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
This is a reply to the application filed on 3/14/2024, in which, claim(s) 1-20 are pending.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 3/14/2024, 5/22/2024, 10/06/2024 and 1/12/2026, has been reviewed. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the examiner is considering the information disclosure statement.
Specification
The lengthy specification has not been checked to the extent necessary to determine the presence of all possible minor errors. Applicant’s cooperation is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant may become aware in the specification.
Drawings
The drawings filed on 3/14/2024 is/are accepted by The Examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-8 and 10-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Forenza et al. (US 20170041058 A1; hereinafter Forenza).
Regarding claim 1, Forenza discloses a method, for determining a coding strategy to promote confinement of power spectral density within an allocated bandwidth (transmission schemes, modulation/coding scheme (MCS) and array configurations based on the channel quality information, to minimize SER or maximize per-user or downlink spectral efficiency [Forenza; ¶6, 389-399]), the method comprising:
determining, by a processing system including a processor, channel condition of a communication channel (computing channel state information (CSI) for wireless communication channels between the plurality of base distributed antennas and the wireless client devices [Forenza; Abstract, ¶127, 179-181, 320; Figs. 61-62, 67 and associated texts]);
identifying, by the processing system, a bandwidth-related power constraint imposed upon the communication channel to control out-of-band emissions (the coverage area must be mapped out, the available locations for placing towers or base stations must be identified, and then given these constraints, the designers of the cellular system must make do with the best they can. And, of course, if user data rate demands grow over time, then the designers of the cellular system must yet again remap the coverage area, try to find locations for towers or base stations, and once again work within the constraints of the circumstances. And, multiple base stations are constrained by their physical placements derived from cell planning, as in conventional cellular systems. In DIDO systems, provides the constraint to the maximum delay that can be tolerated between estimation of the channel state information (CSI) and data transmission via DIDO precoding [Forenza; ¶13, 120, 179-182, 189-194; Figs. 2-3 and associated texts]);
determining, by the processing system, a spectrum encoding strategy based on the channel condition and the bandwidth-related power constraint, wherein application of the spectrum encoding strategy to digital information yields spectrum-encoded data configured to facilitate compliance of a transmission of the encoded data with the bandwidth-related power constraint (Based on the channel parameters and systems constraints described above, we provide one embodiment of DIDO system design in UHF spectrum, provides the constraint to the maximum delay that can be tolerated between estimation of the channel state information (CSI) and data transmission via DIDO precoding [Forenza; ¶13, 120, 179-182, 189-194; Figs. 2-3 and associated texts]); and
transmitting, by the processing system, the spectrum encoding strategy to a receiver to facilitate reliable communication of the digital information over the communication channel according to the bandwidth-related power constraint (The user selector unit selects data associated with a plurality of users, based on the feedback information obtained by the feedback unit, and provides this information each of the plurality of coding modulation units. Each coding modulation unit encodes and modulates the information bits of each user and send them to the mapping unit. The mapping unit maps the input bits to complex symbols and sends the results to the DIDO IQ-aware precoding unit. The DIDO IQ-aware precoding unit exploits the channel state information obtained by the feedback unit from the users to compute the DIDO IQ-aware precoding weights and precoding the input symbols obtained from the mapping units. Each of the precoded data streams is sent by the DIDO IQ-aware precoding unit to the OFDM unit that computes the IFFT and adds the cyclic prefix. This information is sent to the D/A unit that operates the digital to analog conversion and send it to the RF unit. The RF unit upconverts the baseband signal to intermediate/radio frequency and send it to the transmit antenna [Forenza; ¶356-364; Fig. 13 and associated texts]).
