Prosecution Insights
Last updated: April 19, 2026
Application No. 18/936,533

METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR DATA TRANSMISSION

Non-Final OA §103§112
Filed
Nov 04, 2024
Examiner
BRADEN, GRACE VICTORIA
Art Unit
2112
Tech Center
2100 — Computer Architecture & Software
Assignee
ZTE CORPORATION
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
100%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
2y 1m
To Grant
99%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 100% — above average
100%
Career Allow Rate
26 granted / 26 resolved
+45.0% vs TC avg
Minimal +0% lift
Without
With
+0.0%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Fast prosecutor
2y 1m
Avg Prosecution
20 currently pending
Career history
46
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
2.7%
-37.3% vs TC avg
§103
62.7%
+22.7% vs TC avg
§102
4.3%
-35.7% vs TC avg
§112
23.8%
-16.2% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 26 resolved cases

Office Action

§103 §112
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 § 112 The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b): (b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention. The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph: The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention. Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention. Regarding independent claims 1, 8, and 15, the claims recite the limitation “an input of the repetition operation is a portion of a bit sequence before the polar transform.” The phrase “a portion of a bit sequence” is vague and lacks a clear boundary. The claim does not specify which bits of the bit sequence are included in the portion, how the portion is selected, or the size of the portion. As a result, it is unclear which bits the repetition operations are performed on prior to the polar transform operation. While the specification describes an embodiment in which the portion comprises the first Nb bits of the input bit sequence (where Nb ≤ K), it does not provide additional details regarding other possible portions of the input bit sequence or criteria for selecting the portions. Therefore, the scope of “a portion of a bit sequence” is still unclear. Dependent claims 2-7, 9-14, and 16-20 fail to cure this indefiniteness, as they do not define “a portion of a bit sequence”, specify how the portion is selected or the size of the portion, and are therefore rejected under the same rationale. 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. Claims 1, 8, 12 and 15-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jang et al. (US 12,184,413), hereinafter Jang, in view of Rowshan, M., Viterbo, E., Micheloni, R. and Marelli, A. (2019), Repetition-assisted decoding of polar codes. Electron. Lett., 55: 270-272. https://doi.org/10.1049/el.2018.6940, hereinafter Rowshan. Regarding claim 1, as best understood based on the 35 U.S.C. 112(b) issue identified above, Jang teaches a method for digital communication (Jang, Fig. 1, col. 1, lines 20-23, “The disclosure relates to a communication system, and more particularly, to an apparatus and a method for encoding or decoding a polar code in a wireless communication system”), comprising: determining, by a first node, an output bit sequence having E bits based on an input bit sequence c having K bits (Jang, col. 3, lines 9-16, “According to an aspect of the disclosure, a method of a transmitting device in a wireless communication system, includes: obtaining an encoded bit stream from information bits using a polar code; transmitting a first signal generated through a first modulation of the encoded bit stream; performing reverse mapping on the encoded bit stream; and transmitting a second signal generated through a second modulation of the reverse-mapped encoded bit stream”; the transmitting device equates a first node, the information bits equates to an input bit sequence, and the encoded bit stream equates to an output bit sequence), wherein the output bit sequence is determined based on an output of a polar transform (Jang, col. 3, lines 11-12, “obtaining an encoded bit stream from information bits using a polar code”) and an output of a repetition operation (Jang, col. 2, lines 58-60, “Provided are an apparatus and a method for performing symbol-level rate-matching in repetition using a polar code in a communication system”), and wherein an input of the repetition operation is a portion of a bit sequence before the polar transform; and transmitting, by the first node, a signal including the output bit sequence to a second node (Jang, col. 3, lines 15-16, “transmitting a second signal generated through a second modulation of the reverse-mapped encoded bit stream”). Jang fails to teach wherein an input of the repetition operation is a portion of a bit sequence before the polar transform. However, Rowshan, in an analogous art, teaches wherein an input of the repetition operation is a portion of a bit sequence before the polar transform (Rowshan, Fig. 2). Figure 2 teaches an encoding procedure which information bits are first processed to generate and append CRC bits, after which vulnerable bits are repeated. After the repetition step, the unfrozen bits, along with the frozen bits, are encoded using a polar encoder. This equates to a repetition operation being applied to a portion of a bit sequence prior to polar encoding. Jang and Rowshan are both considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because both are in the same field of polar coding systems. