DETAILED ACTION
This office action is responsive to communications filed on December 23, 2025. Claims 1, 6, 8, 13, 15, and 20 have been amended. Claims 5, 12, and 19 have been canceled. New claims 21-23 have been added. Claims 1-4, 6-11, 13-18, and 20-23 are pending in the application.
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 § 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 1, 2, 4, 7-9, 11, and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhu et al. (US 2024/0340693) in view of Sun et al. (US 2025/0175435) and Ratnam et al. (US 2022/0377616).
Regarding Claim 1, Zhu teaches a method of operating a wireless access node to inhibit access point data congestion (“the transmitter of the data flow of the target service properly adjusts the sending window of the data flow of the target service based on the congestion status of the UPF network element and the congestion status of the RAN, thereby reducing a transmission delay of the data flow of the target service and improving delay stability of the target service” – See [0260]), the method comprising:
wirelessly exchanging user data with a wireless user device for a low latency data service (“the target service may be a delay-sensitive service” – See [0109]; “the transmitter of the data flow of the target service is the AF network element” – See [0253]; The network wirelessly communicates delay-sensitive/low latency data between a UE (wireless user device) and an AF);
exchanging the user data with a network user plane (“The user plane network element is used as an interface to a data network, and implements functions such as user plane data forwarding, session/flow-level charging statistics, and bandwidth restriction, that is, packet routing and forwarding, quality of service (QoS) processing on user plane data, and the like” – See [0084]; “In a 5G communication system, the user plane network element may be a user plane function (UPF) network element” – See [0085]; The UPF (network user plane) performs user plane data forwarding (exchanging the user data));
measuring a queue status for downlink data transmission to the wireless user device (“The RAN activates a congestion acquisition function for the target service. In the data flow transmission process of the target service, the RAN obtains the congestion status of the RAN” – See [0237]; “In an example, the first congestion acquisition manner may indicate one or more of the following: 1. Obtaining the Congestion Status of the RAN Based on a Data Volume of a to-be-Sent Data Flow in the RAN” – See [0114]; “The data volume of the to-be-sent data flow may be one or more of the following: a length of a to-be-sent data flow in a queue” – See [0115]; See also Fig. 5; The RAN measures its queue status for to-be-sent data for the UE (wireless user device));
generating a queue report that indicates the queue status and wirelessly transferring the queue report that indicates the queue status to the wireless user device (“The RAN may send the first congestion information to the UE” – See [0244]; “It should be understood that the first congestion information and the second congestion information may be carried in a same MAC-CE message, or may be carried in different MAC-CE messages” – See [0246]; See also Fig. 5; The RAN generates a message that indicates the RAN congestion status/queue report and wirelessly transmits it to the UE),
wherein the wireless user device receives the queue report and delivers the queue report that indicates the queue status to a congestion control application server (“correspondingly, the UE receives the MAC-CE message” – See [0245]; “The UE sends the first congestion information and the second congestion information to the AF network element” – See [0256]; “The AF network element adjusts the sending window of the data flow of the target service based on the first congestion information and the second congestion information” – See [0258]; The UE receives the congestion status/queue report from the RAN and delivers the queue report to a congestion control application function/server, wherein the congestion control application function/server implements a congestion control algorithm (e.g., adjusting a sending window) based on the queue report).
Zhu does not explicitly teach that the wireless user device transfers the uplink signaling indicating the queue report to the congestion control application server by wirelessly transferring the uplink signaling indicating the queue report to the wireless access node so that the wireless access node can deliver the queue report to the congestion control application server.
However, Sun teaches that communications between a wireless user device and an application server are forwarded via a wireless access node (“In other words, in a user plane architecture, an application server and the UE perform user plane communication through a UE-RAN-UPF-AF path” – See [0074]; The UE (wireless user device) transmits data to the RAN (wireless access node) which then transmits the data to the AF (application server)).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Zhu such that the wireless user device transfers the uplink signaling indicating the queue report to the congestion control application server by wirelessly transferring the uplink signaling indicating the queue report to the wireless access node so that the wireless access node can deliver the queue report to the congestion control application server since it is a well-known function of the user plane architecture specified in the 5G communication standards for communications between a wireless user device and an application server (See Sun, [0072]-[0074]).
