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 .
DETAILED ACTION
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 12/22/2025 has been entered.
Response to Amendment
Applicant's amendment filed on 12/22/2025 have been entered and fully considered. Claims 1, 3, 12 and 16 are amended, claims 2, 4, 5 and 10 are canceled, claims 22-25 are new, and claims 1, 3, 6-9 and 11-25 are currently pending.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments with respect to claims 1, 3, 6-9 and 11-25 have been fully considered but are moot based upon the new grounds of rejection necessitated by applicant's amendment.
Election/Restrictions
Newly submitted claims 16-25 are directed to an invention that is independent or distinct from the invention originally claimed for the following reasons: Claims 16-25 are patentably distinct species:
Species I – claims 16-21; discloses operating the first wireless IOT device in a first power mode corresponding to a current number of the other wireless IOT device detected within the threshold distance of the first wireless IOT device is above a threshold number, and change power mode based on change in the number of other wireless IOT devices detected within the threshold distance of the first wireless IOT device.
Species II – claims 22-25; discloses operate in a hibernation mode when the wireless IOT device is located inside a storage container; and based on periodically scan of tan environment; transition between different power mode based on whether the wireless IOT device is outside or inside of the storage container.
Since applicant has received an action on the merits for the originally presented invention, this invention has been constructively elected by original presentation for prosecution on the merits. Accordingly, claims 16-25 withdrawn from consideration as being directed to a non-elected invention. See 37 CFR 1.142(b) and MPEP § 821.03.
To preserve a right to petition, the reply to this action must distinctly and specifically point out supposed errors in the restriction requirement. Otherwise, the election shall be treated as a final election without traverse. Traversal must be timely. Failure to timely traverse the requirement will result in the loss of right to petition under 37 CFR 1.144. If claims are subsequently added, applicant must indicate which of the subsequently added claims are readable upon the elected invention.
Should applicant traverse on the ground that the inventions are not patentably distinct, applicant should submit evidence or identify such evidence now of record showing the inventions to be obvious variants or clearly admit on the record that this is the case. In either instance, if the examiner finds one of the inventions unpatentable over the prior art, the evidence or admission may be used in a rejection under 35 U.S.C. 103 or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) of the other invention.
Claim Objections
Claim 6 is objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 6 recites “the event” on line 4. Examiner suggests changing the limitation to “an event”.
Appropriate correction is required.
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 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 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.
The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied 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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 1, 3, 6, 8 and 12-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Binding et al. (US 7378960 B1 and Binding hereinafter), in view of Gum (US 20210067595 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Binding teaches a method comprising:
operating, by a wireless device associated with a wireless system (Col 4 Lines 9-12; the WPAN system can include container tracking devices joined to container to form container nodes), in a hibernation mode, wherein the wireless device does not track an asset while in the hibernation node (Col 8 Lines 54-67; once a vessel is leaving harbor, the vessel’s WPAN system can be configured so that the tracking node of each container node is put into a low-power sleep, stand-by, or hibernate mode to prolong battery life);
performing, by the wireless device, a periodic scan of an environment of the wireless device (Col 5 Lines 46 – Col 6 Lines 15; once a tracking device's WPAN-enabled radio is activated, the device actively tries to connect to the pre-configured WPANs corresponding to the vessel onto which it should be loaded, as described above. The activated device can be configured to scan through the set of WPANs for which it has been configured, trying to connect to any of the expected WPANs. After some specified time-out or delay period without receiving an echo response, the container node will determine that the ping on the particular network ID has failed, and the node will try to ping a new pre-configured WPAN ID) to capture environmental information (Col 5 Lines 40-45; a fixed component, such as a transmission line or a pulse forming network on or near the vessel, can be configured generate the activating pulse when a container node and its tracking device enter a specified area such as, for example, the vicinity of a loading crane), the periodic scan comprising periodically receiving wireless communications from a first wireless node associated with a first location (Col 5 Lines 46 – Col 6 Lines 15; once a tracking device's WPAN-enabled radio is activated, the device actively tries to connect to the pre-configured WPANs corresponding to the vessel onto which it should be loaded, as described above. The activated device can be configured to scan through the set of WPANs for which it has been configured, trying to connect to any of the expected WPANs);
analyzing, by the wireless device, the environmental information to identify that the wireless IOT device has been moved beyond a threshold distance from the first location (Col 4 Lines 26-33; the tracking of each container that is loaded onto the vessel using its tracking device, and the ability to inform the tracking devices about specific events, such as when the vessel leaves harbor, which can be used to cause the tracking device to enter a low-power sleep or stand-by mode); and
wherein the active mode has a greater power consumption rate than the hibernation mode, and the wireless device begins tracking an asset after the active mode is initiated (Col 1 Lines 49-67; to lengthen the service cycles of such devices and their power sources, power consumption must be kept to a minimum. In attempting to achieve this, it is important that certain transitions in a container's journey be detected. Col 4 Lines 26-33; the tracking of each container that is loaded onto the vessel using its tracking device, and the ability to inform the tracking devices about specific events, such as when the vessel leaves harbor, which can be used to cause the tracking device to enter a low-power sleep or stand-by mode).
