DETAILED ACTION
Application filed 10/31/2024 has been examined.
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.
Specification and drawings are accepted.
IDSs have been considered. PTO-1449s are attached.
Application is pending.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefore, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to abstract idea without significantly more.
A method for digital communication, comprising: determining, by a first node, an output bit sequence having E bits based on an input bit sequence having K bits, wherein the output bit sequence is determined by performing a polar transform with H components and a pre-transform, wherein the polar transform is based on H polar matrices GN0,GN1,⋯,GNH-1, wherein E, K, H are integers greater than 1, wherein a polar matrix GNi is of size Ni, and wherein at least two of the H polar matrices have different sizes; and transmitting, by the first node, a signal including the output bit sequence to a second node.
Claim 1 is directed to a method for a digital communication system.
Under prong 1 of the Alice/Mayo framework, the claim falls in a statutory category of a method or process.
Further analysis of the claim under prong 2, the claim is determined to be directed to an abstract idea without significantly more.
The claim language is directed towards determining output bit sequence E from K input bits by way of polar transformation.
This part of the claim recites general data computation and manipulation which is considered to be abstract and mathematical in nature.
The computation of coefficients can be done on pen and paper or mentally since there are just data that is being computed or manipulated.
Therefore these limitations are abstract and this judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application with significantly more.
The last limitation in the claim states to transmit the signal to a second node from a first node. For example, this can be done manually by delivering the paper that has the output sequence generated to a second location.
There are no additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception that are not well-known routine and conventional.
Independent claims 11 is rejected for similar reasons. Independent claim 16 is directed towards an apparatus for a communication network with at least one processor which is considered to be well-known, routine and conventions and is rejected for similar reasons.
Respective dependent claims do not recite anything significantly more than the abstract ideas and therefore are rejected as well.
Corrections are requested.
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) 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hamelin et al. USPAP 20210297094A1 (herein: D1) in view of Ye at al. USPAP 20190207710A1 (herein: D2).
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As per claim 1, D1 substantially teaches (i.e., title and abstract) a method for digital communication, comprising: determining, by a first node, an output bit sequence having E bits based on an input bit sequence having K bits (i.e., Figure 8, PAC code encoder and paragraphs 0074-0075), wherein the output bit sequence is determined by performing a polar transform with H components and a pre-transform (i.e., Figure 8 rate profiler 802 and convolutional encoder 812 and paragraphs 0074-0081), wherein E, K, H are integers greater than 1, wherein a polar matrix GNi is of size Ni, and wherein at least two of the H polar matrices have different sizes (i.e., Figure 8, E, K, H are all greater than 1 and the polar matrices have difference sizes as shown in Figure 1, paragraphs 0037-0038, 0074-0081); and transmitting, by the first node, a signal including the output bit sequence to a second node (i.e., Figure 8, channel 804 and paragraph 0075).
D1 does not explicitly teach the polar transform is based on H polar matrices GN0, GN1,⋯,GNH-1 as stated in the present application. However D1 substantially teaches (i.e., abstract) selecting a protograph sub-matrix from a family of protograph matrices based on one or more of an initial code rate, an information block size, a maximum retransmission count or a maximum number of redundancy versions, wherein the selected protograph sub-matrix supports HARQ-IR. A parity check matrix may be determined based on the selected protograph sub-matrix. One or more data blocks may be encoded using LDPC based on the parity check matrix and the LDPC encoded data block may be transmitted to an LDPC HARQ-IR configured receiver. Particularly, D2 teaches (i.e., Figure 13 and paragraph 0145) a polar transform based on H polar matrices GN. Therefore it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the application to combine the teachings of D2 with those of D1 to render the claims of the present application. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill because one having ordinary skill would have recognized that by H polar matrices for the polar transform would have improved the encoding and decoding process.
As per claim 2, D1 substantially teaches, in view of above rejections, wherein at least two of the H polar matrices have sizes greater than 2 (i.e., Figure 1, reference numbers 102 and 104).
As per claim 3, D1 substantially teaches, in view of above rejections, wherein each of N0, N1, ..., NH-1 is an integer being a power of 2 (i.e., Figure 1, reference numbers 102 and 104 both matrices are an integer power of 2; namely 4 and 8).
As per claim 4, D1 substantially teaches, in view of above rejections, wherein the output bit sequence is determined by further performing a repetition operation, wherein an input of the repetition operation is based on the input bit sequence (i.e., Figure 8, paragraphs 0053, 0074-0081).
