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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 09/20/2024 and 12/30/2025 has been considered by examiner and made of record in the application file.
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over YANG (US 20230180111 A1) in view of ISLAM (US 20190373665 A1).
Regarding Claim 1, Yang discloses A method of wireless communication at a vehicular user equipment (UE), comprising:
evaluating (paragraph [0165], "The terminal device may record a cell (whose communications RAT is higher than a cell accessed before the terminal device falls into a lower RAT) accessed when the terminal device moves out of the underground garage. In this case, when detecting that the terminal device moves out of the underground garage again, the terminal device may access the recorded cell." (i.e., recorded cell reading as RAT coverage criteria.));
identifying a vehicle mobility state associated with vehicle specific information (paragraph [0373], "Considering that in a driving route, a journey is usually relatively flat, and motion data (for example, an attitude angle) does not change obviously in a driving process of a vehicle. Therefore, whether the terminal device is in the non-ground underground garage scenario may be determined by using the motion data. For example, if a network anomaly occurs on the terminal device on the driving route, but it is determined, by using the collected motion data, that a change of the motion data is relatively small (which indicates that the driving route is relatively flat), it is determined that the terminal device is in the non-underground garage scenario." (i.e., identifying the vehicle state such as a parked state in an garage or moving based on motion data.));
calculating a time to trigger a preferred RAT coverage recovery associated with the vehicle mobility state and the preferred RAT coverage criteria and the (paragraph [0373], "Considering that in a driving route, a journey is usually relatively flat, and motion data (for example, an attitude angle) does not change obviously in a driving process of a vehicle. Therefore, whether the terminal device is in the non-ground underground garage scenario may be determined by using the motion data. For example, if a network anomaly occurs on the terminal device on the driving route, but it is determined, by using the collected motion data, that a change of the motion data is relatively small (which indicates that the driving route is relatively flat), it is determined that the terminal device is in the non-underground garage scenario." and paragraph [0389], Fig.15, "When a user drives through the driving route in FIG. 15, the terminal device is dropped from a network/falls into a lower RAT. The terminal device detects a first moment of no network/a fall into a lower RAT, and uses the first moment of no network/a fall into a lower RAT as a start point and a historical network restoration moment as an end point, or uses a preset moment after the historical network moment (for example, 10 s or 10 ms after the historical network restoration moment) as an end point. The terminal device determines a first intermediate point between the start point and the end point, and equally divides duration between the first intermediate point and the end point into L time intervals, where L is an integer greater than or equal to 2, for example, L=5. If the L time intervals correspond to L trigger occasions, the terminal device triggers first network search on a first trigger occasion (namely, the first intermediate point)." (i.e., Using the car motion to determine if the car is in the moving scenario and not going into a parked garage and performing a time to trigger of network search.));
and performing a first mode frequency scan in accordance with the time to trigger the preferred RAT coverage recovery, prior to the vehicular UE departing an area comprising a coverage hole (paragraph [0389], Fig.15, "When a user drives through the driving route in FIG. 15, the terminal device is dropped from a network/falls into a lower RAT. The terminal device detects a first moment of no network/a fall into a lower RAT, and uses the first moment of no network/a fall into a lower RAT as a start point and a historical network restoration moment as an end point, or uses a preset moment after the historical network moment (for example, 10 s or 10 ms after the historical network restoration moment) as an end point. The terminal device determines a first intermediate point between the start point and the end point, and equally divides duration between the first intermediate point and the end point into L time intervals, where L is an integer greater than or equal to 2, for example, L=5. If the L time intervals correspond to L trigger occasions, the terminal device triggers first network search on a first trigger occasion (namely, the first intermediate point). Assuming that a network is successfully restored after network search is triggered at the first intermediate point, the first intermediate point is referred to as a minimum successful attempt point (minSus)." (i.e., before the vehicle exits the tunnel it starts to connect to the network before exiting the tunnel see Fig.15.)).
However, Yang does not explicitly disclose of was not relied upon evaluating preferred radio access technology (RAT) coverage criteria; and the preferred RAT coverage criteria.
