Final Rejection
Acknowledgements
1. This final rejection is in response to the amendment and remarks filed April 2, 2026.
2. The claim amendments filed April. 2, 2026 (“APRIL 2026 CLAIM AMENDMENTS”) cancelled claim 11. Thus, claims 1-10 and 12-18 are pending.
3. Examiners do not find a claim of domestic or foreign priority.
4. The presumed effective filing date is January 17, 2023, which is the filing date of the instant application.
Response to Remarks filed April 2, 2026
5. The APRIL 2026 CLAIM AMENDMENTS have overcome the prior art rejections. Thus, they are withdrawn. The APRIL 2026 CLAIM AMENDMENTS, however, have necessitated the following §112(b) rejections.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
6. Claims 1-10 and 12-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor, regards as the invention.
Claim 1 recites the limitation "wherein the use of loops comprises…" in the last clause of the claim. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim because of the amendment to clause before the last clause of the claim, removed the antecedent basis, i.e., “comprises ”
Claims 2-10 and 12-18 are rejected based on their dependency on claim 1.
Allowable Subject Matter
7. Claims 1-10 and 12-18 contain allowable subject matter if the §112(b) rejection is overcome.
Specifically, the prior art does not teach or make obvious the number of loops in one of the plurality of gain sections is different than the number of loops in another one of the plurality of gain sections, which is the Examiner’s understanding of the indefinite limitation “the use of loops comprises assigning a different number of loops to one of the plurality of gain sections compared to a number of loops assigned to another one of the plurality gain sections” in combination with the other limitations of the claims.
Conclusion
8. Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). 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.
9. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DEANDRA M HUGHES whose telephone number is (571)272-6982. The examiner can normally be reached Generally M-Th 8AM-6PM.
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Signed:
/DEANDRA M HUGHES/Reexamination Specialist, Art Unit 3992
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