DETAILED ACTION
This application has been examined. Claims 1-13,15-18 are pending. Claim 14 is cancelled.
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 filed 6/9/2026 have been fully considered but they are moot in view of the new grounds for rejection.
Regarding Claim 1
Examiner notes wherein the Yousaf orchestrator O of the virtual structure controller VIC is considered to correspond to the claimed ‘ orchestration device’, and one of the Yousaf Analytics Engine AE or Decision Engine DE of the virtual structure controller VIC is considered to correspond to the claimed ‘ management device’.
Yousaf disclosed (re. Claim 1) a method for managing at least one orchestration device in a software network,(Yousaf-Paragraph 23, operating a virtual network infrastructure, preferably in form of a software-defined network, ) the method being implemented by a management device (Yousaf-Figure 5,Paragraph 55, Analytics Engine AE or Decision Engine DE of the virtual structure controller VIC) for managing said at least one orchestration device,( Yousaf-Paragraph 6,an orchestrator entity inside the data center then selects one or more suitable physical machines which fulfill best the stipulated requirements of the application/function provider and one or more suitable virtual machines are instantiated on which the specific application function(s) can be hosted.)
Yousaf-McDowall-Lozano disclosed (re. Claim 1) receiving , from said orchestration device, an indication that said orchestration device has performed at least one orchestration action (Yousaf-Paragraph 55, VIC-agent sends the RRAS reports to the virtual infrastructure controller VIC to make appropriate management decisions, Paragraph 51, optimized decisions in performing management actions such as but not limited to virtual machine deployment and instantiation, virtual machine migration, virtual machine cloning, virtual machine scaling horizontal and/or vertical and/or run-time dynamic resource provisioning ) in said network during a time window; (Yousaf-Paragraph 44, a time indication is attached to the RRAS and/or AS when calculating the RRAS and/or AS. By attaching or assigning a time indication, for example the time of the day, the RRAS report enables to provide e.g. the times at which the affinity is the strongest or weakest. This enables an even more optimal management of resources at different times,Paragraph 79, The RRAS values are computed by a VIC or VIC-agent based on the resource utilization levels monitored by the VMM over a specific time period T.)
While Yousaf-McDowall-Lozano substantially disclosed the claimed invention Yousaf-McDowall-Lozano does not disclose (re. Claim 1) orchestrating a network function virtualization architecture.
While Yousaf-McDowall-Lozano substantially disclosed the claimed invention Yousaf-McDowall-Lozano does not disclose (re. Claim 1) receiving, from said orchestration device, an indication that said orchestration device has performed at least one orchestration action of the network function virtualization infrastructure.
Bellamkonda Figure 2,Figure 9,Column 16 Lines 35-45 disclosed levels of hierarchy, which as discussed above may include determining sector models 203 for super sectors, as well as associated configuration frameworks 201 and actions and/or parameters 205. For example, various orchestration, automation, deployment, etc. systems may implement actions and/or parameters 205 at virtualized or containerized instances of network functions.
Bellamkonda Column 15 Lines 20-30 disclosed wherein GOS 105 may receive the metrics, KPIs, attributes, or the like from one or more devices or systems located in sector 101, one or more devices or systems that provide service to UEs located in sector 101, one or more devices or systems associated with a core network to which network infrastructure associated with sector 101 is communicatively coupled.
