Office Action Predictor
Last updated: April 15, 2026
Application No. 18/545,373

DECODING USING AVERAGE AND OFFSET ASSOCIATED WITH CONFIDENCE LEVEL VALUES

Non-Final OA §103
Filed
Dec 19, 2023
Examiner
ELNOUBI, SAID M
Art Unit
2644
Tech Center
2600 — Communications
Assignee
Qualcomm Incorporated
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
73%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
2y 5m
To Grant
95%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 73% — above average
73%
Career Allow Rate
298 granted / 408 resolved
+11.0% vs TC avg
Strong +22% interview lift
Without
With
+22.3%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 5m
Avg Prosecution
30 currently pending
Career history
438
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
3.9%
-36.1% vs TC avg
§103
57.8%
+17.8% vs TC avg
§102
17.8%
-22.2% vs TC avg
§112
15.9%
-24.1% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 408 resolved cases

Office Action

§103
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 . 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, 10-12, and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yedidia et al. (Divide and Concur and Difference-Map BP Decoders for LDPC Codes, IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INFORMATION THEORY, VOL. 57, NO. 2, FEBRUARY 2011, pp. 786-802) in view of KWOK (US 20250028594 A1). Regarding claim 1, Yedidia et al. teach An apparatus (Title: Divide and Concur and Difference-Map BP Decoders for LDPC Codes) to: receive a transmission associated with one or more bits (III. B. step 0, the combination of Yedidia et al. and KWOK teaches the ith transmitted symbol xi); and decode the transmission (III. B. DC Algorithm for LDPC Decoding) using an average of one or more confidence level values (Note: Equations (8) and (13) showing the DC belief as an average of the BP belief by dividing the sum of terms by the number of summed terms, where each term corresponds to a confidence level value interpreted as an incoming BP belief to node i), associated with the one or more bits (Note: the ith bit is interpreted as the ith term in equations (8) and (13)), over a quantity of the one or more confidence level values (Note: the quantity of the one or more confidence level values is interpreted as the number of terms in equations (8) and (13) ) and an offset (Note: the offset is interpreted as the subtracted quantity in Equation (9) defined above the equation as “a correction for the amount we overshot when we computed the overshot values”.) that is based at least in part on the quantity of the one or more confidence level values (Note: the average is based on the quantity of the one or more confidence level values by dividing the sum of the one or more confidence level values by the number of terms) . Yedidia et al. do not explicitly teach t An apparatus for wireless communication at a wireless communication device, comprising: one or more memories; and one or more processors, coupled to the one or more memories, individually or collectively configured to cause the wireless communication device to perform the above method However, KWOK teaches An apparatus for wireless communication at a wireless communication device (KWOK [0010] non-transitory computer readable storage medium for managing LDPC-based check node data are also used in communication (e.g., wireless communication using 5G or Wi-Fi technology)., comprising one or more memories; and one or more processors, coupled to the one or more memories, individually or collectively configured to cause the wireless communication device to perform the above method (KWOK [0010] non-transitory computer readable storage medium for managing LDPC-based check node data are also used in communication (e.g., wireless communication using 5G or Wi-Fi technology). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the examined application to have improved Yedidia et al. LDPC decoder by applying it to KWOK wireless communication to arrive at the invention. The motivation of doing so would have improved the wireless communication performance as a predicted result. Regarding claim 10, the combination of Yedidia et al. and KWOK teaches the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the wireless communication device is a user equipment (UE) (KWOK [0010] non-transitory computer readable storage medium for managing LDPC-based check node data are also used in communication (e.g., wireless communication using 5G or Wi-Fi technology).. The motivation of doing so would have improved the wireless communication performance as a predicted result. Regarding claim 11, the combination of Yedidia et al. and KWOK teaches the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the wireless communication device is a network node (KWOK [0010] non-transitory computer readable storage medium for managing LDPC-based check node data are also used in communication (e.g., wireless communication using 5G or Wi-Fi technology).. The motivation of doing so would have improved the wireless communication performance as a predicted result. Regarding claim 