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 .
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.
Claims 1-5, 7, 9-10, 19-22, 26, 31-34, and 36-37 are rejected under 35 U.S.C 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Yang et al. (Patent No: US 2021/0092734 A1), hereinafter, Yang.
Regarding Claim 1, Yang teaches,
A method of transmission of a set of I bits of information stream, comprising: selecting, from a pool of at least 2' matrices, a matrix to uniquely represent the set of I bits of information stream, -Paragraph [0156] ([0156] recites, “The number of uplink control sequences in the set of uplink control sequences may be greater than or equal to 2.sup.k, where k is the payload size. The selection of the uplink control sequence from the set of uplink control sequences may include selecting the uplink control sequence that is associated with the decimal value.”)
wherein each matrix of the pool is a set of M vectors -Paragraph [0129] ([0129] recites, “The set of sequences (i.e., a sequence pool or a codebook) may be represented by a matrix C of size N×M, where each column vector may be a sequence. The matrix C may be an example of a sequence pool, but the sequence pool may be represented by other structures in other cases…”)
corresponding to a set of M transmit antennas, and each vector is of length D -Paragraph [0129, 0131] ([0131] recites, “This may apply in cases of single UE MIMO, and therefore when a UE 115 is equipped with multiple transmit antennas, the UE 115 may transmit using multiple transmit antennas in order to harvest diversity gain. This transmission may be achieved by using a same base sequence x, and multiplying x point-wise (e.g., entry-wise or bit-wise) by an antenna-specific sequence of equal length. This antenna-specific sequence may be referred to as a signature sequence. The signature sequence among different transmit antennas may be orthogonal to each other. Specifically, two complex-valued sequences a and b of length N may be said to be orthogonal if Σ.sub.k=0.sup.N−1a(k).Math.b*(k)=0, where * indicates the complex conjugate”)
and transmitting a resource block across the set of M transmit antennas, wherein respective vectors of the set of M vectors are transmitted on respective transmit antennas of the set of M transmit antennas, and the transmitting comprises mapping respective entries of the respective vectors to respective resource elements of the resource block. -Paragraph [0146-0147] ([0146-0147] recites, “For example, the PUCCH may be scheduled with one RB (e.g., 12 REs) and 14 OFDM symbols. In this case, the sequence length may be N=168. Thus, the UE 115 may map every length-12 sub-sequence into one OFDM symbol. The UE 115 may apply transform precoding (e.g., a twelve point DFT) to the length-12 sub-sequence on each OFDM symbol.
Based on generating the sequence using one or more of the sequence generating processes described herein, a UE 115 may then map the generated sequence to REs at 325. After mapping the REs, the UE 115 may transmit the generated and mapped sequence in PUCCH resources at 330, which a base station 105 may receive. The base station may then use the received sequence to determine the UCI payload by associated the uplink control sequence with a corresponding sequence index of the one or more sets of uplink control sequences.”)
Regarding Claim 2, Yang teaches the limitations of Claim 1.
Yang further teaches,
The method of claim 1, wherein each matrix of the pool is derived from at least one Gold sequence. -Fig. 3B, Paragraph [0074, 0141] ([0074] recites, “More specifically, the sequence generation may include determining that a UCI payload satisfies a threshold size, converting the UCI to a decimal equivalent, using a multiplexing index to select a sequence from a sequence pool, and generating a full sequence based on the selected sequence and the decimal equivalent of the UCI. In some cases, the UE may apply transform precoding before mapping the sequence to REs.” [0141] recites, “The sequence pool itself (either in the case of separate sequence pools or joint sequence pools) may be based on different designs. For example, the sequence pool may be based on Zadoff-Chu (ZC) sequences, BPSK/QPSK modulated Gold/M sequence, or DFT sequences.”)
Regarding Claim 3, Yang teaches the limitations of Claim 1.
Yang further teaches,
The method of claim 1, wherein each matrix of the pool is derived from a Gold sequence of length D multiplied by a matrix Q of dimension D x M, wherein the multiplication expands the Gold sequence of the length D into a matrix of dimension DxM. -Fig. 3B, Paragraph [0143, 0148] ([0143] recites, “in the case of a DFT-based joint sequence pool, M=2.sup.k+r, where k is the UCI payload size, and 2.sup.r may denote the number of UEs 115 which may be set to be multiplexed on the same resource. [AltContent: rect] may be formed by sampling N rows of an M×M DFT matrix: A=(A.sub.s,t).sub.s,t=1.sup.M with a sampling function ƒ. )”) [0148] recites, “Process diagram 302 (of FIG. 3B) may represent an example process for generating a BPSK or QPSK modulated Gold sequence or an M sequence in order to communicate PUCCH information.”)
