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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Status
Claims 31-56 are pending and claims 1-30 are canceled according to preliminary claim amendment filed on 03/14/2024.
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.
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.
Claim(s) 31 – 37, 39, 41 – 46, 48 and 52 – 56 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Li et al. US20180042042A1 (listed in applicant submitted IDS and listed as D1 in EPO search report), hereinafter Li in view of Liu et al. US20200120534A1 (listed in applicant submitted IDS and listed as D2 in EPO search report), hereinafter Liu.
Regarding claim 31, Li teaches a method of communication performed by user equipment (UE), comprising:
(Li: Summary, figure 1 UE and para. [0024] and para. [0035] uplink determination component 130 and/or its subcomponents may be performed by a specially-programmed processor, a processor executing specially-programmed software or computer-readable media, or by any other combination of a hardware component and/or a software component)
transmitting, to a network device, information which indicates first set of uplink data to be transmitted (Li: para. [0029 & 0039] UE 115 and/or uplink determination component 130 may execute transceiver 60 to transmit a buffer status report (BSR) (corresponds to claim limitation “first set of uplink data to be transmitted”) including the delay budget 136 over the UL-SCH to the network entity 105)
and
a first remaining delay budget associated with the first amount of the first set of uplink data.
(Li: para. [0029-0032] UE 115 and/or uplink determination component 130 may execute transceiver 60 to transmit a buffer status report (BSR) including the delay budget 136 over the UL-SCH to the network entity 105. Para. [0041 & 0037-0038] UE 115 executing transceiver 60 to transmit a multi-bit scheduling request on an uplink control channel (of communication channel 125) to the network entity 105. The multi-bit scheduling request may include at least the delay budget 136. The multi-bit scheduling request indicates an entry in a look-up table of the network entity 105 corresponding to the delay budget, payload size, and/or the allocation of resources of a data packet for the UE 115. Para. [0027] UE 115 may execute uplink determination component 130 to determine a delay budget 136 for the one or more URLLC data packets 132. For example, the delay budget 136 includes information 138 corresponding to an expiration of a transmission deadline)
Li does not explicitly teaches: transmitting, to a network device, information which indicates a first amount of first set of uplink data to be transmitted.
However, Liu from the same or similar fields of endeavor teaches: transmitting, to a network device, information which indicates a first amount of first set of uplink data to be transmitted. (Liu: para. [0088] terminal device may send a short BSR shown in FIG. 2 to a network device. As shown in FIG. 2, the short BSR consist of one octet (an oct 1). The octet includes an identifier (ID) of the LCG having to-be-sent data and a volume of to-be-sent data (corresponds to claim limitation “indicates a first amount of first set of uplink data to be transmitted”) on the LCG The volume of the to-be-sent data on the LCG may be specifically indicated by using buffer size (BS) information shown in FIG. 2. In all subsequent legends, BS information is used to indicate a volume of to-be-sent data on an LCG FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of another existing BSR). Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the teaching of Liu in the method of Li. One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to do so for network device can accurately learn of, in a timely manner, the remaining LCGs having to-be-sent data on the terminal device other than the LCGs whose volumes of to-be-sent data are indicated, so that the network device allocates an uplink transmission resource to the terminal device more accurately and properly, thereby improving uplink transmission resource allocation efficiency (Liu: para. [0008]).
Regarding claim 32, Li teaches method of claim 31, wherein the first remaining delay budget is related to a time duration from a time that the information is transmitted to a latest time that the first set of uplink data are expected to be successfully transmitted.