Binding does not explicitly teach wireless IOT device associated with an IOT system; analyzing, by the wireless device, the environmental information to identify that the wireless IOT device has been moved beyond a threshold distance from the first location based on a received signal strength of the received wireless communications from the first wireless node; and initiating, by the wireless device, an active mode of operation, in response to identifying that the wireless device has been moved beyond the threshold distance form the first location. In an analogous art, Gum teaches wireless IOT device associated with an IOT system (Figure 1, Paragraphs 0020 and 0021; wireless communication system 10 include devices 12, 14, 16, 18 and 20 may include one or more IoT devices); analyzing, by the wireless device, the environmental information to identify that the wireless IOT device has been moved beyond a threshold distance from the first location (Paragraph 0064; the processor may determine whether the device is stationary or no longer stationary or that the device has moved more than a threshold distance in a period of time) based on a received signal strength of the received wireless communications from the first wireless node (Paragraph 0064; processor 80 may analyze measurements of signals received by the device 70 (e.g., passively or in response to an inquiry by the processor 80) to determine profile and/or characteristics such as RTT, RSSI, device ID, channel estimate (estimate of channel impulse response), etc. The characteristic determination mode may be triggered by an external entity such as a neighboring device or the central controller 244 sending a signal to the device 70, e.g., that indicates to initiate the characteristic determination mode); and initiating, by the wireless device, an active mode of operation, in response to identifying that the wireless device has been moved beyond the threshold distance form the first location (Paragraph 0064; amount of time spent sniffing (listening) for signals and/or the time(s) between sniffing may vary, and may depend upon a device state. For example, the processor 80 may sniff more often if a device is in a relatively-higher activity state (e.g., a high activity or high power state) than if the device is in a relatively-lower activity state (e.g., an inactivity state or a sleep state). As another example, the frequency of sniffing may decrease in response to the measured profile being relatively static, i.e., not changing or changing little of a threshold amount of time. In this case, the processor 80 may enter a sleep mode, where no sniffing is performed, until an event occurs (e.g., passage of an amount of time or detection of device movement)). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Binding and Gum because knowledge of a person's location context can facilitate meeting that person's needs and desires in a more efficient and effective manner (Gum, Paragraph 0003).
Regarding claim 3, the combination of Binding and Gum teaches all of the limitations of claim 1, as described above. Further, Binding teaches wherein the environment information is indicative of the wireless device being located in a storage room (Col 4 Lines 26-33; the tracking of each container that is loaded onto the vessel using its tracking device, and the ability to inform the tracking devices about specific events, such as when the vessel leaves harbor, which can be used to cause the tracking device to enter a low-power sleep or stand-by mode), and a second phase of the journey is storage (Col 1 Lines 55-65; the loading of the container onto departing ocean-bound vessels is of interest because, during the ocean leg of a trade lane, there is a reduced security risk, the location of the container is known (on the vessel). Examiner asserts this may be interpreted as storage room since the location of the wireless device/container is constant with respect to the vessel).
In addition, Gum teaches the wireless IOT device (Figure 1, Paragraphs 0020 and 0021; wireless communication system 10 include devices 12, 14, 16, 18 and 20 may include one or more IoT devices). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Binding and Gum because knowledge of a person's location context can facilitate meeting that person's needs and desires in a more efficient and effective manner (Gum, Paragraph 0003).
