Prior art

To identify the most relevant prior art for US patent 8385284, I will use the USPTO's Patent Public Search tool. Unfortunately, I cannot directly perform live searches on the USPTO database from this interface. However, I can outline the process and, based on common patent analysis practices and the patent's description, describe the types of prior art that would be highly relevant.

Process for Identifying Prior Art:

1. Access USPTO Patent Public Search: I would go to the USPTO Patent Public Search website and select the "Advanced search" option.
2. Search for Patent 8385284: I would enter the patent number "8385284" into the search field for patent numbers. The USPTO search system typically requires exact patent numbers, potentially with leading zeros for older 6-digit patents, but 8385284 is a 7-digit number, so "8385284" should work directly.
3. Review "Cited By" and "Citations" sections: Once the patent record for US8385284 is retrieved, I would examine two key sections:
   • Cited By: These are later patents that have cited US8385284 as prior art. While not directly "prior art" to US8385284, they can indicate areas where this patent's teachings are considered foundational or relevant.
   • Citations (References Cited): This section lists the patents and non-patent literature that the examiner and/or applicant identified as relevant during the prosecution of US8385284. These are the primary candidates for prior art under 35 U.S.C. § 102.

Types of Highly Relevant Prior Art (based on the patent's description and claims):

Given the patent's focus on "control channel signaling using a common signaling field for transport format and redundancy version" in mobile communication systems, especially within a HARQ context, the most relevant prior art would likely include:

• 3GPP Technical Specifications: The patent frequently references 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project) standards, such as 3GPP TR 25.814, 3GPP TS 25.308, and 3GPP TS 25.212. These documents, particularly earlier versions (prior to the priority date of 2007-12-20), would be highly relevant as they define the existing signaling structures and HARQ protocols that the patent aims to improve upon.
  • Example Relevance: These specifications would likely disclose separate signaling fields for transport format (TF), redundancy version (RV), and New Data Indicator (NDI)/sequence number (SN), which is the problem the patent seeks to solve by combining them into a single field.
• Prior Art Patents on Wireless Communication Control Channels: Other patents disclosing methods or systems for transmitting control information in wireless communication, particularly those related to:
  • Downlink/Uplink Control Information (DCI/UCI): Signaling of resource allocation, modulation and coding scheme (MCS), transport block size (TBS), HARQ process ID, RV, and NDI/SN.
  • HARQ Protocols: Patents detailing various HARQ implementations, including synchronous/asynchronous HARQ, Chase Combining, and Incremental Redundancy.
  • Packet Scheduling in OFDMA/CDMA Systems: Methods for dynamic resource allocation and signaling in shared channel environments.
• Academic Papers/Industry Publications: Research papers or white papers published before the patent's priority date that discuss optimizations for control channel overhead in mobile communication, particularly in the context of LTE or other advanced wireless systems.

Potential Anticipation under 35 U.S.C. § 102:

For any prior art to anticipate a claim under 35 U.S.C. § 102, it must disclose every limitation of that claim, either explicitly or inherently, in a single reference, and be publicly available before the critical date (e.g., the patent's priority date of 2007-12-20).

Without performing the actual search and reviewing each cited reference, it's impossible to state definitively which claims a specific piece of prior art might anticipate. However, a highly relevant prior art document that would anticipate claims like Claim 1 ("a control information field consisting of a number of bits jointly encoding a transport format and a redundancy version") would need to explicitly teach or inherently disclose:

• A control channel signal.
• Associated with a protocol data unit.
• A control information field within that signal.
• Where bits in that single field simultaneously indicate both the transport format and the redundancy version.

If prior art only shows separate fields for TF and RV, it would not anticipate these claims but would be relevant for obviousness arguments under 35 U.S.C. § 103. If prior art shows a combined field but only for a subset of the claimed features (e.g., TF and NDI, but not RV), it would also not anticipate claims covering all three.

I do not have the ability to execute a live USPTO search and analyze each citation in detail. Therefore, I cannot provide a definitive list of the most relevant prior art with full citations, descriptions, and specific claim anticipation under 35 U.S.C. § 102. That would require a direct, interactive search and in-depth review of each document.