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 .
DETAILED ACTION
This communication is in response to Applicant's response filed under 37 C.F.R. § 1.111 in response to a Non-Final Office Action. Claims 1, 9, 16, and 24 have been amended; No claims have been added or canceled. Claims 1-30 are subject to examination.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 03/16/2026, have been fully considered but they are not persuasive for the following reasons:
Applicant's Argument:
Applicant argues in substance that "That is, Zhou describes a DCI indicating a gap between the DCI and a first PDSCH/PUSCH, between two adjacent PDSCHs/PUSCHs (sufficient for HARQ ACK feedback), and between a PDSCH/PUSCH and the corresponding HARQ ACK feedback. However, the features of Zhou do not teach or suggest the features of amended independent claim 1. For example, none of the gaps of Zhou are the same as a timing gap extending from each respective instance of each respective transport block to a temporally next respective instance of each respective transport block of the plurality of respective transport blocks," as recited in amended independent claim I ( emphasis added)".
Examiner's Response:
The Examiner respectfully disagrees. The ZHOU reference teaches the limitations "a timing gap extending from each respective instance of each respective transport block to a temporally next respective instance of each respective transport block of the plurality of respective transport blocks". ZHOU teaches a diagram of transmission in an interleaved mode in Fig. 26 as shown below:
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Fig. 26 shows timing gap between first instance of TB1 and temporally next instance of TB1 as M*N subframes. In this regard, the Examiner would like to cite couple of pertinent arts, as listed below:
Reference SENGUPTA et al. (US 20220287069 A1) teaches interleaved TB with gap between each instances of same TB (e.g. 310-a, 310-b) in Fig. 3.
Reference Vos et al. (US 20200053769 A1) teaches interleaved TB with gap between each instances of same TB (e.g. TB1, TB2) in Fig. 3. Although Fig. 3 shows PUSCH TB, but Par. 0036 teaches that same interleaving technique can be applied to PDSCHs.
The claims merely recites “a timing gap”, therefore the examiner contends that the timing gap between each instance of same TB, in fact can be interpreted as the claimed timing gap. Note that timing gap between TB1as shows in Fig. 26 is same as timing gap between TB1as shows in Fig. 4 of instant application. The Examiner advises the applicant to further define the “timing gap” limitation of the claims. By this rationale, ZHOU teaches the limitations "a timing gap”. Since the claims are amended, the rejection is updated. See rejection below.
Regarding all other arguments presented by Applicant, the arguments are substantially the same as those which have already been addressed above and, in the interest of brevity, the Examiner directs Applicant to those responses above.
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 1-2, 9-10, 16-17, and 24-25 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over ZHOU et al. (ZHOU hereafter) (US 20210219329 A1) in view of WEN et al. (WEN hereafter) (US 20250055608 A1).
Regarding claim 1 and claim 16, ZHOU teaches, A network entity for wireless communication, comprising: a processing system configured to:
receive control information that schedules one or more respective instances of a plurality of respective transport blocks (ZHOU; FIG. 26 shows an example of an interleaved transmission method when DCI schedules 4 transport blocks, Par. 0680), wherein the one or more respective instances of the plurality of respective transport blocks are time-interleaved according to a time interleaving pattern (ZHOU; FIG. 26; interleaved transmission, Par. 0680 [Note that it is the bottom portion of Fig. 26]), a timing gap extending from each respective instance of each respective transport block to a temporally next respective instance of each respective transport block of the plurality of respective transport blocks (ZHOU; if M transport blocks are scheduled in the DCI and the numbers of repetitions of the transport blocks are identical and greater than 1, data of all the M transport blocks are cyclically scheduled in every M*N subframes, Par. 0681);
