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 .
Response to Amendment
The amendments filed December 15, 2025 have been entered. Claims 1-11, 14-16, and 18-19 remain pending in this application. Claims 1 and 8 have been amended. The amendments to the claims have overcome the rejection under 35 U.S.C. 112 set forth in the Non-Final Rejection filed September 22, 2025.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see pages 7-9, filed December 15, 2025, with respect to the rejection of claim 1 under 35 U.S.C. 102 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground of rejection is made in view of Shimizu et al. (US 20200124713 A1).
Claim Objections
Claim 5 is objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 5 reads, “The method according to claim 4, wherein the following steps are performed by the radar sensor of the radar system:
emitting, by the at least one transmitting antenna of the radar sensor, at least one first radar signal in accordance with the first modulation mode;
emitting, by the at least one transmitting antenna, at least one second radar signal in
receiving, by the at least one receiving antenna of the radar sensor, the first radar signal for the first modulation mode reflected at the target object and delayed by the transit time; and
receiving, by the at least one receiving antenna of the radar sensor, the second radar signal for the second modulation mode reflected at the target object and delayed by the transit time.”
The italicized limitation of the claim appears to have been erroneously cut short as to be unclear in its meaning. Examiner is construing the affected limitation to read,
“emitting, by the at least one transmitting antenna, at least one second radar signal in accordance with the second modulation mode”,
in accordance with the related subject matter disclosed in para. 25 of the specification.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-6, 14-15, and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Shimizu et al. (US 20200124713 A1), hereinafter Shimizu.
Regarding claim 1, Shimizu teaches a method for determining angle information about a direction of a target object in a radar system for a vehicle, the method comprising:
providing, through a frequency analysis, a first item of sensing information for a first modulation mode of the radar system, providing at least one second item of sensing information for at least a second modulation mode of the radar system (para. 31, “The signal processing unit 21 further executes a frequency analysis process such as FFT on the generated beat signal to generate a frequency spectrum. At that time, the signal processing unit 21 generates the frequency spectrum from the beat signal for each of the modulation modes. In the present embodiment, the signal processing unit 21 generates a frequency spectrum Sp_up for each of the antennas from the frequency rising part of the FMCW mode of the beat signal, and generates a frequency spectrum Sp_dn for each of the antennas from the frequency falling part of the FMCW mode of the beat signal. Then, the signal processing unit 21 extracts an azimuth θ and power information for each of peaks of the frequency spectrums Sp_up and Sp_dn.”; Examiner is considering the frequency spectrums Spup and Spdn to contain separate information items- corresponding to two different modulation modes), and
combining the first item and second item sensing information for the different modulation modes to perform a determination of the angle information on the basis of the combined sensing information (para. 33, “For the parts of the FMCW mode of the beat signal, the signal processing unit 21 may use the azimuth θ of the object extracted from either the frequency rising part or the frequency falling part of the beat signal as the azimuth θ of the FMCW mode. The signal processing unit 21 may also use an average of the azimuths θ of the object extracted from the frequency rising part and the frequency falling part as the azimuth θ of the FMCW mode.”; Examiner is construing the FMCW mode of Shimizu to contain two separate modulation modes as it contains a rising and falling frequency ramp, see Fig. 2) and
after the combining, the direction of the target object is determined as additional information by a processing of summed component signals of different antennas with one another, said processing including an additional frequency analysis (para. 34, “The signal processing unit 21 further generates a frequency spectrum Sp_cw for each of the antennas from the part of the 2FCW mode of the beat signal. For the part of the 2FCW mode of the beat signal, the signal processing unit 21 generates a frequency spectrum from each of the beat signals at the two transmission frequencies for each of the antennas, and generates the frequency spectrum Sp_cw by adding up the two generated frequency spectrums. Then, the signal processing unit 21 extracts the azimuth θ and power information at each of peaks of the frequency spectrum Sp_cw The azimuth θ can be determined by performing the direction-of-arrival estimation process using an algorithm such as MUSIC.”; para. 47, “Accordingly, in the present embodiment, for both the FMCW mode and the 2FCW mode, as illustrated in FIG. 8, when the degree of randomness of the frequency spectrum is low, that is, is in the normal state, the average of the azimuths θ of the object calculated using the two modulation modes is used to calculate the position P of the object. This improves the stability of the azimuth θ of the object. When the degree of randomness of the frequency spectrum of one of the FMCW mode and the 2FCW mode is high, the azimuth θ of the object calculated using that modulation mode is excluded and the azimuth θ of the object calculated in the other modulation mode is used to calculate the position P of the object.”; the position P of the object of Shimizu is additional information calculated through an averaging of azimuth angles of the FMCW mode with the 2FCW mode, that occurs after the averaging of azimuth angles of the FMCW mode, and relies on ascertaining the randomness of the frequency spectrums of different modulation modes which requires additional frequency analyses),
