Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application is being examined under the pre-AIA first to invent provisions.
DETAILED ACTION
a. Claims 1-14 in the present application are being examined under the pre-AIA first to invent provisions:
b. This is a final action on the merits based on Applicant’s claims submitted on 09/10/2025.
Response to Arguments
Regarding claims 1-2, 4-5, 8-9, and 11-12 previously rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a), Applicant's arguments, see “Li further describes and shows in FIG. 3 methods for switching between two paths. Thus, as stated above, Li requires a single path for communication. Hence, Li teaches directly in opposition to the elements of claim 1 of using two paths in in parallel (a first path and a second path) for communication.” on pages 3-4, filed on 09/10/2025, with respect to US Pub. Appln. No. 2009/0080560 to Na (hereinafter “Na’), in view of PCT Appln. No. WO/2010/050874 to Rahman (hereinafter “Rahman’), and further in view US Pub. Appln. No. 2009/0232010 to Li (hereinafter “Li’), have been fully considered but not persuasive.
Claim 1 language indicates that transmission can be done over two distinct paths but does not specifically claim using two paths in parallel or simultaneously (a first path and a second path) for transmission. Claim 1 only states that a first path is associated with a first group of antennas, and a second path is associated with a second group of antennas.
According to the invention’s specifications, it is desirable to direct the communication toward the best path available and not using both paths in parallel/concurrently/simultaneously (“Beam switching based beamforming algorithms utilized in the current 802.11ad specification may attempt to point the beam to the strongest path. As shown in FIG. 1D, a LOS path and a strong reflection path may exist between AP 190 and STA 192. After the beamforming training procedure, the beam with the best channel gain may be selected. This beam may be formed towards the strongest path among multiple propagation paths.” [0082]). The specifications further indicate that a preferred path between the 2 paths is also selected based on signal quality measurements and beamforming weight algorithms and intricate calculations. There is no specific indication that two distinct paths are being transmitted in parallel, concurrently, or simultaneously.
Li clearly teaches identifying 2 distinct paths and selecting a best path for transmission.
The Li’s reference, as combined with the Na and Rahman references, discloses each and every limitation of the present claims, and therefore render the claims 1-2, 4-5, 8-9, and 11-12 obvious. The Examiner respectfully disagrees with the applicant’s arguments that the Examiner fails to establish a prima facie case of obviousness MPEP § 2141. Claims 1-2, 4-5, 8-9, and 11-12 are still being rejected on the same grounds for rejection as before.
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 of this title, 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.
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 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.
Claims 1-2, 4-5, 8-9, and 11-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Na et al. US Pub 2009/0080560 (hereinafter “Na”), in view of Rahman et al., Foreign Patent WO2010050874A1 (hereinafter “Rahman”), and further in view of Li et al. US Pub 2009/0232010 (hereinafter “Li”).
Regarding claim 1 (Currently Amended)
Na discloses in Fig. 1 a method performed by a first station (STA) (i.e. “base station 10” in Fig. 1) comprising a plurality of antennas (“The BS 10 comprises a plurality of antennas 18(1)-18(M)” [0016]; Fig. 1), the method comprising:
transmitting, to a second STA (i.e. “mobile station 20” in Fig. 1), a plurality of beamforming training frames (“Briefly, based on uplink channel information and feedback information received from the MS 20, the BS 10 repeatedly (or only once) sends a plurality of "predicted" beamformed (pilot) streams to the MS 20 using a set of beamforming weight vectors [w.sub.n].sub.n=1.sup.N.sup.w.” [0017] and see also Fig. 1) using the first group of antennas and the second group of antennas (i.e. “a plurality of antennas 18(1)-18(M)” in Fig. 2); “During normal transmission modes, the beamforming signal stream(s) generation module 30 applies one or more beamforming weight vectors (derived from execution of the closed-loop process) to transmit data from the BS 10 to the MS 20.” [0021]. Depending on which beamforming weight vector being used, different groups of antennas can be selected accordingly),
