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 .
General Remarks
This communication is considered fully responsive to Applicant’s application filed 07/17/2024.
Application filed: 07/17/2024
Applicant’s PgPUB: 2025/0028293
Claims:
Claims 1-7 are pending.
Claims 1 and 6 are independent.
Continuity/Priority Data:
This Application claims priority to European Patent Application No. EP23186260 filed 07/19/2023.
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 may not be obtained though the invention is not identically disclosed or described as set forth in section 102 of this title, if the differences between the subject matter sought to be patented and the prior art are such that the subject matter as a whole would have been obvious at the time the invention was made to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which said subject matter pertains. Patentability shall not be negatived by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 1, 3, 6 and 7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Application Publication No. 2013/0318041 A1 to Grosch et al. (“Grosch”) in view of U.S. Application Publication No. 2019/0302742 A1 to Grosch et al. (“Grosch2”).
As to claim 1, Grosch and Grosch2 discloses:
a redundant automation system comprising:
a first subsystem (Fig. 3, Ta, first subsystem)
a second subsystem (Fig. 3, Tb, second subsystem), the first and second subsystems each having a control program for controlling a technical process and being configured in an identical manner (¶0023 – Grosch teaches The two subsystems Ta, Tb operate cyclically and synchronously on the same control program; ¶0002 – Grosch teaches the invention relates to a method for operating an automation system having at least two subsystems, which are each provided with a control program, wherein, in order to transfer the process control from a solo mode of one of the subsystems to a redundant control mode with another of the subsystems. Examiner Note: Grosch is a failover system that includes a first and second subsystem. Both Ta and Tb would be configured the same to allow for failover.);
a synchronization connection operatively coupled between the first subsystem and the second subsystem (¶0004 – Grosch teaches two or more subsystems in the form of automation devices or computer systems are coupled to one another via a synchronization connection.); and
status information comprising static configuration data and dynamic runtime data saved in the first subsystem in a source file (¶0010 – Grosch teaches at the beginning of the update phase, the subsystem operating in the solo mode-referred to below as master-creates a copy of its relevant data (i.e., source file), which represent the internal state of the master at the beginning of this update phase, wherein this data is transmitted fragmentedly to the subsystem "to be updated" or newly installed-referred to below as slave or reserve. This internal state is essentially determined or predefined by static and dynamic data, data modules, process input and output values and configuration data.);
wherein the first subsystem includes a first data reconciliator configured to reconcile data of the status information saved in the first subsystem with status information of the second subsystem which includes a second data reconciliatory (¶0010 – Grosch teaches at the beginning of the update phase, the subsystem operating in the solo mode-referred to below as master-creates a copy of its relevant data (i.e., source file), which represent the internal state of the master at the beginning of this update phase, wherein this data is transmitted fragmentedly to the subsystem "to be updated" or newly installed-referred to below as slave or reserve. This internal state is essentially determined or predefined by static and dynamic data, data modules, process input and output values and configuration data; Examiner Note: it is well-known that systems/subsystems have subcomponents to perform the various tasks of the subsystem as evidenced by Grosch2 and it usage, for example of MTCP which manage the flow of data between control devices.);
wherein the first data reconciliator is further configured to transfer the static configuration data to the second subsystem (¶0010 – Grosch teaches at the beginning of the update phase, the subsystem operating in the solo mode-referred to below as master-creates a copy of its relevant data (i.e., source file), which represent the internal state of the master at the beginning of this update phase, wherein this data is transmitted fragmentedly to the subsystem "to be updated" or newly installed-referred to below as slave or reserve. This internal state is essentially determined or predefined by static and dynamic data, data modules, process input and output values and configuration data; Examiner Note: it is well-known that systems/subsystems have subcomponents to perform the various tasks of the subsystem as evidenced by Grosch2 and it usage, for example of MTCP (214, 224) which manage the flow of data between control devices.);
wherein the second data reconciliator is configured to back up the static configuration data and create a target file for the dynamic runtime data (¶0033 – Grosch teaches the master M transmits this copy K to the slave S in fragmented form (indicated in the drawing using arrows Kf), where the copy K has been completely received by the slave S. Examiner Note: the slave would receive and create a copy of the file sent by master on its own system. Further, it is well-known that systems/subsystems have subcomponents to perform the various tasks of the subsystem as evidenced by Grosch2 and it usage, for example of MTCP (214, 224) which manage the flow of data between control devices.));
