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 .
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.
Examiner Notes
(1) In the case of amending the Claimed invention, Applicant is respectfully requested to indicate the portion(s) of the specification which dictate(s) the structure relied on for proper interpretation and also to verify and ascertain the metes and bounds of the claimed invention. This will assist in expediting compact prosecution. MPEP 714.02 recites: “Applicant should also specifically point out the support for any amendments made to the disclosure. See MPEP § 2163.06. An amendment which does not comply with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.121 (b), (c), (d), and (h) may be held not fully responsive. See MPEP § 714.” Amendments not pointing to specific support in the disclosure may be deemed as not complying with provisions of 37 C.F.R. 1.131 (b), (c), (d), and (h) and therefore held not fully responsive. Generic statements such as "Applicants believe no new matter has been introduced" may be deemed insufficient.
(2) Examiner cites particular columns, paragraphs, figures and line numbers in the references as applied to the claims below for the convenience of the applicant. Although the specified citations are representative of the teachings in the art and are applied to the specific limitations within the individual claim, other passages and figures may apply as well. It is respectfully requested that, in preparing responses, the applicant fully consider the references in their entirety as potentially teaching all or part of the claimed invention, as well as the context of the passage as taught by the prior art or disclosed by the Examiner.
Remarks
Receipt of Applicant’s Amendment file on 10/15/2025 is acknowledged.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1 and 12 have been considered but are moot in view of the new ground(s) of rejection (See new reference of JIAO).
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 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.
Claims 1, 3-6, 8-10 and 12-16, 18-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wu et al. (U.S. Pub. No. 2019/0235978 A1) in view of JIAO et al. (WO 2022/083690 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Wu teaches a computing device, comprising: a processor; and a storage device storing computer executable code, wherein the computer executable code, when executed at the processor, is configured to designate the computing device as one of a plurality of nodes in a system, wherein the system defines a plurality of hierarchy clusters and a plurality of families in each of the hierarchy clusters, and each of the nodes of the system is a master node of a corresponding hierarchy cluster of the hierarchy clusters or one of a plurality of management nodes of the corresponding hierarchy cluster (paragraph [0063], the control system has a hierarchical structure; a hierarchical structure may be useful for larger system where higher level nodes perform higher level functions (e.g., computation, command generation, data distribution…) and lower level nodes perform lower level functions; also see paragraph [0073], the nodes can be interconnected as a cluster to form a processing system according to desired hierarchical scheme and functionality; also see paragraph [0074], at least one master (supervisor node) is assigned in a cluster, and at least one slave node (subordinate node) may be controlled by the master; also see Fig. 8), wherein each of the management nodes of the corresponding hierarchy cluster belongs to one of the families of the corresponding hierarchy cluster (Fig. 8, also see paragraph [0074], at least one master (supervisor node) is assigned in a cluster, and at least one slave node (subordinate node) may be controlled by the master).
Wu does not explicitly disclose: each of the families of the corresponding hierarchy cluster includes at least two of the management nodes of the corresponding hierarchy cluster, and the master node of the corresponding hierarchy cluster does not belong to any of the families of the corresponding hierarchy cluster.
JIAO teaches: each of the families of the corresponding hierarchy cluster includes at least two of the management nodes of the corresponding hierarchy cluster, and the master node of the corresponding hierarchy cluster does not belong to any of the families of the corresponding hierarchy cluster (second paragraph from the bottom of page 3, a data storage architecture includes a parent cluster and multiple sub-clusters; the node of parent cluster are the master nodes of the multiple sub-clusters; noted, each sub-clusters including its own nodes ,which is represented as “families of the corresponding hierarchy cluster” and the master belong to the “parent cluster” but is not belong to the multiple sub-clusters, which reads on “the master node of the corresponding hierarchy cluster does not belong to any of the families of the corresponding hierarchy cluster” as claimed).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in art before the effective filing date of the claim invention to include each of the families of the corresponding hierarchy cluster includes at least two of the management nodes of the corresponding hierarchy cluster, and the master node of the corresponding hierarchy cluster does not belong to any of the families of the corresponding hierarchy cluster into hierarchy cluster analysis of Wu.
