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 .
DETAILED ACTION
Claims 1-20 are pending in this action.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 03/03/2025 was filed. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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 therefor, 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 an abstract idea without significantly more.
In analyzing under step 1, is the claim to a process, machine manufacture or composition of matter? Yes.
In analyzing under step 2A Prong One, Does the claim recite an abstract idea law of nature or natural phenomenon? Yes.
The claim(s) 1, 10 and 16 recite(s) the abstract limitations such as “receiving an encoded sequence, wherein the encoded sequence is obtained by performing polar encoding on a first bit sequence, a first sub-channel set corresponding to the first bit sequence comprises at least K sub-channels determined based on reliability of the first sub- channel set, the K sub-channels carry information bits, the first sub-channel set comprises S sub- channel subsets, an ith sub-channel subset in the S sub-channel subsets comprises Ji sub-channels carrying auxiliary bits and Ki sub-channels in the K sub-channels, wherein the Ki sub-channels carry information bits, sequence numbers of the Ji sub-channels carrying the auxiliary bits are after sequence numbers of the Ki sub-channels, the auxiliary bits comprise a known redundancy check bit, and K, S, Ji, and Ki are integers; and performing polar decoding based on the encoded sequence, to obtain the information bits” is a process that, under its broadest reasonable interpretation, covers performance of the limitation under mental processes and mathematical process but for the recitation of generic computer processor such as “an apparatus, comprising: at least one processor; and a memory having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to” (see claim 10) and “a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by at least one processor, cause an apparatus to” (see claim 16)
If a claim limitation, under its broadest reasonable interpretation, covers performance of the limitation in the mathematical or mental process but for the recitation of generic computer components and software module, then it falls within the “Mental Processes” and/or “Mathematical Processes” grouping of abstract ideas.
The reason for abstract rejection because the generic computer can receive an input data such as “an encoded sequence data” and then can decode/convert the input data to an output data such as “ information bits” based on mathematical algorithm.
The recited claim above does not improve the method of encoding or decoding. It does not even perform any correction on the received data at all.
In addition, the limitation such as “wherein the encoded sequence is obtained by performing polar encoding on a first bit sequence, a first sub-channel set corresponding to the first bit sequence comprises at least K sub-channels determined based on reliability of the first sub- channel set, the K sub-channels carry information bits, the first sub-channel set comprises S sub- channel subsets, an ith sub-channel subset in the S sub-channel subsets comprises Ji sub-channels carrying auxiliary bits and Ki sub-channels in the K sub-channels, wherein the Ki sub-channels carry information bits, sequence numbers of the Ji sub-channels carrying the auxiliary bits are after sequence numbers of the Ki sub-channels, the auxiliary bits comprise a known redundancy check bit, and K, S, Ji, and Ki are integers” is description of the received data. Therefore it does not overcome the abstract rejection.
Dependent claims 2-9 recite a description of the received encoded sequence. Therefore it does not overcome the abstract rejection.
Accordingly, the claim recites an abstract limitation.
This judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application under Step 2A Prong 2. The recited steps of " receiving an encoded sequence, wherein the encoded sequence is obtained by performing polar encoding on a first bit sequence, a first sub-channel set corresponding to the first bit sequence comprises at least K sub-channels determined based on reliability of the first sub- channel set, the K sub-channels carry information bits, the first sub-channel set comprises S sub- channel subsets, an ith sub-channel subset in the S sub-channel subsets comprises Ji sub-channels carrying auxiliary bits and Ki sub-channels in the K sub-channels, wherein the Ki sub-channels carry information bits, sequence numbers of the Ji sub-channels carrying the auxiliary bits are after sequence numbers of the Ki sub-channels, the auxiliary bits comprise a known redundancy check bit, and K, S, Ji, and Ki are integers " are extra-solution activity to the judicial exception, and hence these features are not indicative of integration into a practical application.
In analyzing under step 2A Prong Two, Does the claim recite additional elements that integrate the judicial exception into a practical application? NO.
This judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application because the claims recite a generic processor such as “and mathematical process but for the recitation of generic computer processor such as “an apparatus, comprising: at least one processor; and a memory having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to” (see claim 10) and “a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by at least one processor, cause an apparatus to” (see claim 16) for decoding. The claim(s) does/do not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception because a generic processor and software module which are high level of generality performing code generation.
Accordingly, this additional element does not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application because it does not impose any meaningful limits on practicing the abstract idea.
In analyzing under step 2B, does the claim recite additional elements that amount to significantly more than the judicial exception? NO
Claims 1-20 do not recite any additional elements except a generic processor for decoding. Accordingly, the additional generic elements do not amount to significantly more than the judicial exception because a generic processor and software module which are high level of generality performing code generation
The claim is directed to an abstract idea.
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.
Claim(s) 1-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhang et al. (US 2018/0,076,922), in view of Li et al. (US 2019/0,207,711)
As per claim 1:
As per claim 10:
As per claim 16:
Zhang discloses:
A polar code decoding method, comprising:
An apparatus, comprising: at least one processor; and a memory having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to:
A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by at least one processor, cause an apparatus to:
(Zhang, Figs 1-26)
(Zhang, [0098] FIG. 10 to shows a communication system 1000. A source 1010 provides the information data … a (channel) encoder 1020 encodes the information data, the encoded information data is transmitted over the channel 1030 and then decoded in a (channel) decoder 1040 so that the information data is finally received at the destination 1050)
(Zhang, [0143], memory 2506 may be any component or collection of components adapted to store programming and/or instructions for execution by the processor 2504. In an embodiment, the memory 2506 includes a non-transitory computer readable medium)
receiving an encoded sequence,
(Zhang, [0098] FIG. 10 to shows a communication system 1000. A source 1010 provides the information data … a (channel) encoder 1020 encodes the information data, the encoded information data is transmitted over the channel 1030 and then decoded in a (channel) decoder 1040 so that the information data is finally received at the destination 1050)
wherein the encoded sequence is obtained by performing polar encoding on a first bit sequence, a first sub-channel set corresponding to the first bit sequence comprises at least K sub-channels determined based on reliability of the first sub- channel set, the K sub-channels carry information bits, the first sub-channel set comprises S sub- channel subsets, an ith sub-channel subset in the S sub-channel subsets comprises Ji sub-channels carrying auxiliary bits and Ki sub-channels in the K sub-channels,
(Zhang, [0091]… encoding data using a polar code…allocates one or more (candidate) sub-channels …for sub-channels in a subset of a set or sequence of (N) sub-channels which may be ordered e.g. based on a reliability metric… after the set of sub-channels has been sorted based on their reliabilities…)
(Zhang, [0125] At step 1910, the encoder sorts sub-channels based on their channel reliabilities to obtain an ordered sequence (Q) that lists the sub-channels in ascending order (Q.sub.0, Q.sub.1, . . . Q.sub.N) based on their reliability. At step 1920, the encoder identifies a sub-set of most reliable sub-channels)
(Zhang, [0057]…an information block includes at least information bits and could also include assistant bits such as CRC bits or parity bits. A sub-channel selector could be coupled to the polar encoder to select at least sub-channels for information bit)
(Zhang, [0044]…sub-channels (N) are sorted into an ordered sequence (Q) based on their channel reliabilities such that the ordered sequence (Q) lists the sub-channels in ascending order (Q.sub.0, Q.sub.1, . . . Q.sub.N) based on their reliability (where Q.sub.N is the most reliable sub-channel)
wherein the Ki sub-channels carry information bits, sequence
(Zhang, [0057]…an information block includes at least information bits and could also include assistant bits such as CRC bits or parity bits. A sub-channel selector could be coupled to the polar encoder to select at least sub-channels for information bit)
performing polar decoding based on the encoded sequence, to obtain the information bits.
