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 .
Response to Amendment
Receipt is acknowledged of the amendment filed 12/16/2025. Claims 1, 4-10 and 18 have been amended. Claims 14-17, 19 and 20 have been canceled. Claims 21-25 have been added. Claims 1-13, 18, 21-25 are pending and an action is as follows.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-13, 18 and 21-25 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.
Claim Objections
Claim 1, 10 and 18 are objected to because of the following informalities: The claims recite “the first uplink” in a prior claim limitation while also in a later claim limitation recites “the uplink”, which fails to maintain uniformity in the claims but appears to be a typographical error resulting in the omission of the term “first” from “the first uplink”. This typographical error makes the claims unclear. Appropriate correction is required.
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.
Claim 1 is 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.
Claim 1 recites the limitation "the downlink" in the claim limitation “a time elapsed since the terminal last received communications on the downlink”. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 1, 2, 4 and 9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over CHEN US 2015/0381396 (hereinafter CHEN), in view of Cosma et al. US 2012/0207040 (hereinafter Cosma) and Clark et al. US 2013/0027556 (hereinafter Clark)
Regarding claim 1, CHEN teaches a method of operating a base station in a mobile telecommunications system comprising a Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN), the NTN comprising the base station and a terminal configured to communicate with the base station via an air interface provided by infrastructure equipment of the NTN,
([CHEN, ¶119-¶120] The network 2 of CHEN is a NTN which comprises a base station 100 and terminal (any of terminals 200-300) wherein the network is a NTN because it also utilizes a plurality of satellites for the communication of location information via GPS signals)
the method comprising:
CHEN teaches determining that a first uplink transmission is to be transmitted by the terminal;
([CHEN, Fig. 12, S22 ¶152-¶153] According to CHEN the terminal’s obtained location information and other data is determined to be transmitted by the terminal according to a period (periodically) or after receiving instruction from the base station.)
determining that the terminal will obtain, during a first time period, position information for the terminal; and
([CHEN Fig. 12, ¶152-¶153, ¶157 and ¶160] the terminal obtains during the time allocated to operation S21 of Fig. 12, current location (position) information for itself.)
scheduling first uplink resources for the terminal to transmit the first uplink transmission, wherein the first uplink resources are scheduled at a point in time selected after the first time period.
([CHEN, Fig. 12, ¶104, ¶125, ¶152-¶153, ¶160 and ¶171] While it is noted in Fig. 12 that the order of determining the current location of the terminal (position of the terminal) occurs (at step S21) prior to the transmission of the location information (interpreted as the data for uplink transmission at step S22 which is scheduled by the base station according to ¶171 in PUCCH resources ¶104).) It is not explicitly state that the periods for GPS receiver operations and PUCCH transmission are different periods
However, Cosma teaches wherein the scheduling first uplink resources for the terminal to transmit the first uplink transmission, wherein the first uplink resources are scheduled at a point in time selected after the first time period.
According to Cosma the scheduling first uplink resources (PUCCH) for the terminal to transmit the first uplink transmission is within the LTE scheduled periods, wherein the first uplink resources are scheduled at a point in time after the selected first time period.
([Cosma, ¶3, ¶57, ¶68, ¶71 and ¶231 (LTE PUCCH transmissions occur in scheduled periods while DL transmissions, such as the GPS signals to the GPS receiver of the terminal, are received in the unscheduled period which is shown as occurring after the scheduled period. The terminal is not allowed to transmit the PUCCH transmissions until after the unscheduled period which is shown as occurring after the scheduled period)] The GPS receiver and LTE transmissions may interfere with each other when operating in adjacent bands on the same wireless device so their operations are handled at different times. The LTE PUCCH transmissions may be scheduled to occur during a scheduled period (see figure below) which occurs after the unscheduled period where the GPS receiver is allowed to function without any concurrent LTE PUCCH transmissions)
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It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine the teachings of CHEN, indicating a NTN system for communicating GPS and Cellular signals with the teachings of Cosma, indicating that the Cellular uplink signals may be configured to the sent in a transmission period scheduled after and unscheduled period wherein the terminal is allowed to received transmissions, wherein the received signals are inclusive of GPS signals. The resulting benefit of the combination would have been the ability to reduce the interference between the different radio technologies comprised within the terminal [Cosma, ¶57].
