Prosecution Insights
Last updated: October 02, 2026
Application No. 18/536,750

METHOD OPERABLE IN A VEHICLE RADIO SYSTEM

Final Rejection §103
Filed
Dec 12, 2023
Priority
Dec 21, 2022 — provisional 63/476,637
Examiner
MENGESHA, MULUGETA A
Art Unit
2424
Tech Center
2400 — Computer Networks
Assignee
iBiquity Digital Corporation
OA Round
4 (Final)
82%
Grant Probability
Favorable
5-6
OA Rounds
0m
Est. Remaining
92%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 82% — above average
82%
Career Allowance Rate
609 granted / 746 resolved
+23.6% vs TC avg
Moderate +10% lift
Without
With
+10.0%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 4m
Avg Prosecution
15 currently pending
Career history
770
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
12.0%
-28.0% vs TC avg
§103
51.3%
+11.3% vs TC avg
§102
15.9%
-24.1% vs TC avg
§112
5.5%
-34.5% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 746 resolved cases

Office Action

§103
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 . Response to Arguments Applicant's arguments filed 06/18/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Applicant argue that LEE does not discloses “outputting for display at a user interface, an indication that includes information about radio broadcast channels whose broadcasting range are determined to overlap with the vehicle location of the vehicle”. The Examiner respectfully disagrees. LEE clearly discloses outputting for display at a user interface, an indication that includes information about radio broadcast channels whose broadcasting range are determined to overlap with the vehicle location of the vehicle (see included but not limited; see fig. 6; page.10, ¶0236-¶0237; discloses FIG. 6, the controller 110 may calculate the first broadcast station list, which is a candidate list of electric field overlapping areas, based on the current frequency set by the user and the current location of the vehicle 1 determined by the location receiver 104…broadcast station list may include broadcast station A and broadcast station B, and the name of a broadcast station to be displayed on the display device 102 may be ‘KBS 1st Radio’ of broadcast station A or ‘KBS Classic FM’ of broadcast station B… ). Claims Status Claims 1-20 are currently pending in the application. Claims 11-20 are new claims 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 text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action. Claims 1-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2024/0129833 A1 to LEE et al in-view US 2018/0205492 A1 to Littlejohn et al, and further in view of US 9,438,359 B2 to Haslam. As to claims 1 and 10, LEE discloses a method [ a vehicle radio system comprising a receiver, a user interface; and a processor] operable by a vehicle processor (see fig.1-2), the method comprising: causing a vehicle receiver to receive a radio broadcast channel, transmitting location and broadcasting range for one or more other radio broadcast channels whose broadcasting range overlaps with a first broadcasting range of the radio broadcast channel; determining a vehicle location of the vehicle (see fig. 4A-4B and 5; page.9, ¶0227-¶0230¶); determining if the broadcasting range of any of the or more other radio broadcast channels overlaps with the vehicle location of the vehicle; and outputting for display at a user interface, an indication that includes information about radio broadcast channels whose broadcasting range are determined to overlap with the vehicle location of the vehicle (see fig. 6; page.10, ¶0236-¶0237; discloses FIG. 6, the controller 110 may calculate the first broadcast station list, which is a candidate list of electric field overlapping areas, based on the current frequency set by the user and the current location of the vehicle 1 determined by the location receiver 104…broadcast station list may include broadcast station A and broadcast station B, and the name of a broadcast station to be displayed on the display device 102 may be ‘KBS 1st Radio’ of broadcast station A or ‘KBS Classic FM’ of broadcast station B…). LEE does not explicitly discloses obtaining from digital sideband information Littlejohn discloses obtaining directly from digital sideband information of the received radio broadcast channel (see fig.1; page.3, ¶0030). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify LEE with the teaching as taught by Littlejohn in order to increasing accuracy of data subsequently provided to the receiver device and improving user experience. LEE and Littlejohn do not explicitly disclose digital data encoded in the radio broadcast channel, wherein the digital data comprising a respective digital broadcast identifier. Haslam discloses digital data encoded in the radio broadcast channel, wherein the digital data comprising a respective digital broadcast identifier (see fig.2-4;col.6,ll.16-22 and col.8,ll.18-37). