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 .
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.
Claims 1, 8-15 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hadani et al (US 2019/0036741) (IDS) in view of Namboodiri et al (US 2020/0313695) (IDS). a) Regarding claims 1 and 15, Hadani et al disclose a method of wireless communication (Fig. 1; Pub [0019]), comprising:
obtaining two-dimensional delay-Doppler representation in a delay-Doppler domain of a received wireless signal that is received over a wireless channel (202 in Fig. 2; Pub [0051]);
determining an estimated channel response of the wireless channel from a portion of the delay-Doppler domain corresponding to a channel estimation portions (Pub [0022-0024]);
performing, using the estimated channel response, channel equalization in the delay-Doppler domain (Fig. 5; Pub [0026]);
generating, based on the channel equalization, a posteriori probability estimates of data symbols in the received wireless signal (505 in Fig. 5; Pub [0039-0040]); and
further processing the a posteriori probability estimates of data symbols to recover information bits from the received wireless signal (Pub [0041-0047]).
Hadani et al disclose iterative two-dimensional equalization in OTFS, but did not explicitly teach the wireless channel is a MIMO and wherein the a posteriori probability estimates are generated based on a priori feedback that is generated using an iterative process.
However, Namboodiri et al, in the same field of endeavor, disclose OTFS using LDPC codes. The compact channel estimation process that OTFS provides can be essential to the successful development of a MIMO (Pub [0045]). Further, “The a posteriori information for node a is all of the information provided by the decoder without removing information provided by node a. This is the information that a variable node will use to make a final decision on its value” (Pub [0103]). Thus, one of the ordinary skill in the art would recognize the wireless channel is a MIMO system. And the a posteriori probability estimates are generated based on a priori feedback that is generated using an iterative process. Therefore, it is obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to combine the iterative two-dimensional equalization teaching of Hadani et al with the teaching of Namboodiri et al. By doing so, provide a posteriori probability estimation and iterative decoding in a OTFS system. b) Regarding claims 8 and 19, Namboodiri et al disclose wherein the a priori feedback includes a priori probability of data symbols from a previous iteration that is determined by error correction coding bit log-likelihood ratios (LLRs) generated in a previous iteration of the iterative process (Pub [0103], [0187-0188], [0238]). c) Regarding claim 9, Namboodiri et al disclose wherein the a priori probability of data symbols is determined by error correction coding bit log-likelihood ratios (LLRs) generated in a previous iteration of the iterative process (Pub [0103], [0187-0188], [0238]). d) Regarding claim 10, Hadani et al disclose wherein the obtaining the two-dimensional delay-Doppler representation includes applying an inverse Symplectic fast Fourier transform (ISFFT) to the received wireless signal (Pub [0047]). e) Regarding claim 12, Hadani et al disclose wherein the estimated channel response is determined for each combined of transmit and receive antennas (Pub [0022-0024]; This is an inherent feature for a wireless communication system. The channel estimation determines how a transmitted signal is altered by the wireless channel). f) Regarding claim 13, Hadani et al disclose wherein the estimated channel response is determined using a feedback of symbol probabilities determined in a previous iteration for previously estimated data symbols (Fig. 2; Pub [0051-0052]). g) Regarding claim 14, Namboodiri et al disclose wherein the feedback of symbol probabilities is used to subtract, from the received wireless signal, an estimated contribution of previously estimated data symbols that is weighted according to the symbol probabilities (Pub [0191]).
Claims 2, 3, 6, 7 and 16-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hadani et al (US 2019/0036741) (IDS) in view of Namboodiri et al (US 2020/0313695) (IDS), and in further view of Reuven et al (US 2020/0067758). a) Regarding claims 2 and 16, Hadani et al and Namboodiri et al disclose iterative decoding in OTFS system, but did not explicitly teach demapping and computing bit log-likelihood ratios (LLRs).
However, Reuven et al disclose channel demapper and decoder (Fig. 1B). The demapper use a posteriori algorithm to computer a bit log-likelihood ratio for each bit of the bit stream (Pub [0002]). Therefore, it is obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to combine the iterative two-dimensional equalization teaching of Hadani et al, the teaching of Namboodiri et al and the demapping/LLR teaching of Reuven et al. By doing so, optimize signal estimation and decoding. b) Regarding claim 3, Reuven et al disclose performing error correction decoding on the bit LLRs (Pub [0028]). c) Regarding claims 6 and 17, Hadani et al disclose wherein the bit LLRs are deinterleaved prior to performing error correction decoding (Pub [0035-0038]). d) Regarding claims 7 and 18, Reuven et al disclose wherein an output of the error correction decoding is interleaved and input to a symbol mapper in a feedback path for a next iteration of the iterative process (Fig. 1B).
