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
Request for Continued Examination
The request filed on 11/20/2025 for a Request for Continued Examination (RCE) under 37 CFR 1.114 based on parent Application No. 18/012,512 is acceptable and a RCE has been established. An action on the RCE follows.
This communication is in response to applicant’s 11/20/2025 amendment or response in the application of HAO et al. for “PORT-SELECTION CODEBOOK WITH FREQUENCY SELECTIVE PRECODED CSI-RS” filed 12/22/2022. The amendment or response to the claims have been entered. No claims have been canceled. No claims have been added. Claims 1-30 are now pending.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1, 17, 18, and 30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Regarding claims 1, 17, 18, 30, the cited claim subject matter “the plurality of CSI-RS resources Ks” is indefinite since the integer “Ks” is not defined in the independent claims.
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.
Claim(s) 1-2, 5, 15-19, 29-30 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over PARK et al. (US 2019/0181936 A1), hereinafter PARK in view of PARK et al. (US 10,790,888 B2), hereinafter HARRISON.
Regarding claim 1, PARK discloses an apparatus for wireless communication at a user equipment (UE) (UE, see ¶ 0007), comprising: a memory; and at least one processor coupled to the memory and configured to:
receive channel state information (CSI) reference signals (RS) (CSI-RS) through a plurality of CSI-RS ports (the UE receiving CSI-RS transmitted through one or more antenna ports from the eNB, see ¶ 0021), wherein different CSI-RS ports of the plurality of CSI-RS ports are transmitted on a different set of resource blocks (RBs) (the CSI-RS resource is configured by aggregating a plurality of CSI-RS resources, wherein the aggregated CSI-RS resources are respectively positioned in different subframes on a time axis or in different resource blocks on a frequency axis, see ¶ 0007); and
report at least one CSI based on a CSI-RS pattern (the UE can easily derive CSI and feed back the CSI to a base station based on the CSI-RS pattern, see ¶ 0024-0026).
PARK fails to disclose the CSI-RS pattern corresponds to a port selection and a set of linear combination coefficients, where the post selection is based on a subset of a plurality of CSI-RS resources Ks, and where in each CSI-RS resource in the subset corresponds to one of different set of RBs.
In the same field of endeavor, HARRISON discloses the following in ¶ 0004-0005, respectively:
A UE configured for Class B operation can be configured with up to 8 CSI-RS resources, with up to 8 ports in each CSI resource, in one CSI process in LTE Rel-13. Such a UE can be configured to report a CSI-RS Resource Indicator (CRI) to indicate which of the CSI-RS resources it will best be served upon. The UE then provides Channel Quality Indicators (CQI), Rank Indicators (RI), and/or Precoding Matrix Indicators (PMI) only for the best CSI-RS resource.
A UE configured for Class B operation with 1 CSI-RS resource may use a port selection and cophasing codebook wherein the UE selects a subset of the CSI-RS ports and cophasing coefficients that combine the selected ports.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement HARRISON’s in the network taught by PARK the use of Class B with a small number of ports allows reduced CSI feedback overhead and limits UE CSI computational complexity.
Regarding claim 2, PARK discloses the plurality of CSI-RS ports is within a plurality of CSI-RS resources Ks, wherein the CSI-RS ports within each resource is transmitted on a corresponding set of RBs (the CSI-RS transmitted over a plurality of ports…the CSI-RS resource is configured by aggregating a plurality of CSI-RS resources, wherein the aggregated CSI-RS resources are respectively positioned in different subframes on a time axis or in different resource blocks on a frequency axis, see ¶ 0007).
Regarding claim 5, PARK discloses aggregated resources of the Ks resources on a same resource block (RB) comb have a different resource element (RE) location or a different symbol location (when a RS is transmitted by a specific antenna port, the RS is transmitted in the locations of resource elements specified depending on a pattern of the RS and is not transmitted in the locations of resource elements specified for other antenna ports, see ¶ 0133, 0139).
Regarding claim 15, PARK discloses the plurality of CSI-RS resources Ks which are used to calculate at least one CSI count one active CSI-RS resource, wherein the one active resource comprises Ks*P active ports (a CSI-RS is transmitted through one, two, four or eight antenna ports. Antenna ports used in this case are p=15, p=15, 16, p=15, . . . , 18, and p=15, . . . , 22, respectively, see ¶ 0142).
