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 .
Status of the Claims
The office action is in response to the claim amendments and remarks filed on November 20, 2025 for the application filed May 11, 2023. Claims 1, 17, 19, 26, 27, and 29 have been amended. Claims 1-30 are currently pending.
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.
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.
Claims 1-17, 27-28 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Guo et al. in view of Hu et al. (US2024/0333424A1).
Regarding claim 1, Guo teaches an apparatus of wireless communication at a transmitting wireless device, comprising: at least one memory; and at least one processor coupled to the at least one memory and, based at least in part on information stored in the at least one memory, the at least one processor is configured to (Paragraph [0007]: In yet another exemplary aspect, the various techniques described herein may be embodied as processor-executable code and stored on a computer-readable program medium. Paragraph [0367]: The essential elements of a computer are a processor for performing instructions and one or more memory devices for storing instructions and data.)
determine, based at least in part on a first parameter associated with a Forward Error Correction (FEC) process and a second parameter associated with a probabilistic shaping process, a transport block (TB) size for a TB associated with a signal to be transmitted to a receiving wireless device (Abstract: The present application relates to methods, systems, and devices related to digital wireless communication, and more specifically, to techniques related to determining a transport block size. Paragraph [0031]: Theoretically, channel coding and modulation schemes output constellation points with equal probability are not efficient. An efficient scheme should output different constellation points with different probabilities. Specifically, a constellation point with smaller power can appear more frequently than a constellation point with larger power in the output of the channel coding and modulation. In this disclosure, the channel coding and modulation schemes can encode a TB into a modulation sequence with a desired probability for constellation points. Paragraph [0033]: In this disclosure, channel coding and modulation for a transport block may comprise the following steps without a specific order: channel coding, specific coding, transport block CRC attachment, code block segmentation, code block CRC attachment. The channel coding may be one of: a low-density parity-check code, a polar code, a turbo code, a convolutional code. The specific coding may include a process comprising at least one of: a bit-to-symbol encoding and an symbol-to-bit conversion. Paragraph [0038]: In a specific example of this embodiment, the bit-to-symbol encoding (namely, the specific coding) can encode a first bit sequence u into a first amplitude sequence A using an amplitude set Φ. Denote the length of the first bit sequence u as Kd. Denote the length of the first amplitude sequence A as Na. Denote the number of elements in the amplitude set Φ as Ma. Paragraph [0042]: Further, in a specific example of this embodiment, the bit-to-symbol encoding is one of: source coding related encoding, energy threshold encoding, minimum energy encoding, variable-length encoding, and non-linear coding. Paragraph [0043]: Further, in a specific example of this embodiment, the source coding related encoding encodes the first bit sequence u into the first amplitude sequence A according to a probability related parameter. Paragraph [0335]: FIG. 13 is a block diagram 1300 of a method for determining a transport block size. The method can include receiving, by a terminal, a first message that identifies a first coding rate and a second coding rate (block 1302). The method can also include performing, by the terminal, a first operation relating to a first coding operation and using the first coding rate (block 1304). The method can also include performing, by the terminal, a second operation relating to a second coding operation and using the second coding rate (block 1306). The method can also include transmitting or receiving, by the terminal, a second message using information related to the first operation and/or the second operation. (block 1308). Paragraph [0336]: In some embodiments, the first coding operation includes a low-density parity check (LDPC) coding operation. Paragraph [0337]: In some embodiments, the first coding operation includes any of a polar coding operation, a turbo coding operation, or a convolutional coding operation. Paragraph [0338]: In some embodiments, the second coding operation including any of a bit-to-symbol coding operation and a symbol-to-bit conversion operation. Paragraph [0339]: In some embodiments, the second coding operation includes distribution matching operation and a signaling shaping operation. Paragraph [0340]: In some embodiments, any of the first operation and second operation is a transport block size (TBS) determination operation.)
perform the probabilistic shaping process on a first set of data bits of the signal on the TB to obtain a second set of transmit bits, wherein a TB cyclic redundancy check (CRC) is inserted into the TB before or after the probabilistic shaping process (Paragraph [0031]: In this disclosure, the channel coding and modulation schemes can encode a TB into a modulation sequence with a desired probability for constellation points. Paragraph [0033]: In this disclosure, channel coding and modulation for a transport block may comprise the following steps without a specific order: channel coding, specific coding, transport block CRC attachment, code block segmentation, code block CRC attachment. The channel coding may be one of: a low-density parity-check code, a polar code, a turbo code, a convolutional code. The specific coding may include a process comprising at least one of: a bit-to-symbol encoding and an symbol-to-bit conversion. Paragraph [0068]: The precoding operation can be located before the TB CRC attachment as shown in FIGS. 1 (a) and (b), or between the TB CRC attachment and the CB CRC attachment as shown in FIGS. 1 (c), (d), (e) and (f), or after the CB CRC attachment as shown in FIGS. 1 (g) and (h). Paragraph [0070]: For the case that the precoding is between the transport block CRC attachment and the code block CRC attachment, FIG. 1(c) and FIG. (d) may provide two of the specific example that at least one portion of the output of the transport block CRC attachment is the input of the precoding, and both the output of the precoding and the output of the transport block CRC attachment excluding the at least one portion of the output of the transport block CRC attachment are the input of the code block segmentation, and the output of the code block segmentation is the input of the code block CRC attachment, the output of the code block CRC attachment is the input of the channel coding.)
and wherein the probabilistic shaping process is applied on a TB level across multiple code blocks (CBs) associated with the TB or on a CB level individually inside each CB of the multiple CBs (Paragraph [0068]: The precoding operation can be located before the TB CRC attachment as shown in FIGS. 1 (a) and (b), or between the TB CRC attachment and the CB CRC attachment as shown in FIGS. 1 (c), (d), (e) and (f), or after the CB CRC attachment as shown in FIGS. 1 (g) and (h). Paragraph [0069]: FIGS. 1 A-H illustrate examples 100a-h for the precoding between a transport block CRC attachment and a code block CRC attachment. Paragraph [0070]: For the case that the precoding is between the transport block CRC attachment and the code block CRC attachment, FIG. 1(c) and FIG. 1(d) may provide two of the specific example that at least one portion of the output of the transport block CRC attachment is the input of the precoding, and both the output of the precoding and the output of the transport block CRC attachment excluding the at least one portion of the output of the transport block CRC attachment are the input of the code block segmentation, and the output of the code block segmentation is the input of the code block CRC attachment, the output of the code block CRC attachment is the input of the channel coding. Paragraph [0071]: FIG. 1(e) and FIG. 2(f) may provide two of the specific example that the output of the transport block CRC attachment is the input of the code block segmentation, and at least one portion of the output of the code block segmentation is the input of the precoding, and both the output of the precoding and the output of the code block segmentation excluding the at least one portion of the output of the code block segmentation are the input of the code block CRC attachment. Paragraph [0103]: When the specific coding operation is performed before the channel coding operation as shown in FIG. 1 , the code rate Rc can related to or determined by at least one of the following parameters: the MCS index indicated by L1 signaling; the code rate Rs for the specific coding operation; the number of input bits for the specific coding operation; the modulation order; the transport block size. Paragraph [0105]: In FIGS. 1(g~h), the BG selection can also be related to the code block size and the number of CRC bits for a CB. Wherein the code block can be used for channel coding and/or the specific coding operation. Paragraph [0106]: When the LDPC coding operation is performed before or after the specific coding operation, the BG selection can be related to at least one of the following parameters: the transport block size; the rate Its for the specific coding operation; the modulation order.)
and transmit, to the receiving wireless device, the signal using the second set of transmit bits (Paragraph [0335]: FIG. 13 is a block diagram 1300 of a method for determining a transport block size. The method can include receiving, by a terminal, a first message that identifies a first coding rate and a second coding rate (block 1302). The method can also include performing, by the terminal, a first operation relating to a first coding operation and using the first coding rate (block 1304). The method can also include performing, by the terminal, a second operation relating to a second coding operation and using the second coding rate (block 1306). The method can also include transmitting or receiving, by the terminal, a second message using information related to the first operation and/or the second operation. (block 1308). Paragraph [0336]: In some embodiments, the first coding operation includes a low-density parity check (LDPC) coding operation. Paragraph [0337]: In some embodiments, the first coding operation includes any of a polar coding operation, a turbo coding operation, or a convolutional coding operation. Paragraph [0338]: In some embodiments, the second coding operation including any of a bit-to-symbol coding operation and a symbol-to-bit conversion operation. Paragraph [0339]: In some embodiments, the second coding operation includes distribution matching operation and a signaling shaping operation. Paragraph [0340]: In some embodiments, any of the first operation and second operation is a transport block size (TBS) determination operation.)
