DETAILED ACTION
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 .
This is the initial Office Action based on the application filed 11/08/2024. Claims 1-20 are presented for examination and have been considered below.
Double Patenting
The nonstatutory double patenting rejection is based on a judicially created doctrine grounded in public policy (a policy reflected in the statute) so as to prevent the unjustified or improper timewise extension of the “right to exclude” granted by a patent and to prevent possible harassment by multiple assignees. A nonstatutory double patenting rejection is appropriate where the conflicting claims are not identical, but at least one examined application claim is not patentably distinct from the reference claim(s) because the examined application claim is either anticipated by, or would have been obvious over, the reference claim(s). See, e.g., In re Berg, 140 F.3d 1428, 46 USPQ2d 1226 (Fed. Cir. 1998); In re Goodman, 11 F.3d 1046, 29 USPQ2d 2010 (Fed. Cir. 1993); In re Longi, 759 F.2d 887, 225 USPQ 645 (Fed. Cir. 1985); In re Van Ornum, 686 F.2d 937, 214 USPQ 761 (CCPA 1982); In re Vogel, 422 F.2d 438, 164 USPQ 619 (CCPA 1970); In re Thorington, 418 F.2d 528, 163 USPQ 644 (CCPA 1969).
A timely filed terminal disclaimer in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(c) or 1.321(d) may be used to overcome an actual or provisional rejection based on nonstatutory double patenting provided the reference application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with the examined application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement. See MPEP § 717.02 for applications subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA as explained in MPEP § 2159. See MPEP § 2146 et seq. for applications not subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . A terminal disclaimer must be signed in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(b).
The filing of a terminal disclaimer by itself is not a complete reply to a nonstatutory double patenting (NSDP) rejection. A complete reply requires that the terminal disclaimer be accompanied by a reply requesting reconsideration of the prior Office action. Even where the NSDP rejection is provisional the reply must be complete. See MPEP § 804, subsection I.B.1. For a reply to a non-final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.111(a). For a reply to final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.113(c). A request for reconsideration while not provided for in 37 CFR 1.113(c) may be filed after final for consideration. See MPEP §§ 706.07(e) and 714.13.
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Claims 1-20 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1-20 of U.S. Patent No. 12,199,757. Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because every limitation claims in the present application is anticipated by the claimed invention of U.S. Patent No. 12,199,757, as follows:
Present application
US 12,199,757
1. A method for improving performance of code split communications, the method comprising: splitting, by a transmission system, a first codeword into a first portion and a second portion; splitting, by the transmission system, a second codeword into a third portion and a fourth portion; transmitting, by the transmission system, the second portion of the first codeword and the third portion of the second codeword together as a plurality of symbols, wherein: each transmitted symbol of the plurality of symbols comprises a first number of bits from the second portion of the first codeword and a second number of bits from the third portion of the second codeword; and the second portion of the first codeword identifies a label group of a plurality of label groups of a constellation.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein within each label group of the plurality of label groups, symbol labels are Gray labeled.
3. The method of claim 2, wherein at least a first symbol label is not Gray labeled with an adjacent second symbol label, the first symbol label and the adjacent second symbol label being members of different label groups of the plurality of label groups.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein the constellation is an optimized 16 symbol Amplitude and Phase-Shift Keying (APSK) constellation.
5. The method of claim 4, wherein: the first number of bits is one and the second number of bits is three; and at a same radius from the origin, adjacent symbols on the constellation alternate between being members of a first label group and a second label group.
6. A system for improving performance of code split communications, the system comprising: a satellite gateway system configured to: split a first codeword into a first portion and a second portion; split a second codeword into a third portion and a fourth portion; transmit the second portion of the first codeword and the third portion of the second codeword together as a plurality of symbols, wherein: each transmitted symbol of the plurality of symbols comprises a first number of bits from the second portion of the first codeword and a second number of bits from the third portion of the second codeword; and the second portion of the first codeword identifies a label group of a plurality of label groups of a constellation.
7. The system of claim 6, wherein within each label group of the plurality of label groups, symbol labels are Gray labeled.
8. The system of claim 7, wherein at least a first symbol label is not Gray labeled with an adjacent second symbol label, the first symbol label and the second symbol label being members of different label groups of the plurality of label groups.