As per claim 5, D1 substantially teaches, in view of above rejections, obtaining, by the first node, a repetition input bit sequence; and determining, by the first node, H component repetition output bit sequences c(0), c(1), ..., c(H-1) based on at least one of: 1) a length list (K0, K1, ..., KH-1), wherein Ki indicating the length of c(i) or 2) a repetition index list (R(0), R(1), ..., R(H-1) ), wherein c(i)=c0(i),c1(i),⋯,cKi-1(i) and Ki is a positive integer (i.e., Figure 8, rate profiler 1202 and paragraphs 0074-0095).
As per claim 6, D1 substantially teaches, in view of above rejections, wherein at least two of the H component repetition output bit sequences share at least one common element (i.e., Figure 12, rate profiler 1202 and paragraphs 0074-0085; Figure 1 reference numbers 102, 104).
As per claim 7, D1 substantially teaches, in view of above rejections, wherein at least one of the H component repetition output bit sequences c(0), c(1), ..., c(H-1) has a length equal to the length of the input bit sequence (i.e., Figure 8, inputs d0-d4 and outputs of 816 and 818 are equal and paragraphs 0074-0085).
As per claim 8, D1 substantially teaches, in view of above rejections, wherein at least two of the H component repetition output bit sequences c(i) and c(j) are determined based on at least one same bit in the input bit sequence (i.e., Figure 8, inputs d0-d4 and outputs of 816 and 818 and paragraphs 0074-0085).
As per claim 9, D1 substantially teaches, in view of above rejections, wherein at least two of the H component repetition output bit sequences c(i) and c(j) comprise matching sub-sequences generated based on the input bit sequence (i.e., Figure 8, inputs d0-d4 and outputs of 816 and 818 and paragraphs 0074-0085).
As per claim 10, D1 substantially teaches, in view of above rejections, wherein at least one element R(i) in the repetition index list (R(0), R(1), ..., R(H-1) ) is equal to a first-type integer set ZK = {0, 1, 2, ..., K-1}, wherein the first-type integer set ZK = {0, 1, 2, ..., K-1} comprises all non-negative integers smaller than K (i.e., Figure 8, inputs d0-d4 and outputs of 816 and 818; Figure 1 and paragraphs 0074-0085).
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As per claim 11, D1 substantially teaches (i.e., title and abstract) a method for digital communication, comprising: receiving, by a second node (i.e., Figure 8, PAC code decoder 820), a signal including an output bit sequence having E bits from a first node (i.e., Figure 8, signal from channel 804); and determining, by the second node, an input bit sequence having K bits based on the signal (i.e., Figure 8, PAC code decoder 820, data extractor 806 and paragraphs 0074-0095), wherein the output bit sequence is determined by performing a polar transform with H components and a pre-transform (i.e., Figure 8 rate profiler 802 and convolutional encoder 812 and paragraphs 0074-0081) wherein E, K, H are integers greater than 1, and wherein a polar matrix GNi is of size Ni (i.e., Figure 8, E, K, H are all greater than 1 and the polar matrices have difference sizes as shown in Figure 1, paragraphs 0037-0038, 0074-0081).
D1 does not explicitly teach the polar transform is based on H polar matrices GN0, GN1,⋯,GNH-1 as stated in the present application. However D1 substantially teaches (i.e., abstract) selecting a protograph sub-matrix from a family of protograph matrices based on one or more of an initial code rate, an information block size, a maximum retransmission count or a maximum number of redundancy versions, wherein the selected protograph sub-matrix supports HARQ-IR. A parity check matrix may be determined based on the selected protograph sub-matrix. One or more data blocks may be encoded using LDPC based on the parity check matrix and the LDPC encoded data block may be transmitted to an LDPC HARQ-IR configured receiver. Particularly, D2 teaches (i.e., Figure 13 and paragraph 0145) a polar transform based on H polar matrices GN. Therefore it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the application to combine the teachings of D2 with those of D1 to render the claims of the present application. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill because one having ordinary skill would have recognized that by H polar matrices for the polar transform would have improved the encoding and decoding process.
As per claim 12, D1 substantially teaches, in view of above rejections, wherein the output bit sequence is determined by further performing a rate profile operation, wherein the input of the rate profile operation is based on the input bit sequence (i.e., Figure 8, rate profiler 802 and paragraphs 0074-0095).
As per claim 13, D1 substantially teaches, in view of above rejections, wherein the rate profile operation is performed on the input bit sequence c = [c0, c1, ..., cK-1] using a first data bit index set Q = {Q0, Q1, ..., QK-1}to obtain a repetition rate profile output bit sequence v' = [v'0, v'1, ..., v'N-1] (i.e., Figure 8, rate profiler 802 and paragraphs 0074-0095).
