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 claim(s) 1-13, 15-19, 35, and 51, 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.
However, upon further review of the Applicant’s amendments and/or arguments, the Applicant argued that the prior art reference (Aminaka) does not teach the at least claimed limitation (i.e. “the handover request message comprises identifications of candidate target relay terminals of the target network device”). The Applicant specifically argued and/or stated that: “The Applicant notes that the relay station 2A and the relay station 2B are not relay terminals since the relay station 2A and the relay station 2B are network nodes” (see Applicant’s remarks pg. 13). (Emphasis Added).
In response, the Examiner respectfully disagrees with the Applicant’s arguments because the claim does not uniquely and particularly define the term "relay terminal" so as to distinguish from the applied prior art. During patent examination, the claims must be given their broadest reasonable interpretation. See also MPEP §2111.
Furthermore, in light of the Applicant’s original specification on record (see fig. 12, and pp0636), the term “terminal” is described as a device that provides voice and/or data connectivity to users. Wireless terminal equipment may also be called a system, a subscriber unit, a subscriber station, a mobile station, a mobile station, a remote station, or an access point, remote terminal equipment (remote terminal), access terminal equipment (access terminal), user terminal equipment (user terminal), user agent (user agent), user device (user device), are not limited in the embodiments of the present disclosure.
Thus, as shown above, relay terminal is merely a device that can perform the function of relaying data, the specification and/or the claim does not specifically define and/or limit the term "relay terminal" so as to distinguish from the applied prior art. Therefore, the term “relay terminal” is broadly claimed, therefore, is fairly characterized as a “relay station” which is a station (i.e. a device) that can perform the function of relaying data and can transmits uplink signal (see Aminaka, fig. 6, fig. 8, and pp0076).
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) 1-5, 9, 19, and 35, is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Aminaka (US Publication No. 20120142357) in view of Jia et al. (US Publication No. 20230164640).
As to claims 1 and 9, Aminaka teaches a handover method, comprising: sending, by a source network device, a handover request message for a first terminal to a target network device through an interface between network devices (fig. 6, fig. 15, S512, serving eNB sends handover request to Target eNB); wherein the handover request message comprises identifications of candidate target relay terminals of the target network device (fig. 6, fig. 15, S512, handover request includes plurality of candidate target relay node (T-RN) information e.g. RN 2A, RN 2B), wherein subsequent to the sending the handover request message for the first terminal to the target network device, the method further comprises: receiving a handover request acknowledgement message sent by the target network device (fig. 6, fig. 15, S517, handover request ack). However, fails to explicitly teach wherein the handover request acknowledgement message comprises at least one of the following information: configuration information of a first bearer; configuration information of a second bearer; or a first mapping relationship between the first bearer and the second bearer; wherein the first bearer is a direct communication interface bearer between the first terminal and the target relay terminal, and the second bearer is an end-to-end bearer between the first terminal and the target network device.
In an analogous field of endeavor, Jia teaches wherein the handover request acknowledgement message comprises at least one of the following information: configuration information of a first bearer; configuration information of a second bearer (fig. 7A, #703, #705, pp0492, the handover request acknowledgement may include a radio bearer configuration needed by the UE to access the T-gNB to receive service data, pp0291, the T-gNB 1 may send radio bearer configuration information of the T-gNB 1 to the UE 2 via the S-gNB. The radio bearer configuration information may be used by the UE 2 to receive, after the UE 2 accesses the T-gNB 1, unicast service data and/or multicast service data delivered by the T-gNB 1); or a first mapping relationship between the first bearer and the second bearer; wherein the first bearer is a direct communication interface bearer between the first terminal and the target relay terminal, and the second bearer is an end-to-end bearer between the first terminal and the target network device (fig. 7A, #703, #705, pp0291, pp0492, i.e. radio bearer configuration information for communication or assess between T-gNB 1 and UE 2). Thus, it would have been obvious to one ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Aminaka with the teachings of Jia to achieve the goal of efficiently and reliably providing communication to helps reduce network resource overheads in a communication sytem (Jia, pp0010).