wherein the radar system emits at least three different radar signals in accordance with a multi-mode operation in order to ascertain the first and the second and a third sensing information item on the basis of the received radar signals for three different modulation modes (para. 66, “In the foregoing embodiment, the plurality of modulation modes FMCW and 2FCW are used. However, the present disclosure is not limited to this. For example, as the plurality of modulation modes, pulse modulation mode and FMCW mode may be used or pulse modulation mode and 2FCW mode may be used. The plurality of modulation modes can include any combination of modulation modes. The 2FCW mode may be a multi-frequency CW mode in which continuous waves of three or more transmission frequencies are transmitted in sequence. Further, the plurality of modulation modes may include a combination of three or more modulation modes. In the case of using a combination of three or more modulation modes, when the peripheral environment of the own vehicle 70 is a clear environment for two or more of the modulation modes, the positions θ of the object calculated using the two or more modulation modes in a clear environment can be averaged and used for calculation of the position P of the object.”), and
wherein the radar signals for the different modulation modes differ with regard to modulation of an emitted frequency ramp of each radar signal (Fig. 2, FMCW mode which Examiner is construing as two modes in one, contains two different frequency ramps, and 2FCW mode which has frequency modulation but no ramp; see Sturm [WO 2018137836 A1] para. 89 and Figs. 5-7 for an example of three modulation modes differing in their respective frequency ramps).
Regarding claim 2, Shimizu teaches the method according to claim 1,
wherein the first and the at least one second sensing information items each have at least two component signals, wherein the at least two component signals are specific to at least two radar signals that are emitted in accordance with an identical modulation mode and are reflected at the same target object and whose signal transit times differ as a function of the direction of the target object (para. 51, “First, in S10, the signal processing unit 21 extracts peaks from the frequency spectrums Sp_up, Sp_dn, and Sp_cw, respectively, and extracts power information for each of the peaks, and then extracts the azimuths θ in which reflected waves come from peak frequency components collected from the N antennas. Then, the signal processing unit 21 uses the extracted azimuths θ and power information to perform pair-matching between the frequency peaks of the frequency spectrums Sp_up and Sp_dn corresponding to the same object to calculate the relative velocity Vr and the distance R of the object. The signal processing unit 21 also calculates the relative velocity Vr and the distance R of the object from the peak frequency of the frequency spectrum Sp_cw.”; separate antennas transmitting toward the same object will implicitly have different signal transit times as a function of the direction of the target object).
Regarding claim 3, Shimizu teaches the method according to claim 2,
wherein the at least two radar signals are emitted or received by different antennas of a radar sensor of the radar system so that the different transit times are a function of the direction of the target object and so that a first component signal of the at least two component signals is specific to a first antenna of the different antennas and a second component signal of the at least two component signals is specific to a second antenna of the different antennas (para. 51, “First, in S10, the signal processing unit 21 extracts peaks from the frequency spectrums Sp_up, Sp_dn, and Sp_cw, respectively, and extracts power information for each of the peaks, and then extracts the azimuths θ in which reflected waves come from peak frequency components collected from the N antennas. Then, the signal processing unit 21 uses the extracted azimuths θ and power information to perform pair-matching between the frequency peaks of the frequency spectrums Sp_up and Sp_dn corresponding to the same object to calculate the relative velocity Vr and the distance R of the object. The signal processing unit 21 also calculates the relative velocity Vr and the distance R of the object from the peak frequency of the frequency spectrum Sp_cw.”; separate antennas transmitting toward the same object will implicitly have different signal transit times as a function of the direction of the target object).
Regarding claim 4, Shimizu teaches the method according to claim 2,
wherein a radar sensor of the radar system has at least two transmitting antennas that are spaced apart from one another and at least one receiving antenna so that the radar signals for an identical modulation mode are emitted through the at least two transmitting antennas (Fig. 1, two transmission antenna units and two reception antenna units; para. 51, “First, in S10, the signal processing unit 21 extracts peaks from the frequency spectrums Sp_up, Sp_dn, and Sp_cw, respectively, and extracts power information for each of the peaks, and then extracts the azimuths θ in which reflected waves come from peak frequency components collected from the N antennas. Then, the signal processing unit 21 uses the extracted azimuths θ and power information to perform pair-matching between the frequency peaks of the frequency spectrums Sp_up and Sp_dn corresponding to the same object to calculate the relative velocity Vr and the distance R of the object. The signal processing unit 21 also calculates the relative velocity Vr and the distance R of the object from the peak frequency of the frequency spectrum Sp_cw.”) and/or
wherein the radar sensor has at least two receiving antennas that are spaced apart from one another and at least one transmitting antenna so that the radar signals for an identical modulation mode are received by the at least two receiving antennas in order to obtain different transit times of the radar signals to determine the angle information as a function of the direction of the target object (see Schoor; col. 10 lines 6-12 for evidence of at least two receiving antennas receiving radar signals for a modulation mode and obtaining different transit times of the radar signals to determine angle information as a function of the target object direction).