(Li: para. [0027 & 0029] UE 115 may execute uplink determination component 130 to determine a delay budget 136 for the one or more URLLC data packets 132. For example, the delay budget 136 includes information 138 corresponding to an expiration of a transmission deadline (corresponds to claim limitation “a latest time that the first set of uplink data are expected to be successfully transmitted”). Para. [0029 & 0039] UE 115 and/or uplink determination component 130 may execute transceiver 60 to transmit a buffer status report (BSR) (corresponds to claim limitation “a time that the information is transmitted”) including the delay budget 136 over the UL-SCH to the network entity 105. para. [0019] reporting delay budgets for URLLC uplink transmissions during wireless communications. With regard to URLLC, the user plane latency is defined as successful delivery of application layer packet from layer 2/3 service data unit (SDU) ingress point to layer 2/3 SDU egress point through radio interface. In an example, for URLLC, the target for user plane average latency is 0.5 ms for uplink communications and 0.5 ms for downlink communications. Reliability is defined as the successful probability of transmitting a number of bytes within 1 ms, which is the time to deliver a small packet from protocol layer 2/3 SDU ingress point to egress point, at a certain channel quality. Specifically, for example, the requirement for URLLC is 1-10−5 within 1 ms for the number of bytes (e.g. 20 bytes) with a user plane latency of 1 ms. Para. [0021 & 0020 & 0027 & 0037 & 0044 & 0048] reporting delay budgets for URLLC uplink transmissions during wireless communications. In other words, a UE that is operating in an URLLC mode may notify a network entity of the budget delays in order to satisfy latency and reliability requirements. As such, the present aspects provide one or more mechanisms for receiving one or more URLLC data packets at a MAC buffer of a UE, the one or more URLLC data packets scheduled for transmission to a network entity. Moreover, provide one or more mechanisms for determining a delay budget for the one or more URLLC data packets at the MAC buffer, the delay budget including information corresponding to an expiration of a transmission deadline. Para. [0020] Specifically, with regard to the latency requirement for URLLC, a UE is required to transmit the data packets before a transmission deadline. In an example, the transmission deadline may correspond to a time instant by which the network entity must successfully receive the transmission of a data packet from a UE. Once the transmission deadline expires, the data packet may not be of use and cannot be successfully received. Each URLLC data packet is provided with enough resources (e.g., bandwidth) in each Hybrid Access Repeat Request (HARQ) transmission to satisfy a maximum Block Error Rate (BLER) before the expiration of a transmission deadline)
Regarding claim 33, Li and Liu teach the method of claim 31, Li does not explicitly teaches: wherein the information is transmitted in a MAC CE.
Liu from the same or similar fields of endeavor teaches: wherein the information is transmitted in a MAC CE. (Liu: para. [0090] BSR may be considered as a MAC CE. The BSR is also referred to as a BSR MAC CE). Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the teaching of Liu in the method of Li. One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to do so for network device can accurately learn of, in a timely manner, the remaining LCGs having to-be-sent data on the terminal device other than the LCGs whose volumes of to-be-sent data are indicated, so that the network device allocates an uplink transmission resource to the terminal device more accurately and properly, thereby improving uplink transmission resource allocation efficiency (Liu: para. [0008]).
Regarding claim 34, Li and Liu teach the method of claim 31, Li does not explicitly teaches: further comprising: discarding the first set of uplink data, if a portion of the first set of uplink data is not able to be transmitted due to the first remaining delay budget.
Liu from the same or similar fields of endeavor teaches: discarding the first set of uplink data, if a portion of the first set of uplink data is not able to be transmitted due to the first remaining delay budget (Liu: para. [0158-0160] terminal device may set a discard timer for each piece of data on each LCH in each LCG A maximum value of the discard timer is a delay corresponding to the LCH. When to-be-sent data is received on the LCH, the discard timer may be started for each piece of data, to determine whether to discard the to-be-sent data. Therefore, when a remaining delay budget of to-be-sent data on the LCG is a remaining delay budget of data with a minimum remaining delay budget on all LCHs having to-be-sent data in the LCG, the terminal device may determine, based on a remaining timeout time (a remaining delay budget) of a discard timer of each piece of data on each LCH in each of all the LCGs having to-be-sent data, a remaining delay budget of to-be-sent data on each of all the LCGs having to-be-sent data) Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the teaching of Liu in the method of Li. One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to do so for network device can accurately learn of, in a timely manner, the remaining LCGs having to-be-sent data on the terminal device other than the LCGs whose volumes of to-be-sent data are indicated, so that the network device allocates an uplink transmission resource to the terminal device more accurately and properly, thereby improving uplink transmission resource allocation efficiency (Liu: para. [0008]).
Regarding claim 35, Li and Liu teach the method of claim 31, further comprising:
receiving, from the network device, a first indication for transmitting the information.
(Li: para. [0024] UE 115 may further include a transceiver 60 for transmitting and/or receiving one or more data and control signals to/from the network via network entity 105. Para. [0030 & 0038 & 0040-0041 & 0044] UE 115 and/or uplink determination component 130 may execute transceiver 60 to transmit a one-bit scheduling request on an uplink control channel (of communication channel 125) to the network entity 105. The one-bit scheduling request may indicate the delay budget 136 and a payload size of each of the one or more URLLC data packets 132 based on a downlink grant previously received by the UE 115 from the network entity 105. The downlink grant may include the payload size and an original delay budget determined by the network entity 105)
Regarding claim 36, Li and Liu teach the method of claim 31, wherein the information further indicates a second set of uplink data to be transmitted and a second remaining delay budget associated with the second set of uplink data (Li: para. [0021] uplink determination component 130 may be configured to report delay budgets (corresponds to claim limitation “second remaining delay budget”) for URLLC uplink transmissions during wireless communications), Li does not explicitly teaches: wherein the information further indicates a second amount of second set of uplink data to be transmitted.