Regarding claim 16, PARK discloses the plurality of CSI-RS ports includes N ports, the N ports are divided into M groups, with N.sub.i ports in an i group of the M groups, and the CSI-RS ports for each group are transmitted on a corresponding set of RBs, wherein the plurality of CSI-RS ports is within one CSI-RS resource, and the M g roups are within the one CSI-RS (a 24-port CSI-RS resources/pattern may be configured by aggregating three 8-port CSI-RS resource/pattern, see ¶ 0298-0302).
Regarding claim 17, PARK discloses a method of wireless communication of a user equipment (UE) (UE, see ¶ 0007), comprising:
Receiving channel state information (CSI) reference signals (RS) (CSI-RS) through a plurality of CSI-RS ports (the UE receiving CSI-RS transmitted through one or more antenna ports from the eNB, see ¶ 0021), wherein different CSI-RS ports of the plurality of CSI-RS ports are transmitted on a different set of resource blocks (RBs) (the CSI-RS resource is configured by aggregating a plurality of CSI-RS resources, wherein the aggregated CSI-RS resources are respectively positioned in different subframes on a time axis or in different resource blocks on a frequency axis, see ¶ 0007); and
reporting at least one CSI based on a CSI-RS pattern (the UE can easily derive CSI and feed back the CSI to a base station based on the CSI-RS pattern, see ¶ 0024-0026).
PARK fails to disclose the CSI-RS pattern corresponds to a port selection and a set of linear combination coefficients, where the post selection is based on a subset of a plurality of CSI-RS resources Ks, and where in each CSI-RS resource in the subset corresponds to one of different set of RBs.
In the same field of endeavor, HARRISON discloses the following in ¶ 0004-0005, respectively:
A UE configured for Class B operation can be configured with up to 8 CSI-RS resources, with up to 8 ports in each CSI resource, in one CSI process in LTE Rel-13. Such a UE can be configured to report a CSI-RS Resource Indicator (CRI) to indicate which of the CSI-RS resources it will best be served upon. The UE then provides Channel Quality Indicators (CQI), Rank Indicators (RI), and/or Precoding Matrix Indicators (PMI) only for the best CSI-RS resource.
A UE configured for Class B operation with 1 CSI-RS resource may use a port selection and cophasing codebook wherein the UE selects a subset of the CSI-RS ports and cophasing coefficients that combine the selected ports.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement HARRISON’s in the network taught by PARK the use of Class B with a small number of ports allows reduced CSI feedback overhead and limits UE CSI computational complexity.
Regarding claim 18, PARK discloses an apparatus for wireless communication at a base station (an eNB, see ¶ 0007), comprising: a memory; and at least one processor coupled to the memory and configured to:
transmit channel state information (CSI) reference signals (RS) (CSI-RS) through a plurality of CSI-RS ports (the UE receiving CSI-RS transmitted through one or more antenna ports from the eNB, see ¶ 0021), wherein different CSI-RS ports of the plurality of CSI-RS ports are transmitted on a different set of resource blocks (RBs) (the CSI-RS resource is configured by aggregating a plurality of CSI-RS resources, wherein the aggregated CSI-RS resources are respectively positioned in different subframes on a time axis or in different resource blocks on a frequency axis, see ¶ 0007); and
receive at least one CSI based on a CSI-RS pattern (the UE can easily derive CSI and feed back the CSI to a base station based on the CSI-RS pattern, see ¶ 0024-0026).
PARK fails to disclose the CSI-RS pattern corresponds to a port selection and a set of linear combination coefficients, where the post selection is based on a subset of a plurality of CSI-RS resources Ks, and where in each CSI-RS resource in the subset corresponds to one of different set of RBs.
In the same field of endeavor, HARRISON discloses the following in ¶ 0004-0005, respectively:
A UE configured for Class B operation can be configured with up to 8 CSI-RS resources, with up to 8 ports in each CSI resource, in one CSI process in LTE Rel-13. Such a UE can be configured to report a CSI-RS Resource Indicator (CRI) to indicate which of the CSI-RS resources it will best be served upon. The UE then provides Channel Quality Indicators (CQI), Rank Indicators (RI), and/or Precoding Matrix Indicators (PMI) only for the best CSI-RS resource.
A UE configured for Class B operation with 1 CSI-RS resource may use a port selection and cophasing codebook wherein the UE selects a subset of the CSI-RS ports and cophasing coefficients that combine the selected ports.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement HARRISON’s in the network taught by PARK the use of Class B with a small number of ports allows reduced CSI feedback overhead and limits UE CSI computational complexity.
