DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
Claims 1-3, 5-22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being incomplete for omitting essential structural cooperative relationships of elements, such omission amounting to a gap between the necessary structural connections. See MPEP § 2172.01. The omitted structural cooperative relationships are: there is no relationship specified between the first body portion, second body portion and third body portion, other than they form respective cavity volume(s). Accordingly, their location and orientation are undefined and unclear.
Claims 1-3, 5-22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications
Claims 16, 17, 22 also claim a damper “expansion” angle but does not define in what direction this is measured or what direction the “expansion occurs”. Accordingly, “expansion” is unclear as the direction of expansion is unclear and it can be in the reversed direction from that disclosed in applicant’s specification.
Applicant claims in claim 1 the second damper body portion being frustoconical. However, claim 16 requires the damper has a damper volume expansion angle that is an angle between the first damper body portion and the second damper body portion, and the damper volume expansion angle is from zero degrees to ninety degrees. These requirements appear to conflict as the endpoints of the range do not define a frustoconical body, but rather a pure cylinder and appear to be incompatible with claim 1’s requirement.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(d):
(d) REFERENCE IN DEPENDENT FORMS.—Subject to subsection (e), a claim in dependent form shall contain a reference to a claim previously set forth and then specify a further limitation of the subject matter claimed. A claim in dependent form shall be construed to incorporate by reference all the limitations of the claim to which it refers.
The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, fourth paragraph:
Subject to the following paragraph [i.e., the fifth paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112], a claim in dependent form shall contain a reference to a claim previously set forth and then specify a further limitation of the subject matter claimed. A claim in dependent form shall be construed to incorporate by reference all the limitations of the claim to which it refers.
Claim 2 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(d) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, 4th paragraph, as being of improper dependent form for failing to further limit the subject matter of the claim upon which it depends, or for failing to include all the limitations of the claim upon which it depends. Note that claim 1 already claims “frusto-conical” which by definition requires a partially conical body. Applicant may cancel the claim(s), amend the claim(s) to place the claim(s) in proper dependent form, rewrite the claim(s) in independent form, or present a sufficient showing that the dependent claim(s) complies with the statutory requirements.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-3, 5-22 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Pandalai et al (5685157). Pandalai et al teach(es) A gas turbine engine [Fig. 1] comprising: a compressor section 14 for compressing air flowing therethrough to provide a compressed air flow; a combustor 10 including a combustion chamber 10 that is configured to combust a mixture of a fuel flow and the compressed air flow to generate combustion products; a turbine section 18 having at least one turbine driven by the combustion products; and a damper 101 in fluid communication with the combustion chamber to dampen an instability generated in the combustion chamber by the combustion products, the damper including: a damper body having a first damper body portion [see annotations], a second damper body portion [see annotations], and a third damper body portion [see annotations], the first damper body portion being cylindrical and defining a first cavity volume that is a quarter wave tube [abstract, note the limitation does not require the quarter wave tube be only limited to the first cavity volume. Alternately, the first cavity volume defines its own quarter wave resonant frequency], the second damper body portion being frustoconical [see annotations] and defining a second cavity volume that is a resonator cavity, and the third damper body portion being cylindrical [see annotations] and defining a third cavity volume; a damper cavity defined by the first cavity volume, the second cavity volume, and the third cavity volume; and an orifice plate 110 having one or more damper necks 114 extending through the orifice plate for providing fluid communication between the combustion chamber and the damper cavity, air in the resonator cavity oscillating air in the one or more damper necks 104. (2) wherein the damper has a damper body that is at least partially conical. (3) wherein the damper includes a single damper volume. (5) wherein the neck open area ratio is a ratio of a total area of a damper neck to a total area of an orifice plate, including the area of the damper neck. (6) wherein the damper cavity has a damper volume that is from 0.05 in3 to 50 in3 [e.g. 1 in diameter, and 10.7” length, see col. 6, lines 31-45]. (7) wherein the damper has a neck open area ratio that is a ratio of a total area of the one or more damper necks to a total area of the orifice plate, and the neck open area ratio is from 0.01 to one [abstract - 8% open ratio= 0.08]. (8) wherein the damper includes a number of damper cavities in series that is from one volume to four volumes. (9) wherein the number of damper cavities is from one volume to two volumes. (10) wherein the damper damps a number of discrete frequencies that is from one frequency to four frequencies. (11) wherein the number of discrete frequencies to be damped is from one frequency to two frequencies. (12) wherein the damper has an acoustic damping potential that is an acoustic attenuation at each frequency to be damped, and the acoustic damping potential is from zero rad/sec to one thousand rad/sec. (13) wherein the acoustic damping potential is from zero rad/sec to two hundred