As per claim 14, D1 substantially teaches, in view of above rejections, wherein the output bit sequence is determined by further performing a repetition operation, wherein the repetition operation comprises: determining, by the first node, H component repetition output bit sequences c(0), c(1), ..., c(H-1) based on the repetition rate profile output bit sequence v' = [v'0, v'1, ..., v'N-1] by at least one of: 1) a length list (K0, K1, ..., KH-1), wherein Ki indicating the length of c(i) or 2) the first data bit index set Q = {Q0, Q1, ..., QK-1}, wherein c(i)=c0(i),c1(i),⋯,cKi-1(i) (i.e., Figure 8, rate profiler 1202 and paragraphs 0074-0095).
As per claim 15, D1 substantially teaches, in view of above rejections, wherein the rate profile operation is performed with H components (i.e., Figure 8, reference numbers 816 and 818 and paragraphs 0074-0095).
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As per claim 16, D1 substantially teaches (i.e., title and abstract) an apparatus for communication network, comprising at least one processor (i.e., Figure 8 and paragraph 0007) configured to cause the apparatus to: determine an output bit sequence having E bits based on an input bit sequence having K bits (i.e., Figure 8, PAC code encoder and paragraphs 0074-0075), wherein the output bit sequence is determined by performing a polar transform with H components and a pre-transform (i.e., Figure 8 rate profiler 802 and convolutional encoder 812 and paragraphs 0074-0081) wherein E, K, H are integers greater than 1, wherein a polar matrix GNi is of size Ni, and wherein at least two of the H polar matrices have different sizes (i.e., Figure 8, E, K, H are all greater than 1 and the polar matrices have difference sizes as shown in Figure 1, paragraphs 0037-0038, 0074-0081); and transmit a signal including the output bit sequence to a second node (i.e., Figure 8, channel 804 and paragraph 0075).
D1 does not explicitly teach the polar transform is based on H polar matrices GN0, GN1,⋯,GNH-1 as stated in the present application. However D1 substantially teaches (i.e., abstract) selecting a protograph sub-matrix from a family of protograph matrices based on one or more of an initial code rate, an information block size, a maximum retransmission count or a maximum number of redundancy versions, wherein the selected protograph sub-matrix supports HARQ-IR. A parity check matrix may be determined based on the selected protograph sub-matrix. One or more data blocks may be encoded using LDPC based on the parity check matrix and the LDPC encoded data block may be transmitted to an LDPC HARQ-IR configured receiver. Particularly, D2 teaches (i.e., Figure 13 and paragraph 0145) a polar transform based on H polar matrices GN. Therefore it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the application to combine the teachings of D2 with those of D1 to render the claims of the present application. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill because one having ordinary skill would have recognized that by H polar matrices for the polar transform would have improved the encoding and decoding process.
As per claim 17, D1 substantially teaches, in view of above rejections, the processor is further configured to perform a first concatenation operation, wherein the input of the first concatenation operation is based on the input sequence (i.e., Figure 8, convolutional encoder 812 and Polar encoder 814 and paragraphs 0074-0095).
As per claim 18, D1 substantially teaches, in view of above rejections, the first concatenation operation generates an intermediate output sequence having E bits (i.e., Figure 8, convolutional encoder 812 and Polar encoder 814 outputs and paragraphs 0074-0095).
As per claim 19, D1 substantially teaches, in view of above rejections, the first concatenation operation is performed on a first H component bit sequences generated based on the input sequence (i.e., Figure 8, segment interleaver 830 and convolutional encoder 812 and paragraphs 0074-0095).
As per claim 20, D1 substantially teaches, in view of above rejections, the pre-transform generates an intermediate bit sequence having E bits, wherein a bit of the intermediate bit sequence is determined by a convolution bit sequence or a convolution polynomial, wherein the convolution bit sequence comprises a generator bit sequence g = [g0, g1, ..., gm] or a recursive feedback bit sequence q = [q0, q1, ..., qm], wherein m is a positive integer, wherein the convolution polynomial comprises a generator polynomial g(D) = g0 + g1·D + ... + gm-1·Dm-1 + gm·Dm or a recursive feedback polynomial q(D) = q0 + q1·D + ... + qm-1·Dm-1 + qm·Dm, and wherein m is a positive integer (i.e., Figure 8, convolutional encoder 812 and Polar encoder 814 and paragraphs 0074-0095).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. See PTO-892.
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.
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MUJTABA M. CHAUDRY
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2112
/MUJTABA M CHAUDRY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2112
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