Islam discloses evaluating preferred radio access technology (RAT) coverage criteria (paragraph [0031], "Rather than perform a full scan of all frequencies and technologies, for an initial period when vehicle 102 connectivity is requested, the cellular scan application 222 may be further configured to direct the modem 208 to reconnect to the latest settings 224…" and paragraph [0037], Fig., "At 308, the telematics controller 202 stores latest settings 224. In an example, the latest settings 224 that are stored may be indicative of the cellular technology with which the modem 208 is connected to the cellular tower 106, as well as the frequency or frequencies on which the modem 208 is connected. These last-used frequencies may include, for example, more than one last used frequency. For instance, in LTE carrier aggregation there could be two frequencies—a primary and a secondary. Both of these frequencies may then be high priority candidates for scanning." (i.e., recorded cell reading as preferred RAT coverage criteria.));
and the preferred RAT coverage criteria (paragraph [0043], Fig.4, "At operation 410, the telematics controller 202 attempts to reconnect to the wide-area network 104 using the latest settings 224 recorded by the telematics controller 202.").
Yang and Islam are considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field wireless communication. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Yang to implement the method Islam of connecting to a preferred RAT as Islam describes of performing a search for a preferred RAT in order to reduce power consumption (Islam, paragraph [0012], “An improved reconnection procedure may account for the high probability that the vehicle will be leaving a location such as an underground parking garage and following the same path as the previous day. Movement and location (e.g., dead reckoning, GPS, etc.) may also be factored into the algorithm. The scanning algorithm can aggressively scan for the previously utilized frequencies and technology for an initial period of time. This will enable the TCU of the vehicle to quickly return to the previous cellular coverage without performing a full scan. In doing so, the vehicle may quickly regain coverage avoiding scanning of low probability frequencies technology combinations. This both improves user experience (e.g., obtaining traffic info or maps and directions more quickly) and also reduces power consumption of the TCU.”).
Regarding Claim 2, Yang in view of Islam discloses all the limitation of claim 1.
Yang further discloses wherein the time to trigger comprises a current zone time to trigger (paragraph [0389], Fig.15, "When a user drives through the driving route in FIG. 15, the terminal device is dropped from a network/falls into a lower RAT. The terminal device detects a first moment of no network/a fall into a lower RAT, and uses the first moment of no network/a fall into a lower RAT as a start point and a historical network restoration moment as an end point, or uses a preset moment after the historical network moment (for example, 10 s or 10 ms after the historical network restoration moment) as an end point. The terminal device determines a first intermediate point between the start point and the end point, and equally divides duration between the first intermediate point and the end point into L time intervals, where L is an integer greater than or equal to 2, for example, L=5. If the L time intervals correspond to L trigger occasions, the terminal device triggers first network search on a first trigger occasion (namely, the first intermediate point). Assuming that a network is successfully restored after network search is triggered at the first intermediate point, the first intermediate point is referred to as a minimum successful attempt point (minSus)." (i.e., Fig.15 "First time" read as the first trigger condition.))
and a future zones time to trigger (paragraph [0391], Fig.15, "When the user drives through the driving route in FIG. 15 again, the terminal device is dropped from a network/falls into a lower RAT again. The terminal device detects a second moment of no network/a fall into a lower RAT, determines a second intermediate point between the second moment of no network/a fall into a lower RAT and minSus, namely, the first intermediate point, and equally divides duration between the second intermediate point and the historical network restoration moment or a preset moment (for example, the preset moment is 10 ms or 10 s) before the historical network restoration moment into L time intervals. If the L time intervals correspond to L trigger occasions, the terminal device triggers first network search on a first trigger occasion (namely, the second intermediate point)." and paragraph [0392], "It is assumed that triggering fails at the second intermediate point fails, and the second intermediate point is referred to as a maximum failure attempt point (maxfail). In this case, the terminal device triggers network search at a second trigger occasion (namely, T in the figure). If the network is successfully restored, minSus is updated to a moment (namely, T) corresponding to the second trigger occasion." (i.e., after connecting the "First time" as disclosed in par.389, it determines a future zone time to trigger thus finding an earlier time to find a time to trigger.)).
Regarding Claim 3, Yang in view of Islam discloses all the limitation of claim 1.
