DETAILED ACTION
Notice of 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 .
Drawings
Fig. 4 is missing in the Applicant’s drawings submitted on 10/08/2024.
A drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d).
Claim Objections
Claims 9, 10, 11 and 16 are objected to because of the following informalities:
In claim 9, line 1, it is suggested that “the plurality of second symbols comprise” be replaced with “the plurality of second symbols comprises”.
In claim 16, line 1, it is suggested that “the plurality of second symbols comprise” be replaced with “the plurality of second symbols comprises”.
Claims 10 and 11 are depending on claim 9.
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.
Claims 1-8, 12-15, 19 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over ElArabawy et al. (US 2015/0139120 A1) in view of Lim et al. (US 8,948,308 B2).
Consider claims 1 and 14:
ElArabawy discloses a radio transmitter (see Fig. 5 and paragraph 0061, where ElArabawy describes a wireless transmitter 500 in a base station) comprising:
a processing circuitry (see Fig. 21 and paragraph 0107, where ElArabawy describes that the base station includes a processor module 2181) configured to:
generate a plurality of first symbols from a sequence of base bits (see Fig. 5 and paragraph 0061, where ElArabawy describes that the transmitter 500 includes a first encoder 510A which operates on base layer stream A; see Fig. 5 and paragraph 0062, where ElArabawy describes that the encoder 510A provides symbols to multiplexer 530, each symbol has 2-bits);
generate a plurality of second symbols from a sequence of overlay bits (see Fig. 5 and paragraph 0061, where ElArabawy describes that the transmitter 500 includes a second encoder 510B which operates on enhanced layer stream A; see Fig. 5 and paragraph 0062, where ElArabawy describes that the encoder 510B provides symbols to multiplexer 530, each symbol has 4-bits);
generate a plurality of constellation points associated with the plurality of first symbols and the plurality of second symbols (see Fig. 5 and paragraphs 0061-0062, where ElArabawy describes that a modulation mapper 540 generates 6-bits symbols, i.e., constellation points, on a QAM64 constellation, based on a combination of the base layer symbols and the enhanced layer symbols);
modify one or more of the plurality of constellation points to produce a set of modified constellation points and to adjust a relative performance of the plurality of second symbols and the plurality of first symbols (see Fig. 18 and paragraph 0101, where ElArabawy describes that the constellation points on the QAM64 constellation are rotated using a selected rotation angle for optimizing system performance);
modulate one or more constellation points from the set of modified constellation points (see Fig. 5 and paragraph 0062, where ElArabawy describes a resource mapper 550 which modulates the QAM symbols from the modulation mapper 540 to subcarriers);
generate a composite transmission signal based on the one or more modulated constellation points (see Fig. 5 and paragraph 0061, where ElArabawy describes an inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT) 560 which generates a signal for transmission from output of the resource mapper 550, the transmission signal is generated based on combining the base layer stream A and the enhanced layer stream B),
the composite transmission signal comprising a hierarchically modulated signal (see paragraph 0061, where ElArabawy describes that the transmitter 500 may apply hierarchical modulation); and
a transmitter coupled to the processing circuitry and configured to wirelessly transmit the composite transmission signal (see paragraph 0061, where ElArabawy describes that the transmitter 500 transmits signals through an antenna).
ElArabawy does not specifically disclose: the transmitter is configured to wirelessly broadcast the composite transmission signal.
Lim teaches: a transmitter which is configured to wirelessly broadcast a composite transmission signal (see Fig. 6 and col. 4, lines 43-51, where Lim describes an Advanced Terrestrial-Digital Multimedia Broadcasting (AT-DMB) transmitter which is configured to wirelessly broadcast a composite of basic layer signal and enhancement layer signal).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include: the transmitter is configured to wirelessly broadcast the composite transmission signal, as taught by Lim to modify the method of ElArabawy in order to improve transmission efficiency, as discussed by Lim (see col. 1, lines 31-35).
Consicer claim 2:
ElArabawy in view of Lim discloses the radio transmitter of claim 1 above. ElArabawy discloses: the processing circuitry includes a scaler that modifies the one or more of the plurality of constellation points to produce the set of modified constellation points (see Fig. 17 and paragraph 0101, where ElArabawy describes that a rotation angle of θ is selected to rotate the points on the constellation to produce the rotated constellation points).
Consider claim 3:
ElArabawy in view of Lim discloses the radio transmitter of claim 2 above. ElArabawy discloses: a symbol mapper configured to generate the plurality of constellation points (see Fig. 5 and paragraph 0062, where ElArabawy describes that the transmitter 500 includes a modulation mapper 540 which generates the constellation points).
Consider claim 4:
ElArabawy in view of Lim discloses the radio transmitter of claim 3 above. ElArabawy discloses: the scaler comprises a circuit element in the symbol mapper (see Fig. 5 and paragraphs 0061-0062, where ElArabawy describes that a modulation mapper 540 generates constellation points on a QAM64 constellation; see Fig. 18 and paragraph 0101, where ElArabawy describes that the constellation points on the QAM64 constellation are rotated by a selected angle).
Consider claims 5 and 15:
ElArabawy in view of Lim discloses the invention of claims 2 and 14 above. ElArabawy discloses: the processing circuitry includes an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) modulator (see Fig. 5 and paragraph 0061, where ElArabawy describes that the transmitter 500 comprises an orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) transmit-pipeline).
Consider claim 6:
ElArabawy in view of Lim discloses the radio transmitter of claim 5 above. ElArabawy discloses: the scaler comprises a circuit element in the OFDM modulator (see Fig. 5 and paragraphs 0061-0062, where ElArabawy describes that the transmitter 500 comprises an orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) transmit-pipeline which includes the modulation mapper 540 that generates QAM64 constellation points; see Fig. 18 and paragraph 0101, where ElArabawy describes that the constellation points on the QAM64 constellation are rotated by a selected angle).