Regarding claim 19, PARK discloses the plurality of CSI-RS ports is within a plurality of CSI-RS resources Ks, wherein the CSI-RS ports within each resource is transmitted on a corresponding set of RBs (the CSI-RS transmitted over a plurality of ports…the CSI-RS resource is configured by aggregating a plurality of CSI-RS resources, wherein the aggregated CSI-RS resources are respectively positioned in different subframes on a time axis or in different resource blocks on a frequency axis, see ¶ 0007).
Regarding claim 29, PARK discloses the plurality of CSI-RS resources Ks which are used to calculate at least one CSI count one active CSI-RS resource, wherein the one active resource comprises Ks*P active ports (a CSI-RS is transmitted through one, two, four or eight antenna ports. Antenna ports used in this case are p=15, p=15, 16, p=15, . . . , 18, and p=15, . . . , 22, respectively, see ¶ 0142).
Regarding claim 30, PARK discloses a method of wireless communication of a base station (BS) (eNB, see ¶ 0007), comprising:
transmitting channel state information (CSI) reference signals (RS) (CSI-RS) through a plurality of CSI-RS ports (the UE receiving CSI-RS transmitted through one or more antenna ports from the eNB, see ¶ 0021), wherein different CSI-RS ports of the plurality of CSI-RS ports are transmitted on a different set of resource blocks (RBs) (the CSI-RS resource is configured by aggregating a plurality of CSI-RS resources, wherein the aggregated CSI-RS resources are respectively positioned in different subframes on a time axis or in different resource blocks on a frequency axis, see ¶ 0007); and
receiving at least one CSI based on a CSI-RS pattern (the UE can easily derive CSI and feed back the CSI to a base station based on the CSI-RS pattern, see ¶ 0024-0026).
PARK fails to disclose the CSI-RS pattern corresponds to a port selection and a set of linear combination coefficients, where the post selection is based on a subset of a plurality of CSI-RS resources Ks, and where in each CSI-RS resource in the subset corresponds to one of different set of RBs.
In the same field of endeavor, HARRISON discloses the following in ¶ 0004-0005, respectively:
A UE configured for Class B operation can be configured with up to 8 CSI-RS resources, with up to 8 ports in each CSI resource, in one CSI process in LTE Rel-13. Such a UE can be configured to report a CSI-RS Resource Indicator (CRI) to indicate which of the CSI-RS resources it will best be served upon. The UE then provides Channel Quality Indicators (CQI), Rank Indicators (RI), and/or Precoding Matrix Indicators (PMI) only for the best CSI-RS resource.
A UE configured for Class B operation with 1 CSI-RS resource may use a port selection and cophasing codebook wherein the UE selects a subset of the CSI-RS ports and cophasing coefficients that combine the selected ports.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement HARRISON’s in the network taught by PARK the use of Class B with a small number of ports allows reduced CSI feedback overhead and limits UE CSI computational complexity.
Claim(s) 3-4, 6, 11, 20-23, 26 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over the combination of PARK-HARRISON in view of PARK et al. (US 2021/0014893 A1), hereinafter PARK ‘893.
Regarding claims 3-4, 6, the combination of PARK-HARRISON fails to disclose the CSI-RS resource within the CSI-RS resource set comprises a plurality of parameters, wherein one parameter of the plurality of parameters for different resources within the Ks resources is different for each of the different resources or the one parameter comprises a resource block (RB) comb, wherein each of the different resources within the Ks resources have a different RB comb or aggregated resources of the K resources on a different RB comb have at least one of a same resource element (RE) location, a same symbol location, or a same code division multiplexing (CDM) type.
In the same field of endeavor, PARK ‘893 discloses that FIG. 13 illustrates an example of channel state information reference signals (CSI-RSs) that are mapped in the time and frequency domains. A square shown in FIG. 13 may span a resource block (RB) within a bandwidth of a cell. A base station may transmit one or more RRC messages comprising CSI-RS resource configuration parameters indicating one or more CSI-RSs. One or more of the following parameters may be configured by higher layer signaling (e.g., RRC and/or MAC signaling) for a CSI-RS resource configuration: a CSI-RS resource configuration identity, a number of CSI-RS ports, a CSI-RS configuration (e.g., symbol and resource element (RE) locations in a subframe), a CSI-RS subframe configuration (e.g., subframe location, offset, and periodicity in a radio frame), a CSI-RS power parameter, a CSI-RS sequence parameter, a code division multiplexing (CDM) type parameter, a frequency density, a transmission comb, quasi co-location (QCL) parameters (e.g., QCL-scramblingidentity, crs-portscount, mbsfn-subframeconfiglist, csi-rs-configZPid, qcl-csi-rs-configNZPid), and/or other radio resource parameters (see ¶ 0173).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement PARK ‘893’s teaching in the network taught by the combination of PARK-HARRISON for providing efficiently allocating resources in a wireless communication system.
