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
The Amendment filed 03/30/2025 has been entered. Claims 19 has been amended. Claims 1-5 and 9-23 are currently pending.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 01/27/2026 have been fully considered. Regarding independent claims 1, 9, 16 and 19; they are not persuasive.
First argument,
The Office rejects claim 1 over US Patent Application Publication No. 2019/0350037 to Lee (hereinafter "Lee") in view of US Patent Application Publication No. 2022/0303946 to Kim (hereinafter "Kim"). The Applicant respectfully requests reconsideration and
withdrawal of the rejection in view of the following comments.
The Office cites Lee at pars. 124-131 with respect to "determining to stop the early data communication" and "transmitting, to the UE ..., a message to instruct the UE to stop the early data communication, the message formatted in accordance with a protocol for controlling radio resources." However, Lee here discusses UE-side logic and does not disclose a determination to stop the early data communication at a base station of any kind, distributed or non-distributed. Lee at most suggests that "the second RRC message indicates that the EDT is successful" (par. 128), but it is the UE that "may indicate a release of the RRC connection to upper layers." Thus, regardless of whether the secondary reference, Kim, discloses messaging between a CU and a DU of a distributed base station, the proposed combination of Lee and Kim cannot disclose "transmitting, to the UE ..., a message to instruct the UE to stop the early data communication."
Reply, examiner respectfully disagrees.
Lee teaches a random access procedure where a RACH procedure messages include early data transmission without requiring the UE to enter into an active state, as cited below.[0120]-“Meanwhile, for low cost UE, it is important to save UE power. For example, the low cost UE includes Narrow Band Internet of Things (NB-IoT) UE, Bandwidth reduced Low complexity (BL) UE, Machine Type Communication (MTC) UE or a UE in enhanced coverage. Thus, the number of transmissions should be reduced as many as possible. Early data transmission (EDT) in RRC Connection Establishment or RRC Connection Resume is one of the solutions to reduce UE power consumption. However, the current system does not support early data transmission. Hereinafter, a method for a UE to perform EDT and an apparatus supporting the same according to an embodiment of the present invention are described in detail. In the specification, the EDT may be uplink data transmission during the random access procedure. The EDT may allow one uplink data transmission optionally followed by one downlink data transmission during the random access procedure. For example, the EDT may allow one uplink data transmission optionally followed by one downlink data transmission during the random access procedure without establishing or resuming the RRC connection. S1 connection may be established or resumed upon reception of the uplink data and may be released or suspended after transmission of the downlink data. Early data transmission may refer to both control plane (CP)-EDT and user plane (UP)-EDT.”.
In the present application, when the base station determines to stop early data transmission, the base station proceeds to transmit an RRC reject message, as mentioned in paragraph [0111] cited below.
[0111]-“FIG. 5 is a flow diagram of an example method 500 for transmitting an RRC reject message in response to stopping early data communication. At block 502, the base station performs early data communication with a UE. Performing early data communication includes performing initial early data communication to receive a UL data packet or transmit a DL data packet (e.g., events 380, 382, 383, 303) and may include performing subsequent early data communication to communicate additional UL and/or DL packets with the UE (e.g., event 310). At block 504, the base station determines to stop early data communication with the UE (e.g., event 312). In response to the determination at block 504, at block 506, the base station transmits an RRC reject message to the UE to instruct the UE to stop early data communication (e.g., events 314, 316).”
In other words, when the base station determines to stop early data communication, EDT, it transmits an RRC reject message. In this context, of the disclosure of Lee, the base station may transmit one of RRC connection release, a RRC connection reject message, a RRC connection setup message and a RRC connection resume message. In other words, the base station has to determine which of these to transmit based on the status of the EDT transmission, as cited below.
[0154]-“If the UE receives RRC connection release or reject message not indicating ACK to the UL data, the UE may consider that the UL data that were transmitted are unacknowledged and enter RRC_IDLE. The UE may trigger RRC connection establishment procedure or RRC connection resume procedure to re-transmit unacknowledged data later.”