Bellamkonda disclosed (re. Claim 1) orchestrating a network function virtualization architecture.( Bellamkonda-Column 1 Lines 20-25, Global Optimization System (“GOS”) may determine a sector model, configuration framework, and/or set of actions to perform with respect to a given sector associated with a RAN of a wireless network, Column 16 Lines 35-45, orchestration, automation, deployment, etc. systems may implement actions and/or parameters 205 at virtualized or containerized instances of network functions, Column 18 Lines 55-65, AMF 1015 may include one or more devices, systems, Virtualized Network Functions (“VNFs”))
Yousaf, McDowall and Bellamkonda are analogous art because they provide concepts and practices regarding optimization of QOE in wireless networks. Before the time of the effective filing date of the claimed invention it would have been obvious to combine Bellamkonda into Yousaf-McDowall. The motivation for the said combination would have been to calculate framework-action affinity scores 513 that generally indicate how effective a given set of actions/parameters 205 are for increasing an overall optimization score of a particular sector 101, given configuration framework 201 associated with sector 101.(Bellamkonda-Column 11 Lines 60-65)
Yousaf-McDowall-Lozano-Bellamkonda disclosed (re. Claim 1) receiving, from said orchestration device, an indication that said orchestration device has performed at least one orchestration action (Yousaf-Paragraph 55, VIC-agent sends the RRAS reports to the virtual infrastructure controller VIC to make appropriate management decisions, Paragraph 51, optimized decisions in performing management actions such as but not limited to virtual machine deployment and instantiation, virtual machine migration, virtual machine cloning, virtual machine scaling horizontal and/or vertical and/or run-time dynamic resource provisioning ) of the network function virtualization infrastructure.( Bellamkonda-Column 15 Lines 20-30,GOS 105 may receive the metrics, KPIs, attributes, or the like from one or more devices or systems located in sector 101, one or more devices or systems that provide service to UEs located in sector 101, one or more devices or systems associated with a core network to which network infrastructure associated with sector 101 is communicatively coupled.)
Priority
This application claims benefits of priority from Foreign Application FR2107239 (FRANCE) filed July 5, 2021.
The effective date of the claims described in this application is July 5, 2021.
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) 1-13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yousaf (USPGPUB 2017/0279735) further in view of McDowall (USPGPUB 2014/0280802) further in view of Lozano (USPGPUB 2022/0043811) further in view of Bellamkonda (US Patent 11304074)
Regarding Claim 1
Yousaf Paragraph 6 disclosed wherein an orchestrator entity inside the data center then selects one or more suitable physical machines which fulfill best the stipulated requirements of the application/function provider and one or more suitable virtual machines are instantiated on which the specific application function(s) can be hosted.
Examiner notes wherein the Yousaf orchestrator O of the virtual structure controller VIC is considered to correspond to the claimed ‘ orchestration device’, and one of the Yousaf Analytics Engine AE or Decision Engine DE of the virtual structure controller VIC is considered to correspond to the claimed ‘ management device’.
Yousaf disclosed (re. Claim 1) a method for managing at least one orchestration device in a software network,(Yousaf-Paragraph 23, operating a virtual network infrastructure, preferably in form of a software-defined network, ) the method being implemented by a management device (Yousaf-Figure 5,Paragraph 55, Analytics Engine AE or Decision Engine DE of the virtual structure controller VIC) for managing said at least one orchestration device,( Yousaf-Paragraph 6,an orchestrator entity inside the data center then selects one or more suitable physical machines which fulfill best the stipulated requirements of the application/function provider and one or more suitable virtual machines are instantiated on which the specific application function(s) can be hosted.)
receiving, from said orchestration device, an indication that said orchestration device has performed at least one orchestration action (Yousaf-Paragraph 55, VIC-agent sends the RRAS reports to the virtual infrastructure controller VIC to make appropriate management decisions, Paragraph 51, optimized decisions in performing management actions such as but not limited to virtual machine deployment and instantiation, virtual machine migration, virtual machine cloning, virtual machine scaling horizontal and/or vertical and/or run-time dynamic resource provisioning ) in said network during a time window; (Yousaf-Paragraph 44, a time indication is attached to the RRAS and/or AS when calculating the RRAS and/or AS. By attaching or assigning a time indication, for example the time of the day, the RRAS report enables to provide e.g. the times at which the affinity is the strongest or weakest. This enables an even more optimal management of resources at different times,Paragraph 79, The RRAS values are computed by a VIC or VIC-agent based on the resource utilization levels monitored by the VMM over a specific time period T.)
obtaining at least one state of the network in said time window (Yousaf- Paragraph 79, The RRAS values are computed by a VIC or VIC-agent based on the resource utilization levels monitored by the VMM over a specific time period T.)
and a state of at least one operational layer of the network for implementation of said orchestration action ;(Yousaf-Paragraph 39, RRAS-report is provided including the utilization levels of the resource units on the respective resource for all virtual resources)
While Yousaf substantially disclosed the claimed invention Yousaf does not disclose (re. Claim 1) said state of the network including a state of a service implemented in the network and a state of at least one operational layer of the network for implementation of said service;
obtaining, from said state of the network and a reference state of said network, a reputation value representative of an improvement or degradation of a state of the network; and
sending said reputation value to said orchestration device.