wherein the first group of antennas (“For example, beamforming weight vector w.sub.1 is applied to the subcarriers associated with the pattern of subcarriers assigned to virtual antenna/subcarrier stream 0 to produce a first beamformed stream” [0041] and furthermore groups of antennas from the base station are associated to the respective beams to the mobile station since the base station and the mobile station share the same codebook; “The MS 20 selects or identifies at least one of the received beamformed streams (e.g., by selecting an index of received beamformed stream or uses a codebook to select an index of beamforming weights in the codebook that have the best projection to the received beamformed streams). The MS 20 transmits a signal, called a feedback signal, which contains an identifier of the best received beamformed stream or streams, either by way of an index or indices of the selected beamformed stream(s) or by an index or indices of the beamforming weight vector in the codebook that has the best projection to the received beamformed streams.” [0017] and see also Fig. 1) is associated with the first path (i.e. “first beamformed stream”) and at least a first sector and the second group of antennas is associated with the second path (i.e. “second beamformed stream”) and at least a second sector, and
receiving, from the second STA (i.e. “MS 20”), a first beamforming weight vector for sending signals on the first path (i.e. “first beamformed stream”) using the first group of antennas (“beamforming weight vector w.sub.2 is applied to the subcarriers associated with the pattern of subcarriers assigned to virtual antenna/subcarrier stream 1 to produce a second beamformed stream” [0041] and furthermore groups of antennas from the base station are associated to the respective beams to the mobile station since the base station and the mobile station share the same codebook; “The MS 20 selects or identifies at least one of the received beamformed streams (e.g., by selecting an index of received beamformed stream or uses a codebook to select an index of beamforming weights in the codebook that have the best projection to the received beamformed streams). The MS 20 transmits a signal, called a feedback signal, which contains an identifier of the best received beamformed stream or streams, either by way of an index or indices of the selected beamformed stream(s) or by an index or indices of the beamforming weight vector in the codebook that has the best projection to the received beamformed streams.” [0017] and see also Fig. 1); and
receiving, from the second STA (i.e. “MS 20”), a second beamforming weight vector for sending signals on the second path (i.e. “second beamformed stream”) using the second group of antennas (“beamforming weight vector w.sub.2 is applied to the subcarriers associated with the pattern of subcarriers assigned to virtual antenna/subcarrier stream 1 to produce a second beamformed stream” [0041] and furthermore groups of antennas from the base station are associated to the respective beams to the mobile station since the base station and the mobile station share the same codebook; “The MS 20 selects or identifies at least one of the received beamformed streams (e.g., by selecting an index of received beamformed stream or uses a codebook to select an index of beamforming weights in the codebook that have the best projection to the received beamformed streams). The MS 20 transmits a signal, called a feedback signal, which contains an identifier of the best received beamformed stream or streams, either by way of an index or indices of the selected beamformed stream(s) or by an index or indices of the beamforming weight vector in the codebook that has the best projection to the received beamformed streams.” [0017] and see also Fig. 1).
Na discloses multiple antennas (“The BS 10 comprises a plurality of antennas 18(1)-18(M)” [0016]; Fig. 1) but does not specifically teach partitioning the plurality of antennas into at least a first group of antennas and a second group of antennas.
In an analogous art, Rahman discloses partitioning the plurality of antennas into at least a first group of antennas and a second group of antennas (“An exemplary method of transmitting data to a mobile terminal from a plurality of transmit antennas thus includes transmitting a plurality of reference signals and receiving channel feedback data derived by the mobile terminal from the reference signals. The reference signals are each assigned to a corresponding one of two or more antenna groupings, wherein at least a first one of the antenna groupings comprises two or more transmit antennas, and transmitting each of the reference signals using at least one transmit antenna from the corresponding antenna grouping. The method further includes determining a first beam-forming vector for the first one of the antenna grouping and mapping the one or more data streams (i.e. paths) to the transmit antennas according to a final precoding matrix that depends on the channel feedback data and the first beam-forming vector, to obtain a weighted transmit signal for each of the transmit antennas.” On page 4, lines 3-13).
At the time the invention was made, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Na’s method of closed-loop beamforming weight estimation, to include Rahman’s method for determining a first beam-forming vector for the first one of the antenna grouping and mapping the one or more data streams/paths to the transmit antennas, in order to facilitate multi-antenna transmission (Rahman [Abstract]).