fifty rad/sec. (14) wherein the damper has an acoustic damping broadness that is a breadth of a frequency range that the damper is effective over, and the acoustic damping broadness is from zero Hertz to five thousand Hertz [col. 6, line 31]. (15) wherein the acoustic damping broadness is from zero Hertz to fifty Hertz [damper volume expansion angle zero results in this being zero]. (16) ) wherein the damper has a damper volume expansion angle that is an angle between the first damper body portion and the second damper body portion, and the damper volume expansion angle is from zero degrees to ninety degrees. (17) wherein the damper volume expansion angle is from zero degrees to thirty degrees. (18) wherein the damper is coupled to an outer liner 31 or 118 of the combustor through a single opening 97 in the outer liner. (19) wherein the damper 110 is one of a plurality of dampers disposed circumferentially about the combustor. (20) wherein each of the plurality of dampers is the same [each of same size ones in Fig. 6, there are sets of A1, A2, A3, with the same dampers]. (21) wherein the first damper body portion extends through the outer liner 118 [Fig. 1] and the second damper body portion extends from the first damper body portion at an outer surface of the outer liner [Fig. 1]. (22) the damper defined by: nds∝nfp; ap∝dpn; and ab∝dpv*dpvea, where nds is a number of damper cavities in series [1], nƒp is a number of discrete frequencies to be damped, ap is an acoustic damping potential that is an acoustic attenuation at each frequency to be damped, dpn is a neck open area ratio that is a ratio of a total area of the one or more damper necks to a total area of the orifice plate [percentage of 14 vs neck area of 110], ab is an acoustic damping broadness that is a breadth of a frequency range that the damper is effective over, dpv is a damper volume that is a volume of the damper cavity, and dpvea is a damper volume expansion angle that is an angle between the first damper body portion and the second damper body portion.
PNG
media_image1.png
737
603
media_image1.png
Greyscale
Claim(s) 1-3, 5, 7-17, 22 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Kim et al (2017/0321895). Kim et al teach(es) A gas turbine engine comprising: a compressor section 19 for compressing air flowing therethrough to provide a compressed air flow; a combustor 20 including a combustion chamber 60 that is configured to combust a mixture of a fuel flow and the compressed air flow to generate combustion products; a turbine section 22, 24 having at least one turbine driven by the combustion products; and a damper in fluid communication with the combustion chamber to dampen an instability generated in the combustion chamber by the combustion products, the damper including: a damper body having a first damper body portion [see annotations], a second damper body portion, and a third damper body portion, the first damper body portion being cylindrical and defining a first cavity volume that is a quarter wave tube, the second damper body portion being frustoconical [see annotations] and defining a second cavity volume that is a resonator cavity, and the third damper body portion being cylindrical [see annotations] and defining a third cavity volume; a damper cavity defined by the first cavity volume, the second cavity volume, and the third cavity volume; and an orifice plate 170 having one or more damper necks 74 extending through the orifice plate for providing fluid communication between the combustion chamber 60 and the damper cavity, air in the resonator cavity oscillating air in the one or more damper necks 74. (2) wherein the damper has a damper body 106 that is at least partially conical. (3) wherein the damper includes a single damper volume. (5) wherein the neck open area ratio is a ratio of a total area of a damper neck to a total area of an orifice plate, including the area of the damper neck. (7) wherein the damper has a neck open area ratio that is a ratio of a total area of the one or more damper necks to a total area of the orifice plate, and the neck open area ratio is from 0.01 to one [appears to be]. (8) wherein the damper includes a number of damper cavities in series that is from one volume to four volumes. (9) wherein the number of damper cavities is from one volume to two volumes. (10) wherein damper damps a number of discrete frequencies that is the number of discrete frequencies to be damped is from one frequency to four frequencies. (11) wherein the number of discrete frequencies to be damped is from one frequency to two frequencies. (12) wherein the damper has an acoustic damping potential that is an acoustic attenuation at each frequency to be damped, and the acoustic damping potential is from zero rad/sec to one thousand rad/sec. (13) wherein the acoustic damping potential is from zero rad/sec to two hundred fifty rad/sec. (14) wherein the damper has an acoustic damping broadness that is a breadth of a frequency range that the damper is effective over, and the acoustic damping broadness is from zero Hertz to five thousand Hertz [zero since dpνea is a damper volume expansion angle of zero]. (15) wherein the acoustic damping broadness is from zero Hertz to fifty Hertz [zero since dpνea is a damper volume expansion angle of zero]. (16) wherein the damper volume expansion angle is from zero degrees to ninety degrees. (17) wherein the damper volume expansion angle is from zero degrees to thirty degrees. (22) wherein the damper is defined by: the damper defined by: nds∝nfp; ap∝dpn; and ab∝dpv*dpvea, where nds is a number of damper cavities in series, nfp is a number of discrete frequencies to be damped, ap is an acoustic damping potential that is an acoustic attenuation at each frequency to be damped, dpn is a neck open area ratio that is a ratio of a total area of the one or more damper necks to a total area of the orifice plate, ab is an acoustic damping broadness that is a breadth of a frequency range that the damper is effective over, dpv is a damper volume that is a volume of the damper cavity, and dpvea is a damper volume expansion angle that is an angle between the first damper body portion and the second damper body portion.