McDowall Paragraph 45 disclosed wherein an agent is registered to receive updates from the network elements, such that state changes in the SDN enabled network are reflected in the graph. State changes in the underlying SDN enabled network may be reflected as events that may be subscribed to by the agent.
McDowall disclosed (re. Claim 1) obtaining said state of the network including a state of a service implemented in the network (McDowall-Paragraph 49, element service set include the ability to provide information representing the hardware that hosts the network element's operating system and providing services to requesting applications) and a state of at least one operational layer of the network for implementation of said service.( McDowall Paragraph 45,an agent is registered to receive updates from the network elements, such that state changes in the SDN enabled network are reflected in the graph. State changes in the underlying SDN enabled network may be reflected as events that may be subscribed to by the agent.)
Yousaf and McDowall are analogous art because they provide concepts and practices regarding SDN service deployment and monitoring. Before the time of the effective filing date of the claimed invention it would have been obvious to combine McDowall into Yousaf. The motivation for the said combination would have been to enable introspection into network element interfaces and ports, and providing an abstraction for virtual and/or physical interfaces on a network element. Using the combination of introspective services and reflective services, connected applications may modify, configure, and monitor network elements and the data flows within the network elements. (McDowall-Paragraph 50, Paragraph 55)
While Yousaf-McDowall substantially disclosed the claimed invention Yousaf -McDowall does not disclose (re. Claim 1)
obtaining, from said state of the network and a reference state of said network, a reputation value representative of an improvement or degradation of a state of the network; and
sending said reputation value to said orchestration device.
Lozano Paragraph 40 disclosed comparing the state in one time window with the state of a subsequent (e.g., consecutive or non-consecutive) time window and identifying significant changes between states.
Lozano disclosed (re. Claim 1) obtaining, from said state of the network and a reference state of said network, (Lozano-Paragraph 40,comparing the state in one time window with the state of a subsequent (e.g., consecutive or non-consecutive) time window and identifying significant changes between states.) a reputation value representative of an improvement or degradation of a state of the network; (Lozano-Paragraph 60, a distance function may be used to evaluate how similar consecutive observations of a request graph may be. The amount of change between densities is a measure of similarity.)
Yousaf,McDowall and Lozano are analogous art because they provide concepts and practices regarding SDN service deployment and monitoring. Before the time of the effective filing date of the claimed invention it would have been obvious to combine Lozano into Yousaf-McDowall. The motivation for the said combination would have been to enable taking into account either the structure of the call paths (i.e. the sequence micro-services involved in a request) of the different components or the resource allocation across all different tenants of the system in order to detect abnormal changes in a cloud service.(Lozano-Paragraph 43)
Yousaf-McDowall-Lozano disclosed (re. Claim 1) sending said reputation value (Lozano-Paragraph 60, a distance function may be used to evaluate how similar consecutive observations of a request graph may be. The amount of change between densities is a measure of similarity.) to said orchestration device. (Yousaf-Paragraph 55, VIC-agent sends the RRAS reports to the virtual infrastructure controller VIC to make appropriate management decisions)
While Yousaf-McDowall-Lozano substantially disclosed the claimed invention Yousaf-McDowall-Lozano does not disclose (re. Claim 1) orchestrating a network function visualization virtualization architecture.
While Yousaf-McDowall-Lozano substantially disclosed the claimed invention Yousaf-McDowall-Lozano does not disclose (re. Claim 1) receiving, from said orchestration device, an indication that said orchestration device has performed at least one orchestration action of the network function virtualization infrastructure.
Bellamkonda Figure 2,Figure 9,Column 16 Lines 35-45 disclosed levels of hierarchy, which as discussed above may include determining sector models 203 for super sectors, as well as associated configuration frameworks 201 and actions and/or parameters 205. For example, various orchestration, automation, deployment, etc. systems may implement actions and/or parameters 205 at virtualized or containerized instances of network functions.