Na and Rahman do not specifically teach selecting, from a plurality of paths between the first STA and a second STA and based on measured channel characteristics, a first path and a second path; wherein the first group of antennas is associated with the first path and at least a first sector and the second group of antennas is associated with the second path and at least a second sector; and wherein the first STA reports to the second STA information regarding the first and second paths and corresponding signal-to-noise (SNR) information.
In an analogous art, Li discloses selecting (“station 120, may send a "path-switching command" to the receiver/transmitter (e.g., station 130) indicating an intention to switch path when the quality criteria is met (block 340).” [0036]), from a plurality of paths (“an existence of at least two paths, primary path 140 and secondary path 150.” [0024]) between the first STA and a second STA (“Measurement module 440 may be a software module of controller 450 and may a measure a communication link quality parameter for example SNR, no response message and the like. Measurement 440 module may transfer measurements of the primary path and secondary path to controller 450 to be record in mode table 465 (e.g., Table 1) stored in memory 460.” [0049]) and based on measured channel characteristics (“The method may start with testing path quality criteria (block 310). For example, both transmitter (e.g., transmitter of station 120) and receiver (e.g., receiver of station 130) may identify the degradation of currently used path through measured SINR and/or receiving errors and/or other appropriate metrics. In addition, a transmitter may also identify a link problem from an absence of acknowledge (ACK) message.” [0033]), a first path and a second path (“determine the best transmitting mode and the best receiving mode of a primary path (i.e. first path) and a secondary path (i.e. second path) based on the two or more training sequences according to a quality criterion e.g., SNR.” [0048]);
wherein the first group of antennas (as taught by Rahman) is associated with the first path (i.e. “primary path”) and at least a first sector (e.g. “a first antenna sector”) and the second group of antennas (as taught by Rahman) is associated with the second path (i.e. “secondary path”) and at least a second sector (i.e. “a third antenna sector”; “Furthermore, controller 450 may periodically monitor the primary and secondary communication paths and may update the best transmitting mode and the best receiving mode of both paths, if desired. Controller 450 may also assign a first antenna sector number to the transmitting mode of the primary path, a second antenna sector number to the receiving mode of the primary path, a third antenna sector number to the transmitting mode of the secondary path, and a fourth antenna sector number to the receiving mode of the secondary path.” [0052]), and wherein the first STA reports to the second STA information regarding the first and second paths (i.e. “a primary path and a secondary path”) and corresponding signal-to-noise (SNR) information (“Antenna 410 may receive signals from one or more stations (e.g., stations 120 and 130) of WPAN 100. Receiver (RX) 420 may demodulate two or more received training sequence signals and may determine the best transmitting mode and the best receiving mode of a primary path and a secondary path based on the two or more training sequences according to a quality criterion e.g., SNR.” [0048]);
At the time the invention was made, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Na’s method of closed-loop beamforming weight estimation, as modified by Rahman, to include Li’s method for transmitting and receiving signals over first and second communication paths according to a quality criterion transmitting and receiving modes of an antenna, in order to provide quality analysis of the signal paths (Li [Abstract]). Thus, a person of ordinary skill would have appreciated the ability to Li’s method for transmitting and receiving signals over first and second communication paths according to a quality criterion transmitting and receiving modes of an antenna incorporate into Na’s method of closed-loop beamforming weight estimation since the claimed invention is merely a combination of old elements, and in the combination each element merely would have performed the same function as it did separately, and one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that the results of the combination were predictable.
Regarding claim 2
Na, as modified by Rahman and Li, previously discloses the method of claim 1,
Na further discloses wherein the measured channel characteristics include channel gain (“In order to achieve these gains, the antenna elements in an antenna array are weighted with corresponding elements of a vector, called a beamforming weight vector or a spatial signature.” [0003]).