Islam further discloses wherein performing the first mode frequency scan in accordance with the time to trigger the preferred RAT coverage recovery occurs in response to a relaxed trigger condition, the relaxed trigger condition being satisfied when a remaining time until triggering for a current zone is below a time threshold (paragraph [0041], Fig.4, "At 406, the telematics controller 202 sets a period before performing a full scan according to the trip end data 226. In an example, the telematics controller 202 sets the period to an amount of time indicated by the trip end data 226 as being expended from an abrupt attenuation of signal strength indicative of entering a structure 108 and the parking of the vehicle 102. In another example, the telematics controller 202 additionally or alternately sets the period to a distance time indicated by the trip end data 226 as being traveled from the attenuation. In yet a further example, the telematics controller 202 may utilize dead reckoning based on vehicle 102 speed and direction recorded in the trip end data 226 to determine the period until the vehicle 102 is likely to have exited the area of attenuated signal." and paragraph [0043], "At operation 410, the telematics controller 202 attempts to reconnect to the wide-area network 104 using the latest settings 224 recorded by the telematics controller 202." and paragraph [0044], "At 412, the telematics controller 202 determined whether the period before performing a full scan has elapsed. If not, control remains at operation 412. If so, control passes to operation 414 to perform a full scan of all frequencies and technologies for service available to the modem 208. After operation 414, the process 400 ends." (i.e., Examiner point Fig.412 wherein the time elapsed is less than a threshold it continues to perform searching as the relaxed trigger condition is satisfied as long as the time has not reached the period before performing a full scan.))
The proposed combination as well as the motivations for combining the references presented in the rejection of the parent claim apply to this claim and are incorporated herein by reference.
Regarding Claim 4, Yang in view of Islam discloses all the limitation of claim 3.
Islam further discloses further comprising adaptively changing the time threshold in accordance with a predicted coverage strength for a preferred RAT (paragraph [0041], Fig.4, "At 406, the telematics controller 202 sets a period before performing a full scan according to the trip end data 226. In an example, the telematics controller 202 sets the period to an amount of time indicated by the trip end data 226 as being expended from an abrupt attenuation of signal strength indicative of entering a structure 108 and the parking of the vehicle 102. In another example, the telematics controller 202 additionally or alternately sets the period to a distance time indicated by the trip end data 226 as being traveled from the attenuation. In yet a further example, the telematics controller 202 may utilize dead reckoning based on vehicle 102 speed and direction recorded in the trip end data 226 to determine the period until the vehicle 102 is likely to have exited the area of attenuated signal." (i.e., setting period is reading as changing the time threshold.)).
The proposed combination as well as the motivations for combining the references presented in the rejection of the parent claim apply to this claim and are incorporated herein by reference.
Regarding Claim 5, Yang in view of Islam discloses all the limitation of claim 1.
Yang further discloses further comprising evaluating the preferred RAT coverage criteria in accordance with configured cellular network parameters (paragraph [0384], Fig.15, "Similar to the first trigger policy, the terminal device self-learns the optimal network search time point. The optimal network search time point may be understood as follows; After a moment of no network/a fall into a lower RAT or after a moment at which entering a fence is detected, the terminal device waits for the optimal network search time point to trigger specified network search, so that the terminal device can access a high-RAT network as soon as possible." (i.e., the RAT coverage criteria is based on cellular network type as shown in Fig.15 wherein falling from 4G to 2G/3G and then going back to 4G.)),
signal strength (paragraph [0410], "Therefore, the terminal device may trigger the specified network search when detecting that a change value of a signal strength of a serving cell and/or a neighboring cell is greater than a threshold." (i.e., using signal strength change for specified network search.)),
vehicle mobility information (paragraph [0302], "When detecting that the network is restored, the terminal device stops collecting the motion data. The terminal device may input the collected motion data into an algorithm model (for example, the second algorithm model) in real time for exit detection. In addition, the terminal device may search for the target network based on the collected data (for example, a moment of no network or a fall into a lower RAT, or a moment at which the terminal device enters a fence)." (i.e., using vehicle motion information for RAT coverage criteria.)),
and vehicle location information (paragraph [0317], "The relatively accurate value of the exit parameter may be understood as that an exit point at which a high-RAT network can be accessed as soon as possible can be obtained by using the value of the exit parameter. Refer to (b) in FIG. 8. A quantity of exit points is relatively small and converged (or centralized) compared with that in (a) in FIG. 8. At these exit points, a high-RAT network can be accessed as soon as possible. These exit points are exit points detected based on exit parameters obtained through self-learning." (i.e., evaluating whether the vehicle is in a tunnel or a garage to execute protocols for high-RAT network recovery.)).