Guo does not explicitly teach based on a number of shaping blocks (SBs) associated with the first set of data bits, wherein a number of bits in the first set of data bits is an integer multiple of the number of SBs.
However, Hu teaches based on a number of shaping blocks (SBs) associated with the first set of data bits, wherein a number of bits in the first set of data bits is an integer multiple of the number of SBs (Paragraph [0038]: Under a proposed scheme in accordance with the present disclosure with respect to transmission of PS modulation, for Physical Layer Convergence Protocol (PLCP) service data unit (PSDU) bit sequence (with length L) input to the PS mapper, an entire PSDU sequence L may be split to N sub-sequences, and each sub-sequence may have a fixed or predefined length K in terms of number of integers of 32 or other values, with L=N*K. Paragraph [0039]: Referring to FIG. 9 , on the transmitter side, an entire PSDU (e.g., formed from an A-MPDU), with length L, may be split into a plurality of subblocks, with the length K of each subblock being an integer multiple of 32 bits (or another number of bits), such that L=N*K, where K=32*m with m being an integer equal to or greater than 1. The length of each subblock may be fixed at K bits.)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide based on a number of shaping blocks (SBs) associated with the first set of data bits, wherein a number of bits in the first set of data bits is an integer multiple of the number of SBs, as taught by Hu in the system of Guo, so that the bit sequences in the probabilistic shaping are of the same fixed lengths across the entire transmission, thus avoiding errors due to varying lengths (Hu: Abstract, Paragraphs [0004], [0038]-[0040]).
Regarding claim 2, the combination of Guo and Hu teaches the apparatus of claim 1 further comprising (see rejection for claim 1);
Guo further teaches a transceiver coupled to the at least one processor, wherein, to transmit the signal using the second set of transmit bits, the at least one processor is configured to transmit, via the transceiver, the signal using the second set of transmit bits (Paragraph [0363]: A hardware platform 1505 such as a network node or a base station or a terminal or a wireless device (or UE) can include processor electronics 1510 such as a microprocessor that implements one or more of the techniques presented in this document. The hardware platform 1505 can include transceiver electronics 1515 to send and/or receive wired or wireless signals over one or more communication interfaces such as antenna 1520 or a wireline interface. Paragraph [0335]: FIG. 13 is a block diagram 1300 of a method for determining a transport block size. The method can include receiving, by a terminal, a first message that identifies a first coding rate and a second coding rate (block 1302). The method can also include performing, by the terminal, a first operation relating to a first coding operation and using the first coding rate (block 1304). The method can also include performing, by the terminal, a second operation relating to a second coding operation and using the second coding rate (block 1306). The method can also include transmitting or receiving, by the terminal, a second message using information related to the first operation and/or the second operation. (block 1308).)
and wherein, to determine the TB size, the at least one processor is configured to: determine a first number of bits consumed by the FEC process based at least in part on the first parameter; and determine, based at least in part on the first number of bits, the TB size (Paragraph [0077]: In 3GPP 5G, for TBS determination, the intermediate information bits may be obtained by the product of the target code rate R and the associated resource parameters. The target code rate R may be also used to determine the TBS for CQI report, the target SE, base graph selection and the LDPC coding. But for the radio link in FIG. 2 , if the L1 signaling only indicates the code rate of channel coding Rc and the code rate of precoding operation Rs, then the code rate used to determine the number of intermediate information bits for TBS determination may be derived as the effective code rate (Reff ) based on the indicated two code rates for the precoding and channel coding module. Paragraph [0107]: The number of input bits is related to at least one of the following parameters: the transport block size; the rate Rs for specific coding operation; the modulation order; and the code rate Rc for LDPC coding. Paragraph [0335]: FIG. 13 is a block diagram 1300 of a method for determining a transport block size. The method can include receiving, by a terminal, a first message that identifies a first coding rate and a second coding rate (block 1302). The method can also include performing, by the terminal, a first operation relating to a first coding operation and using the first coding rate (block 1304). The method can also include performing, by the terminal, a second operation relating to a second coding operation and using the second coding rate (block 1306). The method can also include transmitting or receiving, by the terminal, a second message using information related to the first operation and/or the second operation. (block 1308). Paragraph [0336]: In some embodiments, the first coding operation includes a low-density parity check (LDPC) coding operation. Paragraph [0338]: In some embodiments, the second coding operation including any of a bit-to-symbol coding operation and a symbol-to-bit conversion operation. Paragraph [0337]: In some embodiments, the first coding operation includes any of a polar coding operation, a turbo coding operation, or a convolutional coding operation.)
Regarding claim 3, the combination of Guo and Hu teaches the apparatus of claim 2 (see rejection for claim 2);
Guo further teaches wherein, to determine, based at least in part on the first number of bits, the TB size, the at least one processor is configured to: determine a second number of data bits serviced for Medium Access Control (MAC) based on the first number of bits and a shaping rate; and determine the TB size based on the second number of data bits (Paragraph [0083]: In the following, the layer 1 (L1) signaling can represent the physical layer signaling or a PDCCH carrying the DCI. The higher layer parameter can represent the radio resource control (RRC) signaling or the medium access control (MAC) signaling or MAC entity. The high-layer parameter represents the RRC signaling or a RRC information element (IE). Paragraph [0092]: The present embodiments can include the combination of code rate and modulation order selection for CQI report, BG selection, TBS determination and MCS indication, and the specific TBS determination procedure for the radio link combining the operations of the specific coding and channel coding. Paragraph [0174]: In some embodiments, the code rate (R) corresponds to the target code rate Rt of corresponds to the effective code rate (Reff). In some embodiments, the target code rate Rt can be determined by the MCS index indicated by a DCI. In some embodiments, the effective code rate (Reff) can be determined by the code rate (Rs) of the specific coding operation and/or the code rate (Rc) of LDPC coding operation, and/or the modulation order, and/or the number of CRC bits.)
Regarding claim 4, the combination of Guo and Hu teaches the apparatus of claim 3 (see rejection for claim 3);
Guo further teaches wherein, to determine the second number of data bits, the at least one processor is configured to: determine a third number of CBs associated with the first number of bits, an unencoded CB size before coding, and a coded CB size after coding; determine a fourth number of information bits per CB based on a shaped number of information bits to be shaped and an unshaped number of information bits that are not shaped; and determine the second number of data bits based on the fourth number of information bits (Paragraph [0043]: Further, in a specific example of this embodiment, the source coding related encoding encodes the first bit sequence u into the first amplitude sequence A according to a probability related parameter. Paragraph [0070]: For the case that the precoding is between the transport block CRC attachment and the code block CRC attachment, FIG. 1(c) and FIG. 1(d) may provide two of the specific example that at least one portion of the output of the transport block CRC attachment is the input of the precoding, and both the output of the precoding and the output of the transport block CRC attachment excluding the at least one portion of the output of the transport block CRC attachment are the input of the code block segmentation, and the output of the code block segmentation is the input of the code block CRC attachment, the output of the code block CRC attachment is the input of the channel coding. Paragraph [0071]: FIG. 1(e) and FIG. 2(f) may provide two of the specific example that the output of the transport block CRC attachment is the input of the code block segmentation, and at least one portion of the output of the code block segmentation is the input of the precoding, and both the output of the precoding and the output of the code block segmentation excluding the at least one portion of the output of the code block segmentation are the input of the code block CRC attachment. Paragraph [0072]: The output of the code block CRC attachment may be the input of the channel coding. One of the benefit of the precoding between the transport block CRC attachment and the code block CRC attachment is that if errors are detected by the CRC attached to the code blocks, the decoding of the preceding is not needed which reduces receive complexity. Another benefit of the precoding between the transport block CRC attachment and the code block CRC attachment is that the TBS is larger than that of the precoding after both the transport block CRC attachment and the code block CRC attachment for a given number of resource elements.)
