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 .
Applicant’s arguments, see amendments/remarks, filed on January 21,2026, with respect to the claim rejections under 35 U.S.C. 112 and the claim rejection under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tsuji et al. (US 6,376,725 B1) in view of Koyama et al. (US 2003/0018224 Al) have been fully considered and are persuasive. The aforesaid claim rejections have been withdrawn.
Claims 1 and 3-20 are pending.
Claims 14-20 are withdrawn from consideration.
Claims 1 and 1-13 under examination.
Claims 1 and 3-13 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting over claims 1, 4 and 11-19 of co-pending Application No. 17/788,823 are maintained for reasons of record as set forth in the office action dated October 21, 2025.
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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JAFAR F PARSA whose telephone number is (571)272-0643. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 10:00 AM-6:30PM.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Scarlett Goon can be reached at 571-270-5241. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JAFAR F PARSA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1692
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