Bellamkonda Column 15 Lines 20-30 disclosed wherein GOS 105 may receive the metrics, KPIs, attributes, or the like from one or more devices or systems located in sector 101, one or more devices or systems that provide service to UEs located in sector 101, one or more devices or systems associated with a core network to which network infrastructure associated with sector 101 is communicatively coupled.
Bellamkonda disclosed (re. Claim 1) orchestrating a network function virtualization architecture.( Bellamkonda-Column 1 Lines 20-25, Global Optimization System (“GOS”) may determine a sector model, configuration framework, and/or set of actions to perform with respect to a given sector associated with a RAN of a wireless network, Column 16 Lines 35-45, orchestration, automation, deployment, etc. systems may implement actions and/or parameters 205 at virtualized or containerized instances of network functions, Column 18 Lines 55-65, AMF 1015 may include one or more devices, systems, Virtualized Network Functions (“VNFs”))
Yousaf, McDowall and Bellamkonda are analogous art because they provide concepts and practices regarding optimization of QOE in wireless networks. Before the time of the effective filing date of the claimed invention it would have been obvious to combine Bellamkonda into Yousaf-McDowall. The motivation for the said combination would have been to calculate framework-action affinity scores 513 that generally indicate how effective a given set of actions/parameters 205 are for increasing an overall optimization score of a particular sector 101, given configuration framework 201 associated with sector 101.(Bellamkonda-Column 11 Lines 60-65)
Yousaf-McDowall-Lozano-Bellamkonda disclosed (re. Claim 1) receiving, from said orchestration device, an indication that said orchestration device has performed at least one orchestration action (Yousaf-Paragraph 55, VIC-agent sends the RRAS reports to the virtual infrastructure controller VIC to make appropriate management decisions, Paragraph 51, optimized decisions in performing management actions such as but not limited to virtual machine deployment and instantiation, virtual machine migration, virtual machine cloning, virtual machine scaling horizontal and/or vertical and/or run-time dynamic resource provisioning ) of the network function virtualization infrastructure.( Bellamkonda-Column 15 Lines 20-30,GOS 105 may receive the metrics, KPIs, attributes, or the like from one or more devices or systems located in sector 101, one or more devices or systems that provide service to UEs located in sector 101, one or more devices or systems associated with a core network to which network infrastructure associated with sector 101 is communicatively coupled.)
Regarding Claim 8
Claim 8 (re. device) recites substantially similar limitations as Claim 1. Claim 8 is rejected on the same basis as Claim 1.
Regarding Claim 9
Claim 9 (re. method) recites substantially similar limitations as Claim 1. Claim 9 is rejected on the same basis as Claim 1.
Yousaf-McDowall-Lozano disclosed (re. Claim 9) taking into account said reputation value (Lozano-Paragraph 60, a distance function may be used to evaluate how similar consecutive observations of a request graph may be. The amount of change between densities is a measure of similarity.) to select an orchestration action to be performed in said network. (Yousaf-Paragraph 55, VIC-agent sends the RRAS reports to the virtual infrastructure controller VIC to make appropriate management decisions)
Regarding Claim 10
Claim 10 (re. orchestration device) recites substantially similar limitations as Claim 1 and 9. Claim 10 is rejected on the same basis as Claim 1 and 9.
Regarding Claim 11
Claim 11 (re. system) recites substantially similar limitations as Claim 1 and 9. Claim 11 is rejected on the same basis as Claim 1 and 9.
Regarding Claim 12
Claim 12 (re. non-transitory computer readable medium) recites substantially similar limitations as Claim 1. Claim 12 is rejected on the same basis as Claim 1.
Regarding Claim 13
Claim 13 (re. non-transitory computer readable medium) recites substantially similar limitations as Claim 1 and 9. Claim 13 is rejected on the same basis as Claim 1 and 9.
Regarding Claim 2
Yousaf-McDowall-Lozano-Bellamkonda disclosed (re. Claim 2) wherein said at least one operational layer is a layer of hardware and software resources or a layer of virtual resources of said network, said state of said at least one operational layer being obtained from metrics describing said layer at different said time window. (Lozano-Paragraph 40,comparing the state in one time window with the state of a subsequent (e.g., consecutive or non-consecutive) time window and identifying significant changes between states.)
