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 Objections
Claim 4 objected to because of the following informalities: it is not apparent if claim 4 is an independent claim or dependent claim, applicant is advised to copy the language of claim 1 in claim 4 to make it clearer that claim 4 is an independent claim ]. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or
nonobviousness.
Claim(s) [ 1-5 ] are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over [ McLaughlin et al. (US 20200284893), hereinafter "McLaughlin", in view of Ranhema (US 5754600), hereinafter "Ranhema" ].
As per claim 1, McLaughlin significantly teaches a communication device comprising: a receiver configured to receive a signal formed by pulse trains encoding a plurality of bits using a convolutional code {3, 2, 5}, a systematic g0 bit and a parity g1 bit of which are mapped into two bitstreams respectively depending on g0^g1 and g1 (For the k-th input bit (b(k) ), encoder 16 outputs two bits: a systematic bit (g0 (k) ); and a parity bit (g1 (k) ) [McLaughlin PP 0049], g0 (k) decides which of two possible mutually orthogonal carrier sequences will be used [McLaughlin PP 0050], s(k) is then multiplied by the bipolar version of g1(k) to get v(k) ... v(k) is then scrambled by the scrambling sequence and transmitted [McLaughlin PP 0051]);
a demodulator configured to demodulate pairs of received pulse trains into respective pairs of bit values (the receiver 14 should project {circumflex over (v)}(k) onto sequences s0 and s1 , respectively: {circumflex over (p)} 0 (k) ={circumflex over (v)} (k) s 0 T , Eq. 3a: {circumflex over (p)} 1 (k) ={circumflex over (v)} (k) s 1 T . Eq. 3b: [McLaughlin PP 0055]);
McLaughlin does not explicitly teach “a Viterbi decoder built on a convolutional code {3, 7, 5}, configured to decode each pair of bit values into one decoded bit.”
However, Ranhema, in an analogous art teaches a Viterbi decoder built on a convolutional code {3, 7, 5}, configured to decode each pair of bit values into one decoded bit (the procedure exploits the structure and the constraints imposed by the convolutional encoder on the transmitted bit sequences in order to reduce the amount of computation involved in the comparison process. The detected bit quantities are compared, given by equation (7), with the differential encoded version of the possible transmitted bit sequences. [Ranhema Col 10, l. 61-67], The source bit stream (input to the convolutional encoder) associated with the path with the smallest metric, as given by equations (8) and (9), provides optimally decoded (in the maximum likelihood sense assuming white gaussian noise) information. [Ranhema Col 11, l. 54-59]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the receiver disclosed by McLaughlin to incorporate Rahnema's teaching of building the Viterbi decoder on the composite code that corresponds to the convolutional encoder and the intervening XOR-based mapping, in order to avoid the performance loss and complexity of a separate inverse-mapping stage and to decode the signal directly with optimal maximum-likelihood performance (the procedure exploits the structure and the constraints imposed by the convolutional encoder on the transmitted bit sequences... the detected bit quantities are compared ... with the differential encoded version of the possible transmitted bit sequences. [Rahnema Col 10, l. 61-67], The source bit stream (input to the convolutional encoder) associated with the path with the smallest metric [Rahnema Col 11, l. 54-56]). Applying these teachings would have been a predictable variation for someone of ordinary skill in the art to McLaughlin's invention.
As per claim 2, McLaughlin does not explicitly teach “wherein the bit values of the pairs of bit values comprise log-likelihood ratios.”
However, Ranhema, in an analogous art teaches wherein the bit values of the pairs of bit values comprise log-likelihood ratios (The analog bit representations proposed by equation (4), or (5), or any other reasonable relations, are scaled to fall over a specified integer range (i.e., 0 to 7) assuming eight level quantization, where the "0" value would represent the ideal value for a "0" bit, and the value "7" would represent the ideal value for a "1" bit, in the absence of noise. This means that the quantities Ui's are computed with eight level quantization resulting in values ranging from 0 to 7. The eight level quantization (which is realized by 3 bits) has been shown by computer simulation of specific codes in Viterbi decoding to achieve a performance of within 0.25 dB from the unquantized output (infinite quantization) of the demodulator [Ranhema Col 10, l. 23-37]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the receiver disclosed by McLaughlin to incorporate Rahnema's teaching of building the Viterbi decoder on the composite code that corresponds to the convolutional encoder and the intervening XOR-based mapping, in order to avoid the performance loss and complexity of a separate inverse-mapping stage and to decode the signal directly with optimal maximum-likelihood performance (the procedure exploits the structure and the constraints imposed by the convolutional encoder on the transmitted bit sequences... the detected bit quantities are compared ... with the differential encoded version of the possible transmitted bit sequences. [Rahnema Col 10, l. 61-67], The source bit stream (input to the convolutional encoder) associated with the path with the smallest metric [Rahnema Col 11, l. 54-56]). Applying these teachings would have been a predictable variation for someone of ordinary skill in the art to McLaughlin's invention.