Zhu does not explicitly teach determining a downlink data rate to the wireless user device, wherein the queue report indicates the downlink data rate.
However, Ratnam teaches determining a downlink data rate to the wireless user device, wherein the queue report indicates the downlink data rate (“the base station collects UE SLA reports sent to the base station (for example, the UE SLA report transmitted at block 730 of FIG. 7). As previously noted, the UE SLA reports may include, without limitation, the following items of information: (i) a time stamp of the report, (ii) a reference signal reception power (RSRP) value for the serving BS (for example, base station 621 in FIG. 6), (iii) channel quality index for the link between the base station and the UE, (iv) a value of a downlink throughput metric” – See [0095]; “upon receiving a second trigger, the BS may forward the BS SLA report or the augmented SLA report to a network management entity to analyze SLA assurance performance” – See [0097]; The base station/wireless access node determines a downlink throughput for a UE (downlink data rate to the wireless user device), wherein the downlink throughput is indicated in a report to a network management entity).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Zhu to include determining a downlink data rate to the wireless user device, wherein the queue report indicates the downlink data rate. Motivation for doing so would be to monitor and ensure that wireless network services are provided at agreed-upon service levels (See Ratnam, [0003]).
Regarding Claim 2, Zhu in view of Sun and Ratnam teaches the method of Claim 1. Zhu further teaches that measuring the queue status comprises determining a queue existence; and the queue status comprises the queue existence (“The first threshold may be understood as a trigger condition for the RAN to report the congestion status of the RAN. For example, when the data volume of the to-be-sent data flow in the RAN is greater than or equal to the first threshold, the RAN sends the congestion status of the RAN. The first threshold may be a length threshold corresponding to a queue” – See [0119]; The indication of a queue length that is over a threshold signifies the existence of data in the queue).
Regarding Claim 4, Zhu in view of Sun and Ratnam teaches the method of Claim 1. Zhu further teaches that measuring the queue status comprises determining a queued data amount; and the queue status comprises the queued data amount (“The first threshold may be understood as a trigger condition for the RAN to report the congestion status of the RAN. For example, when the data volume of the to-be-sent data flow in the RAN is greater than or equal to the first threshold, the RAN sends the congestion status of the RAN. The first threshold may be a length threshold corresponding to a queue” – See [0119]; The indication of a queue length signifies a queued data amount).
Regarding Claim 7, Zhu in view of Sun and Ratnam teaches the method of Claim 1. Zhu further teaches that the wireless access node comprises a Fifth Generation New Radio (5GNR) gNodeB (“the access network device may be a gNB” – See [0082]; The wireless access node is a gNB); and
further comprising: executing a Media Access Control (MAC) network application (“the DU implements some functions of the gNB … The DU is responsible for processing a physical layer protocol and a real-time service, and implements functions of a radio link control (RLC) layer, a media access control (MAC) layer” – See [0083]; The wireless access node implements a MAC layer); and
executing a Congestion Detection (CD) network application (“The RAN activates a congestion acquisition function for the target service” – See [0237]; The wireless access node executes a congestion acquisition function (congestion detection application)).
Claim 8 is rejected based on reasoning similar to Claim 1.
Claim 9 is rejected based on reasoning similar to Claim 2.
Claim 11 is rejected based on reasoning similar to Claim 4.
Claim 14 is rejected based on reasoning similar to Claim 7.
Claims 3, 6, 10, and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhu et al. (US 2024/0340693) in view of Sun et al. (US 2025/0175435) and Ratnam et al. (US 2022/0377616) and further in view of Callard (US 2014/0281034).
