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 .
DETAILED ACTION
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 03/24/2026 has been entered.
The amendment filed 03/24/2026 has been entered. Claims 1-20 are pending. Claims 1-2, 10-11, and 19-20 have been amended. No claim is added or cancelled.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2, 3, 11, 12 and 20 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1, 4-10, and 13-19 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
Claim(s) 1, 4-10, and 13-19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bush et al (US 20220109612) hereinafter Bush in view of Hall et al. (US 10732294) hereinafter Hall and further in view of Cameron (US 20070098045) hereinafter Cameron.
Regarding claim 1, Bush teaches a system (i.e. system, [0005]) comprising: a modem to communicate a legacy signal with an external device (i.e. cable modem (CM) sends upstream signals to headend, [0037]), wherein the legacy signal comprises at least one of an analog signal and a digital signal (i.e. a cable modem allowing the transmission of digital signals upstream toward the headend of the network, [0002]); an in-line system, communicatively connected with the modem and the external device (i.e. in-line network elements, e.g., common network elements, may be disposed between nodes and cable modems (CMs), [0038]), wherein the in-line system comprises: a plurality of configurable components (i.e. modules of the system, [0101]); a processor; and a memory coupled to the processor, wherein the memory comprises processor-executable instructions, which on execution, cause the processor to (i.e. one or more processors and a memory or other storage device to store machine readable instructions executable by the one or more processors to perform the method, [0133]): establish a communication channel with the modem via a communication network (i.e. establishes a regular DOCSIS communication channel with the CM, [0101]); receive the legacy signal from the modem upon establishing the communication channel with the modem (i.e. In-line device data includes data received by polling a terminal device, such as CM, [0078]), wherein the legacy signal comprises a signal information (i.e. signal quality information, [0047]), a channel requirement (i.e. Downstream Channel Estimate Coefficients are captured by CM 104, and reporting of this estimate to CMTS 150 indicates a downstream channel response, [0060]), and a modem configuration information (i.e. a cable modem (CM) with initial configuration information, [0041]); determine a type of mode of operation associated with the in-line system based on the received legacy signal and the channel requirement (i.e. CableLabs® to leverage the pre-eq data from CMs 104, also known as CPE, to determine where upstream impairments like micro-reflections and group delay are impacting service. Pre-eq compensates for RF issues in CP 106. When CMTS 150 sees a signal coming from a specific CM 104, CMTS 150 can determine if that signal is distorted with issues such as tilt, roll-off, or in-channel standing waves, [0079] and determine prospective workflows for new situations. Data sources may include: Pro-active Network Maintenance (PNM) data from a PNM system; leakage data from a leakage system; in-line device data from an in-line device system, [0035]); determine a plurality of configuration parameters associated with the plurality of configurable components of the in-line system based on the determined type of mode of operation (i.e. test instrument 111, test module 121 includes a communication circuit 202 for receiving the test request 112 and the upstream data packet 125, a demodulator 204 coupled to the communication circuit 202 for demodulating the upstream data packet, [0093]); configure the plurality of configurable components of the in-line system at real-time with the determined plurality of configuration parameters (i.e. Upon receiving the test request 112, the test module 121 starts capturing and demodulating upstream data packets. Demodulated packets are screened fora device identifier contained in the test request 112. Upon finding the packet with a matching device identifier, the processor 206 calculates the signal quality information 128, which can be corrected mathematically for pre-equalization used in the transmission of the upstream data packet, [0098]).
However, Bush does not explicitly disclose execute at least one action, in a sequence in each of the configured plurality of configurable components to process the received legacy signal; wherein the at least one action is determined based on the determined plurality of configuration parameters and a mode of operation; and communicate the processed legacy signal to the external device via the established communication channel, wherein the established communication channel comprises at least one of a random channel activity and a uniform channel activity associated with the in-line system.
However, Hall teaches execute at least one action, in a sequence in each of the configured plurality of configurable components to process the received legacy signal (i.e. The modulation processor block 160 functions as a modulator for the system 100, receiving frequency reference data via the first pathway 191, receiving the navigation data via the second pathway 192, and generating needed RF signals using a sequence known to both the transmission unit 140 and to a ground receiver. Both the transmitter in space and the receiver on the ground knows which channel is being used for a given state parameter. For example, both the transmitter and receiver know which channel is being used at a given time, Col. 5, lines 1-10 and the legacy processors 530A-530D configured to process the legacy signal, Col. 8, lines 39-40), wherein the at least one action is determined based on the determined plurality of configuration parameters and a mode of operation (i.e. The resilient data striping state machine translates the user state parameter 282 into the control signal 288 that determines which resilient data modulator 240A, 240B, 240C, 240D is used at a given point in time, Col. 6, lines 23-26); and communicate the processed legacy signal to the external device via the established communication channel (i.e. the legacy processors 530A-530D further configured to transmit the processed legacy signal to a legacy use, Col. 8, lines 40-42), wherein the established communication channel comprises at least one of a random channel activity and a uniform channel activity associated with the in-line system (i.e. The resilient data decoder receives the pseudo-randomly selected RF modulation channel from the resilient data striping state machine. The resilient data decoder then routes the selected resilient navigation signal via the selected pathway 285A, 285B, 285C, or 285D to the selected respective data path, Col. 7, lines 18-23).