Regarding Claim 4, This is not a new feature, rather configuration and dimension of the matrix and it is easily understandable to an ordinary person with the skill in the art that the dimension of the matrix and length of the Gold sequence can be chosen based on the design need.
Regarding Claim 5, Yang teaches the limitations of Claim 1.
Yang further teaches,
The method of claim 1, wherein each matrix of the pool is derived by selecting M unique Gold sequences from a plurality of Gold sequences, and each Gold sequence is of the length D. -Paragraph [0141] ([0141] recites, “The sequence pool itself (either in the case of separate sequence pools or joint sequence pools) may be based on different designs. For example, the sequence pool may be based on Zadoff-Chu (ZC) sequences, BPSK/QPSK modulated Gold/M sequence, or DFT sequences.”)
Regarding Claim 7, Yang teaches the limitations of Claim 3.
Yang further teaches,
The method of claim 3, wherein D is configured to correspond to a number of resource elements in the resource block across all available orthogonal frequency- division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols. -Paragraph [0145-0146] ([0145-0146] recites, “In some cases, at 320 the UE 115 may perform transform precoding after the sequence is generated and before the sequence is mapped to resource elements (i.e., subcarriers in an OFDM system). If transform precoding is not applied, then the UE 115 may map the sequence in the frequency domain. If transform precoding is applied, then the UE 115 may map the sequence in the time domain. If transform precoding is applied, then it may be performed on each OFDM symbol.
For example, the PUCCH may be scheduled with one RB (e.g., 12 REs) and 14 OFDM symbols. In this case, the sequence length may be N=168. Thus, the UE 115 may map every length-12 sub-sequence into one OFDM symbol. The UE 115 may apply transform precoding (e.g., a twelve point DFT) to the length-12 sub-sequence on each OFDM symbol.”)
Regarding Claim 9, It is well established and known to an ordinary person with knowledge of mathematics and matrix manipulation that deleting a row from an orthogonal matrix will likely make it non-orthogonal. While the remaining rows may still be orthogonal, they won't necessarily form an orthonormal set, which is a requirement for orthogonality.
Regarding Claim 10, This is not a new feature, rather configuration and dimension of the matrix and it is easily understandable to an ordinary person with the skill in the art that the dimension of the matrix and length of the Gold sequence can be chosen based on the design need.
Regarding Claim 19, Yang teaches the limitations of Claim 1.
Yang further teaches,
The method of claim 1, wherein each vector of the set of M vectors is a Gold sequence of length D. -Fig. 3B, Paragraph [0148-0152] ([0151] recites, “The UE 115 may convey the UCI payload using the seed (e.g., c.sub.init) of the Gold sequence. For example, for k<31 bits, and the UCI payload of a.sub.0, a.sub.1, . . . , a.sub.k−1, c.sub.init may be generated such that c.sub.init=2.sup.k.Math.n.sub.ID+l.sub.a, where l.sub.a is the decimal value of the UCI payload. The decimal value l.sub.a of the UCI payload may be defined as Σ.sub.i=0.sup.k−12.sup.ia.sub.i or l.sub.a=Σ.sub.i=0.sup.k−12.sup.ia.sub.k−1−i, and n.sub.ID may determined based on a UE ID, a cell ID, or a multiplexing ID, or a combination of these. In some cases, the seed may be used to generate a binary Gold or M sequence of length 2N, which may then be QPSK modulated to generate the complex sequence for transmission. In some cases, the seed may be used to generate a binary Gold or M sequence of length N” As shown in Fig. 3B Gold sequence generated vector of length N is multiplied by the transform precoding matrix.)
Claim 20 is not a feature and just a mere dimension of the vector and sequence length. It is easily understandable to an ordinary person with the skill in the art that the dimension of the vector and sequence length can be chosen based on design objective.
Regarding Claim 21, Yang teaches the limitations of Claim 1.