As to claim 2, Aminaka in view of Jia teaches the limitations of the independent claims as discussed above. Aminaka further teaches wherein the handover request acknowledgement message further comprises at least one of the following information: an identification of a target relay terminal (fig. 6, fig. 15, S517, handover request ack including info of RN 2B); or a terminal identification, wherein the terminal identification is allocated by the target relay terminal to the first terminal, or is allocated by the target network device to the first terminal.
As to claim 3, Aminaka in view of Jia teaches the limitations of the independent claims as discussed above. Aminaka further teaches wherein the handover request acknowledgement message is sent by the target network device after receiving a first response message sent by the target relay terminal (fig. 6, fig. 15, S516, the relay station 2B, can accept the handover), and the first response message is configured to indicate that the target relay terminal is able to provide relay services for the first terminal (fig. 6, fig. 15, S516, the relay station 2B, can accept the handover).
As to claim 4, Aminaka in view of Jia teaches the limitations of the independent claims as discussed above. Aminaka further teaches wherein the terminal identification is used in a relay-related adaptation layer after a terminal accesses the target relay terminal (dependent claim is directed to an optional limitation, thus no patentable weight has been given).
As to claim 5, Aminaka in view of Jia teaches the limitations of the independent claims as discussed above. Aminaka further teaches wherein subsequent to the receiving the handover request acknowledgement message sent by the target network device, the method further comprises: sending a first radio resource control (RRC) reconfiguration message to the first terminal, wherein the first RRC reconfiguration message is configured to trigger the first terminal to initiate a handover process (fig. 6, fig. 15, S518, S519, RRC connection reconfiguration, including cell info of RN 2B), and the first RRC reconfiguration message carries the identification of the target relay terminal (fig. 6, fig. 15, S518, S519, RRC connection reconfiguration, including cell info of RN 2B).
As to claims 19 and 35, Aminaka in view of Jia teaches the limitations of the independent claims as discussed above. Aminaka further teaches a network device, wherein the network device is a target network device and/or a source network device and comprises: a memory, a transceiver and a processor: the memory is configured to store program instructions; the transceiver is configured to send and receive data under a control of the processor; the processor is configured to read the program instructions in the memory to perform the handover method according to claim 1 (fig. 6, fig. 15, S-eNB, T-eNB, and fig. 7).
Claim(s) 6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Aminaka (US Publication No. 20120142357) in view of Jia et al. (US Publication No. 20230164640) and further in view of Kang et al. (US Publication No. 20240214848).
As to claim 6, Aminaka in view of Jia teaches the limitations of the independent claims as discussed above. Aminaka further teaches wherein subsequent to the receiving the handover request acknowledgement message sent by the target network device (fig. 6, fig. 15, S517, handover request ack). However, fails to explicitly teach the method further comprises: when the first terminal is connected to a source relay terminal, sending a second RRC reconfiguration message to the source relay terminal, wherein the second RRC reconfiguration message triggers the source relay terminal to perform at least one of the following: releasing a direct communication interface connection with the first terminal; releasing a backhaul link bearer of a Uu interface related only to the first terminal; or modifying a backhaul link bearer of a Uu interface related to the first terminal.
In an analogous field of endeavor, Kang teaches the method further comprises: when the first terminal is connected to a source relay terminal, sending a second RRC reconfiguration message to the source relay terminal (fig. 14, #1410, #1402, and pp0168, RRCReconfiguration message to release sidelink, the UE 1400 may release the PC5 direct link establishment with the sidelink relay 1410), wherein the second RRC reconfiguration message triggers the source relay terminal to perform at least one of the following: releasing a direct communication interface connection with the first terminal (fig. 14, #1410, #1402, and pp0168, RRCReconfiguration message to release sidelink, the UE 1400 may release the PC5 direct link establishment with the sidelink relay 1410); releasing a backhaul link bearer of a Uu interface related only to the first terminal; or modifying a backhaul link bearer of a Uu interface related to the first terminal. Thus, it would have been obvious to one ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Aminaka and Jia with the teachings of Kang to achieve the goal of efficiently and effectively providing services and expanding service coverage in a wireless communication system (Kang, pp0018).
