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 .
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 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 nonobviousness.
Claims 1-3, 5-6, 8-10, 12, 15-17 and 19-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kopelman (US 20220323190 A1) in view of Schmitt (US 20070190481 A1).
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Regarding claim 1, Kopelman discloses a detection apparatus that detects a premature contact position at which an upper row of teeth prematurely contacts a lower row of teeth upon occlusion (see [0076-0077]), the detection apparatus including:
input interface circuitry (1118) (see Fig. 11 and par. [0101] – “a keyboard, pointing device, mouse, scanner, interactive displays, touchpad, joysticks, etc.”) to which upper-jaw tooth row data, lower-jaw tooth row data and occlusion data are input, the upper-jaw tooth row data indicating a three- dimensional shape of a row of teeth of an upper jaw acquired by a three-dimensional scanner (1120) (see Fig. 11 above and [0103]) when the upper row of teeth and the lower row of teeth are in an open state (see steps 110 and 120 in Fig. 1 and [0036] - [0037] – where digital data of each individual arch is generated; therefore it is understood that the upper and lower jaw are in an open state), the lower-jaw tooth row data indicating a three-dimensional shape of a row of teeth of a lower jaw acquired by the three-dimensional scanner when the upper row of teeth and the lower row of teeth are in the open state (see step 120 in Fig 1 [0006] and [0037] - digital model of a lower arch is generated; the scanning device captures digital image of a dental site of the patient's lower arch including buccal, occlusal, and lingual surface data), the occlusion data indicating a three- dimensional shape of the upper row of teeth and the lower row of teeth acquired by the three-dimensional scanner when the upper row of teeth and the lower row of teeth are in an occlusal state (see [0036] – “the scanning device captures images and/or video of a dental site of the patient's upper arch including buccal, occlusal, and lingual surface data”); and
processing circuitry (see [0021] – including “processor and memory having instructions” carry out any of the methods of Fig. 1 above) that is configured to detect the premature contact position by generating synthetic data indicating a synthetic three-dimensional shape of the upper row of teeth and the lower row of teeth in the occlusal state by synthesizing the upper- jaw tooth row data and the lower-jaw tooth row data using the occlusion data as a reference and moving at least one tooth row data of the upper-jaw tooth row data and the lower-jaw tooth row data included in the synthetic data away from the other tooth row data so that a state of the upper row of teeth and the lower row of teeth is displaced from the occlusal state to the open state (see steps 130-170 in Fig. 1 above and [0021], [0038] – [0047]).
However, Kopelman does not disclose that by synthesizing of the lower -jaw tooth row data, the upper-jaw tooth row data and the occlusion data are converted into three-dimensional data of a common coordinate system, and the upper-jaw tooth row data and the lower jaw tooth row data are aligned in the common coordinate system with respective corresponding positions of the occlusion data.
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Schmitt teaches the use of a CT bite plate in the mouth of a patient with a bite registration material for recording diagnostic jaw position with teeth in the registration material (see Fig. 1 and 2 above). The image of the patient’s upper and lower tooth and the CT bite plate is recorded with radiographic markers to have the correct relative position in a computer space. The upper and lower tooth raw data is reformatted/synthesized using the above steps of Fig. 3, 4A-4B in order to recreate the upper and lower teeth in a three-dimensional format and align them with respect to the radiographic markers in which act as a common coordinate system to align them digitally. Furthermore, the use of the CT bite plate allows for an occlusal reference of the teeth, and at the same time the thickness and the registration material in the CT bite plate create a space between the upper and lower teeth during the occlusion, in this way allowing for the full image data collection of the upper and lower teeth. The resulting data is the scanned image data of the upper and lower capable of been digitally moved into the correct position (see Fig. 3, 4A-4B).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the detection apparatus of Kopelman, with the synthesized lower-jaw tooth row data, the upper-jaw tooth row data and the occlusion data and converted into three-dimensional data Schmitt, in order to have a digital image of the upper and lower jaw data aligned with respect to each other to proceed with the segmentation technique of Schmitt of separating each individual tooth in a model and other components isolated, in which at the end all the model can be manipulated back into the common coordinate system.
