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 with respect to the rejection(s) of the independent claim(s)under the combination of prior arts have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of Pande (US pg. no. 20060245351).
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.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 9-10 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
-Claims 9 and 20 recites “…wherein the first backbone port is configured to:
Receive a notification packet that is a broadcast packet or multicast packet;… and switch the second backbone port to a forwarding state based on the link fault information to enable a standby link on which a port that is originally in a blocked state is located”.
-Claim 10 recites “… the second back bone port is configured to: determine that a first link is faulty…”
Backbone port is an interface that is configured to passively receive Packet from network and pass packets to the network. The port in and of itself is not an active processing computing entity that performs the above receiving, switching determining functions. It is not clear how the port act as a computing processing device and performs the above functions.
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.
Claim(s) 1, 4-5, 7-12, 14-16, and 22 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Pande (US pg. no. 20060245351), further in view of Xiong (CN112187646A).
Regarding claim 1. Pande discloses a method, comprising:
receiving, by a first backbone node of M backbone nodes (fig. 3 switch 102), a notification packet (fig. 3 and [0029] multicast notification message 304) through a first backbone port of the first backbone node(fig. 3, port 110 of switch 102 ), wherein the notification packet is a broadcast packet or a multicast packet(fig. 3, discloses ring master switch 102 receives multicast notification message 304 form a ring node that detected link failure; [0029] and [0031] discloses at operation 206 of FIG. 2, the one or more communication switches that detected the ring failure can transmit across the Ethernet ring topology a multicast notification message regarding the occurrence of the ring failure…[0031] At operation 208 of FIG. 2, in response to receiving one or more multicast notification messages, the ring master can change its logically blocked communication port to a forwarding state);
Pande inherently discloses obtaining, by the first backbone node of the M backbone nodes (fig.3 switch 102), a link failure information of a ring network from the notification packet, wherein the link failure information indicates that a first link on which a third backbone port of a second backbone node (fig. 3 port 116 of switch 104) of the M backbone nodes is located is faulty ([0029] and [0031] discloses at operation 206 of FIG. 2, the one or more communication switches that detected the ring failure can transmit across the Ethernet ring topology a multicast notification message regarding the occurrence of the ring failure…[0031] At operation 208 of FIG. 2, in response to receiving one or more multicast notification messages, the ring master can change its logically blocked communication port to a forwarding state); and
switching, by the first backbone node, the first backbone port (fig. 3 port 110) from a blocked state to a forwarding state based on the link fault information to enable a standby link (fig. 3 link 132) on which a port that is originally in a blocked state is located ([0031] At operation 208 of FIG. 2, in response to receiving one or more multicast notification messages, the ring master can change its logically blocked communication port to a forwarding state. It is appreciated that operation 208 can be implemented in a wide variety of ways. For example, FIG. 5 is a block diagram of an exemplary network 100b wherein switch 102 has received one or more multicast notification message 302 and/or 304 in accordance with embodiments of the invention. As such, switch 102 has changed ring port 110 to a forwarding state by removed the logically blocking 111 from ring port 110).
But, Pande does not explicitly disclose obtaining, by the first backbone node of the M backbone nodes, link fault information of the ring network;
However, in the same field of endeavor, Xiong discloses obtaining, by the first backbone node of the M backbone nodes, link fault information of the ring network (page 5, 35-45 discloses When a ring network link failure occurs, for example, when the link between S2 and S3 is interrupted, S2 and S3 will send The Link-Down protocol message (link Down protocol message, a kind of RRPP protocol message) is sent to the master node S1; after receiving the Link-Down protocol message, the master node S1 will change the secondary port Port1 from the blocked state to Forward the status, and send Common-Flush-FDB protocol packets (an RRPP protocol packet) to other nodes on the ring to notify other nodes on the ring to delete the MAC table entries of VLAN 100 on the ring, and then learn the MAC table entries again. Then update the ARP entry of VLAN 100 on the ring).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art at the time of eth invention was effectively filed to combine the teaching of Pande with Xiong. The modification would allow effective ring network protection and convergence at the time of failure to enable continuous uninterrupted communication and rapid recovery from failure.