PNG
media_image2.png
747
701
media_image2.png
Greyscale
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) 1-3, 6-22 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bodine Jr (2,807,931) in view of Pandalai et al (5685157). Bodine Jr teaches (1) A gas turbine engine comprising: a compressor section 41 for compressing air flowing therethrough to provide a compressed air flow; a combustor including a combustion chamber 53 that is configured to combust a mixture of a fuel flow and the compressed air flow to generate combustion products; a turbine section 43 having at least one turbine driven by the combustion products; and a damper 72 in fluid communication with the combustion chamber 53 to dampen an instability generated in the combustion chamber 53 by the combustion products, the damper 72 including: a damper body having a first damper body portion 75, a second damper body portion 76 or the portion between 52 and 73 is also frustroconical, and a third damper body portion 73, the first damper body portion 75 being cylindrical and defining a first cavity volume that is a quarter wave tube [within 52], the second damper body portion 76 or the portion between 52 and 73 is also frustroconical being frustoconical and defining a second cavity volume that is a resonator cavity [within 76], and the third damper body portion 73 being cylindrical and defining a third cavity volume [between 76 and 73]; a damper cavity defined by the first cavity volume, the second cavity volume, and the third cavity volume; and having one or more damper necks [within 75 / 52] for providing fluid communication between the combustion chamber 53 and the damper cavity [of 72], . (2) wherein the damper 72 or portion 76 or the portion between 52 and 73 is also conical has a damper body that is at least partially conical. (3) wherein the damper includes a single damper volume [overall volume]. (8) wherein the damper includes a number of damper cavities in series that is from one volume to four volumes. (9) wherein the number of damper cavities is from one volume to two volumes. (10) wherein the damper damps a number of discrete frequencies that is from one frequency to four frequencies. (11) wherein the number of discrete frequencies to be damped is from one frequency to two frequencies. (16) wherein the damper has a damper volume expansion angle that is an angle between the first damper body portion 75 and the second damper body portion 76, and the damper volume expansion angle is from zero degrees to ninety degrees. (17) wherein the damper volume expansion angle is from zero degrees to thirty degrees. (18) wherein the damper is coupled to an outer liner 52 of the combustor through a single opening [75 through 52] in the outer liner 52. (19) wherein the damper is one of a plurality of dampers disposed circumferentially about the combustor. (20) wherein each of the plurality of dampers 72 is the same [at least two 72 are illustrated in Fig. 2]. (21) wherein the first damper body portion 75 extends through the outer liner and the second damper body portion 76 extends from the first damper body portion 75 at an outer surface of the outer liner. (22) wherein the damper is defined by: the damper defined by: nds∝nfp; ap∝dpn; and ab∝dpv*dpvea, where nds is a number of damper cavities in series, nfp is a number of discrete frequencies to be damped, ap is an acoustic damping potential that is an acoustic attenuation at each frequency to be damped, dpn is a neck open area ratio that is a ratio of a total area of the one or more damper necks to a total area of the orifice plate, ab is an acoustic damping broadness that is a breadth of a frequency range that the damper is effective over, dpv is a damper volume that is a volume of the damper cavity, and dpvea is a damper volume expansion angle that is an angle between the first damper body portion 75 and the second damper body portion 76.