Motivation to do so would be to include each of the families of the corresponding hierarchy cluster includes at least two of the management nodes of the corresponding hierarchy cluster, and the master node of the corresponding hierarchy cluster does not belong to any of the families of the corresponding hierarchy cluster to reduces the negotiation message data, limits the propagation range of negotiation messages, and help to alleviate the problems that affect normal packet transmission caused by message storms (JIAO. second paragraph from the bottom of page 3, line 6-8).
Wu as modified by JIAO further teach: wherein the master node of the corresponding hierarchy cluster is configured to manage the management nodes of each of the families of the corresponding hierarchy cluster and communicate with a management application of the system (Wu, Fig. 8, paragraph [0083], interaction between cloud-based remote resources and one or more processing systems deployed in respective enclosures; each enclosure may represent different customer site; to create a processing system corresponding to a particular facility (e.g., site) a plurality of nodes is installed at the site; the orchestrator may include software routine(s) adapted to operate a node as a master or as worker node; a master node operate an edge service; also see paragraph [0074], at least one master (supervisor node) is assigned in a cluster, and at least one slave node (subordinate node) may be controlled by the master).
Regarding claim 3, Wu as modified by JIAO teach all claimed limitations as set forth in rejection of claim 1, further teach wherein the computing device is configured as the master node of the corresponding hierarchy cluster, and the computer executable code, when executed at the processor, is configured to: provide an application programming interface (API) manager to communicate with the management application, wherein the management application is configured to fetch information of the hierarchy clusters of the system or information of the management nodes of each of the hierarchy clusters of the system through the API manager (Wu, Fig. 8, paragraph [0083], interaction between cloud-based remote resources and one or more processing systems deployed in respective enclosures; each enclosure may represent different customer site; to create a processing system corresponding to a particular facility (e.g., site) a plurality of nodes is installed at the site; the orchestrator may include software routine(s) adapted to operate a node as a master or as worker node; a master node operate an edge service; also see paragraph [0074], at least one master (supervisor node) is assigned in a cluster, and at least one slave node (subordinate node) may be controlled by the master; the server may include an application programming interface; also see paragraph [0078], the orchestrator in any particular node is configured for operating according to a Master role or a worker role; a master node may control (direct and monitor) the cluster; the control may include scheduling work, reconfiguring worker nodes, and/s responding to predetermined events; a scheduler can track resource utilization, e.g., so that workloads can be balanced); monitor and manage the management nodes of the corresponding hierarchy cluster and services provided by the management nodes of the corresponding hierarchy cluster (Wu, paragraph [0078], the orchestrator in any particular node is configured for operating according to a Master role or a worker role; a master node may control (direct and monitor) the cluster; the control may include scheduling work, reconfiguring worker nodes, and/s responding to predetermined events; a scheduler can track resource utilization, e.g., so that workloads can be balanced); and perform an automatic addition process to add a new management node and register a plurality of services provided by the new management node into the corresponding hierarchy cluster (Wu, paragraph [0085], automatic cluster joining operation may result in node 802 being assigned a role of master node and nodes 803-806 being assigned a role of worker nodes; paragraph [0086], the cluster alteration can include introduction a new node to the cluster; the introduction of the new node may be due to malfunction (e.g., failure) of an old node).
Regarding claim 4, Wu as modified by JIAO teach all claimed limitations as set forth in rejection of claim 3, further teach wherein the computer executable code, when executed at the processor, is configured to monitor and manage the management nodes of each of the families of the corresponding hierarchy cluster and services provided by the management nodes of each of the families of the corresponding hierarchy cluster by: receiving events from one of the management nodes of the corresponding hierarchy cluster; and processing the events to obtain the information of the management nodes of the corresponding hierarchy cluster (Wu, paragraph [0078], the orchestrator in any particular node is configured for operating according to a Master role or a worker role; a master node may control (direct and monitor) the cluster; the control may include scheduling work, reconfiguring worker nodes, and/s responding to predetermined events; a scheduler can track resource utilization, e.g., so that workloads can be balanced; also see paragraph [0085], automatic cluster joining operation may result in node 802 being assigned a role of master node and nodes 803-806 being assigned a role of worker nodes; paragraph [0086], the cluster alteration can include introduction a new node to the cluster; the introduction of the new node may be due to malfunction (e.g., failure) of an old node; the introduction of new node may be with the purpose of increasing the total number of nodes).