Regarding claim 5, Shimizu teaches the method according to claim 4, wherein the following steps are performed by the radar sensor of the radar system:
emitting, by the at least one transmitting antenna of the radar sensor, at least one first radar signal in accordance with the first modulation mode, emitting, by the at least one transmitting antenna, at least one second radar signal in accordance with the second modulation mode, receiving, by the at least one receiving antenna of the radar sensor, the first radar signal for the first modulation mode reflected at the target object and delayed by the transit time, and receiving, by the at least one receiving antenna of the radar sensor, the second radar signal for the second modulation mode reflected at the target object and delayed by the transit time (paras. 29-30, “In the present embodiment, as illustrated in FIG. 2, the transmission signal modulated by the FMCW mode and the transmission signal modulated by the 2FCW mode are combined into one set. The transmission antenna unit 22 repeatedly transmits a radar wave based on the one set of transmission signals in a predetermined cycle. The term FMCW is an abbreviation for frequency modulated continuous wave, and the term 2FCW is an abbreviation for 2 frequency continuous wave. The reception antenna unit 23 has N antennas arranged in a line in a vehicle width direction to receive reflected waves returned from an object having reflected the transmission wave, as reception waves.”).
Regarding claim 6, Shimizu teaches the method according to claim 5,
wherein the first sensing information is specific to the at least one received first radar signal and the second sensing information is specific to the at least one received second radar signal (para. 31, “The signal processing unit 21 further executes a frequency analysis process such as FFT on the generated beat signal to generate a frequency spectrum. At that time, the signal processing unit 21 generates the frequency spectrum from the beat signal for each of the modulation modes. In the present embodiment, the signal processing unit 21 generates a frequency spectrum Sp_up for each of the antennas from the frequency rising part of the FMCW mode of the beat signal, and generates a frequency spectrum Sp_dn for each of the antennas from the frequency falling part of the FMCW mode of the beat signal. Then, the signal processing unit 21 extracts an azimuth θ and power information for each of peaks of the frequency spectrums Sp_up and Sp_dn.”; Examiner is considering the frequency spectrums Spup and Spdn to contain separate information items- corresponding to two different modulation modes and thus two signals; see Schoor col. 10 lines 6-12 for further evidence of this subject matter).
Regarding claim 14, Shimizu teaches
a radar system for a vehicle for determining angle information about a direction of a target object, the system comprising a processing device to perform the method according to claim 1 (para. 26, “First, an in-vehicle system 100 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 1. The in-vehicle system 100 is a system mounted to a vehicle that includes a radar system 10, a driving support ECU 30, a warning device 40, and a control ECU group 50.”; para. 32, “Specifically, in each of the frequency spectrums Sp_up and Sp_dn, the signal processing unit 21 performs a direction-of-arrival estimation process using an algorithm such as Multiple Signal Classification [hereinafter, called MUSIC] for N peak frequency components of the same frequency collected from each of the antennas to extract the azimuths θ.”).
Regarding claim 15, Shimizu teaches the radar system according to claim 14,
wherein the radar system is a continuous wave radar (para. 29, “The transmission antenna unit 22 repeatedly transmits a radar wave based on the one set of transmission signals in a predetermined cycle. The term FMCW is an abbreviation for frequency modulated continuous wave, and the term 2FCW is an abbreviation for 2 frequency continuous wave.”).
Regarding claim 18, Shimizu teaches the method according to claim 1,
wherein the angle information provides a function for a driver assistance system (para. 37, “The signal processing unit 21 then generates object information based on the frequency spectrums, and outputs the generated object information to the driving support ECU 30. The object information includes a position P of the object calculated from the distance R and the azimuth θ of the object, and the relative velocity Vr of the object. The azimuth θ of the object for use in the calculation of the position P of the object will be described later in detail. In the present embodiment, the transmission antenna unit 22 and the signal processing unit 21 correspond to the transmission unit, and the reception antenna unit 23 and the signal processing unit 21 correspond to the reception unit. The signal processing unit 21 implements the functions of a spectrum generation unit, an azimuth calculation unit, an environment determination unit, and a position calculation unit.”).