Claims 11 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hadani et al (US 2019/0036741) (IDS) in view of Namboodiri et al (US 2020/0313695) (IDS), and further in view of Ksairi et al (US 2023/0403189). a) Regarding claims 11 and 20, Hadani et al and Namboodiri et al disclose all the subject matters disclosed above except for inverse Zak transformation.
However, Ksairi et al disclose that the delay-Doppler domain is the domain defined by a specific layered-FFT mathematical transformation called the Zak transformation (Pub [0010]). Zak transformation is a well known mathematical algorithm. Therefore, it is obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to combine the iterative two-dimensional equalization teaching of Hadani et al, the teaching of Namboodiri et al and the Zak transformation of Ksairi et al. By doing so, perform error detection and decoding in a communication system.
Claim 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hadani et al (US 2019/0036741) (IDS) in view of Namboodiri et al (US 2020/0313695) (IDS), in view of Reuven et al (US 2020/0067758), and in further view of Schuster et al (US 5,870,412). a) Regarding claim 4, Reuven et al disclose wherein the error correction decoding is performed for forward error correction code used for encoding the information bits (Pub [0025]), but did not explicitly teach the FEC code is a single code.
However, Schuster et al disclose a single forward error correction code for correcting loss of data packets in a network (Fig. 1). The single forward error correction code does not increase the packet rate or introduce significant delay into the transmission process (Col 2, L18-23). Therefore, it is obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to combine the iterative two-dimensional equalization teaching of Hadani et al, the teaching of Namboodiri et al, the demapping/LLR teaching of Reuven et al and single forward error correction code of Schuster. By doing so, enable correction without increase the packet rate or introduce significant delay into the transmission process.
Claim 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hadani et al (US 2019/0036741) (IDS) in view of Namboodiri et al (US 2020/0313695) (IDS), in view of Reuven et al (US 2020/0067758), and in further view of Lin (US 2008/0028274). a) Regarding claim 5, Reuven et al disclose wherein the error correction decoding is performed for forward error correction that are used for a multi-level-coding of the information bits (Pub [0025]), but did not explicitly teach the FEC code is multiple codes.
However, Lin discloses universal forward error correction coding in a wireless communication system (Fig. 1). The multiple forward error correction codes can be used to dynamically adapt channel changing conditions with different coding rate (Pub [0016]). Therefore, it is obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to combine the iterative two-dimensional equalization teaching of Hadani et al, the teaching of Namboodiri et al, the demapping/LLR teaching of Reuven et al and multiple forward error correction codes of Lin. By doing so, efficiently correct errors introduced by the channel.
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 1-19 of U.S. Patent No. 12,328,206. Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because they commonly claim the same subject matters indicated in bold type as shown in the table below. Claims 1 and 15 of the instant application claims a “multi-input multi-output (MIMO) wireless channel”. The U.S. Patent No. 12,328,206 disclose iterative decoding for a MIMO wireless channel (Fig. 14, 15, and 16; Col 1, L58-67). Therefore, it is obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to recognize the wireless channel of the patent is a MIMO wireless channel. By doing so, perform iterative decoding and signal processing. Further, claim 12 of the instant application claims: “wherein the estimated channel response is determined for each combination of transmit and receive antennas”. This is an inherent feature for a wireless communication system. The channel estimation determines how a transmitted signal is altered by the wireless channel. Therefore, it is obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to recognize the channel estimation is determined for each combination of transmit and receive antennas in the patent. By doing so, perform iterative decoding and signal processing.
Instant Application
U.S. Patent No. 12,328,206
Claim 1. A method of wireless communication, comprising:
obtaining two-dimensional delay-Doppler representations in a delay-Doppler domain of a received wireless signal that is received over a multi-input multi-output (MIMO) wireless channel;
determining an estimated channel response of the MIMO wireless channel from portions of the delay-Doppler domain corresponding to channel estimation portions;
performing, using the estimated channel response, channel equalization in the delay Doppler domain;
generating, based on the channel equalization, a posteriori probability estimates of data symbols in the received wireless signal, wherein the a posteriori estimates are generated based on a priori feedback that is generated using an iterative process; and
further processing the a posteriori probability estimates of data symbols to recover information bits from the received wireless signal.
