1 to be switched from the working state to the sleep state. When the received signal strength indication is less than the strength threshold, the first BLUETOOTH circuit 14 is switched from the working state to the sleep state.”) and (Wu, at least one para. 0036; “The first BLUETOOTH circuit 14 is switched from the sleep state to a working state due to the interrupt signal, and the working state includes a startup state.”).
The combination of Lee, CHO, Maldonano, Saiki, and Wu is considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because Lee, CHO, Maldonano, Saiki, and Wu are in the same field of vehicle remote control system as the claimed invention. 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 the Bluetooth communication circuit of Lee Saiki teaching of Wu. One of the ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to set a safe distance between the remote controller and controlled device (Wu; 0037). Furthermore, All the claimed elements were known in the prior art and one skilled in the art could have combined the elements as claimed by known methods with no change in their respective functions, and the combination would have yielded predictable results to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention.
Regarding claim 20, The combination of Lee, CHO, Maldonano, and Saiki teaches the limitations of claim 1, upon which the instant claim depends, as discussed supra. Further, Lee teaches (New) The vehicle remote control system according to claim 1, wherein the vehicle is a motorcycle (Lee, FIG. 1; “the vehicle 100”, wherein the vehicle is seen as the motorcycle).
Even though the claimed vehicle of Lee can be a motorcycle, Lee does not explicitly state that the vehicle is a motorcycle.
However, Wu, in the same field of endeavor (Wu, at least one para. 0003; “The present disclosure relates to a remote controller, a remote-control system and a control method thereof.”) teaches that the vehicle can be a motorcycle (Wu, at least one para. 0039; “The type of the controlled device E is not limited, such as a motorbike, a bicycle, a car or a multimedia audio-visual device.”)
The combination of Lee, CHO, Maldonano, Saiki, and Wu is considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because Lee, CHO, Maldonano, Saiki, and Wu are in the same field of vehicle remote control system as the claimed invention. 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 the Bluetooth communication circuit of Lee Saiki teaching of Wu. The claim would have been obvious because the substitution of one known element for another would have yielded predictable results to one of ordinary skill in the art.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to UPUL P CHANDRASIRI whose telephone number is (703)756-5823. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8.30 am to 5pm.
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, Christian Chace can be reached at 571-272-4190. 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.
/U.P.C./ Examiner, Art Unit 3665 /CHRISTIAN CHACE/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3665