By making such a determination, the base station determines whether to stop EDT and retransmit any unacknowledged packets later. Hence, examiner maintains that Lee teaches “determining to stop early data communication” by a base station, as the argument implies.
Second argument,
The Office rejects claim 9 over Lee in view of US Patent Application Publication No. 2020/0351974 to Zhang (hereinafter "Zhang"), and rejects apparatus claim 16 in a similar
manner. The Applicant respectfully requests withdrawal of these rejections for the reasons below.
The Office relies on Zhang with respect to reestablishing at least one radio link
control (RLC) entity. Inasmuch as Zhang discloses reestablishing an RLC layer at par. 85, and explains that this action pertains to a data transmission failure (see Zhang par. 80), Zhang specifically requires the following conditions for reestablishing an RLC layer: when "the UE starts a timer related to the RRC connection resume procedure and the timer expires; or the UE reselects a cell while the timer is still running" (Zhang par. 85). Neither Lee nor Zhang contemplates reestablishing at least one radio link control (RLC) entity in response to receiving a command from the RAN to reject the radio resource control connection, as recited in claim 9. Nor is there a reason why one would modify Lee as proposed in the Office Action to include the reestablishing step under a different set of conditions (receiving the second RRC message as discussed in Lee at pars. 126-129).
Reply, examiner respectfully disagrees.
Applicant argues that the disclosure in Zhang fails to teach or suggest the limitation “reestablishing at least one radio link control entity” in response to receiving a command. Applicant further argues that neither Lee nor Zhang in combination teach nor suggest the feature as there isn’t a sufficient reason for making such a modification.
The disclosure of the present application cites the following when it comes to the features above.
[0081]-“In some implementations, in response to the RRC reject message the UE 102 releases at least one RLC entity that the UE 102 used in the initial early data communication 380 and/or the subsequent early data communication 310. When the UE 102 has data to send or receives a paging message including an MT EDT indication from the RAN 105, the UE 102 can establish at least one RLC entity for a second initial early data communication and/or a second (subsequent) early data communication with the RAN 105 (e.g., DU 174 or another DU and CU 172 and/or another CU), similar to the initial early data communication 380 and/or the subsequent early data communication 310, respectively. In other implementations, the UE 102 reestablishes at least one RLC entity that the UE 102 used during the initial early data communication 380 or the subsequent early data communication 310 in response to receiving the RRC reject message or before performing the second initial early data communication and/or the second early data communication. In some implementations, the UE 102 releases a MAC entity that the UE 102 used in the initial early data communication 380 and/or the subsequent early data communication 310 in response to the RRC reject message. When the UE 102 has data to send or receives a paging message including an MT EDT indication from the RAN 105, the UE 102 can establish a MAC entity for the second initial early data communication and/or the second (subsequent) early data communication, similar to the initial early data communication 380 and/or the subsequent early data communication 310, respectively. In other implementations, the UE 102 resets a MAC entity that the UE 102 used in the initial early data communication 380 and/or the subsequent early data communication 310 in response to the RRC reject message.”
In other words, the UE prepares for a subsequent data transmission by reestablishing at least one RLC entity in response to receiving a command, where the RRC command corresponds to an RRC reject message.
The embodiment referenced in Zhang is for a scenario where EDT failure occurs based on a timer for controlling RRC connection expiring as taught in paragraph [0081] shown below
[0081]-“Case 1: A related timer for controlling the resume of the RRC connection expires. This timer may be, for example, a timer that controls the time for attempting to resume the RRC connection. When the RRC connection resume procedure exceeds this time, it can be determined that the RRC connection resume fails. Naturally, this embodiment of the present invention is not limited thereto; and the timer may also be in another form that controls the resume of the RRC connection.”
While keeping in mind that the event which triggers RLC reestablishment is an RRC reject message, according to LEE, such a message is transmitted in response to failure of the RRC connection resume with EDT. Alternatively, LEE teaches that T300 may be used for indicating RRC connection resume failure, as shown below.