Regarding Claim 3
Yousaf-McDowall-Lozano-Bellamkonda disclosed (re. Claim 3) wherein said operational layer is described from metrics of a single group of resources chosen from CPU type metrics, memory type metrics, (McDowall-Paragraph 49, process information about the network element may also be returned, such as CPU and memory status, which indicate the processes running on the network elements ) disk type metrics or network-type metrics.
Regarding Claim 4
Yousaf-McDowall-Lozano-Bellamkonda disclosed (re. Claim 4) wherein said state of said service is obtained from metrics describing said service at different time instants within said time window. (Lozano-Paragraph 40,comparing the state in one time window with the state of a subsequent (e.g., consecutive or non-consecutive) time window and identifying significant changes between states.)
Regarding Claim 5
Yousaf-McDowall-Lozano-Bellamkonda disclosed (re. Claim 5) wherein said state of the network is computed by a learning-based system taking as input said metrics.(Yousaf-Paragraph 73, the affinity signature AS of the resource units RU can also be used in performing cloud/data center DC infrastructure resource analytics. It can be utilized by the machine learning algorithms/methods in formulating effective future actions.)
Regarding Claim 6
Yousaf-McDowall-Lozano-Bellamkonda disclosed (re. Claim 6) wherein said reputation value is increased or decreased depending on whether said state of the network approaches or deviates from said reference state (Lozano-Paragraph 60, a distance function may be used to evaluate how similar consecutive observations of a request graph may be. The amount of change between densities is a measure of similarity.) relative to a state of the network in a time window prior to said time window. (Lozano-Paragraph 40,comparing the state in one time window with the state of a subsequent (e.g., consecutive or non-consecutive) time window and identifying significant changes between states.)
Regarding Claim 7
Yousaf-McDowall-Lozano-Bellamkonda disclosed (re. Claim 7) wherein to calculate a distance between two states of the network, (Lozano-Paragraph 60, a distance function may be used to evaluate how similar consecutive observations of a request graph may be. The amount of change between densities is a measure of similarity.) the two states are represented in a two-dimensional space in which a first dimension represents said state of the service and a second dimension represents said state of said at least one operational layer.(Lozano-Figure 8,Paragraph 60)
Claim(s) 15,18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yousaf (USPGPUB 2017/0279735) further in view of McDowall (USPGPUB 2014/0280802) further in view of Lozano (USPGPUB 2022/0043811) further in view of Bellamkonda (US Patent 11304074)
Regarding Claim 15
While Yousaf-McDowall-Lozano substantially disclosed the claimed invention Yousaf-McDowall-Lozano does not disclose (re. Claim 15) wherein said state of said service is obtained from at least one of a latency metric.
Bellamkonda Column 6 Lines disclosed wherein GOS 105 may modify one or more sector models, configuration frameworks, and/or other information based on whether the performed (at 108) actions increased the overall optimization score associated with sector 101, and/or based on how much the overall optimization score associated with sector 101 was modified based on the performance of the actions.
Bellamkonda Column 7 Lines 5-10 disclosed sector KPIs, such as latency, throughput, jitter, quantity of active connections, quantity and/or proportion of dropped calls.
Bellamkonda Column 8 Lines 15-20 disclosed wherein overall optimization score 309 may be generated and/or modified on an ongoing basis, as updated sector KPIs 305 are received or determined.
Bellamkonda disclosed (re. Claim 15) wherein said state of said service is obtained from at least one of: a latency metric (Bellamkonda-Column 7 Lines 5-10,KPIs, such as latency, throughput, jitter, quantity of active connections, quantity and/or proportion of dropped calls.)