But while the combination of CHEN, in view of Cosma teaches “wherein the determining that the terminal will obtain, during the first time period, position information for the terminal ([CHEN, Fig. 12, S22 ¶152-¶153] According to CHEN the terminal’s obtained location information and other data is determined to be transmitted by the terminal according to a period (periodically) or after receiving instruction from the base station.), it does not teach that it is based on one or more of: a time elapsed since the terminal last communicated on the uplink; a time elapsed since the terminal last received communications on the downlink; and a time elapsed since the base station last sent timing and frequency information to the terminal.
However, Clark teaches wherein a location system 18, interpreted as the claimed terminal, will obtain position information for the location system based on receiving GPS data every second from the satellite system 22 which is conveyed via the downlink from the satellite system 22 [Clark, Figs. 1 and 6, ¶28 and ¶50], which is interpreted by the examiner as being a time elapsed since the terminal last received communications on the downlink as the time that elapsed since the location system 18 last received communications on the downlink from the GPS can be greater than one second before the location system must receive another GPS data from the GPS satellite via the downlink.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine the teachings of CHEN, in view of Cosma, indicating a NTN system for communicating GPS and Cellular signals with the teachings of Clark, indicating that the GPS satellite downlink data signals may be configured to be received by the terminal on an interval basis. The resulting benefit of the combination would have been the ability to reduce the occurrence of stale position data and increase location accuracy.
Regarding claim 2, the combination of CHEN, in view of Cosma and Clark teaches the method of claim 1, further comprising: transmitting a downlink transmission to the terminal, wherein the first uplink transmission is associated with the downlink transmission; transmitting a delay indication to the terminal, the delay indication identifying the selected point in time. (Cosma teaches wherein the DL transmission comprises any of the GPS signal received by the terminal and the PDCCH received by the terminal; wherein the UL transmission (PUCCH) is associated with the PDCCH as the PUCCH may comprise acknowledgement (ACK/NACK) information for the PDCCH received transmission or a scheduling request (SR). [¶171-¶173, ¶186 and ¶231]. Cosma teaches transmitting a delay indication to the terminal by the network, wherein the delay indication identifies that the terminal is to delay the PUCCH transmission until the next scheduled period, interpreted as the claimed selected point in time. [Cosma, ¶106, ¶172-¶173 and ¶178])
Similar rationale applied to the rejection of claim 1 above is applied hereto for the obviousness and motivation to combine.
Regarding claim 4, the combination of CHEN, in view of Cosma and Clark teaches the method of claim 2 wherein the delay indication identifies one or more of: a time period; a number of one or more sub-frames; and a number of one or more DRX cycles.
([Cosma, Fig. 9, ¶106, ¶172-¶173 and ¶178] Cosma teaches that the delay indication identifies a time period (the next scheduled period).)
Similar rationale applied to the rejection of claim 1 above is applied hereto for the obviousness and motivation to combine.
Regarding claim 9, the combination of CHEN, in view of Cosma and Clark teaches the method of claim 1, wherein determining that the terminal will obtain, during a first time period, position information for the terminal is based on the time elapsed since the terminal last received communications on the downlink being greater than a predetermined threshold. (According to Clark, a location system 18, interpreted as the claimed terminal, will obtain position information for the location system based on receiving GPS data every second from the satellite system 22 which is conveyed via the downlink from the satellite system 22 [Clark, Figs. 1 and 6, ¶28 and ¶50], which is interpreted by the examiner as being a time elapsed since the terminal last received communications on the downlink as the time that elapsed since the location system 18 last received communications on the downlink from the GPS must be greater than any preconfigured threshold comprising at least 0 seconds (and less than 1 second) before the location system must receive another GPS data from the GPS satellite via the downlink.
Similar rationale applied to the rejection of claim 1 above is applied hereto for the obviousness and motivation to combine.
Claim(s) 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over CHEN, in view of Cosma and Clark as applied to claim 2 above, and further in view of JUNG et al. US 2024/0031786 (hereinafter JUNG).
Regarding claim 5, CHEN, in view of Cosma and Clark teaches the method of claim 2 and further wherein the terminal and base station exchange signaling to schedule the terminal to transmit a first uplink transmission. ([CHEN, ¶60-¶62] The terminal may request that the base station provide uplink radio resource when the terminal needs to transmit uplink data. [Cosma, ¶152-¶153] the WTRU during active periods may perform transmission and reception).