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify LEE and Littlejohn with the teaching as taught by Haslam in order to provide an automatic switching to the same digital audio data when the receiver outside of regions in which broadcast stations transmit such audio data. As to claim 2 and 11, LEE further discloses receiving a position information associated with a vehicle having the vehicle processor from a separate processor over a vehicle network (see fig.2; page.5, ¶0116). As to claims 3 and 12, LEE further discloses wherein said radio broadcast channel comprises one of: a Frequency Modulated, FM; an Amplitude Modulated, AM; or a digitally encoded broadcast (see fig.5-6; page.4, ¶0083). As to claims 4 and 13, LEE further discloses comprising obtaining the digital data through a Radio Data System, RDS of an FM broadcast (see fig. 9; page.11, ¶0251,¶0122). As to claims 5 and 14, LEE further discloses comprising iteratively determining an updated vehicle location of a vehicle associated with the vehicle processor, determining for each iteratively determined updated vehicle location of the vehicle, if the broadcasting range of any of the one or more other radio broadcast channels overlaps with said iteratively determined updated vehicle location of the vehicle; and updating an output for display at the user interface, by updating the indication to include only information about additional radio broadcast channels whose broadcasting range overlap with the updated vehicle location of the vehicle (see fig.5-7; page.9, ¶0227-¶0234). As to claim 6, LEE further discloses further discloses performing determining an updated vehicle location, determining for each iteratively determined updated vehicle location of the vehicle and updating an output for display at the user interface in response to determining that the updated vehicle location of the vehicle has changed after a waiting period greater than a threshold amount (see fig.5-7; page.9, ¶0227-¶0234). As to claims 7 and 16, LEE further discloses outputting for display at the user interface, information about a first set of radio of radio broadcast channels previously available at said vehicle receiver(see page.4, ¶0086, ¶0228-¶0229). As to claim 8 and 17, LEE further discloses wherein the first set of radio broadcast channels comprise radio broadcast channels saved by a user of a vehicle associated with the vehicle processor (see page.4, ¶0086, ¶0228-¶0229). As to claims 9 and 18, LEE further discloses wherein said vehicle processor is responsive to user interaction with said user interface to cause said vehicle receiver to tune to a radio broadcast channel selected by a user of said vehicle(see fig.1-2; page.6,¶0139-¶0140). As to claim 15, LEE further discloses wherein, based on a determination that the vehicle location of the vehicle has changed after a waiting period greater than a threshold amount, the instructions cause the processor to iteratively: determine an updated vehicle location of the vehicle, determine for each updated vehicle location of the vehicle, if the broadcasting range of any of the one or more other radio broadcast channels overlap with each iteratively determined updated vehicle location of the vehicle; and update an output for display at the user interface by updating the indication to include only information about additional radio broadcast channels whose broadcasting range overlap with the updated vehicle location of the vehicle (see fig.5-7; page.9, ¶0227-¶0234). As to claim 19, the claim limitation corresponds to the limitation as recited in the rejected claims 1 and 10. Therefore, Claim 19 is rejected for the same reason as discussed in Claims 1 and 10. As to claim 20, the claim limitation corresponds to the limitation as recited in the rejected claims 7 and 8. Therefore, Claim 20 is rejected for the same reason as discussed in Claims 1 and 10. Conclusion Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a). A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MULUGETA MENGESHA whose telephone number is (469)295-9212. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9:00AM-5:30PM ET. 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, Benjamin Bruckart can be reached on 571-272-3982. 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. /Mulugeta Mengesha/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2424
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Prosecution Timeline

Show 6 earlier events
Dec 02, 2025
Final Rejection mailed — §103
Feb 25, 2026
Request for Continued Examination
Mar 08, 2026
Response after Non-Final Action
Mar 20, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §103
May 28, 2026
Applicant Interview (Telephonic)
May 28, 2026
Examiner Interview Summary
Jun 18, 2026
Response Filed
Aug 26, 2026
Final Rejection mailed — §103 (current)

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Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

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Prosecution Projections

5-6
Expected OA Rounds
82%
Grant Probability
92%
With Interview (+10.0%)
2y 4m (~0m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
High
PTA Risk
Based on 746 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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