(Zhang, [0052]…Codes of this form are referred to as polar codes and the encoder is referred to as a polar encoder. Decoders for decoding polar codes are referred to as polar decoders)
(Zhang, [0098] FIG. 10 to shows a communication system 1000. A source 1010 provides the information data … a (channel) encoder 1020 encodes the information data, the encoded information data is transmitted over the channel 1030 and then decoded in a (channel) decoder 1040 so that the information data is finally received at the destination 1050)
Zhang does not disclose sequence number
Li discloses:
Each sequence comprising a sequence number and the sequences with sequence numbers are sorting according the reliability.
(Li, Abstract sequence for polar coding …wherein the sequence comprises L sequence numbers, … sorting N sequence numbers of N polarized channels in ascending order or descending order of reliability metric)
(Li, [0053] 102. A metric set W.sub.N is obtained by calculating reliability metrics of polarized channels.
(Li, [0061] It can be understood that the sorting in step 103 is performed depending on a parameter selected for measuring the reliabilities of the polarized channels in step 102. It can be learned from the description in step 102 that, in step 103, the ordering of the polarized channels may be optionally determined based on the polarization weight, the error probability, the channel capacity, or another parameter that can measure the reliabilities of the polarized channels)
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed to a person having ordinary skill in the art to incorporate Li’s method of adding sequence number for each sequence into the system in order to improve data transmission and achieve easy coding and decoding method.
(Li, [0003] improve data transmission)
(Li, Abstract sequence for polar coding …wherein the sequence comprises L sequence numbers, … sorting N sequence numbers of N polarized channels in ascending order or descending order of reliability metric)
(Li, [0053] 102. A metric set W.sub.N is obtained by calculating reliability metrics of polarized channels.
(Li, [0061] It can be understood that the sorting in step 103 is performed depending on a parameter selected for measuring the reliabilities of the polarized channels in step 102. It can be learned from the description in step 102 that, in step 103, the ordering of the polarized channels may be optionally determined based on the polarization weight, the error probability, the channel capacity, or another parameter that can measure the reliabilities of the polarized channels)
As per claim 2:
As per claim 11:
As per claim 17:
Zhang-Li further discloses:
wherein the first sub- channel set is a channel set from which a shorten sub-channel is excluded.
(Zhang, [0044]…sub-channels (N) are sorted into an ordered sequence (Q) based on their channel reliabilities such that the ordered sequence (Q) lists the sub-channels in ascending order (Q.sub.0, Q.sub.1, . . . Q.sub.N) based on their reliability (where Q.sub.N is the most reliable sub-channel)
(Zhang, [0057]…an information block includes at least information bits and could also include assistant bits such as CRC bits or parity bits. A sub-channel selector could be coupled to the polar encoder to select at least sub-channels for information bit)
As per claim 3:
As per claim 12:
Zhang-Li further discloses:
wherein the at least K sub- channels comprise (K+J) sub-channels, wherein the J sub-channels carry auxiliary bits.
(Zhang, [0044]…sub-channels (N) are sorted into an ordered sequence (Q) based on their channel reliabilities such that the ordered sequence (Q) lists the sub-channels in ascending order (Q.sub.0, Q.sub.1, . . . Q.sub.N) based on their reliability (where Q.sub.N is the most reliable sub-channel)
(Zhang, [0057]…an information block includes at least information bits and could also include assistant bits such as CRC bits or parity bits. A sub-channel selector could be coupled to the polar encoder to select at least sub-channels for information bit)
As per claim 4:
As per claim 13:
As per claim 18:
Zhang-Li further discloses:
wherein the ith sub-channel subset comprises (Ki+Ji) sub-channels, the (Ki+Ji) sub-channels are determined based on reliability of the ith sub-channel subset, and the (Ki+Ji) sub-channels carry information bits and the auxiliary bits.
(Zhang, [0044]…sub-channels (N) are sorted into an ordered sequence (Q) based on their channel reliabilities such that the ordered sequence (Q) lists the sub-channels in ascending order (Q.sub.0, Q.sub.1, . . . Q.sub.N) based on their reliability (where Q.sub.N is the most reliable sub-channel)
(Zhang, [0057]…an information block includes at least information bits and could also include assistant bits such as CRC bits or parity bits. A sub-channel selector could be coupled to the polar encoder to select at least sub-channels for information bit)
As per claim 5:
Zhang-Li further discloses:
wherein reliability of the (Ki+Ji) sub-channels is higher than reliability of a remaining sub-channel in the ith sub-channelsubset.