Regarding claim 4. The combination discloses method of claim 1.
Pande discloses wherein the obtaining comprises: determining, by the first backbone node, that a second link on which the first backbone port is located is faulty ((fig. 3 discloses exemplary scenarios where switch 106 identifies link 134 is faulty and sends multicast notification message 304 via port 120 to switch 102. Any of the links such as connected to switch 102 (first backbone node) may be faulty and similar measures are performed to preserve the ring network).
Xiong further discloses, wherein the obtaining comprises: determining, by the first backbone node, that a second link on which the first backbone port is located is faulty (pag5 lines 38-42 discloses when a ring network link failure occurs, for example, when the link between S2 and S3 is interrupted, S2 and S3 will send The Link-Down protocol message (link Down protocol message, a kind of RRPP protocol message) is sent to the master node S1; after receiving the Link-Down protocol message, the master node S1 will change the secondary port Port1 from the blocked state to Forward the status. S2 and S3 are examples. The system is capable of identifying the link between S4 and S1 (a second link) and change port 1 of S1 to forwarding state and port 8 to blocked state).
Regarding claim 5. The combination discloses method of claim 4.
Pande discloses, further comprising switching, by the first backbone node, the first backbone port from a forwarding state to a blocked state (fig. 3 discloses exemplary scenarios where switch 106 identifies link 134 is faulty and sends multicast notification message 304 via port 120 to switch 102. Any of the links such as connected to switch 102 (first backbone node) may be faulty and similar measures are performed to preserve the ring network such as turning port 112 (first backbone port) to blocked state and changing port 110 to forwarding state).
Regarding claim 7. The combination discloses method of claim 1.
Xiong further discloses, wherein each of the M backbone nodes comprises a first identifier; and the first identifier is used to identify a backbone node in the ring network (fig. 1 discloses each node in the ring is identified by MAC address to identify the devices).
Regarding claim 8. The combination discloses method of claim 1.
Xiong further discloses, further comprising:
detecting, by the first backbone node, a first identifier; and
determining, by the first backbone node based on the first identifier, that the first backbone node is in the ring network (page 5, 56-60 discloses when the fault occurs and the fault recovery of the RRPP ring network, the master node will send the Common-Flush-FDB protocol message or the Complete-Flush-FDB protocol after the master node senses the failure and the failure recovery. When the message reaches other nodes on the ring, it triggers all nodes to delete the MAC table entries of VLAN 100 on the ring, then learn the MAC table entries again; fig. 1 discloses each device is identified by node identifier. Identifying the node identifier by the master to send the FDB message for all members of the ring corresponds to determining nodes that are in the ring).