Liu from the same or similar fields of endeavor teaches: wherein the information further indicates a second amount of second set of uplink data to be transmitted.
(Liu: para. [0097-0105] indicate logical channel groups having to-be-sent data and volumes (corresponds to claim limitation “second amount of second set of uplink data”) of to-be-sent data on some of the logical channel groups having to-be-sent data) Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the teaching of Liu in the method of Li. One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to do so for network device can accurately learn of, in a timely manner, the remaining LCGs having to-be-sent data on the terminal device other than the LCGs whose volumes of to-be-sent data are indicated, so that the network device allocates an uplink transmission resource to the terminal device more accurately and properly, thereby improving uplink transmission resource allocation efficiency (Liu: para. [0008]).
Regarding claim 37, Li and Liu teach the method of claim 36, wherein the information comprises a first identity of the first set of uplink data or the first remaining delay budget (Li: para. [0029-0032] UE 115 and/or uplink determination component 130 may execute transceiver 60 to transmit a buffer status report (BSR) including the delay budget 136 over the UL-SCH to the network entity 105. Para. [0041 & 0037-0038] UE 115 executing transceiver 60 to transmit a multi-bit scheduling request on an uplink control channel (of communication channel 125) to the network entity 105. The multi-bit scheduling request may include at least the delay budget 136. The multi-bit scheduling request indicates an entry in a look-up table of the network entity 105 corresponding to the delay budget, payload size, and/or the allocation of resources of a data packet for the UE 115. Para. [0027] UE 115 may execute uplink determination component 130 to determine a delay budget 136 for the one or more URLLC data packets 132. For example, the delay budget 136 includes information 138 corresponding to an expiration of a transmission deadline), and a second identity of the second set of uplink data or the second remaining delay budget (Li: para. [0021] uplink determination component 130 may be configured to report delay budgets (corresponds to claim limitation “second remaining delay budget”) for URLLC uplink transmissions during wireless communications).
Li does not explicitly teaches, however, Liu from the same or similar fields of endeavor teach:
wherein the information comprises a first identity of the first set of uplink data (Liu: para. [0088] short BSR consist of one octet (an oct 1). The octet includes an identifier (ID, which corresponds to claim limitation “identity of the first set of uplink data”) of the LCG having to-be-sent data and a volume of to-be-sent data on the LCG The volume of the to-be-sent data on the LCG may be specifically indicated by using buffer size (BS) information shown in FIG. 2) or the first remaining delay budget, and a second identity of the second set of uplink data (Liu: para. [0088] The octet includes an identifier (ID, which corresponds to claim limitation “identity of the first set of uplink data”) of the LCG having to-be-sent data and a volume of to-be-sent data on the LCG The volume of the to-be-sent data on the LCG may be specifically indicated by using buffer size (BS) information shown in FIG. 2…FIG. 3, the long BSR includes three octets (an oct 1, an oct 2, which corresponds to claim limitation “identity of the second set of uplink data”, and an oct 3). In the long BSR, a field for sending a volume of to-be-sent data on each LCG is fixed. Therefore, after receiving the long BSR, the network device may learn of the volume of the to-be-sent data on each LCG of the terminal device by using a value of the field corresponding to the LCG For example, BS information # 0 is a volume of to-be-transmitted data on an LCG # 0, BS information # 1 is a volume of to-be-transmitted data on an LCG # 1, BS information # 2 is a volume of to-be-transmitted data on an LCG # 2, and BS information # 3 is a volume of to-be-transmitted data on an LCG # 3.) or the second remaining delay budget.
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the teaching of Liu in the method of Li. One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to do so for network device can accurately learn of, in a timely manner, the remaining LCGs having to-be-sent data on the terminal device other than the LCGs whose volumes of to-be-sent data are indicated, so that the network device allocates an uplink transmission resource to the terminal device more accurately and properly, thereby improving uplink transmission resource allocation efficiency (Liu: para. [0008]).