Claim(s) 7 and 8, is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Aminaka (US Publication No. 20120142357) in view of Jia et al. (US Publication No. 20230164640) and further in view of Sivaraj et al. (US Publication No. 20220232452).
As to claim 7, Aminaka in view of Jia teaches the limitations of the independent claims as discussed above. However, fails to explicitly teach further comprising: sending, by a centralized unit-control plane (CU-CP) of the source network device, through an interface between the CU-CP and a centralized unit-user plane (CU-UP), a bearer context release message to the centralized unit-user plane of the source network device serving the first terminal, wherein the bearer context release message comprises terminal identification of the first terminal.
In an analogous field of endeavor, Sivaraj teaches further comprising: sending, by a centralized unit-control plane (CU-CP) of the source network device, through an interface between the CU-CP and a centralized unit-user plane (CU-UP), a bearer context release message to the centralized unit-user plane of the source network device serving the first terminal (fig. 1, fig. 6, #6024, bearer context release command, and pp0206, includes at least one identifier for the UE used over at least one of the E1 interface and the F1 interface), wherein the bearer context release message comprises terminal identification of the first terminal (fig. 1, fig. 6, #6024, bearer context release command, and pp0206, includes at least one identifier for the UE used over at least one of the E1 interface and the F1 interface). Thus, it would have been obvious to one ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Aminaka and Jia with the teachings of Sivaraj to achieve the goal of efficiently and reliably providing services with guarantees and avoiding bottleneck in a communication system (Sivaraj, pp0007).
As to claim 8, Aminaka in view of Jia teaches the limitations of the independent claims as discussed above. However, fails to explicitly teach further comprising: sending, by a CU-CP of the source network device, through an interface between the CU- CP and a Distribute Unit (DU), a terminal context release message to the DU of the source network device serving the first terminal, wherein the terminal context release message comprises at least one of the following information: a terminal identification of the first terminal; an identification of a source relay terminal corresponding to the first terminal.
In an analogous field of endeavor, Sivaraj teaches further comprising: sending, by a CU-CP of the source network device, through an interface between the CU- CP and a Distribute Unit (DU), a terminal context release message to the DU of the source network device serving the first terminal (fig. 1, fig. 6, #6025, UE context release command, and pp0206, includes at least one identifier for the UE used over at least one of the E1 interface and the F1 interface), wherein the terminal context release message comprises at least one of the following information: a terminal identification of the first terminal (fig. 1, fig. 6, #6025, UE context release command, and pp0206, includes at least one identifier for the UE used over at least one of the E1 interface and the F1 interface); an identification of a source relay terminal corresponding to the first terminal. Thus, it would have been obvious to one ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Aminaka and Jia with the teachings of Sivaraj to achieve the goal of efficiently and reliably providing services with guarantees and avoiding bottleneck in a communication system (Sivaraj, pp0007).
Claim(s) 10, 11, 13, 17, 18, and 51, is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Aminaka (US Publication No. 20120142357) in view of Jia et al. (US Publication No. 20230164640) and further in view of Cai et al. (US Publication No. 20110080891).
As to claim 10, Aminaka in view of Jia teaches the limitations of the independent claims as discussed above. Aminaka further teaches wherein subsequent to the receiving the handover request message for the first terminal sent by the source network device and before sending to the handover request acknowledgement message to the source network device (fig. 6, fig. 15, S512, S515, S517 serving eNB sends handover request to Target eNB, i.e. S515 before sending S517), the method further comprises: sending a first message to the candidate target relay terminals (fig. 6, fig. 15, S515, serving eNB sends handover request to T-RN). However, fails to explicitly teach wherein the first message comprises at least one of the following information: configuration information of the first bearer; configuration information of a third bearer; the first mapping relationship between the first bearer and the second bearer; a second mapping relationship between the first bearer and the third bearer; a third mapping relationship between the second bearer and the third bearer; a fourth mapping relationship among the first bearer, the second bearer and the third bearer; wherein the third bearer is a Uu interface bearer between the candidate target relay terminals and the target network device.