12, Yedidia et al. teach A method Divide and Concur and Difference-Map BP Decoders for LDPC Codes), comprising: receiving a transmission associated with one or more bits (III. B. step 0, the ith transmitted symbol xi); and decoding the transmission (III. B. DC Algorithm for LDPC Decoding) using an average of one or more confidence level values (Note: Equations (8) and (13) showing the DC belief as an average of the BP belief by dividing the sum of terms by the number of summed terms, where each term corresponds to a confidence level value interpreted as an incoming BP belief to node i), associated with the one or more bits (Note: the ith bit is interpreted as the ith term in equations (8) and (13)), over a quantity of the one or more confidence level values (Note: the quantity of the one or more confidence level values is interpreted as the number of terms in equations (8) and (13) ) and an offset (Note: the offset is interpreted as the subtracted quantity in Equation (9) defined above the equation as “a correction for the amount we overshot when we computed the overshot values”.) that is based at least in part on the quantity of the one or more confidence level values (Note: the average is based on the quantity of the one or more confidence level values by dividing the sum of the one or more confidence level values by the number of terms) . Yedidia et al. do not specifically teach the method of wireless communication performed by a wireless communication device. However, KWOK teaches the method of wireless communication performed by a wireless communication device (KWOK [0010] non-transitory computer readable storage medium for managing LDPC-based check node data are also used in communication (e.g., wireless communication using 5G or Wi-Fi technology). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the examined application to have improved Yedidia et al. LDPC decoder by applying it to KWOK wireless communication to arrive at the invention. The motivation of doing so would have improved the wireless communication performance as a predicted result. Regarding claim 17, Yedidia et al. teach A Divide and Concur and Difference-Map BP Decoders for LDPC Codes) to: receive a transmission associated with one or more bits (III. B. step 0, ith transmitted symbol xi); and decode the transmission (III. B. DC Algorithm for LDPC Decoding) using an average of one or more confidence level values (Note: Equations (8) and (13) showing the DC belief as an average of the BP belief by dividing the sum of terms by the number of summed terms, where each term corresponds to a confidence level value interpreted as an incoming BP belief to node i), associated with the one or more bits (Note: the ith bit is interpreted as the ith term in equations (8) and (13)), over a quantity of the one or more confidence level values (Note: the quantity of the one or more confidence level values is interpreted as the number of terms in equations (8) and (13) ) and an offset (Note: the offset is interpreted as the subtracted quantity in Equation (9) defined above the equation as “a correction for the amount we overshot when we computed the overshot values”.) that is based at least in part on the quantity of the one or more confidence level values (Note: the average is based on the quantity of the one or more confidence level values by dividing the sum of the one or more confidence level values by the number of terms) . Yedidia et al. does not explicitly teach A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a set of instructions for wireless communication, the set of instructions comprising: one or more instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a wireless communication device, cause the wireless communication device to implement the method: In a similar endeavor, KWOK teach A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a set of instructions ([0009] a non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing one or more programs. The one or more programs include instructions )for wireless communication (KWOK [0010] non-transitory computer readable storage medium for managing LDPC-based check node data are also used in communication (e.g., wireless communication using 5G or Wi-Fi technology)., comprising one or more instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a wireless communication device, cause the wireless communication device to implement the method ([0009] The one or more programs include instructions, which when executed by one or more processors cause the processors to implement any of the above methods) . Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the examined application to have improved Yedidia et al. LDPC decoder by applying it to KWOK wireless communication to arrive at the invention. The motivation of doing so would have improved the wireless communication performance as a predicted result. Claims 2-3, 5, 13-14, 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yedidia et al. (Divide and Concur and Difference-Map BP Decoders for LDPC Codes, IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INFORMATION THEORY, VOL. 57, NO. 2, FEBRUARY 2011, pp. 786-802), in view of KWOK (US 20250028594 A1), and in further view of WU (US 20170147438 A1) Regarding claim 2, the combination of Yedidia et al. and KWOK teaches the apparatus of claim 1, but does not teach wherein each of the one or more confidence level values is equal to a minimum of a plurality of confidence level values that include the one or more confidence level values. In a similar endeavor, Wu et al. teach wherein each of the one or more confidence level values is equal to a minimum of a plurality of confidence level values that include the one or more confidence level values (Wu [0037] the check node processor identifies the minimum log likelihood ratio value, next- minimum log likelihood ratio value, and the index of the minimum log likelihood ratio value for each symbol in the sector. In these embodiments, the dedicated buffer in central memory 428 stores the minimum (min1), next- minimum (min2) and index (minind) for each symbol or bit in the parity sector). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the examined application to have modified the combination of Yedidia et al. and KWOK by incorporating Wu et al. retaining the minimum values to arrive at the invention The motivation of doing so would have reduced the storage requirement. Regarding claim 3, the combination of Yedidia et al., KWOK, Wu et al. teaches the apparatus of claim 2, wherein the one or more processors, to cause the wireless communication device to decode the transmission, are configured to cause the wireless communication device to identify the one or more confidence level values using a counter (KWOK [0004] During each parity check iteration, a number of unsatisfied check equations is counted in each group of check nodes). The motivation of doing so would have determined whether or not adjust the log likelihood ratio. Regarding claim 5, the combination of Yedidia et al. and KWOK teaches the apparatus of claim 1, but does not teach wherein the one or more confidence level values are within a non-zero difference threshold from a minimum of a plurality of confidence level values that include the one or more confidence level values. In a similar endeavor, Wu et al. teach wherein the one or more confidence level values are within a non-zero difference threshold from a minimum of a plurality of confidence level values that include the one or more confidence level values (Wu [0037] the check node processor identifies the minimum log likelihood ratio value, next- minimum log likelihood ratio value, and the index of the minimum log likelihood ratio value for each symbol in the sector. In these embodiments, the dedicated buffer in central memory 428 stores the minimum (min1), next- minimum (min2) and index (minind) for each symbol or bit in the parity sector. Note: the next minimum (min2) is within a non-zero difference threshold from the minimum (min1)). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the examined application to have modified the combination of Yedidia et al. and KWOK by incorporating Wu et al. retaining the minimum values to arrive at the invention The motivation of doing so would have reduced the storage requirement. Regarding claim 13, the combination of Yedidia et al. and KWOK teaches the method of claim 12, but does not teach wherein each of the one or more confidence level values is equal to a minimum of a plurality of confidence level values that include the one or more confidence level values. In a similar endeavor, Wu et al. teach wherein each of the one or more confidence level values is equal to a minimum of a plurality of confidence level values that include the one or more confidence level values (Wu [0037] the check node processor identifies the minimum log likelihood ratio value, next- minimum log likelihood ratio value, and the index of the minimum log likelihood ratio value for each symbol in the sector. In these embodiments, the dedicated buffer in central memory 428 stores the minimum (min1), next- minimum (min2) and index (minind) for each symbol or bit in the parity sector) Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the examined application to have modified the combination of Yedidia et al. and KWOK by incorporating Wu et al. retaining the minimum values to arrive at the invention The motivation of doing so would have reduced the storage requirement. Regarding claim 14, the combination of Yedidia et al., KWOK, Wu et al. teaches the method of claim 13, wherein decoding the transmission includes identifying the one or more confidence level values using a counter (KWOK [0004] During each parity check iteration, a number of unsatisfied check equations is counted in each group of check nodes). The motivation of doing so would have determined whether or not adjust the log likelihood ratio. Regarding claim 18, the combination of Yedidia et al. and KWOK teaches the non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17,but does not teach wherein the one or more confidence level values are within a non-zero difference threshold from a