Regarding claim 39, Li and Liu teach the method of claim 31, Li does not explicitly teaches, however, Liu from the same or similar fields of endeavor teach: wherein the information comprises a logical channel group identity (Liu: para. [0088] The octet includes an identifier (ID, which corresponds to claim limitation “identity of the first set of uplink data”) of the LCG having to-be-sent data and a volume of to-be-sent data on the LCG The volume of the to-be-sent data on the LCG may be specifically indicated by using buffer size (BS) information shown in FIG. 2…FIG. 3, the long BSR includes three octets (an oct 1, an oct 2, which corresponds to claim limitation “identity of the second set of uplink data”, and an oct 3). In the long BSR, a field for sending a volume of to-be-sent data on each LCG is fixed. Therefore, after receiving the long BSR, the network device may learn of the volume of the to-be-sent data on each LCG of the terminal device by using a value of the field corresponding to the LCG For example, BS information # 0 is a volume of to-be-transmitted data on an LCG # 0, BS information # 1 is a volume of to-be-transmitted data on an LCG # 1, BS information # 2 is a volume of to-be-transmitted data on an LCG # 2, and BS information # 3 is a volume of to-be-transmitted data on an LCG # 3.) or a logical channel identity. Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the teaching of Liu in the method of Li. One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to do so for network device can accurately learn of, in a timely manner, the remaining LCGs having to-be-sent data on the terminal device other than the LCGs whose volumes of to-be-sent data are indicated, so that the network device allocates an uplink transmission resource to the terminal device more accurately and properly, thereby improving uplink transmission resource allocation efficiency (Liu: para. [0008]).
Regarding claim 41, Li teaches a method of communication performed by network device, comprising:
(Li: Summary and para. [0028] network entity 105 to configure network entity scheduler 140 in allocating resources on an uplink channel (of communication channel 125) such that transmissions from the UE 115 to the network entity 105 satisfy a reliability threshold 142. And Fig. 1)
receiving, from a user equipment (UE), information which indicates a first set of uplink data to be transmitted (Li: para. [0029 & 0039] UE 115 and/or uplink determination component 130 may execute transceiver 60 to transmit a buffer status report (BSR) (corresponds to claim limitation “first set of uplink data to be transmitted”) including the delay budget 136 over the UL-SCH to the network entity 105)
and
a first remaining delay budget associated with the first amount of the first set of uplink data.
(Li: para. [0029-0032] UE 115 and/or uplink determination component 130 may execute transceiver 60 to transmit a buffer status report (BSR) including the delay budget 136 over the UL-SCH to the network entity 105. Para. [0041 & 0037-0038] UE 115 executing transceiver 60 to transmit a multi-bit scheduling request on an uplink control channel (of communication channel 125) to the network entity 105. The multi-bit scheduling request may include at least the delay budget 136. The multi-bit scheduling request indicates an entry in a look-up table of the network entity 105 corresponding to the delay budget, payload size, and/or the allocation of resources of a data packet for the UE 115. Para. [0027] UE 115 may execute uplink determination component 130 to determine a delay budget 136 for the one or more URLLC data packets 132. For example, the delay budget 136 includes information 138 corresponding to an expiration of a transmission deadline)
Li does not explicitly teaches: transmitting, to a network device, information which indicates a first amount of first set of uplink data to be transmitted.
However, Liu from the same or similar fields of endeavor teaches: transmitting, to a network device, information which indicates a first amount of first set of uplink data to be transmitted. (Liu: para. [0088] terminal device may send a short BSR shown in FIG. 2 to a network device. As shown in FIG. 2, the short BSR consist of one octet (an oct 1). The octet includes an identifier (ID) of the LCG having to-be-sent data and a volume of to-be-sent data (corresponds to claim limitation “indicates a first amount of first set of uplink data to be transmitted”) on the LCG The volume of the to-be-sent data on the LCG may be specifically indicated by using buffer size (BS) information shown in FIG. 2. In all subsequent legends, BS information is used to indicate a volume of to-be-sent data on an LCG FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of another existing BSR). Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the teaching of Liu in the method of Li. One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to do so for network device can accurately learn of, in a timely manner, the remaining LCGs having to-be-sent data on the terminal device other than the LCGs whose volumes of to-be-sent data are indicated, so that the network device allocates an uplink transmission resource to the terminal device more accurately and properly, thereby improving uplink transmission resource allocation efficiency (Liu: para. [0008]).
