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
This communication is filed in response to the action filed on 01/16/2026.
Claims 1, 7, and 11 are currently amended. Claims 1-13 are pending.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments filed on 01/16/2026 on pages 6-9, under REMARKS with respect to 35
U.S.C. 102 and 103 claim rejections to claims 1-13 have been fully considered and are persuasive. The rejections to the claims have been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of US 2012/0294480 A1.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 11-12 are rejected under 35 § U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by US 2012/0294480 A1 to NAITO et al. (hereinafter “NAITO”).
As per claim 11, NAITO discloses an image transmitting device comprising: an encoder configured to encode each input frame, based on an encoding parameter (a computing system and method of operation in order to perform an image processing method using an encoder adapted to encode a bitstream based on an input image frame; abstract; figs 1-2; paragraphs [0023], [0030-0036]); a storage unit configured to store a plurality of input frames including a target input frame and one or more reference input frames that are input after the target input frame, and configured to store motion vectors in the one or more reference input frames the input frame (the method performed is motion vector detection processing in images having a moving object/motion the programs and instructions to perform this method are stored in a RAM memory component and executed by a computer processor and the images are input via frame buffer 101; figs 1 and 4; paragraphs [0007-0008], [0023-0025], [0041], [0076]); an image recognition unit configured to perform image recognition on the input frame before being encoded as a target frame corresponding to the target input frame before the target input frame is encoded by the encoder (the computing system comprises a variety of module to perform specific tasks including a specific area detection unit 103 connected to frame buffer 101 which performs target recognition and identifies predicted areas of interest related to the target acting as the recognition unit; abstract; figs 1-5; paragraphs [0023-0032]); a region-of-interest determination unit configured to determine a region of interest in the target frame, based on a result of the image recognition performed by the image recognition unit (the computing system includes a specific area prediction unit 104 which predicts the area a moving target will be in and is the result of analyzing the object motion vectors; abstract; figs 1-5; paragraphs [0023-0032]); a region-of-interest prediction unit configured to refer to one or more reference frames corresponding to the one or more input frames single or plural reference frames input after the target frame and stored in the storage unit, in chronological order, and configured to predict, for each of the one or more reference frames, a region of interest in the reference frame(s), based on the region of interest in the target frame and the motion vectors in the one or more reference input frames (based on the determined area of interest in relation to a moving target object the system may use any prior frame as a reference frame for the target object including the example provided in figure 5 and the regions/areas of interest related to the target may be stored in the memory component of the system; abstract; figs 1-5; paragraphs [0023-0032]); and a parameter determination unit configured to determine the encoding parameter for a new input frame to be encoded, the new input frame being input after the target frame, based on a predicted region of interest predicted in the reference frame(s) in the one or more reference frames by the region-of-interest prediction unit (the computing system further includes parameter controller 105 which controls the systems encoding parameters and may use the specific area detection result of a previous frame intact in processing of the current frame, or may use a result obtained by expanding a specific area of the previous frame by several pixels in forward, backward, right, and left directions under the assumption that an object located in the specific area moves; abstract; figs 1-5; paragraphs [0023-0032]).
As per claim 12, NAITO discloses, wherein the encoding parameter includes a quantization parameter, and wherein the parameter determination unit makes the quantization parameter smaller in a region of interest in the new input frame than in other regions (the computing system is adapted to include quantization steps for a quantization parameter for the areas of interest; paragraphs [0033-0034], [0059]).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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 non-obviousness.
Claims 1-3, 5, 9, 13 are rejected under 35 § U.S.C. 103 as being obvious over US 2012/0294480 A1 to NAITO et al. (hereinafter “NAITO”) in view of US 2020/0082544 A1 to ZHU et al (hereinafter “ZHU”).