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, 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.
Claims 7-9, 11, 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shimizu in view of Schoor (US 10914818 B2).
Regarding claim 7, Shimizu teaches the method according to claim 2, but Shimizu fails to teach wherein the following step is performed before the combining:
recognizing the target object in the items of sensing information in order to select, from the sensing information items for the different modulation modes, those component signals in each case that have information about the same target object.
However, Schoor teaches wherein the following step is performed before the combining:
recognizing the target object in the items of sensing information in order to select, from the sensing information items for the different modulation modes, those component signals in each case that have information about the same target object (col. 11 lines 46-52, “The four additional components, corresponding to virtual elements at positions d2/2, d2/2+d2, d2/2+d3, and d2/2+d4, result in the vector of the virtual array. For the true azimuth angle of the object, the antenna diagrams which belong to these virtual elements must also deliver complex amplitudes of intermediate frequency signals Zf1 through Zf4 measured for the peak of the object.”; col. 13 lines 17-24, “For determining these estimated values, for each of chirps 44, 52 and for each peak found therein [i.e., for each located object], angle estimator 38 forms the four-component amplitude vector and computes the DML function based on the antenna diagrams for the virtual array which is used in periods 1 and 3. Similarly, the DML function is computed for chirps 46 and 54 based on the antenna diagrams for the virtual array which is used in periods 2 and 4.”).
Shimizu and Schoor are considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of MIMO radar-equipped driver assistance systems. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Shimizu with the teachings of Schoor with the motivation of ensuring the processing of only relevant signal components.
Regarding claim 8, Shimizu in view of Schoor teaches the method according to claim 7, wherein the information about the same target object includes at least one of the following items of information:
a speed of the target object, or a distance of the target object (Shimizu; paras. 31-32, “The signal processing unit 21 further executes a frequency analysis process such as FFT on the generated beat signal to generate a frequency spectrum. At that time, the signal processing unit 21 generates the frequency spectrum from the beat signal for each of the modulation modes. In the present embodiment, the signal processing unit 21 generates a frequency spectrum Sp_up for each of the antennas from the frequency rising part of the FMCW mode of the beat signal, and generates a frequency spectrum Sp_dn for each of the antennas from the frequency falling part of the FMCW mode of the beat signal. Then, the signal processing unit 21 extracts an azimuth θ and power information for each of peaks of the frequency spectrums Sp_up and Sp_dn. […] The signal processing unit 21 uses the extracted azimuths θ and power information to perform pair-matching between the peak frequencies of the frequency spectrum Sp_up and the peak frequencies of the frequency spectrum Sp_dn corresponding to the same object. Then, for each object, the signal processing unit 21 calculates a relative velocity Vr of the object to the own vehicle 70 and a distance R from the own vehicle 70 to the object, from the pair-matched peak frequencies of the frequency spectrums Sp_up and Sp_dn.”).
Regarding claim 9, Shimizu in view of Schoor teaches the method according to claim 7, but Shimizu fails to teach
wherein the selected component signals have different phase information items about the transit times of the radar signals, wherein the following step is performed before the combining:
performing a normalization of the selected component signals in order to make component signals for different modulation modes comparable.
However, Schoor teaches
wherein the selected component signals have different phase information items about the transit times of the radar signals (col. 10 lines 6-12, “As schematically illustrated in FIG. 1 based on the radar beams, as a result of the different positions of antenna elements 10 through 16, the radar beams which have been emitted by the same antenna element, reflected on the object, and then received by the various antenna elements cover different run lengths and therefore have phase differences, which are a function of azimuth angle θ of the object.”), wherein the following step is performed before the combining:
performing a normalization of the selected component signals in order to make component signals for different modulation modes comparable (col. 13, lines 7-15, “The amplitudes and/or phases [complex amplitudes] measured in the four [in this example] evaluation channels may be regarded as four-component vectors. Similarly, the values in the antenna diagrams also form a four-component vector for each incidence angle θ. The DML function may be computed by normalizing these two vectors to 1 in each case, and then forming the scalar product or the absolute value of the scalar product, i.e., the square of the absolute value.”).
Shimizu and Schoor are considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of MIMO radar-equipped driver assistance systems. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Shimizu with the teachings of Schoor through the simple substitution of Shimizu’s pair-matching process with Schoor’s phase analysis.