Regarding Claim 3, Zhu in view of Sun and Ratnam teaches the method of Claim 1. Zhu teaches measuring the queue status, as shown above with respect to Claim 1. Zhu, Sun, and Ratnam do not explicitly teach that the queue status comprises a queue delay time, and measuring the queue delay time.
However, Callard teaches that the queue status comprises the queue delay time, and measuring the queue delay time (“The queue status may include buffer or queue delay statistics or information, such as average delay time, minimum delay time, delay variance” – See [0022]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Zhu such that the queue status comprises the queue delay time, and measuring the queue delay time. Motivation for doing so would be to determine delay tolerances so that delays among multiple different flows/streams can be managed (See Callard, [0024]).
Regarding Claim 6, Zhu in view of Sun and Ratnam teaches the method of Claim 1. Zhu further teaches that measuring the queue status comprises determining a queue existence and a queued data amount and the queue status comprises the queue existence and the queued data amount (“The first threshold may be understood as a trigger condition for the RAN to report the congestion status of the RAN. For example, when the data volume of the to-be-sent data flow in the RAN is greater than or equal to the first threshold, the RAN sends the congestion status of the RAN. The first threshold may be a length threshold corresponding to a queue” – See [0119]; The indication of a queue length that is over a threshold signifies the existence of data in the queue. Furthermore, the indication of the queue length signifies a queued data amount).
Ratnam further teaches that that the queue status comprises the downlink data rate and a downlink latency, and measuring the downlink data rate and the downlink latency (“the base station collects UE SLA reports sent to the base station (for example, the UE SLA report transmitted at block 730 of FIG. 7). As previously noted, the UE SLA reports may include, without limitation, the following items of information: (i) a time stamp of the report, (ii) a reference signal reception power (RSRP) value for the serving BS (for example, base station 621 in FIG. 6), (iii) channel quality index for the link between the base station and the UE, (iv) a value of a downlink throughput metric (v) a value of an uplink throughput metric, (vi) a value of a downlink latency metric” – See [0095]; “upon receiving a second trigger, the BS may forward the BS SLA report or the augmented SLA report to a network management entity to analyze SLA assurance performance” – See [0097]; The queue status comprises downlink throughput (downlink data rate) and downlink latency).
Zhu, Sun, and Ratnam do not explicitly teach that the queue status comprises a queue delay time, and measuring the queue delay time.
However, Callard teaches that the queue status comprises the queue delay time, and measuring the queue delay time (“The queue status may include buffer or queue delay statistics or information, such as average delay time, minimum delay time, delay variance” – See [0022]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Zhu such that the queue status comprises the queue delay time, and measuring the queue delay time. Motivation for doing so would be to determine delay tolerances so that delays among multiple different flows/streams can be managed (See Callard, [0024]).
Claim 10 is rejected based on reasoning similar to Claim 3.
Claim 13 is rejected based on reasoning similar to Claim 6.
