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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 3/2/26 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see section I, with respect to claims 1-20 have been fully considered and are partially persuasive. Therefore, the rejection under 35 U.S.C § 112(a) of claims 1-20 with respect to “…configurations…” has been withdrawn, but the Examiner maintains the rejection under 35 U.S.C § 112(a) of claims 1-3, 5-10, 12-16, and 18-20 with respect to the “first wireless protocol” because the claimed “first wireless protocol” can be interpreted as being/comprising 4G and the specification supports the first wireless protocol being/comprising 4G.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claim(s) 1-3, 5-10, 12-16, and 18-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
Regarding claim 1, in view of the first wireless protocol being interpreted as being/comprising 4G (the specification support this assertion), the specification does not support “sending…an indication…”, “sending…associated parameters”, and “receiving, in response…the identifier…”. Applicant state that support is found in at least in paragraph [0023] of the specification. However, paragraph [0023] discloses 5G being the first wireless protocol in “sending…an indication…”, “sending…associated parameters”, and “receiving, in response…the identifier…” and not 4G. Claims 9 and 15 recite similar limitations of claim 1 and are thus rejected under similar rationale. Claims 2-3, 5-8, 10, 12-14, 16, and 18-20 fails to resolve the deficiency of their respective independent claim and are thus rejected under similar rationale.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim(s) 4, 11, and 17 is/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.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to PETER P CHAU whose telephone number is (571)270-7152. The examiner can normally be reached 9:30 A.M - 6 P.M. ET M-F.
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/PETER P CHAU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2476