Islam further discloses UE mobility information (paragraph [0037], Fig.3, "At 308, the telematics controller 202 stores latest settings 224. In an example, the latest settings 224 that are stored may be indicative of the cellular technology with which the modem 208 is connected to the cellular tower 106, as well as the frequency or frequencies on which the modem 208 is connected. These last-used frequencies may include, for example, more than one last used frequency. For instance, in LTE carrier aggregation there could be two frequencies—a primary and a secondary. Both of these frequencies may then be high priority candidates for scanning." (i.e., storing all the UE connections to be used as selecting for the preferred RAT coverage criteria.)).
The proposed combination as well as the motivations for combining the references presented in the rejection of the parent claim apply to this claim and are incorporated herein by reference.
Regarding Claim 6, Yang in view of Islam discloses all the limitation of claim 5.
Yang further discloses wherein the cellular network parameters comprise at least one of a RAT type (paragraph [0384], Fig15., "Similar to the first trigger policy, the terminal device self-learns the optimal network search time point. The optimal network search time point may be understood as follows; After a moment of no network/a fall into a lower RAT or after a moment at which entering a fence is detected, the terminal device waits for the optimal network search time point to trigger specified network search, so that the terminal device can access a high-RAT network as soon as possible." (i.e., Fig.15 discloses a preference of 4G instead of 2G/3G.)).
Regarding Claim 7, Yang in view of Islam discloses all the limitation of claim 1.
Yang further discloses further comprising detecting an environment of the UE, in accordance with the vehicle specific information, in response to UE being located within the coverage hole (paragraph [0373], and Fig.15, "Considering that in a driving route, a journey is usually relatively flat, and motion data (for example, an attitude angle) does not change obviously in a driving process of a vehicle. Therefore, whether the terminal device is in the non-ground underground garage scenario may be determined by using the motion data. For example, if a network anomaly occurs on the terminal device on the driving route, but it is determined, by using the collected motion data, that a change of the motion data is relatively small (which indicates that the driving route is relatively flat), it is determined that the terminal device is in the non-underground garage scenario." (i.e., determining the UE is either in a garage scenario or other type of scenario such as a tunnel as disclosed in Fig.15.)).
Regarding Claim 8, Yang in view of Islam discloses all the limitation of claim 1.
Yang further discloses wherein the area has a level of preferred RAT coverage below a signal threshold (paragraph [0385], Fig.15, "FIG. 15 is a schematic diagram of a third trigger policy. FIG. 15 shows a driving route. The driving route includes a 4G coverage area, a 2G/3G coverage area, and a 4G coverage area. A network anomaly occurs in a process in which the terminal device moves from a 4G coverage area to a 2G/3G coverage area, and the network anomaly includes no network or a fall into a lower RAT. The network is restored when the terminal device moves from the 2G/3G coverage area to the 4G coverage area." (i.e., Fig.15 shows a signal threshold of 4G going below a threshold and switching to 2G/3G.)).
Regarding Claim 9, Yang in view of Islam discloses all the limitation of claim 1.
Yang further discloses wherein the vehicle specific information comprises vehicle inertial measurement unit (IMU) data (paragraph [0050], "In a possible design, the historical exit parameter includes at least one of the following parameters:" and paragraph [0051], "an attitude angle:" and paragraph [0052], "a curve of the attitude angle changing with time;" and paragraph [0054], "an attitude angle of the terminal device at the climbing start time point and/or a change value of an attitude angle before and after the climbing start time point;" (i.e., there is an IMU in order to determine the angle of terminal.)),
and/or position location information (paragraph [0373], "Considering that in a driving route, a journey is usually relatively flat, and motion data (for example, an attitude angle) does not change obviously in a driving process of a vehicle. Therefore, whether the terminal device is in the non-ground underground garage scenario may be determined by using the motion data. For example, if a network anomaly occurs on the terminal device on the driving route, but it is determined, by using the collected motion data, that a change of the motion data is relatively small (which indicates that the driving route is relatively flat), it is determined that the terminal device is in the non-underground garage scenario." (i.e., determining the location vehicle either in a garage or tunnel.)).
Islam further discloses wherein the vehicle specific information comprises a vehicle ignition status (paragraph [0039], Fig.4, "At operation 402, the telematics controller 202 determines whether the vehicle 102 was powered on from a parked state." (i.e., examiner reading and/or as an "or" and therefor other elements were given no patentable weight.)).
The proposed combination as well as the motivations for combining the references presented in the rejection of the parent claim apply to this claim and are incorporated herein by reference.
Regarding Claim 10, which is similar in scope to claim 1, thus rejected under the same rationale.
Regarding Claim 11, which is similar in scope to claim 2, thus rejected under the same rationale.