Regarding claims 11, 26, the combination of PARK-HARRISON fails to explicitly disclose wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: transmit, to a user equipment (UE), a configuration of a first CSI-RS resource and a number of resources Ks, wherein the UE determines a density configuration or an RB comb for each of the resources Ks based on a value of Ks and a density configuration and an RB comb configured for the first CSI-RS resource.
In the same field of endeavor, PARK ‘893 discloses that FIG. 13 illustrates an example of channel state information reference signals (CSI-RSs) that are mapped in the time and frequency domains. A square shown in FIG. 13 may span a resource block (RB) within a bandwidth of a cell. A base station may transmit one or more RRC messages comprising CSI-RS resource configuration parameters indicating one or more CSI-RSs. One or more of the following parameters may be configured by higher layer signaling (e.g., RRC and/or MAC signaling) for a CSI-RS resource configuration: a CSI-RS resource configuration identity, a number of CSI-RS ports, a CSI-RS configuration (e.g., symbol and resource element (RE) locations in a subframe), a CSI-RS subframe configuration (e.g., subframe location, offset, and periodicity in a radio frame), a CSI-RS power parameter, a CSI-RS sequence parameter, a code division multiplexing (CDM) type parameter, a frequency density, a transmission comb, quasi co-location (QCL) parameters (e.g., QCL-scramblingidentity, crs-portscount, mbsfn-subframeconfiglist, csi-rs-configZPid, qcl-csi-rs-configNZPid), and/or other radio resource parameters (see ¶ 0173).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement PARK ‘893’s teaching in the network taught by the combination of PARK-HARRISON for providing efficiently allocating resources in a wireless communication system.
Regarding claim 20-23, the combination of PARK-HARRISON fails to explicitly disclose the CSI-RS resource within the CSI-RS resource set comprises a plurality of parameters, wherein one parameter of the plurality of parameters for different resources within the Ks resources is different for each of the different resources, wherein the one parameter comprises a resource block (RB) comb, wherein each of the different resources within the Ks resources have a different RB comb or wherein aggregated resources of the Ks resources on a same resource block (RB) comb have a different resource element (RE) location or a different symbol location or wherein aggregated resources of the Ks resources on a different RB comb have at least one of a same resource element (RE) location, a same symbol location, or a same code division multiplexing (CDM) type.
In the same field of endeavor, PARK ‘893 discloses that FIG. 13 illustrates an example of channel state information reference signals (CSI-RSs) that are mapped in the time and frequency domains. A square shown in FIG. 13 may span a resource block (RB) within a bandwidth of a cell. A base station may transmit one or more RRC messages comprising CSI-RS resource configuration parameters indicating one or more CSI-RSs. One or more of the following parameters may be configured by higher layer signaling (e.g., RRC and/or MAC signaling) for a CSI-RS resource configuration: a CSI-RS resource configuration identity, a number of CSI-RS ports, a CSI-RS configuration (e.g., symbol and resource element (RE) locations in a subframe), a CSI-RS subframe configuration (e.g., subframe location, offset, and periodicity in a radio frame), a CSI-RS power parameter, a CSI-RS sequence parameter, a code division multiplexing (CDM) type parameter, a frequency density, a transmission comb, quasi co-location (QCL) parameters (e.g., QCL-scramblingidentity, crs-portscount, mbsfn-subframeconfiglist, csi-rs-configZPid, qcl-csi-rs-configNZPid), and/or other radio resource parameters (see ¶ 0173).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement PARK ‘893’s teaching in the network taught by the combination of PARK-HARRISON for providing efficiently allocating resources in a wireless communication system.
Claim(s) 9-10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over the combination of PARK-HARRISON in view of PARK et al. (US 2018/0254812 A1), hereinafter PARK ‘812.
Regarding claim 9, the combination of PARK-HARRISON fails to disclose reindex the plurality of CSI-RS ports based on a resource index and a port index within the resource.