receive, via a first set of one or more physical downlink shared channels (PDSCHs) and based on the time interleaving pattern, a first set of instances of a first transport block of the plurality of respective transport blocks that uses a first hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) process and a second set of instances of a second transport block of the plurality of respective transport blocks that uses a second HARQ process (ZHOU; When multiple transport blocks TB are scheduled by using one DCI ... HARQ process #0 corresponding to the first TB and HARQ process #1 corresponding to the second TB, Par. 0705-0710) for a multicast service or a broadcast service in accordance with the timing gap that extends from each instance of the first set of instances to a temporally next instance of the first set of instances and extends from each instance of the second set of instances to a temporally next instance of the second set of instances (ZHOU; Fig. 26; data of the same transport block are transmitted in every N consecutive subframes, Par. 0681 [Note that TB1s are the first set and TB2s are the second set ];the transport block includes a transport block for multicast traffic, Pat. 0042), wherein a processing timing gap between a termination of the first set of one or more PDSCHs and receiving second control information scheduling a second set of one or more PDSCHs associated with a third transport block or receiving the second set of one or more PDSCHs satisfies a threshold processing time (ZHOU; after receiving the 2 PDSCHs, the UE transmits an HARQ-ACK feedback message 11 ... the UE starts to monitor the PDCCH, Par. 0594; in FIG. 5, k0+k2 should be no shorter than (k0b+k3+ACK/NACK Feedback Message Transmission Duration+Re-tune Time), Par. 0548 [Note that last PDSCH decoding time, HARQ message preparation time and re-tuning time need to be considered before monitoring for next DCI]), and wherein the third transport block uses the first HARQ process or the second HARQ process (ZHOU; Fig. 7 … an interval between two PDSCHs of the same HARQ ID ... any of the above intervals is calculated from the start subframe and/or end subframe of two adjacent transmissions, Pat. 0580 [Note that HARQ process IDs are reused cyclically]); and
decode at least the first transport block based on reception of the first set of instances of the first transport block (ZHOU; after performing the PDSCH decoding … m times, the UE transmits … HARQ-ACK feedback, Par. 0399).
Although ZHOU teaches HARQ process ID for each TB, but failed to explicitly teach same HARQ process ID for each instances of the TB. However, in the same field of endeavor, WEN teaches in Par. 0041-0042 that “each TB related to one separate HARQ process and the HARQ process IDs will be indicated in the DCI. For example, multiple TBs scheduled by one DCI may be transmitted consecutively or interleaved … FIG. 1B illustrates a schematic graph 120 of multiple TBs scheduled by a DCI with an interleaved transmission [Note that each TB1 related to one HARQ process]”.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to incorporate the teachings of ZHOU to include the use of HARQ process IDs as taught by WEN in order to determine associated TB (WEN; Fig. 1B).
Specifically for claim 16, ZHOU teaches, A method for wireless communication by a network entity, comprising (ZHOU; the UE, Par. 0594).
Regarding claim 9 and claim 24, ZHOU teaches, A network entity for wireless communication, comprising: a processing system configured to:
transmit control information that schedules one or more respective instances of a plurality of respective transport blocks (ZHOU; FIG. 26 shows an example of an interleaved transmission method when DCI schedules 4 transport blocks, Par. 0680), wherein the one or more respective instances of the plurality of respective transport blocks are time-interleaved according to a time interleaving pattern (ZHOU; FIG. 26; interleaved transmission, Par. 0680 [Note that it is the bottom portion of Fig. 26]), a timing gap extending from each respective instance of each respective transport block to a temporally next respective instance of each respective transport block of the plurality of respective transport blocks (ZHOU; if M transport blocks are scheduled in the DCI and the numbers of repetitions of the transport blocks are identical and greater than 1, data of all the M transport blocks are cyclically scheduled in every M*N subframes, Par. 0681); and