Claims 15, 16, 18, and 21-23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhu et al. (US 2024/0340693) in view of Sun et al. (US 2025/0175435), Ratnam et al. (US 2022/0377616), and Potluri et al. (US 2024/0291765)
Regarding Claim 15, Zhu teaches a method of operating a wireless communication network to inhibit downlink congestion for a low latency data service (“the transmitter of the data flow of the target service properly adjusts the sending window of the data flow of the target service based on the congestion status of the UPF network element and the congestion status of the RAN, thereby reducing a transmission delay of the data flow of the target service and improving delay stability of the target service” – See [0260]; “the target service may be a delay-sensitive service” – See [0109]), the method comprising:
wirelessly exchanging, by a Radio Access Network (RAN), user data with a wireless User Equipment (UE) for the low latency data service (“the target service may be a delay-sensitive service” – See [0109]; “the transmitter of the data flow of the target service is the AF network element” – See [0253]; The network wirelessly communicates delay-sensitive/low latency data between a UE (wireless user device) and an AF), and
exchanging the user data with a network user plane (“The user plane network element is used as an interface to a data network, and implements functions such as user plane data forwarding, session/flow-level charging statistics, and bandwidth restriction, that is, packet routing and forwarding, quality of service (QoS) processing on user plane data, and the like” – See [0084]; “In a 5G communication system, the user plane network element may be a user plane function (UPF) network element” – See [0085]; The UPF (network user plane) performs user plane data forwarding (exchanging the user data));
measuring, by the RAN, a queue status for downlink data transmission to the wireless UE (“The RAN activates a congestion acquisition function for the target service. In the data flow transmission process of the target service, the RAN obtains the congestion status of the RAN” – See [0237]; “In an example, the first congestion acquisition manner may indicate one or more of the following: 1. Obtaining the Congestion Status of the RAN Based on a Data Volume of a to-be-Sent Data Flow in the RAN” – See [0114]; “The data volume of the to-be-sent data flow may be one or more of the following: a length of a to-be-sent data flow in a queue” – See [0115]; See also Fig. 5; The RAN measures its queue status for to-be-sent data for the UE),
generating a queue report that indicates the queue status, and wirelessly transferring the queue report to the wireless UE (“The RAN may send the first congestion information to the UE” – See [0244]; “It should be understood that the first congestion information and the second congestion information may be carried in a same MAC-CE message, or may be carried in different MAC-CE messages” – See [0246]; See also Fig. 5; The RAN generates a message that indicates the RAN congestion status/queue report and wirelessly transmits it to the UE),
wherein the wireless UE receives the queue report that indicates the queue status and delivers to a congestion control application server, wherein the congestion control application server receives the queue report and implements a congestion control algorithm based on the queue report (“correspondingly, the UE receives the MAC-CE message” – See [0245]; “The UE sends the first congestion information and the second congestion information to the AF network element” – See [0256]; “The AF network element adjusts the sending window of the data flow of the target service based on the first congestion information and the second congestion information” – See [0258]; The UE receives the congestion status/queue report from the RAN and delivers the queue report to a congestion control application function/server, wherein the congestion control application function/server implements a congestion control algorithm (e.g., adjusting a sending window) based on the queue report).
Zhu does not explicitly teach that the wireless UE wirelessly transfers uplink signaling that indicates the queue report to the RAN for delivery to a congestion control application server, the RAN receiving the queue report and forwarding the queue report to the congestion control application server.
However, Sun teaches that communications between a wireless user device and an application server are forwarded via a RAN (“In other words, in a user plane architecture, an application server and the UE perform user plane communication through a UE-RAN-UPF-AF path” – See [0074]; The UE (wireless user device) transmits data to the RAN (wireless access node) which then transmits the data to the AF (application server)).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Zhu such that the wireless user device transfers the uplink signaling that indicates the queue report to the congestion control application server by wirelessly transferring the uplink signaling that indicates the queue report to the RAN so that the RAN can deliver the queue report to the congestion control application server since it is a well-known function of the user plane architecture specified in the 5G communication standards for communications between a wireless user device and an application server (See Sun, [0072]-[0074]).
Zhu does not explicitly teach determining a downlink data rate to the wireless user device, wherein the queue report indicates the downlink data rate.
However, Ratnam teaches determining a downlink data rate to the wireless user device, wherein the queue report indicates the downlink data rate (“the base station collects UE SLA reports sent to the base station (for example, the UE SLA report transmitted at block 730 of FIG. 7). As previously noted, the UE SLA reports may include, without limitation, the following items of information: (i) a time stamp of the report, (ii) a reference signal reception power (RSRP) value for the serving BS (for example, base station 621 in FIG. 6), (iii) channel quality index for the link between the base station and the UE, (iv) a value of a downlink throughput metric” – See [0095]; “upon receiving a second trigger, the BS may forward the BS SLA report or the augmented SLA report to a network management entity to analyze SLA assurance performance” – See [0097]; The base station/wireless access node determines a downlink throughput for a UE (downlink data rate to the wireless user device), wherein the downlink throughput is indicated in a report to a network management entity).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Zhu to include determining a downlink data rate to the wireless user device, wherein the queue report indicates the downlink data rate. Motivation for doing so would be to monitor and ensure that wireless network services are provided at agreed-upon service levels (See Ratnam, [0003]).