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Regarding claim 2, Kopelman/Schmitt discloses the claimed invention substantially as claimed, as set forth above for claim 1, and where Kopelman discloses that when the at least one tooth row data is moved away from the other tooth row data, the processing circuitry is further configured to detect a portion of the upper row of teeth and the lower row of teeth in which the row of teeth of the upper jaw contacts the row of teeth of the lower jaw until an end of a separation between the upper-jaw tooth row data as the premature contact position (see step 160 and 170 of Fig. 1 above and [0046] – [0047] – “digital arches are brought into a bite position” and “the occlusion contacts are calculated”; furthermore, in [0058] – “digital representation 400 of the patient's teeth shows a visualization of a movement vector 406 of tooth 408” and “digital representation 400, during biting occlusion the tooth 408 has moved as a result of the biting force applied to the patient's opposing teeth. The vector 406 shows that the tooth 408 is translated in both a distal and buccal direction without intrusion or intrusion”; therefore, data of the upper and lower row teeth are updated in their location depending on the occlusal or open position).
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Regarding claim 3, Kopelman/Schmitt discloses the claimed invention substantially as claimed, as set forth above for claim 1, and where Kopelman discloses that the processing circuitry is configured to move the at least one tooth row data away from the other tooth row data on a basis of at least one type of jaw motion data from among jaw motion data inferred from the occlusal state, jaw motion data measured for the upper jaw and the lower jaw, and predetermined average jaw motion data ([0046] - [0047] – “the digital models of the patient's upper arch and lower arch may be brought into occlusion. In some embodiments, bringing the upper arch and lower arch into biting occlusion includes moving the lower arch relative to the upper arch, or vice versa, in order to orient the lower arch and the upper arch according to the scan of the patient's teeth in biting occlusion”, in this way predetermined the average jaw motion data; furthermore, in Fig. 6 above shows the trace 602 that indicates the “location or the accelerated wear of the tooth or teeth”, in which it also can predetermined average jaw motion data is included this apparatus, furthermore, in [0058] – “digital representation 400 of the patient's teeth shows a visualization of a movement vector 406 of tooth 408” and “digital representation 400, during biting occlusion the tooth 408 has moved as a result of the biting force applied to the patient's opposing teeth. The vector 406 shows that the tooth 408 is translated in both a distal and buccal direction without intrusion or intrusion”; therefore, data of the upper and lower row teeth are updated in their location depending on the occlusal or open position).
Regarding claim 5, Kopelman/Schmitt discloses the claimed invention substantially as claimed, as set forth above for claim 1, and where Kopelman discloses that the processing circuitry is configured to detect a bias of a contact area between the row of teeth of the upper jaw and the row of teeth of the lower jaw for one or more predetermined periods while the at least one tooth row data is move away from the other tooth row data (see [0071] – see trace 602 in which it is the path of sliding contact of an opposing tooth in Fig. 6, it is considered as the “point of initial contact may be a location wherein the opposing tooth initially contacts the tooth 600 as the upper and lower arch come into initial occlusion”).
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Regarding claim 6, Kopelman/Schmitt discloses the claimed invention substantially as claimed, as set forth above for claim 1, and where Kopelman discloses that the processing circuitry is configured to move the at least one tooth row data of the upper-jaw tooth row data and the lower-jaw tooth row data in intervals of displacement (see Fig. 7 above and [0068]).