Regarding claim 2, Forenza discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the identifying further includes: identifying, by the processing system, a channel bandwidth, wherein the spectrum encoding strategy is determined at least in part according to the channel bandwidth (One embodiment of the invention uses pre-coding based on channel state information to cancel inter-carrier interference (ICI) from mirror tones in a DIDO-OFDM system and each user employs an IQ-aware DIDO receiver. During the training period the OFDM units send the output to the IQ-aware channel estimate unit that computes the channel estimates in the frequency domain. Alternatively, the channel estimates can be computed in the time domain. During the data period the OFDM units send the output to the IQ-aware receiver unit. The IQ-aware receiver unit computes the IQ receiver and demodulates/decodes the signal to obtain the data. The IQ-aware channel estimate unit sends the channel estimates to the DIDO feedback generator unit that may quantize the channel estimates and send it back to the transmitter via the feedback control channel [Forenza; ¶23, 188-196, 367-372]).
Regarding claim 3, Forenza discloses the method of claim 2, wherein channel bandwidth is identified according to a data rate for communication of the digital information [Forenza; ¶6-11, 127-131, 188-196].
Regarding claim 4, Forenza discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the bandwidth-related power constraint comprises at least one of a bandwidth and a maximum permissible fractional out-of-band power (That yields an n× improvement in aggregate DL data rate, where n is the number of DIDO stations. For example, whereas prior art cellular system might achieve a maximum of net 3× improvement in aggregate spectrum utilization, a DIDO system might achieve a 10×, 100× or even greater improvement in aggregate spectrum utilization [Forenza; ¶131-140, 188-196]).
Regarding claim 5, Forenza discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the determining the spectrum encoding strategy further comprises: determining, by the processing system, a symbol rate and a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) according to the bandwidth-related power constraint and the channel condition, wherein the spectrum encoding strategy further comprises specification of the MCS (adaptively select number of users, DIDO transmission schemes (i.e., antenna selection or multiplexing), modulation/coding scheme (MCS) and array configurations based on the channel quality information, to minimize SER or maximize per-user or downlink spectral efficiency [Forenza; ¶386-390, 408-410; Figs. 19-20 and associated texts]).
Regarding claim 6, Forenza discloses the method of claim 5, wherein determining the symbol rate and the MCS further comprises: selecting, by the processing system, the symbol rate and the MCS from among a plurality of tabulated associations of symbol rates and MCS adapted to ensure compliance with the bandwidth-related power constraint in view of the channel condition (Consider the following received signal, after matched filtering and downsampling to the symbol rate: where e is the unknown discrete-time frequency offset, Δ is the unknown frame offset, h[l] are the unknown discrete-time channel coefficients, and v[n] is additive noise [Forenza; ¶408-410, 527, 541-542; Figs. 19-20, 50 and associated texts]).
Regarding claim 7, Forenza discloses the method of claim 5, wherein the MCS comprises one of binary phase-shift keying (BPSK), on-off keying (OOK), and quadrature phase-shift keying (QPSK) (modulation schemes are differential phase shift key modulation, various different coding, modulation and signal processing techniques may be employed including, but not limited to, those described above (e.g., Reed Solomon, Viterbi coding; QAM, DPSK, QPSK modulation, . . . etc) [Forenza; ¶259, 282-290; Figs. 3-6 and associated texts]).
Regarding claim 8, Forenza discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the spectrum encoding strategy comprises: applying, by the processing system, a polar code to the digital information to obtain polar encoded data (the Base Station and/or users may exploit polarization/pattern diversity techniques described above to reduce the array size and/or users' distance while providing diversity and increased throughput. As an example, in MIDO systems with HF transmissions, the users may be in the same location and yet their signals be uncorrelated because of polarization/pattern diversity. In particular, by using pattern diversity, one user may be communicating to the Base Station [Forenza; ¶269-270, 308]).
Regarding claim 10, Forenza discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the channel condition includes at least one of a signal to noise ratio (SNR), a location of a communication terminal configured to engage in communication of the encoded data, and a velocity of the communication terminal (If TDMA, FDMA or CDMA schemes are used for feedback, only one DIDO distributed antenna (the one with best SNR to all users) is selected to receive the CSI, all DIDO distributed antennas are used simultaneously to demodulate the CSI from all clients [Forenza; ¶169, 200, 209; Figs. 31-33 and associated texts]).