Based on Bush in view of Hall, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize the teaching of Hall to the system of Bush in order to increase capability of Bush’s system.
However, Bush in view of Hall do not explicitly disclose wherein the at least one action comprises generating a re- sampled signal corresponding to the legacy signal based on a modified transmission frequency, wherein the re-sampled signal comprises frequency hopped symbols.
However, Cameron teaches wherein the at least one action comprises generating a re- sampled signal corresponding to the legacy signal based on a modified transmission frequency, wherein the re-sampled signal comprises frequency hopped symbols (i.e. Assume that all of the displayed waveforms (i.e., signals or symbols) of spectrogram 205 of FIG. 2 have a red, red-orange or orange hue. In this case, because the symbols are displayed as red, red-orange, or orange blocks that change frequency on a periodic basis, one skilled in the art would know that he was observing a frequency-hopping signal with a strong signal level, (i.e., approximately 20 db above the noise level). In FIG. 2, the software has automatically downconverted and resampled the signal to a bandwidth slightly wider than the signal bandwidth, [0025]).
Based on Bush in view of Hall and further in view of Cameron, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize the teaching of Cameron to the system of Bush and Hall in order to have automatic detection of signal parameters such as the time-frequency code.
Regarding claim 4, Bush teaches the processor is to: determine a plurality of frame formats associated with the legacy signal (i.e. a data lake format. According to an example, a data lake is a system or repository of data stored in its natural/raw format, usually object blobs or files, [0053]), wherein the plurality of frame formats comprises at least one of a time slot and a burst code block (i.e. each cable modem is assigned a time slot, within which it is allowed to transmit information. The time slots are assigned dynamically by a CMTS disposed at the headend. The time slot information is communicated by CMTS to individual cable moderns via an allocated downstream channel, [0029]), wherein the time slot corresponds to specific time intervals for a data transmission (i.e. Although the cable modems are allocated time slots for upstream transmission, the transmission itself depends on network activity of individual subscribers. Furthermore, upstream signal bursts from cable moderns have a very short duration and arrive intermittently from a multitude of locations in the cable network, [0031]); and shift a carrier frequency (CF) within the time slot, based on determined plurality of frame formats (i.e. for 50 kHz subcarrier spacing in a 192 MHz channel with an active bandwidth of 190 MHz, 3800 samples will be captured; for 25 kHz subcarrier spacing in a 192 MHz channel with an active bandwidth of 190 MHz, 7600 samples will be captured; for 25 kHz subcarrier spacing in a 24 MHz channel with an active bandwidth of 22 MHz, 880 samples ill be captured. Likewise, at a CM 104, the received I and Q time-domain samples of one full OFDM symbol before the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT), [0058]).
Regarding claim 5, Bush teaches the processor is to: shift a carrier frequency (CF) for the sampled signal, wherein the shifted carrier frequency is agnostic to a frame format in the legacy signal (i.e. This capture results in a n ti tuber of samples that depends on the OFDM channel width. For example, for 50 kHz subcarrier spacing in a 192 MHz channel with an active bandwidth of 190 MHz, 3800 samples will be captured; for 25 kHz subcarrier spacing in a 192 MHz channel with an active bandwidth of 190 MHz, 7600 samples will be captured, [0058]).
Regarding claim 6, Bush does not explicitly disclose the processor is to: synchronize a predetermined hopping bandwidth with the in-line system; assign a set of keys for the predetermined hopping bandwidth based on a pre-determined hopping sequence; and generate, a burst range and a frequency range corresponding to the pre-determined hopping sequence based on the assigned set of keys and a burst duration of the in-line system.
However, Hall teaches the processor is to: synchronize a predetermined hopping bandwidth with the in-line system (i.e. The hop modulation filters 535A, 535B, 535C, and 535D are configured to perform one or more of separating hop signals from the received signals, improving a hop data processing signal-to-noise ratio and reducing noise bandwidth, Col 10, lines 18-22); assign a set of keys for the predetermined hopping bandwidth based on a pre-determined hopping sequence (i.e. a hopping sequence using an algorithm known both to the transmitter and receiver. The hopping sequence appears to an adversary to be a random hopping sequence. In fact, the data comprises the legacy data and resilient data frame modulation blocks that are transmitted over one of the available RF modulation channels, Col. 2, lines 57-63); and generate, a burst range and a frequency range corresponding to the pre-determined hopping sequence based on the assigned set of keys and a burst duration of the in-line system (i.e. generate a hopping direct sequence navigation signal that is momentarily in one of the bands and quickly jumps to another band. For example, the navigation data unit 120 may be configured to generate a hopping direct navigation signal that makes a jump within a period of approximately 33 nanoseconds, Col. 3, lines 66-67 -Col. 4, lines 1-4 and a sequence of seven hops by a system for generating a frequency hopping GPS signal., Col. 8, lines 1-3). Therefore, the limitations of claim 6 are rejected in the analysis of claim 1 above, and the claim is rejected on that basis.