[0156]-“If the UE transmits data over SRB or DRB, and if the RRC connection establishment or the RRC connection resume procedure with EDT fails, e.g. the procedure unsuccessfully ends due to reception of the RRC connection reject or T300 expiry, the UE may consider that the data are unacknowledged in Layer 1, 2 or 3, and the UE may stop (re-)transmissions of any data and RLC/MAC acknowledgements, if any. Then, if the data has been transmitted over DRB (or SRB), the UE may re-establish and suspend Layer 2 entities. If the data has been transmitted over SRB, the UE may release Layer 2 entities. Finally, the UE may enter RRC_IDLE and may trigger the RRC connection establishment or the RRC connection resume procedure for re-transmission of the data that was not delivered and unacknowledged in Layer 1, 2 or 3.”
In other words, according to LEE, from the UE-side, the expiry of the timer is considered equivalent to the reception of the RRC connection reject message, which was used to trigger the reestablishment of the RLC layer, as claimed.
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 set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148
USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied 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 non-obviousness.
Claims 1, 2, 4 and 5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee et al. (US 20190350037 A1) hereinafter Lee in view of Kim et al. (US 20220303946 A1) hereinafter Kim.
Regarding claim 1,
Lee teaches a method, the method comprising: performing early data communication with a user equipment (UE) (Citation: [0124]-“Referring to FIG. 9, in step S900, the UE may initiate a random access procedure. The random access procedure may be initiated for the EDT….”; also refer to [0124]-[0131]; Fig. 9. Examiner comment: initiating RACH procedure, where an initial RRC message may contain small data without the need for the UE to enter into RRC_CONNECTED state.), while a radio resource control connection between the UE and the distributed base station is not active (Citation: [0124]-“…Namely, the UE may transmit data to the base station by using message 3 during the random access procedure without establishing or resuming the RRC connection. A message transmitted by the UE for performing EDT may be referred to as a first RRC message in the present invention….” ;[0124]-[0131]. Examiner comment: Transmitting data without the needing to establish or resume RRC connection.); determining to stop the early data communication (Citation: [0126]- “In step S920, the UE may receive message 4 from the base station. The message 4 may be received in response to the first RRC message. The message 4 may be referred to as a second RRC message in the present invention. For example, the second RRC message may be one of a RRC connection setup message, a RRC connection resume message or a RRC connection reject message.” and [0154]-“If the UE receives RRC connection release or reject message not indicating ACK to the UL data, the UE may consider that the UL data that were transmitted are unacknowledged and enter RRC_IDLE. The UE may trigger RRC connection establishment procedure or RRC connection resume procedure to re-transmit unacknowledged data later.”; also refer to [0124]-[0131] and [0154]. Examiner comment: stopping EDT when deemed unsuccessful ); and in response to the determining, transmitting, to the UE via a base station, a message to instruct the UE to stop the early data communication (Citation: [0129]-“If the second RRC message indicates that the EDT is unsuccessful, the UE may consider that the EDT ends unsuccessfully. That is, the UE may determine that the EDT is ended unsuccessfully when the second RRC message indicates that the EDT is not successful. In this case, the UE may suspend radio bearer for the EDT and enter RRC_IDLE. The UE may not transmit the third RRC message in response to the second RRC message, to the base station, if the second RRC message indicates that the EDT is not successful.”; [0129]. Examiner comment: second RRC message indicating EDT was unsuccessful.), the message formatted in accordance with a protocol for controlling radio resources (Citation: [0129]-“If the second RRC message indicates that the EDT is unsuccessful, the UE may consider that the EDT ends unsuccessfully. That is, the UE may determine that the EDT is ended unsuccessfully when the second RRC message indicates that the EDT is not successful. In this case, the UE may suspend radio bearer for the EDT and enter RRC_IDLE. The UE may not transmit the third RRC message in response to the second RRC message, to the base station, if the second RRC message indicates that the EDT is not successful.”; [0129]. Examiner comment: second RRC message).