wherein the first data reconciliator is configured with a first independent program unit which is configured to incrementally read out write accesses of dynamic runtime data of the first subsystem to the source file for the updating of the dynamic runtime data of the second subsystem, and to transfer data contents of said repeat write accesses to the second subsystem for synchronization purposes (¶0010 – Grosch teaches at the beginning of the update phase, the subsystem operating in the solo mode-referred to below as master-creates a copy of its relevant data (i.e., source file), which represent the internal state of the master at the beginning of this update phase, wherein this data is transmitted fragmentedly to the subsystem "to be updated" or newly installed-referred to below as slave or reserve. This internal state is essentially determined or predefined by static and dynamic data, data modules, process input and output values and configuration data; Examiner Note: it is well-known that systems/subsystems have subcomponents to perform the various tasks of the subsystem as evidenced by Grosch2 and it usage, for example of MTCP (214, 224) which manage the flow of data between control devices.);
wherein the second data reconciliator is configured with a second independent program unit which is configured to incrementally receive the repeat write accesses and subsequently store said repeat write accesses them in the created target file (¶0010 – Grosch teaches at the beginning of the update phase, the subsystem operating in the solo mode-referred to below as master-creates a copy of its relevant data (i.e., source file), which represent the internal state of the master at the beginning of this update phase, wherein this data is transmitted fragmentedly to the subsystem "to be updated" or newly installed-referred to below as slave or reserve. This internal state is essentially determined or predefined by static and dynamic data, data modules, process input and output values and configuration data; Examiner Note: it is well-known that systems/subsystems have subcomponents to perform the various tasks of the subsystem as evidenced by Grosch2 and it usage, for example of MTCP (214, 224) which manage the flow of data between control devices.);
wherein the first subsystem is further repeat write accesses in such that the first control program is synchronized with the first independent program unit (¶0033 – Grosch teaches the master M creates a local copy K of all relevant data representing its internal state up to this time t11, where the master M still controls the technical process in the solo mode and processes processing sections Va of a control program P5. From a time t12 to a time t13, at which the updating phase of the master M is complete, the master M transmits this copy K to the slave S in fragmented form (indicated in the drawing using arrows Kf), where the copy K has been completely received by the slave S by a time t14. At this time t14, the slave S now has the same internal state as the master at the time t11; Examiner Note: the slave would receive and create a copy of the file sent by master on its own system. Further, it is well-known that systems/subsystems have subcomponents to perform the various tasks of the subsystem as evidenced by Grosch2 and it usage, for example of MTCP (214, 224) which manage the flow of data between control devices.); and
wherein the second subsystem is configured such that the second control program is synchronized with the second independent program unit (¶0004 – Grosch teaches subsystems can run in a synchronous manner, the subsystems are synchronized at regular intervals via the synchronization connection; ¶0013 – Grosch teaches automation system can also be configured such that the program paths are processed in a temporally synchronous manner after the updating phase or after updating.);
whereby an order of the write accesses to the source file and the target file is identical on the first and second subsystems (¶0033 – Grosch teaches From a time t12 to a time t13, at which the updating phase of the master M is complete, the master M transmits this copy K to the slave S in fragmented form (indicated in the drawing using arrows Kf), where the copy K has been completely received by the slave S by a time t14. At this time t14, the slave S now has the same internal state as the master at the time t11; Examiner Note: after using fragments to update the second subsystem to the same internal state could only be accomplished if both subsystems were the same so the order of write access would need to be same.).
Examiner Note:
Grosch2 discloses usage of sub-parts or sub-components within a subsystem. While the teachings of Grosch covers the functionality that is claimed in the claim set, Grosch is silent as to the usage of sub-components to perform the functions and simply refers to the subsystem as a whole performing said functions. It is well-known in the art that system/subsystems have sub-components that perform a variety of tasks. Grosch2 is used here to demonstrate and show that systems/subsystems can be divided further into sub-components.
Grosch and Grosch2 are analogous arts because they are from the same field of endeavor with respect to failover systems.
Before the effective filing date, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to incorporate subcomponents as discussed in Grosch2 with failover/backup system as discussed in Grosch by adding the functionality of Grosch2 to the system/method of Grosch in order to setting up a redundant communication connection between a failsafe control unit having redundant subsystems and a communication device that allows communication between the failsafe control unit (Grosch2, ¶0009).