As per claim 3, McLaughlin significantly teaches wherein a first bit value of a pair of bit values comprises a log-likelihood ratio associated with a first pulse train of a pair of received pulse trains, and a second bit value of the pair of bit values comprises a log-likelihood ratio associated with a second pulse train of the pair of received pulse trains (the receiver 14 should project {circumflex over (v)}(k) onto sequences s0 and s1 , respectively: {circumflex over (p)} 0 (k) ={circumflex over (v)} (k) s 0 T , Eq. 3a: {circumflex over (p)} 1 (k) ={circumflex over (v)} (k) s 1 T . Eq. 3b: [McLaughlin PP 0055]).
As per claim 4, McLaughlin significantly teaches a communication system comprising a transmitter and a receiver connected to a same communication channel, wherein the transmitter comprises: a convolutional encoder with convolutional code {3, 2,5} configured to encode a plurality of bits into respective pairs of systematic g0 and parity g1 bits (For the k-th input bit (b(k) ), encoder 16 outputs two bits: a systematic bit (g0 (k) ); and a parity bit (g1 (k) ) [McLaughlin PP 0049]);
a symbol mapper configured to map each pair of systematic g0 and parity g1 bits into a pair of bitstreams respectively depending on g0^g1 and g1 (g0 (k) decides which of two possible mutually orthogonal carrier sequences will be used [McLaughlin PP 0050], s(k) is then multiplied by the bipolar version of g1(k) to get v(k) ... v(k) is then scrambled by the scrambling sequence and transmitted [McLaughlin PP 0051]);
a modulator-transmitter configured to modulate and transmit each bitstream as a pulse train on the communication channel (s(k) is then multiplied by the bipolar version of g1(k) to get v(k) ... v(k) is then scrambled by the scrambling sequence and transmitted [McLaughlin PP 0051])
McLaughlin does not explicitly teach “the receiver being a communication device of claim 1, to receive and decode a signal formed by the pulse trains.”
However, Ranhema, in an analogous art teaches the receiver being a communication device of claim 1, to receive and decode a signal formed by the pulse trains (the procedure exploits the structure and the constraints imposed by the convolutional encoder on the transmitted bit sequences in order to reduce the amount of computation involved in the comparison process. The detected bit quantities are compared, given by equation (7), with the differential encoded version of the possible transmitted bit sequences. [Ranhema Col 10, l. 61-67]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the receiver disclosed by McLaughlin to incorporate Rahnema's teaching of building the Viterbi decoder on the composite code that corresponds to the convolutional encoder and the intervening XOR-based mapping, in order to avoid the performance loss and complexity of a separate inverse-mapping stage and to decode the signal directly with optimal maximum-likelihood performance (the procedure exploits the structure and the constraints imposed by the convolutional encoder on the transmitted bit sequences... the detected bit quantities are compared ... with the differential encoded version of the possible transmitted bit sequences. [Rahnema Col 10, l. 61-67], The source bit stream (input to the convolutional encoder) associated with the path with the smallest metric [Rahnema Col 11, l. 54-56]). Applying these teachings would have been a predictable variation for someone of ordinary skill in the art to McLaughlin's invention
As per claim 5, McLaughlin significantly teaches a communication method comprising: receiving a signal formed by pulse trains encoding a plurality of bits using a convolutional code {3, 2, 5}, a systematic g0 bit and a parity g1 bit of which are mapped into two bitstreams respectively depending on g0^g1 and g1 (After channel match filter... the receiver 14 will have an estimate of v(k). [McLaughlin PP 0055]);
demodulating pairs of received pulse trains into respective pairs of bit values (the receiver 14 should project {circumflex over (v)}(k) onto sequences s0 and s1 , respectively: {circumflex over (p)} 0 (k) ={circumflex over (v)} (k) s 0 T , Eq. 3a: {circumflex over (p)} 1 (k) ={circumflex over (v)} (k) s 1 T . Eq. 3b: [McLaughlin PP 0055]);
McLaughlin does not explicitly teach “decoding each pair of bit values into one decoded bit using a Viterbi decoder built on a convolutional code {3,7,5}.”
However, Ranhema, in an analogous art teaches decoding each pair of bit values into one decoded bit using a Viterbi decoder built on a convolutional code {3,7,5} (the procedure exploits the structure and the constraints imposed by the convolutional encoder on the transmitted bit sequences in order to reduce the amount of computation involved in the comparison process. The detected bit quantities are compared, given by equation (7), with the differential encoded version of the possible transmitted bit sequences [Ranhema Col 10, l. 61-67]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the receiver disclosed by McLaughlin to incorporate Rahnema's teaching of building the Viterbi decoder on the composite code that corresponds to the convolutional encoder and the intervening XOR-based mapping, in order to avoid the performance loss and complexity of a separate inverse-mapping stage and to decode the signal directly with optimal maximum-likelihood performance (the procedure exploits the structure and the constraints imposed by the convolutional encoder on the transmitted bit sequences... the detected bit quantities are compared ... with the differential encoded version of the possible transmitted bit sequences. [Rahnema Col 10, l. 61-67], The source bit stream (input to the convolutional encoder) associated with the path with the smallest metric [Rahnema Col 11, l. 54-56]). Applying these teachings would have been a predictable variation for someone of ordinary skill in the art to McLaughlin's invention
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KAREEM FUAD ALHWAMDEH whose telephone number is (571)272-5501. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 7:30-5:00.
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/KAREEM FUAD ALHWAMDEH/Examiner, Art Unit 2112
/ALBERT DECADY/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2112
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