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 Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see Remarks at page 7, filed 23 December 2025, with respect to the rejections of claims 17-19 under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) have been fully considered and are persuasive. The rejections have been withdrawn. It is noted that Applicant’s amendment necessitated a new ground of rejection under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) applied to claim 7.
Applicant’s arguments, see Remarks at pages 7-8, filed 23 December 2025, with respect to the indicated allowable subject matter and the rejections under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) and 35 U.S.C. 103 have been fully considered and are persuasive. The rejections have been withdrawn.
Claim Objections
Claim 1 is objected to because of the following informalities: “include apply” in line 4 should be changed to “including apply” to improve readability. 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.
Claim 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
Claim 7 recites in part, “performing parent-child cluster compression” and “the parent-child cluster compression” (emphasis added), however, claim 1 also recites “performing parent-child cluster compression”. Thus, the antecedent basis of “the parent-child cluster compression” in claim 7 is unclear. For purposes of applying prior art, “performing parent-child cluster compression” in line 2 of claim 7 is interpreted as “performing the parent-child cluster compression”.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 1 would be allowable if amended to overcome the objection to claim 1 for minor informalities set forth in this Office action.
Claims 2-6 would be allowable if rewritten to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims while also amending to overcome issue raised in the objection to claim 1 for minor informalities set forth in this Office action.
Claim 7 would be allowable if amended to overcome the rejection under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) set forth in this Office action and rewritten to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims while also amending to overcome issue raised in the objection to claim 1 for minor informalities set forth in this Office action.
Claims 9-20 are allowed.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground 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 RYAN P POTTS whose telephone number is (571)272-6351. The examiner can normally be reached M-F, 9am-5pm EST.
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, Sumati Lefkowitz can be reached at 571-272-3638. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/RYAN P POTTS/Examiner, Art Unit 2672
/SUMATI LEFKOWITZ/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2672