DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
1. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Status of Claims
2. This Office Action is in response to the application filed on 09/30/2025. Claims 1 and through 28 are presently pending and are presented for examination.
3. 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 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.
Response to Arguments
4. Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1-28 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
5. 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.
Claims 1-28 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Moon et al. (US 8,111,770 B1) in view of Holfeld et al. (US 2010/0272169 A1) further Yoshii et al. (US 2006/0172716 A1).
For claim 1 Moon teaches a communication device (see Fig. 9 column 4 lines 39-40 “a receiver based on iterative de-mapping and decoding (IDD) and soft-decision-directed channel estimation”), comprising:
a receiver configured to receive a signal from a transmitter, the signal comprising a plurality of data symbols (see Fig. 9 “received signal r”, column 4 line 65 “symbol detector”, column 11 line 39 “s=(S1, S2…, SN) are transmitted symbols”, and column 12 line 5-8 “symbol detection”); and
at least one processor configured to:
perform interference detection based on at least one data symbol from among the plurality of data symbols to obtain an interference detection result indicating whether interference is detected in the plurality of data symbols (see column 4 line 65 “symbol detector”, column 11 lines 39, lines 63-65 “s=(S1, S2…, SN) are transmitted symbols…cancelling interference the effect of transmitted symbol (symbol interference id detected)”, column 12 line 5-8 “symbol detection”, and column 18 lines 13-15 “Detection of the signal field symbol can also generate soft decisions (results), which can be also be incorporated in the initial channel estimation process”),
obtain a channel estimate and an estimated carrier frequency offset based on the interference detection result (see Fig. 9, section I “carrier Frequency and phase recovery” which describes the estimation of carrier frequency offset”, and section II “channel estimation” which describes the channel estimation procedure”, column 16 “any potential error in the interference cancellation process”, and column 15 lines 50-54 “. One way of resolving this is to cancel interference based on the soft symbol information and the most recent estimated channel response” and column 11 lines 39, lines 63-65 “s=(S1, S2…, SN) are transmitted symbols…cancelling interference the effect of transmitted symbol (symbol interference id detected)”, column 12 line 5-8 “symbol detection”, and column 18 lines 13-15 “Detection of the signal field symbol can also generate soft decisions (the interference detection results), which can be also be incorporated in the initial channel estimation process”),
obtain a data symbol of the plurality of data symbols (Fig. 9 “received signal rk”),
obtain a compensated data symbol corresponding to the data symbol based on the estimated carrier frequency offset (Fig. 9 “phase/CFO Compensator”),
obtain an equalized compensated data symbol by performing channel equalization on the compensated data symbol based on the channel estimate (Fig. 9 and column 11 “describes equalization procedure”), and
demodulate and decode the equalized compensated data symbol to obtain decoded data (Fig. 9 “soft Decoder and De-mapper” and column 6 line 30-35 “FFT demodulation”).
Moon does not explicitly teach an estimated carrier frequency offset is based on a result of an interference detection indicating whether interference is detected in the received symbols, although the above statement merely defines a result to be achieved and therefore cannot be considered as a basis for an inventive step.
However, Holfeld teaches Based on the carrier frequency offset as provided by block 161 and based on the provided user data symbols, subcarrier selection block 144 calculates the interference of subcarriers related to a considered subcarrier, selects the most interfering subcarrier symbols and forwards only the selected subset of subcarrier symbols to feedback filter 145 for further processing. More particularly block 144 calculates the interference power of all subcarriers taken as input and also calculates the total interference power of all subcarriers. Based on these calculation the subcarriers exhibiting the highest relative interference power are selected as the most interfering subcarriers. Subcarrier selection block 144 forwards only the selected subcarriers to filter 145 for further processing (Holfeld: paragraph 41 and Fig. 1 “CFO Estimator 161 and Channel estimator 163”).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of claimed invention to the use the teachings of Holfeld in the interference reduction system of Moon in order to eliminate the symbols exhibiting the highest interference (Holfeld: Fig. 1 and paragraph 41).
Moon in view of Holfeld does not explicitly teach whether interference is detected in the plurality of data symbols.