Yang further teaches,
The method of claim 1, wherein the method is performed at a user equipment (UE), wherein the set of I bits of information stream comprise uplink control information (UCI), and the selection of the matrix from the pool of at least 21 matrices to uniquely represent the set of I bits of information stream is based on the UCI. -Paragraph [0128-0129] ([0129] recites, “In some cases, one UE 115 may generate and transmit an uplink sequence over a set of PUCCH resources. At the sequence generation step 310, in the case of a single UE 115, N, M, k∈[AltContent: rect] may be given, with M=2.sup.k. M may be the number of sequences in the sequence pool C. N may be the length of each sequence, and k may be the number of UCI bits. The set of sequences (i.e., a sequence pool or a codebook) may be represented by a matrix C of size N×M, where each column vector may be a sequence. The matrix C may be an example of a sequence pool, but the sequence pool may be represented by other structures in other cases.”)
Regarding Claim 22, Yang teaches the limitations of Claim 21.
Yang further teaches,
The method of claim 21, wherein the UCI is included in a transport block of data and wherein the data is modulated directly to the resource block. -Paragraph [0146-0147] ([0146-0147] recites, “the PUCCH may be scheduled with one RB (e.g., 12 REs) and 14 OFDM symbols. In this case, the sequence length may be N=168. Thus, the UE 115 may map every length-12 sub-sequence into one OFDM symbol. The UE 115 may apply transform precoding (e.g., a twelve point DFT) to the length-12 sub-sequence on each OFDM symbol. Based on generating the sequence using one or more of the sequence generating processes described herein, a UE 115 may then map the generated sequence to REs at 325. After mapping the REs, the UE 115 may transmit the generated and mapped sequence in PUCCH resources at 330, which a base station 105 may receive. The base station may then use the received sequence to determine the UCI payload by associated the uplink control sequence with a corresponding sequence index of the one or more sets of uplink control sequences.”)
[0138][0199] ([0138] recites, “In some examples, the payload 210 may be an example of uplink control information (e.g., UCI payload) and, accordingly, the UE may transmit the payload 210 in a resource allocation of a PUCCH.”[0199] recites, “The transceiver 1120 may also include a modem to modulate the packets and provide the modulated packets to the antennas for transmission” As explained above the payload contains UCI which is modulated into the allocated resources (resource block) before passing to antenna for transmission)
Claim 26 is the apparatus claim corresponding to the method claim 1 which is rejected above. The Applicant’s attention is directed towards Claim 1. Claim 26 is rejected under the same rational as Claim 1.
Claim 31 is the apparatus claim corresponding to the method claim 2 which is rejected above. The Applicant’s attention is directed towards Claim 2. Claim 31 is rejected under the same rational as Claim 2.
Claim 32 is the apparatus claim corresponding to the method claim 3 which is rejected above. The Applicant’s attention is directed towards Claim 3. Claim 32 is rejected under the same rational as Claim 3.
Claim 33 is the apparatus claim corresponding to the method claim 4 which is rejected above. The Applicant’s attention is directed towards Claim 4. Claim 33 is rejected under the same rational as Claim 4.
Claim 34 is the apparatus claim corresponding to the method claim 5 which is rejected above. The Applicant’s attention is directed towards Claim 5. Claim 34 is rejected under the same rational as Claim 5.
Claim 36 is the apparatus claim corresponding to the method claim 7 which is rejected above. The Applicant’s attention is directed towards Claim 6. Claim 35 is rejected under the same rational as Claim 7.
Claim 37 is the apparatus claim corresponding to the method claim 1 which is rejected above. The Applicant’s attention is directed towards Claim 1. Claim 37 is rejected under the same rational as Claim 1.
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 6, 8, 15, 18, and 35 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yang in view of Huang et al. (Patent No: US 2021/0336662 A1), hereinafter, Huang.
Regarding Claim 6, Yang teaches the limitations of Claim 1.
Yang does not explicitly teach,
The method of claim 1, wherein each matrix of the pool is derived from a Gold sequence of length R being of 2D, which is divided into M parts of the length D respectively to obtain a respective matrix.
However, in an analogous invention Huang teaches,
The method of claim 1, wherein each matrix of the pool is derived from a Gold sequence of length R being of 2D, which is divided into M parts of the length D respectively to obtain a respective matrix. -Fig. 5; Paragraph [147-152] [0105] (Fig. 5 shown the matrix generation process. [0148] recites, “aspects of the described techniques break an N*M matrix (e.g., a second orthogonal matrix) into L smaller block matrices (e.g., a plurality of first orthogonal matrices) where each block is orthogonal and the size of each block is (N*M)/L. Each of the first codebook 505 and the second codebook 520 may include a plurality of orthogonal sequences. One block (e.g., each codebook) can transmit
[00003]floorlog2(N*ML)=floorlog2(N*M)-log2Lbits.