Regarding claim 4
Na, as modified by Rahman and Li, previously discloses the method of claim 1,
Na further discloses wherein the first STA is one of an access point (AP) (e.g. “BS 10”) or a non-AP STA (e.g. “first communication device 10”; “Referring first to FIG. 1, a wireless radio communication system or network is shown generally at reference numeral 5 and comprises a first communication device 10, e.g., a base station (BS), and a second communication device 20, e.g., a mobile station (MS). The BS 10 may connect to other wired data network facilities (not shown) and in that sense serves as a gateway or access point through which one or more MS's have access to those data network facilities.” [0015]).
Regarding claim 5
Na, as modified by Rahman and Li, previously discloses the method of claim 1, further comprising:
Na further discloses transmitting, to the second STA, a second plurality of beamforming training frames using the first group of antennas and the first beamforming weight vector and the second group of antennas and the second beamforming weight vector (“A closed-loop beamforming weight estimation process in which, at a first device, respective ones of a plurality of beamforming weight vectors are applied to subcarriers associated with a pattern of subcarriers assigned to a corresponding subcarrier stream such that the plurality of subcarriers assigned to a subcarrier stream is weighted by a corresponding one of the plurality of beamforming weight vectors to produce a plurality of beamformed streams transmitted from a plurality of antennas of the first device to a second device. The second device estimates and analyzes the channel information for each of the received beamformed streams to identify at least one of the beamformed streams that is preferred over the others. The second device transmits to the first device a feedback signal that contains information identifying the preferred beamformed stream. The first device computes a plurality of new beamforming weight vectors based on the information identifying the preferred beamformed stream. The first device applies the new beamforming weight vectors to streams of subcarriers to repeat the process until system parameters or conditions are met.” [0014]);
receiving, from the second STA (i.e. “MS 20”), a modified first beamforming weight vector (steps 250-260 in Fig. 6; “FIG. 6 is an example of a flow chart depicting the feedback process” to generate modified beamformed streams corresponding to an index of beamforming weights)for sending signals on the first group of antennas (step 270 in Fig. 6); and
receiving, from the second STA (i.e. “MS 20”), a modified second beamforming weight vector for sending signals on the second group of antennas (“Briefly, based on uplink channel information and feedback information received from the MS 20 (i.e. second STA), the BS 10 (i.e. first STA) repeatedly (i.e. generating a first, a second, or even more modified signals) (or only once) sends a plurality of "predicted" beamformed (pilot) streams to the MS 20 using a set of beamforming weight vectors [w.sub.n].sub.n=1.sup.N.sup.w. The MS 20 selects or identifies at least one of the received beamformed streams (e.g., by selecting an index of received beamformed stream or uses a codebook to select an index of beamforming weights in the codebook that have the best projection to the received beamformed streams). The MS 20 transmits a signal, called a feedback signal, which contains an identifier of the best received beamformed stream or streams, either by way of an index or indices of the selected beamformed stream(s) or by an index or indices of the beamforming weight vector in the codebook that has the best projection to the received beamformed streams. The MS also transmits carrier to interference plus noise ratio (CINR) information in the feedback signal. The BS 10 generates a new set of beamformed weight vectors and transmits new beamformed streams to the MS 20 until the CINR contained in a feedback signal from the BS 10 is greater than a threshold value or after a maximum number of loops or iterations are performed.” [0017]).
Regarding claim 8 (Currently Amended)
Na discloses a first station (STA) (i.e. “BS 10” in Fig. 2; [0020]) comprising:
a transceiver (“a transmitter 12, a receiver 14” in Fig. 2; [0020]);
a processor (“a controller 16” in Fig. 2; [0020]); and
a plurality of antennas (“antennas 18(1)-18(M)” in Fig. 2; [0021]), wherein the transceiver, the processor and the plurality of antennas are configured to:
select, from a plurality of paths between the first STA and a second STA and based on measured channel characteristics, a first path and a second path;
transmit, to a second STA (i.e. “MS 20” in Fig. 3), a plurality of beamforming training frames using the first group of antennas and the second group of antennas, wherein the first group of antennas is associated with the first path and at least a first sector and the second group of antennas is associated with the second path and at least a second sector, and wherein the first STA reports to the second STA information regarding the first and second paths and corresponding signal-to-noise (SNR) information;
receive, from the second STA, a first beamforming weight vector for sending signals on the first path using the first group of antennas; and
receive, from the second STA, a second beamforming weight vector for sending signals on the second path using the second group of antennas.