Bodine Jr does not teach an orifice plate having one or more damper necks extending through the orifice plate for providing fluid communication between the combustion chamber and the damper cavity, air in the resonator cavity oscillating air in the one or more damper necks. Pandalai et al teach an orifice plate 110 having one or more damper necks 104 extending through the orifice plate for providing fluid communication between the combustion chamber and the damper cavity, air in the resonator cavity oscillating air in the one or more damper necks 114. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to employ an orifice plate having one or more damper necks extending through the orifice plate for providing fluid communication between the combustion chamber and the damper cavity, air in the resonator cavity oscillating air in the one or more damper necks, as taught by Pandalai et al, as a typical arrangement utilized in the art and which facilitates damping of the first damper cavity. As for the first damper body portion having a first cavity volume that is a quarter wave tube, it is noted that Pandalai et al teach the first cavity volume may be part of a quarter wave tube, and it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill to utilize a first cavity volume that is a quarter wave tube, as taught by Pandalai et al, as the typical practice in the art. As for applicant’s other ranges of damping potential, since the claimed range of neck open ratio is well within the ordinary skill in the art of zero to 1, then based on the limited disclosure, the resultant damping potential is well within the ordinary skill in the art. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to employ the claimed ranges of neck open ratio and damping potential, as an obvious matter of using the workable ranges in the art. Bodine Jr do not teach (6) wherein the damper volume is from 0.05 in3 to 50 in3 . Pandalai et al teach (6) wherein the damper volume is from 0.05 in3 to 50 in3 [e.g. 1 in diameter, and 10.7” length, see col. 6, lines 31-45] is a commonly employed range utilized in the art. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to employ a damper volume from 0.05 in3 to 50 in3, as taught by Pandalai et al, as a typical range utilized in the art. As for applicant’s other ranges of damping potential, since the claimed range of neck open ratio is well within the ordinary skill in the art of zero to 1, then based on the limited disclosure, the resultant damping potential is well within the ordinary skill in the art. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to employ the claimed ranges of neck open ratio and damping potential, as an obvious matter of using the workable ranges in the art. As for applicant’s claimed range of damping broadness, applicant’s range covers typical ranges used in the art for acoustic / noise reduction. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to employ the claimed ranges of damping broadness as an obvious matter of using the workable ranges in the art.
Claim(s) 1-3, 6-22 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bothien et al (2015/009682) in view of Pandalai et al (5685157) and Selamet et al “Helmholtz resonator with extended neck”. Bothien et al teach(es) A gas turbine engine comprising: a compressor section [not shown, inherent] for compressing air flowing therethrough to provide a compressed air flow; a combustor including a combustion chamber 5 that is configured to combust a mixture of a fuel flow and the compressed air flow to generate combustion products; a turbine section [gas turbine, e.g. ¶ 0012] having at least one turbine driven by the combustion products; and a damper 11 [Figs. 3 or 8] in fluid communication with the combustion chamber to dampen an instability generated in the combustion chamber by the combustion products, the damper including: a damper body having a first damper body portion 23, a second damper body portion 13, and a third damper body portion 15, the first damper body portion being cylindrical and defining a first cavity volume that is a quarter wave tube [inherent as it inherently contains a quarter length resonant frequency], the second damper body portion being frustoconical and defining a second cavity volume that is a resonator cavity, and the third damper body portion being cylindrical and defining a third cavity volume; a damper cavity defined by the first cavity volume, the second cavity volume, and the third cavity volume; and an orifice plate 27 [Fig. 4] having one or more damper necks extending through the orifice plate for providing fluid communication between the combustion chamber and the damper cavity, air in the resonator cavity oscillating air in the one or more damper necks [inherent]. (3) wherein the damper includes a single damper volume [15. Fig. 1]. (5) wherein the neck open area ratio is a ratio of a total area of a damper neck to a total area of an orifice plate, including the area of the damper neck [see Fig. 3]. (7) wherein the damper has a neck open area ratio that is a ratio of a total area of the one or more damper necks to a total area of the orifice plate, and the neck open area ratio is from 0.01 to one [see Fig. 3 which appears to have the range]. (8) wherein the damper includes a number of damper cavities in series that is from one volume to four volumes. (9) wherein the number of damper cavities is from one volume to two volumes. (10) wherein the damper damps a number of discrete frequencies to be damped is from one frequency to four frequencies. (11) wherein the number of discrete frequencies to be damped is from one frequency to two frequencies. (16) wherein the damper has a damper volume expansion angle that is an angle between the first damper body portion and the second damper body portion, and the damper volume expansion angle is from zero degrees to ninety degrees. (17) wherein the damper volume expansion angle is from zero degrees to thirty degrees. (18) wherein the damper is coupled to an outer liner 7 of the combustor through a single opening 23 in the outer liner.(21) wherein the first damper body portion extends through the outer liner 7 and the second damper body portion 13 extends from the first damper body portion at an outer surface of the outer liner.