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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement filed 1/23/24 fails to comply with 37 CFR 1.98(a)(2), which requires a legible copy of each cited foreign patent document; each non-patent literature publication or that portion which caused it to be listed; and all other information or that portion which caused it to be listed. NPL items 8 (to X Li et al.) and 13 (to L Want et al.) have not been furnished and are crossed off. All other references have been considered.
Claim Objections
Claims 6 and 11-14 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 6 is drawn to a “receiver,” but no receive operations are recited. It is suggested that preambles for the claims be amended to more accurately reflect the claimed subject matter.
Claim 6 further recites “an communication channel” in line 3, which apparently should be --a communication channel--. Appropriate correction is required.
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.
Claims 2-6 and 11-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
Claim 2 recites the limitation "the iterative shrinkage-thresholding algorithm (ISTA)" in line 2. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 3 recites the limitation "the iterative shrinkage-thresholding algorithm" in line 2. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 3 further recites "the positions of the antennas index and the symbol estimates" in lines 3-4. There is insufficient antecedent basis for these limitations in the claim, as neither an "antennas index" or "symbol estimates" is previously introduced.
Claim 4 recites the limitation "the greedy detections" in line 2. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim, as only a “greedy selection” is recited in claim 3, from which claim 4 depends.
Claim 4 further recites "the given finite set of index vectors" in line 3. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 5 recites the limitation "the input" in line 2. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 5 further recites “afterwards” in line 6. However, it is unclear what step the relative “afterwards is referring to.
Claim 6 recites the limitation "the plurality of transmit antennas" in line 7, and recites the limitation "the method" in line 13. There is insufficient antecedent basis for these limitations in the claim. Note claim 14 also recites “the method” although the claim is drawn to an apparatus (i.e. receiver).
Claim 11 recites the limitation "the iterative shrinkage-thresholding algorithm (ISTA)" in lines 1-2. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 12 recites the limitation "the iterative shrinkage-thresholding algorithm" in lines 1-2. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 12 further recites "the positions of the antennas index and the symbol estimates" in lines 2-3. There is insufficient antecedent basis for these limitations in the claim, as neither an "antennas index" or "symbol estimates" is previously introduced.
Claim 13 recites the limitation "the greedy detections" in lines 1-2. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim, as only a “greedy selection” is recited in claim 12, from which claim 13 depends.
Claim 13 further recites "the given finite set of index vectors" in lines 2-3. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 14 recites the limitation "the input" in line 1 and "the method” in line 9. There is insufficient antecedent basis for these limitations in the claim.
Claim 14 further recites “afterwards” in line 5. However, it is unclear what step the relative “afterwards is referring to.
Appropriate correction is required.
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.
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.
Claims 1 and 6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Meslelh et al. U.S. Pat. No. 9,813,278 in view of Irfan et al. “Space-Time Mapping for Equiprobable Antenna Activation in Spatial Modulation” (submitted by Applicant).
Regarding claims 1 and 6, Meslelh discloses a quadrature spatial modulation wireless communication method, performed in an apparatus of a communication system (see abstract), inherently having a processor, memory, and at least one interface to receive a signal in a communication channel (i.e. see Fig. 3), the method comprising: configuring a plurality of transmit antennas to each represent an in-phase spatial constellation symbol within an in-phase spatial constellation, and a quadrature spatial constellation symbol within a quadrature spatial constellation, mapping source data to the in-phase spatial constellation symbols and the quadrature spatial constellation symbols represented by the plurality of transmit antennas (see col. 11, claim 1). Meslelh does not disclose that the method constructs the set which has equal multiplicities of the transmit antenna activation.
Irfan discloses an optimal index vector selection method that constructs a set which has equal multiplicities of the transmit antenna activation, which ensures maximum possible transmit diversity, as Irfan discloses that the space-time method activates the Nt available transmit antennas as equally as possible, which yields a coding gain (see p. 2963, section II. E.). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to provide equal transmit antenna selection as suggested by Irfan, in the method/apparatus of Meslelh to improve coding gain (submitted by Applicant).
Conclusion
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. Examiner interviews are available via telephone 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, Hannah Wang can be reached at 571-272-9018. The fax phone number for the organization where this application is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/DAVID B LUGO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2631 5/3/2025
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