In an analogous field of endeavor, Cai teaches wherein the first message comprises at least one of the following information: configuration information of the first bearer; configuration information of a third bearer; the first mapping relationship between the first bearer and the second bearer; a second mapping relationship between the first bearer and the third bearer; a third mapping relationship between the second bearer and the third bearer; a fourth mapping relationship among the first bearer, the second bearer and the third bearer; wherein the third bearer is a Uu interface bearer between the candidate target relay terminals and the target network device (fig. 2, fig. 4, fig. 7, #710, pp0043, Handover request message contains UE context information, which at least includes UE identification information, radio bearer information, and one or more UE bearer GTP tunnel endpoint identifiers (TEIDs) and/or SRN radio bearer configuration information that carries the corresponding UE's GTP tunneling). Thus, it would have been obvious to one ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Aminaka and Jia with the teachings of Cai to achieve the goal of efficiently and reliably enhancing throughput of signal and creating higher spectral efficiency in a communication system (Cai, pp0027).
As to claim 11, Aminaka in view of Jia and Cai teaches the limitations of the dependent claim 10 as discussed above. Aminaka further teaches wherein subsequent to the sending the first message to the candidate target relay terminals and before sending to the handover request acknowledgement message to the source network device (fig. 6, fig. 15, S512, S515, S517 serving eNB sends handover request to Target eNB, i.e. S515 before sending S517), the method further comprises: receiving a first response message corresponding to the first message sent by a target relay terminal, wherein the first response message is configured to indicate that the target relay terminal is able to provide relay services for the first terminal (fig. 6, fig. 15, S516, the relay station 2B, can accept the handover).
As to claim 13, Aminaka in view of Jia and Cai teaches the limitations of the dependent claim 11 as discussed above. Aminaka further teaches wherein the handover request acknowledgement message further comprises at least one of the following information: an identification of a target relay terminal (fig. 6, fig. 15, S517, handover request ack including info of RN 2B); or a terminal identification, wherein the terminal identification is allocated by the target relay terminal to the first terminal, or is allocated by the target network device to the first terminal.
As to claim 17, Aminaka teaches a handover method, comprises: receiving, by a target relay terminal, a first message sent by a target network device (fig. 6, fig. 15, S515, handover request), wherein the first message is sent by the target network device after receiving a handover request message for the first terminal sent by a source network device (fig. 6, fig. 15, S512, S515, handover request) and before sending to the handover request acknowledgement message to the source network device (fig. 6, fig. 15, S512, S515, S517 serving eNB sends handover request to Target eNB, i.e. S515 before sending S517), wherein the handover request message comprises identifications of candidate target relay terminals (fig. 6, fig. 15, S515, handover request, including RN 2A, RN 2B). However, fails to explicitly teach wherein the handover request acknowledgement message comprises at least one of the following information: configuration information of a first bearer; configuration information of a second bearer; a first mapping relationship between the first bearer and the second bearer; wherein the first bearer is a direct communication interface bearer between the first terminal and the target relay terminal, and the second bearer is an end-to-end bearer between the first terminal and the target network device.