(22) wherein the damper is defined by: the damper defined by: nds∝nfp; ap∝dpn; and ab∝dpv*dpvea, where nds is a number of damper cavities in series, nfp is a number of discrete frequencies to be damped, ap is an acoustic damping potential that is an acoustic attenuation at each frequency to be damped, dpn is a neck open area ratio that is a ratio of a total area of the one or more damper necks to a total area of the orifice plate, ab is an acoustic damping broadness that is a breadth of a frequency range that the damper is effective over, dpv is a damper volume that is a volume of the damper cavity, and dpvea is a damper volume expansion angle that is an angle between the first damper body portion and the second damper body portion. Bothien et al teach(es) inherently uses a compressor, as a standard component of the gas turbine engine. Alternately, Pandalai et al teach all the claimed components of the gas turbine, including compressor, combustor, turbine are the conventional features utilized in the art. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to employ the claimed components of the gas turbine, including compressor, combustor, turbine, as taught by Pandalai et al, as the standard features utilized in the art. Bothien et al do not teach the second damper body portion being frustoconical nor (2) wherein the damper has a damper body that is at least partially conical. Selamet et al teach in [Fig. 1C, 10, 11], that the second damper body portion being frustoconical, (2) wherein the damper has a damper body that is at least partially conical. [expanding in cross section, see pages 1976, 1982, 1982 Figs. 1C, 10, 11 and see expansion angle of 10% and up]. On page 1983, Selamet et al teach the expansion angle acts to broaden the attenuation band. It would have been obvious to make the second damper portion frustroconical, at least partially conical, in order to broaden the attenuation band. Above, the first damper body portion being cylindrical and defining a first cavity volume that is a quarter wave tube was treated as inherent as it inherently contains a quarter length resonant frequency. Alternately, claim 10 of Bothien et al teach using one or more of the quarter-wave tube in combination with the Helmholtz damper and a quarter-wave tube is the natural resonant frequency of a tube. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to make the first volume a the quarter-wave tube, as a conventional geometry used in the art and suitable for combination with the Helmholtz damper of Bothien. Bothien et al do not teach (19) wherein the damper is one of a plurality of dampers disposed circumferentially about the combustor; (20) wherein each of the plurality of dampers is the same. Pandalai et al teach (19) wherein the damper 110 is one of a plurality of dampers disposed circumferentially about the combustor; (20) wherein each of the plurality of dampers is the same [each of same size ones in Fig. 6, there are sets of A1, A2, A3, with the same dampers]. Bothien et al do not teach (6) wherein the damper volume is from 0.05 in3 to 50 in3 . Pandalai et al teach (6) wherein the damper volume is from 0.05 in3 to 50 in3 [e.g. 1 in diameter, and 10.7” length, see col. 6, lines 31-45] is a commonly employed range utilized in the art. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to employ a damper volume from 0.05 in3 to 50 in3, as taught by Pandalai et al, as a typical range utilized in the art. As for applicant’s other ranges of damping potential, since the claimed range of neck open ratio is well within the ordinary skill in the art of zero to 1, then based on the limited disclosure, the resultant damping potential is well within the ordinary skill in the art. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to employ the claimed ranges of neck open ratio and damping potential, as an obvious matter of using the workable ranges in the art.
Claim(s) 21 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over any of the prior art, as applied above Bodine Jr (2,807,931). The prior art do all teach the first and second damper body portion but do not necessarily teach (21) wherein the first damper body portion extends through the outer liner and the second damper body portion extends from the first damper body portion at an outer surface of the outer liner. Bodine Jr teach wherein the first damper body portion 75 extends through the outer liner 52 and the second damper body portion extends from the first damper body portion at an outer surface of the outer liner [below 52 in Fig. 3]
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 2/27/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Applicant’s arguments allege the previously prior art do not teach the claimed amended subject matter. In rebuttal, it is noted that applicant’s claims are indefinite and do not clearly define the location and/or orientation of the first body portion, second body portion and third body portion, other than they form respective cavity volume(s). Accordingly, their location and orientation are undefined and unclear. Accordingly, the previously applied Pandalai et al and Kim et al and Bothien references are still applicable to the claims. Moreover, the newly cited Selamet et al reference in combination with Bothien teaches the claimed invention.
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.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the Examiner should be directed to TED KIM whose telephone number is 571-272-4829. The Examiner can be reached on regular business hours before 5:00 pm, Monday to Thursday and every other Friday.
The fax number for the organization where this application is assigned is 571-273-8300.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Devon Kramer, can be reached at 571-272-7118 Alternate inquiries to Technology Center 3700 can be made via 571-272-3700.
Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from Patent Center https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center. Should you have questions on Patent Center, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). General inquiries can also be directed to the Inventors Assistance Center whose telephone number is 800-786-9199. Furthermore, a variety of online resources are available at https://www.uspto.gov/patent
/Ted Kim/
Telephone
571-272-4829
Primary Examiner
Fax
571-273-8300
March 18, 2026