transmit, via a first set of one or more physical downlink shared channels (PDSCHs) and based on the time interleaving pattern, a first set of instances of a first transport block of the plurality of respective transport blocks that uses a first hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) process and a second set of instances of a second transport block of the plurality of respective transport blocks that uses a second HARQ process (ZHOU; When multiple transport blocks TB are scheduled by using one DCI ... HARQ process #0 corresponding to the first TB and HARQ process #1 corresponding to the second TB, Par. 0705-0710) for a multicast service or a broadcast service in accordance with the timing gap that extends from each instance of the first set of instances to a temporally next instance of the first set of instances and extends from each instance of the second set of instances to a temporally next instance of the second set of instances (ZHOU; Fig. 26; data of the same transport block are transmitted in every N consecutive subframes, Par. 0681 [Note that TB1s are the first set and TB2s are the second set ];the transport block includes a transport block for multicast traffic, Pat. 0042), wherein a processing timing gap between a termination of the first set of one or more PDSCHs and receiving second control information scheduling a second set of one or more PDSCHs associated with a third transport block or receiving the second set of one or more PDSCHs satisfies a threshold processing time (ZHOU; after receiving the 2 PDSCHs, the UE transmits an HARQ-ACK feedback message 11 ... the UE starts to monitor the PDCCH, Par. 0594; in FIG. 5, k0+k2 should be no shorter than (k0b+k3+ACK/NACK Feedback Message Transmission Duration+Re-tune Time), Par. 0548 [Note that last PDSCH decoding time, HARQ message preparation time and re-tuning time need to be considered before monitoring for next DCI]), and wherein the third transport block uses the first HARQ process or the second HARQ process (ZHOU; an interval between two PDSCHs of the same HARQ ID ... any of the above intervals is calculated from the start subframe and/or end subframe of two adjacent transmissions, Pat. 0580 [Note that HARQ process IDs are reused cyclically]).
Although ZHOU teaches HARQ process ID for each TB, but failed to explicitly teach same HARQ process ID for each instances of the TB. However, in the same field of endeavor, WEN teaches in Par. 0041-0042 that “each TB related to one separate HARQ process and the HARQ process IDs will be indicated in the DCI. For example, multiple TBs scheduled by one DCI may be transmitted consecutively or interleaved … FIG. 1B illustrates a schematic graph 120 of multiple TBs scheduled by a DCI with an interleaved transmission [Note that each TB1 related to one HARQ process]”.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to incorporate the teachings of ZHOU to include the use of HARQ process IDs as taught by WEN in order to determine associated TB (WEN; Fig. 1B).
Specifically for claim 24, ZHOU teaches, A method for wireless communication by a network entity, comprising (ZHOU; the base station, Par. 0264).
Regarding claim 2 and claim 17, ZHOU-WEN teaches, The network entity of claim 1 and The method of claim 16 respectively, wherein the control information is configured to be decodable by at least a second network entity that is of a different generation than the network entity (WEN; Due to the number of HARQ processes in IoT and eMTC may be smaller than the NR UE ... LTE-MTC, Par. 0049-0050), wherein the network entity and the second network entity are capable of decoding the control information (ZHOU; after performing the PDSCH decoding … m times, the UE transmits … HARQ-ACK feedback, Par. 0399), and wherein the network entity is capable of communicating time interleaved respective instances of respective transport blocks that are for the multicast service or the broadcast service, or both (ZHOU; the transport block includes a transport block for multicast traffic, Pat. 0042).
The rational and motivation for adding this teaching of WEN is the same as for Claim 1.
Regarding claim 10 and claim 25, ZHOU-WEN teaches, The network entity of claim 9 and The method of claim 24 respectively, wherein the control information is configured to be decodable by at least a second network entity that is of a different generation than a third network entity (WEN; Due to the number of HARQ processes in IoT and eMTC may be smaller than the NR UE ... LTE-MTC, Par. 0049-0050), wherein the second network entity and the third network entity are capable of decoding the control information (ZHOU; after performing the PDSCH decoding … m times, the UE transmits … HARQ-ACK feedback, Par. 0399), and wherein the third network entity is capable of communicating time interleaved respective instances of respective transport blocks that are for the multicast service or the broadcast service, or both (ZHOU; the transport block includes a transport block for multicast traffic, Pat. 0042).
The rational and motivation for adding this teaching of WEN is the same as for Claim 9.