Regarding claim 6, the combination of Binding and Gum teaches all of the limitations of claim 1, as described above. Further, Binding teaches the environmental information including sensor data captured by one or more sensors of the wireless device (Col 5 Lines 27-32; a tracking device's WPAN-enabled radio can be activated by some external event, such as a detected shock or acceleration in combination with a GPS-determined position. Examiner asserts that sensors may be used to detect shock or acceleration), wherein the analyzing the environment information comprises determining that the sensor data indicates the event (Col 5 Lines 27-32; a tracking device's WPAN-enabled radio can be activated by some external event, such as a detected shock or acceleration in combination with a GPS-determined position that is in the vicinity of the loading quay for the vessel's current leg).
In addition, Gum teaches the wireless IOT device (Figure 1, Paragraphs 0020 and 0021; wireless communication system 10 include devices 12, 14, 16, 18 and 20 may include one or more IoT devices). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Binding and Gum because knowledge of a person's location context can facilitate meeting that person's needs and desires in a more efficient and effective manner (Gum, Paragraph 0003).
Regarding claim 8, the combination Binding and Gum teaches all of the limitations of claim 1 in method form rather than device form. Therefore is rejected for at least the same reason as discussed above regarding claim 1.
Further, Gum teaches wherein the wireless IOT device (Figure 1 and Paragraphs 0020 and 0021; IoT devices 14, 16, 18, etc.) comprises:
a processor (Figure 4 and Paragraphs 0005 and 0029; a processor);
a memory (Figure 4 and Paragraph 0029; memory);
a first wireless communication system (Figure 4 and Paragraph 0050; transceiver 88);
a battery (Figure 4 and Paragraph 0034; a device that is battery-powered); and
a circuit coupling the processor, the memory, the first wireless communication system and interface, and the battery (Figure 4 and Paragraph 0050; an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) connects with processor (CPU), memory, transceiver and battery). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Binding and Gum because knowledge of a person's location context can facilitate meeting that person's needs and desires in a more efficient and effective manner (Gum, Paragraph 0003).
Regarding claim 12, the combination of Binding and Gum teaches all of the limitations of claim 1, as described above. Further, Binding teaches wherein the wireless device communicates with other wireless devices in the environment (Col 5 Lines 40-60; a fixed component, such as a transmission line or a pulse forming network on or near the vessel, can be configured generate the activating pulse when a container node and its tracking device enter a specified area such as, for example, the vicinity of a loading crane. Once a tracking device's WPAN-enabled radio is activated, the device actively tries to connect to the pre-configured WPANs [interpreted as at least one other wireless device] corresponding to the vessel onto which it should be loaded), the event indicating an amount of other wireless devices being below a threshold amount (Col 5 Lines 60 – Col 6 Lines 15; after some specified time-out or delay period without receiving an echo response, the container node will determine that the ping on the particular network ID has failed, and the node will try to ping a new pre-configured WPAN ID. The process repeats until a network connection is established or the new container node has attempted and failed to connect to a WPAN after each of the pre-configured networks have been pinged. After failing to connect to each the pre-configured WPANs, the container node can make one or more subsequent attempts that are separated by a specified time-out or delay period before termination. A container node's failure to establish a connection with any of the pre-configured WPANs, combined with information that the attempts were made at the correct loading time and approximate position in the loading quay (using the tracking device's GPS unit), will indicate to the container that it is not in the appropriate location near the vessel and/or the vessel's WPAN system as expected).
In addition, Gum teaches the wireless IOT device (Figure 1, Paragraphs 0020 and 0021; wireless communication system 10 include devices 12, 14, 16, 18 and 20 may include one or more IoT devices). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Binding and Gum because knowledge of a person's location context can facilitate meeting that person's needs and desires in a more efficient and effective manner (Gum, Paragraph 0003).
Regarding claim 13, the combination of Binding and Gum teaches all of the limitations of claim 12, as described above. Further, Binding teaches wherein the amount of other wireless devices are within a threshold distance of the wireless device (Col 5 Lines 60 – Col 6 Lines 15; after the node pings a first pre-configured WPAN ID and failed, the node will try to ping a new pre-configured WPAN ID. After failing to connect to each the pre-configured WPANs, the container node can make one or more subsequent attempts that are separated by a specified time-out or delay period before termination. A container node's failure to establish a connection with any of the pre-configured WPANs, combined with information that the attempts were made at the correct loading time and approximate position in the loading quay (using the tracking device's GPS unit), will indicate to the container that it is not in the appropriate location near the vessel and/or the vessel's WPAN system [interpreted as within threshold distance] as expected).