Regarding claims 42-46 and 48, Li and Liu teach all the limitations as discussed in the rejection of claims 32-33, 35-37 and 39, and therefore method claims 42-46 and 48 are rejected using the same rationales.
Regarding claim 52, Li and Liu teach a non-transitory computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon, the instructions, when executed on at least one processor, causing the at least one processor to perform the method according to claim 31. (Li: Summary, figure 1 UE and para. [0024] and para. [0035] uplink determination component 130 and/or its subcomponents may be performed by a specially-programmed processor, a processor executing specially-programmed software or computer-readable media, or by any other combination of a hardware component and/or a software component)
Regarding claims 53-56, Li a user equipment (UE), comprising: at least one processor configured to execute instructions that when executed cause the UE to perform operations comprising: (Li: Summary, figure 1 UE and para. [0024] and para. [0035] uplink determination component 130 and/or its subcomponents may be performed by a specially-programmed processor, a processor executing specially-programmed software or computer-readable media, or by any other combination of a hardware component and/or a software component) and Li and Liu teach all the limitations as discussed in the rejection of claims 31-34, and therefore apparatus claims 53-56 are rejected using the same rationales.
Claim(s) 38, 47 and 51 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Li and Liu as applied to claim 31 above, and further in view of Freda et al. US 20220279537 A1, hereinafter Freda (Freda: [0001] U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/880,919, filed Jul. 31, 2019, hereinafter Freda’919).
Regarding claim 38, Li and Liu teach the method of claim 31, Li and Liu does not explicitly teach: further comprising: transmitting, to the network device, a second indication regarding whether at least a portion of the first set of uplink data can be dropped.
Freda from the same or similar fields of endeavor teaches: further comprising: transmitting, to the network device, a second indication regarding whether at least a portion of the first set of uplink data can be dropped.
(Freda: para. [0010 & 0174] WTRU may drop a scheduled transmission (e.g., a transmission with a lower priority); and/or a WTRU may reduce transmission power (e.g., associated with a lower priority transmission). A WTRU may inform a network (NW) that a transmission was dropped. Freda’919: para. [0004 & 0143]) Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the teaching of Freda in the method of Li and Liu. One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to do so for WTRU may prioritize UL transmissions including SL SR, for example, if the next SL SR resource may not be transmitted within a number of slots. A WTRU may prioritize UL transmissions including an SL SR, for example, if the next SL SR resource that may be transmitted to the network (e.g., which may be associated with the SL data that triggered the SR) may not be transmitted to the network within the next N slots, where N may depend on QoS properties (e.g., latency, reliability) of the SL data that triggered the SR (Freda: para. [0142]).
Regarding claim 47, Li, Liu and Freda teach all the limitations as discussed in the rejection of claim 38, and therefore method claim 47 is rejected using the same rationales.
Regarding claim 51, Li and Liu teach the method of claim 41, Li and Liu does not explicitly teach: further comprising:
determining the first remaining delay budget based on the information; or determining the first remaining delay budget based on an uplink Quality of Service (QoS) parameter.
Freda from the same or similar fields of endeavor teaches: further comprising:
determining the first remaining delay budget based on the information; or determining the first remaining delay budget based on an uplink Quality of Service (QoS) parameter.
(Freda: para. [0099] A quality of service (QoS) for NR V2X may be determined. A QoS model may be used for NR V2X. A QoS over PC5 may be supported with a ProSe per-packet priority (PPPP). The application layer may be allowed to mark the packets with the PPPP. PPPP may indicate a QoS level. A packet delay budget (PDB) may be derived from the PPPP. The QoS requirements for NR V2X may be specified and/or configured; Freda’919: para. [0153]) Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the teaching of Freda in the method of Li and Liu. One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to do so for WTRU may prioritize UL transmissions including SL SR, for example, if the next SL SR resource may not be transmitted within a number of slots. A WTRU may prioritize UL transmissions including an SL SR, for example, if the next SL SR resource that may be transmitted to the network (e.g., which may be associated with the SL data that triggered the SR) may not be transmitted to the network within the next N slots, where N may depend on QoS properties (e.g., latency, reliability) of the SL data that triggered the SR (Freda: para. [0142]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 40 and 49-50 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Please also see PTO-892.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to WUTCHUNG CHU whose telephone number is (571)272-4064. The examiner can normally be reached 10:00 AM - 4:00 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, Moo R Jeong can be reached at (571) 272-9617. 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.
/WUTCHUNG CHU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2418