Lee does not explicitly teach a method in a central unit (CU) of a distributed base station of a radio access network (RAN), the CU performing EDT, and transmitting via a distributed unit (DU) of the distributed base station an instruction message.
Kim teaches a method in a central unit (CU) of a distributed base station of a radio access network (RAN) (Citation: [0305]-“For example, FIGS. 17A and 17B represent a wireless communication system including a UE, an eNB-DU, an eNB-CU, an MME, and an S-GW.” ; also refer to [0305]-[0337]; Fig. 17A. Examiner comment: method done by CU), the CU performing EDT (Citation: [0308]-“In step 1702, when the MME decides that the DL data can be transmitted using MT-EDT, the MME may initiate the MT-EDT to send a DL data.” ; also refer to [0305]-[0337]; Fig. 17A .Examiner comment: CU performing MT-EDT), transmitting via a distributed unit (DU) of the distributed base station an instruction message (Citation: [0333]-“In step 1714, when the eNB-DU receives, from the eNB-CU, the W1AP DL RRC MESSAGE TRANSFER message, the eNB-DU may generate the RANDOM ACCESS RESPONSE message including the Timing Alignment information and the UL grant. Then, the RANDOM ACCESS RESPONSE message may be multiplexed with the DL data and the RRC message which are received in step 1713.”; also refer to [0333]-[0337]; Fig. 17A. Examiner comment: transmitting a second RA message which may be multiplexed with an RRC).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to add the teachings of Kim to the teachings of Lee. One would have been motivated to do so, with a reasonable expectation of success, because it would support split CU-DU functions (Kim [0001]).
Regarding claim 2,
Lee and Kim teach all the features of claim 1, as outlined above.
Lee further teaches detecting a failure associated with early data communication (detecting EDT failure [0129]-[0133]), wherein the base station determines to stop early data communication in response to detecting failure (the base station stops EDT based on the determination [0129]-[0133]).
Lee does not explicitly teach the CU performing determination.
Kim teaches the CU performing determination (eNB-CU and eNB-DU system architecture where the eNB-CU determines … [0163]; Fig. 17A).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to add the teachings of Kim to the teachings of Lee. One would have been motivated to do so, with a reasonable expectation of success, because it would support split CU-DU functions (Kim [0001]).
Regarding claim 4,
Lee and Kim teach all the features of claim 1, as outlined above.
Lee further teaches transmitting a command to reject the radio resource control connection (UE receiving an RRC connection reject message [0126]-[0133]).
Regarding claim 5,
Lee and Kim teach all the features of claim 1, as outlined above.
Lee further teaches transmitting a command to set up a new radio resource control connection (UE receiving an RRC connection setup message [0126]-[0133]).
Claim 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee and Kim in further view of Kim et al. (US 20180368109) hereinafter Kim_109.
Regarding claim 3,
Lee and Kim teach all the features of claim 2, as outlined above.
Lee and Kim do not explicitly teach receiving a failure indication from the DU.
Kim_109 teaches receiving a failure indication from the DU (CU receiving RRC failure from the DU [0146]).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to add the teachings of Kim_109 to the teachings of Lee and Kim. One would have been motivated to do so, with a reasonable expectation of success, because it would allow for dynamic configuration (Kim_109 [0007]).
Claims 9-11, 13, 15-18, 20 and 22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee in further view of Zhang et al. (US 20200351974 A1) hereinafter Zhang.