As per claim 1, NAITO discloses an image communication system comprising: an encoder configured to encode each input frame based on an encoding parameter (a computing system and method of operation in order to perform an image processing method using an encoder adapted to encode a bitstream based on an input image frame and encoding parameters set using parameter controller 105; abstract; figs 1-2; paragraphs [0023], [0030-0036]); a storage unit configured to store a plurality of input frames including a target input frame and one or more reference input frames that are input after the target input frame, and configured to store motion vectors in one or more reference input frames ((the method performed is motion vector detection processing in images having a moving object/motion the programs and instructions to perform this method are stored in a RAM memory component and executed by a computer processor and the images are input via frame buffer 101; figs 1 and 4; paragraphs [0007-0008], [0023-0025], [0041], [0076])); an image recognition unit configured to perform image recognition on a target frame corresponding to the target input frame (the computing system comprises a variety of module to perform specific tasks including a specific area detection unit 103 connected to frame buffer 101 which performs target recognition and identifies predicted areas of interest related to the target acting as the recognition unit; abstract; figs 1-5; paragraphs [0023-0032]); a region-of-interest determination unit configured to determine a region of interest in the target frame, based on a result of the image recognition performed by the image recognition unit (the computing system includes a specific area prediction unit 104 which predicts the area a moving target will be in and is the result of analyzing the object motion vectors; abstract; figs 1-5; paragraphs [0023-0032]); a region-of-interest prediction unit configured to refer to one or more reference frames corresponding to the one or more reference input frames stored in the storage unit single or plural reference frames input after the target frame and stored in the storage unit, in chronological order, and configured to predict, for each of the one or more reference frames, a region of interest in the reference frame(s), based on the region of interest in the target frame and the motion vectors in the one or more reference input frame (based on the determined area of interest in relation to a moving target object the system may use any prior frame as a reference frame for the target object including the example provided in figure 5 and the regions/areas of interest related to the target may be stored in the memory component of the system and includes a specific area prediction unit 104 which predicts the area a moving target will be in and is the result of analyzing the object motion vectors; abstract; figs 1-5; paragraphs [0023-0032]); and a parameter determination unit configured to determine the encoding parameter for a new input frame to be encoded, the new input frame being input after the target frame, based on the predicted region of interest predicted in the one or more reference frames frame(s) by the region-of-interest prediction unit (the computing system further includes parameter controller 105 which controls the systems encoding parameters and may use the specific area detection result of a previous frame intact in processing of the current frame, or may use a result obtained by expanding a specific area of the previous frame by several pixels in forward, backward, right, and left directions under the assumption that an object located in the specific area moves; abstract; figs 1-5; paragraphs [0023-0032]). NAITO fails to disclose a decoder configured to decode an encoded frame generated by the encoder.
ZHU discloses a decoder configured to decode an encoded frame generated by the encoder (the computing system adapted to take input frames encode them to a bit stream using an encoder and then decode an image from said bitstream using a decoder; abstract; paragraphs [0025-0029]).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify NAITO to have a decoder configured to decode an encoded frame generated by the encoder of ZHU reference. The Suggestion/motivation for doing so would have been to provide the ability to both encode images onto the bitstream and decode images from the bit stream and provide a system that can perform both functionalities as suggested by paragraph [0027] of ZHU. Further, one skilled in the art could have combined the elements as described above by known method with no change in their respective functions, and the combination would have yielded nothing more than predictable results. Therefore, it would have been obvious to combine ZHU with NAITO to obtain the invention as specified in claim 1.
As per claim 2, NAITO in view of ZHU discloses the image communication system according to claim 1. Modified NAITO further discloses wherein the encoding parameter includes a quantization parameter, and wherein the parameter determination unit makes the quantization parameter smaller in a region of interest in the new input frame than in other regions (the computing system is adapted to include quantization steps for a quantization parameter for the areas of interest; paragraphs [0033-0034], [0059]).
As per claim 3, NAITO in view ZHU discloses the image communication system according to claim 1, wherein the image communication system includes an image transmitting device and an image receiving device (the computing system receives images via image frame buffer 101 includes a specific area prediction unit 104 which predicts the area a moving target will be in and is the result of analyzing the object motion vectors; abstract; figs 1-5; paragraphs [0023-0032]), wherein the image transmitting device includes the encoder (the computing system further includes parameter controller 105 which controls the systems encoding parameters and may use the specific area detection result of a previous frame intact in processing of the current frame, or may use a result obtained by expanding a specific area of the previous frame by several pixels in forward, backward, right, and left directions under the assumption that an object located in the specific area moves; abstract; figs 1-5; paragraphs [0023-0032]), the storage unit (the programs and instructions to perform this method are stored in a RAM memory component and executed by a computer processor and the images are input via frame buffer 101; figs 1 and 4; paragraphs [0007-0008], [0023-0025], [0041], [0076]), the region- of-interest prediction unit (the computing system comprises a variety of module to perform specific tasks including a specific area detection unit 103 connected to frame buffer 101 which performs target recognition and identifies predicted areas of interest related to the target acting as the recognition unit; abstract; figs 1-5; paragraphs [0023-0032]), and the parameter determination unit (the computing system further includes parameter controller 105 which controls the systems encoding parameters and may use the specific area detection result of a previous frame intact in processing of the current frame, or may use a result obtained by expanding a specific area of the previous frame by several pixels in forward, backward, right, and left directions under the assumption that an object located in the specific area moves; abstract; figs 1-5; paragraphs [0023-0032]), and transmits the encoded frame to the image receiving device (the system further adapted to distribute the target motion objects and related vectors of interest based on predicted target area of the object in motion; paragraphs [0064] ). NAITO fails to disclose wherein the image communication system includes an image transmitting device and an image receiving device, wherein the image transmitting device includes the encoder, the storage unit, the region- of-interest prediction unit, and the parameter determination unit, and transmits the encoded frame to the image receiving device, wherein the image receiving device includes the decoder, the image recognition unit, and the region-of-interest determination unit, and receives and decodes the encoded frame transmitted from the image transmitting device, and transmits the region of interest determined by the region-of-interest determination unit to the image transmitting device, and wherein the target frame targeted for the image recognition by the image recognition unit is a decoded frame generated by the decoder.
