DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Response to Remarks
This Office action is considered fully responsive to the amendments filed 07/29/2026.
The objection to the specification is maintained. Applicant has amended the Title but it does not reflect the pending instant claims. For example, there is no computer-readable media claim language.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see Remarks, filed 07/29/2026, with respect to the rejection(s) of claim(s) 58-71 under U.S.C. 102 or U.S.C. 103 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of US 20190349964 A1.
Specification
The title of the invention is not descriptive. A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed.
The following title is suggested: METHODS FOR COMMUNICATING CAPABILITY INFORMATION OF A UE
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claims 58, 60-61, 63-65, 67-68, 70-71 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
Independent claims 58 and 65 have been amended with the limitation “wherein in a case where the parameter is set to off, the CSI report comprises first information and second information”
However, there is no support for the parameter being set to “off” located anywhere in the instant specification. Rather, paras. 0171-0177 of the instant specification discloses the parameter of repetition is “on.”
The dependent claims are rejected by virtue of their dependencies.
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.
Claim(s) 58, 65 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over EP 3697014 A1 to FRAUNHOFFER GES FORSCHUNG (“Fraunhoffer”) [provided by Applicant] in view of U.S. Publication No. 2019/0349964 A1 to Liou.
As to claim 58, Fraunhoffer discloses a method of a User Equipment (UE) (para. 0055, UE) comprising: sending, to a network, capability information of the UE (par. [0056], "the maximum number of SRS resource sets supported by the UE for codebook and non-codebook-based uplink transmission, is a UE capability that is reported to said network node by said UE via a higher-layer message, for e.g., radio resource control, RRC"), wherein the capability information comprises a UE capability value related to a maximum number of Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) antenna ports for a Channel State Information (CSI) report (para. 0055, "each configured SRS resource set is associated with the UE's, panel or group of antenna ports or a Tx-Rx RF chain, and wherein the number of configured SRS resource sets is identical to the maximum number of UE panels or antenna ports, or to a subset of said UE panels or antenna ports, or to the maximum number of UE transmission-reception, Tx-Rx, radio frequency chains or to a subset of said Tx-Rx radio frequency, RF, chains."; para. 0056, "the maximum number of SRS resource sets supported by the UE for codebook and non-codebook-based uplink transmission, is a UE capability that is reported to said network node by said UE via a higher-layer message, for e.g., radio resource control, RRC, and wherein the value of the UE capability is equal to the total number of UE panel(s)/ group of antenna port(s)/Tx-Rx RF chains or a subset of UE panel(s)/ group of antenna port(s)/Tx-Rx RF chains", para. 0057, "the UE capability denotes the maximum number of UE panels/Tx-Rx RF chains the UE supports for a particular SRS usage.", para. 0006, "the CSI-RS resource to be measured in the downlink to determine the precoder for the SRS is configured in the higher-layer parameter "associated-CSI-RS").
Fraunhoffer does not expressly disclose receiving, from the network, a parameter related to a repetition for a reference signal resource set; and sending, to the network, the CSI report, wherein in a case where the parameter is set to off, the CSI report comprises first information and second information, and in a case where the parameter is set to on, the CSI report comprises the second information, wherein the first information comprises a CSI-RS Resource Indicator (CRI), and the second information comprises an index of the UE capability value set.
Liou discloses: [0236] For beam management CSI-RS, NR supports higher layer configuration of a set of single-symbol CSI-RS resources where [0237] The set configuration contains an information element (IE) (i.e. parameter related to a repetition) indicating whether repetition is “on/off” [0247] NR supports the following configurations for beam management where a resource set is formed from multiple beam management CSI-RS resources and is contained within a resource setting: [0248] Single resource set with repetition=“OFF” [0249] UE reports CSI-RS resource indicator(s) within this resource set for CRI feedback (i.e. CRI) [0250] Single resource set (i.e. an index of the UE capability value set ) with repetition=“ON” [0251] UE does not report CRI [0252] FFS: Further support additional configuration by down selection from the following two alternatives: [0253] (a) Multiple resource sets (i.e. an index of the UE capability value set ), all with repetition=“ON” [0254] UE reports CSI-RS resource set indicator(s) for CRI feedback (i.e. CRI) [0255] (b) Multiple equal-size resource sets (i.e. an index of the UE capability value set ), all with repetition=“OFF” [0256] UE reports distinct local CSI-RS resource indicator(s) (i.e. index) within one or more resource sets. The UE can assume that the gNB applies the same Tx beams in the same order for each of the sets.