Regarding claim 8, Kopelman discloses a detection method for detecting a premature contact position at which an upper row of teeth prematurely contacts a lower row of teeth upon occlusion, using a computer (see [0100], [0104], [0108]), the detection method including:
acquiring, by processing circuitry of the computer, upper-jaw tooth row data indicating a three-dimensional shape of a row of teeth of an upper jaw acquired by a three-dimensional scanner (1120) (see Fig. 11 above and [0101]) when the upper row of teeth and the lower row of teeth are in an open state (120 in Fig. 1 and [0036] - [0037] – where digital data of each individual arch is generated; therefore it is understood that the upper and lower jaw are in an open state), lower-jaw tooth row data indicating a three-dimensional shape of a row of teeth of a lower jaw acquired by the three-dimensional scanner (1120) (see Fig. 11 above and [0103]) when the upper row of teeth and the lower row of teeth are in the open state (see step 120 in Fig 1 [0006] and [0037] - digital model of a lower arch is generated; the scanning device captures digital image of a dental site of the patient's lower arch including buccal, occlusal, and lingual surface data), and occlusion data indicating a three-dimensional shape of the upper row of teeth and the lower row of teeth acquired by the three-dimensional scanner when the upper row of teeth and the lower row of teeth are in an occlusal state (see [0036] – “the scanning device captures images and/or video of a dental site of the patient's upper arch including buccal, occlusal, and lingual surface data”); and
detecting, by the processing circuitry of the computer (see [0021] – including “processor and memory having instructions” carry out any of the methods of Fig. 1 above), the premature contact position by generating synthetic data indicating a synthetic three-dimensional shape of the upper row of teeth and the lower row of teeth in the occlusal state by synthesizing the upper-jaw tooth row data and the lower-jaw tooth row data using the occlusion data as a reference and moving at least one tooth row data of the upper-jaw tooth row data and the lower-jaw tooth row data included in the synthetic data so that a state of the upper row of teeth and the lower row of teeth is displaced from the occlusal state to the open state (see steps 130-170 in Fig. 1 above and [0021], [0038] – [0047]).
However, Kopelman does not disclose that by synthesizing of the lower -jaw tooth row data, the upper-jaw tooth row data and the occlusion data are converted into three-dimensional data of a common coordinate system, and the upper-jaw tooth row data and the lower jaw tooth row data are aligned in the common coordinate system with respective corresponding positions of the occlusion data.
Schmitt teaches the use of a CT bite plate in the mouth of a patient with a bite registration material for recording diagnostic jaw position with teeth in the registration material (see Fig. 1 and 2 above). The image of the patient’s upper and lower tooth and the CT bite plate is recorded with radiographic markers to have the correct relative position in a computer space. The upper and lower tooth raw data is reformatted/synthesized using the above steps of Fig. 3, 4A-4B in order to recreate the upper and lower teeth in a three-dimensional format and align them with respect to the radiographic markers in which act as a common coordinate system to align them digitally. Furthermore, the use of the CT bite plate allows for an occlusal reference of the teeth, and at the same time the thickness and the registration material in the CT bite plate create a space between the upper and lower teeth during the occlusion, in this way allowing for the full image data collection of the upper and lower teeth. The resulting data is the scanned image data of the upper and lower capable of been digitally moved into the correct position (see Fig. 3, 4A-4B).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the detection apparatus of Kopelman, with the synthesized lower-jaw tooth row data, the upper-jaw tooth row data and the occlusion data and converted into three-dimensional data Schmitt, in order to have a digital image of the upper and lower jaw data aligned with respect to each other to proceed with the segmentation technique of Schmitt of separating each individual tooth in a model and other components isolated, in which at the end all the model can be manipulated back into the common coordinate system.
Regarding claim 9, Kopelman/Schmitt discloses the claimed invention substantially as claimed, as set forth above for claim 8, and where Kopelman discloses that the at least one tooth row data is move away from the other tooth row data, detecting the premature contact position includes detecting a portion of the upper row of teeth and the lower row of teeth in which the row of teeth of the upper jaw contacts the row of teeth of the lower jaw until an end of a separation between the upper jaw tooth row data and the lower jaw tooth row data as the premature contact position (see step 160 and 170 of Fig. 1 above and [0046] – [0047] – “digital arches are brought into a bite position” and “the occlusion contacts are calculated”; furthermore, in [0058] – “digital representation 400 of the patient's teeth shows a visualization of a movement vector 406 of tooth 408” and “digital representation 400, during biting occlusion the tooth 408 has moved as a result of the biting force applied to the patient's opposing teeth. The vector 406 shows that the tooth 408 is translated in both a distal and buccal direction without intrusion or intrusion”; therefore, data of the upper and lower row teeth are updated in their location depending on the occlusal or open position).