Regarding claim 5, the combination of Guo and Hu teaches the apparatus of claim 4 (see rejection for claim 4);
Guo further teaches wherein, to determine the fourth number of information bits per CB, the at least one processor is configured to: determine the fourth number of information bits per CB using a same coded CB size for all the CBs of the multiple CBs (Paragraph [0140]: In some embodiments, the constraint conditions on the input bits of the specific coding operation include at least one of the following: 1) the effective code rate of the specific coding module should not be larger than a threshold1; 2) The total number of input bits of the specific coding module can be evenly divided by a divisor1; 3) The number of information bits of each code block of the specific coding module can be evenly divided by a divisor2; Paragraph [0142]: In some embodiments, the constraint conditions on the input bits of LDPC coding include at least one of the following: 1) The effective code rate of the LDPC coding should not be larger than 0.95; 2) The number of input bits of the LDPC coding can be evenly divided by the product of 8 and the number of code block; 3) The number of information bits of each code block of the specific coding module can be evenly divided by 8; Paragraph [0328]: Example 3: if Kc<2*Zc*C, Scheme 1, put the Kc bits into the significant bit locations or the head of each code block by dividing the total number of Kc bits equally into the code blocks of the TB.)
Regarding claim 6, the combination of Guo and Hu teaches the apparatus of claim 4 (see rejection for claim 4);
Guo further teaches wherein, to perform the probabilistic shaping process, the at least one processor is configured to: perform the probabilistic shaping process using a same coded CB size for all the CBs of the multiple CBs (Paragraph [0031]: In this disclosure, the channel coding and modulation schemes can encode a TB into a modulation sequence with a desired probability for constellation points. Paragraph [0033]: In this disclosure, channel coding and modulation for a transport block may comprise the following steps without a specific order: channel coding, specific coding, transport block CRC attachment, code block segmentation, code block CRC attachment. The channel coding may be one of: a low-density parity-check code, a polar code, a turbo code, a convolutional code. The specific coding may include a process comprising at least one of: a bit-to-symbol encoding and an symbol-to-bit conversion. Paragraph [0140]: In some embodiments, the constraint conditions on the input bits of the specific coding operation include at least one of the following: 1) the effective code rate of the specific coding module should not be larger than a threshold1; 2) The total number of input bits of the specific coding module can be evenly divided by a divisor1; 3) The number of information bits of each code block of the specific coding module can be evenly divided by a divisor2; Paragraph [0142]: In some embodiments, the constraint conditions on the input bits of LDPC coding include at least one of the following: 1) The effective code rate of the LDPC coding should not be larger than 0.95; 2) The number of input bits of the LDPC coding can be evenly divided by the product of 8 and the number of code block; 3) The number of information bits of each code block of the specific coding module can be evenly divided by 8; Paragraph [0328]: Example 3: if Kc<2*Zc*C, Scheme 1, put the Kc bits into the significant bit locations or the head of each code block by dividing the total number of Kc bits equally into the code blocks of the TB.)
Regarding claim 7, the combination of Guo and Hu teaches the apparatus of claim 4 (see rejection for claim 4);
Guo further teaches wherein the at least one processor is further configured to, prior to being configured to transmit the signal using the second set of transmit bits: perform a first rate matching using a same channel code and a same coded CB size for all the CBs of the multiple CBs; and perform a second rate matching on a subset of CBs from the multiple CBs by adding or removing one or more modulation symbols associated with the subset of CBs (Paragraph [0150]: In some embodiments, the code rate (R) corresponds to the target code rate Rt or corresponds to the effective code rate (Reff). Wherein the target code rate Rt can be determined by the MCS index indicated by a DCI. Wherein the effective code rate (Reff) can be determined by the code rate (Rs) of the specific coding operation and/or the code rate (Rc) of channel coding operation, and/or the modulation order, and/or the number of CRC bits. Paragraph [0307]: In some embodiment, the information bits of each code block for channel coding include one or more bits of the Kc which is not smaller than 2*Zc. In some embodiments, if the part of the information bits of the Kc in each code block size is smaller than 2*Zc, padding bits should be attached after the part of the information bits of the Kc. Paragraph [0310]: In some embodiments, the MCS index indicated by a DCI can be used to determine the code rate of the specific coding operation Rs, the code rate of channel coding Rc, the modulation order Qm, and the spectrum efficiency. The effective code rate Reff used to determine Ninfo can be determined by Rs, Rc and Qm. Paragraph [0347]: In some embodiments, the method includes modifying, by the terminal, the temporary TBS value by a modification method to generate a modified TBS value; modifying, by the terminal, the modified TBS value to generate a first part modified TBS value and a second part modified TBS value based on at least one of the first coding rate, the second coding rate, a ratio and a predefined function; and determining, by the terminal, the final TBS value by combining the first part modified TBS value and the second part modified TBS value.)
Regarding claim 8, the combination of Guo and Hu teaches the apparatus of claim 7 (see rejection for claim 7);
Guo further teaches wherein, to perform the second rate matching on the subset of CBs, the at least one processor is configured to: perform the second rate matching by removing the one or more modulation symbols associated with the subset of CBs, and wherein, to remove the one or more modulation symbols, the at least one processor is configured to: remove one or more systematic bits associated with one or more removed modulation symbols (Paragraph [0107]: The number of input bits is related to at least one of the following parameters: the transport block size; the rate Rs for specific coding operation; the modulation order; and the code rate Rc for LDPC coding. Paragraph [0160]: Step 5), the Kc_v can be modified to generate the modified number of information bits Kc_m for channel coding module. In some embodiments, the modified number of information bits Kc_m for channel coding is the final part of the input bits for channel coding. Paragraph [0161]: Step 6), the Ks_v is modified by the rounding function or the constraint conditions of the code block segmentation for the specific coding module to generate the modified number of information bits Ks_m for the specific coding module. Paragraph [0174]: In some embodiments, the code rate (R) corresponds to the target code rate Rt of corresponds to the effective code rate (Reff). In some embodiments, the target code rate Rt can be determined by the MCS index indicated by a DCI. In some embodiments, the effective code rate (Reff) can be determined by the code rate (Rs) of the specific coding operation and/or the code rate (Rc) of LDPC coding operation, and/or the modulation order, and/or the number of CRC bits.)
Regarding claim 9, the combination of Guo and Hu teaches the apparatus of claim 7 (see rejection for claim 7);
Guo further teaches wherein the coded CB size is a largest number of resource elements (REs) that one CB of the multiple CBs occupies, and wherein system bits and parity bits are removed for the CBs occupying a second number of REs less than the largest number of REs (Paragraph [0287]: From the example 1-3, the number of modulated symbols is larger than the allocated total number of REs by the DCI. Paragraph [0288]: In some embodiments, the constraint condition can include that the value of Ns/(Qm-2) should not be larger than the allocated total number of REs. Paragraph [0322]: Method 1: the total bits of Kc are allocated in each LDPC code block for a TB. In this method, the first 2*Zc bits in each LDPC code block are punctured, so the first 2*Zc bits are set as the part of bits of Kc. Paragraph [0328]: Example 3: if Kc<2*Zc*C, Scheme 1, put the Kc bits into the significant bit locations or the head of each code block by dividing the total number of Kc bits equally into the code blocks of the TB. Put the padding bits into the first bit locations in the rang of func(Kc/C)+1 ~ 2*Zc of each code block as shown in FIG. 9 . In some embodiments, the func(Kc/C) represents that if the Kc/C is not an integer, it is equal to the value of floor(Kc/C) for the first mod(Kc, C) code blocks; and it is equal to the value of ceil(Kc/C) for the remaining (C-mod(Kc, C)) code blocks. Paragraph [0343]: In some embodiments, the method includes determining, by the terminal, a temporary TBS value by deriving a product of a code rate, the modulation order, the number of layers, the total number of resource elements (NRE), and wherein the NRE is determined by using a number of allocated PRBs. Paragraph [0345]: In some embodiments, the NRE does not include the number of REs that is not available for data transmission.)