Regarding claim 9. Pande discloses an Ethernet system (fig.3), comprising: M backbone nodes comprising backbone ports (fig. 3 discloses switches 102-108 with corresponding ports to form single ring network), wherein the M backbone nodes form a ring network using the backbone ports, wherein M is an integer greater than 2, and wherein the M backbone nodes (fig. 3 discloses switches 102-108 with corresponding ports to form single ring network with 4 switches), comprise:
a first backbone node (fig. 3 switch 102) comprising:
a first backbone port that is in a forwarding state (fig. 3 port 112); and
a second backbone port that is in a blocked state (fig. 3 port 110 is blocked), wherein the first backbone port is configured to:
receive a notification packet that is a broadcast packet or multicast packet (fig. 3, discloses ring master switch 102 receives multicast notification message 304 form a ring node that detected link failure [0029] and [0031] discloses at operation 206 of FIG. 2, the one or more communication switches that detected the ring failure can transmit across the Ethernet ring topology a multicast notification message regarding the occurrence of the ring failure…[0031] At operation 208 of FIG. 2, in response to receiving one or more multicast notification messages, the ring master can change its logically blocked communication port to a forwarding state);
Pande inherently discloses obtain link fault information of the ring network from the notification packet, wherein the link fault information indicates that a first link on which a third backbone port of a second backbone node of the M backbone nodes is located is faulty fig. 3, discloses ring master switch 102 receives multicast notification message 304 form a ring node that detected link failure [0029] and [0031] discloses at operation 206 of FIG. 2, the one or more communication switches that detected the ring failure can transmit across the Ethernet ring topology a multicast notification message regarding the occurrence of the ring failure…[0031] At operation 208 of FIG. 2, in response to receiving one or more multicast notification messages, the ring master can change its logically blocked communication port to a forwarding state; and
switch the second backbone port to a forwarding state based on the link fault information to enable a standby link on which a port that is originally in a blocked state is located ([0031] At operation 208 of FIG. 2, in response to receiving one or more multicast notification messages, the ring master can change its logically blocked communication port to a forwarding state. It is appreciated that operation 208 can be implemented in a wide variety of ways. For example, FIG. 5 is a block diagram of an exemplary network 100b wherein switch 102 has received one or more multicast notification message 302 and/or 304 in accordance with embodiments of the invention. As such, switch 102 has changed ring port 110 to a forwarding state by removed the logically blocking 111 from ring port 110).
But, Pande does not explicitly disclose: wherein the first backbone port is configured to:
obtain link fault information of the ring network;
However, in the same field of endeavor, Xiong discloses wherein the first backbone port is configured to: obtain link fault information of the ring network (page 5, 35-45 discloses When a ring network link failure occurs, for example, when the link between S2 and S3 is interrupted, S2 and S3 will send The Link-Down protocol message (link Down protocol message, a kind of RRPP protocol message) is sent to the master node S1; after receiving the Link-Down protocol message, the master node S1 will change the secondary port Port1 from the blocked state to Forward the status, and send Common-Flush-FDB protocol packets (an RRPP protocol packet) to other nodes on the ring to notify other nodes on the ring to delete the MAC table entries of VLAN 100 on the ring, and then learn the MAC table entries again. Then update the ARP entry of VLAN 100 on the ring).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art at the time of eth invention was effectively filed to combine the teaching of Pande with Xiong. The modification would allow effective ring network protection and convergence at the time of failure to enable continuous uninterrupted communication and rapid recovery from failure.
Regarding claim 10. The Ethernet system of claim 9.
Pande discloses, wherein the second backbone port is configured to:
determine that a first link is faulty; and send the notification packet through a fourth backbone port (fig. 3 discloses switch 106 identifies link 134 is faulty and sends multicast notification message 304 via port 120 to switch 102).
Regarding claim 11. The combination discloses Ethernet system of claim 10.
Pande discloses, wherein the second backbone node is further configured to: switch the third backbone port of to a blocked state (fig. 3 discloses switch 106 identifies link 134 is faulty and sends multicast notification message 304 via port 120 to switch 102. The port attached to the faulty link is blocked and flushed from storage).
Regarding claim 12. The combination discloses Ethernet system of claim 11.
Xiong discloses, wherein the third backbone port is a master port, and the fourth backbone port is a slave port (fig. 1 discloses master switch S1 has port 1 (blocked) and port 2 not blocked). Port 2 corresponds the master port and port 2 or any other ports of the ring corresponds to the slave port).
Regarding claim 14. The combination discloses Ethernet system of claim 9.
Pande discloses, wherein the first backbone node is further configured to: determine that a second link is faulty, and wherein the second link is a link on which the first backbone port is located (fig. 3 discloses exemplary scenarios where switch 106 identifies link 134 is faulty and sends multicast notification message 304 via port 120 to switch 102. Any of the links such as connected to switch 102 (first backbone node) may be faulty and similar measures are performed to preserve the ring network).
Regarding claim 15. The combination discloses Ethernet system of claim 14.