Claim 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 15, 18, 20, 22, 26, 28, and 30 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over ZHOU-WEN and in further view of LEE et al. (LEE hereafter) (US 20220239428 A1).
Regarding claim 3 and claim 18, ZHOU-WEN teaches, The network entity of claim 1 and The method of claim 16 respectively, wherein the processing system is configured to:
monitor for the first set of instances of the first transport block and the second set of instances of the second transport block (ZHOU; after receiving the 2 PDSCHs ... the UE starts to monitor the PDCCH, Par. 0594) via a bandwidth that satisfies a threshold bandwidth for multicast or broadcast via at least one PDSCH (ZHOU; the transport block includes a transport block for multicast traffic, Pat. 0042; The subframes in the following embodiments may be a BL/CE (Bandwidth-reduced Low-complexity or Coverage Enhanced) subframe, Par. 0212 & WEN; for multicast, there may be up to 8 TBs for eMTC and NB-IoT, Par. 0042).
Although ZHOU-WEN teaches multicast traffic for narrow band UE, but failed to explicitly teach BWP configuration. However, in the same field of endeavor, LEE teaches in Par. 0201 that “Configuration information regarding an MBS BWP may include information regarding the frequency location, bandwidth size”.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to incorporate the teachings of ZHOU-WEN to include the use of BWP configuration as taught by LEE in order to determine size of the BWP (LEE; Par. 0201).
Regarding claim 5 and claim 20, ZHOU-WEN-LEE teaches, The network entity of claim 3 and The method of claim 18 respectively, wherein the threshold bandwidth is a reduced bandwidth, wherein the reduced bandwidth comprises less frequency resources than a second bandwidth for receiving a fourth set of instances of a fourth transport block, and wherein the fourth set of instances is a single instance, is not time- interleaved with instances of a fifth transport block, or is associated with a single PDSCH, or any combination thereof (ZHOU; Fig. 15).
Regarding claim 7 and claim 22, ZHOU-WEN teaches, The network entity of claim 1 and The method of claim 16 respectively, wherein the control information includes one or more downlink control information messages that schedule the first set of instances of the first transport block, the one or more downlink control information messages including an identifier that is indicative that the first set of instances correspond to the first transport block (ZHOU; a reference HARQ ID is indicated in the DCI for scheduling multiple transport blocks, and the HARQ IDs corresponding to the transport blocks scheduled by the DCI are derived based on the reference HARQ ID, Par. 0404), and wherein reception of the first set of instances of the first transport block of the plurality of respective transport blocks for the multicast service or the broadcast service in accordance with the timing gap is based on the identifier that is indicative that the first set of instances correspond to the first transport block (ZHOU; Fig. 26; fields carried in a DCI ... indicating a scheduling delay/gap/time interval between every two PDSCHs, Par. 0516 & WEN; each TB related to one separate HARQ process and the HARQ process IDs will be indicated in the DCI).
Although ZHOU-WEN teaches each instance of TBs have same HARQ ID, but failed to explicitly teach that set of instances of TBs are identified by HARQ ID. However, in the same field of endeavor, LEE teaches in Par. 0218 that “A plurality of PDSCHs where N-th HARQ transmission of the same TB is performed for the same HARQ process ID may be configured as one MBS PDSCH set”.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to incorporate the teachings of ZHOU-WEN to include the use of HARQ ID as taught by LEE in order to determine set of TB instances (LEE; Par. 0218).
Regarding claim 11 and claim 26, ZHOU-WEN teaches, The network entity of claim 9 and The method of claim 24 respectively, wherein the first set of instances of the first transport block and the second set of instances of the second transport block are transmitted via a bandwidth that satisfies a threshold bandwidth for the multicast service or the broadcast service via at least one PDSCH (ZHOU; the transport block includes a transport block for multicast traffic, Pat. 0042; The subframes in the following embodiments may be a BL/CE (Bandwidth-reduced Low-complexity or Coverage Enhanced) subframe, Par. 0212 & WEN; for multicast, there may be up to 8 TBs for eMTC and NB-IoT, Par. 0042).
