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 Amendment/Arguments
With the reply filed 4/10/26, claims 1, 7 and 10 have been amended, and new claim 27 has been added. Claims 1, 3-10 and 24-27 are currently pending. In view of Applicant’s amendment to claim 10, the rejection of claims 10 and 25 under 35 U.S.C. § 112(b) has been withdrawn. In view of Applicant’s amendment and associated arguments (see pp. 8-11), the rejection of claims 1, 3-9, 24 and 26 under 35 U.S.C. 103 has been overcome and is withdrawn.
With respect to claims 10 and 25, as a matter of claim construction, since the claim is drawn to a method for symbol reception, but the amended claim limitations in the “wherein” clause pertain to formation of symbols at a transmitter end, the claim scope is not limited by the amended claim language since it does not require steps to be performed in the reception method (see MPEP § 2111.04 I.), and the steps of the method are still considered to be rendered obvious by the combination of Kanthimathi and Chen. Claims 10 and 25 stand rejected as detailed below.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent 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 10 and 25 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kanthimathi et al. in view of Chen U.S. Pat. App. Pub. No. 2020/0028727.
Regarding claim 10, Kanthimathi discloses a method for symbol reception, comprising: receiving N+1 transmission symbols of s0, s1, s2,…, sN, wherein 0, 1, 2,…, N denote indices of the transmission symbols; a transmission symbol indexed n is determined according to an amplitude and a phase of a transmission symbol indexed n-1 (i.e. previous symbol – p. 293, left hand col.) and M+1 bits (i.e. 4 bits), determining M bits according to a phase of the transmission symbol indexed n and the phase of the transmission symbol indexed n-1 (see Section III. A. Step 1: Differential Phase Detection, p. 294); and determining the one bit according to an amplitude of the transmission symbol indexed n and the amplitude of the transmission symbol indexed n-1 (see Step 2: Differential Amplitude Detection, p. 294), to acquire (M+1)*N bits; and where Kanthimathi discloses that a plurality of symbols are transmitted (pp. 292-3, section II, also see subsection A. “Bit Mapping to DAPSK Symbols”), each symbol containing M+1=4 bits, and thus Kanthimathi discloses (M+1)*N bits corresponding to N symbols of M+1 bits each. As a matter of claim construction, the limitations in the “wherein” clause are not accorded patentable weight because the limitations do not require steps to be performed by the reception method (see MPEP § 2111.04 I.).
While Kanthimathi discloses a reference symbol as 0000, Kanthimathi does not expressly disclose that the reference symbol is transmitted as part of the transmission symbols.
Chen discloses that a first symbol in a differential encoding scheme is a reference (i.e. pilot) symbol transmitted with the data bearing transmission symbols (see ¶ [0094]). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to transmit a first reference symbol as suggested by Chen, in the method of Kanthimathi, so all the service data can obtain differential gains during demodulation, improving immunity to phase noise (see ¶ [0094]).
Regarding claim 25, in the proposed combination, Chen discloses a receiver comprising a processor and a memory storing a computer program to carry out the method (¶ [0028]), and it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to use a processor and memory storing a program to implement the method of the proposed combination as it is well understood that a receiver requires those elements.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1, 3-9, 24 and 26 are allowed.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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 David B. Lugo whose telephone number is 571-272-3043. The examiner can normally be reached M-F, 9-6.
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/DAVID B LUGO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2631
6/27/2026
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