0DETAILED ACTION
This action is in response to communications filed September 11th, 2025.
Claims 1-23 are currently pending.
The present application is a continuation of International application no. PCT/EP2022/056167, filed on March 10th, 2022, which claims prior to the European Union application no. EP21162296.4, filed on March 12th, 2021.
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claim Objections
Claim 9 objected to because of the following informalities: The claims refer to the “Transmission method according to claim 8” where claim 8 is directed to a “Communication method”. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claim 20 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to non-statutory subject matter.
The claim does not fall within at least one of the four categories of patent eligible subject matter because embodiments of a data packet include transitory signals, as described in paragraphs [0191], [0194], and [0200] of the instant application’s specification.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Shattil (U.S. Patent no. 12,224,860).
With respect to claims 1 and 19-21, Shattil discloses a communication method, non-transitory digital storage medium, data packet, and communication participant (column 9, lines 48-51), comprising:
transmitting at least one data packet with a header and a coded packet (column 21, lines 41-46, header information) into which one or several source packets are coded according to information of the header (column 21, lines 41-46, original data portions are encapsulated);
wherein the header comprises, from a group, at least one first information relevant for interpreting the coded packet (column 29, lines 12-20, known sequences used for synchronization and/or known values used for other control purposes, sometimes reside in packet headers), wherein the group comprises one or several of the following information:
information with respect to one or several sources of the coded packet (column 21, lines 41-46, original data portions are encapsulated) and information with respect to one or several sinks of the coded packet or information with respect to one or several sources or sinks of the coded packet in combination with information with respect to a transmission direction (column 21, lines 50-56, information typically identifies a particular destination node to which the message is addressed, wherein the information is directly or indirectly comprised by the header (column 21, lines 41-46, then header information in those original packets, such as addresses, sequence numbers, and the like are similarly masked):
a coding vector together with information with respect to one or several sources of the coded packet (column 16, lines 10-16, receiving the code vectors 302) and information with respect to one or several sinks of the coded packet or a coding vector together with information with respect to one or several sources or sinks of the coded packet in combination with information with respect to a transmission direction (column 15, lines 44-54, receiving coded packets at a receiver via multiple transmission paths 301; column 16, lines 26-41, intermediate nodes (such as relay nodes) in the transmission paths may provide encoded packets), wherein the coding vectors is comprised separately (column 15, lines 44-51, receives one or more code vectors 302 corresponding to the codes), comprised integrally (column 16, lines 10-16, receiving the code vectors 302 may be performed simultaneously), pre-specified, or referenced, wherein coding coefficients are allocated to the coding vector (column 17, lines 10-14, coefficient matrix associated with the received packet), wherein the information is directly or indirectly comprised by the header (column 16, lines 36-41, either directly or indirectly); and
deriving, from the at least one first information under consideration of pre-configured information, one second information of the group that is relevant for interpreting the coded packet (column 17, lines 18-21, building the dimension of the subspaces spanned by the set of received coded packets).
With respect to claim 2, Shattil discloses the communication method according to claim 1, wherein the pre-configured information comprises a scheduling table and/or a coding matrix (column 17, lines 66-67; column 18, lines 1-4) and/or a request list (column 26, lines 48-60, distribution source code segment).
With respect to claim 3, Shattil discloses the communication method according to claim 1, wherein the data packet comprises the header for one or several source packets to be transmitted between one or several sources and several sinks or between one source and one or several sinks in different transmission directions (column 15, lines 44-54, receiving coded packets at a receiver via multiple transmission paths 301), and the coded packet for the one or several source packets to be transmitted; and/or
wherein a coding vector is allocated to the coded packet (column 16, lines 10-16, receiving the code vectors 302); and/or
wherein the at least one data packet is used for at least two source packets to be transmitted, comprising an uplink transmission and a downlink transmission (column 16, lines 26-41, intermediate nodes (such as relay nodes) in the transmission paths may provide encoded packet), or for at least two source packets to be transmitted between different communication partners (column 16, lines 26-41, intermediate nodes (such as relay nodes) in the transmission paths may provide encoded packet.
With respect to claim 4, Shattil discloses the communication method according claim 1, wherein transmitting is carried out starting from a fixed communication partner, and/or wherein the header only comprises information with respect to one or several further communication partners for the coded packet together with a first transmission direction (column 16, lines 26-41, intermediate nodes (such as relay nodes) in the transmission paths may provide encoded packet.
With respect to claim 5, Shattil discloses the communication method according to claim 2, wherein the request list comprises information with respect to the one or several sources and/or sinks for one or several source packets (column 26, lines 48-60, distributed to one or more nodes) and/or
wherein the request list comprises an allocation of the one or several sources and/or sinks to a corresponding coding vector or coding vector index referencing to a coding coefficient in the coding vector (column 26, lines 48-60, distribution source code segment).
With respect to claim 6, Shattil discloses the communication method according to claim 1, wherein transmitting or transmitting and deriving is repeated for one or several communication processes or is performed repeatedly for one or several communication process in a temporal sequence (column 26, lines 48-60, distributed to one or more nodes); or wherein transmitting or transmitting and deriving is repeated for one or several communication processes or is performed repeatedly in a temporal sequence for one or several communication processes, wherein the temporal sequence is determined by a scheduling table (column 26, lines 48-60, distributed to one or more nodes).