Although ZHOU-WEN teaches multicast traffic for narrow band UE, but failed to explicitly teach BWP configuration. However, in the same field of endeavor, LEE teaches in Par. 0201 that “Configuration information regarding an MBS BWP may include information regarding the frequency location, bandwidth size”.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to incorporate the teachings of ZHOU-WEN to include the use of BWP configuration as taught by LEE in order to determine size of the BWP (LEE; Par. 0201).
Regarding claim 13 and claim 28, ZHOU-WEN-LEE teaches, The network entity of claim 11 and The method of claim 26 respectively, wherein the threshold bandwidth is a reduced bandwidth, wherein the reduced bandwidth comprises less frequency resources than a second bandwidth for receiving a fourth set of instances of a fourth transport block, and wherein the fourth set of instances is a single instance, is not time- interleaved with instances of a fifth transport block, or is associated with a single PDSCH, or any combination thereof (ZHOU; Fig. 15).
Regarding claim 15 and claim 30, ZHOU-WEN teaches, The network entity of claim 9 and The method of claim 24 respectively, wherein the control information includes one or more downlink control information messages that schedule the first set of instances of the first transport block, the one or more downlink control information messages including an identifier that is indicative that the first set of instances correspond to the first transport block (ZHOU; a reference HARQ ID is indicated in the DCI for scheduling multiple transport blocks, and the HARQ IDs corresponding to the transport blocks scheduled by the DCI are derived based on the reference HARQ ID, Par. 0404), and wherein transmission of the first set of instances of the first transport block of the plurality of respective transport blocks for the multicast service or the broadcast service in accordance with the timing gap is based on the identifier (ZHOU; Fig. 26; fields carried in a DCI ... indicating a scheduling delay/gap/time interval between every two PDSCHs, Par. 0516 & WEN; each TB related to one separate HARQ process and the HARQ process IDs will be indicated in the DCI).
Although ZHOU-WEN teaches each instance of TBs have same HARQ ID, but failed to explicitly teach that set of instances of TBs are identified by HARQ ID. However, in the same field of endeavor, LEE teaches in Par. 0218 that “A plurality of PDSCHs where N-th HARQ transmission of the same TB is performed for the same HARQ process ID may be configured as one MBS PDSCH set”.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to incorporate the teachings of ZHOU-WEN to include the use of HARQ ID as taught by LEE in order to determine set of TB instances (LEE; Par. 0218).
Claim 4, 12, 19, and 27 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over ZHOU-WEN-LEE and in further view of Wong et al. (Wong hereafter) (US 9866247 B2).
Regarding claim 4 and claim 19, ZHOU-WEN-LEE teaches, The network entity of claim 3 and The method of claim 18 respectively, wherein the processing system is configured to:
transmit registration information that indicates a capability of the network entity to receive the one or more respective instances of the plurality of respective transport blocks via the threshold bandwidth (ZHOU; the base station configures the single-HARQ capable UE to transmit ACK/NACK feedback ... of one transport block indicated by the DCI; configures the 2-HARQ capable UE ... and configures the UE capable of supporting at most 8 parallel HARQ processes, Par. 0350 & WEN; for multicast, there may be up to 8 TBs for eMTC and NB-IoT, Par. 0042), wherein, to monitor for the first set of instances of the first transport block, the processing system is configured to:
monitor for the first set of instances of the first transport block based on transmission of the registration information (ZHOU; after receiving the 2 PDSCHs, the UE transmits an HARQ-ACK feedback message 11 ... the UE starts to monitor the PDCCH, Par. 0594).
Although ZHOU teaches in Par. 0734 that UE reports its capability to base station, but ZHOU-WEN-LEE fails to explicitly teach that capability includes receiving capability of one or more instances of transport block. However, in the same field of endeavor, Wong teaches in col 19 line 26-29 that “to transmit to the infrastructure equipment a relative capability of the communications device, the relative capability being a capability of the communications device to combine repeated transmissions” and also in claim 1 that “transmitting, to the infrastructure equipment, a relative capability of the MTC device”.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to incorporate the teachings of ZHOU-WEN-LEE to include the use of repeated transmission for NB-IOT as taught by Wong in order to decode successfully (Wong; col 3 line 1-3).