(Zhang, [0044]…sub-channels (N) are sorted into an ordered sequence (Q) based on their channel reliabilities such that the ordered sequence (Q) lists the sub-channels in ascending order (Q.sub.0, Q.sub.1, . . . Q.sub.N) based on their reliability (where Q.sub.N is the most reliable sub-channel)
(Zhang, [0057]…an information block includes at least information bits and could also include assistant bits such as CRC bits or parity bits. A sub-channel selector could be coupled to the polar encoder to select at least sub-channels for information bit)
As per claim 6:
As per claim 14:
As per claim 19:
Zhang-Li further discloses:
wherein the at least K sub- channels determined based on the reliability of the first sub-channel set comprise the K sub- channels determined based on the reliability of the first sub-channel set.
(Zhang, [0044]…sub-channels (N) are sorted into an ordered sequence (Q) based on their channel reliabilities such that the ordered sequence (Q) lists the sub-channels in ascending order (Q.sub.0, Q.sub.1, . . . Q.sub.N) based on their reliability (where Q.sub.N is the most reliable sub-channel)
(Zhang, [0057]…an information block includes at least information bits and could also include assistant bits such as CRC bits or parity bits. A sub-channel selector could be coupled to the polar encoder to select at least sub-channels for information bit)
As per claim 7:
Zhang-Li further discloses:
wherein sequence numbers of the Ji sub-channels are greater than a sequence number of a remaining sub-channel in the fi* sub-channel subset.
(Li, Abstract sequence for polar coding …wherein the sequence comprises L sequence numbers, … sorting N sequence numbers of N polarized channels in ascending order or descending order of reliability metric)
(Li, [0053] 102. A metric set W.sub.N is obtained by calculating reliability metrics of polarized channels.
(Li, [0061] It can be understood that the sorting in step 103 is performed depending on a parameter selected for measuring the reliabilities of the polarized channels in step 102. It can be learned from the description in step 102 that, in step 103, the ordering of the polarized channels may be optionally determined based on the polarization weight, the error probability, the channel capacity, or another parameter that can measure the reliabilities of the polarized channels)
As per claim 8:
Zhang-Li further discloses:
wherein the Ki sub- channels are determined based on reliability of a third sub-channel set, wherein the third sub- channel set is the ith sub-channel subset from which the Ji sub-channels are excluded, and the Ki sub-channels carry the information bits.
(Zhang, [0044]…sub-channels (N) are sorted into an ordered sequence (Q) based on their channel reliabilities such that the ordered sequence (Q) lists the sub-channels in ascending order (Q.sub.0, Q.sub.1, . . . Q.sub.N) based on their reliability (where Q.sub.N is the most reliable sub-channel)
(Zhang, [0057]…an information block includes at least information bits and could also include assistant bits such as CRC bits or parity bits. A sub-channel selector could be coupled to the polar encoder to select at least sub-channels for information bit)
As per claim 9:
As per claim 15:
As per claim 20:
Zhang-Li further discloses:
wherein a total quantity J of the auxiliary bits is determined based on a quantity T of times of checking a check result of the auxiliary bits during polar decoding, and T is a positive integer.
(Zhang, [0044]…sub-channels (N) are sorted into an ordered sequence (Q) based on their channel reliabilities such that the ordered sequence (Q) lists the sub-channels in ascending order (Q.sub.0, Q.sub.1, . . . Q.sub.N) based on their reliability (where Q.sub.N is the most reliable sub-channel)
(Zhang, [0057]…an information block includes at least information bits and could also include assistant bits such as CRC bits or parity bits. A sub-channel selector could be coupled to the polar encoder to select at least sub-channels for information bit)
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to THIEN DANG NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)272-9189. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 7 AM - 3:30 PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Mark Featherstone can be reached at 571-270-3750. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Thien Nguyen/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2111
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