The scope and subject matter of apparatus claim 8 is drawn to the apparatus of using the corresponding method claimed in claim 1. Therefore apparatus claim 8 corresponds to method claim 1 and is rejected for the same reasons of obviousness as used in claim 1 rejection above.
Regarding claim 9
The first STA of claim 8, wherein the measured channel characteristics include channel gain.
The scope and subject matter of apparatus claim 9 is drawn to the apparatus of using the corresponding method claimed in claim 2. Therefore apparatus claim 9 corresponds to method claim 2 and is rejected for the same reasons of obviousness as used in claim 2 rejection above.
Regarding claim 11
The first STA of claim 8, wherein the first STA is one of an access point (AP) or a non-AP STA.
The scope and subject matter of apparatus claim 11 is drawn to the apparatus of using the corresponding method claimed in claim 4. Therefore apparatus claim 11 corresponds to method claim 4 and is rejected for the same reasons of obviousness as used in claim 4 rejection above.
Regarding claim 12
The first STA of claim 8, wherein the transceiver, the processor and the plurality of antennas are further configured to: transmit, to the second STA, a second plurality of beamforming training frames using the first group of antennas and the first beamforming weight vector and the second group of antennas and the second beamforming weight vector; receive, from the second STA, a modified first beamforming weight vector for sending signals on the first group of antennas; and receive, from the second STA, a modified second beamforming weight vector for sending signals on the second group of antennas.
The scope and subject matter of apparatus claim 12 is drawn to the apparatus of using the corresponding method claimed in claim 5. Therefore apparatus claim 12 corresponds to method claim 5 and is rejected for the same reasons of obviousness as used in claim 5 rejection above.
Claims 3 and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Na, in view of Rahman and Li, and further in view of Wang et al. US Pub 2009/0116444 (hereinafter “Wang”).
Regarding claim 3 (Currently Amended)
Na, as modified by Rahman and Li, previously discloses the method of claim 2,
Na, Rahman, and Li do not specifically teach wherein the first and second paths have the biggest measured channel gain from among the plurality of paths between the first STA and the second STA.
In an analogous art, Wang discloses wherein the first and second paths have the biggest measured channel gain from among the plurality of paths between the first STA and the second STA (“Each communications path is established such that the signal strength S1-S5 exceeds a predetermined threshold value.” [0031] and furthermore “As illustrated in table 80 of FIG. 7, during interference assessment, the first pair of devices A(21) and B(22) starts to communicate using communications path #1 while the second and the third pairs of communications devices detect and measure the received interference signal. Based on the received interference signal strength, the second and the third pairs of devices calculate the path quality information. This process is repeated for every communications path between every pair of communications devices in the network. As a result, each pair of devices is able to obtain the path quality information for each of its communications path when another pair of devices is transmitting data using another communications path.” [0033]).
At the time the invention was made, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Na’s method of closed-loop beamforming weight estimation, as modified by Rahman and Li, to include Wang’s method for obtaining a path quality information of one or more communications paths between a pair of communications devices and Blount’s method for providing phase detection circuitry and phase adjustment circuitry in the signal paths of a multiple beam or phased array antenna, in order to provide quality analysis of the signal paths (Wang [Abstract]). Thus, a person of ordinary skill would have appreciated the ability to incorporate Wang’s method for obtaining a path quality information of one or more communications paths between a pair of communications devices into Na’s method of closed-loop beamforming weight estimation since the claimed invention is merely a combination of old elements, and in the combination each element merely would have performed the same function as it did separately, and one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that the results of the combination were predictable.
Regarding claim 10 (Currently Amended)
The first STA of claim 8, wherein the first and second paths have the biggest measured channel gain from among the plurality of paths between the first STA and the second STA.
The scope and subject matter of apparatus claim 10 is drawn to the apparatus of using the corresponding method claimed in claim 3. Therefore apparatus claim 10 corresponds to method claim 3 and is rejected for the same reasons of obviousness as used in claim 3 rejection above.