Regarding claim 7, Bush does not explicitly disclose the processor is to: synchronize the burst range and the frequency range corresponding to the pre-determined hopping sequence by configuring a modified frequency range of the in-line system.
However, Hall teaches the processor is to: synchronize the burst range and the frequency range corresponding to the pre-determined hopping sequence by configuring a modified frequency range of the in-line system (i.e. the hop modulation filter further configured to perform one or more of removing and attenuating the digitized legacy signal, the hop modulation filter further configured to transmit the resilient signal, the de-hopping sequence generator further configured to use the user state parameter to generate a hopping sequence; and a data reassembly block configured to receive the resilient signal from the data selector, the data reassembly block further configured to receive the demodulated resilient data from the data selector, the data reassembly block further configured to reassemble blocks of resilient data into a complete message, the data reassembly block further configured to forward the reassembled message to a hop data user, claim 10). Therefore, the limitations of claim 7 are rejected in the analysis of claim 1 above, and the claim is rejected on that basis.
Regarding claim 8, Bush does not explicitly disclose wherein the processor is to: identify a plurality of burst boundaries associated with the legacy signal to initiate frequency hopping for the legacy signal, based on at least one of amplitude variations, phase shifts, and signal characteristics corresponding to variations; and modify a carrier frequency (CF) for data transmission of the legacy signal, at each start of a burst in the identified plurality of burst boundaries.
However, Hall teaches the processor is to: identify a plurality of burst boundaries associated with the legacy signal to initiate frequency hopping for the legacy signal (i.e. a sequence of seven hops by a system for generating a frequency hopping GPS signal. The chart includes columns showing for each hop a user state, a processor navigation data unit output, enablement status of the resilient L1 modulator, enablement status of the resilient L2 modulator, enablement status of the resilient L5 modulator, enablement status of the resilient f.sub.1 modulator, L1 signal output by the system, L2 signal output by the system, L5 signal output by the system, and f.sub.1 signal output by the system. The chart shows that at each point in time, only one of the four frequency bands is outputting a signal, and the particular band outputting a signal at a particular point in time quickly hops around, Col. 8, lines 1-13), based on at least one of amplitude variations, phase shifts, and signal characteristics corresponding to variations; and modify a carrier frequency (CF) for data transmission of the legacy signal, at each start of a burst in the identified plurality of burst boundaries (i.e. The additional hopping due to relaying the received sampled signal to the hop processors 540A, 540B, 540C, and 540D is designed so as not to degrade the performance of a legacy processor 530A, 530B, and 530C. The legacy processors 530A, 530B, and 530C process the legacy signals. For example, the legacy processors 530A, 530B, and 530C perform one or more of demodulating, de-spreading, recovering signal timing, compensating for ionospherically induced delays, and recovering carrier information from the legacy signals, Col. 9, lines 61-37-Col. 10, lines 1-3). Therefore, the limitations of claim 8 are rejected in the analysis of claim 1 above, and the claim is rejected on that basis.
Regarding claim 9, Bush teaches the plurality of configuration parameters of the received legacy signal comprises at least one of a symbol timing, a burst timing (i.e. upstream signal bursts from cable moderns have a very short duration and arrive intermittently from a multitude of locations in the cable network, [0031]), a frequency offset, a phase offset, a Unique Words (UW(s)), a modulation/demodulation scheme (i.e. demodulation of the upstream data packets, [0098]), a center frequency, a symbol rate, a reception forward error correction rate (FEC), a reception roll off, and a reception signal power.
Regarding claims 10 and 13-19, the limitations of claims 10 and 13-19 are similar to the limitations of claims 1 and 4-9. Bush further teaches a non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising machine-readable instructions that are executable by a processor (i.e. the programming for the elements may be processor executable instructions stored on a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium and the hardware for the elements may include a processing resource to execute those instruction, [0113]). Therefore, the limitations of claims 10 and 13-19 are rejected in the analysis of claims 1 and 4-9 above, and the claims are rejected on that basis.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to AYELE F WOLDEMARIAM whose telephone number is (571)270-5196. The examiner can normally be reached M_F 8:30AM-5:00PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Joon H Hwang can be reached at 571-272-4036. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/AW/
AYELE F. WOLDEMARIAM
Examiner
Art Unit 2447
5/12/2026
/SURAJ M JOSHI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2447
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