Claim 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the further processing includes:
demapping the a posteriori probability estimates, and
computing bit log-likelihood ratios (LLRs) at an output of the demapping.
Claim 3. The method of claim 2, further including, performing error correction decoding on the LLRs.
Claim 4. The method of claim 3, wherein the error correction decoding is performed for a single forward error correction code used for encoding the information bits.
Claim 5. The method of claim 3, wherein the error correction decoding is performed for multiple forward error correction codes that are used for a multi-level-coding of the information bits.
Claim 6. The method of claim 2, wherein the bit LLRs are deinterleaved prior to performing error correction decoding.
Claim 7. The method of claim 6, wherein an output of the error correction decoding is interleaved and input to a symbol mapper in a feedback path for a next iteration of the iterative process.
Claim 8. The method of claim 1, wherein the a priori feedback includes a priori probability of data symbols from a previous iteration.
Claim 9. The method of claim 8, wherein the a priori probability of data symbols is determined by error correction coding bit log-likelihood ratios (LLRs) generated in a previous iteration of the iterative process.
Claim 10. The method of claim 1, wherein the obtaining the two-dimensional delay-Doppler representations includes applying inverse Symplectic fast Fourier transforms (ISFFT) to the received wireless signal.
Claim 11. The method of claim 1, wherein the obtaining the two-dimensional delay-Doppler representations includes applying inverse Zak transforms over time dimension to the received wireless signal.
Claim 12. The method of claim 1, wherein the estimated channel response is determined for each combination of transmit and receive antennas.
Claim 13. The method of claim 1, wherein the estimated channel response is determined using a feedback of symbol probabilities determined in a previous iteration for previously estimated data symbols.
Claim 14. The method of claim 13, wherein the feedback of symbol probabilities is used to subtract, from the received wireless signal, an estimated contribution of previously estimated data symbols that is weighted according to the symbol probabilities.
Claim 15. An apparatus for wireless communication comprising:
one or more processors; and
a transceiver;
wherein the one or more processors are configured to cause the apparatus to implement a method, comprising:
obtaining two-dimensional delay-Doppler representations in a delay-Doppler domain of a received wireless signal that is received over a multi-input multi-output (MIMO) wireless channel;
determining an estimated channel response of the MIMO wireless channel from portions of the delay-Doppler domain corresponding to channel estimation portions;
performing, using the estimated channel response, channel equalization in the delay Doppler domain;
generating, based on the channel equalization, a posteriori probability estimates of data symbols in the received wireless signal, wherein the a posteriori estimates are generated based on a priori feedback that is generated using an iterative process; and
further processing the a posteriori probability estimates of data symbols to recover information bits from the received wireless signal.
Claim 16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the further processing includes:
demapping the a posteriori probability estimates, and
computing bit log-likelihood ratios (LLRs) at an output of the demapping; and
performing error correction decoding on the LLRs, wherein the error correction decoding is performed for a single forward error correction code used for encoding the information bits, or wherein the error correction decoding is performed for multiple forward error correction codes that are used for a multi-level-coding of the information bits. Claim 17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the bit LLRs are deinterleaved prior to performing error correction decoding.
Claim 18. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein an output of the error correction decoding is interleaved and input to a symbol mapper in a feedback path for a next iteration of the iterative process.
Claim 19. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the a priori feedback includes a priori probability of data symbols from a previous iteration that is determined by error correction coding bit log-likelihood ratios (LLRs) generated in a previous iteration of the iterative process.
Claim 20. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein: the obtaining the two-dimensional delay-Doppler representations includes applying inverse Symplectic fast Fourier transforms (ISFFT) to the received wireless signal; or
the obtaining the two-dimensional delay-Doppler representations includes applying inverse Zak transforms over time dimension to the received wireless signal.