Consider claim 7:
ElArabawy in view of Lim discloses the radio transmitter of claim 5 above. ElArabawy discloses: the OFDM modulator generates one or more OFDM symbols associated with the set of modified constellation points (see Fig. 5 and paragraphs 0061-0062, where ElArabawy describes that the OFDM transmit-pipeline includes the modulation mapper 540 which generates QAM64 constellation points; see Fig. 18 and paragraph 0101, where ElArabawy describes that the constellation points on the QAM64 constellation are rotated by a selected angle).
Consider claim 8:
ElArabawy in view of Lim discloses the radio transmitter of claim 1 above. ElArabawy discloses: the processing circuitry includes a symbol mapper configured to generate the plurality of constellation points (see Fig. 5 and paragraph 0062, where ElArabawy describes that the transmitter 500 includes a modulation mapper 540 which generates the constellation points), a OFDM modulator and a scaler coupled to the symbol mapper and OFDM modulator (see Fig. 5 and paragraphs 0061-0062, where ElArabawy describes that the transmitter 500 comprises an OFDM transmit-pipeline which includes the modulation mapper 540 that generates QAM64 constellation points; see Fig. 18 and paragraph 0101, where ElArabawy describes that the constellation points on the QAM64 constellation are rotated by a selected angle), the scaler being configured to modify the one or more of the plurality of constellation points to produce the set of modified constellation points (see Fig. 18 and paragraph 0101, where ElArabawy describes that the constellation points on the QAM64 constellation are rotated by a selected angle).
Consider claims 12 and 19:
ElArabawy in view of Lim discloses the invention of claims 1 and 14 above. ElArabawy discloses: the processing circuitry is configured to modify the one or more of the plurality of constellation points by adjusting a distance between constellation points such that constellation points within a quadrant diverge to adjust the relative performance of the plurality of second symbols and the plurality of first symbols (see paragraph 0101, where ElArabawy describes optimizing Euclidean distance between two constellation points).
Consider claims 13 and 20:
ElArabawy in view of Lim discloses the invention of claims 1 and 14 above. ElArabawy discloses: the processing circuitry is configured to modify the one or more of the plurality of constellation points by adjusting a distance between constellation points such that constellation points within a quadrant converge to adjust the relative performance of the plurality of second symbols and the plurality of first symbols (see paragraph 0101, where ElArabawy describes optimizing Euclidean distance between two constellation points).
Claims 9-11 and 16-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over ElArabawy et al. (US 2015/0139120 A1) in view of Lim et al. (US 8,948,308 B2), as applied to claims 1 and 14 above, and further in view of Peyla et al. (US 2019/0349132 A1).
Consider claims 9 and 16:
ElArabawy in view of Lim discloses the invention of claims 1 and 14 above. ElArabawy does not specifically disclose: the plurality of second symbols comprise symbols associated with a DSB1 service mode or an SSB1 service mode.
Peyla teaches: a plurality of second symbols comprises symbols associated with a DSB1 service mode or an SSB1 service mode (see paragraph 0081, where Peyla describes a radio system in which DSB1 service mode and SSB1 service mode are designed for QAM symbols).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include: the plurality of second symbols comprise symbols associated with a DSB1 service mode or an SSB1 service mode, as taught by Peyla to modify the method of ElArabawy in order to increase capacity and robustness, as discussed by Peyla (see paragraph 0081).
Consider claims 10 and 17:
ElArabawy in view of others discloses the invention of claims 9 and 14 above. ElArabawy does not specifically disclose: the plurality of first symbols comprises symbols associated with an MP1X service mode, an MP3X service mode, an MP5 service mode, an MP6 service mode, a DSB1 service mode, or an SSB1 service mode.
Peyla teaches: a plurality of first symbols comprises symbols associated with an MP1X service mode, an MP3X service mode, an MP5 service mode, an MP6 service mode, a DSB1 service mode, or an SSB1 service mode (see paragraphs 0080-0081, where Peyla describes a radio system in which MP1X, MP3X, MP5, MP6, DSB1 and SSB1 service modes are designed for QAM symbols).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include: the plurality of first symbols comprises symbols associated with an MP1X service mode, an MP3X service mode, an MP5 service mode, an MP6 service mode, a DSB1 service mode, or an SSB1 service mode, as taught by Peyla to modify the method of ElArabawy in order to increase capacity, as discussed by Peyla (see paragraphs 0080-0081).
Consider claims 11 and 18:
ElArabawy in view of Lim and Peyla discloses the invention of claim 17 above. ElArabawy does not specifically disclose: each service mode employs at least one of three modulations formats: quadrature phase-shift keying (QPSK), 16-ary quadrature amplitude modulation (16 QAM), and 64-ary quadrature amplitude modulation (64 QAM).
Peyla teaches: a service mode employs 64-ary quadrature amplitude modulation (64 QAM) (see paragraph 0173, where Peyla describes a SSB1 service modes which is associated with 64-QAM symbols).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include: each service mode employs at least one of three modulations formats: quadrature phase-shift keying (QPSK), 16-ary quadrature amplitude modulation (16 QAM), and 64-ary quadrature amplitude modulation (64 QAM), as taught by Peyla to modify the method of ElArabawy in order to increase capacity, as discussed by Peyla (see paragraphs 0080-0081).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LIHONG YU whose telephone number is (571)270-5147. The examiner can normally be reached 10:00 am-6:00 pm EST Monday-Friday.
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/LIHONG YU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2631