Regarding Claim 12, which is similar in scope to claim 3, thus rejected under the same rationale.
Regarding Claim 13, which is similar in scope to claim 4, thus rejected under the same rationale.
Regarding Claim 14, which is similar in scope to claim 5, thus rejected under the same rationale.
Regarding Claim 15, which is similar in scope to claim 6, thus rejected under the same rationale.
Regarding Claim 16, which is similar in scope to claim 7, thus rejected under the same rationale.
Regarding Claim 17, Yang in view of Islam discloses all the limitation of claim 16 (see claim 7 mapping).
Yang further discloses wherein the environment comprises a garage (paragraph [0017], Fig.3, " In a possible design, that the terminal device searches for a network of a target communications RAT includes: determining whether the terminal device is in an underground garage scenario. If the terminal device is not in the underground garage scenario," (i.e., entering a garage.)),
a tunnel (paragraph [0385], Fig.15, "FIG. 15 is a schematic diagram of a third trigger policy. FIG. 15 shows a driving route. The driving route includes a 4G coverage area, a 2G/3G coverage area, and a 4G coverage area. A network anomaly occurs in a process in which the terminal device moves from a 4G coverage area to a 2G/3G coverage area, and the network anomaly includes no network or a fall into a lower RAT. The network is restored when the terminal device moves from the 2G/3G coverage area to the 4G coverage area." (i.e., a non-garage scenario such as a tunnel or an area wherein the terminal moves to a lower RAT.)).
Regarding Claim 18, which is similar in scope to claim 9, thus rejected under the same rationale.
Regarding Claim 19, Yang discloses A non-transitory computer-readable medium having program code recorded thereon, the program code executed by a processor and comprising (paragraph [0097], “a computer-readable storage medium is further provided, including instructions. When the instructions are run on an electronic device, the electronic device is enabled to perform the method according to the first aspect.”):
program code to evaluate (paragraph [0165], "The terminal device may record a cell (whose communications RAT is higher than a cell accessed before the terminal device falls into a lower RAT) accessed when the terminal device moves out of the underground garage. In this case, when detecting that the terminal device moves out of the underground garage again, the terminal device may access the recorded cell." (i.e., recorded cell reading as RAT coverage criteria.));
program code to identify a vehicle mobility state associated with vehicle specific information (paragraph [0373], "Considering that in a driving route, a journey is usually relatively flat, and motion data (for example, an attitude angle) does not change obviously in a driving process of a vehicle. Therefore, whether the terminal device is in the non-ground underground garage scenario may be determined by using the motion data. For example, if a network anomaly occurs on the terminal device on the driving route, but it is determined, by using the collected motion data, that a change of the motion data is relatively small (which indicates that the driving route is relatively flat), it is determined that the terminal device is in the non-underground garage scenario." (i.e., identifying the vehicle state such as a parked state in an garage or moving based on motion data.));
program code to calculate a time to trigger a preferred RAT coverage recovery associated with the vehicle mobility state and the (paragraph [0373], "Considering that in a driving route, a journey is usually relatively flat, and motion data (for example, an attitude angle) does not change obviously in a driving process of a vehicle. Therefore, whether the terminal device is in the non-ground underground garage scenario may be determined by using the motion data. For example, if a network anomaly occurs on the terminal device on the driving route, but it is determined, by using the collected motion data, that a change of the motion data is relatively small (which indicates that the driving route is relatively flat), it is determined that the terminal device is in the non-underground garage scenario." and paragraph [0389], Fig.15, "When a user drives through the driving route in FIG. 15, the terminal device is dropped from a network/falls into a lower RAT. The terminal device detects a first moment of no network/a fall into a lower RAT, and uses the first moment of no network/a fall into a lower RAT as a start point and a historical network restoration moment as an end point, or uses a preset moment after the historical network moment (for example, 10 s or 10 ms after the historical network restoration moment) as an end point. The terminal device determines a first intermediate point between the start point and the end point, and equally divides duration between the first intermediate point and the end point into L time intervals, where L is an integer greater than or equal to 2, for example, L=5. If the L time intervals correspond to L trigger occasions, the terminal device triggers first network search on a first trigger occasion (namely, the first intermediate point)." (i.e., Using the car motion to determine if the car is in the moving scenario and not going into a parked garage and performing a time to trigger of network search.));
and program code to perform a first mode frequency scan in accordance with the time to trigger the preferred RAT coverage recovery, prior to the vehicular UE departing an area having a level of preferred RAT coverage below a signal threshold, the area comprising a coverage hole (paragraph [0389], Fig.15, "When a user drives through the driving route in FIG. 15, the terminal device is dropped from a network/falls into a lower RAT. The terminal device detects a first moment of no network/a fall into a lower RAT, and uses the first moment of no network/a fall into a lower RAT as a start point and a historical network restoration moment as an end point, or uses a preset moment after the historical network moment (for example, 10 s or 10 ms after the historical network restoration moment) as an end point. The terminal device determines a first intermediate point between the start point and the end point, and equally divides duration between the first intermediate point and the end point into L time intervals, where L is an integer greater than or equal to 2, for example, L=5. If the L time intervals correspond to L trigger occasions, the terminal device triggers first network search on a first trigger occasion (namely, the first intermediate point). Assuming that a network is successfully restored after network search is triggered at the first intermediate point, the first intermediate point is referred to as a minimum successful attempt point (minSus)." (i.e., before the vehicle exits the tunnel it starts to connect to the network before exiting the tunnel see Fig.15. Fig.15 also shows the UE in a coverage area with a preferred RAT coverage such as a 4G below a signal threshold and is in a coverage hole with a 2G/3G.)).