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified Jang to incorporate the teachings of Rowshan by including the functionality of applying a repetition operation to an input sequence prior to a polar coding operation. The suggestion/motivation for doing so would be to improve the reliability of vulnerable bits. Regarding claim 8, as best understood based on the 35 U.S.C. 112(b) issue identified above, Jang teaches a method for digital communication (Jang, Fig. 1, col. 1, lines 20-23, “The disclosure relates to a communication system, and more particularly, to an apparatus and a method for encoding or decoding a polar code in a wireless communication system”), comprising: receiving, by a second node, a signal including an output bit sequence having E bits from a first node (Jang, col. 3, lines 26-35, “According to an aspect of the disclosure, a method of a receiving device in a wireless communication system, includes: receiving a first signal generated through a first modulation of a bit stream; receiving a second signal generated through reverse-mapping and a second modulation of the bit stream; and obtaining information bits of the bit stream by combining the first signal and the second signal based on the reverse mapping, wherein the bit stream is encoded using a polar code”; the receiving device equates a second node); determining, by the second node, an input bit sequence c having K bits based on the signal, wherein the output bit sequence is determined based on an output of a polar transform (Jang, col. 3, lines 32-35, “obtaining information bits of the bit stream by combining the first signal and the second signal based on the reverse mapping, wherein the bit stream is encoded using a polar code”) and an output of a repetition operation (Jang, col. 2, lines 58-60, “Provided are an apparatus and a method for performing symbol-level rate-matching in repetition using a polar code in a communication system”). Jang fails to teach wherein an input of the repetition operation is a portion of a bit sequence before the polar transform. However, Rowshan, in an analogous art, teaches wherein an input of the repetition operation is a portion of a bit sequence before the polar transform (Rowshan, Fig. 2). Figure 2 teaches an encoding procedure which information bits are first processed to generate and append CRC bits, after which vulnerable bits are repeated. After the repetition step, the unfrozen bits, along with the frozen bits, are encoded using a polar encoder. This equates to a repetition operation being applied to a portion of a bit sequence prior to polar encoding. Jang and Rowshan are both considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because both are in the same field of polar coding systems. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified Jang to incorporate the teachings of Rowshan by including the functionality of applying a repetition operation to an input sequence prior to a polar coding operation. The suggestion/motivation for doing so would be to improve the reliability of vulnerable bits. Regarding claim 12, the combination of Jang in view of Rowshan teaches the method of claim 8, further comprising performing a pre-transform operation, wherein an input of the pre-transform operation is based on the input sequence, and wherein the input of the pre-transform operation is based on an output of a rate profile operation (Jang, Fig. 12 teaches several pre-transform operations such as deinterleaving and de-rate matching). Claim 15 is an apparatus with limitations similar to the method of claim 1, and is rejected under the same rationale. Regarding claim 16, the combination of Jang in view of Rowshan teaches the apparatus of claim 15, wherein the polar transform is performed based on a polar matrix (Jang, Fig. 8, polar encoding 806, col. 22, lines 46-48, “polar encoding 806 includes the operations of the sub-channel allocation 404, and the generator matrix multiplication 406 of FIG. 4”), and wherein the output bit sequence is determined further by performing an interleaving operation, and wherein an input of the interleaving operation is based on the input bit sequence (Jang, Fig. 8, channel interleaving 810). Regarding claim 17, the combination of Jang in