Regarding claim 10, Kopelman/Schmitt discloses the claimed invention substantially as claimed, as set forth above for claim 8, and where Kopelman discloses that wherein moving the at least one tooth row data away from the other tooth row data on a basis of at least one type of jaw motion data from among jaw motion data inferred from the occlusal state, jaw motion data measured for the upper jaw and the lower jaw, and predetermined average jaw motion data ([0046] - [0047] – “the digital models of the patient's upper arch and lower arch may be brought into occlusion. In some embodiments, bringing the upper arch and lower arch into biting occlusion includes moving the lower arch relative to the upper arch, or vice versa, in order to orient the lower arch and the upper arch according to the scan of the patient's teeth in biting occlusion”, in this way predetermined the average jaw motion data; furthermore, in Fig. 6 above shows the trace 602 that indicates the “location or the accelerated wear of the tooth or teeth”, in which it also can predetermined average jaw motion data is included this apparatus; furthermore, in [0058] – “digital representation 400 of the patient's teeth shows a visualization of a movement vector 406 of tooth 408” and “digital representation 400, during biting occlusion the tooth 408 has moved as a result of the biting force applied to the patient's opposing teeth. The vector 406 shows that the tooth 408 is translated in both a distal and buccal direction without intrusion or intrusion”; therefore, data of the upper and lower row teeth are updated in their location depending on the occlusal or open position).
Regarding claim 12, Kopelman/Schmitt discloses the claimed invention substantially as claimed, as set forth above for claim 8, and where Kopelman discloses further configuring detecting a bias of a contact area between the row of teeth of the upper jaw and the row of teeth of the lower jaw for one or more predetermined periods while the at least one tooth row data is move away from the other tooth row data (see [0071] – see trace 602 in which it is the path of sliding contact of an opposing tooth in Fig. 6, it is considered as the “point of initial contact may be a location wherein the opposing tooth initially contacts the tooth 600 as the upper and lower arch come into initial occlusion”).
Regarding claim 13, Kopelman/Schmitt discloses the claimed invention substantially as claimed, as set forth above for claim 8, and where Kopelman discloses that moving the at least one tooth row data of the upper-jaw tooth row data and the lower-jaw tooth row data is performed in intervals of displacement (see Fig. 7 above and [0068]).
Regarding claim 15, Kopelman discloses a detection system that detects a premature contact position at which an upper row of teeth prematurely contacts a lower row of teeth upon occlusion (see [0076-0077]), the detection system including:
a three-dimensional scanner (1120) that acquires three-dimensional data indicating a three-dimensional shape of each of a row of teeth of an upper jaw and a row of teeth of a lower jaw (see Fig. 11 above and [0103]); and
a detection apparatus (1100) (see Fig. 11 above and [0076] – [0077] and [0100]) that detects the premature contact position on a basis of the three-dimensional data acquired by the three-dimensional scanner (1120),
wherein the detection apparatus (1100) includes:
input interface circuitry (1118) (see Fig. 11 and par. [0101] – “a keyboard, pointing device, mouse, scanner, interactive displays, touchpad, joysticks, etc.”) to which upper-jaw tooth row data, lower-jaw tooth row data and occlusion data are input, the upper-jaw tooth row data indicating a three- dimensional shape of a row of teeth of an upper jaw acquired by a three-dimensional scanner (1120) (see Fig. 11 above and [0103]) when the upper row of teeth and the lower row of teeth are in an open state (see steps 110 and 120 in Fig. 1 and [0036] - [0037] – where digital data of each individual arch is generated; therefore it is understood that the upper and lower jaw are in an open state), the lower-jaw tooth row data indicating a three-dimensional shape of a row of teeth of a lower jaw acquired by the three-dimensional scanner when the upper row of teeth and the lower row of teeth are in the open state (see step 120 in Fig 1 [0037] - digital model of a lower arch is generated; the scanning device captures digital image of a dental site of the patient's lower arch including buccal, occlusal, and lingual surface data), the occlusion data indicating a three- dimensional shape of the upper row of teeth and the lower row of teeth acquired by the three-dimensional scanner when the upper row of teeth and the lower row of teeth are in an occlusal state (see [0036] – “the scanning device captures images and/or video of a dental site of the patient's upper arch including buccal, occlusal, and lingual surface data”); and