Claim 1: A method of wireless communication, comprising:
obtaining, by a receiver from a transmitter, a two-dimensional delay-Doppler representation of a received wireless signal in a delay-Doppler grid, wherein the received wireless signal is received over a wireless channel;
determining an estimated channel response of the wireless channel from a portion of the delay-Doppler grid corresponding to a channel estimation portion;
performing, using the estimated channel response, channel equalization in a delay Doppler domain that includes generating, for each delay-Doppler data symbol, x[n, m], an a posteriori probability estimate of each delay-Doppler data symbol using (equation) where, Ck is a symbol in C that is a set of symbol constellation points from which symbols were selected at the transmitter, y is the received wireless signal, and h is the estimated channel response, thereby generating a posteriori probability estimates of data symbols in the received wireless signal, wherein the a posteriori probability estimates are generated based on a priori feedback that is generated using an iterative process; and
further processing the a posteriori probability estimates of data symbols to recover information bits from the received wireless signal.
Claim 2: The method of claim 1, wherein the further processing includes:
demapping the a posteriori probability estimates, and
computing bit log-likelihood ratios (LLRs) at an output of the demapping.
Claim 3: The method of claim 2, further including, performing error correction decoding on the bit LLRs.
Claim 4: The method of claim 1, wherein the a priori feedback includes a priori probability of data symbols from a previous iteration.
Claim 5: The method of claim 4, wherein the a priori probability of data symbols is determined by error correction coding bit log-likelihood ratios (LLRs) generated in the previous iteration of the iterative process.
Claim 6: The method of claim 1, wherein the obtaining the two-dimensional delay Doppler representation includes applying an inverse Symplectic fast Fourier transform (ISFFT) to the received wireless signal.
Claim 7: The method of claim 1, wherein the obtaining the two-dimensional delay Doppler representation includes applying an inverse Zak transform over time dimension to the received wireless signal.
Claim 8: The method of claim 3, wherein the error correction decoding is performed for a single forward error correction code used for encoding the information bits.
Claim 9: The method of claim 3, wherein the error correction decoding is performed for multiple forward error correction codes that are used for a multi-level-coding of the information bits.
Claim 10: The method of claim 2, wherein the bit LLRs are deinterleaved prior to performing error correction decoding.
Claim 11: The method of claim 10, wherein an output of the error correction decoding is interleaved and input to a symbol mapper in a feedback path for a next iteration of the iterative process.
Claim 12: The method of claim 1, wherein the estimated channel response is determined using a feedback of symbol probabilities determined in a previous iteration for previously estimated data symbols.
Claim 13: The method of claim 12, wherein the feedback of symbol probabilities is used to subtract, from the received wireless signal, an estimated contribution of the previously estimated data symbols that is weighted according to the symbol probabilities.
Claim 14: A wireless communication apparatus, comprising: a processor configured to:
obtain a two-dimensional delay-Doppler representation of a received wireless signal in a delay-Doppler grid, wherein the received wireless signal is received over a wireless channel;
determine an estimated channel response of the wireless channel from a portion of the delay-Doppler grid corresponding to a channel estimation portion;
perform, using the estimated channel response, channel equalization in a delay Doppler domain that includes generating, for each delay-Doppler data symbol, x[n, m], an a posteriori probability estimate of each delay-Doppler data symbol using (equation) where, Ck is a symbol in C that is a set of symbol constellation points from which symbols were selected at a transmitter, y is the received wireless signal, and h is the estimated channel response, thereby generate, based on the channel equalization, a posteriori probability estimates of data symbols in the received wireless signal, wherein the a posteriori probability estimates are generated based on a priori feedback that is generated using an iterative process; and
further process the a posteriori probability estimates of data symbols to recover information bits from the received wireless signal.
Claim 15: The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the processor is further configured, as part of further processing the a posteriori probability estimates, to: demap the a posteriori probability estimates, and compute bit log-likelihood ratios (LLRs) at an output of demapping the a posteriori probability estimates.
Claim 16: The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the processor is further configured to: perform error correction decoding on the bit LLRs.
Claim 17: The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the error correction decoding is performed for multiple forward error correction codes that are used for a multi-level-coding of the information bits.
Claim 18: The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the a priori feedback includes a priori probability of data symbols from a previous iteration.
Claim 19: The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the a priori probability of data symbols is determined by error correction coding bit log-likelihood ratios (LLRs) generated in a previous iteration of the iterative process.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. US 2016/0359583 Tarokh et al disclose adaptive channel estimation and decoding. US 2016/0277083 Koike-Akino et al disclose encoding and decoding.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Eva Y Puente whose telephone number is 571-272-3049. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F, 7:30 AM to 5:00 PM.
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/EVA Y PUENTE/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2632