Pande discloses, wherein the first backbone node is further configured to: switch the first backbone port to a blocked state (fig. 3 discloses exemplary scenarios where switch 106 identifies link 134 is faulty and sends multicast notification message 304 via port 120 to switch 102. Any of the links such as connected to switch 102 (first backbone node) may be faulty and similar measures are performed to preserve the ring network such as turning port 112 (first backbone port) to blocked state and changing port 110 to forwarding state).
Regarding claim 16. The combination discloses Ethernet system of claim 9.
Xiong discloses, wherein each of the M backbone nodes comprises an identifier that identifies a backbone node of the M backbone nodes (fig. 1 discloses the nodes in the ring have node ID).
Regarding claim 22. The combination discloses method of claim 1.
Pande discloses, wherein the notification packet is a media access control multicast packet ([0030] Note that when each communication switch of the ring topology receives the multicast notification message at operation 206, the switch can disable its MAC address learning process on both its ring ports).
Claim(s) 6 and 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over the combination of Pande (US pg. no. 20060245351), and Xiong (CN112187646A), further in view of Kawauchi (US pg. no. 20200172028).
Regarding claim 6. The combination discloses method of claim 4.
But, the combination does not explicitly disclose, wherein the determining that the second link is faulty using differential signal diagnosis.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Kawauchi discloses wherein the determining that the second link is faulty using differential signal diagnosis([0082] the first on-vehicle communication apparatus periodically outputs the direct-current signal or the low-band signal including the failure diagnosis information to the differential signal line, and when the diagnosis unit is not able to receive the predetermined information from the second on-vehicle communication apparatus for a predetermined time, the diagnosis unit determines a failure in the second on-vehicle communication apparatus; [0393] The on-vehicle network in the vehicle 1 has a ring network topology formed by three switch devices 103, i.e., the switch devices 103A to 103C, for example. In the on-vehicle network, the mutual connection relationship among the switch devices 103A to 103C and the connection relationship between each switch device 103 and on-vehicle communication devices 113 are fixed).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art at the time of eth invention was effectively filed to combine the teaching of the combination with Kawauchi. The modification would allow ai a diverse networking system, an effective method to detect link failure to protect ring network topology.
Regarding claim 13. The combination discloses Ethernet system of claim 10.
But, the combination does not explicitly disclose: wherein the second backbone node is configured to: determine that the first link is faulty using differential signal diagnosis.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Kawauchi discloses wherein the second backbone node is configured to: determine that the first link is faulty using differential signal diagnosis ([0082] the first on-vehicle communication apparatus periodically outputs the direct-current signal or the low-band signal including the failure diagnosis information to the differential signal line, and when the diagnosis unit is not able to receive the predetermined information from the second on-vehicle communication apparatus for a predetermined time, the diagnosis unit determines a failure in the second on-vehicle communication apparatus; [0393] The on-vehicle network in the vehicle 1 has a ring network topology formed by three switch devices 103, i.e., the switch devices 103A to 103C, for example. In the on-vehicle network, the mutual connection relationship among the switch devices 103A to 103C and the connection relationship between each switch device 103 and on-vehicle communication devices 113 are fixed).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art at the time of eth invention was effectively filed to combine the teaching of the combination with Kawauchi. The modification would allow ai a diverse networking system, an effective method to detect link failure to protect ring network topology.
Claim(s) 17-19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over the combination of Pande (US pg. no. 20060245351), and Xiong (CN112187646A), further in view of Zhou (EP2640012A1).