However, Yoshii teaches it is possible to correctly interference symbols and improve error correcting performance during soft decision decoding (see Yoshii: paragraphs 19, 65, 76, and 126). That is, it is possible to avoid symbols which are at interference positions but do not cause any adverse influence on an error rate characteristic when used for decoding from being excluded unnecessarily from decoding targets and thereby improve error correcting performance during soft decision decoding (see Yoshii: paragraphs 19, 65, 76, and 126).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of claimed invention to the use the teachings of Yoshii in the combined interference reduction system of Holfeld and Moon in order correctly detect interference symbols (Holfeld: Fig. 1 and paragraph 41).
For claim 2 Moon in view of Holfeld and further in view of Yoshii teaches the communication device, wherein the receiver is further configured to receive a packet comprising a training portion and a payload portion, and wherein the plurality of data symbols are included in the payload portion (Moon: column 3 lines 58-60 “the method may comprise acquiring CFO, which may occur within one OFDM training signal” and column 10 lines 64-65 “The CFO acquisition can be done well within one OFDM training symbol”).
For claim 3 Moon in view of Holfeld and further in view of Yoshii teaches the communication device, wherein based on determining that a first predetermined number of data symbols from among the plurality of data symbols have been decoded, the at least one processor is further configured to:
obtain an updated carrier frequency offset and an updated channel estimate based on interference detection the result (Moon: column 3 line 47 “up-to-date estimate”),
obtain a new next data symbol of the plurality of data symbols, obtain a new compensated data symbol corresponding to the new data symbol based on the updated carrier frequency offset (Moon: column 17 line 59-67 “Throughout the development of the soft-decision-directed channel estimation strategies and performance simulation, we assumed that the channel matrix H is estimated and updated for every new OFDM symbol in the packet, and thus the matched filter HH is also updated for each OFDM symbol
with Cholesky decomposition done anew for every new OFDM symbol”),
obtain a new equalized compensated data symbol by performing the channel equalization on the new compensated data symbol based on the updated channel estimate (Holfeld: paragraph 30 “Synchronization data may comprise so-called protocol overhead data, i.e. in one embodiment training data for training equalizers in the receivers”), and
demodulate and decode the new equalized compensated data symbol to obtain new decoded data (Moon: Fig. 9 “soft decoder and soft de-mapper”).
For claim 4 Moon in view of Holfeld and further in view of Yoshii teaches the communication device of claim 3, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:
determine an initial channel estimate based on the compensated data symbol and the equalized compensated data symbol (Moon: Fig. 9 “initial channel estimator”), and
calculate at least one of the updated channel estimate and the updated carrier frequency offset based on the initial channel estimate and the interference detection result (Moon: column 4 lines 1-2 “updated channel estimator”).
For claim 5 Moon in view of Holfeld and further in view of Yoshii teaches the communication device of claim 4, wherein based on interference detection indicating that the interference is detected, the at least one processor is further configured to:
calculate the updated channel estimate based on the channel estimate and the estimated carrier frequency offset (Moon: column 4 line “updated channel estimator”),
based on Kalman filtering being enabled, calculate the updated carrier frequency offset based on the initial channel estimate using the Kalman filtering (Moon: column 3 lines1-9 “Kalman filter (EKF)”), and
based on the Kalman filtering not being enabled, set the updated carrier frequency offset equal to the estimated carrier frequency offset (Moon: column 3 lines1-9 “Kalman filter (EKF)…and the process is repeated iteratively”).
For claim 6 Moon in view of Holfeld and further in view of Yoshii teaches the communication device of claim 4, wherein based on the interference detection result indicating that the interference is not detected, the at least one processor is further configured to:
calculate the updated channel estimate based on the channel estimate and a phase difference between the channel estimate and the initial channel estimate (Moon: updated channel estimate”),
based on Kalman filtering being enabled, calculate the updated carrier frequency offset using the Kalman filtering (Moon: column 3 “The estimated phase rotation term may comprise carrier frequency offset, and may be estimated using an extended
Kalman filter”), and
based on the Kalman filtering not being enabled, calculate the updated carrier frequency offset based on the estimated carrier frequency offset and the phase difference between the channel estimate and the initial channel estimate (Moon: Fig. 9 “Initial channel Estimator and Channel Estimator” and column 17 lines 59-65 “soft-decision-directed channel strategies”) .
