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 .
Specification
The abstract of the disclosure is objected to because it exceeds 150 words. A corrected abstract of the disclosure is required and must be presented on a separate sheet, apart from any other text. See MPEP § 608.01(b).
Claim Objections
Claim 12 is objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 12 line 13: “second information” and “a second type” lack of clarity without the element ‘a first polling frame including first information related to participation in a first type of measurement for the first STA’ as in claim 10.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 1-4, 6-10 and 12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Dong et al. (US 20240334477 A1), hereinafter “Dong”, in view of Chen et al (US 20210314732 A1), hereinafter “Chen”, and in view of Lou et al. (US 20160255656 A1), hereinafter “Lou”.
Per claim 1, 10 and 12:
Regarding claim 10, Dong teaches ‘A first station (STA) for performing sensing procedure in a wireless LAN system’ (Dong: [FIG.10]: “electronic device”; [0004]: “WLAN sensing”: [FIG.4]: STA for WLAN sensing); ‘the first STA comprising: at least one transceiver’ (Dong: [FIG.10]: “TRANSCEIVER”); ‘at least one processor’ (Dong: [FIG.10]: “processor”); ‘connected to the at least one transceiver’ (this is implied);
‘wherein the at least one processor is configured to
receive, from an access point (AP) through the at least one transceiver, a first polling frame’ (Dong: [FIG.4]: “TF to STA1-5 Sensing Poll”; [FIG.10]: “TRANSCEIVER”; STA would receive a first polling frame from AP);
‘including first information related to participation in a first type of measurement for the first STA’ (Dong: [0039]: “In the WLAN sensing process described above, a way of indicating the poll is needed, and in the embodiments of the present disclosure, the way of the poll is defined by the target radio frame”; [0054]: “the target radio frame … includes the polling information for the initiator to perform the WLAN sensing, and the polling information includes at least one of the sensing poll sub-element, the NDP sub-element”; [0065]: “the target radio frame … includes the polling information for the initiator to perform the WLAN sensing; the target radio frame includes the trigger frame”; [FIG.4]: “UL Sensing Sounding” : “TF” (trigger frame), “DL Sensing Sounding” : “NPDA”; polling information includes the type of measurement such as based on NDPA or based on trigger frame; [0036]: “In the process of DL sensing sounding, the sensing initiator AP sends null data packet announcement (NDPA)”; [0040]: “the target radio frame may be a trigger frame, and the trigger frame is used for scheduling a station and allocating a resource unit (RU)”);
‘transmit, to the AP through the at least one transceiver, a first response frame for the first polling frame’ (Dong: [FIG.4]: “STA1” – “STA4”: “CTS-to-self”; [0034]: “In the process of polling, a sensing initiator AP executes polling on the sensing initiators STA1 to STA5 … enable the CTS-to-self protection mechanism and also identify existence of a station”);
‘based on a second response frame for the first polling frame being not transmitted to the AP from a second STA among a plurality of STAs including the first STA, receive a second polling frame including the first information from the AP through the at least one transceiver’ (Dong: [FIG.4]: “STA5” does not send “CTS-to-self” to identify its existence or participation). However, Dong fails to expressly teach receive a second polling frame including the first information;
‘wherein the first polling frame includes second information related to participation in a second type of measurement for the second STA’ (Dong: [0039]: “a way of indicating the poll is needed, and in the embodiments of the present disclosure, the way of the poll is defined by the target radio frame”; [0054]: “the target radio frame … includes the polling information for the initiator to perform the WLAN sensing, and the polling information includes at least one of the sensing poll sub-element, the NDP sub-element”; [0065]: “the target radio frame … includes the polling information for the initiator to perform the WLAN sensing; the target radio frame includes the trigger frame”; [FIG.4]: “UL Sensing Sounding” : “TF” (trigger frame), “DL Sensing Sounding” : “NPDA”; polling information includes the type of measurement such as UL sensing sounding or DL sensing sounding). However, Dong fails to expressly teach polling information include two types of measurement.
