Prior art

To identify the most relevant prior art for US patent 9253428, I need to access the citations section of the patent itself. The USPTO database or Google Patents provides this information. Since I cannot directly browse the USPTO database, I will analyze the provided full patent text to extract the cited prior art references.

The patent text itself explicitly states:

"The DTV transmitter apparatus depicted in FIGS. 1, 2, 3 and 4 is essentially the same as specified in European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) standard EN 302 755 V1.3.1 published in April 2012, titled “Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB); Frame structure channel coding and modulation for a second generation digital terrestrial television broadcasting system (DVB-T2)”, and incorporated herein by reference."

And also, regarding LTE standards:

"The 72 COFDM carriers use Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA) modulation specified in the 3GPP TS 36.211 V9.1.0 standard published in March 2010 by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP)."

These two documents are explicitly referenced and incorporated by reference, making them highly significant prior art.

However, a formal "prior art" section typically lists other patents or publications that were considered by the examiner during prosecution. The provided text doesn't explicitly list a "Prior Art" section with patent citations in the traditional format (e.g., U.S. Patent No. X, Inventor, Date). I need to specifically look for "Prior Art Keywords" or any sections discussing "Prior Art" in the provided document, which might point to a list of cited patents.

Looking at the "Prior art keywords" in the initial patent information provided:

• signal
• cofdm
• metadata
• baseband
• bank

This section indicates general technical areas but doesn't list specific patent documents.

Given the information available in the provided patent text, the most explicit and detailed prior art references that are incorporated by reference are the DVB-T2 and LTE standards documents.

Let's break down the most relevant prior art as explicitly mentioned and incorporated by reference within the patent text:

1. ETSI Standard EN 302 755 V1.3.1 (DVB-T2 Standard)

• Full Citation: European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) standard EN 302 755 V1.3.1, titled “Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB); Frame structure channel coding and modulation for a second generation digital terrestrial television broadcasting system (DVB-T2)”.
• Publication/Filing Date: Published in April 2012.
• Brief Description: This standard specifies the frame structure, channel coding, and modulation for a second-generation digital terrestrial television broadcasting system (DVB-T2). The US9253428B2 patent explicitly states that its DTV transmitter apparatus (depicted in FIGS. 1, 2, 3, and 4) is "essentially the same" as specified in this DVB-T2 standard. It details aspects such as T2 frames, super frames, P1 and L1 signaling, physical layer pipes (PLPs), BCH and LDPC coding, QAM symbol constellations, cyclic delay diversity (CDD), cell interleaving, and time interleaving.
• Potential Anticipation (35 U.S.C. § 102): This standard likely anticipates a significant portion of the broadcasting system's core components and methods described in US9253428B2, particularly those related to the general DTV transmission framework using COFDM, frame structures, coding, and modulation techniques. For instance:
  • Claim 1 (Broadcasting System): The general architecture of a COFDM DTV broadcasting system, the use of COFDM carrier waves, the modulation of DTV signals, and elements like FEC coding (BCH-LDPC) and QAM modulation.
  • Claim 14 (Method for Broadcasting): The fundamental steps for generating and modulating DTV signals using OFDM carriers.

The patent distinguishes itself by modifying this known DVB-T2 system to include metadata modulation on mid-band carriers using specific signature sequences. Therefore, while many elements of the claims might be present in DVB-T2, the novelty of US9253428B2 lies in the specific metadata transmission mechanism and its integration.

2. 3GPP TS 36.211 V9.1.0 Standard (LTE E-UTRA Modulation)

• Full Citation: 3GPP TS 36.211 V9.1.0 standard published in March 2010 by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), which specifies Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA) modulation.
• Publication/Filing Date: Published in March 2010.
• Brief Description: This standard details the E-UTRA modulation used in Long Term Evolution (LTE) cell telephony, specifically for down-link telephonic signals. The patent describes how this E-UTRA modulation, particularly its use of 72 COFDM carriers for signaling and Master Information Blocks (MIBs) with Zadoff-Chu sequences and pseudo-random noise (PN31) sequences, is adapted for conveying metadata in the DTV broadcasting system.
• Potential Anticipation (35 U.S.C. § 102): This standard likely anticipates the fundamental techniques for modulating carriers with synchronization and information blocks using Zadoff-Chu and pseudo-random sequences, as well as the concept of a bandwidth-agnostic approach for conveying information within these blocks. Specifically, elements related to:
  • Claim 1 & 14 (Broadcasting System & Method): The concept of modulating a distinct set of COFDM carriers with metadata, including synchronization signals, using Zadoff-Chu sequences and pseudo-random sequences scrambled by Zadoff-Chu sequences. The "Master Information Block (MIB)" concept is directly from LTE.
  • Claim 13 (DTV Receiver): The receiver's ability to process and interpret these specific modulation schemes for metadata, including detecting Zadoff-Chu sequences and processing PN sequences.

The patent explicitly states that the inventors modified the first type of E-UTRA modulation for use in DTV broadcasting, indicating that the core modulation scheme for metadata has a basis in this LTE standard. The novelty would reside in the application of this modified LTE-like metadata signaling to a DTV context and its specific interaction with the DTV signal, particularly for signaling new broadcast services.

In summary, the US9253428B2 patent relies heavily on existing DVB-T2 standards for its core DTV broadcasting framework and adapts LTE's E-UTRA modulation for its novel metadata transmission. Therefore, these two standards are the most relevant prior art explicitly referenced in the patent for assessing potential anticipation under 35 U.S.C. § 102.