In an analogous field of endeavor, Jia teaches wherein the handover request acknowledgement message comprises at least one of the following information: configuration information of a first bearer; configuration information of a second bearer (fig. 7A, #703, #705, pp0492, the handover request acknowledgement may include a radio bearer configuration needed by the UE to access the T-gNB to receive service data, pp0291, the T-gNB 1 may send radio bearer configuration information of the T-gNB 1 to the UE 2 via the S-gNB. The radio bearer configuration information may be used by the UE 2 to receive, after the UE 2 accesses the T-gNB 1, unicast service data and/or multicast service data delivered by the T-gNB 1); a first mapping relationship between the first bearer and the second bearer; wherein the first bearer is a direct communication interface bearer between the first terminal and the target relay terminal, and the second bearer is an end-to-end bearer between the first terminal and the target network device (fig. 7A, #703, #705, pp0291, pp0492, i.e. radio bearer configuration information for communication or assess between T-gNB 1 and UE 2). Thus, it would have been obvious to one ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Aminaka with the teachings of Jia to achieve the goal of efficiently and reliably providing communication to helps reduce network resource overheads in a communication system (Jia, pp0010). However, they failed to explicitly teach wherein the first message comprises at least one of the following information: configuration information of the first bearer; configuration information of a third bearer; the first mapping relationship between the first bearer and the second bearer; a second mapping relationship between the first bearer and the third bearer; a third mapping relationship between the second bearer and the third bearer; a fourth mapping relationship among the first bearer, the second bearer and the third bearer; wherein the third bearer is a Uu interface bearer between the candidate target relay terminals and the target network device.
In an analogous field of endeavor, Cai teaches wherein the first message comprises at least one of the following information: configuration information of the first bearer; configuration information of a third bearer; the first mapping relationship between the first bearer and the second bearer; a second mapping relationship between the first bearer and the third bearer; a third mapping relationship between the second bearer and the third bearer; a fourth mapping relationship among the first bearer, the second bearer and the third bearer; wherein the third bearer is a Uu interface bearer between the candidate target relay terminals and the target network device (fig. 2, fig. 4, fig. 7, #710, pp0043, Handover request message contains UE context information, which at least includes UE identification information, radio bearer information, and one or more UE bearer GTP tunnel endpoint identifiers (TEIDs) and/or SRN radio bearer configuration information that carries the corresponding UE's GTP tunneling). Thus, it would have been obvious to one ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Aminaka and Jia with the teachings of Cai to achieve the goal of efficiently and reliably enhancing throughput of signal and creating higher spectral efficiency in a communication system (Cai, pp0027).
As to claim 18, Aminaka in view of Jia and Cai teaches the limitations of the independent claims as discussed above. Aminaka further teaches further comprising: sending a first response message to the target network device, wherein the first response message is configured to indicate that the target relay terminal is able to provide relay services for the first terminal (fig. 6, fig. 15, S516, the relay station 2B, can accept the handover).
As to claim 51, Aminaka in view of Jia and Cai teaches the limitations of the independent claims as discussed above. Aminaka further teaches a relay terminal, wherein the relay terminal is a target relay terminal of a target network device, comprising: a memory, a transceiver and a processor: the memory is configured to store program instructions; the transceiver is configured to send and receive data under a control of the processor; the processor is configured to read the program instructions in the memory to perform the handover method according to claim 17 (fig. 6, fig. 15, T-RN, and fig. 8).
Claim(s) 15 and 16, is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Aminaka (US Publication No. 20120142357) in view of Jia et al. (US Publication No. 20230164640) and further in view of Cai et al. (US Publication No. 20110080891) and Sivaraj et al. (US Publication No. 20220232452).
As to claim 15, Aminaka in view of Jia and Cia teaches the limitations of the dependent claim 10 as discussed above. However, fails to explicitly teach wherein prior to the sending the first message to the candidate target relay terminals, the method further comprises: sending, by a centralized unit-control plane (CU-CP) of the target network device, a bearer context establishment request message to a centralized unit-user plane of the target network device serving the candidate target relay terminals through an interface between the CU- CP and a centralized unit-user plane (CU-UP), wherein the bearer context establishment request message comprises at least one of the following information: identifications of the candidate target relay terminals; configuration information of the second bearer; a terminal identification of the first terminal; configuration information of the third bearer; wherein the second bearer is the end-to-end bearer between the first terminal and the target network device, and the third bearer is the Uu interface bearer between the candidate target relay terminals and the target network device.