processing circuitry (see [0021] – including “processor and memory having instructions” carry out any of the methods of Fig. 1 above) configured to detect the premature contact position by generating synthetic data indicating a synthetic three-dimensional shape of the upper row of teeth and the lower row of teeth in the occlusal state by synthesizing the upper- jaw tooth row data and the lower-jaw tooth row data using the occlusion data as a reference and moving at least one tooth row data of the upper-jaw tooth row data and the lower-jaw tooth row data included in the synthetic data away from the other tooth row data so that a state of the upper row of teeth and the lower row of teeth is displaced from the occlusal state to the open state (see steps 130-170 in Fig. 1 above and [0021], [0038] – [0047]).
However, Kopelman does not disclose that by synthesizing of the lower -jaw tooth row data, the upper-jaw tooth row data and the occlusion data are converted into three-dimensional data of a common coordinate system, and the upper-jaw tooth row data and the lower jaw tooth row data are aligned in the common coordinate system with respective corresponding positions of the occlusion data.
Schmitt teaches the use of a CT bite plate in the mouth of a patient with a bite registration material for recording diagnostic jaw position with teeth in the registration material (see Fig. 1 and 2 above). The image of the patient’s upper and lower tooth and the CT bite plate is recorded with radiographic markers to have the correct relative position in a computer space. The upper and lower tooth raw data is reformatted/synthesized using the above steps of Fig. 3, 4A-4B in order to recreate the upper and lower teeth in a three-dimensional format and align them with respect to the radiographic markers in which act as a common coordinate system to align them digitally. Furthermore, the use of the CT bite plate allows for an occlusal reference of the teeth, and at the same time the thickness and the registration material in the CT bite plate create a space between the upper and lower teeth during the occlusion, in this way allowing for the full image data collection of the upper and lower teeth. The resulting data is the scanned image data of the upper and lower capable of been digitally moved into the correct position (see Fig. 3, 4A-4B).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the detection apparatus of Kopelman, with the synthesized lower-jaw tooth row data, the upper-jaw tooth row data and the occlusion data and converted into three-dimensional data Schmitt, in order to have a digital image of the upper and lower jaw data aligned with respect to each other to proceed with the segmentation technique of Schmitt of separating each individual tooth in a model and other components isolated, in which at the end all the model can be manipulated back into the common coordinate system.
Regarding claim 16, Kopelman/Schmitt discloses the claimed invention substantially as claimed, as set forth above for claim 15, and where Kopelman discloses that when the at least one tooth row data is moved away from the other tooth row data, the processing circuitry is further configured to detect a portion of the upper row of teeth and the lower row of teeth in which the row of teeth of the upper jaw contacts the row of teeth of the lower jaw until an end of the updating as the premature contact position (see step 160 and 170 of Fig. 1 above and [0046] – [0047] – “digital arches are brought into a bite position” and “the occlusion contacts are calculated”; furthermore, in [0058] – “digital representation 400 of the patient's teeth shows a visualization of a movement vector 406 of tooth 408” and “digital representation 400, during biting occlusion the tooth 408 has moved as a result of the biting force applied to the patient's opposing teeth. The vector 406 shows that the tooth 408 is translated in both a distal and buccal direction without intrusion or intrusion”; therefore, data of the upper and lower row teeth are updated in their location depending on the occlusal or open position).
