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 § 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)(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) 1-3, 6-8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Makoto (JP 2009/159319 A).
Regarding Claim 1, Makoto teaches A transmission apparatus comprising: a scheme identification unit configured to identify at least one of a modulation scheme, a frame format, or an encoding scheme on a basis of a characteristic of a signal received ([0034-0036] (“The identification unit 702 identifies which modulation scheme…”); FIG. 7); a function control unit configured to perform control to cause a signal processing function to operate ([0034-0036] (“A distribution is obtained, and a modulation method corresponding to the cumulative distribution is specified…”)), the signal processing function depending on a result of identification of the at least one of the modulation scheme, the frame format, or the encoding scheme by the scheme identification unit; (Id.) and a signal processing unit configured to be controlled to operate by the function control unit and process the signal received. ([0034-0036] (“The modulation scheme to be performed may be specified”); [0034-0036, 0011-0012] (describing, in the first embodiment, a receiver that modulates the received signal based on the results of a processor 110, 111 — wherein the processor in the third embodiment is the identification unit 702); FIG. 7)
Regarding Claim 2, Makoto teaches The transmission apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the function control unit is configured to activate a signal processing function depending on the result of identification and allocate a resource for the signal processing function to operate. ([0036] (“The modulation scheme to be performed may be specified”))
Regarding Claim 3, Makoto teaches The transmission apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the scheme identification unit is configured to identify a modulation scheme of the signal received on a basis of a frequency distribution of amplitudes of the signal received ([0034-0036] (“The identification unit 702 identifies which modulation scheme…”); FIG. 7), and the function control unit is configured to perform control to cause a demodulation function to operate, the demodulation function depending on the modulation scheme identified by the scheme identification unit. ([0034-0036] (“The identification unit 702 identifies which modulation scheme…”); FIG. 7).
Regarding Claim 6¸ Makoto teaches A function control apparatus comprising: a function control unit that configured to receive, from a transmission apparatus, information on a result of identification of at least one of a modulation scheme, a frame format, or an encoding scheme identified on a basis of a characteristic of a signal received by the transmission apparatus ([0034-0036] (“The identification unit 702 identifies which modulation scheme…”); FIG. 7), and perform control to cause a signal processing function to operate in the transmission apparatus, the signal processing function depending on the result of identification received. ([0034-0036] (“A distribution is obtained, and a modulation method corresponding to the cumulative distribution is specified…”); FIG.7).
Regarding Claim 7, Makoto teaches A system comprising a terminal apparatus and a transmission apparatus, wherein the terminal apparatus is configured to transmit a signal to the transmission apparatus ([0011-0012]; FIG.7), and the transmission apparatus includes: a scheme identification unit that configured to identify at least one of a modulation scheme, a frame format, or an encoding scheme on a basis of a characteristic of a signal received from the terminal apparatus ([0034-0036] (“The identification unit 702 identifies which modulation scheme…”)); a function control unit that configured to perform control to cause a signal processing function to operate ([0011-0012]; FIG.7), the signal processing function depending on a result of identification of the at least one of the modulation scheme, the frame format, or the encoding scheme by the scheme identification unit ([0034-0036] (“A distribution is obtained, and a modulation method corresponding to the cumulative distribution is specified…”); FIG.7); and a signal processing unit configured to be controlled to operate by the function control unit and process the signal received. ([0011-0012]; FIG.7).
Regarding Claim 8, Makoto teaches A signal processing method, comprising: identifying at least one of a modulation scheme, a frame format, or an encoding scheme on a basis of a characteristic of a signal received ([0034-0036] (“The identification unit 702 identifies which modulation scheme…”); performing control to cause a signal processing function to operate, ([0011-0012]; FIG.7) the signal processing function depending on a result of identification of the at least one of the modulation scheme, the frame format, or the encoding scheme by the scheme identification unit ([0034-0036]); and performing control to cause the signal processing function to operate depending on the result of identification and process the signal received. ([0036] (“The modulation scheme to be performed may be specified”); [0034-0036, 0011-0012] (describing a receiver that modulates the received signal based on the results of a processor which in the third embodiment is the identification unit); FIG. 7)
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) 4-5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Makoto (JP 2009/159319 A) in light of Geile (US Pat. App. Pub. 2007/0230325 A1)
Regarding Claim 4, Makoto teaches The transmission apparatus according to claim 1,
Makoto does not teach wherein the scheme identification unit is configured to identify a frame format of the signal received on a basis of a bit string pattern of a preamble included in the signal received, and the function control unit is configured to perform control to cause a frame detection function to operate, the frame detection function depending on the frame format identified by the scheme identification unit.
Geile teaches wherein the scheme identification unit is configured to identify a frame format of the signal received on a basis of a bit string pattern of a preamble included in the signal received, and the function control unit is configured to perform control to cause a frame detection function to operate, the frame detection function depending on the frame format identified by the scheme identification unit. ([0215-0220])
Makoto and Geile are analogous art as both systems are concerned with demodulating received signals.
Before the filing date of the instant application, it would have obvious for a person of ordinary skill in the art to look to Geile for demodulating a signal with a frame format and applying the demodulation technique used by the demodulator in Geile to the demodulator in Makoto. The suggestion/motivation would have been to enable the demodulator in Makoto to process frame format signals.
Regarding Claim 5, the combination of Makoto and Geile teach The transmission apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the scheme identification unit is configured to perform processing of demodulation of a code included in a frame detected from the signal received (Geile, [0215-0220]), and identify an encoding scheme of the signal received on a basis of an amount of errors generated by the processing of demodulation (Geile, [0373]), and the function control unit is configured to perform control to cause a decoding function to operate, the decoding function depending on the encoding scheme identified by the scheme identification unit. (Makoto, [0036] (“The modulation scheme to be performed may be specified”); [0034, 0011-0012] (describing a receiver that modulates the received signal based on the results of a processor which in the third embodiment is the identification unit); FIG. 7)
Before the filing date of the instant application, it would have obvious for a person of ordinary skill in the art to look to Geile for demodulating a signal based on the number of errors generated and applying the demodulation technique used by the demodulator in Geile to the demodulator in Makoto. The suggestion/motivation would have been to enable the demodulator in Makoto to demodulate based on the number of errors generated.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to PAUL M BROCK whose telephone number is (571)272-7257. The examiner can normally be reached 8-4:30pm.
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/PAUL MORGAN BROCK/Examiner, Art Unit 2634 January 28, 2026
/KENNETH N VANDERPUYE/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2634