Regarding claim 11, Forenza discloses the method of claim 1, further comprising determining, by the processing system, a symbol rate, wherein determining the spectrum encoding strategy further based on the symbol rate (Consider the following received signal, after matched filtering and downsampling to the symbol rate, compute the symbol error rate (SER) performance as a function of the per-user SNR (PU-SNR) [Forenza; ¶209, 351-353, 408-410, 527, 541-542; Figs. 19-20, 50, 75 and associated texts]).
Regarding claim 12, Forenza discloses a device, comprising:
a processing system including a processor; and a memory that stores executable instructions that, when executed by the processing system, facilitate performance of operations (each device contains processor and memory [Forenza; ¶561, 564]), the operations comprising:
receiving an indication of a channel condition of a communication channel (obtaining channel state information (CSI) for wireless communication channels between the plurality of base distributed antennas and the wireless client devices [Forenza; Abstract, ¶127, 179-181, 320; Figs. 61-62, 67 and associated texts]);
identifying a bandwidth-related power constraint imposed upon the communication channel (the coverage area must be mapped out, the available locations for placing towers or base stations must be identified, and then given these constraints, the designers of the cellular system must make do with the best they can. And, of course, if user data rate demands grow over time, then the designers of the cellular system must yet again remap the coverage area, try to find locations for towers or base stations, and once again work within the constraints of the circumstances. And, multiple base stations are constrained by their physical placements derived from cell planning, as in conventional cellular systems. In DIDO systems, provides the constraint to the maximum delay that can be tolerated between estimation of the channel state information (CSI) and data transmission via DIDO precoding [Forenza; ¶13, 120, 179-182, 189-194; Figs. 2-3 and associated texts]);
determining a spectrum encoding strategy based on the channel condition and the bandwidth-related power constraint, wherein application of the spectrum encoding strategy to digital information to obtain spectrum-encoded data facilitates compliance with the bandwidth-related power constraint (Based on the channel parameters and systems constraints described above, we provide one embodiment of DIDO system design in UHF spectrum, provides the constraint to the maximum delay that can be tolerated between estimation of the channel state information (CSI) and data transmission via DIDO precoding [Forenza; ¶13, 120, 179-182, 189-194; Figs. 2-3 and associated texts]); and
providing the spectrum encoding strategy to a receiver to facilitate reliable communication of the digital information over the communication channel according to the bandwidth-related power constraint (The user selector unit selects data associated with a plurality of users, based on the feedback information obtained by the feedback unit, and provides this information each of the plurality of coding modulation units. Each coding modulation unit encodes and modulates the information bits of each user and send them to the mapping unit. The mapping unit maps the input bits to complex symbols and sends the results to the DIDO IQ-aware precoding unit. The DIDO IQ-aware precoding unit exploits the channel state information obtained by the feedback unit from the users to compute the DIDO IQ-aware precoding weights and precoding the input symbols obtained from the mapping units. Each of the precoded data streams is sent by the DIDO IQ-aware precoding unit to the OFDM unit that computes the IFFT and adds the cyclic prefix. This information is sent to the D/A unit that operates the digital to analog conversion and send it to the RF unit. The RF unit upconverts the baseband signal to intermediate/radio frequency and send it to the transmit antenna [Forenza; ¶356-364; Fig. 13 and associated texts]).
Regarding claim 13, Forenza discloses the device of claim 12, wherein the determining the spectrum encoding strategy further comprises: determining a symbol rate and a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) according to the bandwidth-related power constraint and the channel condition, wherein the spectrum encoding strategy further comprises specification of the symbol rate and the MCS (adaptively select number of users, DIDO transmission schemes (i.e., antenna selection or multiplexing), modulation/coding scheme (MCS) and array configurations based on the channel quality information, to minimize SER or maximize per-user or downlink spectral efficiency [Forenza; ¶386-390, 408-410; Figs. 19-20 and associated texts]).