9. The system of claim 6, wherein the constellation is an optimized 16 symbol Amplitude and Phase-Shift Keying (APSK) constellation.
10. The system of claim 9, wherein: the first number of bits is one and the second number of bits is three; and at a same radius from the origin, adjacent symbols on the constellation alternate between being members of a first label group and a second label group.
11. A method for improving performance of code split communications, the method comprising: decoding, by a receiver system, a first codeword such that a first portion and a second portion of the first codeword are determined to be properly decoded, wherein: the first codeword is split into the first portion and the second portion; a second codeword is split into a third portion and a fourth portion; and generating, by the receiver system, decoder inputs for the third portion of the second codeword using a constellation and the second portion of the first codeword, wherein: each transmitted symbol of a plurality of symbols comprises a first number of bits from the second portion of the first codeword and a second number of bits from the third portion of the second codeword; and the second portion of the first codeword identifies a label group of a plurality of label groups of the constellation.
12. The method of claim 11, wherein within each label group of the plurality of label groups, symbol labels are Gray labeled.
13. The method of claim 12, wherein at least a first symbol label is not Gray labeled with an adjacent second symbol label, the first symbol label and the adjacent second symbol label being members of different label groups of the plurality of label groups.
14. The method of claim 11, wherein the constellation is an optimized 16 symbol Amplitude and Phase-Shift Keying (APSK) constellation.
15. The method of claim 14, wherein: the first number of bits is one and the second number of bits is three; and at a same radius from the origin, adjacent symbols on the constellation alternate between being members of a first label group and a second label group.
16. A system for improving performance of code split communications, the system comprising a receiver system, configured to: decode a first codeword such that a first portion and a second portion of the first codeword are determined to be properly decoded, wherein: the first codeword is split into the first portion and the second portion; a second codeword is split into a third portion and a fourth portion; and generate decoder inputs for the third portion of the second codeword using a constellation and the second portion of the first codeword, wherein: each transmitted symbol of a plurality of symbols comprises a first number of bits from the second portion of the first codeword and a second number of bits from the third portion of the second codeword; and the second portion of the first codeword identifies a label group of a plurality of label groups of the constellation.
17. The system of claim 16, wherein within each label group of the plurality of label groups, symbol labels are Gray labeled.
18. The system of claim 17, wherein at least a first symbol label is not Gray labeled with an adjacent second symbol label, the first symbol label and the second symbol label being members of different label groups of the plurality of label groups.
19. The system of claim 16, wherein the constellation is an optimized 16 symbol Amplitude and Phase-Shift Keying (APSK) constellation.
20. The system of claim 19, wherein: the first number of bits is one and the second number of bits is three; and at a same radius from the origin, adjacent symbols on the constellation alternate between being members of a first label group and a second label group.
1. A method for improving performance of code split communications, the method comprising: splitting, by a transmission system, a first codeword into a first portion and a second portion; splitting, by the transmission system, a second codeword into a third portion and a fourth portion; transmitting, by the transmission system, the second portion of the first codeword and the third portion of the second codeword together as a plurality of symbols such that each transmitted symbol of the plurality of symbols comprises a first number of bits from the second portion of the first codeword and a second number of bits from the third portion of the second codeword; decoding, by a receiver system, the first codeword such that the first portion and the second portion of the first codeword are determined to be properly decoded; and generating, by the receiver system, decoder inputs for the third portion of the second codeword using an optimized constellation and the second portion of the first codeword, wherein: the second portion of the first codeword is used to identify a label group of a plurality of label groups of the optimized constellation and eliminate all other label groups of the plurality of label groups; within each label group of the plurality of label groups, symbol labels are Gray labeled; and at least a first symbol label is not Gray labeled with an adjacent second symbol label, the first symbol label and the adjacent second symbol label being members of different label groups of the plurality of label groups.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the optimized constellation is an optimized 16 symbol Amplitude and Phase-Shift Keying (APSK) constellation.
3. The method of claim 2, wherein: the first number of bits is one and the second number of bits is three; and at a same radius from the origin, adjacent symbols on the optimized constellation alternate between being members of a first label group and a second label group.
4. The method of claim 2, wherein: the first number of bits is two and the second number of bits is two; and each label group of the plurality of label groups includes two symbols associated with each radius from the origin.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein the optimized constellation is an optimized 32 symbol APSK constellation.