view of Rowshan teaches the apparatus of claim 16, wherein the interleaving operation is determined by an interleaving pattern J = [J0, J1, J2, ... , JN-2, JN-1 ] of length N, wherein N is an integer larger than 1 (Jang, col. 15, lines 11-55; Jang teaches interleaving operations determined by predefined patterns that map input positions to output positions). Regarding claim 18, the combination of Jang in view of Rowshan teaches the apparatus of claim 16, wherein the input of the interleaving operation is based on an output of the polar transform (Jang, Fig. 8, polar encoding 806 & channel interleaving 810). Regarding claim 19, the combination of Jang in view of Rowshan teaches the apparatus of claim 15, wherein the processor is further configured to perform a concatenation operation, wherein an input of the concatenation operation is based on the input sequence (Jang, Fig. 8, concatenation 812). Regarding claim 20, the combination of Jang in view of Rowshan teaches the apparatus of claim 19, wherein the input of the concatenation operation is based on an output of the repetition operation, an output of the polar transform, or an output of an interleaving operation (Jang, Fig. 8, polar encoding 806, channel interleaving 810 & concatenation 812). Claims 2-7 and 9-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jang in view of Rowshan, as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Shen et al. (US 10,374,754), hereinafter Shen. Regarding claim 2, the combination of Jang in view of Rowshan teaches the method of claim 1, but fails to teach further comprising a rate profile operation, wherein an input of the rate profile operation is based on the input bit sequence c, wherein, the portion of the bit sequence before the polar transform is a portion of an output of the rate profile operation. However, Shen, in an analogous art, teaches further comprising a rate profile operation, wherein an input of the rate profile operation is based on the input bit sequence c, wherein, the portion of the bit sequence before the polar transform is a portion of an output of the rate profile operation (Shen, col. 6, lines 14-19, “rate matching for the target polar code is implemented based on the mapping function. Therefore, a bit sequence obtained from the rate matching can be more even in structure, a frame error rate of a punctured polar code can be reduced, HARQ performance can be improved, and further, communication reliability can be improved”). Jang, Rowshan, and Shen are considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of polar coding systems. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the combination of Jang in view of Rowshan to incorporate the teachings of Shen by including the functionality of applying rate profile operation to an input bit sequence. The suggestion/motivation for doing so would be for the input bit sequence to be even in structure and improve communication reliability (Shen, col. 6, lines 15-19, “a bit sequence obtained from the rate matching can be more even in structure, a frame error rate of a punctured polar code can be reduced, HARQ performance can be improved, and further, communication reliability can be improved”). Regarding claim 3, the combination of Jang in view of Rowshan teaches the method of claim 1, but fails to teach wherein the repetition operation comprising: obtaining, by the first node, a portion of the input bit sequence c; and determining, by the first node, a second bit sequence c ' according to a repetition index sequence R = [R0, R1, ... , RNr-2, RNr-1] as c' r = cRr’ r = 0, 1, 2, …, Nr - 1, wherein, Nr is a pre-defined integer; wherein for r = 0, 1, 2, ... , Nr-1, Rr satisfies one of the following: Rr is smaller than K, Rr is smaller than N with N being the polar matrix size of the polar transform. However, Shen teaches wherein the repetition operation comprising: obtaining, by the first node, a portion of the input bit sequence c (Shen, col. 13, lines 46-50, “the polar code rate matching apparatus 300 further includes a third determining unit, configured to determine, from the interleaved output bits by means of sequential capturing or repetition, a sending bit that needs to be transmitted in HARQ retransmission”); and determining, by the first node, a second bit sequence c ' (Shen, col. 13, lines 58-61, “the third determining unit may determine a bit in each time of retransmission in a manner of sequential capturing or repetition”) according to a repetition index sequence R = [R0, R1, ... , RNr-2, RNr-1] as c' r = cRr’ r = 0, 1, 2, …, Nr - 1, wherein, Nr is a pre-defined integer; wherein for r = 0, 1, 2, ... , Nr-1, Rr satisfies one of the following: Rr is smaller than K, Rr is smaller than N with N being the polar matrix size of the polar transform (Shen teaches sequential capturing, which implies position-based copying). While the reference does not explicitly teach the limitations, it teaches a repetition operation where bits are selected from an existing bit sequence and repeated to form an output sequence. The reference teaches determining output bits “by means of sequential capturing or repetition”, which involves copying bits from previous index positions in the sequence to generate repeated output bits. Jang, Rowshan, and Shen are considered to be analogous to the claimed invention for the same reasons listed in claim 2’s rejection. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the combination of Jang in view of Rowshan to incorporate the teachings of Shen by including the functionality of a repetition operation based on index-based selection. The suggestion/motivation for doing so would be to selectively repeat particular bits to improve reliability. Regarding claim 4, the combination of Jang in view of Rowshan teaches the method of claim 1, but fails to teach wherein the repetition operation comprises: obtaining, by the first node, a portion of the input bit sequence c; and determining, by the first node, a second bit sequence c' according to a repetition index R = [R0, R1, ... , RNr-2, RNr-1] and a repetition number sequence T = [T0, T1, ... , TNr-2, TNr-1 ] such that for r= 0, 1, 2, ... , Nr-1, c' comprises Tr copies of an Rr -th bit in the portion of the input bit sequence c. However, Shen, in an analogous art, teaches wherein the repetition operation comprising: obtaining, by the first node, a portion of the input bit sequence c (Shen, col. 13, lines 46-50, “the polar code rate matching apparatus 300 further includes a third determining unit, configured to determine, from the interleaved output bits by means of sequential capturing or repetition, a sending bit that needs to be transmitted in HARQ retransmission”); and determining, by the first node, a second bit sequence c ' according to a repetition index R = [R0, R1, ... , RNr-2, RNr-1] and a repetition number sequence T = [T0, T1, ... , TNr-2, TNr-1 ] such that for r= 0, 1, 2, ... , Nr-1, c' comprises Tr copies of an Rr -th bit in the portion of the input bit sequence c (Shen, col. 13, lines 58-61, “the third determining unit may determine a bit in each time of retransmission in a manner of sequential capturing or repetition”). While the reference does not explicitly teach the limitations, it teaches a repetition operation where a selected bit is transmitted multiple times. The reference teaches determining a bit for transmission “in each time of retransmission” using repetition, which generates multiple copies of the same it in an output sequence. Jang, Rowshan, and Shen are considered to be analogous to the claimed invention for the same reasons listed in claim 2’s rejection. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the combination of Jang in view of Rowshan to incorporate the teachings of Shen by including the functionality of a repetition operation to repeat selected bits multiple times. The suggestion/motivation for doing so would be to improve reliability and support retransmissions. Regarding claim 5, the combination of Jang in view of Rowshan, further in view of Shen teaches the method of claim 4, where Rr is an integer smaller than K. While Shen does not explicitly teach the limitation, it teaches bits being selected from an input sequence, indicating that the index cannot exceed the input length and the index value must be smaller than K. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the combination of Jang in view of Rowshan to incorporate the teachings of Shen by including the functionality of an index value being less than a bit sequence length. The suggestion/motivation for doing so would be that having an index value less than the length of data is a common and predictable technique. Regarding claim 6, the combination of Jang in view of Rowshan, further in view of Shen teaches the method of claim 2, wherein the repetition operation comprising: obtaining, by the first node, a portion of a rate profiling output bit sequence v = [v0, v1, v2, ... , vN-1 ] (Shen, col. 13, lines 46-50, “the polar code rate matching apparatus 300 further includes a third determining unit, configured to determine, from the interleaved output bits by means of sequential capturing or repetition, a sending bit that needs to be transmitted in HARQ retransmission”; the interleaved output bits equates to a rate profiling output bit sequence) and a portion of a data index set Q = {Q0, Q1, ... , QK-1 } of length Nq, wherein Nq is a positive integer (Shen, col. 6, lines 14-15, “rate matching for the target polar code is implemented based on the mapping function”), the portion of the rate profiling output bit sequence v = [v0, v1, v2, ... , vN-1 ] is the output of a rate profile operation; determining, by the first node, an index Qmod(r,Nq) for r = 0, 1, 2, ... , E - N – 1 (Shen, col. 13, lines 32-34, “the