Regarding claim 5, Wu as modified by JIAO teach all claimed limitations as set forth in rejection of claim 4, further teach wherein the computer executable code, when executed at the processor, is further configured to: in response to determining, based on the information obtained in processing the events, that a corresponding action is required, control an automation engine in the corresponding hierarchy cluster to perform the corresponding action, wherein the corresponding action is a resource management action, a remedial management action, or a redundancy management action (Wu, paragraph [0078], the orchestrator in any particular node is configured for operating according to a Master role or a worker role; a master node may control (direct and monitor) the cluster; the control may include scheduling work, reconfiguring worker nodes, and/s responding to predetermined events; a scheduler can track resource utilization, e.g., so that workloads can be balanced; also see paragraph [0085], automatic cluster joining operation may result in node 802 being assigned a role of master node and nodes 803-806 being assigned a role of worker nodes; paragraph [0086], the cluster alteration can include introduction a new node to the cluster; the introduction of the new node may be due to malfunction (e.g., failure) of an old node; the introduction of new node may be with the purpose of increasing the total number of nodes).
Regarding claim 6, Wu as modified by JIAO teach all claimed limitations as set forth in rejection of claim 5, further teach wherein the automation engine is a service provided by a corresponding one of the management nodes of the corresponding hierarchy cluster (Wu, paragraph [0075], paragraph [0075], a master node may take requests from a user and/or from other processing elements, to deploy work order to a worker node (e.g., a request to execute a command or to retrieve data); a worker node controls performance of work task of controlled operation system in response to commands received from a master node), and the computer executable code, when executed at the processor, is configured to control the automation engine in the corresponding hierarchy cluster to perform the corresponding action by: generating a script related to the corresponding action (Wu, paragraph [0075], paragraph [0075], a master node may take requests from a user and/or from other processing elements, to deploy work order to a worker node (e.g., a request to execute a command or to retrieve data); a worker node controls performance of work task of controlled operation system in response to commands received from a master node; the command may be generated in response to predetermined condition (e.g., by a Master Node) or in response to input from a human user ); and sending the script to the corresponding one of the management nodes of the corresponding hierarchy cluster to control the automation engine to perform the corresponding action (Wu, paragraph [0075], a master node may take requests from a user and/or from other processing elements, to deploy work order to a worker node (e.g., a request to execute a command or to retrieve data); a worker node controls performance of work task of controlled operation system in response to commands received from a master node).
Regarding claim 8, Wu as modified by JIAO teach all claimed limitations as set forth in rejection of claim 3, further teach wherein the computer executable code, when executed at the processor, is further configured to deploy a plurality of manage abilities of the master node to a remote computing device, wherein the remote computing device is an accelerator device or a host computing device of the computing device (Wu, Fig. 8, paragraph [0083], interaction between cloud-based remote resources and one or more processing systems deployed in respective enclosures; each enclosure may represent different customer site; to create a processing system corresponding to a particular facility (e.g., site) a plurality of nodes is installed at the site; the orchestrator may include software routine(s) adapted to operate a node as a master or as worker node; a master node operate an edge service).