6. The method of claim 5, wherein three label groups of the plurality of label groups each include eight symbols associated with a radius from the origin of the optimized constellation.
7. The method of claim 6, wherein the first number of bits is two and the second number of bits is three.
8. The method of claim 1, wherein the optimized constellation is an optimized 64 symbol Amplitude and Phase-Shift Keying (APSK) constellation.
9. The method of claim 8, wherein: two label groups of the plurality of label groups each has four symbols associated with each radius of a set of four possible radii from the origin of the optimized constellation; and one label group of the plurality of label groups has eight symbols associated with a first radius and eight symbols associated with a radius amplitude.
10. The method of claim 1, wherein generating, by the receiver system, decoder inputs for the third portion of the second codeword is performed using the second portion of the first codeword and one or more precomputed log-likelihood ratio (LLR) tables that are based on the optimized constellation.
11. A system for improving performance of code split communications, the system comprising: a satellite gateway system configured to: split a first codeword into a first portion and a second portion; split a second codeword into a third portion and a fourth portion; and transmit the second portion of the first codeword and the third portion of the second codeword together as a plurality of symbols such that each transmitted symbol of the plurality of symbols comprises a first number of bits from the second portion of the first codeword and a second number of bits from the third portion of the second codeword; and a receiver system, configured to: receive the first codeword and the second codeword via a satellite antenna; decode the first codeword such that the first portion and the second portion of the first codeword are determined to be properly decoded; and generate decoder inputs for the third portion of the second codeword using an optimized constellation and the second portion of the first codeword, wherein: the second portion of the first codeword is used to identify a label group of a plurality of label groups of the optimized constellation and eliminate all other label groups of the plurality of label groups; within each label group of the plurality of label groups, symbol labels are Gray labeled; and at least a first symbol label is not Gray labeled with an adjacent second symbol label, the first symbol label and the second symbol label being members of different label groups of the plurality of label groups.
12. The system of claim 11, wherein the optimized constellation is an optimized 16 symbol Amplitude and Phase-Shift Keying (APSK) constellation.
13. The system of claim 12, wherein: the first number of bits is one and the second number of bits is three; and at a same radius from the origin, adjacent symbols on the optimized constellation alternate between being members of a first label group and a second label group.
14. The system of claim 12, wherein: the first number of bits is two and the second number of bits is two; and each label group of the plurality of label groups includes two symbols associated with each radius from the origin.
15. The system of claim 11, wherein the optimized constellation is an optimized 32 symbol APSK constellation.
16. The system of claim 11, wherein the optimized constellation is an optimized 64 symbol Amplitude and Phase-Shift Keying (APSK) constellation.
17. The system of claim 16, wherein: two label groups of the plurality of label groups each has four symbols associated with each radius of a set of four possible radii from the origin of the optimized constellation; and one label group of the plurality of label groups has eight symbols associated with a first radius and eight symbols associated with a radius amplitude.
18. The system of claim 11, wherein the satellite gateway system is connected with the Internet and provides Internet access to the receiver system.
19. The system of claim 18, further comprising a satellite that relays communication signals between the satellite gateway system and the receiver system.
20. The system of claim 11, wherein the receiver system being configured to generate decoder inputs for the third portion of the second codeword is performed using the second portion of the first codeword and one or more precomputed log-likelihood ratio (LLR) tables that are based on the optimized constellation.
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 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over Moon (US 2012/0278680 A1) in view of Yoda and Ochiai ("Multilevel Coded Modulation With Reduced Latency Decoding Based on Novel Set Partitioning for APSK," IEEE Transactions on Broadcasting, Vol. 61, No. 4, December 2015, pp. 674-684) (hereinafter Yoda).