However, Chen in the same field of endeavor teaches sensing initiator and responder negotiate whether the subsequent sounding is DL only, or UL only, or DL plus UL (Chen: [0129]: “unidirectional sounding is used where there is only DL sounding or UL sounding, instead of bidirectional sounding only. In some embodiments, a field in the Sensing Parameters element exchanged during the negotiation phase, where the initiator and responder negotiates whether the subsequent sounding is DL only, or UL only, or DL plus UL. In some embodiments, simultaneous DL and UL sounding is used where both the AP and STA transmits the NDP packets at the same time to another STA. In some embodiments, sequential UL and DL sounding is used where the AP and the STA send NDP packets sequentially”; [FIG.9]: “UL sensing”; [FIG.10]: “DL sensing”; [FIG.12]: “DL sensing” and “UL sensing”; [0114]: “The operations 850 include a sequential or simultaneous sensing”; [0130]: “the sensing parameters element 1800 is used in negotiations between the initiator and one or more responders. The initiator (or responder) may initially send a sensing parameters element 1800 and the one or more responders (or initiators) may send a sensing parameters element 1800 back which has the fields set in accordance with the negotiation where the fields are set based on rules included in the communication standard and the values of the sensing parameter element 1800 received”; [0132]: “transmission to a STA a frame including a configuration hold subfield … The configuration hold 1812 subfield can be set by the AP 502 to indicate that the STA 504 should maintain a transmit configuration during UL sensing. In some examples, there are UL sensing periods and the STA 504 can reconfigure the transmit configuration after a UL sensing period is over”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Chen’s teaching with that of Dong for polling information to include multiple types of measurement such as UL only, DL only or DL plus UL in order to negotiate sensing parameters based on the communication standard supported by a STA or the transmission state of a STA (see reference quotes in element above).
Combination of Dong and Chen does not expressly teach receive a second polling frame including the first information and ‘wherein the second polling frame does not include the second information’.
However, Lou in the same field of endeavor teaches AP could retransmit polling frame in response to that AP fails to receive response from one or more STAs (Lou: [0176]: “the AP 1805 again fails to receive ACK 1840b from STA-2 1815. As a result, the AP 1805 performs another polling procedure and transmits COBRA polling frame 1845a to STA-1 1810 and COBRA polling frame 1845b to STA-3”; [0177]: “the AP may perform more or less retransmissions of the COBRA polling frames”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Lou’s teaching with that of combination of Dong and Chen for AP to transmit a second polling frame to STA1 by removing one type of measurement, e.g. DL sensing, from the first polling frame in response to AP does not receive CTS-to-self from STA5 is due to STA5 is in a UL sensing period, in another word, STA1 would receive a second polling frame including the first information and wherein the second polling frame does not include the second information, in order to negotiate sensing parameters (Chen: [0132]: “there are UL sensing periods”; [0128]: “The sensing initiator and/or the sensing responder transmit the sensing parameters … during an initial negotiation phase”; [0130]: “the initiator (or responder) will then reseed the sensing parameters”).
Regarding claim 12, Dong teaches ‘An access point (AP) for performing sensing procedure in a wireless LAN system’ (Dong: [FIG.10]: “electronic device”; [0004]: “WLAN sensing”: [FIG.4]: AP for WLAN sensing); ‘the AP comprising: at least one transceiver’ (Dong: [FIG.10]: “TRANSCEIVER”); ‘at least one processor’ (Dong: [FIG.10]: “processor”); ‘connected to the at least one transceiver’ (this is implied);
‘wherein the at least one processor is configured to:
transmit a first polling frame to a plurality of stations (STAs) through the at least one transceiver’ (Dong: [FIG.4]: “AP”, “TF to STA1-5 Sensing Poll”; [FIG.10]: “TRANSCEIVER”);
‘receive a first response frame for the first polling frame from a first STA among the plurality of STAs through the at least one transceiver’ (Dong: [FIG.4]: “STA1” – “STA4”: “CTS-to-self”; [0034]: “In the process of polling, a sensing initiator AP executes polling on the sensing initiators STA1 to STA5 … enable the CTS-to-self protection mechanism and also identify existence of a station”, AP receives response from STA1 – STA4);
‘based on a second response frame for the first polling frame being not received from a second STA among the plurality of STAs, transmit a second polling frame to at least one STA including the first STA through the at least one transceiver’ (Dong: [FIG.4]: AP does not receive “CTS-to-self” from STA5 to identify its existence or participation). However, Dong fails to expressly teach transmit a second polling frame including the first information;
‘wherein the first polling frame includes second information related to participation in a second type of measurement for the second STA’ (Dong: [0039]: “In the WLAN sensing process described above, a way of indicating the poll is needed, and in the embodiments of the present disclosure, the way of the poll is defined by the target radio frame”; [0054]: “the target radio frame … includes the polling information for the initiator to perform the WLAN sensing, and the polling information includes at least one of the sensing poll sub-element, the NDP sub-element”; [0065]: “the target radio frame … includes the polling information for the initiator to perform the WLAN sensing; the target radio frame includes the trigger frame”; [FIG.4]: “UL Sensing Sounding” : “TF” (trigger frame), “DL Sensing Sounding” : “NPDA”; polling information includes the type of measurement such as based on NDPA or based on trigger frame; [0036]: “In the process of DL sensing sounding, the sensing initiator AP sends null data packet announcement (NDPA)”; [0040]: “the target radio frame may be a trigger frame, and the trigger frame is used for scheduling a station and allocating a resource unit (RU)”). However, Dong fails to expressly teach polling information include two types of measurement.