In addition, Gum teaches the wireless IOT device (Figure 1, Paragraphs 0020 and 0021; wireless communication system 10 include devices 12, 14, 16, 18 and 20 may include one or more IoT devices). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Binding and Gum because knowledge of a person's location context can facilitate meeting that person's needs and desires in a more efficient and effective manner (Gum, Paragraph 0003).
Regarding claim 14, the combination of Binding and Gum teaches all of the limitations of claim 13, as described above. Further, Binding teaches wherein the threshold distance (Col 5 Lines 60 – Col 6 Lines 15; after the node pings a first pre-configured WPAN ID and failed, the node will try to ping a new pre-configured WPAN ID. After failing to connect to each the pre-configured WPANs, the container node can make one or more subsequent attempts that are separated by a specified time-out or delay period before termination. A container node's failure to establish a connection with any of the pre-configured WPANs, combined with information that the attempts were made at the correct loading time and approximate position in the loading quay (using the tracking device's GPS unit), will indicate to the container that it is not in the appropriate location near the vessel and/or the vessel's WPAN system [interpreted as within threshold distance] as expected). The combination of Binding and Gum does not explicitly teach the threshold distance is one foot. It would have been an obvious matter of design choice to a person of ordinary skill in the art to set threshold distance as one foot because Applicant has not disclosed that setting threshold distance to certain distance provides an advantage, is used for a particular purpose, or solves a stated problem. One of ordinary skill in the art, furthermore, would have expected Applicant’s invention to perform equally well with any reasonable distance set as threshold distance. Therefore it would have been a design choice to modify the teachings of Binding and Gum to obtain the invention as specified in the claim.
In addition, Gum teaches the wireless IOT device (Figure 1, Paragraphs 0020 and 0021; wireless communication system 10 include devices 12, 14, 16, 18 and 20 may include one or more IoT devices). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Binding and Gum because knowledge of a person's location context can facilitate meeting that person's needs and desires in a more efficient and effective manner (Gum, Paragraph 0003).
Regarding claim 15, the combination of Binding and Gum teaches all of the limitations of claim 1, as described above. Further, Binding teaches wherein the event indicates an endpoint of the journey (Col 4 Lines 26-33; the tracking of each container that is loaded onto the vessel using its tracking device, and the ability to inform the tracking devices about specific events, such as when the vessel leaves harbor, which can be used to cause the tracking device to enter a low-power sleep or stand-by mode. Examiner asserts that the event may also be vessel reaches harbor), the first mode is an active mode (Col 5 Lines 27-33; a tracking device's WPAN-enabled radio can be activated by some external event), and the second mode is a hibernation mode (Col 4 Lines 29-33; the ability to inform the tracking devices about specific events, such as event cause the tracking device to enter a low-power sleep or stand-by mode).
Claim 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Binding in view of Gum, as applied to claim 6 above, further in view of Ree (US 20210035697 A1).
Regarding claim 7, the combination of Binding and Gum teaches all of the limitations of claim 6, as described above. Further, Binding teaches wherein the one or more sensors (Col 5 Lines 27-32; a tracking device's WPAN-enabled radio can be activated by some external event, such as a detected shock or acceleration in combination with a GPS-determined position. Examiner asserts that sensors may be used to detect shock or acceleration) are selected from the group consisting of a vibration sensor (Col 5 Lines 27-32; a tracking device's WPAN-enabled radio can be activated by some external event, such as a detected shock. Examiner asserts that vibration sensor may be used to detect shock), an accelerometer (Col 5 Lines 27-32; a tracking device's WPAN-enabled radio can be activated by some external event, such as a detected acceleration. Examiner asserts that accelerometer may be used to detect acceleration),
The combination of Binding and Gum does not explicitly teach wherein the one or more sensors are selected from group consisting of a gyroscope, a temperature sensor, a light sensor, and an audio sensor. In an analogous art, Ree teaches wherein the one or more sensors are selected from group consisting of a gyroscope, a temperature sensor, a light sensor, and an audio sensor (Paragraph 0041; each IoT device may include the sensors that may include a temperature sensor, a light sensor, an accelerometer, a gyroscope, and the like, or some combination thereof). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Binding, Gum and Ree because it would provide warnings in various aspects or areas to a user to prevent accidents and attacks (Ree, Paragraphs 0003-0005).
Claim 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Binding in view of Gum, as applied in the claims above, further in view of Khoche (US 20180165568 A1).