Yousaf, McDowall and Bellamkonda are analogous art because they provide concepts and practices regarding optimization of QOE in wireless networks. Before the time of the effective filing date of the claimed invention it would have been obvious to combine Bellamkonda into Yousaf-McDowall. The motivation for the said combination would have been to calculate framework-action affinity scores 513 that generally indicate how effective a given set of actions/parameters 205 are for increasing an overall optimization score of a particular sector 101, given configuration framework 201 associated with sector 101.(Bellamkonda-Column 11 Lines 60-65)
Regarding Claim 18
While Yousaf-McDowall-Lozano substantially disclosed the claimed invention Yousaf-McDowall-Lozano does not disclose (re. Claim 18) wherein said state of said service is obtained from at least one of a number of failed calls.
Bellamkonda disclosed (re. Claim 18) wherein said state of said service is obtained from at least one of: a number of failed calls (Bellamkonda-Column 7 Lines 5-10,KPIs, such as latency, throughput, jitter, quantity of active connections, quantity and/or proportion of dropped calls.)
Yousaf, McDowall and Bellamkonda are analogous art because they provide concepts and practices regarding optimization of QOE in wireless networks. Before the time of the effective filing date of the claimed invention it would have been obvious to combine Bellamkonda into Yousaf-McDowall. The motivation for the said combination would have been to calculate framework-action affinity scores 513 that generally indicate how effective a given set of actions/parameters 205 are for increasing an overall optimization score of a particular sector 101, given configuration framework 201 associated with sector 101.(Bellamkonda-Column 11 Lines 60-65)
Claim(s) 16,17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yousaf (USPGPUB 2017/0279735) further in view of McDowall (USPGPUB 2014/0280802) further in view of Lozano (USPGPUB 2022/0043811) further in view of Bellamkonda (US Patent 11304074) further in view of Li (USPGPUB 2019/0182169)
Regarding Claim 16
While Yousaf-McDowall-Lozano-Bellamkonda substantially disclosed the claimed invention Yousaf-McDowall-Lozano does not disclose (re. Claim 16) wherein said state of said service is obtained from at least in part on a jitter metric.
Li Paragraph 36 disclosed dynamic resource allocation in an SDN/NFV environment, aiming at optimizing the dynamic resource allocation with respect to multimedia services.
Li disclosed (re. Claim 16) wherein said state of said service is obtained from at least in part on a jitter metric.(Li-Paragraph 33, QoS involves many factors. Certain factors include packet jitter (PJ), packet delay (PD) and bandwidth (BW). A weight corresponding to each factor is calculated using an analytic hierarchy process, so as to obtain the following formula for calculating the normalized QoS)
Yousaf, McDowall and Li are analogous art because they provide concepts and practices regarding SDN service deployment and monitoring. Before the time of the effective filing date of the claimed invention it would have been obvious to combine Li into Yousaf-McDowall. The motivation for the said combination would have been to enable represent a proportion of impact exerted by its corresponding factor on the overall QoS.(Li-Paragraph 33)
Regarding Claim 17
While Yousaf-McDowall-Lozano-Bellamkonda substantially disclosed the claimed invention Yousaf-McDowall-Lozano does not disclose (re. Claim 17) wherein said state of said service is obtained from at least in part on a bandwidth metric.
Li disclosed (re. Claim 17) wherein said state of said service is obtained from at least in part on a bandwidth metric.(Li-Paragraph 33, QoS involves many factors. Certain factors include packet jitter (PJ), packet delay (PD) and bandwidth (BW). A weight corresponding to each factor is calculated using an analytic hierarchy process, so as to obtain the following formula for calculating the normalized QoS)
Yousaf, McDowall and Li are analogous art because they provide concepts and practices regarding SDN service deployment and monitoring. Before the time of the effective filing date of the claimed invention it would have been obvious to combine Li into Yousaf-McDowall. The motivation for the said combination would have been to enable represent a proportion of impact exerted by its corresponding factor on the overall QoS.(Li-Paragraph 33)
Conclusion
Examiner’s Note: In the case of amending the claimed invention, Applicant is respectfully requested to indicate the portion(s) of the specification which dictate(s) the structure relied on for proper interpretation and also to verify and ascertain the metes and bounds of the claimed invention.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to GREG C BENGZON whose telephone number is (571)272-3944. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday - Friday 8 AM - 4:30 PM.
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, John Follansbee can be reached on (571) 272-3964. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/GREG C BENGZON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2444
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