However, Chen in the same field of endeavor teaches sensing initiator and responder negotiate whether the subsequent sounding is DL only, or UL only, or DL plus UL (Chen: [0129]: “unidirectional sounding is used where there is only DL sounding or UL sounding, instead of bidirectional sounding only. In some embodiments, a field in the Sensing Parameters element exchanged during the negotiation phase, where the initiator and responder negotiates whether the subsequent sounding is DL only, or UL only, or DL plus UL. In some embodiments, simultaneous DL and UL sounding is used where both the AP and STA transmits the NDP packets at the same time to another STA. In some embodiments, sequential UL and DL sounding is used where the AP and the STA send NDP packets sequentially”; [FIG.9]: “UL sensing”; [FIG.10]: “DL sensing”; [FIG.12]: “DL sensing” and “UL sensing”; [0114]: “The operations 850 include a sequential or simultaneous sensing”; [0130]: “the sensing parameters element 1800 is used in negotiations between the initiator and one or more responders. The initiator (or responder) may initially send a sensing parameters element 1800 and the one or more responders (or initiators) may send a sensing parameters element 1800 back which has the fields set in accordance with the negotiation where the fields are set based on rules included in the communication standard and the values of the sensing parameter element 1800 received”; [0132]: “transmission to a STA a frame including a configuration hold subfield … The configuration hold 1812 subfield can be set by the AP 502 to indicate that the STA 504 should maintain a transmit configuration during UL sensing. In some examples, there are UL sensing periods and the STA 504 can reconfigure the transmit configuration after a UL sensing period is over”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Chen’s teaching with that of Dong for polling information to include multiple types of measurement such as UL only, DL only or DL plus UL in order to negotiate sensing parameters based on the communication standard supported by a STA or the transmission state of a STA (see reference quotes in element above).
Combination of Dong and Chen does not expressly teach transmit a second polling frame including the first information and ‘wherein the second polling frame does not include the second information’.
However, Lou in the same field of endeavor teaches AP could retransmit polling frame in response to that AP fails to receive response from one or more STAs (Lou: [0176]: “the AP 1805 again fails to receive ACK 1840b from STA-2 1815. As a result, the AP 1805 performs another polling procedure and transmits COBRA polling frame 1845a to STA-1 1810 and COBRA polling frame 1845b to STA-3”; [0177]: “the AP may perform more or less retransmissions of the COBRA polling frames”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Lou’s teaching with that of combination of Dong and Chen for AP to transmit a second polling frame to STA1 by removing one type of measurement, e.g. DL sensing, from the first polling frame in response to AP does not receive CTS-to-self from STA5 is due to STA5 is in a UL sensing period in order to negotiate sensing parameters (Chen: [0132]: “there are UL sensing periods”; [0128]: “The sensing initiator and/or the sensing responder transmit the sensing parameters … during an initial negotiation phase”; [0130]: “the initiator (or responder) will then reseed the sensing parameters”).
Regarding claim 1, claim 1 recites the method implemented by the STA of claim 10 (see rejection of claim 10 above).
Regarding claim 2, combination of Dong, Chen and Lou teaches the method of claim 1 (discussed above).
Combination of Dong and Chen teaches ‘includes a common info field’ (Dong: [0039]: “the way of the poll is defined by the target radio frame”; [0053]: “the variable element is carried in a common info field of the target radio frame, for example, in a trigger dependent common info field of a ranging trigger frame”);
‘the common info field includes a subfield related to an order of at least one of the first type of measurement or the second type of measurement’ (Dong: [0043]: “the target identification may be a ranging trigger subtype or a WLAN sensing trigger subtype”; [FIG.4]: “UL Sensing Sounding”, “DL Sensing Sounding”; subfield carries WLAN trigger subtype such as UL sounding or DL sounding. Chen: [0114]: “The operations 850 include a sequential or simultaneous sensing”; [FIG.13[: “UL SENSING” followed by “DL SENSING”; [FIG.15]: “DL SENSING” followed by “UL SENSING” for Sequential Sensing; [0129]: “sequential UL and DL sounding is used where the AP and the STA send NDP packets sequentially”; subtype would indicate the order for sequential sensing).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Chen’s teaching of sequential sensing with that of Dong in order to support sequential sensing with addition to simultaneous sensing (see reference quote in element above).