third determining unit may send the output bits to a circular buffer, and determine a start position of the current transmitted bit in the circular buffer”); and determining, by the first node, a bit vQmod(r,Nq) with the index Qmod(r,Nq) in the portion of the rate profiling output bit sequence v into a bit in the repetition output bit sequence c' as for r = 0, 1, 2, ... E-N-1, c'r = vQmod(r,Nq) (Shen, col. 13, lines 59-61, “the third determining unit may determine a bit in each time of retransmission in a manner of sequential capturing or repetition”). While the reference does not explicitly teach the limitations, Shen teaches generating a rate-matched output bit sequence and determining an output sequence by sequentially electing bits from the rate-matched sequence during repetition. The bits are selected from indexed positions of the rate-match output sequence in a cyclic manner when repetition is performed, determining output bits by mapping each output position to an indexed position of the rate-matched sequence. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the combination of Jang in view of Rowshan to incorporate the teachings of Shen by including the functionality of using cyclic index-based selection of rate-matched bits. The suggestion/motivation for doing so would be to efficiently generate a repetition output sequence of a desired length. Regarding claim 7, the combination of Jang in view of Rowshan, further in view of Shen teaches the method of claim 6, wherein Nq is less than or equal to K. While Shen does not explicitly teach the limitation, it inherently teaches that the length of the data index set does not exceed the length of the input bit sequence. Since the index set is used to select bits derived from the input sequence of length K, the number of indices Nq must be less than or equal to K. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the combination of Jang in view of Rowshan to incorporate the teachings of Shen by including the functionality of index values being less than or equal to an input sequence length. The suggestion/motivation for doing so would be that having an index values being less than or equal to an input sequence length is a common and predictable technique. Regarding claim 9, the combination of Jang in view of Rowshan teaches the method of claim 8, but fails to teach wherein the output bit sequence is determined by further performing a rate profile operation based on the input bit sequence. However, Shen, in an analogous art, teaches wherein the output bit sequence is determined by further performing a rate profile operation based on the input bit sequence (Shen, col. 6, lines 14-19, “rate matching for the target polar code is implemented based on the mapping function. Therefore, a bit sequence obtained from the rate matching can be more even in structure, a frame error rate of a punctured polar code can be reduced, HARQ performance can be improved, and further, communication reliability can be improved”). Jang, Rowshan, and Shen are considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of polar coding systems. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the combination of Jang in view of Rowshan to incorporate the teachings of Shen by including the functionality of applying rate profile operation to an input bit sequence. The suggestion/motivation for doing so would be for the input bit sequence to be even in structure and improve communication reliability (Shen, col. 6, lines 15-19, “a bit sequence obtained from the rate matching can be more even in structure, a frame error rate of a punctured polar code can be reduced, HARQ performance can be improved, and further, communication reliability can be improved”). Regarding claim 10, the combination of Jang in view of Rowshan, further in view of Shen teaches the method of claim 9, wherein the input of the repetition operation is based on an output of the rate profile operation (Shen, col. 6, lines 14-19, “rate matching for the target polar code is implemented based on the mapping function. Therefore, a bit sequence obtained from the rate matching can be more even in structure, a frame error rate of a punctured polar code can be reduced, HARQ performance can be improved, and further, communication reliability can be improved”). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the combination of Jang in view of Rowshan to incorporate the teachings of Shen by including the functionality of applying rate profile operation to an input bit sequence. The suggestion/motivation for doing so would be for the input bit sequence to be even in structure and improve communication reliability (Shen, col. 6, lines 15-19, “a bit sequence obtained from the rate matching can be more even in structure, a frame error rate of a punctured polar code can be reduced, HARQ performance can be improved, and further, communication reliability can be improved”). Regarding claim 11, the combination of Jang in view of Rowshan, further in view of Shen teaches the method of claim 9, wherein the rate profile operation is performed on an input bit sequence c = [c0, c1, ... , CK-1] (Shen, col. 13, lines 46-50, “the polar code rate matching apparatus 300 further includes a third determining unit, configured to determine, from the interleaved output bits by means of sequential capturing or repetition, a sending bit that needs to be transmitted in HARQ retransmission”; the interleaved output bits equates to a rate profiling output bit sequence) using a data bit index set Q = {Q0, Q1, ... , QK-1 ] (Shen, col. 6, lines 14-15, “rate matching for the target polar code is implemented based on the mapping function”) to obtain a rate profile output bit sequence v = [v0, v1, ... , VN-1] (Shen, col. 13, lines 59-61, “the third determining unit may determine a bit in each time of retransmission in a manner of sequential capturing or repetition”). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the combination of Jang in view of Rowshan to incorporate the teachings of Shen by including the functionality of a rate profile operation based on index-based selection. The suggestion/motivation for doing so would be to selectively repeat particular bits to improve reliability. Claims 13 and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jang in view of Rowshan, as applied to claim 12 above, and further in view of Lieb, Julia, et al. “Convolutional Codes.” Concise Encyclopedia of Coding Theory, 1st ed., Chapman & Hill, 2021, hereinafter Lieb. Regarding claim 13, the combination of Jang in view of Rowshan teaches the method of claim 12, but fails to teach wherein a bit in an output of the pre-transform operation is determined by a convolution bit sequence or a convolution polynomial, and wherein the convolution bit sequence comprises a generator bit sequence g = [g0, g1, ... , gm], or a recursive feedback bit sequence q = [q0, q1, ... , qm]. However, Lieb, in an analogous art, teaches wherein a bit in an output of the pre-transform operation is determined by a convolution bit sequence or a convolution polynomial, and wherein the convolution bit sequence comprises a generator bit sequence g = [g0, g1, ... , gm] (Lien, pg. 198, lines 5-7, “Instead of using the constant matrix G as an encoding map, Elias suggested using more general polynomial matrices of the form G(z) whose entries consist of elements of the polynomial ring Fq[z]”), or a recursive feedback bit sequence q = [q0, q1, ... , qm] (). Jang, Rowshan, and Lieb are considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of coding systems. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the combination of Jang in view of Rowshan to incorporate the teachings of Lieb by including the functionality of determining bits using a generator bit sequence. The suggestion/motivation for doing so would be that this a known mathematical technique in convolutional coding. Regarding claim 14, the combination of Jang in view of Rowshan, further in view of Lieb teaches the method of claim 13, 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 (Lieb, pg. 198, lines 15-17, “convolutional codes were defined as k-dimensional linear subspaces of the n-dimensional vector space Fq((z))n that also possess a k _ n polynomial generator matrix G(z) ∈   Fq[z]kxn”). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the combination of Jang in view of Rowshan to incorporate the teachings of Lieb by including the functionality of a generator polynomial. The suggestion/motivation for doing so would be that this a known mathematical technique in convolutional coding. Conclusion The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Noh et al. (US 11,258,535) teaches communication systems that implement repetition, rate profiling, polar encoding, and interleaving. Luo et al. (US 11,258,463) teaches polar code transmission methods of scrambling and interleaving encoded sequences. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to GRACE V BRADEN whose telephone number is (703)756-5381. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri: 9AM-5:30 PM ET. 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. Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /G.V.B./Examiner, Art Unit 2112 /ALBERT DECADY/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2112
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Prosecution Timeline

Nov 04, 2024
Application Filed
Feb 10, 2026
Non-Final Rejection — §103, §112 (current)

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Expected OA Rounds
100%
Grant Probability
99%
With Interview (+0.0%)
2y 1m
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Based on 26 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allow rate.

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