Regarding claim 12 and claim 27, ZHOU-WEN-LEE teaches, The network entity of claim 11 and The method of claim 26 respectively, wherein the processing system is further configured to receive registration information that indicates a capability of a second network entity to receive the one or more respective instances of the plurality of respective transport blocks via the threshold bandwidth, wherein the first set of instances of the first transport block are transmitted based on the registration information (ZHOU; the base station configures the single-HARQ capable UE to transmit ACK/NACK feedback ... of one transport block indicated by the DCI; configures the 2-HARQ capable UE ... and configures the UE capable of supporting at most 8 parallel HARQ processes, Par. 0350 & WEN; for multicast, there may be up to 8 TBs for eMTC and NB-IoT, Par. 0042).
Although ZHOU teaches in Par. 0734 that UE reports its capability to base station, but ZHOU-WEN-LEE fails to explicitly teach that capability includes receiving capability of one or more instances of transport block. However, in the same field of endeavor, Wong teaches in col 19 line 26-29 that “to transmit to the infrastructure equipment a relative capability of the communications device, the relative capability being a capability of the communications device to combine repeated transmissions” and also in claim 1 that “transmitting, to the infrastructure equipment, a relative capability of the MTC device”.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to incorporate the teachings of ZHOU-WEN-LEE to include the use of repeated transmission for NB-IOT as taught by Wong in order to decode successfully (Wong; col 3 line 1-3).
Claim 6, 14, 21, and 29 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over ZHOU-WEN-LEE and in further view of KWAK et al. (KWAK hereafter) (US 20220322404 A1).
Regarding claim 6, claim 14, claim 21, and claim 29, ZHOU-WEN-LEE teaches, The network entity of claim 3, The network entity of claim 11, The method of claim 18, and The method of claim 26 respectively.
ZHOU-WEN-LEE failed to explicitly teach,
wherein the threshold bandwidth is a 5 megahertz bandwidth.
However, in the same field of endeavor, KWAK teaches
wherein the threshold bandwidth is a 5 megahertz bandwidth (KWAK; NR superlight, UEs may support yet another bandwidth, e.g., less than 20 MHz, e.g., 5 MHz, Par. 0067).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to incorporate the teachings of ZHOU-WEN-LEE to include the use of reduced bandwidth as taught by KWAK in order to minimize complexity (KWAK; Par. 0067).
Claim 8 and 23 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over ZHOU-WEN and in further view of LI et al. (LI hereafter) (US 20220174682 A1).
Regarding claim 8 and claim 23, ZHOU-WEN teaches, The network entity of claim 1 and The method of claim 16 respectively.
ZHOU-WEN failed to explicitly teach,
wherein, to decode the first transport block, the processing system is configured to: perform a soft combination on one or more instances of the first set of instances of the first transport block based on the control information comprising an indication that each instance of the one or more instances of the first set of instances is of the first transport block.
However, in the same field of endeavor, LI teaches
wherein, to decode the first transport block, the processing system is configured to: perform a soft combination on one or more instances of the first set of instances of the first transport block based on the control information comprising an indication that each instance of the one or more instances of the first set of instances is of the first transport block (LI; In order that the Rx UE can soft combine the repetitions of the same TB in different configured grants, the Tx UE can indicate the same HARQ process ID with NDI field not toggled for the transmissions in configured grant A and configured grant B, Par. 0287).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to incorporate the teachings of ZHOU-WEN to include the use of soft combining as taught by LI in order to improve successful decoding probability (LI; Par. 0165).
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 SHARMIN CHOWDHURY whose telephone number is (571)272-6419. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:00 am - 5:00 pm.
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/SHARMIN CHOWDHURY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2416
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