Claim 1: Moon teaches a method for improving performance of code split communications, the method comprising:
splitting, by a transmission system, a first codeword into portions (Moon teaches receiving input data including a first portion and second portion (Fig. 1A, steps 100-102. See para [0015]-[0016]);
splitting, by the transmission system, a second codeword into portions (e.g. Moon teaches processing multiple input data streams with hierarchical coding structure where different portions receive varying levels of error correction protection. See Fig. 7 and para [0042]-[0045]);
transmitting, by the transmission system, the portions together as symbols (e.g. Moon teaches outputting encoded data corresponding to multiple portions for transmission. See Fig. 1A, steps 108, 112 and para [0016]), wherein: each symbol comprises bits from different portions (e.g. Moon's 16-QAM encoder shows bits b1-b2 (first portion of first codeword) and bits b3-b4 (second portion of second codeword) combined for transmission. See Fig. 7 and para [0042]-[0045]); and
the second portion of the first codeword identifies a label group (e.g. Moon teaches that the first portion of input data (encoded at step 102) identifies which subset (label group) the data corresponds to. See para [0016] and Fig. 1A, step 104).
Moon does not teach splitting two independent codewords to be transmitted together and the second portion of the first codeword identifies a label group of a plurality of label groups of a constellation.
However, Yoda teaches optimized 16-APSK constellations including (4,12)-APSK with ring ratio optimization (Section III-A; Fig. 4); it also teaches novel set partitioning labeling strategies (type-B) where bits identify label groups within APSK constellations (Section IV-A; Fig. 4). Furthermore, Yoda teaches mapping teaches transmitting bits from different codewords as symbols where the second portion identifies label groups (Section IV; Fig. 4) and labeling strategies for APSK including Gray labeling properties (Section IV; Fig. 4). Additionally, for a 16-APSK, Yoda teaches a one and three bit configuration in which the first number of bits identifies label groups and the remaining bits map within groups (Section IV-A; Fig. 4).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to combine Moon's multilevel coding architecture with Yoda's APSK-specific set partitioning teachings because APSK constellations benefit from multilevel coding and set partitioning approaches (Yoda: Abstract; Section I). Besides, applying Moon's MLC framework to Yoda's APSK constellations represents a simple substitution of one known modulation scheme (PAM/QAM) for another known modulation scheme (APSK) to obtain predictable improvements in peak-to-average power ratio and power amplifier efficiency, as explicitly recognized by both references. Moon acknowledges applicability to wireless transmission ([0007]), and Yoda explicitly identify APSK's advantages for satellite broadcasting (Abstract; Section I).
As per claims 6, 11 and 16, the claimed features are rejected similarly to claim 1 above. As per claim 6, Yoda teaches a DVB-S2 satellite systems. As per claims 11 and 16, Moon teaches decoding first and second portion of encoded data (see Fig. 1).
Claim 2: Moon and Yoda teach the method of claim 1, wherein within each label group of the plurality of label groups, symbol labels are Gray labeled. For instance, Yoda discusses labeling strategies including Gray labeling for APSK constellations (Section IV; Fig. 4).
As per claims 7, 12, and 17, the claimed features are rejected similarly to claim 2 above.
Claim 3: Moon and Yoda teach the method of claim 2, wherein at least a first symbol label is not Gray labeled with an adjacent second symbol label, the first symbol label and the adjacent second symbol label being members of different label groups of the plurality of label groups (e.g. Implicit in set partitioning where boundaries between groups naturally result in non-Gray transitions and inherent in Moon's set partitioning approach).
As per claims 8, 13, and 18, the claimed features are rejected similarly to claim 3 above.
Claim 4: Moon and Yoda teach the method of claim 1, wherein the constellation is an optimized 16 symbol Amplitude and Phase-Shift Keying (APSK) constellation. For instance, Yoda explicitly teaches optimized 16-APSK including (4,12)-APSK with specific ring ratios (Section III-A; Fig. 4).
As per claims 9, 14, and 19, the claimed features are rejected similarly to claim 4 above.
Claim 5: Moon and Yoda teach the method of claim 4, wherein: the first number of bits is one and the second number of bits is three; and at a same radius from the origin, adjacent symbols on the constellation alternate between being members of a first label group and a second label group. For instance, Yoda teaches labeling strategies where bits are split between subset identification and intra-subset mapping; Fig. 4 shows alternation patterns consistent with this configuration.
As per claims 10, 15, and 20, the claimed features are rejected similarly to claim 4 above.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB); Second generation framing structure, channel coding and modulation systems for Broadcasting, Interactive Services, News Gathering and other broadband satellite applications; Part 2: DVB-S2 Extensions (DVD-S2X).
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/GUERRIER MERANT/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2111 2/19/2026