ZHU discloses, wherein the image receiving device includes the decoder (the computing system adapted to take input frames encode them to a bit stream using an encoder and then decode an image from said bitstream using a decoder; abstract; paragraphs [0025-0029]), the image recognition unit, and the region-of-interest determination unit, and receives and decodes the encoded frame transmitted from the image transmitting device (the computing system includes transmitter components in order to send and receive, images, data, and information; paragraphs [0084-0085]), and transmits the region of interest determined by the region-of-interest determination unit to the image transmitting device (the computing system which includes the transmitter further includes an encoder/decoder codex for performing image coding to a bit stream related to the identified areas of interest; paragraphs [0033-0034], [0059]), and wherein the target frame targeted for the image recognition by the image recognition unit is a decoded frame generated by the decoder (the computing system which includes the transmitter further includes an encoder/decoder codex for performing image coding to a bit stream; paragraphs [0033-0034], [0059])).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify NAITO to have wherein the image communication system includes an image transmitting device and an image receiving device of ZHU reference. The Suggestion/motivation for doing so would have been to provide the ability to both encode images onto the bitstream and decode images from the bit stream and provide a system that can perform both functionalities as suggested by paragraph [0027] of ZHU. Further, one skilled in the art could have combined the elements as described above by known method with no change in their respective functions, and the combination would have yielded nothing more than predictable results. Therefore, it would have been obvious to combine ZHU with NAITO to obtain the invention as specified in claim 3.
As per claim 5, NAITO in view ZHU discloses the image communication system according to claim 1, the image recognition unit (the computing system comprises a variety of module to perform specific tasks including a specific area detection unit 103 connected to frame buffer 101 which performs target recognition and identifies predicted areas of interest related to the target acting as the recognition unit; abstract; figs 1-5; paragraphs [0023-0032]), the region-of-interest determination unit (the computing system includes a specific area prediction unit 104 which predicts the area a moving target will be in and is the result of analyzing the object motion vectors; abstract; figs 1-5; paragraphs [0023-0032]), the region-of-interest prediction unit (based on the determined area of interest in relation to a moving target object the system may use any prior frame as a reference frame for the target object including the example provided in figure 5 and the regions/areas of interest related to the target may be stored in the memory component of the system and includes a specific area prediction unit 104 which predicts the area a moving target will be in and is the result of analyzing the object motion vectors; abstract; figs 1-5; paragraphs [0023-0032]), and the parameter determination unit, and transmits the encoded frame to the image receiving device, wherein the target frame targeted for the image recognition by the image recognition unit is the input frame before being encoded by the encoder (the computing system further includes parameter controller 105 which controls the systems encoding parameters and may use the specific area detection result of a previous frame intact in processing of the current frame, or may use a result obtained by expanding a specific area of the previous frame by several pixels in forward, backward, right, and left directions under the assumption that an object located in the specific area moves; abstract; figs 1-5; paragraphs [0023-0032]). NAITO fails to disclose wherein the image communication system includes an image transmitting device and an image receiving device, and wherein the image receiving device includes the decoder, and receives and decodes the encoded frame transmitted from the image transmitting device.
ZHU discloses wherein the image communication system includes an image transmitting device and an image receiving device (the computing system includes transmitter components in order to send and receive, images, data, and information; paragraphs [0084-0085]), wherein the image transmitting device includes the encoder (the computing system which includes the transmitter further includes an encoder/decoder codex for performing image coding to a bit stream; paragraphs [0033-0034], [0059]), and wherein the image receiving device includes the decoder, and receives and decodes the encoded frame transmitted from the image transmitting device (the computing system adapted to take input frames encode them to a bit stream using an encoder and then decode an image from said bitstream using a decoder; abstract; paragraphs [0025-0029]).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify NAITO to have the image receiving device includes the decoder of ZHU reference. The Suggestion/motivation for doing so would have been to provide the ability to both encode images onto the bitstream and decode images from the bit stream and provide a system that can perform both functionalities as suggested by paragraph [0027] of ZHU. Further, one skilled in the art could have combined the elements as described above by known method with no change in their respective functions, and the combination would have yielded nothing more than predictable results. Therefore, it would have been obvious to combine ZHU with NAITO to obtain the invention as specified in claim 5.