L blocks can transmit in total L*floor log.sub.2(N*M)−log.sub.2 L. The network (e.g., via the base station) may choose, signal, or otherwise configure the parameter L as a trade-off between the UCI data rate and reliability, e.g., based on a SNR, congestion levels, throughput requirements, reliability requirements, and the like. That is, the value of the parameter L can be based on the channel quality metric in order to select the best tradeoff based on current conditions.” [0105] recites, “ In some aspects, UE 115-a may break apart the orthogonal matrix/codebook into smaller orthogonal matrices/codebooks, such as a first codebook 230 and a second codebook 235, for transmitting the payload 210. “ It is easily understandable to an ordinary person with the skill in the art that the sequence can be Gold sequence and matrix of smaller dimension can be created)
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the “SEQUENCE BASED PHYSICAL UPLINK CONTROL CHANNEL TRANSMISSION” proposed by Yang with the concept of Huang to include “each matrix of the pool is derived from a Gold sequence of length R being of 2D, which is divided into M parts of the length D respectively to obtain a respective matrix.” One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to improve link efficiency [0101].
Regarding Claim 8, Yang teaches the limitations of Claim 1.
Yang does not explicitly teach,
The method of claim 1, wherein each matrix of the pool comprises a plurality of sub-matrices, each sub-matrix is derived from selecting half of the columns of an associated block matrix having 2M columns; and wherein the associated block matrix is derived from the Kronecker product of an associated entry in a Gold sequence of length S with an orthogonal or a non-orthogonal matrix T having 2M columns, in which S < D; and wherein the selection of half of the columns of the associated block matrix is based on a value of the associated entry in the Gold sequence used for Kronecker product with the orthogonal or the non-orthogonal matrix T, and the value is 1 or 0.
However, in an analogous invention Huang teaches,
The method of claim 1, wherein each matrix of the pool comprises a plurality of sub-matrices, each sub-matrix is derived from selecting half of the columns of an associated block matrix having 2M columns; and wherein the associated block matrix is derived from the Kronecker product of an associated entry in a Gold sequence of length S with an orthogonal or a non-orthogonal matrix T having 2M columns, in which S < D; and wherein the selection of half of the columns of the associated block matrix is based on a value of the associated entry in the Gold sequence used for Kronecker product with the orthogonal or the non-orthogonal matrix T, and the value is 1 or 0. -Fig. 6; Paragraph [0157-0161][0169] ([0157] recites, “..For example, a UE or a base station, or both, may use the matrix configuration 600 to generate a set of orthogonal sequences from which the UE may select an orthogonal sequence to convey a payload to the base station…”[0158] recites, “As discussed above, aspects of the described techniques break an N*M matrix (e.g., a second orthogonal matrix) into L smaller block matrices (e.g., a plurality of first orthogonal matrices) where each block is orthogonal and the size of each block is (N*M)/L..” [0160] recites, “The M frequency tones 610 of the first codebook 605 may include or span the same or a different number of tones as the M frequency tones 625 of the second codebook 620. Although illustrated as using different CS domain symbols, it is to be understood that the N/2 OFDM symbols 615 of the first codebook 605 may include or span the same or a different number of symbols as the N/2 frequency tones 625 of the second codebook 620. That is, the size of each orthogonal matrix is the plurality of orthogonal matrices may be based on a division of the size of the second orthogonal matrix.”[0169] recites, “In some aspects, the second orthogonal matrix may include a plurality of orthogonal sequences that are based on a product of the third orthogonal matrix having a size corresponding to the number of one or more time periods and a cyclically shifted cell-specific sequence (e.g., CS) having a length corresponding to the number of one or more frequency tones. In this example, the third orthogonal matrix may include a DFT matrix and the product may include a Kronecker product.” It is easily understandable to an ordinary person with skill in the art that the base sequence can be a Gold Sequence also the value can be binary. i.e., 1 and 0)
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the “SEQUENCE BASED PHYSICAL UPLINK CONTROL CHANNEL TRANSMISSION” proposed by Yang with the concept of Huang to include “each matrix of the pool comprises a plurality of sub-matrices, each sub-matrix is derived from selecting half of the columns of an associated block matrix having 2M columns; and wherein the associated block matrix is derived from the Kronecker product of an associated entry in a Gold sequence of length S with an orthogonal or a non-orthogonal matrix T having 2M columns, in which S < D; and wherein the selection of half of the columns of the associated block matrix is based on a value of the associated entry in the Gold sequence used for Kronecker product with the orthogonal or the non-orthogonal matrix T, and the value is 1 or 0.” One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to improve link efficiency [0101].