Regarding claim 9,
Lee teaches a method in a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: performing, by the UE, when a radio resource control connection between the UE and a radio access network (RAN) is not active (Citation: [0124]-“…Namely, the UE may transmit data to the base station by using message 3 during the random access procedure without establishing or resuming the RRC connection. A message transmitted by the UE for performing EDT may be referred to as a first RRC message in the present invention….” ;[0124]-[0131]. Examiner comment: Transmitting data without the needing to establish or resume RRC connection.), early data communication with the RAN (Citation: [0124]-“Referring to FIG. 9, in step S900, the UE may initiate a random access procedure. The random access procedure may be initiated for the EDT….”; also refer to [0124]-[0131]; Fig. 9. Examiner comment: initiating RACH procedure, where an initial RRC message may contain small data without the need for the UE to enter into RRC_CONNECTED state.), including communicating at least a portion of a first data packet with the RAN (Citation: [0125]-“In step S910, the UE may perform the EDT. Namely, the UE may transmit data to the base station by using message 3 during the random access procedure without establishing or resuming the RRC connection. A message transmitted by the UE for performing EDT may be referred to as a first RRC message in the present invention. The UE may transmit the first RRC message to the base station in order to perform EDT. The first message may include an uplink data for the EDT. For example, the first RRC message may be one of a RRC early data request message, a RRC connection request message or a RRC connection resume request message.”; also refer to [0125]-[0131]; Fig. 9. Examiner comment: Including uplink data in a first message); receiving a command from the RAN to reject the radio resource control connection (Citation: [0126]-“In step S920, the UE may receive message 4 from the base station. The message 4 may be received in response to the first RRC message. The message 4 may be referred to as a second RRC message in the present invention. For example, the second RRC message may be one of a RRC connection setup message, a RRC connection resume message or a RRC connection reject message.” ; also refer to [0126]-[0129].Examiner comment: second RRC message indicating EDT was unsuccessful which may be RRC connection reject); in response to receiving the command: stopping the early data communication. (Citation: [0129]-“If the second RRC message indicates that the EDT is unsuccessful, the UE may consider that the EDT ends unsuccessfully. That is, the UE may determine that the EDT is ended unsuccessfully when the second RRC message indicates that the EDT is not successful. In this case, the UE may suspend radio bearer for the EDT and enter RRC_IDLE. The UE may not transmit the third RRC message in response to the second RRC message, to the base station, if the second RRC message indicates that the EDT is not successful.”; [0129] .Examiner comment: suspended radio bearer for EDT in response to the message).
Lee does not explicitly teach the UE operating in an inactive state associated with a protocol for controlling radio resources; reestablishing at least one radio link control (RLC) entity.
Zhang teaches the UE operating in an inactive state associated with a protocol for controlling radio resources ([0085]-”Cases 1 and 2 are: the UE starts a timer related to the RRC connection resume procedure and the timer expires; or the UE reselects a cell while the timer is still running. In these cases,” ; also refer to [0085]-[0087]; Examiner comment: before the UE resumes RRC connection.); reestablishing at least one radio link control (RLC) entity (Citation: [0087]-“…the UE only resets a MAC layer and reestablishes an RLC layer without having to reestablish the PDCP for any RB.”. Examiner comment: reestablishing RLC layer [0085]).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to add the teachings of Zhang to the teachings of Lee. One would have been motivated to do so, with a reasonable expectation of success, because it would allow for the UE to reduce transmission latency (Zhang [0005]).
Regarding claim 10,
Lee and Zhang teach all the features of claim 9, as outlined above.
Lee further teaches in response to receiving the command, suspending, by the processing hardware, at least one packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) entity (UE may suspend layer 2 entities in response to receiving RRC connection reject message [0156]).
Regarding claim 11,
Lee and Zhang teach all the features of claim 9, as outlined above.
Lee further teaches in response to receiving the command, processing uplink data for RAN (in response to the RRC message, preparing uplink data [0124]-[0125]; Fig. 9).
Regarding claim 13,
Lee and Zhang teach all the features of claim 11, as outlined above.
Lee does not explicitly teach refraining from transmitting the uplink data to the RAN until a timer value included in the command expires.
Zhang teaches refraining from transmitting the uplink data to the RAN until a timer value included in the command expires (not transmitting uplink data until timer expires, where the timer is included [0081]-[0087]).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to add the teachings of Zhang to the teachings of Lee. One would have been motivated to do so, with a reasonable expectation of success, because it would allow for the UE to reduce transmission latency (Zhang [0005]).