For claim 7 Moon in view of Holfeld and further in view of Yoshii teaches the communication device of claim 3, wherein based on determining that a second predetermined number of data symbols from among the plurality of data symbols have been decoded, the at least one processor is further configured to:
calculate a signal to interference and noise ratio (SINR) value based on the compensated data symbol and the equalized compensated data symbol (Moon: column 6 lines 6 “SNR calculation”),
obtain an updated interference detection result based on a comparison between the SINR value and a threshold SINR value (Moon: column 6 lines 6 “SNR calculation” and Fig. 4 “BER VS SNR (dB)”)).
For claim 8 Moon in view of Holfeld and further in view of Yoshii teaches a device for estimating carrier frequency offset, the device comprising:
a memory configured to store a plurality of data symbols (Moon: column 19 lines 38-50 “memory and processor”); and
at least one processor (Moon: column 19 lines 38-50 “memory and processor”) configured to:
perform interference detection based on at least one data symbol from among the plurality of data symbols to obtain an interference detection result indicating whether interference is detected in the plurality of data symbols (same as claim 1),
obtain a channel estimate and an estimated carrier frequency offset based on the interference detection result (same as claim 1),
obtain a data symbol of the plurality of data symbols (same as claim 1),
obtain an equalized compensated data symbol corresponding to the data symbol based on the estimated carrier frequency offset and the channel estimate (same as claim 1), and
demodulate and decode the equalized compensated data symbol to obtain decoded data (same as claim 1).
For claim 9 Moon in view of Holfeld and further in view of Yoshii teaches the communication device, wherein the plurality of data symbols are included in a payload portion of a packet, and wherein the packet comprises a preamble portion separate from the payload portion (as discussed in claim 2).
For claim 10 Moon in view of Holfeld and further in view of Yoshii teaches the communication device, wherein based on determining that a first predetermined number of data symbols from among the plurality of data symbols have been decoded (as discussed in claim 3), the at least one processor is further configured to:
obtain an updated carrier frequency offset and an updated channel estimate based on the interference detection result (as discussed in claim 3),
obtain a new next data symbol of the plurality of data symbols (as discussed in claim 3),
obtain a new equalized compensated data symbol corresponding to the new data symbol based on the updated carrier frequency offset and the updated channel estimate (as discussed in claim 3), and
demodulate and decode the new equalized compensated data symbol to obtain new decoded data (as discussed in claim 3).
For claim 11 Moon in view of Holfeld and further in view of Yoshii teaches the communication device of claim 10 (as discussed in claim 4), wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:
determine an initial channel estimate based on the equalized compensated data symbol (as discussed in claim 4), and
calculate at least one of the updated channel estimate and the updated carrier frequency offset based on the initial channel estimate and the interference detection result (as discussed in claim 4).
For claim 12 Moon in view of Holfeld and further in view of Yoshii teaches the communication device of claim 11, wherein based on the result indicating that the interference is detected (as discussed in claim 5), the at least one processor is further configured to:
calculate the updated channel estimate based on the channel estimate and the estimated carrier frequency offset (as discussed in claim 5),
based on Kalman filtering being enabled, calculate the updated carrier frequency offset based on the initial channel estimate using the Kalman filtering (as discussed in claim 5), and
based on the Kalman filtering not being enabled, set the updated carrier frequency offset equal to the estimated carrier frequency offset (as discussed in claim 5).
For claim 13 Moon in view of Holfeld and further in view of Yoshii teaches the communication device claim 11, wherein based on the interference detection result indicating that the interference is not detected (as discussed in claim 6), the at least one processor is further configured to:
calculate the updated channel estimate based on the channel estimate and a phase difference between the channel estimate and the initial channel estimate (as discussed in claim 6),
based on Kalman filtering being enabled, calculate the updated carrier frequency offset using the Kalman filtering (as discussed in claim 6), and
based on the Kalman filtering not being enabled, calculate the updated carrier frequency offset based on the estimated carrier frequency offset and the phase difference between the channel estimate and the initial channel estimate (as discussed in claim 6).
For claim 14 Moon in view of Holfeld and further in view of Yoshii teaches the communication device of claim 10, wherein based on determining that a second predetermined number of data symbols (as discussed in claim 7) from among the plurality of data symbols have been decoded, the at least one processor is further configured to:
calculate a signal to interference and noise ratio (SINR) value based on the equalized compensated data symbol (as discussed in claim 7), and
obtain an updated interference detection result based on a comparison between the SINR value and a threshold SINR value (as discussed in claim 7).