Prior to the effective filing date of invention, it would have been obvious to a
person of ordinary skill in the art to incorporate the CSI reporting of Liou into the invention of Fraunhoffer. The suggestion/motivation would have been for beam indication for uplink transmission in a wireless communication system (Liou, para. 0002). Including the CSI reporting of Liou into the invention of Fraunhoffer was within the ordinary ability of one of ordinary skill in the art based on the teachings of Liou.
As to claim 65, Fraunhoffer discloses a method of a Radio Access Network (RAN) node (para. 0065, network node), the method comprising: receiving, from a User Equipment (UE), capability information of the UE (par. [0056], "the maximum number of SRS resource sets supported by the UE for codebook and non-codebook-based uplink transmission, is a UE capability that is reported to said network node by said UE via a higher-layer message, for e.g., radio resource control, RRC"), wherein the capability information comprises a UE capability value set related to a maximum number of Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) antenna ports for a Channel State Information (CSI) report (para. 0055, "each configured SRS resource set is associated with the UE's, panel or group of antenna ports or a Tx-Rx RF chain, and wherein the number of configured SRS resource sets is identical to the maximum number of UE panels or antenna ports, or to a subset of said UE panels or antenna ports, or to the maximum number of UE transmission-reception, Tx-Rx, radio frequency chains or to a subset of said Tx-Rx radio frequency, RF, chains."; para. 0056, "the maximum number of SRS resource sets supported by the UE for codebook and non-codebook-based uplink transmission, is a UE capability that is reported to said network node by said UE via a higher-layer message, for e.g., radio resource control, RRC, and wherein the value of the UE capability is equal to the total number of UE panel(s)/ group of antenna port(s)/Tx-Rx RF chains or a subset of UE panel(s)/ group of antenna port(s)/Tx-Rx RF chains", para. 0057, "the UE capability denotes the maximum number of UE panels/Tx-Rx RF chains the UE supports for a particular SRS usage.", para. 0006, "the CSI-RS resource to be measured in the downlink to determine the precoder for the SRS is configured in the higher-layer parameter "associated-CSI-RS").
Fraunhoffer does not expressly disclose sending, to the UE, a parameter related to a repetition for a reference signal resource set; and receiving, from the UE, the CSI report, wherein in a case where the parameter is set to off, the CSI report comprises first information and second information, and in a case where the parameter is set to on, the CSI report comprises the second information, wherein the first information comprises a CSI-RS Resource Indicator (CRI), and the second information comprises an index of the UE capability value set.
Liou discloses: [0236] For beam management CSI-RS, NR supports higher layer configuration of a set of single-symbol CSI-RS resources where [0237] The set configuration contains an information element (IE) (i.e. parameter related to a repetition) indicating whether repetition is “on/off” [0247] NR supports the following configurations for beam management where a resource set is formed from multiple beam management CSI-RS resources and is contained within a resource setting: [0248] Single resource set with repetition=“OFF” [0249] UE reports CSI-RS resource indicator(s) within this resource set for CRI feedback (i.e. CRI) [0250] Single resource set (i.e. an index of the UE capability value set ) with repetition=“ON” [0251] UE does not report CRI [0252] FFS: Further support additional configuration by down selection from the following two alternatives: [0253] (a) Multiple resource sets (i.e. an index of the UE capability value set ), all with repetition=“ON” [0254] UE reports CSI-RS resource set indicator(s) for CRI feedback (i.e. CRI) [0255] (b) Multiple equal-size resource sets (i.e. an index of the UE capability value set ), all with repetition=“OFF” [0256] UE reports distinct local CSI-RS resource indicator(s) (i.e. index) within one or more resource sets. The UE can assume that the gNB applies the same Tx beams in the same order for each of the sets.
Prior to the effective filing date of invention, it would have been obvious to a
person of ordinary skill in the art to incorporate the CSI reporting of Liou into the invention of Fraunhoffer. The suggestion/motivation would have been for beam indication for uplink transmission in a wireless communication system (Liou, para. 0002). Including the CSI reporting of Liou into the invention of Fraunhoffer was within the ordinary ability of one of ordinary skill in the art based on the teachings of Liou.