Regarding claim 11, Shimizu in view of Schoor teaches the method according to claim 7,
wherein the combining is performed in that the selected component signals of the same antennas and different sensing information items, and thus for different modulation modes, are summed (Shimizu; paras. 32-33, “Specifically, in each of the frequency spectrums Sp_up and Sp_dn, the signal processing unit 21 performs a direction-of-arrival estimation process using an algorithm such as Multiple Signal Classification (hereinafter, called MUSIC) for N peak frequency components of the same frequency collected from each of the antennas to extract the azimuths θ. The signal processing unit 21 uses the extracted azimuths θ and power information to perform pair-matching between the peak frequencies of the frequency spectrum Sp_up and the peak frequencies of the frequency spectrum Sp_dn corresponding to the same object. Then, for each object, the signal processing unit 21 calculates a relative velocity Vr of the object to the own vehicle 70 and a distance R from the own vehicle 70 to the object, from the pair-matched peak frequencies of the frequency spectrums Sp_up and Sp_dn. […] The signal processing unit 21 may also use an average of the azimuths θ of the object extracted from the frequency rising part and the frequency falling part as the azimuth θ of the FMCW mode.”).
Regarding claim 16, Shimizu in view of Schoor teaches the method according to claim 9, but Shimizu fails to teach
wherein said performing the normalization of the selected component signals comprises performing normalization of the phase information items.
However, Schoor teaches
wherein said performing the normalization of the selected component signals comprises performing normalization of the phase information items (col. 13, lines 7-15, “The amplitudes and/or phases [complex amplitudes] measured in the four [in this example] evaluation channels may be regarded as four-component vectors. Similarly, the values in the antenna diagrams also form a four-component vector for each incidence angle θ. The DML function may be computed by normalizing these two vectors to 1 in each case, and then forming the scalar product or the absolute value of the scalar product, i.e., the square of the absolute value.”).
Shimizu and Schoor are considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of MIMO radar-equipped driver assistance systems. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Shimizu with the teachings of Schoor through the simple substitution of Shimizu’s pair-matching process with Schoor’s phase analysis.
Claim 10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shimizu in view of Schoor and further in view of Lewis et al. (US 5359329 A), hereinafter Lewis.
Regarding claim 10, Shimizu in view of Schoor teaches the method according to claim 9, wherein the following steps are performed for each item of sensing information in order to perform the normalization:
providing a first component signal for a first antenna of the radar sensor, and providing at least one second component signal for at least one second antenna of the radar sensor (Shimizu; para. 30, “The reception antenna unit 23 has N antennas arranged in a line in a vehicle width direction to receive reflected waves returned from an object having reflected the transmission wave, as reception waves. N indicates an integer which is 2 or larger. The signal processing unit 21 generates a reception signal from the reception wave received by each of the N antennas included in the reception antenna unit 23, and generates a beat signal for each of the antennas. The beat signal refers to a frequency difference signal that has a difference in frequency between the transmission signal and the reception signal as a frequency.”), but fails to teach
dividing the at least one second component signal by the first component signal.
Lewis teaches
dividing the at least one second component signal by the first component signal (col. 4 lines 31-38, “The divider 28 divides these two signals [in essence, this process generates the equivalent of the normalized dot product of the signals A' and B] to yield a target location with respect to the boresight axis 11 of the antenna. This location information is then applied to the phase shifter control 32 to shift the effective orientation of the antenna 12 such that its boresight axis 11 is pointing at the target.”; Fig. 2, divider 28 divides one signal by the other).
Shimizu, Schoor, and Lewis are considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of MIMO radar detection systems. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Shimizu in view of Schoor with the teachings of Lewis with the motivation of increasing target detection accuracy.
Claim 19 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shimizu in view of Ferreira et al. (US 20200284883 A1), hereinafter Ferreira.
Regarding claim 19, Shimizu teaches the method according to claim 1, but fails to teach
wherein the driver assistance system is an automatic lane departure warning system.
However, Ferreira teaches
wherein the driver assistance system is an automatic lane departure warning system (para. 6106, “Such systems may comprise […] more complex features, such as lane departure warning, lane keep assistant, lane change support, adaptive cruise control, collision avoidance, emergency break assistant and adaptive high-beam systems [ADB], etc.”).
Shimizu and Ferreira are considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of MIMO radar-equipped driver assistance systems. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Schoor with the teachings of Ferreira with the motivation of increasing driver assistance capabilities.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to Applicant's disclosure:
Regarding the subject matter of claim 1, Sturm (WO 2018137836 A1]) teaches a vehicular radar object detection system utilizing three modulation modes that differ in their respective frequency ramps (para. 89 and Figs. 5-7).
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 ERIC K HODAC whose telephone number is (571) 270-0123. The examiner can normally be reached M-Th 8-6.
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/ERIC K HODAC/Examiner, Art Unit 3648
/VLADIMIR MAGLOIRE/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3648
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