Regarding Claim 15, Yang teaches the limitations of Claim 1.
Yang does not explicitly teach,
The method of claim 1, wherein each matrix of the pool is derived, at least in part, by sub-sampling D rows of a larger matrix of dimension L x M, in which L>>D.
However, Huang teaches,
The method of claim 1, wherein each matrix of the pool is derived, at least in part, by sub-sampling D rows of a larger matrix of dimension L x M, in which L>>D. Paragraph [0139-0140] ([0139-0140] recites, “…However, aspects of the described techniques enable transmission of more bits in payload 210 for orthogonal sequence based PUCCH by breaking apart the orthogonal matrix/codebook discussed above into smaller orthogonal matrices/codebooks, with each block transmitting a subset of the UCI payload. For example, aspects of the described techniques break the N*M matrix (e.g., a second orthogonal matrix) into L smaller block matrices (e.g., a plurality of first orthogonal matrices) where each block is orthogonal and the size of each block is (N*M)/L. Each of the first codebook 405 and the second codebook 420 may include a plurality of orthogonal sequences…)
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the “SEQUENCE BASED PHYSICAL UPLINK CONTROL CHANNEL TRANSMISSION” proposed by Yang with the concept of Huang to include “each matrix of the pool is derived, at least in part, by sub-sampling D rows of a larger matrix of dimension L x M, in which L>>D.
” One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to improve link efficiency [0101].
Regarding Claim 18, Yang and Huang teach the limitations of Claim 15.
Yang further teaches,
The method of claim 15, wherein the larger matrix includes a discrete Fourier transform (DFT) matrix. -Paragraph [0142] ([0142] recites, “In the example of DFT sequences, M be a power of 2 either 2.sup.k or 2.sup.k+r. p may be a parameter which depends on either the cell ID or the multiplexing index l.sub.u (or j). A DFT-based sequence pool with parameter p be generated by sampling N rows of M×M DFT matrix A=(A.sub.s,t).sub.s,t=1.sup.M.”)
Claim 35 is the apparatus claim corresponding to the method claim 6 which is rejected above. The Applicant’s attention is directed towards Claim 6. Claim 35 is rejected under the same rational as Claim 6.
Claim 14 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yang in view of PARK et al. (Patent No: US 2022/0190892 A1), hereinafter, PARK.
Regarding Claim 14, Yang teaches the limitations of Claim 1.
Yang does not explicitly teach,
The method of any of the preceding claims, wherein transmitting the resource block across the set of M transmit antennas further comprises: mapping each entry of each vector to a resource element of the resource block which includes being configured with D resource elements; and transmitting each vector using a different transmit antenna of the set of M transmit antennas.
However, PARK teaches,
The method of any of the preceding claims, wherein transmitting the resource block across M transmit antennas further comprises: mapping each entry of each vector to a resource element of the resource block which includes being configured with D resource elements; and transmitting each vector using a different transmit antenna of the M transmit antennas. -Paragraph [0554-0555] ([0554-0555] recites, “….The precoder 404 may output the antenna specific symbols by processing the complex-valued modulation symbol by the MIMO scheme according to the multiple transmit antennas, and distribute the antenna specific symbols to the corresponding resource block mapper 405. An output z of the precoder 404 may be obtained by multiplying an output y of the layer mapper 403 by a precoding matrix W of N*M. Here, N represents the number of antenna ports and M represents the number of transport layers. The resource block mapper 405 may be mapped to an appropriate resource element in a virtual resource block allocated for transmitting the complex-valued modulation symbol for each antenna port.”)
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the “SEQUENCE BASED PHYSICAL UPLINK CONTROL CHANNEL TRANSMISSION” proposed by Yang with the concept of PARK to include “mapping each entry of each vector to a resource element of the resource block which includes being configured with D resource elements; and transmitting each vector using a different transmit antenna of the M transmit antennas” One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to improve the mobile broadband communication compared to the existing radio access technology (RAT) [0066].
Claims 11-13, and 16-17 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 Argument(s)
Applicant’s arguments with respect to the claims have been considered but are moot because the arguments do not apply to any of the references being used in the current rejection.
Conclusion
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.
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/AHMED SAIFUDDIN/Examiner, Art Unit 2475
/KHALED M KASSIM/supervisory patent examiner, Art Unit 2475