minimum of a plurality of confidence level values that include the one or more confidence level values. In a similar endeavor, Wu et al. teach wherein the one or more confidence level values are within a non-zero difference threshold from a minimum of a plurality of confidence level values that include the one or more confidence level values (Wu [0037] the check node processor identifies the minimum log likelihood ratio value, next- minimum log likelihood ratio value, and the index of the minimum log likelihood ratio value for each symbol in the sector. In these embodiments, the dedicated buffer in central memory 428 stores the minimum (min1), next- minimum (min2) and index (minind) for each symbol or bit in the parity sector. Note: the next minimum (min2) is within a non-zero difference threshold from the minimum (min1)). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the examined application to have modified the combination of Yedidia et al. and KWOK by incorporating Wu et al. retaining the minimum values to arrive at the invention The motivation of doing so would have reduced the storage requirement. Claim 4, 6-7, 15, and 19-20 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yedidia et al. (Divide and Concur and Difference-Map BP Decoders for LDPC Codes, IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INFORMATION THEORY, VOL. 57, NO. 2, FEBRUARY 2011, pp. 786-802), in view of KWOK (US 20250028594 A1), in further view of Wu et al. (US 20170147438 A1). and in further view of Hsiao (US 10565053 B1) Regarding claim 4, the combination of Yedidia et al., KWOK, Wu et al. teaches the apparatus of claim 2, but does not teach wherein the one or more processors, to cause the wireless communication device to decode the transmission, are configured to cause the wireless communication device to discretize the one or more confidence level values. In a similar endeavor, Hsiao teaches to discretize the one or more confidence level values (Hsiao col 20 lines 30-34 in other embodiments, the LLR table calibration circuit 2152 can simplifies the calculated log-likelihood ratio by ways of “rounding up to an integer” or “rounding down to an integer”) Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the examined application to have modified the combination of Yedidia et al., KWOK, Wu et al. by incorporating Hsiao discretization to arrive at the invention The motivation of doing so would have simplified the calculations. Regarding claim 6, the combination of Yedidia et al., KWOK, and Wu teaches the apparatus of claim 5, but does not teach wherein the one or more processors, to cause the wireless communication device to decode the transmission, are configured to cause the wireless communication device to discretize the average of the one or more confidence level values. In a similar endeavor, Hsiao teaches to discretize the average of the one or more confidence level values (Hsiao col 20 lines 30-34 in other embodiments, the LLR table calibration circuit 2152 can simplifies the calculated log-likelihood ratio by ways of “rounding up to an integer” or “rounding down to an integer”) Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the examined application to have modified the combination of Yedidia et al., KWOK, and Wu by incorporating Hsiao discretization to arrive at the invention. The motivation of doing so would have simplified the calculations. Regarding claim 7, the combination of Yedidia et al., KWOK, Wu, and Hsiao teaches the apparatus of claim 6, wherein the one or more processors, to cause the wireless communication device to discretize the average of the one or more confidence level values, are configured to cause the wireless communication device to round the average of the one or more confidence level values in a direction (Hsiao col 20 lines 33-34 “rounding up to an integer” or “rounding down to an integer”), and wherein the one or more processors, to cause the wireless communication device to decode the transmission, are further configured to cause the wireless communication device to discretize the offset by rounding the offset in the direction (Note: It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the examined application to round the Offset similarly to rounding the LLR value by using the same calibration circuit ). The motivation of doing so would have simplified the calculations. Regarding claim 15, the combination of Yedidia et al., KWOK, and Wu teaches the method of claim 13, but does not teach wherein decoding the transmission includes discretizing the one or more confidence level values. In a similar endeavor, Hsiao teaches discretizing the average of the one or more confidence level values (Hsiao col 20 lines 30-34 in other embodiments, the LLR table calibration circuit 2152 can simplifies the calculated log-likelihood ratio by ways of “rounding up to an integer” or “rounding down to an integer”) Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the examined application to have modified the combination of Yedidia et al., KWOK, and Wu by incorporating Hsiao discretization to arrive at the