Regarding claim 3, combination of Dong, Chen and Lou teaches the method of claim 2 (discussed above).
Combination of Dong and Chen teaches ‘the subfield included in the common info field of the first polling frame indicates information on the order of the first type of measurement and the second type of measurement and the subfield included in the common info field of the second polling frame includes information indicating the first type of measurement’ (Dong: [0043]: “the target identification may be a ranging trigger subtype or a WLAN sensing trigger subtype”; [FIG.4]: “UL Sensing Sounding”, “DL Sensing Sounding”; subfield carries WLAN trigger subtype such as UL sounding or DL sounding. Chen: [0114]: “The operations 850 include a sequential or simultaneous sensing”; [FIG.13[: “UL SENSING” followed by “DL SENSING”; [FIG.15]: “DL SENSING” followed by “UL SENSING” for Sequential Sensing; [0129]: “sequential UL and DL sounding is used where the AP and the STA send NDP packets sequentially”; [0069]: “The variable element may be carried in the common info, and the control element may be carried in the user info list field”; for sequential sensing, sensing subtype would indicate the order of UL sensing and DL sensing and for the second polling with only one sensing type, the sensing subtype would indicate the type);
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Chen’s teaching of sequential sensing with that of Dong in order to support sequential sensing with addition to simultaneous sensing (see reference quote in element above).
Regarding claim 4, combination of Dong, Chen and Lou teaches the method of claim 1 (discussed above).
Combination of Dong and Chen teaches ‘the first information is indicated by a user info field for the first STA’ (Dong: [FIG.4]: “STA1-2”:“UL Sensing Sounding”, “STA3-4”: “DL Sensing Sounding”; [0096]-[0097]: “the control element includes at least one of the presentation bit sub-element, the station identification sub-element, the poll sequence sub-element, the feedback mode sub-element, and the session identification sub-element … The control element is carried in the user info list field of the target radio frame”. Chen: [0127]: “The common info 1710 may include a trigger type 1720 that may indicate a trigger subtype such as trigger frame for sensing 1718 or trigger frame for management report. The user info list 1712 may include subfields for each STA … user info list 1712 may include information for a STA and/or AP to transmit a packet such as a sensing NDP. The information may include an RU, spatial stream, duration, a repetition number, directional information, and so forth (information may be included from the sensing parameter element”; [0129]: “the initiator and responder negotiates whether the subsequent sounding is DL only, or UL only, or DL plus UL”; [0132]: “there are UL sensing periods”; [0128]: “The sensing initiator and/or the sensing responder transmit the sensing parameters … during an initial negotiation phase”; [0130]: “the initiator (or responder) will then reseed the sensing parameters”. user info list of polling frame would carry the sensing parameters for a given STA during initial negotiation phase);
‘the second information is indicated by a user info field for the second STA’ (discussed in element above).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Dong’s teaching of sensing parameters for a given STA with that of Chen in order to negotiate sensing parameters at initial phase (see reference quotes in element above).
Regarding claim 6, combination of Dong, Chen and Lou teaches the method of claim 1 (discussed above).
Dong teaches ‘either the first type of measurement or the second type of measurement is performed based on a null data physical protocol data unit (PPDU) announcement frame’ (Dong: [FIG.4]: “DL Sensing Sounding”, “NPDA to STA3-4”);
‘the other one of the first type of measurement or the second type of measurement is performed based on a trigger frame’ (Dong: [FIG.4]: “UL Sensing Sounding”, “TF to STA1-2”, TF (trigger frame)).
Regarding claim 7, combination of Dong, Chen and Lou teaches the method of claim 1 (discussed above).