But it does not teach wherein, after transmitting the downlink transmission and upon determining that the terminal has transmitted an initial access message, transmitting a second downlink transmission to the terminal and scheduling the first uplink resources for the terminal to transmit the first uplink transmission.
However, JUNG teaches wherein, after transmitting the downlink transmission and upon determining that the terminal has transmitted an initial access message, transmitting a second downlink transmission to the terminal and scheduling the first uplink resources for the terminal to transmit the first uplink transmission.
(JUNG teaches wherein the base station may transmit a downlink transmission (S1012) and after the transmission (S1012) and upon determining that the terminal (UE) has transmitted an initial access message (the base station has received the message at step S1013), the base station transmits a second downlink transmission to the terminal (UE) at step S1014 (referred to as the Random Access Response, RAR) and schedules the first uplink resources for the terminal to transmit the first uplink transmission (Physical Uplink Shared Channel, PUSCH) is scheduled in the RAR received at step S1014 at step S1015)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine the teachings of CHEN, in view of Cosma and Clark, indicating that the terminal and base station exchange signaling to schedule the terminal to transmit a first uplink transmission, with the teachings of JUNG, indicating that after transmitting the downlink transmission and upon determining that the terminal has transmitted an initial access message, transmitting a second downlink transmission to the terminal and scheduling the first uplink resources for the terminal to transmit the first uplink transmission. The resulting benefit of the combination would have been the ability to synchronize a data channel between the terminal and the base station for future uplink communications.
Claim(s) 6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over CHEN, in view of Cosma and Clark as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of SINGH et al. US 2022/0021485 (hereinafter SINGH).
Regarding claim 6, the combination of CHEN, in view of Cosma and Clark teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the uplink transmissions are sent in allocated resources [See, CHEN, Fig. 13 (transmission of uplink in resources at steps S31 and S37)]
But it does not teach further comprising determining that the terminal has not transmitted an expected uplink transmission in uplink resources allocated for the expected uplink transmission; upon determining that the terminal has not transmitted the expected uplink transmission, determining that the first uplink transmission is to be transmitted by the terminal; transmitting to the terminal a notification identifying the first uplink resources.
However, SINGH teach further comprising determining that the terminal has not transmitted an expected uplink transmission in uplink resources allocated for the expected uplink transmission; upon determining that the terminal has not transmitted the expected uplink transmission, determining that the first uplink transmission is to be transmitted by the terminal; transmitting to the terminal a notification identifying the first uplink resources.
([SINGH, ¶86 and ¶92] The base station may detect that the UE terminal has not transmitted to the first packet in the expected resources because within given CG resource there is a no energy detected (NED) condition detected by the base station on communication with the UE terminal. Since there was no first packet received/transmitted on the given resources it is determined that the UE terminal will be provided another opportunity to send the first packet by the base station which sends to the UE terminal a common NACK which has information indicating additional resources granted to the UE terminal for sending the first packet.)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine the teachings of CHEN, in view of Cosma and Clark, indicating the ability to receive transmissions in uplink resources with the teachings of SINGH, indicating the base station may detect missed transmissions in expected transmission resources and provide the transmitting terminal with additional uplink transmission resources if the terminal still has uplink data to be transmitted. The resulting benefit of the combination would have been the ability to recover missed transmissions by providing adequate alternative uplink transmission opportunities thereby increasing communication reliability.
Claim(s) 8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over CHEN, in view of Cosma and Clark as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Jung.
Regarding claim 8, Chen, in view of Cosma and Clark teaches the method of claim 1 wherein the terminal requests the base station provide uplink resources.
([CHEN, ¶60-¶62] The terminal may request that the base station provide uplink radio resource when the terminal needs to transmit uplink data. [Cosma, ¶152-¶153] the WTRU during active periods may perform transmission and reception).
But it does not teach upon determining that the terminal has transmitted an initial access message, scheduling the first uplink resources for the terminal to transmit the first uplink transmission.
However, Jung teaches upon determining that the terminal has transmitted an initial access message, scheduling the first uplink resources for the terminal to transmit the first uplink transmission.