Regarding claim 9, Wu as modified by JIAO teach all claimed limitations as set forth in rejection of claim 1, further teach wherein the computing device is configured as the one of the plurality of management nodes of a corresponding family of the families of the corresponding hierarchy cluster, and the computer executable code, when executed at the processor, is configured to: provide a plurality of services for the corresponding hierarchy cluster (Wu, paragraph [0075], a master node may take requests from a user and/or from other processing elements, to deploy work order to a worker node (e.g., a request to execute a command or to retrieve data); a worker node controls performance of work task of controlled operation system in response to commands received from a master node; the command may be generated in response to predetermined condition (e.g., by a Master Node) or in response to input from a human user); and receive an instruction from the master node of the corresponding hierarchy cluster to perform peer management and monitor the plurality of management nodes of the corresponding family (paragraph [0075], a master node may take requests from a user and/or from other processing elements, to deploy work order to a worker node (e.g., a request to execute a command or to retrieve data); a worker node controls performance of work task of controlled operation system in response to commands received from a master node; paragraph [0078], the orchestrator in any particular node is configured for operating according to a Master role or a worker role; a master node may control (direct and monitor) the cluster; the control may include scheduling work, reconfiguring worker nodes, and/s responding to predetermined events; a scheduler can track resource utilization, e.g., so that workloads can be balanced).
Regarding claim 10, Wu as modified by JIAO teach all claimed limitations as set forth in rejection of claim 9, further teach wherein the services include an automation engine configured to perform a corresponding action based on a script received from the master node of the corresponding hierarchy cluster (Wu, paragraph [0075], paragraph [0075], a master node may take requests from a user and/or from other processing elements, to deploy work order to a worker node (e.g., a request to execute a command or to retrieve data); a worker node controls performance of work task of controlled operation system in response to commands received from a master node; the command may be generated in response to predetermined condition (e.g., by a Master Node) or in response to input from a human user), and the corresponding action is a resource management action, a remedial management action, or a redundancy management action (paragraph [0075], paragraph [0075], a master node may take requests from a user and/or from other processing elements, to deploy work order to a worker node (e.g., a request to execute a command or to retrieve data); a worker node controls performance of work task of controlled operation system in response to commands received from a master node; the command may be generated in response to predetermined condition (e.g., by a Master Node) or in response to input from a human user; also see paragraph [0078], the orchestrator in any particular node is configured for operating according to a Master role or a worker role; a master node may control (direct and monitor) the cluster; the control may include scheduling work, reconfiguring worker nodes, and/s responding to predetermined events; a scheduler can track resource utilization, e.g., so that workloads can be balanced; also see paragraph [0086], the cluster alteration can include introduction a new node to the cluster; the introduction of the new node may be due to malfunction (e.g., failure) of an old node).
As per claim 12, this claim is rejected on grounds corresponding to the same rationales given above for rejected claim 1 and is similarly rejected.
As per claims 13-16, these claims are rejected on grounds corresponding to the same rationales given above for rejected claims 3-6 respectively and are similarly rejected.
As per claims 18-20, these claims are rejected on grounds corresponding to the same rationales given above for rejected claims 8-10 respectively and are similarly rejected.
Claim 2 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wu et al. (U.S. Pub. No. 2019/0235978 A1) in view of JIAO et al. (WO 2022/083690 A1), further in view of Parthasarathy et al. (U.S. Pub. No. 2023/0269126 A1).
Regarding claim 2, Wu as modified by JIAO teach all claimed limitations as set forth in rejection of claim 1, but do not explicitly teach: said computer device being a baseboard management controller (BMC).
Parthasarathy teaches: said computer device being a baseboard management controller (BMC) (paragraph [0011]-[0012]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in art before the effective filing date of the claim invention to include said computer device being a baseboard management controller (BMC) into hierarchy cluster analysis of Wu.
Motivation to do so would be to include said computer device being a baseboard management controller (BMC) such that the system management controller can predict fault in the electronic devices (Parthasarathy, paragraph [0021]).
Claim 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wu et al. (U.S. Pub. No. 2019/0235978 A1) in view of JIAO et al. (WO 2022/083690 A1), further in view of HE (U.S. Pub. No. (2021/0336839 A1), referred as “HE”), and Bai et al. (U.S. Pub. No. 2021/0136145 A1).