Claim(s) 60-61, 67-68 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over EP 3697014 A1 to FRAUNHOFFER GES FORSCHUNG (“Fraunhoffer”) [provided by Applicant] in view of U.S. Publication No. 2019/0349964 A1 to Liou and in further view of MODERATOR (SAMSUNG) : "Moderator summary for multi-beam enhancement", 3GPP DRAFT; R1-2111715, 3RD GENERATION PARTNERSHIP PROJECT (3GPP), MOBILE COMPETENCE CENTRE (“Samsung”) [provided by Applicant].
As to claim 60, Fraunhoffer and Liou does not expressly disclose the method according to claim 58, wherein the CSI report includes a plurality of indexes which includes the index, wherein the CSI report includes a plurality of CRI or synchronization signals and physical broadcast channel (SS/PBCH) Block Resource Indicator (SSBRI) which correspond to the plurality of indexes respectively, and wherein the CSI report includes a plurality of Reference Signal Receive Power (RSRP) which correspond to the plurality of indexes respectively.
Samsung discloses at page 42, "CSI reporting [---] Support the UE reporting a list of UE capability value sets. Each UE capability value set comprises [at least] the max supported number of SRS ports [...] which type(s) of UE capability other than the max supported number of SRS ports is included in a UE capability value set [...] The correspondence between each reported CSI-RS and/or SSB resource index and one of the UE capability value sets in the reported list is determined by the UE (analogous to Rel-15/16) and is informed to NW in a [periodic] beam reporting instance. The Rel-15/16 beam reporting is reused, i.e. the index of corresponding UE capability value set is reported along with the pair of SSBRI/ CRI and L1-RSRP/SINR (up to 4 pairs, with 7-bit absolute and 4-bit differential) in the beam reporting UCI ").
Prior to the effective filing date of invention, it would have been obvious to a
person of ordinary skill in the art to incorporate the CSI reporting of Samsung into the invention of Fraunhoffer and Liou. The suggestion/motivation would have been for enhancing multi-beam operation (Samsung, page 1). Including the CSI reporting of Samsung into the invention of Fraunhoffer and Liou was within the ordinary ability of one of ordinary skill in the art based on the teachings of Samsung.
As to claim 61, Fraunhoffer and Liou does not expressly disclose the method according to claim 58, wherein the CSI report includes a plurality of indexes which includes the index, wherein the CSI report includes a plurality of CRI or synchronization signals and physical broadcast channel (SS/PBCH) Block Resource Indicator (SSBRI) which correspond to the plurality of indexes respectively, and wherein the CSI report includes a plurality of Signal to Interference Plus Noise Ratio (SINR) which correspond to the plurality of indexes respectively.
Samsung discloses at page 42, "CSI reporting [---] Support the UE reporting a list of UE capability value sets. Each UE capability value set comprises [at least] the max supported number of SRS ports [...] which type(s) of UE capability other than the max supported number of SRS ports is included in a UE capability value set [...] The correspondence between each reported CSI-RS and/or SSB resource index and one of the UE capability value sets in the reported list is determined by the UE (analogous to Rel-15/16) and is informed to NW in a [periodic] beam reporting instance. The Rel-15/16 beam reporting is reused, i.e. the index of corresponding UE capability value set is reported along with the pair of SSBRI/ CRI and L1-RSRP/SINR (up to 4 pairs, with 7-bit absolute and 4-bit differential) in the beam reporting UCI ").
Prior to the effective filing date of invention, it would have been obvious to a
person of ordinary skill in the art to incorporate the CSI reporting of Samsung into the invention of Fraunhoffer and Liou. The suggestion/motivation would have been for enhancing multi-beam operation (Samsung, page 1). Including the CSI reporting of Samsung into the invention of Fraunhoffer and Liou was within the ordinary ability of one of ordinary skill in the art based on the teachings of Samsung.
As to claim 67, Fraunhoffer and Liou does not expressly disclose the method according to claim 65, wherein the CSI report includes a plurality of indexes which includes the index, wherein the CSI report includes a plurality of CRI or synchronization signals and physical broadcast channel (SS/PBCH) Block Resource Indicator (SSBRI) which correspond to the plurality of indexes respectively, and wherein the CSI report includes a plurality of Reference Signal Receive Power (RSRP) which correspond to the plurality of indexes respectively.