For claim 15 Moon in view of Holfeld and further in view of Yoshii teaches a communication method for operating a communication device, the communication method being performed by at least one processor (as discussed in claims 1 and 8) and comprising:
receiving, by a receiver from a transmitter, a plurality of data symbols (as discussed in claims 1 and 8);
perform interference detection based on at least one data symbol from among the plurality of data symbols to obtain an interference detection result indicating whether interference is detected in the plurality of data symbols (as discussed in claims 1 and 8),
obtaining a channel estimate and an estimated carrier frequency offset based on the interreference detection result (as discussed in claims 1 and 8);
obtaining a next data symbol from among the plurality of data symbols (as discussed in claims 1 and 8);
obtaining a compensated data symbol corresponding to the data symbol based on the estimated carrier frequency offset (as discussed in claims 1 and 8);
obtaining an equalized compensated data symbol by performing channel equalization on the compensated data symbol based on the channel estimate (as discussed in claims 1 and 8); and
demodulating and decoding the equalized compensated data symbol to obtain decoded data (as discussed in claims 1 and 8).
For claim 16 Moon in view of Holfeld and further in view of Yoshii teaches the communication method, further comprising receiving, by the receiver from the transmitter, a packet comprising a training portion and a payload portion (as discussed in claim 2),
wherein the plurality of data symbols are included in the payload portion (as discussed in claim 2).
For claim 17 Moon in view of Holfeld and further in view of Yoshii teaches the communication method, wherein based on determining that a first predetermined number of data symbols from among the plurality of data symbols have been decoded (as discussed in claim 3), the method further comprises:
obtaining an updated carrier frequency offset and an updated channel estimate based on the interference detection result (as discussed in claim 3);
obtaining a new next data symbol of the plurality of data symbols;
obtaining a new compensated data symbol corresponding to the new next data symbol based on the updated carrier frequency offset (as discussed in claim 3);
obtaining a new equalized compensated data symbol by performing the channel equalization on the new compensated data symbol based on the updated channel estimate (as discussed in claim 3); and
demodulating and decoding the new equalized compensated data symbol to obtain new decoded data (as discussed in claim 3).
For claim 18 Moon in view of Holfeld and further in view of Yoshii teaches the communication method of claim 17 (as discussed in claim 4), further comprising:
determining an initial channel estimate based on the compensated data symbol and the equalized compensated data symbol (as discussed in claim 4); and
calculating at least one of the updated channel estimate and the updated carrier frequency offset based on the initial channel estimate and the interference detection result (as discussed in claim 4).
For claim 19 Moon in view of Holfeld and further in view of Yoshii teaches the communication method of claim 18, wherein based on the interference detection result indicating that the interference is detected (as discussed in claim 5), the method further comprises:
calculating the updated channel estimate based on the channel estimate and the estimated carrier frequency offset (as discussed in claim 5);
based on Kalman filtering being enabled, calculating the updated carrier frequency offset based on the initial channel estimate using the Kalman filtering (as discussed in claim 5); and
based on the Kalman filtering not being enabled, setting the updated carrier frequency offset equal to the estimated carrier frequency offset (as discussed in claim 5).
For claim 20 Moon in view of Holfeld and further in view of Yoshii teaches the communication method of claim 18, wherein based on the interference detection result indicating that the interference is not detected (as discussed in claim 6), the method further comprises:
calculating the updated channel estimate based on the channel estimate and a phase difference between the channel estimate and the initial channel estimate (as discussed in claim 6);
based on Kalman filtering being enabled, calculating the updated carrier frequency offset using the Kalman filtering (as discussed in claim 6); and
based on the Kalman filtering not being enabled, calculating the updated carrier frequency offset based on the estimated carrier frequency offset and the phase difference between the channel estimate and the initial channel estimate (as discussed in claim 6).
For claim 21 Moon in view of Holfeld and further in view of Yoshii teaches the communication method of claim 17, wherein based on determining that a second predetermined number of data symbols from among the plurality of data symbols have been decoded (as discussed in claim 7), the method further comprises:
calculating a signal to interference and noise ratio (SINR) value based on the compensated data symbol and the equalized compensated data symbol(as discussed in claim 7); and
obtaining an updated interference detection result based on a comparison between the SINR value and a threshold SINR value (as discussed in claim 7).