Zhu does not explicitly teach that the low latency data service is a Low Latency, Low Loss, Scalable (L4S) data service.
However, Potluri teaches that the low latency data service is a Low Latency, Low Loss, Scalable (L4S) data service (“Low-latency, low-loss, scalable throughput (L4S) is a scalable congestion control technology used to provide high throughput and low latency for network traffic, lowering the probability of packet loss. L4S utilizes an explicit congestion notifications (ECNs) to mark packets when there is congestion in the network, in order to signal the congestion to a host device and avoid packets being dropped. Upon receiving the ECNs, the host device (e.g., a sender device and/or a receiver device) may employ scalable congestion control algorithms that prioritize transmission of L4S traffic or adjust transmission rates in order to avoid L4S packets being dropped” – See [0001]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Zhu such that the low latency data service is a Low Latency, Low Loss, Scalable (L4S) data service. Motivation for doing so would be to provide a scalable congestion control technology used to provide high throughput and low latency for network traffic in the delay-sensitive service of Zhu (See Potluri, [0001]).
Regarding Claim 16, Zhu in view of Sun, Ratnam, and Potluri teaches the method of Claim 15. Zhu further teaches that the RAN measuring the queue status comprises determining a queue existence; and the queue status comprises the queue existence (“The first threshold may be understood as a trigger condition for the RAN to report the congestion status of the RAN. For example, when the data volume of the to-be-sent data flow in the RAN is greater than or equal to the first threshold, the RAN sends the congestion status of the RAN. The first threshold may be a length threshold corresponding to a queue” – See [0119]; The indication of a queue length that is over a threshold signifies the existence of data in the queue).
Regarding Claim 18, Zhu in view of Sun, Ratnam, and Potluri teaches the method of Claim 15. Zhu further teaches that the RAN measuring the queue status comprises determining a queued data amount; and the queue status comprises the queued data amount (“The first threshold may be understood as a trigger condition for the RAN to report the congestion status of the RAN. For example, when the data volume of the to-be-sent data flow in the RAN is greater than or equal to the first threshold, the RAN sends the congestion status of the RAN. The first threshold may be a length threshold corresponding to a queue” – See [0119]; The indication of a queue length signifies a queued data amount).
Regarding Claim 21, Zhu in view of Sun and Ratnam teaches the method of Claim 1. Zhu, Sun, and Ratnam do not explicitly teach that the low latency data service comprises a Low-Latency, Low-Loss, Scalable Throughput (L4S) service.
However, Potluri teaches that the low latency data service comprises a Low-Latency, Low-Loss, Scalable Throughput (L4S) data service (“Low-latency, low-loss, scalable throughput (L4S) is a scalable congestion control technology used to provide high throughput and low latency for network traffic, lowering the probability of packet loss. L4S utilizes an explicit congestion notifications (ECNs) to mark packets when there is congestion in the network, in order to signal the congestion to a host device and avoid packets being dropped. Upon receiving the ECNs, the host device (e.g., a sender device and/or a receiver device) may employ scalable congestion control algorithms that prioritize transmission of L4S traffic or adjust transmission rates in order to avoid L4S packets being dropped” – See [0001]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Zhu such that the low latency data service is a Low Latency, Low Loss, Scalable (L4S) data service for the same reasons as those given with respect to Claim 15.
Claim 22 is rejected based on reasoning similar to claim 21.
Regarding Claim 23, Zhu in view of Sun, Ratnam, an Potluri teaches the method of Claim 15. Zhu further teaches that the RAN comprises a Fifth Generation New Radio (5GNR) gNodeB (“the access network device may be a gNB” – See [0082]; The RAN is a gNB).