In an analogous field of endeavor, Sivaraj teaches wherein prior to the sending the first message to the candidate target relay terminals, the method further comprises: sending, by a centralized unit-control plane (CU-CP) of the target network device, a bearer context establishment request message to a centralized unit-user plane of the target network device serving the candidate target relay terminals through an interface between the CU- CP and a centralized unit-user plane (CU-UP) (fig. 1, fig. 6, #6002, bearer context setup request, and pp0206, includes at least one identifier for the UE used over at least one of the E1 interface and the F1 interface), wherein the bearer context establishment request message comprises at least one of the following information: identifications of the candidate target relay terminals; configuration information of the second bearer; a terminal identification of the first terminal; configuration information of the third bearer; wherein the second bearer is the end-to-end bearer between the first terminal and the target network device, and the third bearer is the Uu interface bearer between the candidate target relay terminals and the target network device (fig. 1, fig. 6, #6002, bearer context setup request, and pp0206, includes at least one identifier for the UE used over at least one of the E1 interface and the F1 interface). Thus, it would have been obvious to one ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Aminaka, Jia, and Cai with the teachings of Sivaraj to achieve the goal of efficiently and reliably providing services with guarantees and avoiding bottleneck in a communication system (Sivaraj, pp0007).
As to claim 16, Aminaka in view of Jia and Cai teaches the limitations of the independent claims as discussed above. However, fails to explicitly teach wherein prior to the sending the first message to the target relay terminal, the method further comprises: sending, by a centralized unit-control plane (CU-CP) of the target network device, a terminal context establishment request message to a distribution unit (DU) of the target network device through an interface between the CU-CP and the DU, wherein the terminal context establishment request message comprises at least one of the following information: identifications of the target relay terminals; a terminal identification of the first terminal; an association relationship between the target relay terminals and the source relay terminal.
In an analogous field of endeavor, Sivaraj teaches wherein prior to the sending the first message to the target relay terminal, the method further comprises: sending, by a centralized unit-control plane (CU-CP) of the target network device, a terminal context establishment request message to a distribution unit (DU) of the target network device through an interface between the CU-CP and the DU (fig. 1, fig. 6, #6004, UE context setup procedure, and pp0206, includes at least one identifier for the UE used over at least one of the E1 interface and the F1 interface), wherein the terminal context establishment request message comprises at least one of the following information: identifications of the target relay terminals; a terminal identification of the first terminal (fig. 1, fig. 6, #6004, UE context setup procedure, and pp0206, includes at least one identifier for the UE used over at least one of the E1 interface and the F1 interface); an association relationship between the target relay terminals and the source relay terminal. Thus, it would have been obvious to one ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Aminaka, Jia and Cai with the teachings of Sivaraj to achieve the goal of efficiently and reliably providing services with guarantees and avoiding bottleneck in a communication system (Sivaraj, pp0007).
Claim(s) 12, is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Aminaka (US Publication No. 20120142357) in view of Jia et al. (US Publication No. 20230164640) and further in view of Cai et al. (US Publication No. 20110080891) and Ryu et al. (US Publication No. 20180351907).
As to claim 12, Aminaka in view of Jia and Cai teaches the limitations of the independent claims as discussed above. However, fails to explicitly teach wherein the first response message comprises a terminal identification allocated by the target relay terminal to the first terminal.
In an analogous field of endeavor, Ryu teaches wherein the first response message comprises a terminal identification allocated by the target relay terminal to the first terminal (fig. 9, pp0143, target relay terminal performs an IP duplication check by using the IP address of the remote terminal, and allocate the remote terminal an IP address according to a result of the IP duplication check). Thus, it would have been obvious to one ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Aminaka, Jia, and Cai with the teachings of Ryu to achieve the goal of efficiently and reliably maintaining the continuity of connection in a process of link change with the relay UE in a communication system (Ryu, pp0008).
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 OMONIYI OBAYANJU whose telephone number is (571)270-5885. The examiner can normally be reached M-Thur 10:30-7pm.
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/OMONIYI OBAYANJU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2645
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