Regarding claim 14, Forenza discloses the device of claim 13, wherein the determining the symbol rate and the MCS further comprises: selecting the symbol rate and the MCS from among a predetermined number of symbol rates and MCS within tabulated associations adapted to ensure compliance with the bandwidth-related power constraint in view of the channel condition (Consider the following received signal, after matched filtering and downsampling to the symbol rate: where e is the unknown discrete-time frequency offset, Δ is the unknown frame offset, h[l] are the unknown discrete-time channel coefficients, and v[n] is additive noise [Forenza; ¶408-410, 527, 541-542; Figs. 19-20, 50 and associated texts]).
Regarding claim 15, Forenza discloses the device of claim 12, wherein the operations further comprise: identifying a channel bandwidth, wherein the spectrum encoding strategy is determined at least in part according to the channel bandwidth (One embodiment of the invention uses pre-coding based on channel state information to cancel inter-carrier interference (ICI) from mirror tones in a DIDO-OFDM system and each user employs an IQ-aware DIDO receiver. During the training period the OFDM units send the output to the IQ-aware channel estimate unit that computes the channel estimates in the frequency domain. Alternatively, the channel estimates can be computed in the time domain. During the data period the OFDM units send the output to the IQ-aware receiver unit. The IQ-aware receiver unit computes the IQ receiver and demodulates/decodes the signal to obtain the data. The IQ-aware channel estimate unit sends the channel estimates to the DIDO feedback generator unit that may quantize the channel estimates and send it back to the transmitter via the feedback control channel [Forenza; ¶23, 188-196, 367-372]).
Regarding claim 16, Forenza discloses the device of claim 15, wherein channel bandwidth is identified according to a required data rate for communication of the digital information [Forenza; ¶6-11, 127-131, 188-196].
Regarding claim 17, Forenza discloses the device of claim 12, wherein the operations further comprise: applying a polar code to the digital information to obtain polar encoded data the Base Station and/or users may exploit polarization/pattern diversity techniques described above to reduce the array size and/or users' distance while providing diversity and increased throughput. As an example, in MIDO systems with HF transmissions, the users may be in the same location and yet their signals be uncorrelated because of polarization/pattern diversity. In particular, by using pattern diversity, one user may be communicating to the Base Station [Forenza; ¶269-270, 308]).
Regarding claim 18, Forenza discloses a non-transitory machine-readable medium, comprising executable instructions that, when executed by a processing system including a processor, facilitate performance of operations, the operations comprising:
determining channel condition of a communication channel (computing channel state information (CSI) for wireless communication channels between the plurality of base distributed antennas and the wireless client devices [Forenza; Abstract, ¶127, 179-181, 320; Figs. 61-62, 67 and associated texts]);
identifying a bandwidth-related power constraint imposed upon the communication channel (the coverage area must be mapped out, the available locations for placing towers or base stations must be identified, and then given these constraints, the designers of the cellular system must make do with the best they can. And, of course, if user data rate demands grow over time, then the designers of the cellular system must yet again remap the coverage area, try to find locations for towers or base stations, and once again work within the constraints of the circumstances. And, multiple base stations are constrained by their physical placements derived from cell planning, as in conventional cellular systems. In DIDO systems, provides the constraint to the maximum delay that can be tolerated between estimation of the channel state information (CSI) and data transmission via DIDO precoding [Forenza; ¶13, 120, 179-182, 189-194; Figs. 2-3 and associated texts]); and