In the same field of endeavor, PARK ‘812 discloses the UE may sequentially list the total number of 18 ports, and then may index the four CSI-RS ports of them as follows. That is, the UE may (re)index the ports as {15,16,17,18}, {15,16,17,18}, {15,16,17,18}, and {15,16,17,18} with respect to four CSI-RS resources, may derive CSI for each CSI-RS resource, and may feed it back to an eNB. Furthermore, the UE may perform an operation of selecting a preferred CSI-RS resource from the four CSI-RS resources and feeding it back to the eNB, see ¶ 0266.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement PARK ‘812’s teaching in the network taught by the combination of PARK-HARRISON for allowing the UE to dynamically reindexing the CSI-RS ports based on availability of antenna ports.
Regarding claim 10, PARK ‘812 discloses the plurality of CSI-RS ports are reindexed based on at least one of across ports within one resource and across ports in different resources or across a first half of ports within a first resource and across a first half of ports within a second resource, across a second half of ports of the first resource and across a second half of ports of the second resource (the UE may (re)index ports as {15,16,17,18} with respect to only the second and fourth CSI-RS resources, may derive CSI for each CSI-RS resource, and may feed it back to the eNB. Furthermore, the UE may perform an operation of selecting a preferred CSI-RS resource from the second and fourth CSI-RS resources and feeding it back to the eNB, see ¶ 0272).
Claim(s) 12-13, 27-28 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over the combination of PARK-HARRISON in view of LEE et al. (US 2015/0341942 A1), hereinafter LEE.
Regarding claims 12, 27, the combination of PARK-HARRISON fails to disclose wherein the CSI report configuration comprises a configuration for a CSI interference 117measurement (IM) (CSI-IM) associated with multiple channel measurement resources.
In the same field of endeavor, LEE discloses the eNB transmits a reference signal such as CSI-IM to measure the channel state of serving cell using CSI-RSs transmitted from the serving eNB 700 and measures the channel state of an interfering cell by using CSI-IM transmitted by the serving cell eNB and/or other interfering eNBs (see ¶ 0037, 0068).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement LEE’s teaching of utilizing CSI-IM signal in the network taught by the combination of PARK-HARRISON in order to determine channel state condition due to interfering from neighboring cells -thus appropriate action can be activate to improve the channel condition.
Regarding claims 13, 28, the combination of PARK-HARRISON fails to disclose the CSI report configuration comprises Ks channel measurement resources used to generate a single CSI associated with Ks common CSI interference measurement (IM) (CSI-IM) resources.
In the same field of endeavor, LEE discloses the eNB transmits reference signal such as CSI-IM to measure the channel state of serving cell using CSI-RSs transmitted from the serving eNB 700 and measures the channel state of an interfering cell by using CSI-IM transmitted by the serving cell eNB and/or other interfering eNBs (see ¶ 0037, 0068).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement LEE’s teaching of utilizing CSI-IM signal in the network taught by the combination of PARK-HARRISON in order to determine channel state condition due to interfering from neighboring cells -thus appropriate action can be activate to improve the channel condition.
Claim(s) 14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over the combination of PARK-HARRISON in view of LI et al. (US 2021/0176001 A1), hereinafter LI.
Regarding claim 14, the combination of PARK-HARRISON fails to disclose wherein the plurality of CSI-RS resources Ks which are used to calculate at least one CSI count a single CSI processing unit (CPU).
In the same field of endeavor, LI discloses a UE that is capable of simultaneously calculating X number of CSIs is said to have X CSI processing units. For aperiodic CSI reports using aperiodic CSI-RS (with a single CSI-RS resource in the resource set for channel measurement), the CSI processing unit remains occupied from the first OFDM symbol after the PDCCH trigger until the last OFDM symbol of the PUSCH carrying the CSI report (see ¶ 0003).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to LI’s teaching the network taught by the combination of PARK-HARRISON to perform CSI report by UE to determine current channel condition.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 7-8, 24-25 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-6, 9-23, 26-30 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
Any response to this action should be mailed to:
The following address mail to be delivered by the United States Postal Service (USPS) only:
Mail Stop _____________
Commissioner for Patents
P. O. Box 1450
Alexandria, VA 22313-1450
or faxed to:
(571) 273-8300, (for formal communications intended for entry)
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Bob A. Phunkulh whose telephone number is (571) 272-3083. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Thursday from 8:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. (first week of the bi-week) and Monday-Friday (for second week of the bi-week).
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor CHARLES C. JIANG can be reach on (571) 270-7191.
Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free).
/BOB A PHUNKULH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2412