As per claim 7, NAITO discloses an image communication method comprising steps of: performing image recognition on a target frame corresponding to a target input frame (a computing system and method of operation in order to perform an image processing method using an encoder adapted to encode a bitstream based on an input image frame and encoding parameters set using parameter controller 105; abstract; figs 1-2; paragraphs [0023], [0030-0036]), and determining a region of interest in the target frame, based on a result of the image recognition (the method performed is motion vector detection processing in images having a moving object/motion the programs and instructions to perform this method are stored in a RAM memory component and executed by a computer processor and the images are input via frame buffer 101 and determines a predicted area of interest of a moving target; figs 1 and 4; paragraphs [0007-0008], [0023-0025], [0041], [0076]); referring to one or more reference frames corresponding to one or more reference input frames that are input after the target input frame and stored single or plural reference frames input and stored after the target frame, in chronological order, and predicting, for each of the one or more reference frames, a region of interest in the reference frame(s), based on the region of interest in the target frame and motion vectors in the one or more reference input frames (based on the determined area of interest in relation to a moving target object the system may use any prior frame as a reference frame for the target object including the example provided in figure 5 and the regions/areas of interest related to the target may be stored in the memory component of the system and based on the determined area of interest in relation to a moving target object the system may use any prior frame as a reference frame for the target object including the example provided in figure 5 and the regions/areas of interest related to the target may be stored in the memory component of the system; abstract; figs 1-5; paragraphs [0023-0032]); and determining the encoding parameter for a new input frame to be encoded, the new input frame being input after the target frame, based on a predicted region of interest predicted in the one or more reference frames frame(s) (the computing system further includes parameter controller 105 which controls the systems encoding parameters and may use the specific area detection result of a previous frame intact in processing of the current frame, or may use a result obtained by expanding a specific area of the previous frame by several pixels in forward, backward, right, and left directions under the assumption that an object located in the specific area moves; abstract; figs 1-5; paragraphs [0023-0032]). NAITO fails to disclose transmitting an encoded frame generated from each input frame, based on an encoding parameter, receiving and decoding the encoded frame.
ZHU discloses transmitting an encoded frame generated from each input frame, based on an encoding parameter, receiving and decoding the encoded frame (the computing system adapted to take input frames encode them to a bit stream using an encoder and then decode an image from said bitstream using a decoder; abstract; paragraphs [0025-0029]).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify NAITO to have decoding the encoded frame of ZHU reference. The Suggestion/motivation for doing so would have been to provide the ability to both encode images onto the bitstream and decode images from the bit stream and provide a system that can perform both functionalities as suggested by paragraph [0027] of ZHU. Further, one skilled in the art could have combined the elements as described above by known method with no change in their respective functions, and the combination would have yielded nothing more than predictable results. Therefore, it would have been obvious to combine ZHU with NAITO to obtain the invention as specified in claim 7.
As per claim 8, NAITO in view of ZHU discloses the image communication method according to claim 7. Modified NAITO further discloses wherein the encoding parameter includes a quantization parameter, and wherein the image communication method further comprises making the quantization parameter smaller in a region of interest in the new input frame than in other regions (the computing system is adapted to include quantization steps for a quantization parameter for the areas of interest; paragraphs [0033-0034], [0059]).
As per claim 10, NAITO in view of ZHU discloses the image communication method according to claim 7. Modified NAITO further discloses wherein the target frame targeted for the image recognition is the input frame before being encoded (the input image frame prior to encoding steps is input into the computing system via the frame buffer 101; paragraphs [0023-0024]).
As per claim 9, NAITO discloses the image communication method according to claim 7. NAITO fails to disclose wherein the target frame targeted for the image recognition is a decoded frame generated from the encoded frame.
ZHU discloses wherein the target frame targeted for the image recognition is a decoded frame generated from the encoded frame (the computing system adapted to take input frames encode them to a bit stream using an encoder and then decode an image from said bitstream using a decoder; abstract; paragraphs [0025-0029]).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify NAITO to have wherein the target frame targeted for the image recognition is a decoded frame generated from the encoded frame of ZHU reference. The Suggestion/motivation for doing so would have been to provide the ability to both encode images onto the bitstream and decode images from the bit stream and provide a system that can perform both functionalities as suggested by paragraph [0027] of ZHU. Further, one skilled in the art could have combined the elements as described above by known method with no change in their respective functions, and the combination would have yielded nothing more than predictable results. Therefore, it would have been obvious to combine ZHU with NAITO to obtain the invention as specified in claim 9.