Regarding claim 10, the combination of Guo and Hu teaches the apparatus of claim 7 (see rejection for claim 7);
Guo further teaches wherein the coded CB size is a smallest number of resource elements (REs) that one CB of the multiple CBs occupies, and wherein an additional modulation symbol containing all parity bits are transmitted on the CBs occupying a third number of REs larger that the smallest number of REs (Paragraph [0034]: TBS determination procedure may include determining the number of REs (NRE) within the slot and/or determining the intermediate number of information bits (Ninfo) based on Ninfo = NRE ·R·Qm ·υ When Ninfo≤ 3824, TBS may be quantized the intermediate number of information bits by 2n to obtain N′info. Wherein n is an integer, which is not smaller than 3, and is related to the value of Ninfo and can use a TBS Table find the closest TBS that is not less than N′info. Paragraph [0095]: The parameters related to the TBS determine can include the modulation order Qm, the total number of configured resource elements (REs), the effective code rate Reff or the target code rate Rt and the number of layer. Paragraph [0150]: In some embodiments, the code rate (R) corresponds to the target code rate Rt or corresponds to the effective code rate (Reff). Wherein the target code rate Rt can be determined by the MCS index indicated by a DCI. Wherein the effective code rate (Reff) can be determined by the code rate (Rs) of the specific coding operation and/or the code rate (Rc) of channel coding operation, and/or the modulation order, and/or the number of CRC bits. Paragraph [0287]: From the example 1-3, the number of modulated symbols is larger than the allocated total number of REs by the DCI. Paragraph [0288]: In some embodiments, the constraint condition can include that the value of Ns/(Qm-2) should not be larger than the allocated total number of REs. Paragraph [0307]: In some embodiment, the information bits of each code block for channel coding include one or more bits of the Kc which is not smaller than 2*Zc. In some embodiments, if the part of the information bits of the Kc in each code block size is smaller than 2*Zc, padding bits should be attached after the part of the information bits of the Kc.)
Regarding claim 11, the combination of Guo and Hu teaches the apparatus of claim 1 (see rejection for claim 1);
Guo further teaches wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: insert the TB CRC onto the TB prior to the probabilistic shaping process (Paragraph [0068]: The precoding operation can be located before the TB CRC attachment as shown in FIGS. 1 (a) and (b), or between the TB CRC attachment and the CB CRC attachment as shown in FIGS. 1 (c), (d), (e) and (f), or after the CB CRC attachment as shown in FIGS. 1 (g) and (h). Paragraph [0070]: For the case that the precoding is between the transport block CRC attachment and the code block CRC attachment, FIG. 1(c) and FIG. 1(d) may provide two of the specific example that at least one portion of the output of the transport block CRC attachment is the input of the precoding.)
Regarding claim 12, the combination of Guo and Hu teaches the apparatus of claim 1 (see rejection for claim 1);
Guo further teaches wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: insert the TB CRC onto the TB after the probabilistic shaping process (Paragraph [0068]: The precoding operation can be located before the TB CRC attachment as shown in FIGS. 1 (a) and (b), or between the TB CRC attachment and the CB CRC attachment as shown in FIGS. 1 (c), (d), (e) and (f), or after the CB CRC attachment as shown in FIGS. 1 (g) and (h).)
Regarding claim 13, the combination of Guo and Hu teaches the apparatus of claim 1 (see rejection for claim 1);
Guo further teaches wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: insert a first TB CRC onto the TB prior to the probabilistic shaping process, and insert a second TB CRC onto the TB after the probabilistic shaping process (Paragraph [0068]: The precoding operation can be located before the TB CRC attachment as shown in FIGS. 1 (a) and (b), or between the TB CRC attachment and the CB CRC attachment as shown in FIGS. 1 (c), (d), (e) and (f), or after the CB CRC attachment as shown in FIGS. 1 (g) and (h). Paragraph [0070]: For the case that the precoding is between the transport block CRC attachment and the code block CRC attachment, FIG. 1(c) and FIG. 1(d) may provide two of the specific example that at least one portion of the output of the transport block CRC attachment is the input of the precoding, and both the output of the precoding and the output of the transport block CRC attachment excluding the at least one portion of the output of the transport block CRC attachment are the input of the code block segmentation, and the output of the code block segmentation is the input of the code block CRC attachment, the output of the code block CRC attachment is the input of the channel coding.)
Regarding claim 14, the combination of Guo and Hu teaches the apparatus of claim 1 (see rejection for claim 1);
Guo further teaches wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: insert a CB CRC onto the multiple CBs after the probabilistic shaping process (Paragraph [0069]: FIGS. 1 A-H illustrate examples 100a-h for the precoding between a transport block CRC attachment and a code block CRC attachment. Paragraph [0070]: For the case that the precoding is between the transport block CRC attachment and the code block CRC attachment, FIG. 1(c) and FIG. 1(d) may provide two of the specific example that at least one portion of the output of the transport block CRC attachment is the input of the precoding, and both the output of the precoding and the output of the transport block CRC attachment excluding the at least one portion of the output of the transport block CRC attachment are the input of the code block segmentation, and the output of the code block segmentation is the input of the code block CRC attachment, the output of the code block CRC attachment is the input of the channel coding.)
Regarding claim 15, the combination of Guo and Hu teaches the apparatus of claim 1 (see rejection for claim 1);
Guo further teaches wherein, to perform the probabilistic shaping process, the at least one processor is configured to: perform the probabilistic shaping process on the TB level across the multiple CBs associated with the TB, comprising: performing the probabilistic shaping process on the TB; and segmenting, after the probabilistic shaping process, each TB of the TB into multiple CBs (Paragraph [0070]: For the case that the precoding is between the transport block CRC attachment and the code block CRC attachment, FIG. 1(c) and FIG. 1(d) may provide two of the specific example that at least one portion of the output of the transport block CRC attachment is the input of the precoding, and both the output of the precoding and the output of the transport block CRC attachment excluding the at least one portion of the output of the transport block CRC attachment are the input of the code block segmentation, and the output of the code block segmentation is the input of the code block CRC attachment, the output of the code block CRC attachment is the input of the channel coding.)
Regarding claim 16, the combination of Guo and Hu teaches the apparatus of claim 1 (see rejection for claim 1);
Guo further teaches wherein, to perform the probabilistic shaping process, the at least one processor is configured to: perform the probabilistic shaping process on the CB level inside each CB of the multiple CBs individually, comprising: segmenting each TB of the TB into multiple CBs; and performing, for each TB of the TB, the probabilistic shaping process on each CB of the multiple CBs associated with a corresponding TB (Paragraph [0071]: FIG. 1(e) and FIG. 2(f) may provide two of the specific example that the output of the transport block CRC attachment is the input of the code block segmentation, and at least one portion of the output of the code block segmentation is the input of the precoding, and both the output of the precoding and the output of the code block segmentation excluding the at least one portion of the output of the code block segmentation are the input of the code block CRC attachment.)
Regarding claim 17, the combination of Guo and Hu teaches the apparatus of claim 1 (see rejection for claim 1);
Guo further teaches wherein, to perform the probabilistic shaping process on the first set of data bits of the signal, the at least one processor is configured to: divide the first set of data bits into the number of SBs (Paragraph [0071]: FIG. 1(e) and FIG. 2(f) may provide two of the specific example that the output of the transport block CRC attachment is the input of the code block segmentation, and at least one portion of the output of the code block segmentation is the input of the precoding, and both the output of the precoding and the output of the code block segmentation excluding the at least one portion of the output of the code block segmentation are the input of the code block CRC attachment. Paragraph [0073]: According to the above examples for the radio link model combining the operations of the specific coding (namely, precoding) and channel coding, the radio link model can include one or more of the following modules: 1) the bit splitting module; 2) the specific coding module; 3) channel coding module; 4) modulation module. The total number of data bits may be regarded as Ki. The bit splitting module can divide its input bits into two parts: Ks and Kc. Ks may be regarded as at least a part of the number of input bits of the specific coding module.)
Guo does not explicitly teach wherein each SB has a same shaping configuration for the probabilistic shaping process.