Claims 17 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhu et al. (US 2024/0340693) in view of Sun et al. (US 2025/0175435) and Ratnam et al. (US 2022/0377616), and Potluri et al. (US 2024/0291765) and further in view of Callard (US 2014/0281034).
Regarding Claim 17, Zhu in view of Sun, Ratnam, and Potluri teaches the method of Claim 15. Zhu teaches measuring the queue status, as shown above with respect to Claim 15. Zhu, Sun, Ratnam, and Potluri do not explicitly teach that the queue status comprises a queue delay time, and measuring the queue delay time.
However, Callard teaches that the queue status comprises the queue delay time, and measuring the queue delay time (“The queue status may include buffer or queue delay statistics or information, such as average delay time, minimum delay time, delay variance” – See [0022]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Zhu such that the queue status comprises the queue delay time, and measuring the queue delay time. Motivation for doing so would be to determine delay tolerances so that delays among multiple different flows/streams can be managed (See Callard, [0024]).
Regarding Claim 20, Zhu in view of Sun, Ratnam, and Potluri teaches the method of Claim 15. Zhu further teaches that the RAN measuring the queue status comprises determining a queue existence and a queued data amount and the queue status comprises the queue existence and the queued data amount (“The first threshold may be understood as a trigger condition for the RAN to report the congestion status of the RAN. For example, when the data volume of the to-be-sent data flow in the RAN is greater than or equal to the first threshold, the RAN sends the congestion status of the RAN. The first threshold may be a length threshold corresponding to a queue” – See [0119]; The indication of a queue length that is over a threshold signifies the existence of data in the queue. Furthermore, the indication of the queue length signifies a queued data amount).
Ratnam further teaches that that the queue status comprises the downlink data rate and a downlink latency, and measuring the downlink data rate and the downlink latency (“the base station collects UE SLA reports sent to the base station (for example, the UE SLA report transmitted at block 730 of FIG. 7). As previously noted, the UE SLA reports may include, without limitation, the following items of information: (i) a time stamp of the report, (ii) a reference signal reception power (RSRP) value for the serving BS (for example, base station 621 in FIG. 6), (iii) channel quality index for the link between the base station and the UE, (iv) a value of a downlink throughput metric (v) a value of an uplink throughput metric, (vi) a value of a downlink latency metric” – See [0095]; “upon receiving a second trigger, the BS may forward the BS SLA report or the augmented SLA report to a network management entity to analyze SLA assurance performance” – See [0097]; The queue status comprises downlink throughput (downlink data rate) and downlink latency).
Zhu, Sun, Ratnam, and Potluri do not explicitly teach that the queue status comprises a queue delay time, and measuring the queue delay time.
However, Callard teaches that the queue status comprises the queue delay time, and measuring the queue delay time (“The queue status may include buffer or queue delay statistics or information, such as average delay time, minimum delay time, delay variance” – See [0022]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Zhu such that the queue status comprises the queue delay time, and measuring the queue delay time. Motivation for doing so would be to determine delay tolerances so that delays among multiple different flows/streams can be managed (See Callard, [0024]).
Response to Arguments
On pages 7-8 of the remarks, Applicant argues in substance that Zhou does not teach “determining a downlink data rate to the wireless user device” and “wirelessly transferring the queue report that indicates the queue status and the downlink data rate to the wireless user device wherein the wireless user device receives the queue report and wirelessly transfers uplink signaling indicating the queue report that indicates the queue status and the downlink data rate to the wireless access node for delivery to a congestion control application server,” as recited in independent claims 1, 8, and 15. Applicant’s arguments have been considered but are moot based on the new grounds of rejection. In response to the amended limitations, the Examiner relies upon the newly-cited Ratnam reference.
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 Scott M Sciacca whose telephone number is (571)270-1919. The examiner can normally be reached Monday thru Friday, 7:30 A.M. - 5:00 P.M. EST.
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/SCOTT M SCIACCA/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2478
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