determining a spectrum encoding strategy based on the channel condition and the bandwidth-related power constraint, wherein application of the spectrum encoding strategy to digital information to obtain encoded data facilitates compliance of a transmission of the encoded data with the bandwidth-related power constraint, and wherein configuration of receiver according to the spectrum encoding strategy facilitates reliable communication of digital information over the communication channel according to the bandwidth-related power constraint (Based on the channel parameters and systems constraints described above, we provide one embodiment of DIDO system design in UHF spectrum, provides the constraint to the maximum delay that can be tolerated between estimation of the channel state information (CSI) and data transmission via DIDO precoding [Forenza; ¶13, 120, 179-182, 189-194; Figs. 2-3 and associated texts]. The user selector unit selects data associated with a plurality of users, based on the feedback information obtained by the feedback unit, and provides this information each of the plurality of coding modulation units. Each coding modulation unit encodes and modulates the information bits of each user and send them to the mapping unit. The mapping unit maps the input bits to complex symbols and sends the results to the DIDO IQ-aware precoding unit. The DIDO IQ-aware precoding unit exploits the channel state information obtained by the feedback unit from the users to compute the DIDO IQ-aware precoding weights and precoding the input symbols obtained from the mapping units. Each of the precoded data streams is sent by the DIDO IQ-aware precoding unit to the OFDM unit that computes the IFFT and adds the cyclic prefix. This information is sent to the D/A unit that operates the digital to analog conversion and send it to the RF unit. The RF unit upconverts the baseband signal to intermediate/radio frequency and send it to the transmit antenna [Forenza; ¶356-364; Fig. 13 and associated texts]).
Regarding claim 19, Forenza discloses the non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the operations further comprise: identifying a modulation scheme for modulating the encoded data (determine modulation/coding scheme (MCS) and array configurations based on the channel quality information, to minimize SER or maximize per-user or downlink spectral efficiency, CSI and control information (e.g., time/frequency synchronization, channel quality information, modulation scheme, etc.) [Forenza; ¶154, 259, 286-290, 389-399]).
Regarding claim 20, Forenza discloses the non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the operations further comprise: applying a polar code to the digital information to obtain polar encoded data (the Base Station and/or users may exploit polarization/pattern diversity techniques described above to reduce the array size and/or users' distance while providing diversity and increased throughput. As an example, in MIDO systems with HF transmissions, the users may be in the same location and yet their signals be uncorrelated because of polarization/pattern diversity. In particular, by using pattern diversity, one user may be communicating to the Base Station [Forenza; ¶269-270, 308]).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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.
Claim(s) 9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Forenza et al. (US 20170041058 A1; hereinafter Forenza) in view of Poulsen (US 20140247834 A1).
Regarding claim 9, Forenza does not explicitly discloses the method of claim 8, wherein the spectrum encoding strategy further comprises: applying, by the processing system, a non-return-to-zero inverted (NRZI) code to the polar encoded data to obtain variant encoded data; however, in a related and analogous art, Poulsen teaches this feature.
In particular, Poulsen teaches bandwidth encoding scheme to convey clock information together with data information results in a greater bandwidth and lower power consumption, and further increased bandwidth encoding scheme, a logic `0` value may be transmitted as no change in voltage level and a logic `1` value may be transmitted as a change in voltage level. Accordingly, the very first bit that is transmitted either has a 1-0 transition (e.g. a high to low transition) to indicate a logic `0` value and a clock edge, or a 0-1 transition (e.g. a low to high transition) to indicate a logic `1` value and a clock edge. Accordingly and assuming the master device only transmits in the first two time slots, it would transmit 01ZZZZ. If logic zeros are transferred as no-change in voltage level and logic ones as a change in voltage level (NRZI encoding) or vice-versa, then it is possible for more than one transmitter to signal in the same time slot. This allows many devices to write to the same time slot since all of the devices may have a tri-state output except for the device that is writing a logical one to the bus [Poulsen; ¶69, 80-82, Figs. 4s-5s and associated texts]. It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Forenza in view of NRZI encoding of Poulsen with the motivation to prevent physical bus collision and there is no need for pull-up or pull-down resistors that would result in higher power consumption and lower speed [Poulsen; ¶82].
Internet Communications
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Conclusion
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/DAO Q HO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2432