However, Hu teaches wherein each SB has a same shaping configuration for the probabilistic shaping process (Paragraph [0038]: Under a proposed scheme in accordance with the present disclosure with respect to transmission of PS modulation, for Physical Layer Convergence Protocol (PLCP) service data unit (PSDU) bit sequence (with length L) input to the PS mapper, an entire PSDU sequence L may be split to N sub-sequences, and each sub-sequence may have a fixed or predefined length K in terms of number of integers of 32 or other values, with L=N*K. Paragraph [0039]: Referring to FIG. 9 , on the transmitter side, an entire PSDU (e.g., formed from an A-MPDU), with length L, may be split into a plurality of subblocks, with the length K of each subblock being an integer multiple of 32 bits (or another number of bits), such that L=N*K, where K=32*m with m being an integer equal to or greater than 1. The length of each subblock may be fixed at K bits.)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide wherein each SB has a same shaping configuration for the probabilistic shaping process, as taught by Hu in the system of Guo, so that the bit sequences in the probabilistic shaping are of the same fixed lengths and same shaping configuration across the entire transmission, thus avoiding errors due to varying lengths (Hu: Paragraphs [0004], [0038]-[0040]).
Regarding claim 27, Guo teaches a method of wireless communication at a transmitting wireless device, comprising: determining, based at least in part on a first parameter associated with a Forward Error Correction (FEC) process and a second parameter associated with a probabilistic shaping process, a transport block (TB) size for a TB associated with a signal to be transmitted to a receiving wireless device; performing the probabilistic shaping process on a first set of data bits of the signal on the TB to obtain a second set of transmit bits, wherein a TB cyclic redundancy check (CRC) is inserted into the TB before or after the probabilistic shaping process, and wherein the probabilistic shaping process is applied on a TB level across multiple code blocks (CBs) associated with the TB or on a CB level individually inside each CB of the multiple CBs; and transmitting, to the receiving wireless device, the signal using the second set of transmit bits (see rejection for claim 1).
Guo does not explicitly teach based on a number of shaping blocks (SBs) associated with the first set of data bits, wherein a number of bits in the first set of data bits is an integer multiple of the number of SBs
However, Hu teaches based on a number of shaping blocks (SBs) associated with the first set of data bits, wherein a number of bits in the first set of data bits is an integer multiple of the number of SBs (see rejection for claim 1);
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide based on a number of shaping blocks (SBs) associated with the first set of data bits, wherein a number of bits in the first set of data bits is an integer multiple of the number of SBs, as taught by Hu in the system of Guo, so that the bit sequences in the probabilistic shaping are of the same fixed lengths across the entire transmission, thus avoiding errors due to varying lengths (Hu: Abstract, Paragraphs [0004], [0038]-[0040]).
Regarding claim 28, the combination of Guo and Hu teaches the method of claim 27 (see rejection for claim 27);
Guo further teaches wherein determining the TB size comprises: determining a first number of bits consumed by the FEC process based at least in part on the first parameter; and determining, based at least in part on the first number of bits, the TB size (see rejection for claim 2).
Claims 18, 19, 24, 25, 26, 29 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Guo et al. in view of Hu et al. (US2024/0333424A1), and further in view of Kim et al. (US2021/0194596A1).
Regarding claim 18, the combination of Guo and Hu teaches the apparatus of claim 1 (see rejection for claim 1);
Guo further teaches wherein the probabilistic shaping process is implemented using probabilistic amplitude shaping (PAS) (Paragraph [0026]: For example, Probabilistic amplitude shaping (PAS), which is a low-complexity probabilistic shaping (PS) scheme, can achieve an frame error rate (FER) around 0.01 within 1.1 dB to the additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) capacity from 1 bit/dim to 5 bits/dim at a step of 0.1 bits/dim using the DVB-S2 low density parity check (LDPC) codes without iterations between demodulation and decoding.)
The combination of Guo and Hu does not explicitly teach wherein the probabilistic shaping process is implemented based on a Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution.
However, Kim teaches wherein the probabilistic shaping process is implemented based on a Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution (Paragraph [0066]: Performing probabilistic shaping based on M-QAM may improve utilization of network resource. In some cases, the shaped profile follows a Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution.)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide wherein the probabilistic shaping process is implemented based on a Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution, as taught by Kim in the combined system of Guo and Hu, so that improved performance can be achieved (Kim: Paragraph [0066]).
Regarding claim 19, Guo teaches an apparatus of wireless communication at a receiving wireless device, comprising: at least one memory; and at least one processor coupled to the at least one memory and, based at least in part on information stored in the at least one memory, the at least one processor is configured to: receive, from a transmitting wireless device, a set of transmit bits associated with a signal (Paragraph [0007]: In yet another exemplary aspect, the various techniques described herein may be embodied as processor-executable code and stored on a computer-readable program medium. Paragraph [0367]: The essential elements of a computer are a processor for performing instructions and one or more memory devices for storing instructions and data. Paragraph [0335]: The method can include receiving, by a terminal, a first message that identifies a first coding rate and a second coding rate (block 1302). The method can also include performing, by the terminal, a first operation relating to a first coding operation and using the first coding rate (block 1304). The method can also include performing, by the terminal, a second operation relating to a second coding operation and using the second coding rate (block 1306). The method can also include transmitting or receiving, by the terminal, a second message using information related to the first operation and/or the second operation. (block 1308).)
Guo does not explicitly teach based on a number of shaping blocks (SBs), wherein a number of bits in the set of data bits is an integer multiple of the number of SBs.
However, Hu teaches based on a number of shaping blocks (SBs), wherein a number of bits in the set of data bits is an integer multiple of the number of SBs (Paragraph [0040]: Then, after PS de-mapping, the length of each de-mapped subblock may be fixed at K bits. Also see rejection for claim 1);
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide based on a number of shaping blocks (SBs) associated with the first set of data bits, wherein a number of bits in the first set of data bits is an integer multiple of the number of SBs, as taught by Hu in the system of Guo, so that the bit sequences in the probabilistic shaping are of the same fixed lengths across the entire transmission, thus avoiding errors due to varying lengths (Hu: Abstract, Paragraphs [0004], [0038]-[0040]).
The combination of Guo and Hu does not explicitly teach to demodulate the set of transmit bits to extract a set of demodulated bits; and perform, based on the set of demodulated bits and a transport block (TB) associated with the set of demodulated bits, an inverse probabilistic shaping process to obtain a set of data bits for the signal.
However, Kim teaches to demodulate the set of transmit bits to extract a set of demodulated bits; and perform, based on the set of demodulated bits and a transport block (TB) associated with the set of demodulated bits, an inverse probabilistic shaping process to obtain a set of data bits for the signal (Paragraph [0057]: As noted above, transmitter 102 may be a universally programmable transceiver for applying different modulation formats, while receiver 112 may include the corresponding functionality for demodulation. Thus, transmitter 102 may support the use of constellation shaping and may be selectively programmed to apply constellation shaping on a per channel basis, while receiver 112 may correspondingly demodulate channels to which a certain kind of constellation shaping has been applied. In various embodiments, transmitter 102 and receiver 112 may include respective mapping/de-mapping functionality, such as within a digital signal processing (DSP) module, to enable implementation of constellation shaping in optical transport network 101. Paragraph [0085]: For example, distribution matcher 404 may be configured to control the probability of occurrence of certain constellation points on the transmitter side to shape the distribution of the constellation points, and distribution de-matcher 420 may be configured to reverse the probabilistic shaping process. Paragraph [0086]: Subsequently, this binary data may be processed by FEC decoder 418 and distribution de-matcher 420 to recover the originally received binary data, shown as recovered data 422.)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to demodulate the set of transmit bits to extract a set of demodulated bits; and perform, based on the set of demodulated bits and a transport block (TB) associated with the set of demodulated bits, an inverse probabilistic shaping process to obtain a set of data bits for the signal, as taught by Kim in the combined system of Guo and Hu, so that the receiver can reverse the probabilistic shaping process and recover the transmitted bits (Kim: Paragraphs [0057], [0085], [0086]).