For claim 22 Moon in view of Holfeld and further in view of Yoshii teaches a communication method for estimating carrier frequency offset, the method being performed by at least one processor (as discussed in claims 1 and 8) and comprising:
receiving, by a receiver from a transmitter, a plurality of data symbols (as discussed in claims 1 and 8);
perform interference detection based on at least one data symbol from among the plurality of data symbols to obtain an interference detection result indicating whether interference is detected in the plurality of data symbols (as discussed in claims 1 and 8),
obtaining a channel estimate and an estimated carrier frequency offset based on the interference detection result (as discussed in claims 1 and 8);
obtaining a data symbol of the plurality of data symbols (as discussed in claims 1 and 8);
obtaining an equalized compensated data symbol corresponding to the data symbol based on the estimated carrier frequency offset and the channel estimate (as discussed in claims 1 and 8); and
demodulating and decoding the equalized compensated data symbol to obtain decoded data (as discussed in claims 1 and 8).
For claim 23 Moon in view of Holfeld and further in view of Yoshii teaches the communication method, wherein the plurality of data symbols are included in a payload portion of a packet, and wherein the packet comprises a preamble portion separate from the payload portion (as discussed in claim 2).
For claim 24 Moon in view of Holfeld and further in view of Yoshii teaches the communication method, wherein based on determining that a first predetermined number of data symbols from among the plurality of data symbols have been decoded (as discussed in claim 3), method further comprises:
obtaining an updated carrier frequency offset and an updated channel estimate based on the interference detection result (as discussed in claim 3);
obtaining a new data symbol of the plurality of data symbols (as discussed in claim 3);
obtaining a new equalized compensated data symbol corresponding to the new data symbol based on the updated carrier frequency offset and the updated channel estimate (as discussed in claim 3); and
demodulating and decoding the new equalized compensated data symbol to obtain new data (as discussed in claim 3).
For claim 25 Moon in view of Holfeld and further in view of Yoshii teaches the communication method of claim 24 (as discussed in claim 4), further comprising:
determining an initial channel estimate based on the equalized compensated data symbol (as discussed in claim 4), and
calculating at least one of the updated channel estimate and the updated carrier frequency offset based on the initial channel estimate and the interference detection result (as discussed in claim 4).
For claim 26 Moon in view of Holfeld and further in view of Yoshii teaches the communication method of claim 25, wherein based on the interference detection result indicating that the interference is detected (as discussed in claim 5), the method further comprises:
calculating the updated channel estimate based on the channel estimate and the estimated carrier frequency offset (as discussed in claim 5);
based on Kalman filtering being enabled, calculating the updated carrier frequency offset based on the initial channel estimate using the Kalman filtering (as discussed in claim 5); and
based on the Kalman filtering not being enabled, setting the updated carrier frequency offset is equal to the estimated carrier frequency offset (as discussed in claim 5).
For claim 27 Moon in view of Holfeld and further in view of Yoshii teaches the communication method of claim 25, wherein based on the interference detection result indicating that the interference is not detected (as discussed in claim 6), the method further comprises:
calculating the updated channel estimate based on the channel estimate and a phase difference between the channel estimate and the initial channel estimate (as discussed in claim 6);
based on Kalman filtering being enabled, calculating the updated carrier frequency offset using the Kalman filtering (as discussed in claim 6); and
based on the Kalman filtering not being enabled, calculating the updated carrier frequency offset based on the estimated carrier frequency offset and the phase difference between the channel estimate and the initial channel estimate (as discussed in claim 6).
For claim 28 Moon in view of Holfeld and further in view of Yoshii teaches the communication method of claim 24, wherein based on determining that a second predetermined number of data symbols from among the plurality of data symbols have been decoded (as discussed in claim 7), the method further comprises:
calculating a signal to interference and noise ratio (SINR) value based on the equalized compensated data symbol (as discussed in claim 7); and
obtaining an updated interference detection result based on a comparison between the SINR value and a threshold SINR value (as discussed in claim 7).
Conclusion
6. 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.
7. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to David M OVEISSI whose telephone number is (571)270-3127. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8Am-5PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Jeffrey Rutkowski can be reached at (571) 270 - 1215. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MANSOUR OVEISSI/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2415
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