invention. The motivation of doing so would have simplified the calculations. Regarding claim 19, the combination of Yedidia et al., KWOK, and Wu teaches the non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18, but does not teach wherein the one or more instructions, that cause the wireless communication device to decode the transmission, cause the wireless communication device to discretize the average of the one or more confidence level values. In a similar endeavor, Hsiao teaches to discretize the average of the one or more confidence level values (Hsiao col 20 lines 30-34 in other embodiments, the LLR table calibration circuit 2152 can simplifies the calculated log-likelihood ratio by ways of “rounding up to an integer” or “rounding down to an integer”) Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the examined application to have modified the combination of Yedidia et al., KWOK, and Wu by incorporating Hsiao discretization to arrive at the invention. The motivation of doing so would have simplified the calculations. Regarding claim 20, the combination of Yedidia et al., KWOK, Wu, and Hsiao teaches the non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 19, wherein the one or more processors, to cause the wireless communication device to discretize the average of the one or more confidence level values, are configured to cause the wireless communication device to round the average of the one or more confidence level values in a direction (Hsiao col 20 lines 33-34 “rounding up to an integer” or “rounding down to an integer”), and wherein the one or more processors, to cause the wireless communication device to decode the transmission, are further configured to cause the wireless communication device to discretize the offset by rounding the offset in the direction (Note: It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the examined application to round the Offset similarly to rounding the LLR value by using the same calibration circuit). The motivation of doing so would have simplified the calculations. Claim 8-9 and 16 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yedidia et al. (Divide and Concur and Difference-Map BP Decoders for LDPC Codes, IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INFORMATION THEORY, VOL. 57, NO. 2, FEBRUARY 2011, pp. 786-802), in view of KWOK (US 20250028594 A1), and in further view of Hsiao (US 10565053 B1) Regarding claim 8, the combination of Yedidia et al. and KWOK teaches the apparatus of claim 1, but does not teach wherein the one or more processors, to cause the wireless communication device to decode the transmission, are configured to cause the wireless communication device to discretize the offset. In a similar endeavor, Hsiao teaches to discretize the offset. (Hsiao col20 lines 33-34 “rounding up to an integer” or “rounding down to an integer” ) Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the examined application to have modified the combination of Yedidia et al. and KWOK by incorporating Hsiao discretization to arrive at the invention. The motivation of doing so would have simplified the calculations. Regarding claim 9, the combination of Yedidia et al. , KWOK, and Hsiao teaches the apparatus of claim 8, wherein the one or more processors, to cause the wireless communication device to discretize the offset, are configured to cause the wireless communication device to discretize the offset based at least in part on a lookup table (Hsiao col 20 lines 17-18 LLR table calibration circuit 2152). The motivation of doing so would have simplified the calculations. Regarding claim 16, the combination of Yedidia et al. and KWOK teaches the method of claim 12, but does not teach wherein decoding the transmission includes discretizing the offset. In a similar endeavor, Hsiao teaches to discretize the offset. (Hsiao col20 lines 33-34 “rounding up to an integer” or “rounding down to an integer” ) Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the examined application to have modified the combination of Yedidia et al. and KWOK by incorporating Hsiao discretization to arrive at the invention. The motivation of doing so would have simplified the calculations. Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SAID M ELNOUBI whose telephone number is (571)272-9732. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9:30AM to 6:00PM ET. Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Kathy Wang-Hurst can be reached at 571-270-5371. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /SAID M ELNOUBI/ Examiner, Art Unit 2644
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Prosecution Timeline

Dec 19, 2023
Application Filed
Jan 09, 2026
Non-Final Rejection — §103
Mar 16, 2026
Interview Requested
Mar 19, 2026
Examiner Interview Summary
Mar 19, 2026
Applicant Interview (Telephonic)
Mar 31, 2026
Response Filed

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Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
73%
Grant Probability
95%
With Interview (+22.3%)
2y 5m
Median Time to Grant
Low
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