Regarding claim 24, the combination of Guo, Hu, and Kim teaches the apparatus of claim 19 wherein, to perform the inverse probabilistic shaping process, the at least one processor is configured to (see rejection for claim 19);
Guo further teaches a TB level across multiple code blocks (CBs) associated with the TB (Paragraph [0031]: Theoretically, channel coding and modulation schemes output constellation points with equal probability are not efficient. An efficient scheme should output different constellation points with different probabilities. Specifically, a constellation point with smaller power can appear more frequently than a constellation point with larger power in the output of the channel coding and modulation. In this disclosure, the channel coding and modulation schemes can encode a TB into a modulation sequence with a desired probability for constellation points. Paragraph [0033]: In this disclosure, channel coding and modulation for a transport block may comprise the following steps without a specific order: channel coding, specific coding, transport block CRC attachment, code block segmentation, code block CRC attachment. The channel coding may be one of: a low-density parity-check code, a polar code, a turbo code, a convolutional code. The specific coding may include a process comprising at least one of: a bit-to-symbol encoding and an symbol-to-bit conversion.)
The combination of Guo and Hu does not explicitly teach to perform the inverse probabilistic shaping process on a TB level.
However, Kim teaches to perform the inverse probabilistic shaping process on a TB level (Paragraph [0057]: As noted above, transmitter 102 may be a universally programmable transceiver for applying different modulation formats, while receiver 112 may include the corresponding functionality for demodulation. Thus, transmitter 102 may support the use of constellation shaping and may be selectively programmed to apply constellation shaping on a per channel basis, while receiver 112 may correspondingly demodulate channels to which a certain kind of constellation shaping has been applied. In various embodiments, transmitter 102 and receiver 112 may include respective mapping/de-mapping functionality, such as within a digital signal processing (DSP) module, to enable implementation of constellation shaping in optical transport network 101. Paragraph [0085]: For example, distribution matcher 404 may be configured to control the probability of occurrence of certain constellation points on the transmitter side to shape the distribution of the constellation points, and distribution de-matcher 420 may be configured to reverse the probabilistic shaping process. Paragraph [0086]: Subsequently, this binary data may be processed by FEC decoder 418 and distribution de-matcher 420 to recover the originally received binary data, shown as recovered data 422.)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to perform the inverse probabilistic shaping process on a TB level, as taught by Kim in the combined system of Guo and Hu, so that the receiver can reverse the probabilistic shaping process and recover the transmitted bits (Kim: Paragraphs [0057], [0085], [0086]).
Regarding claim 25, the combination of Guo, Hu, and Kim teaches the apparatus of claim 19, wherein, to perform the inverse probabilistic shaping process, the at least one processor is configured to (see rejection for claim 19);
Guo further teaches a code block (CB) level on each CB of multiple CBs associated with the TB (Paragraph [0071]: FIG. 1(e) and FIG. 2(f) may provide two of the specific example that the output of the transport block CRC attachment is the input of the code block segmentation, and at least one portion of the output of the code block segmentation is the input of the precoding, and both the output of the precoding and the output of the code block segmentation excluding the at least one portion of the output of the code block segmentation are the input of the code block CRC attachment.)
The combination of Guo and Hu does not explicitly teach to perform the inverse probabilistic shaping process on a code block (CB) level.
However, Kim teaches to perform the inverse probabilistic shaping process on a code block (CB) level (Paragraph [0057]: As noted above, transmitter 102 may be a universally programmable transceiver for applying different modulation formats, while receiver 112 may include the corresponding functionality for demodulation. Thus, transmitter 102 may support the use of constellation shaping and may be selectively programmed to apply constellation shaping on a per channel basis, while receiver 112 may correspondingly demodulate channels to which a certain kind of constellation shaping has been applied. In various embodiments, transmitter 102 and receiver 112 may include respective mapping/de-mapping functionality, such as within a digital signal processing (DSP) module, to enable implementation of constellation shaping in optical transport network 101. Paragraph [0085]: For example, distribution matcher 404 may be configured to control the probability of occurrence of certain constellation points on the transmitter side to shape the distribution of the constellation points, and distribution de-matcher 420 may be configured to reverse the probabilistic shaping process. Paragraph [0086]: Subsequently, this binary data may be processed by FEC decoder 418 and distribution de-matcher 420 to recover the originally received binary data, shown as recovered data 422.)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to perform the inverse probabilistic shaping process on a code block (CB) level, as taught by Kim in the combined system of Guo and Hu, so that the receiver can reverse the probabilistic shaping process and recover the transmitted bits (Kim: Paragraphs [0057], [0085], [0086]).
Regarding claim 26, the combination of Guo, Hu, and Kim teaches the apparatus of claim 19, wherein, to perform the inverse probabilistic shaping process, the at least one processor is configured to (see rejection for claim 19);
Guo further teaches a predetermined number of shaping blocks (SBs), wherein each SB has a
same configuration (Paragraph [0071]: FIG. 1(e) and FIG. 2(f) may provide two of the specific example that the output of the transport block CRC attachment is the input of the code block segmentation, and at least one portion of the output of the code block segmentation is the input of the precoding, and both the output of the precoding and the output of the code block segmentation excluding the at least one portion of the output of the code block segmentation are the input of the code block CRC attachment. Paragraph [0073]: According to the above examples for the radio link model combining the operations of the specific coding (namely, precoding) and channel coding, the radio link model can include one or more of the following modules: 1) the bit splitting module; 2) the specific coding module; 3) channel coding module; 4) modulation module. The total number of data bits may be regarded as Ki. The bit splitting module can divide its input bits into two parts: Ks and Kc. Ks may be regarded as at least a part of the number of input bits of the specific coding module.)
The combination of Guo and Hu does not teach to perform the inverse probabilistic shaping process based on a predetermined number of shaping blocks (SBs).
However, Kim teaches to perform the inverse probabilistic shaping process based on a predetermined number of shaping blocks (SBs) (Paragraph [0057]: As noted above, transmitter 102 may be a universally programmable transceiver for applying different modulation formats, while receiver 112 may include the corresponding functionality for demodulation. Thus, transmitter 102 may support the use of constellation shaping and may be selectively programmed to apply constellation shaping on a per channel basis, while receiver 112 may correspondingly demodulate channels to which a certain kind of constellation shaping has been applied. In various embodiments, transmitter 102 and receiver 112 may include respective mapping/de-mapping functionality, such as within a digital signal processing (DSP) module, to enable implementation of constellation shaping in optical transport network 101. Paragraph [0085]: For example, distribution matcher 404 may be configured to control the probability of occurrence of certain constellation points on the transmitter side to shape the distribution of the constellation points, and distribution de-matcher 420 may be configured to reverse the probabilistic shaping process. Paragraph [0086]: Subsequently, this binary data may be processed by FEC decoder 418 and distribution de-matcher 420 to recover the originally received binary data, shown as recovered data 422.)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to perform the inverse probabilistic shaping process based on a predetermined number of shaping blocks (SBs), as taught by Kim in the combined system of Guo and Hu, so that the receiver can reverse the probabilistic shaping process and recover the transmitted bits (Kim: Paragraphs [0057], [0085], [0086]).
Regarding claim 29, Guo teaches a method of wireless communication at a receiving wireless device, comprising: receiving, from a transmitting wireless device, a set of transmit bits associated with a signal (see rejection for claim 19);
Guo does not explicitly teach based on a number of shaping blocks (SBs), wherein a number of bits in the set of data bits is an integer multiple of the number of SBs.
However, Hu teaches based on a number of shaping blocks (SBs), wherein a number of bits in the set of data bits is an integer multiple of the number of SBs (Paragraph [0040]: Then, after PS de-mapping, the length of each de-mapped subblock may be fixed at K bits. Also see rejection for claim 1);
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide based on a number of shaping blocks (SBs) associated with the first set of data bits, wherein a number of bits in the first set of data bits is an integer multiple of the number of SBs, as taught by Hu in the system of Guo, so that the bit sequences in the probabilistic shaping are of the same fixed lengths across the entire transmission, thus avoiding errors due to varying lengths (Hu: Abstract, Paragraphs [0004], [0038]-[0040]).
The combination of Guo and Hu does not explicitly teach demodulating the set of transmit bits to extract a set of demodulated bits; and performing, based on the set of demodulated bits and a transport block (TB) associated with the set of demodulated bits, an inverse probabilistic shaping process to obtain a set of data bits for the signal.