Regarding claim 7, Wu as modified by JIAO teach all claimed limitations as set forth in rejection of claim 3, but do not explicitly disclose: wherein the computer executable code, when executed at the processor, is configured to perform the automatic addition process by: receiving an identity profile being advertised by the new computing device, wherein the identity profile includes information identifying the new computing device and information of services provided by the new computing device.
HE teaches wherein the computer executable code, when executed at the processor, is configured to perform the automatic addition process by: receiving an identity profile being advertised by the new computing device, wherein the identity profile includes information identifying the new computing device and information of services provided by the new computing device (paragraph [0158]-[0160], the network data stored on the control node includes, but not limited to, at least the following data: a node type, a node ID, owner ID, IP address of the second computing device, a list of subordinate processing nodes, a list of its peer nodes, information on the functional unit it represents, a location map index map which maps the resources to nodes on which the resources are stored; also see paragraph [0238], the first enrollment request from a candidate computing device is received at a root node, the first enrollment request indicating the candidate computing device’s prospective role as control node and the type of functional unit; also see paragraph [0173], [0239-0241]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in art before the effective filing date of the claim invention to include wherein the computer executable code, when executed at the processor, is configured to perform the automatic addition process by: receiving an identity profile being advertised by the new computing device, wherein the identity profile includes information identifying the new computing device and information of services provided by the new computing device into hierarchy cluster analysis of Wu.
Motivation to do so would be to include wherein the computer executable code, when executed at the processor, is configured to perform the automatic addition process by: receiving an identity profile being advertised by the new computing device, wherein the identity profile includes information identifying the new computing device and information of services provided by the new computing device to achieve linear scalability of the service reliability of a hierarchical computing network in providing services of large volume of data to large number of user (HE, paragraph [0005], line 4-7).
Wu as modified by HE do not explicitly disclose: in response to receiving the identity profile, comparing the identity profile with existing identity profiles of the management nodes of the corresponding hierarchy cluster to determine the new computing device as a new management node in a corresponding family of the families of the corresponding hierarchy cluster.
Bai teaches: in response to receiving the identity profile, comparing the identity profile with existing identity profiles of the management nodes of the corresponding hierarchy cluster to determine the new computing device as a new management node in a corresponding family of the families of the corresponding hierarchy cluster (paragraph [0027], if a total quantity of members in the distributed system is insufficient to meet requirements, a new member need to be added to the system; also see paragraph [0031], the first target node is a node that needs to be added to the distributed system; also see the node address; the node address set include the addresses of all the nodes in the distributed system; the node addresses are used to distinguish different nodes, and may be consider as labels of the nodes; for example, the node address is one or a combination of a node ID and a node IP address; also see paragraph [0034], after obtaining the address set, the first target node determines whether an address of the first target node is in the address set, to determine whether the first target node is an existing node in the distributed system; also see paragraph [0035]-[0036]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in art before the effective filing date of the claim invention to include in response to receiving the identity profile, comparing the identity profile with existing identity profiles of the management nodes of the corresponding hierarchy cluster to determine the new computing device as a new management node in a corresponding family of the families of the corresponding hierarchy cluster into hierarchy cluster analysis of Wu.
Motivation to do so would be to include in response to receiving the identity profile, comparing the identity profile with existing identity profiles of the management nodes of the corresponding hierarchy cluster to determine the new computing device as a new management node in a corresponding family of the families of the corresponding hierarchy cluster to provide a process which is simple and efficient, and resource usage is low (Bai, paragraph [0007], line 19-20).