(JUNG teaches wherein upon determining that the terminal (UE) has transmitted an initial access message (the base station has received the message at step S1013), the base station schedules the first uplink resources for the terminal to transmit the first uplink transmission (Physical Uplink Shared Channel, PUSCH) is scheduled in the RAR received at step S1014 at step S1015).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine the teachings of CHEN, in view of Cosma and Clark, indicating that the terminal and base station exchange signaling to schedule the terminal to transmit a first uplink transmission, with the teachings of JUNG, indicating that after transmitting the downlink transmission and upon determining that the terminal has transmitted an initial access message, transmitting a second downlink transmission to the terminal and scheduling the first uplink resources for the terminal to transmit the first uplink transmission. The resulting benefit of the combination would have been the ability to synchronize a data channel between the terminal and the base station for future uplink communications.
Claim(s) 10, 11, 18, 22 and 24 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over WIACEK et al. US 2022/0264497 (hereinafter WIACEK), in view of Clark et al. US 2013/0027556 (hereinafter Clark)
Regarding claim 10, WIACEK teaches a method of operating a terminal in a mobile telecommunications system comprising a Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN), the NTN comprising a base station and the terminal configured to communicate with the base station via an air interface provided by infrastructure equipment of the NTN, ([WIACEK, Fig. 7, ¶31] NTN comprising a satellite with a base station and a UE configured to communicate using an air interface 702A of Fig. 7)
the method comprising:
receiving a downlink signal from the base station; ([WIACEK, Fig. 5] the base station may communicate with the UE using a downlink signal 504 of Fig. 5)
in response to the downlink signal and during a first time period, obtaining position information for the terminal; ([WIACEK, Fig. 5, ¶40] In response to the downlink signal and during the time period which Step 504 of Fig. 5 is performed, the UE obtains positioning information via the SIB (SIB 16) which is used for GPS related information/satellite-related positioning information.)
synchronising with the base station using the obtained position information; and ([WIACEK, Fig. 5, Steps 506-514] The UE is synchronized with the base station using the obtained position information received in SIB 16 from the base station to determine the proper timing advance to properly synchronize/align the uplink communication.)
once synchronised, transmitting a first uplink transmission to the base station.( [WIACEK, Fig. 5, Steps 506-514, ¶83-¶86] Once the UE is synchronized at step 514, the following uplink transmissions 516, 526 and 532, which include the first uplink transmission at step 516 are transmitted.)
But while WIACEK teaches “obtaining position information for the ([WIACEK, Fig. 5, ¶40] In response to the downlink signal and during the time period which Step 504 of Fig. 5 is performed, the UE obtains positioning information via the SIB (SIB 16) which is used for GPS related information/satellite-related positioning information.), it does not teach that it is based on one or more of: a time elapsed since the terminal last communicated on the uplink; a time elapsed since the terminal last received communications on the downlink; and a time elapsed since the base station last sent timing and frequency information to the terminal.
However, Clark teaches wherein a location system 18, interpreted as the claimed terminal, will obtain position information for the location system based on receiving GPS data every second from the satellite system 22 which is conveyed via the downlink from the satellite system 22 [Clark, Figs. 1 and 6, ¶28 and ¶50], which is interpreted by the examiner as being a time elapsed since the terminal last received communications on the downlink as the time that elapsed since the location system 18 last received communications on the downlink from the GPS can be greater than one second before the location system must receive another GPS data from the GPS satellite via the downlink.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine the teachings of WIACEK, indicating a NTN system for communicating GPS and Cellular signals with the teachings of Clark, indicating that the GPS satellite downlink data signals may be configured to be received by the terminal on an interval basis. The resulting benefit of the combination would have been the ability to reduce the occurrence of stale position data and increase location accuracy.