However, Kim teaches demodulating the set of transmit bits to extract a set of demodulated bits; and performing, based on the set of demodulated bits and a transport block (TB) associated with the set of demodulated bits, an inverse probabilistic shaping process to obtain a set of data bits for the signal (see rejection for claim 19);
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide demodulating the set of transmit bits to extract a set of demodulated bits; and performing, based on the set of demodulated bits and a transport block (TB) associated with the set of demodulated bits, an inverse probabilistic shaping process to obtain a set of data bits for the signal, as taught by Kim in the combined system of Guo and Hu, so that the receiver can reverse the probabilistic shaping process and recover the transmitted bits (Kim: Paragraphs [0057], [0085], [0086]).
Claims 20, 21, 22, 23, 30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Guo et al. in view of Hu et al. (US2024/0333424A1), and Kim et al. (US2021/0194596A1), and further in view of Yuan et al. (US2019/0245651A1).
Regarding claim 20, the combination of Guo, Hu and Kim teaches the apparatus of claim 19 (see rejection for claim 19);
Guo teaches further comprising a transceiver coupled to the at least one processor, wherein, to receive the set of transmit bits associated with the signal, the at least one processor is configured to receive, via the transceiver, the set of transmit bits associated with the signal, and wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: (Paragraph [0363]: The hardware platform 1505 can include transceiver electronics 1515 to send and/or receive wired or wireless signals over one or more communication interfaces such as antenna 1520 or a wireline interface. The hardware platform 1505 can implement other communication interfaces with defined protocols for transmitting and receiving data. The hardware platform 1505 can include one or more memories (not explicitly shown) configured to store information such as data and/or instructions. In some implementations, the processor electronics 1510 can include at least a portion of the transceiver electronics 1515.)
a TB cyclic redundancy check (CRC) inserted prior to a probabilistic shaping process at the transmitting wireless device (Paragraph [0068]: The precoding operation can be located before the TB CRC attachment as shown in FIGS. 1 (a) and (b), or between the TB CRC attachment and the CB CRC attachment as shown in FIGS. 1 (c), (d), (e) and (f), or after the CB CRC attachment as shown in FIGS. 1 (g) and (h). Paragraph [0070]: For the case that the precoding is between the transport block CRC attachment and the code block CRC attachment, FIG. 1(c) and FIG. 1(d) may provide two of the specific example that at least one portion of the output of the transport block CRC attachment is the input of the precoding.)
The combination of Guo, Hu, and Kim does not explicitly teach to check, after performing the inverse probabilistic shaping process, an integrity of the TB using a TB cyclic redundancy check (CRC).
However, Yuan teaches to check, after performing the inverse probabilistic shaping process, an integrity of the TB using a TB cyclic redundancy check (CRC) (Paragraph [0005]: A simple probabilistic amplitude shaping (PAS) scheme has been proposed recently, which can approach the channel capacity for large block lengths using standard binary channel codes with iterative decoding. Paragraph [0044]: In order to improve the error detection performance, the scheme can be combined with an additional CRC code. Only if both (i) the type check matches the expected distribution and (ii) a CRC value computed by the receiver for the candidate received codeword matches the received CRC the decoder output is regarded as correct. In that case the candidate codeword is passed for further processing at the receiver and an ACK message may be sent. FIG. 4 shows two possible implementations of such a receiver. Example (a) is suitable for the situation where, at the transmitter, a CRC is added before the distribution matcher 1 of FIG. 2. In this example the decoder input passes to a FEC decoder 20. Then a type check is performed in block 21. Depending on the result of that type check a NACK message may be returned to the transmitter. Then in block 22 an inverse CCDM process is performed. Then the CRC is decoded in block 23. If the CRC does not match then a NACK may be returned to the transmitter. Otherwise the codeword may be passed for further processing and an ACK may be returned. Example (b) is suitable for the situation where, at the transmitter, a CRC is added after the distribution matcher 1. This example is analogous to example (a) except that the order of CRC decoding is moved to between the FEC decoding and the type check, and so the type check forms the final decision as to whether the candidate codeword is accepted.)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to check, after performing the inverse probabilistic shaping process, an integrity of the TB using a TB cyclic redundancy check (CRC), as taught by Yuan in the combined system of Guo, Hu, and Kim, so that error detection can be performed and information that was transmitted can be recovered (Yuan: Paragraphs [0005], [0044]).
Regarding claim 21, the combination of Guo, Hu, and Kim teaches the apparatus of claim 19, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to (see rejection for claim 19);
Guo further teaches a TB cyclic redundancy check (CRC) inserted after a probabilistic shaping process at the transmitting wireless device (Paragraph [0068]: The precoding operation can be located before the TB CRC attachment as shown in FIGS. 1 (a) and (b), or between the TB CRC attachment and the CB CRC attachment as shown in FIGS. 1 (c), (d), (e) and (f), or after the CB CRC attachment as shown in FIGS. 1 (g) and (h).)
The combination of Guo, Hu, and Kim does not explicitly teach to check, before performing the inverse probabilistic shaping process, an integrity of the TB using a TB cyclic redundancy check (CRC).
However, Yuan teaches to check, before performing the inverse probabilistic shaping process, an integrity of the TB using a TB cyclic redundancy check (CRC) (Paragraph [0005]: A simple probabilistic amplitude shaping (PAS) scheme has been proposed recently, which can approach the channel capacity for large block lengths using standard binary channel codes with iterative decoding. Paragraph [0044]: In order to improve the error detection performance, the scheme can be combined with an additional CRC code. Only if both (i) the type check matches the expected distribution and (ii) a CRC value computed by the receiver for the candidate received codeword matches the received CRC the decoder output is regarded as correct. In that case the candidate codeword is passed for further processing at the receiver and an ACK message may be sent. FIG. 4 shows two possible implementations of such a receiver. Example (a) is suitable for the situation where, at the transmitter, a CRC is added before the distribution matcher 1 of FIG. 2. In this example the decoder input passes to a FEC decoder 20. Then a type check is performed in block 21. Depending on the result of that type check a NACK message may be returned to the transmitter. Then in block 22 an inverse CCDM process is performed. Then the CRC is decoded in block 23. If the CRC does not match then a NACK may be returned to the transmitter. Otherwise the codeword may be passed for further processing and an ACK may be returned. Example (b) is suitable for the situation where, at the transmitter, a CRC is added after the distribution matcher 1. This example is analogous to example (a) except that the order of CRC decoding is moved to between the FEC decoding and the type check, and so the type check forms the final decision as to whether the candidate codeword is accepted.)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to check, before performing the inverse probabilistic shaping process, an integrity of the TB using a TB cyclic redundancy check (CRC), as taught by Yuan in the combined system of Guo, Hu, and Kim, so that error detection can be performed and information that was transmitted can be recovered (Yuan: Paragraphs [0005], [0044]).
Regarding claim 22, the combination of Guo, Hu, and Kim teaches the apparatus of claim 19, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to (see rejection for claim 19);
Guo further teaches a first TB cyclic redundancy check (CRC) inserted prior to a probabilistic shaping process at the transmitting wireless device, a second TB CRC inserted after the probabilistic shaping process at the transmitting wireless device (Paragraph [0068]: The precoding operation can be located before the TB CRC attachment as shown in FIGS. 1 (a) and (b), or between the TB CRC attachment and the CB CRC attachment as shown in FIGS. 1 (c), (d), (e) and (f), or after the CB CRC attachment as shown in FIGS. 1 (g) and (h). Paragraph [0070]: For the case that the precoding is between the transport block CRC attachment and the code block CRC attachment, FIG. 1(c) and FIG. 1(d) may provide two of the specific example that at least one portion of the output of the transport block CRC attachment is the input of the precoding, and both the output of the precoding and the output of the transport block CRC attachment excluding the at least one portion of the output of the transport block CRC attachment are the input of the code block segmentation, and the output of the code block segmentation is the input of the code block CRC attachment, the output of the code block CRC attachment is the input of the channel coding.)
The combination of Guo, Hu, and Kim does not explicitly teach to check, before performing the inverse probabilistic shaping process, an integrity of the TB using a first TB cyclic redundancy check (CRC) and check, after performing the inverse probabilistic shaping process, the integrity of the TB using a second TB CRC.