Samsung discloses at page 42, "CSI reporting [---] Support the UE reporting a list of UE capability value sets. Each UE capability value set comprises [at least] the max supported number of SRS ports [...] which type(s) of UE capability other than the max supported number of SRS ports is included in a UE capability value set [...] The correspondence between each reported CSI-RS and/or SSB resource index and one of the UE capability value sets in the reported list is determined by the UE (analogous to Rel-15/16) and is informed to NW in a [periodic] beam reporting instance. The Rel-15/16 beam reporting is reused, i.e. the index of corresponding UE capability value set is reported along with the pair of SSBRI/ CRI and L1-RSRP/SINR (up to 4 pairs, with 7-bit absolute and 4-bit differential) in the beam reporting UCI ").
Prior to the effective filing date of invention, it would have been obvious to a
person of ordinary skill in the art to incorporate the CSI reporting of Samsung into the invention of Fraunhoffer and Liou. The suggestion/motivation would have been for enhancing multi-beam operation (Samsung, page 1). Including the CSI reporting of Samsung into the invention of Fraunhoffer and Liou was within the ordinary ability of one of ordinary skill in the art based on the teachings of Samsung.
As to claim 68, Fraunhoffer and Liou does not expressly disclose the method according to claim 65, wherein the CSI report includes a plurality of indexes which includes the index, wherein the CSI report includes a plurality of CRI or synchronization signals and physical broadcast channel (SS/PBCH) Block Resource Indicator (SSBRI) which correspond to the plurality of indexes respectively, and wherein the CSI report includes a plurality of Signal to Interference Plus Noise Ratio (SINR) which correspond to the plurality of indexes respectively.
Samsung discloses at page 42, "CSI reporting [---] Support the UE reporting a list of UE capability value sets. Each UE capability value set comprises [at least] the max supported number of SRS ports [...] which type(s) of UE capability other than the max supported number of SRS ports is included in a UE capability value set [...] The correspondence between each reported CSI-RS and/or SSB resource index and one of the UE capability value sets in the reported list is determined by the UE (analogous to Rel-15/16) and is informed to NW in a [periodic] beam reporting instance. The Rel-15/16 beam reporting is reused, i.e. the index of corresponding UE capability value set is reported along with the pair of SSBRI/ CRI and L1-RSRP/SINR (up to 4 pairs, with 7-bit absolute and 4-bit differential) in the beam reporting UCI ").
Prior to the effective filing date of invention, it would have been obvious to a
person of ordinary skill in the art to incorporate the CSI reporting of Samsung into the invention of Fraunhoffer and Liou. The suggestion/motivation would have been for enhancing multi-beam operation (Samsung, page 1). Including the CSI reporting of Samsung into the invention of Fraunhoffer and Liou was within the ordinary ability of one of ordinary skill in the art based on the teachings of Samsung.
Claim(s) 63-64, 70-71 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over EP 3697014 A1 to FRAUNHOFFER GES FORSCHUNG (“Fraunhoffer”) [provided by Applicant] in view of U.S. Publication No. 2019/0349964 A1 to Liou and in further view of EP 3913995 A1 to LG ELECTRONICS INC (“LG”) [provided by Applicant].
As to claim 63, Fraunhoffer and Liou does not expressly disclose the method according to claim 58, further comprising: receiving, from the network, a Radio Resource Control (RRC) message which includes configuration information for the CSI report, wherein the configuration information includes a time domain behavior and a report quantity.
LG discloses at paras. [0176]-[0177], "The CSI report configuration related information includes a reportConfigType parameter representing a time domain behavior and a reportQuantity parameter representing a CSI related quantity for reporting. The time domain behavior may be periodic, aperiodic, or semi- persistent."), (cf. par. [0160], "a terminal (e.g., user equipment (UE)) receives, from a base station (e.g., general Node B or gNB), configuration information related to the CSI through radio resource control (RRC) signaling."
Prior to the effective filing date of invention, it would have been obvious to a
person of ordinary skill in the art to incorporate the CSI reporting of LG into the invention of Fraunhoffer and Liou. The suggestion/motivation would have been for configuring a TPMI according to the capability of the terminal (LG, para. 0026). Including the CSI reporting of LG into the invention of Fraunhoffer and Liou was within the ordinary ability of one of ordinary skill in the art based on the teachings of LG.