As per claim 13, NAITO discloses the image transmitting device according to claim 11. NAITO fails to disclose wherein the image transmitting device is mounted on a vehicle.
ZHU discloses wherein the image transmitting device is mounted on a vehicle (the computer of this system is adapted to be resident in a motor vehicle; paragraphs [0033], [0065-0066], [0121]).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify NAITO to have wherein the image transmitting device is mounted on a vehicle of ZHU reference. The Suggestion/motivation for doing so would have been to provide the functionality and image processing methods to detect motion vectors of road objects that are moving of the computer disclosed on a motor vehicle adapted for autonomous driving as suggested by paragraphs [0065-0066]. Further, one skilled in the art could have combined the elements as described above by known method with no change in their respective functions, and the combination would have yielded nothing more than predictable results. Therefore, it would have been obvious to combine ZHU with NAITO to obtain the invention as specified in claim 13.
Claims 4 and 6 are rejected under 35 § U.S.C. 103 as being obvious over US 2012/0294480 A1 to NAITO et al. (hereinafter “NAITO”) in view of US 2020/0082544 A1 to ZHU et al (hereinafter “ZHU”) in view of US 2018/0330169 A1 to VAN HOOF et al. (hereinafter “HOOF”).
As per claim 4, NAITO in view of ZHU discloses the image communication system according to claim 3. NAITO fails to disclose the image communication system according to claim 3, wherein the image transmitting device is mounted on a vehicle, and wherein the image receiving device is provided on a computer cloud and is wirelessly connected to the image transmitting device.
HOOF discloses the image communication system according to claim 3, wherein the image transmitting device is mounted on a vehicle, and wherein the image receiving device is provided on a computer cloud and is wirelessly connected to the image transmitting device (a computing system which sends and received information is mounted/resident on a vehicle is adapted to perform an image processing method and is wirelessly connected to and transmits and receives related data/information from a cloud-based computing system; paragraphs [0031], [0043], [0070]).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify NAITO to have the image transmitting device is mounted on a vehicle, and wherein the image receiving device is provided on a computer cloud and is wirelessly connected to the image transmitting device of HOOF reference. The Suggestion/motivation for doing so would have been to provide the ability for seamless integration of the smart device over a smart network to provide a more intelligent multi sensing cloud network that has the capability to communicate within itself as suggested by HOOF at paragraph [0031]. Further, one skilled in the art could have combined the elements as described above by known method with no change in their respective functions, and the combination would have yielded nothing more than predictable results. Therefore, it would have been obvious to combine HOOF with NAITO to obtain the invention as specified in claim 4.
As per claim 6, NAITO discloses the image communication system according to claim 5. NAITO fails to disclose wherein the image transmitting device is mounted on a vehicle, and wherein the image receiving device is provided on a computer cloud and is wirelessly connected to the image transmitting device.
HOOF discloses wherein the image transmitting device is mounted on a vehicle, and wherein the image receiving device is provided on a computer cloud and is wirelessly connected to the image transmitting device (a computing system which sends and received information is mounted/resident on a vehicle is adapted to perform an image processing method and is wirelessly connected to and transmits and receives related data/information from a cloud-based computing system; paragraphs [0031], [0043], [0070]).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify NAITO to have wherein the image transmitting device is mounted on a vehicle, and wherein the image receiving device is provided on a computer cloud and is wirelessly connected to the image transmitting device of HOOF reference. The Suggestion/motivation for doing so would have been to provide the ability for seamless integration of the smart device over a smart network to provide a more intelligent multi sensing cloud network that has the capability to communicate within itself as suggested by HOOF at paragraph [0031]. Further, one skilled in the art could have combined the elements as described above by known method with no change in their respective functions, and the combination would have yielded nothing more than predictable results. Therefore, it would have been obvious to combine HOOF with NAITO to obtain the invention as specified in claim 6.
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.
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. These prior arts include the following:
US 10,671,855 B2
US 2007/0053432 A1
US 10,867,390 B2
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DEVIN JACOB DHOOGE whose telephone number is (571) 270-0999. The examiner can normally be reached 7:30-5:00.
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/Devin Dhooge/
USPTO Patent Examiner
Art Unit 2677
/ANDREW W BEE/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2677