Regarding claim 17, Kopelman/Schmitt discloses the claimed invention substantially as claimed, as set forth above for claim 15, and where Kopelman discloses that the processing circuitry is configured to move the at least one tooth row data away from the other tooth row data on a basis of at least one type of jaw motion data from among jaw motion data inferred from the occlusal state, jaw motion data measured for the upper jaw and the lower jaw, and predetermined average jaw motion data ([0046] - [0047] – “the digital models of the patient's upper arch and lower arch may be brought into occlusion. In some embodiments, bringing the upper arch and lower arch into biting occlusion includes moving the lower arch relative to the upper arch, or vice versa, in order to orient the lower arch and the upper arch according to the scan of the patient's teeth in biting occlusion”, in this way predetermined the average jaw motion data; furthermore, in Fig. 6 above shows the trace 602 that indicates the “location or the accelerated wear of the tooth or teeth”, in which it also can predetermined average jaw motion data is included this apparatus).
Regarding claim 19, Kopelman/Schmitt discloses the claimed invention substantially as claimed, as set forth above for claim 15, and where Kopelman discloses that the processing circuitry is configured to detect a bias of a contact area between the row of teeth of the upper jaw and the row of teeth of the lower jaw for one or more predetermined periods while the at least one tooth row data is moved away from the other tooth row data (see [0071] – see trace 602 in which it is the path of sliding contact of an opposing tooth in Fig. 6, it is considered as the “point of initial contact may be a location wherein the opposing tooth initially contacts the tooth 600 as the upper and lower arch come into initial occlusion”).
Regarding claim 20, Kopelman/Schmitt discloses the claimed invention substantially as claimed, as set forth above for claim 15, and where Kopelman discloses that the processing circuitry is configured to move the at least one tooth row data of the upper-jaw tooth row data and the lower-jaw tooth row data in intervals of displacement across one or more predetermined periods (see Fig. 7 above and [0068]).
Claims 7 and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kopelman (US 20220323190 A1) in view of Schmitt (US 20070190481 A1) as applied to claims 6 and 13 respectively above.
Regarding claims 7 and 14, Kopelman/Schmitt discloses the claimed invention substantially as claimed, as set forth above for claims 6 and 13 respectively.
However, Kopelman/Schmitt does not disclose that the intervals of displacement are between 0.1 mm to 0.3 mm.
On the other hand, Kopelman discloses that the apparatus generates a model that depicts sequential displacement of the patient’s tooth in an open and occlusal state. Where the lateral displacement of the tooth (710) will depend on a force imparted during occlusion. The bigger the force during occlusion, more lateral displacement is reflected on the tooth (see Fig. 7 above), where the “solid outline 702 of the tooth 710 may depict the position of the patient's tooth 710 in an open state, and where the “first dashed line 704 depicts the position of the patient's tooth during initial biting occlusion at a first biting force, while dashed line 706 and dashed line 708 depict the position of the patient's tooth during application of increasing biting force”. Furthermore, each tooth displacement can be depicted in sequential frames, in which may be played in a loop to repeatedly show the movement of the patient's tooth (710) during occlusion, in this way providing a video showing a loop of the interval displacements (see [0068]).
Even when Kopelman does not disclose the claimed intervals of displacement to be between 0.1 mm to 0.3 mm, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the interval of displacement for the sequential model of Kopelman, to be in the range claimed, in order for the tooth is shown in very small lateral displacement, so that the video shows a more smooth transition movement of the tooth displacement from the open state to the occlusal state at different occlusal forces.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1-3, 5-10, 12-17 and 19-20 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
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 MIRAYDA ARLENE APONTE whose telephone number is (571)270-1933. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8-5.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Eric Rosen can be reached at 571-270-7855. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MIRAYDA A APONTE/Examiner, Art Unit 3772 /ERIC J ROSEN/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3772