Regarding claim 17. The combination does not explicitly disclose: Ethernet system of claim 9, comprising:
But, the combination does not explicitly disclose: a terminal node
a first terminal port that is in a forwarding state; and
a second terminal port that is in a blocked state, wherein at least two backbone nodes in the M backbone nodes comprise a third terminal port, connected to the first terminal port and to the second terminal port, and
wherein the terminal node is configured to:
determine that a third link on which the first terminal port is located is faulty; and
switch the second terminal port to a forwarding state.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Zhou discloses a terminal node (fig. 1 S1)comprising:
a first terminal port that is in a forwarding state (fig. 1 S1 port 1); and
a second terminal port that is in a blocked state (fig. 1 S1 port2 in blocked state), wherein at least two backbone nodes in the M backbone nodes comprise a third terminal port, connected to the first terminal port and to the second terminal port (fig. 1 discloses S2 and S3 comprises port respectively that s connecting to S1 that correspond to the third terminal ports respectively), and
wherein the terminal node is configured to: determine that a third link on which the first terminal port is located is faulty; and switch the second terminal port to a forwarding state ([0004] As shown in Fig. 2 , when the link between the Port 1 of S1 and the Port 2 of S2 has a failure and the link between the Port 3 of S2 and the Port 3 of S3 has a failure too, the Port 2 of S1 in the master ring is no longer blocked (switched to open).
Thefore, it would have been obvious toa person having ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention was effectively filed to combine the teaching of the combination with Zhou. The modification would allow effective loop prevention system for layered network topology where loop is prevented by configuring the networking topology to block ports that would result a loop.
Regarding claim 18. The combination discloses Ethernet system of claim 17.
Zhou discloses, wherein the terminal node is further configured to: switch the first terminal port to a blocked state ([0004] As shown in Fig. 2 , when the link between the Port 1 of S1 and the Port 2 of S2 has a failure and the link between the Port 3 of S2 and the Port 3 of S3 has a failure too, the Port 2 of S1 in the master ring is no longer blocked. It is clear in loop prevention that when port 2 of S1 and port 1 of S4 are opened port 1 of S1 and port 2 of S4 are closed. The master ring is a ring topology where when any of the open ports fail, the blocked port such as port 2 of S1 is opened and the faulty port such as port 1 of S1 associated to a failed link is closed to prevent loop in the master ring).
Regarding claim 19. The combination discloses Ethernet system of claim 17.
Zhou discloses, wherein the terminal node comprises a second identifier that identifies the terminal node (fig. 1 discloses the terminal node S1 is in different ring from backbone node S4 that is in slave ring. S1 has identifier of the master ring that is different from identifier of the slave ring that is comprises S4).
Claim(s) 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over the combination of Kawauchi (US pg. no. 20200172028), further in view of Pande (US pg. no. 20060245351).
Regarding claim 20.
Kawauchi discloses A vehicle, comprising an Ethernet system comprising:
M backbone nodes comprising backbone ports, wherein the M backbone nodes form a ring network using the backbone ports, wherein M is an integer greater than 2 ([0393] The on-vehicle network in the vehicle 1 has a ring network topology formed by three switch devices 103, i.e., the switch devices 103A to 103C, for example. In the on-vehicle network, the mutual connection relationship among the switch devices 103A to 103C and the connection relationship between each switch device 103 and on-vehicle communication devices 113 are fixed), and
wherein the M backbone nodes comprise: a first backbone node (fig. 21 discloses the ring network of nodes 103A-C).
vehicle parts coupled to the Ethernet system and configured to receive communication messages through the M backbone nodes ( fig. 21 discloses the ring network comprising on-vehicle communication device to receive communication through the ring nodes of 103A, 103B and 103C).