However, Yuan teaches to check, before performing the inverse probabilistic shaping process, an integrity of the TB using a first TB cyclic redundancy check (CRC) and check, after performing the inverse probabilistic shaping process, the integrity of the TB using a second TB CRC (Paragraph [0005]: A simple probabilistic amplitude shaping (PAS) scheme has been proposed recently, which can approach the channel capacity for large block lengths using standard binary channel codes with iterative decoding. Paragraph [0040]: Thus, patterns in the transmit sequence for error detection can be exploited to allow the required overhead for dedicated error correcting codes (e.g. CRC) to be reduced. Paragraph [0041]: The approach can be used with standard binary FEC codes and QAM symbol mappers, and can if desired be combined with an additional short outer CRC code. Paragraph [0044]: In order to improve the error detection performance, the scheme can be combined with an additional CRC code. Only if both (i) the type check matches the expected distribution and (ii) a CRC value computed by the receiver for the candidate received codeword matches the received CRC the decoder output is regarded as correct. In that case the candidate codeword is passed for further processing at the receiver and an ACK message may be sent. FIG. 4 shows two possible implementations of such a receiver. Example (a) is suitable for the situation where, at the transmitter, a CRC is added before the distribution matcher 1 of FIG. 2. In this example the decoder input passes to a FEC decoder 20. Then a type check is performed in block 21. Depending on the result of that type check a NACK message may be returned to the transmitter. Then in block 22 an inverse CCDM process is performed. Then the CRC is decoded in block 23. If the CRC does not match then a NACK may be returned to the transmitter. Otherwise the codeword may be passed for further processing and an ACK may be returned. Example (b) is suitable for the situation where, at the transmitter, a CRC is added after the distribution matcher 1. This example is analogous to example (a) except that the order of CRC decoding is moved to between the FEC decoding and the type check, and so the type check forms the final decision as to whether the candidate codeword is accepted.)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to check, before performing the inverse probabilistic shaping process, an integrity of the TB using a first TB cyclic redundancy check (CRC) and check, after performing the inverse probabilistic shaping process, the integrity of the TB using a second TB CRC, as taught by Yuan in the combined system of Guo, Hu, and Kim, so that an additional CRC can further improve error detection, and information that was transmitted can be recovered (Yuan: Paragraphs [0005], [0041], [0044]).
Regarding claim 23, the combination of Guo, Hu, and Kim teaches the apparatus of claim 19, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to (see rejection for claim 19);
Guo further teaches a CB cyclic redundancy check (CRC) inserted after a probabilistic shaping process at the transmitting wireless device (Paragraph [0069]: FIGS. 1 A-H illustrate examples 100a-h for the precoding between a transport block CRC attachment and a code block CRC attachment. Paragraph [0070]: For the case that the precoding is between the transport block CRC attachment and the code block CRC attachment, FIG. 1(c) and FIG. 1(d) may provide two of the specific example that at least one portion of the output of the transport block CRC attachment is the input of the precoding, and both the output of the precoding and the output of the transport block CRC attachment excluding the at least one portion of the output of the transport block CRC attachment are the input of the code block segmentation, and the output of the code block segmentation is the input of the code block CRC attachment, the output of the code block CRC attachment is the input of the channel coding.)
The combination of Guo, Hu, and Kim does not explicitly teach to check an integrity of multiple code blocks (CBs) associated with the TB using a CB cyclic redundancy check (CRC).
However, Yuan teaches to check an integrity of multiple code blocks (CBs) associated with the TB using a CB cyclic redundancy check (CRC) (Paragraph [0005: A simple probabilistic amplitude shaping (PAS) scheme has been proposed recently, which can approach the channel capacity for large block lengths using standard binary channel codes with iterative decoding. Paragraph [0044]: In order to improve the error detection performance, the scheme can be combined with an additional CRC code. Only if both (i) the type check matches the expected distribution and (ii) a CRC value computed by the receiver for the candidate received codeword matches the received CRC the decoder output is regarded as correct. In that case the candidate codeword is passed for further processing at the receiver and an ACK message may be sent. FIG. 4 shows two possible implementations of such a receiver. Example (a) is suitable for the situation where, at the transmitter, a CRC is added before the distribution matcher 1 of FIG. 2. In this example the decoder input passes to a FEC decoder 20. Then a type check is performed in block 21. Depending on the result of that type check a NACK message may be returned to the transmitter. Then in block 22 an inverse CCDM process is performed. Then the CRC is decoded in block 23. If the CRC does not match then a NACK may be returned to the transmitter. Otherwise the codeword may be passed for further processing and an ACK may be returned. Example (b) is suitable for the situation where, at the transmitter, a CRC is added after the distribution matcher 1. This example is analogous to example (a) except that the order of CRC decoding is moved to between the FEC decoding and the type check, and so the type check forms the final decision as to whether the candidate codeword is accepted.)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to check an integrity of multiple code blocks (CBs) associated with the TB using a CB cyclic redundancy check (CRC), as taught by Yuan in the combined system of Guo, Hu, and Kim, so that error detection can be performed and information that was transmitted can be recovered (Yuan: Paragraphs [0005], [0044]).
Regarding claim 30, the combination of Guo, Hu, and Kim teaches the method of claim 29, further comprising (see rejection for claim 29);
Guo further teaches a TB cyclic redundancy check (CRC) inserted prior to a probabilistic shaping process at the transmitting wireless device (see rejection for claim 20);
The combination of Guo, Hu, and Kim does not explicitly teach checking, after performing the inverse probabilistic shaping process, an integrity of the TB using a TB cyclic redundancy check (CRC).
However, Yuan teaches checking, after performing the inverse probabilistic shaping process, an integrity of the TB using a TB cyclic redundancy check (CRC) (see rejection for claim 20);
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide checking, after performing the inverse probabilistic shaping process, an integrity of the TB using a TB cyclic redundancy check (CRC), as taught by Yuan in the combined system of Guo, Hu, and Kim, so that error detection can be performed and information that was transmitted can be recovered (Yuan: Paragraphs [0005], [0044]).
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed November 20, 2025 with respect to claims 1-17, and 27-28 being rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 102(b) as being anticipated by Guo et al. (US2023/0179321A1); claims 18, 19, 24-26, and 29 being rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over Guo in view of Kim et al. (US2021/0194596A1); and claims 20-23, and 30 being rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over Guo in view of Kim, and further in view of Yuan et al. (US2019/0245651A1) have been fully considered.
Applicant respectfully submits that Guo does not teach “based on a number of shaping blocks (SBs) associated with the first set of data bits, wherein a number of bits in the first set of data bits is an integer multiple of the number of SB”, as recited in amended independent claim 1, and similar features recited in amended independent claims 19, 27, and 29. However, Hu et al. (US2024/0333424A1) teaches “based on a number of shaping blocks (SBs) associated with the first set of data bits, wherein a number of bits in the first set of data bits is an integer multiple of the number of SBs”. Hu teaches splitting a sequence of L bits into N sub-sequences and each sub-sequence may have a fixed length K in terms of number of integers of 32 or other values, with L=N*K. Hu also teaches splitting a sequence of L bits into a plurality of subblocks with the length K of each subblock being an integer multiple of 32 bits (or another number of bits), such that L=N*K, where K=32*m with m being an integer equal to or greater than 1. Thus, the number of bits to be shaped is divided into subblocks (shaping blocks), where each subblock contains the same number of bits, such that the number of bits is an integer multiple of the number of subblocks. The apparatus processes each subblock of a plurality of subblocks, and probabilistic shaping mapping of each subblock, to result in each subblock having a fixed length before further processing including encoding and modulation. Thus, Hu teaches “based on a number of shaping blocks (SBs) associated with the first set of data bits, wherein a number of bits in the first set of data bits is an integer multiple of the number of SBs”. Thus, the combination of Guo and Hu teaches amended independent claims 1 and 27; the combination of Guo, Hu, and Kim teaches amended independent claims 19 and 29. Dependent claims 2-18, 20-26, 28, and 30 are taught by a combination of the cited references Guo, Hu, Kim, and Yuan.
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.
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/L.C./Examiner, Art Unit 2461
/JASON E MATTIS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2461
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