With respect to claim 7, Shattil discloses the communication method according to claim 6, wherein the temporal sequence and/or the scheduling table comprises a fixed allocation of a time slot to the respective source(s) and/or the respective sink(s) (column 10, line 7); and/or
wherein the scheduling table comprises an indication with respect to a fixed communication partner and an associated source or an associated sink per communication process (column 26, lines 48-60, distributed to one or more nodes).
With respect to claim 8, Shattil discloses the communication method according to claim 6, wherein the desired coding vector or a coding vector index referencing to a coding coefficient in the (desired) coding vector depends on and/or is derivable from a numbering or temporal sequence (column 16, lines 30-41); or wherein the desired coding vector depends on or is derivable from a numbering or temporal sequence and the connection is comprised by a coding matrix (column 16, lines 30-41); and/or
wherein a coding matrix defines a connection between a communication process and coding coefficients for a source packet (column 16, lines 30-41); and/or
wherein a fixed allocation of a respective fixed coding coefficient to a respective communication process and a coding vector index is defined in the coding matrix (column 16, lines 30-41).
With respect to claim 9, Shattil discloses the transmission method according to claim 8, wherein the header comprises one compressed version of the coding vector per communication process from which the coding vector is derivable per communication process (column 21, lines 41-46, then header information in those original packets, such as addresses, sequence numbers, and the like are similarly masked); and/or
wherein, as information with respect to the coding vector, the header comprises information as to whether a source packet (allocated to a coding vector index) is comprised by the data packet (column 21, lines 41-46, then header information in those original packets, such as addresses, sequence numbers, and the like are similarly masked).
With respect to claim 10, Shattil discloses the communication method according to claim 1, wherein the request list is supplemented by an allocation that allocates a cluster to each request (column 26, lines 48-60, distribution source code segment).
With respect to claim 11, Shattil discloses the communication method according to claim 1, wherein, prior to transmitting the at least one data packet, a distribution of pre-configured information and/or a scheduling table (column 26, lines 48-60, distributed to one or more nodes) and/or a coding matrix and/or a request list is carried out between the communication partners (column 26, lines 48-60, distribution source code segment).
With respect to claim 12, Shattil discloses the communication method according to claim 11, wherein a configuration of the transmitter or the source and/or the receiver or the sink is carried out on the basis of the scheduling table (column 26, lines 48-60, distributed to one or more nodes) and/or the coding matrix and/or the request list (column 26, lines 48-60, distribution source code segment).
With respect to claim 13, Shattil discloses the communication method according to claim 11, wherein the exchanged scheduling table (column 26, lines 48-60, distributed to one or more nodes), coding matrix, and/or request list is valid for several communication processes (column 26, lines 48-60, distribution source code segment).
With respect to claim 14, Shattil discloses the communication method according to claim 1, wherein the communication method comprises transmitting or forwarding or is performed by a transmitter or relay node, wherein transmitting or forwarding comprises coding the coded packet by using the coding vector and/or generating the header (column 16, lines 26-36); and/or
wherein transmitting comprises:
reading out, from a coding matrix, a coding vector specified for the current communication process (column 16, lines 26-36);
verifying and/or adapting coding coefficients allocated to the coding vector (column 17, lines 10-21);
coding a source packet by using the coding coefficients (column 16, lines 26-36);
generating the header under consideration of the coding vector, combining the header and the coded packet to a data packet (column 16, lines 26-36).
With respect to claim 15, Shattil discloses the communication method according to claim 1, wherein the communication method comprises receiving; or
wherein the communication method comprises receiving (column 16, lines 26-36) and receiving comprises:
reading out, from a coding matrix, the coding vector defined for the current communicate on process (column 16, lines 26-36);
decoding the coded packet by using the coding vector and the received header (column 16, lines 26-36).
With respect to claim 16, Shattil discloses the communication method according to claim 1, wherein each communication participant verifies whether it participates in a communication process comprising transmission on the basis of pre-configured information (column 17, lines 10-21).
With respect to claim 17, Shattil discloses the communication method according to claim 1, wherein transmitting at least one data packet comprises forwarding a source packet from a source or forwarding several source packets from several sources (column 16, lines 26-36); or
wherein transmitting at least one data packet comprises forwarding a received data packet from a source or forwarding several received data packets from several sources (column 16, lines 26-36); and/or
wherein forwarding comprises coding by using a further coding vector (column 16, lines 26-36).
With respect to claim 18, Shattil discloses the communication method according to claim 1, wherein, at the start of a communication process, a participating communication participant that performs the transmission only knows part of the data packets (column 17, lines 10-21); and/or
wherein signaling the data packets to be transmitted or the data packets transmitted is done by transmitting information with respect to the presence and/or absence of individual data packets (column 17, lines 10-21).
With respect to claim 22, Shattil discloses the system with at least one communication participant according to claim 21 functioning as a transmitter and one communication participant according to claim 21 functioning as a receiver (column 16, lines 26-36).
With respect to claim 23, Shattil discloses the system according to claim 22, comprising a further communication participant according to claim 21 functioning as a forwarder; and/or comprising a further communication participant according to claim 21 functioning as further transmitter or further receiver (column 16, lines 26-36).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BLAKE J RUBIN whose telephone number is (571)270-3802. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday - Friday, 9am - 5pm.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ario Etienne can be reached on 571-272-4001. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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12/24/25
/BLAKE J RUBIN/Examiner, Art Unit 2457