Regarding claim 15,
Lee and Zhang teach all the features of claim 11, as outlined above.
Lee further teaches wherein the processing of the uplink data includes transitioning to the connected state to transmit the uplink data (UE may enter connected state to transmit data [0127]-[0129]; Fig. 9).
Claims [16-18, 20 and 22] “UE apparatus” are rejected under the same reasoning as claims [9-11, 13 and 15] “UE method”, respectively.
Claims 12 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee and Zhang in view of Wong et al. (US 20210037553 A1) hereinafter Wong.
Regarding claim 12,
Lee and Zhang teach all the features of claim 11, as outlined above.
Lee further teaches the performing of the early data communication includes transmitting, to the RAN, an indication that the UE is initiating early data communication and a segment of the first data packet (EDT indicating EDT initiation and including uplink data [0125]-[0127]; Fig. 9).
Lee and Zhang do not explicitly teach determining that the RAN failed to receive the first data packet; and retransmitting the first packet to the RAN.
Wong teaches determining that the RAN failed to receive the first data packet (determining that EDT was unsuccessful [0084]-[0088]); and retransmitting the first packet to the RAN (preforming Msg3 retransmission [0084]-[0088]).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to add the teachings of Wong to the teachings of Lee and Zhang. One would have been motivated to do so, with a reasonable expectation of success, because it would allow for retransmission (Wong [0088]).
Claim [19] “UE apparatus” are rejected under the same reasoning as claim [12] “UE method”.
Claims 14 and 21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee and Zhang in view of Ren et al. (US 20200337089 A) hereinafter Ren.
Regarding claim 14,
Lee and Zhang teach all the features of claim 11, as outlined above.
Lee and Zhang do not explicitly teach the processing of the uplink data includes initiating a second early data communication to transmit the uplink data without transitioning to a connected state associated with the protocol for controlling radio resources.
Ren teaches the processing of the uplink data includes initiating a second early data communication to transmit the uplink data without transitioning to a connected state associated with the protocol for controlling radio resources (transmitting second small data prior to completing the RACH procedure [0030]).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to add the teachings of Ren to the teachings of Lee and Zhang. One would have been motivated to do so, with a reasonable expectation of success, because it would minimize signaling overhead (Ren [0005]).
Claim [21] “UE apparatus” are rejected under the same reasoning as claim [14] “UE method”.
Claim 23 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee and Kim in view of Park et al. (US 20190215872 A1) hereinafter Park.
Regarding claim 23,
Lee and Kim teach all the features of claim 2, as outlined above.
Lee and Kim do not explicitly teach wherein the detecting of the failure includes at least one of:
detecting a security error;
detecting that a block error rate (BLER) is above a threshold;
determining that a number of attempted transmissions of a protocol data unit (PDU) to the UE during the early data communication exceeds a threshold; ordetermining that a timer associated with the early data communication has expired.
Park teaches wherein the detecting of the failure includes at least one of:
detecting a security error;
detecting that a block error rate (BLER) is above a threshold;
determining that a number of attempted transmissions of a protocol data unit (PDU) to the UE during the early data communication exceeds a threshold (determining that the EDT procedure fails N consecutive times, where the EDT procedure involves PDU transmission [0022], [0044], and [0871]); ordetermining that a timer associated with the early data communication has expired.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to add the teachings of Park to the teachings of Lee and Kim. One would have been motivated to do so, with a reasonable expectation of success, because it would reduce latency (Park [0003]).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. US 20180368109 A1 teaches a distributed architecture (CU-DU) where connection failure occurs.
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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ABDUL AZIZ SANTARISI whose telephone number is (703)756-4586. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 8 AM - 5:00 PM ET. Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ayman Abaza can be reached on (571)270-0422. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ABDUL AZIZ SANTARISI/Examiner, Art Unit 2465
/AYMAN A ABAZA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2465
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