Claims 6 and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Na, in view of Rahman and Li, and further in view of Kalfe US Pub 2010/0214169 (hereinafter “Kalfe”).
Regarding claim 6
Na, as modified by Rahman and Li, previously discloses the method of claim 1, further comprising:
Na, Rahman, and Li do not specifically teach transmitting, to the second STA, a first beamforming setup frame; and receiving, from the second STA, a second beamforming setup frame.
In an analogous art, Kafle discloses a method for beamforming transmission wherein transmitting from the first STA (i.e. “STA-A Initiator” in Fig. 9), to the second STA (i.e. “STA-B responder” in Fig. 9), a first beamforming setup frame (i.e. “BT Setup Request”; “A station known to initiate sector training (for example, STA-A in FIG. 9) may begin transmission of beamforming training (BFT) frames using transmit sector sweep (TxSS).” [0049]);
and receiving, from the second STA (i.e. “STA-B responder” in Fig. 9), a second beamforming setup frame (“BT Setup Response” in Fig. 9; [0067]).
At the time the invention was made, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Na’s method of closed-loop beamforming weight estimation, as modified by Rahman and Li, to include Kafle’s method for beamforming training operation, in order to provide quality analysis of the signal paths (Kafle [0007]). Thus, a person of ordinary skill would have appreciated the ability to incorporate Kafle’s method for beamforming training operation into Na’s method of closed-loop beamforming weight estimation since the claimed invention is merely a combination of old elements, and in the combination each element merely would have performed the same function as it did separately, and one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that the results of the combination were predictable.
Regarding claim 13
The first STA of claim 8, wherein the transceiver, the processor and the plurality of antennas are further configured to:
transmit, to the second STA, a first beamforming setup frame; and
receive, from the second STA, a second beamforming setup frame.
The scope and subject matter of apparatus claim 13 is drawn to the apparatus of using the corresponding method claimed in claim 6. Therefore apparatus claim 13 corresponds to method claim 6 and is rejected for the same reasons of obviousness as used in claim 6 rejection above.
Claims 7 and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Na, in view of Rahman and Li, and further in view of Kwon et al. US Pub 2013/0301502, claiming provisional application 61636136 priority 2012-04-20 (hereinafter “Kwon”).
Regarding claim 7
Na, as modified by Rahman and Li, previously discloses the method of claim 1,
Na, Rahman, and Li do not specifically teach wherein the first and second beamforming weight vectors are received in at least one feedback frame.
In an analogous art, Kwon discloses a method for beamforming wherein the first and second beamforming weight vectors are received in at least one feedback frame (“Alternatively, if the STA has information on current MIMO channel between the AP and the STA, and if the STA can generate MIMO channel feedback frame which is needed in calculating a weight matrix for MIMO/beamforming for data transmission to the STA, the STA can send the MIMO channel feedback frame instead of a polling frame to the AP. The MIMO channel feedback frame is, for example, a beamforming frame (e.g., compressed beamforming (Comp. BF) frame shown FIGS. 6 and 8).”.
At the time the invention was made, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Na’s method of closed-loop beamforming weight estimation, as modified by Rahman and Li, to include Kwon’s method for transmission procedure between an AP and multiple STAs, in order to provide efficient frame overhead exchange (Kwon [Abstract]). Thus, a person of ordinary skill would have appreciated the ability to incorporate Kwon’s method for transmission procedure between an AP and multiple STAs into Na’s method of closed-loop beamforming weight estimation since the claimed invention is merely a combination of old elements, and in the combination each element merely would have performed the same function as it did separately, and one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that the results of the combination were predictable.
Regarding claim 14
The first STA of claim 8, wherein the first and second beamforming weight vectors are received in at least one feedback frame.
The scope and subject matter of apparatus claim 14 is drawn to the apparatus of using the corresponding method claimed in claim 7. Therefore apparatus claim 14 corresponds to method claim 7 and is rejected for the same reasons of obviousness as used in claim 7 rejection above.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/CHUONG M NGUYEN/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2411