But, Kawauchi does not explicitly disclose wherein the M backbone nodes comprise: a first backbone node comprising a first backbone port and a second backbone port, wherein the first backbone port and the second backbone port are in a forwarding state; and
a second backbone node comprising:
a third backbone port that is in a forwarding state; and
a fourth backbone port that is in a blocked state, wherein the third backbone port is configured to:
receive a notification packet that is a broadcast packet or multicast packet;
obtain link fault information of the ring network from the notification packet, wherein the link fault information indicates that a link on which the first backbone port is located is faulty; and
switch the fourth backbone port to a forwarding state based on the link fault information;
However, in the same field of endeavor Pande discloses:
wherein the M backbone nodes(fig. 3 102-108) comprise: a first backbone node comprising a first backbone port and a second backbone port, wherein the first backbone port and the second backbone port are in a forwarding state(fig. 3 discloses switch 108 where comprising ports 122 and 124 that are in forwarding state); and
a second backbone node (fig. 3 switch 102)comprising:
a third backbone port that is in a forwarding state(fig. 3 discloses switch 102 comprising port 112 in forwarding state); and
a fourth backbone port that is in a blocked state(fig. 3 switch 102 comprising port 110 in blocked state), wherein the third backbone port is configured to:
receive a notification packet that is a broadcast packet or multicast packet (fig. 3 discloses port 112 receives multicast notification message 304 that notifies a ring fault at link 134; [0029] and [0031] discloses at operation 206 of FIG. 2, the one or more communication switches that detected the ring failure can transmit across the Ethernet ring topology a multicast notification message regarding the occurrence of the ring failure…[0031] At operation 208 of FIG. 2, in response to receiving one or more multicast notification messages, the ring master can change its logically blocked communication port to a forwarding state);
obtain link fault information of the ring network from the notification packet, wherein the link fault information indicates that a link on which the first backbone port is located is faulty ([0029] and [0031] discloses at operation 206 of FIG. 2, the one or more communication switches that detected the ring failure can transmit across the Ethernet ring topology a multicast notification message regarding the occurrence of the ring failure…[0031] At operation 208 of FIG. 2, in response to receiving one or more multicast notification messages, the ring master can change its logically blocked communication port to a forwarding state); and
switch the fourth backbone port to a forwarding state based on the link fault information ([0031] At operation 208 of FIG. 2, in response to receiving one or more multicast notification messages, the ring master can change its logically blocked communication port to a forwarding state. It is appreciated that operation 208 can be implemented in a wide variety of ways. For example, FIG. 5 is a block diagram of an exemplary network 100b wherein switch 102 has received one or more multicast notification message 302 and/or 304 in accordance with embodiments of the invention. As such, switch 102 has changed ring port 110 to a forwarding state by removed the logically blocking 111 from ring port 110);
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art at the time of eth invention was effectively filed to combine the teaching of Kawauchi with Pande. The modification would allow effective ring network protection and convergence at the time of failure to enable continuous uninterrupted communication and rapid recovery from failure in vehicular communication components network.
Claim(s) 21 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Pande (US pg. no. 20060245351), and Xiong (CN112187646A), further in view of Lui (CN 104683769).
Regarding claim 21. The combination discloses method of claim 1.
But, the combination does not explicitly disclose:
wherein the notification packet is a broadcast packet of an internet group management protocol.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Liu discloses wherein the notification packet is a broadcast packet of an internet group management protocol (page 8 lines 28-32 discloses when the communication link between the multicast source switch and one of the node switches in the ring network is faulty, each node switch in the ring network has When the communication link is switched and the device is the master node switch, the device sends a clear message to the multicast source switch, so that the multicast source switch sends the clear message to each node in the ring network. The switch sends a second IGMP message; page 5 lines 17-21 discloses When the communication link between the multicast source switch and one of the node switches in the ring network is faulty, and each node switch in the ring network has completed communication link switching and the node switch is a master node switch, The master node switch sends a clearing message to the multicast source switch, so that the multicast source switch sends a second IGMP message to each of the node switches in the ring network according to the clearing message).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention was effectively filed to combine the teaching of the combination with Liu. The modification would allow effective communication by broadcasting communication problem in a network in order to communicate the event and resolve the problem in a timely manner.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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 MESSERET F. GEBRE whose telephone number is (571)272-8272. The examiner can normally be reached 9:00 am-5:30PM.
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, Oscar Louie can be reached at 5712701684. 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.
/MESSERET F. GEBRE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2445
Prosecution Insights