DETAILED ACTION
Applicants’ response filed 1/29/2026 has been considered.
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claims 1-20 are pending.
Prior rejections under 35 USC 112 are withdrawn in view amendments.
Prior rejections under 35 UC 103 are maintained in view of amendments.
Additional pertinent prior art has been cited for Applicants review which also teaches the concept of the LLR having a quantizer that reduces a resolution to reduce the size of a lookup table (i.e., Nekuii USPAP 20160085615A1 Figure 4 and paragraph 0062).
Application is pending.
Response to Arguments
Applicants’ arguments filed 1/29/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. No specific arguments were presented. The remarks just state the claims have been amended to recite features not taught or suggested by the prior arts. The Examiner respectfully disagrees.
For example, claim 1 recites:
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The prior art rejection was based on two references.
The Examiner would like to point out that the amendments for the receiving component do not significantly alter the scope of the this limitation. If a receiving component was to convert a signal to digital samples then it would apparent that the received signal would be an analog signal. The concept of converting a portion of the analog signal corresponding to one or more symbol intervals is also inherently true for the process of converting a portion of the analog signal to digital samples. Therefore this limitation does not add meaningful value to the claim.
The second part of the amendment which includes the log-likelihood ratio component including at least one quantizer that reduces the resolution of the samples to reduce the size of the lookup table is substantially taught by D2.
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For example, D2 substantially teaches (i.e., Figure 1 and Figure 6, above and paragraphs 0006 0052-0056) a LLR to include quantization to reduce resolution which in turn reduces the size of the lookup table.
Independent claims 10 and 17 are rejected for similar reasons. Respective dependent claims 2-9, 11-16 and 18-20 further limit parent claims and are rejected at least based on dependency.
Corrections are requested.
It is the Examiner’s conclusion that the claims of the present application, as presented, are not patentably distinct from the prior arts. Applicants are encouraged to formulate claim language that clearly defines the novelty of the application. Pertinent prior art has been cited for Applicants review. If Applicants believe an interview with the Examiner might be useful, then they are welcome to contact the Examiner with proposed amendments for a discussion. Prior art rejections are maintained. See prior office action for details in view of remarks made herein.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MUJTABA M CHAUDRY whose telephone number is (571)272-3817. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9am-5:30pm.
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, Albert DeCady can be reached at 571-272-3819. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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MUJTABA M. CHAUDRY
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2112
/MUJTABA M CHAUDRY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2112