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 .
For reissue applications filed on or after September 16, 2012, all references to 35 U.S.C. 251 and 37 CFR 1.172, 1.175, and 3.73 are to the current provisions.
Reissue Applications
The instant application is a broadening reissue of U.S. Patent No. 11,362,728 (hereinafter the ‘728 patent), issued on 14 June 2022. In response to the previous office action, Applicant has amended claims 6, 9, 13, 15, 17, 18, 21, 23, 25, 27, 29, and 31 and cancelled claims 26 and 32. Claims 1-25 and 27-31 have been examined. Specifically regarding claims 6 and 18, the claims have been amended from their previous version, but are now the original versions as recited in the ‘728 patent.
Applicant is reminded of the continuing obligation under 37 CFR 1.178(b), to timely apprise the Office of any prior or concurrent proceeding in which the ‘728 patent is or was involved. These proceedings would include any trial before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, interferences, reissues, reexaminations, supplemental examinations, and litigation.
Applicant is further reminded of the continuing obligation under 37 CFR 1.56, to timely apprise the Office of any information which is material to patentability of the claims under consideration in this reissue application.
These obligations rest with each individual associated with the filing and prosecution of this application for reissue. See also MPEP §§ 1404, 1442.01 and 1442.04.
Applicant is notified that any subsequent amendment to the specification and/or claims must comply with 37 CFR 1.173(b). In addition, for reissue applications filed before September 16, 2012, when any substantive amendment is filed in the reissue application, which amendment otherwise places the reissue application in condition for allowance, a supplemental oath/declaration will be required. See MPEP § 1414.01.
Priority
The ‘728 patent was filed on 17 August 2020 as a continuation of Application No. 15/520,792, now U.S. Patent No. 10,749,590 (hereinafter the ‘590 patent), filed on 20 April 2017. The ‘590 patent was the national stage entry of Application PCT/US2015/032674, filed on 27 May 2015. The ‘590 patent also claimed priority to Provisional Patent Application No. 62,073,227, filed on 31 October 2014.
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 21-25 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
Claim 21 recites the limitation "a plurality of radio units" in line 6. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim, as this was also recited in the preamble.
Claims 22-25 are dependent upon base claim 21 and are likewise rejected.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-20 and 27-31 are allowed.
Claims 21-25 would be allowable if rewritten or amended to overcome the rejections under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) set forth in this Office action.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Regarding claims 1 and 9, no art was found that discloses that “frame timing information extracted from the uplink transmit frames,” as per claim 1, “generate… data streams based on frame timing information extracted from the downlink transmit frames,” as per claim 9.
Regarding claim 15, no art was found that discloses “generating… a plurality of reformatted wideband downlink I/Q streams… generating downlink transmit frames including the plurality of reformatted wideband downlink I/Q data streams according to the frame timing information included in the framing clock signal.”
Regarding claims 21, and 27, no art could be found that discloses the invention in the context of a plurality of data streams such that they also disclose “at least some downlink frames including control information are received separately without any downlink I/Q data multiplexed therein.”
All other claims would be allowable based upon their dependence upon allowable claims.
Conclusion
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 MATTHEW E HENEGHAN whose telephone number is (571)272-3834. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8-5.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Michael Fuelling can be reached at (571)270-1367. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MATTHEW E HENEGHAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3992
Conferees:
/Ovidio Escalante/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3992
/M.F/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3992
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