Wu as modified by JIAO, HE and Bai further teach: storing the identity profile of the new computing device as the new management node of the corresponding family (HE, paragraph [0138]-[0041], a first enrollment response contain information on the new functional unit is set to the candidate computing device; also see [0158]-[0160], the network data stored on the control node includes, but not limited to, at least the following data: a node type, a node ID, owner ID, IP address of the second computing device, a list of subordinate processing nodes, a list of its peer nodes, information on the functional unit it represents, a location map index map which maps the resources to nodes on which the resources are stored); and sending an identifier to the new computing device, wherein the identifier includes information of the corresponding hierarchy cluster, information of the master node of the corresponding hierarchy cluster, and information indicating the new computing device as the new management node of the corresponding family (paragraph [0041], a first enrollment response contain information on the new functional unit is set to the candidate computing device; also see [0158]-[0160], the network data stored on the control node includes, but not limited to, at least the following data: a node type, a node ID, owner ID, IP address of the second computing device, a list of subordinate processing nodes, a list of its peer nodes, information on the functional unit it represents, a location map index map which maps the resources to nodes on which the resources are stored).
Claim 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wu et al. (U.S. Pub. No. 2019/0235978 A1) in view of JIAO et al. (WO 2022/083690 A1), further in view of HE (U.S. Pub. No. (2021/0336839 A1), referred as “HE”).
Regarding claim 11, Wu as modified by JIAO teach all claimed limitations as set forth in rejection of claim 1, but do not explicitly disclose: wherein the computing device is a new computing device to be added as a new management node to the system, and the computer executable code, when executed at the processor, is configured to: advertise an identity profile of the computing device, wherein the identity profile includes information identifying the computing device and information of services provided by the computing device.
HE teaches: wherein the computing device is a new computing device to be added as a new management node to the system, and the computer executable code, when executed at the processor, is configured to: advertise an identity profile of the computing device, wherein the identity profile includes information identifying the computing device and information of services provided by the computing device (paragraph [0158]-[0160], the network data stored on the control node includes, but not limited to, at least the following data: a node type, a node ID, owner ID, IP address of the second computing device, a list of subordinate processing nodes, a list of its peer nodes, information on the functional unit it represents, a location map index map which maps the resources to nodes on which the resources are stored; also see paragraph [0238], the first enrollment request from a candidate computing device is received at a root node, the first enrollment request indicating the candidate computing device’s prospective role as control node and the type of functional unit; also see paragraph [0173], [0239-0241]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in art before the effective filing date of the claim invention to include wherein the computing device is a new computing device to be added as a new management node to the system, and the computer executable code, when executed at the processor, is configured to: advertise an identity profile of the computing device, wherein the identity profile includes information identifying the computing device and information of services provided by the computing device into hierarchy cluster analysis of Wu.
Motivation to do so would be to include wherein the computing device is a new computing device to be added as a new management node to the system, and the computer executable code, when executed at the processor, is configured to: advertise an identity profile of the computing device, wherein the identity profile includes information identifying the computing device and information of services provided by the computing device to achieve linear scalability of the service reliability of a hierarchical computing network in providing services of large volume of data to large number of user (HE, paragraph [0005], line 4-7).
Wu as modified by JIAO, and HE further teach: receiving an identifier from the master node of the corresponding hierarchy cluster, wherein the identifier includes information of the corresponding hierarchy cluster, information of the master node of the corresponding hierarchy cluster, and information indicating the new computing device as the new management node of a corresponding family of the families of the corresponding hierarchy (HE, paragraph [0041], a first enrollment response contain information on the new functional unit is set to the candidate computing device; also see Fig. 1B, [0158]-[0160], the network data stored on the control node includes, but not limited to, at least the following data: a node type, a node ID, owner ID, IP address of the second computing device, a list of subordinate processing nodes, a list of its peer nodes, information on the functional unit it represents, a location map index map which maps the resources to nodes on which the resources are stored; also see paragraph [0164], control nodes 01C01, 01C02 and 01C03 know the name or IP address of root node 01R01; process node 01P01, 01P02, and 01P03 know control node 01C01;root node 01R01 knows control nodes 01C01, 01C02, and 01C3; control node 01C02 knows process node 01P04 and 01P05; control node does not know process node 01P06 and 01P07).
Conclusion
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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KEN HOANG whose telephone number is (571)272-8401. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 7:30am-5:00pm.
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/KEN HOANG/Examiner, Art Unit 2168
/ANHTAI V TRAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2168