As to claim 64, Fraunhoffer, Liou, and LG further disclose the method according to claim 63, wherein the time domain behavior is periodic, semi-persistent, or aperiodic (Fraunhoffer, para. 0004, "the user equipment (UE) is configured by the radio base station or the gNB with a number of SRS resource sets by higher layer (RRC) for uplink (UL) channel sounding [2]. Each SRS resource set contains the following parameters: a unique identifier (ID) for the SRS resource set, IDs of the SRS resources in the SRS resource set, the SRS usage (which either 'codebook', 'nonCodebook', 'beamManagement' or 'antennaSwitching'), the time-domain behavior of the SRS resource set (either 'periodic', 'aperiodic' or 'semi-persistent'), power control parameters and additional parameters pertaining to the time-domain properties of the SRS resource set."; LG discloses at paras. [0176]-[0177], "The CSI report configuration related information includes a reportConfigType parameter representing a time domain behavior and a reportQuantity parameter representing a CSI related quantity for reporting. The time domain behavior may be periodic, aperiodic, or semi- persistent."), (cf. par. [0160], "a terminal (e.g., user equipment (UE)) receives, from a base station (e.g., general Node B or gNB), configuration information related to the CSI through radio resource control (RRC) signaling.").
Prior to the effective filing date of invention, it would have been obvious to a
person of ordinary skill in the art to incorporate the CSI reporting of LG into the invention of Fraunhoffer and Liou. The suggestion/motivation would have been for configuring a TPMI according to the capability of the terminal (LG, para. 0026). Including the CSI reporting of LG into the invention of Fraunhoffer and Liou was within the ordinary ability of one of ordinary skill in the art based on the teachings of LG.
As to claim 70, Fraunhoffer and Liou does not expressly disclose the method according to claim 65, further comprising: sending, to the UE, a Radio Resource Control (RRC) message which includes configuration information for the CSI report, wherein the configuration information includes a time domain behavior and a report quantity.
LG discloses at paras. [0176]-[0177], "The CSI report configuration related information includes a reportConfigType parameter representing a time domain behavior and a reportQuantity parameter representing a CSI related quantity for reporting. The time domain behavior may be periodic, aperiodic, or semi- persistent."), (cf. par. [0160], "a terminal (e.g., user equipment (UE)) receives, from a base station (e.g., general Node B or gNB), configuration information related to the CSI through radio resource control (RRC) signaling."
Prior to the effective filing date of invention, it would have been obvious to a
person of ordinary skill in the art to incorporate the CSI reporting of LG into the invention of Fraunhoffer and Liou. The suggestion/motivation would have been for configuring a TPMI according to the capability of the terminal (LG, para. 0026). Including the CSI reporting of LG into the invention of Fraunhoffer and Liou was within the ordinary ability of one of ordinary skill in the art based on the teachings of LG.
As to claim 71, Fraunhoffer, Liou, and LG further disclose the method according to claim 70, wherein the time domain behavior is periodic, semi-persistent, or aperiodic (Fraunhoffer, para. 0004, "the user equipment (UE) is configured by the radio base station or the gNB with a number of SRS resource sets by higher layer (RRC) for uplink (UL) channel sounding [2]. Each SRS resource set contains the following parameters: a unique identifier (ID) for the SRS resource set, IDs of the SRS resources in the SRS resource set, the SRS usage (which either 'codebook', 'nonCodebook', 'beamManagement' or 'antennaSwitching'), the time-domain behavior of the SRS resource set (either 'periodic', 'aperiodic' or 'semi-persistent'), power control parameters and additional parameters pertaining to the time-domain properties of the SRS resource set."; LG discloses at paras. [0176]-[0177], "The CSI report configuration related information includes a reportConfigType parameter representing a time domain behavior and a reportQuantity parameter representing a CSI related quantity for reporting. The time domain behavior may be periodic, aperiodic, or semi- persistent."), (cf. par. [0160], "a terminal (e.g., user equipment (UE)) receives, from a base station (e.g., general Node B or gNB), configuration information related to the CSI through radio resource control (RRC) signaling.").
Prior to the effective filing date of invention, it would have been obvious to a
person of ordinary skill in the art to incorporate the CSI reporting of LG into the invention of Fraunhoffer and Liou. The suggestion/motivation would have been for configuring a TPMI according to the capability of the terminal (LG, para. 0026). Including the CSI reporting of LG into the invention of Fraunhoffer and Liou was within the ordinary ability of one of ordinary skill in the art based on the teachings of LG.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
CA 3030865 C at fig. 6 discloses an eNB transmitting CSI-related configuration information to a UE, a CSI-RS reception, the UE performing CSI calculation and sending a CSI report.
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to OMAR J GHOWRWAL whose telephone number is (571)270-5691. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:00am-6:00pm.
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/OMAR J GHOWRWAL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2463
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