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Regarding claim 18, WIACEK teaches A terminal for use in a mobile telecommunications system comprising a Non-Terrestrial Network “NTN”, the network comprising a base station and the terminal wherein the terminal is configured to communicate with the base station via an air interface provided by infrastructure equipment of the NTN, ([WIACEK, Fig. 7, ¶31] NTN comprising a satellite with a base station and a UE configured to communicate using an air interface 702A of Fig. 7)
the terminal being further configured to:
receive a downlink signal from the base station;
([WIACEK, Fig. 5] the UE receives from the base station a downlink signal 504 of Fig. 5)
obtain, in response to the downlink signal and during a first time period, position information for the terminal;
([WIACEK, Fig. 5, ¶40] In response to the downlink signal and during the time period which Step 504 of Fig. 5 is performed, the UE obtains positioning information via the SIB (SIB 16) which is used for GPS related information/satellite-related positioning information.)
synchronise with the base station using the obtained position information; and
([WIACEK, Fig. 5, Steps 506-514] The UE is synchronized with the base station using the obtained position information received in SIB 16 from the base station to determine the proper timing advance to properly synchronize/align the uplink communication.)
transmit, once synchronised, a first uplink transmission to the base station. ( [WIACEK, Fig. 5, Steps 506-514, ¶83-¶86] Once the UE is synchronized at step 514, the following uplink transmissions 516, 526 and 532, which include the first uplink transmission at step 516 are transmitted.)
But while WIACEK teaches “obtaining position information for the ([WIACEK, Fig. 5, ¶40] In response to the downlink signal and during the time period which Step 504 of Fig. 5 is performed, the UE obtains positioning information via the SIB (SIB 16) which is used for GPS related information/satellite-related positioning information.), it does not teach that it is based on one or more of: a time elapsed since the terminal last communicated on the uplink; a time elapsed since the terminal last received communications on the downlink; and a time elapsed since the base station last sent timing and frequency information to the terminal.
However, Clark teaches wherein a location system 18, interpreted as the claimed terminal, will obtain position information for the location system based on receiving GPS data every second from the satellite system 22 which is conveyed via the downlink from the satellite system 22 [Clark, Figs. 1 and 6, ¶28 and ¶50], which is interpreted by the examiner as being a time elapsed since the terminal last received communications on the downlink as the time that elapsed since the location system 18 last received communications on the downlink from the GPS can be greater than one second before the location system must receive another GPS data from the GPS satellite via the downlink.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine the teachings of WIACEK, indicating a NTN system for communicating GPS and Cellular signals with the teachings of Clark, indicating that the GPS satellite downlink data signals may be configured to be received by the terminal on an interval basis. The resulting benefit of the combination would have been the ability to reduce the occurrence of stale position data and increase location accuracy.
Regarding claim 11, the combination of WIACEK, in view of Clark teaches the method of claim 10, wherein the downlink signal comprises one or more of: downlink control information associated with a downlink transmission [WIACEK, Fig. 5];
downlink control information associated with a downlink transmission and identifying a delay associated with a position information procedure; a wake-up signal; and a wake-up signal associated with a position information procedure.
([WIACEK, Fig. 5] the downlink signal from the base station is shown as comprising downlink control information in the form of SIBs received in the downlink direction by the UE from the base station.)
Regarding claims 22 and 24, the combination of WIACEK, in view of Clark teaches the method and terminal of claims 10 and 18 respectively, wherein the terminal being further configured to obtain position information for the terminal during the first time period is based on the time elapsed since the terminal last received communications on the downlink being greater than a predetermined threshold.
(According to Clark, a location system 18, interpreted as the claimed terminal, will obtain position information for the location system based on receiving GPS data every second from the satellite system 22 which is conveyed via the downlink from the satellite system 22 [Clark, Figs. 1 and 6, ¶28 and ¶50], which is interpreted by the examiner as being a time elapsed since the terminal last received communications on the downlink as the time that elapsed since the location system 18 last received communications on the downlink from the GPS must be greater than the threshold comprising at least 0 seconds before the location system must receive another GPS data from the GPS satellite via the downlink.)
Similar rationale applied to the rejection of claims 10 and 18 above is applied hereto for the obviousness and motivation to combine.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3, 7, 12, 13, 21, 23 and 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: The Examiner has conducted an updated search of the available Patent and Non-Patent Literature and was unable to find any prior art which teaches either solely or in combination with another reference the claim limitations of claims 3, 7, 12, 13, 21, 23 and 25 in combination with all the claim limitations of their base claim and all intervening claims.
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 LONNIE V SWEET whose telephone number is (571)270-3622. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Hassan Phillips can be reached at 571-272-3940. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/LONNIE V SWEET/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2467