Combination of Dong, Chen and Lou teaches ‘a response frame for the second polling frame is not transmitted from the first STA to the AP’ (Dong: [FIG.4]: “STA5” does not send response “CTS-to-self” to identify its existence or participation. Chen: [0132]: “there are UL sensing periods”; [0128]: “The sensing initiator and/or the sensing responder transmit the sensing parameters … during an initial negotiation phase”; [0129]: “the initiator and responder negotiates whether the subsequent sounding is DL only, or UL only, or DL plus UL”; [0130]: “the initiator (or responder) will then reseed the sensing parameters”. Lou: [0177]: “the AP may perform more or less retransmissions of the COBRA polling frames”, a STA in UL sensing period would not response to a retransmitted DL only polling);
‘after the second polling frame is received from the AP and a predefined time, the NDP announcement frame or the trigger frame is transmitted from the AP to the first STA’ (Dong: [FIG.4]: “NDPA to STA3-4”, “SIFS”; [0036]: “In the process of DL sensing sounding, the sensing initiator AP sends null data packet announcement (NDPA) to STA3 and STA4”. Lou: [0177]: “the AP may perform more or less retransmissions of the COBRA polling frames”; [0166]: “the packets transmitted within a TXOP are typically separated by a small time duration, such as SIFS, so that the unintended STAs may not have a chance to break the TXOP”. In case of retransmitting polling frame, AP would transmit NDPA to sensing receivers for DL Sensing Sounding after SIFS (a predefined time)).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Lou’s teaching of retransmitting polling with Chen’s teaching of sensing parameters negotiation and with that of Dong in order to negotiate sensing parameters in initial sensing phase (Chen: [0132]: “there are UL sensing periods”; [0128]: “The sensing initiator and/or the sensing responder transmit the sensing parameters … during an initial negotiation phase”; [0130]: “the initiator (or responder) will then reseed the sensing parameters”).
Regarding claim 8, combination of Dong, Chen and Lou teaches the method of claim 1 (discussed above).
Combination of Dong and Lou teaches ‘the second polling frame is received from the AP after the first response frame is transmitted and SIFS (short inter-frame space)’ (Dong: [FIG.4]: “SIFS”; [0038]: “the SIFS is used to space apart frames”. Lou: [0177]: “the AP may perform more or less retransmissions of the COBRA polling frames”; [0166]: “the packets transmitted within a TXOP are typically separated by a small time duration, such as SIFS, so that the unintended STAs may not have a chance to break the TXOP”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Lou’s teaching of retransmission of polling frame with that of combination of Dong and Chen in order to negotiate sensing parameters at initial phase (Chen: [0128]: “The sensing initiator and/or the sensing responder transmit the sensing parameters … during an initial negotiation phase”; [0130]: “the initiator (or responder) will then reseed the sensing parameters”).
Regarding claim 9, combination of Dong, Chen and Lou teaches the method of claim 1 (discussed above).
Dong teaches ‘the first STA and the second STA are sensing responders, and the AP is a sensing initiator’ (Dong: [FIG.2]: “sensing initiator”, “sensing responder”; [FIG.4]: sensing responder “STA1” – “STA5” receiving Polling from sensing initiator “AP”; [Abstract]: “A communication method, performed by an initiator, includes: sending a target radio frame, where the target radio frame includes a target identification, and the target identification includes polling information for the initiator to perform wireless local area network (WLAN) sensing. A communication method, performed by a responder, includes: receiving a target radio frame, where the target radio frame includes a target identification, and the target identification includes polling information for the responder to perform WLAN sensing”).
Claim 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over combination of Dong, Chen and Lou as applied to claim 1 above, further in view of Dai et al. (US 20240080216 A1), hereinafter “Dai”.
Regarding claim 5, combination of Dong, Chen and Lou teaches the method of claim 1 (discussed above).
Combination of Dong, Chen and Lou does not expressly teach ‘the second polling frame includes information indicating that the second polling frame is a retransmitted polling frame’.
Dai in the same field of endeavor teaches header of a retransmitted packet include a retransmission indication in order to distinguish new packet and retransmitted packet (Dai: [0167]: “In order to distinguish the new data packet and the retransmitted data packet, in an embodiment, the CU may transmit a retransmission indication in a packet header of each data packet in the retransmitted subset to indicate that the corresponding data packet is a retransmitted data packet”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Dai’s teaching with that of combination of Dong, Chen and Lou for the second polling frame to include information indicating that the second polling frame is a retransmitted polling frame in order to distinguish new polling frame and retransmitted polling frame (see reference quotes in element above).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
US 20230188384 A1 see [FIG.5]-[FIG.11], [0031]-[0032];
US 20240187153 A1 see [FIG.3]-[FIG,7N], [0144];
US 20180359761 A1 see [FIG.3]-[FIG.36], [0597];
US 20100329195 A1 see [FIG.3]-[FIG.10], [0060]-[0064];
“Discussions on sensing measurement flows” (IDS cited) see [Page 4]-[Page 13];
“Discussion on Sensing Setup Procedure” (IDS cited) see [Page 3]-[Page 6].
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to GUOXING FAN whose telephone number is (703)756-1310. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 8:30 am - 5:00 pm ET.
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, Yemane Mesfin can be reached at (571)272-3927. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/G.F./Examiner, Art Unit 2462
/YEMANE MESFIN/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2462