Regarding claim 9, the combination of Binding and Gum teaches all of the limitations of claims 1 and 8 in method form rather than device form. Therefore is rejected for at least the same reason as discussed above regarding claims 1 and 8.
The combination of Binding and Gum does not explicitly teach wherein the wireless IOT device is an adhesive tape platform comprising: a flexible substrate; a cover layer on the flexible substrate; a device layer, between the flexible substrate and the cover layer, comprising the processor, the memory, the first wireless communication system, and the battery, wherein the circuit is a flexible circuit between the flexible substrate and the cover layer. In an analogous art, Khoche teaches wherein the wireless IOT device is an adhesive tape platform (Figure 5B and Paragraph 0070; a segment 102 of the tracking adhesive product 100 that includes tracking components 106) comprising: a flexible substrate (Figures 5B and 7B and Paragraph 0070; a flexible substrate 110); a cover layer on the flexible substrate (Figure 5B and 7B and Paragraph 0071; flexible cover 126 on top of the flexible substrate 110); a device layer (Figures 5B and 7B and Paragraph 0070; device layer 122), between the flexible substrate and the cover layer (Figures 5B and 7B and Paragraph 0070; device layer 122 is between flexible cover 126 and flexible substrate 110), comprising the processor (Figure 5B and Paragraph 0080; the device layer 122 include processor 90), the memory (Figure 5B and Paragraph 0080; memory), the first wireless communication system (Figure 5B and Paragraph 0080; the communications circuits 82, 86 to their respective antennas 84, 88), and the battery (Figure 5B and Paragraph 0080; flexible battery), wherein the circuit is a flexible circuit between the flexible substrate and the cover layer (Figure 5B and Paragraph 0080; flexible circuit 120 is between flexible cover and flexible substrate). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Binding, Gum and Khoche because it would provide localization equipment in heterogeneous environments and provide optimizing weight, size, cost and battery life for tracking application (Khoche, Paragraph 0003).
Claim 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Binding in view of Gum, as applied to claim 1 above, further in view of Roisen et al. (US 20190066036 A1), hereinafter Roisen.
Regarding claim 11, the combination of Binding and Gum teaches all of the limitations of claim 1, as described above. Further, Binding teaches wherein the periodic scan comprises determining a current location of the wireless device from another wireless device in the environment (Col 5 Lines 46 – Col 6 Lines 15; Once a tracking device's WPAN-enabled radio is activated, the device actively tries to connect to the pre-configured WPANs corresponding to the vessel onto which it should be loaded, as described above. The activated device can be configured to scan through the set of WPANs for which it has been configured, trying to connect to any of the expected WPANs. After some specified time-out or delay period without receiving an echo response, the container node will determine that the ping on the particular network ID has failed, and the node will try to ping a new pre-configured WPAN ID), wherein the wireless device transitions to the second mode of operation (Col 4 Lines 26-33; the tracking of each container that is loaded onto the vessel using its tracking device, and the ability to inform the tracking devices about specific events, such as when the vessel leaves harbor, which can be used to cause the tracking device to enter a low-power sleep or stand-by mode).
In addition, Gum teaches the wireless IOT device (Figure 1, Paragraphs 0020 and 0021; wireless communication system 10 include devices 12, 14, 16, 18 and 20 may include one or more IoT devices). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Binding and Gum because knowledge of a person's location context can facilitate meeting that person's needs and desires in a more efficient and effective manner (Gum, Paragraph 0003).
The combination of Binding and Gum does not explicitly teach wherein the periodic scan comprises determining when the current location is more than a threshold distance from an initially determined location of the wireless device. In an analogous art, Roisen teaches wherein the periodic scan comprises determining when the current location is more than a threshold distance from an initially determined location of the wireless device (Paragraph 0015; the location of the mobile electronic device may be determined by using GPS or cellular-tower based location, and if the current location (i.e., a second location) differs [Examiner asserts that when two locations differs, it may be interpreted as a threshold distance between the two locations] from a retrieved historical location (i.e., initially determined location), an alert could be generated [generating an alert would be interpreted as second mode of operation]). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Binding, Gum and Roisen because it would better determining environmental conditions of a wireless device (Roisen, Paragraph 0003).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Jing Gao whose telephone number is (571)270-7226. The examiner can normally be reached on 9am - 6pm M-F.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor Alison Slater can be reached on (571) 270-0375. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JING GAO/ Examiner
Art Unit 2647