However, Yang does not explicitly disclose of was not relied upon program code to evaluate preferred radio access technology (RAT) coverage criteria; and the preferred RAT coverage criteria.
program code to evaluate preferred radio access technology (RAT) coverage criteria (paragraph [0031], "Rather than perform a full scan of all frequencies and technologies, for an initial period when vehicle 102 connectivity is requested, the cellular scan application 222 may be further configured to direct the modem 208 to reconnect to the latest settings 224…" and paragraph [0037], Fig., "At 308, the telematics controller 202 stores latest settings 224. In an example, the latest settings 224 that are stored may be indicative of the cellular technology with which the modem 208 is connected to the cellular tower 106, as well as the frequency or frequencies on which the modem 208 is connected. These last-used frequencies may include, for example, more than one last used frequency. For instance, in LTE carrier aggregation there could be two frequencies—a primary and a secondary. Both of these frequencies may then be high priority candidates for scanning." (i.e., recorded cell reading as preferred RAT coverage criteria.));
and the preferred RAT coverage criteria (paragraph [0043], Fig.4, "At operation 410, the telematics controller 202 attempts to reconnect to the wide-area network 104 using the latest settings 224 recorded by the telematics controller 202.").
Yang and Islam are considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field wireless communication. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Yang to implement the method Islam of connecting to a preferred RAT as Islam describes of performing a search for a preferred RAT in order to reduce power consumption (Islam, paragraph [0012], “An improved reconnection procedure may account for the high probability that the vehicle will be leaving a location such as an underground parking garage and following the same path as the previous day. Movement and location (e.g., dead reckoning, GPS, etc.) may also be factored into the algorithm. The scanning algorithm can aggressively scan for the previously utilized frequencies and technology for an initial period of time. This will enable the TCU of the vehicle to quickly return to the previous cellular coverage without performing a full scan. In doing so, the vehicle may quickly regain coverage avoiding scanning of low probability frequencies technology combinations. This both improves user experience (e.g., obtaining traffic info or maps and directions more quickly) and also reduces power consumption of the TCU.”).
Regarding Claim 20, which is similar in scope to claim 2, thus rejected under the same rationale.
Other Pertinent References
Maheshwari; Nitin et al. "SWITCHING OF NETWORKS FOR A MOBILE DEVICE USING LOCATION BASED PREDICTIVE ALGORITHM." (US 20210112423 A1), Filed 2019-10-15, Fig.4.
Horn; Gavin Bernard et al. "USING UE ENVIRONMENTAL STATUS INFORMATION TO IMPROVE MOBILITY HANDLING AND OFFLOAD DECISIONS." (US 20150016412 A1), Filed 2013-07-11, Published 2015-01-15.
Yang; Xiaosi. "Method For Network Search In A Wireless Communications System." (US 20060116104 A1), Filed 2005-09-27.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Erkin S. Abdullaev whose telephone number is (571)272-4135. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday - 8:00 am - 5:00 pm.
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ERKIN S. ABDULLAEV
Examiner
Art Unit 2648
/ERKIN ABDULLAEV/Examiner, Art Unit 2648
/WESLEY L KIM/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2648
Prosecution Insights