As to claim 3, Grosch and Grosch2 discloses:
redundant automation system as claimed in claim 1, and
Grosch discloses:
wherein the redundant automation system is configured to transfer the process control from solo operation of one subsystem of the first and second subsystems to redundant control operation with another subsystem of the first and second subsystems (¶0002 – Grosch teaches where relevant data from one subsystem is transmitted to the other subsystem within the scope of an updating phase of the automation system to transfer process control from a solo mode of one of the subsystems to a redundant control mode with another of the subsystems);
wherein the one subsystem is configured to transmit contents of the source file in fragmented form to the other subsystem as part of an update phase via the synchronization connection and to temporarily save process input values and approvals by the one subsystem (¶0010 – Grosch teaches where the data are transmitted to the subsystem "to be updated" or the newly connected subsystem (i.e., the slave or reserve) in fragmented form. This internal state is substantially determined or predefined by static and dynamic data, data modules, process input and output values and configuration data);
wherein the approvals show which processing segments of the control program has already processed been proceeded by the one subsystem, in this case the other subsystem being further configured, after receiving the contents of the source file, to process approved processing segments of the control program of the other subsystem, which correspond to the processing segments of the control program of the one subsystem, while taking into consideration the temporarily saved process input values with a time lag (¶0034 – Grosch teaches slave S approaches the internal state of the master M in a temporally asynchronous manner, the slave S lags the master M with regard to the processing of the corresponding processing sections Va of the control program P6, this time lag having to be reduced to a tolerable amount; this is because a time lag which is too high may result in a loss of redundancy. In order to reduce this time lag, provision is made for the processing speed of the slave S to be higher than the processing speed of the master M, which is illustrated in the figure as "shortened" processing sections Va in the control program P6.); and
wherein the redundant automation system is further configured to process the processing segments of the control program of the other subsystem more quickly relative to the processing of the processing segments of the control program to reduce processing time lag to a predefined value (¶0034 – Grosch teaches slave S approaches the internal state of the master M in a temporally asynchronous manner, the slave S lags the master M with regard to the processing of the corresponding processing sections Va of the control program P6, this time lag having to be reduced to a tolerable amount; this is because a time lag which is too high may result in a loss of redundancy. In order to reduce this time lag, provision is made for the processing speed of the slave S to be higher than the processing speed of the master M, which is illustrated in the figure as "shortened" processing sections Va in the control program P6.).
As to claim 6, Grosch and Grosch2 discloses:
a method for operating a redundant automation system,
a first subsystem (Fig. 3, Ta, first subsystem) and
a second subsystem (Fig. 3, Tb, second subsystem for controlling a technical process each processing a respective control program (¶0023 – Grosch teaches The two subsystems Ta, Tb operate cyclically and synchronously on the same control program; ¶0002 – Grosch teaches the invention relates to a method for operating an automation system having at least two subsystems, which are each provided with a control program, wherein, in order to transfer the process control from a solo mode of one of the subsystems to a redundant control mode with another of the subsystems. Examiner Note: Grosch is a failover system that includes a first and second subsystem. Both Ta and Tb would be configured the same to allow for failover.),
the first subsystem guiding the process with a first control program and the second subsystem processing a second control program in sync such that, in an event of a failure of one subsystem of the first and second subsystems (1,2), a subsystem which has failed or is faulty, after fault correction or a replacement, being updated with status information from another subsystem of the first and second subsystems which is still running via a data reconciliator, in order to again operate in sync with a respective control program, in order to assume the guidance of the process in an event of a repeat failure of a respective subsystem of the first and second subsystems, and the status information comprising static configuration data and dynamic runtime data (¶0010 – Grosch teaches at the beginning of the update phase, the subsystem operating in the solo mode-referred to below as master-creates a copy of its relevant data (i.e., source file), which represent the internal state of the master at the beginning of this update phase, wherein this data is transmitted fragmentedly to the subsystem "to be updated" or newly installed-referred to below as slave or reserve. This internal state is essentially determined or predefined by static and dynamic data, data modules, process input and output values and configuration data; ¶0026 – Grosch teaches the slave S assumes the master function or the role of master only if the master M fails on account of a fault. Examiner Note: it is well-known that systems/subsystems have subcomponents to perform the various tasks of the subsystem as evidenced by Grosch2 and it usage, for example of MTCP which manage the flow of data between control devices.), the method comprising:
transferring, via a first data reconciliator, the static configuration data to the second subsystem (¶0010 – Grosch teaches at the beginning of the update phase, the subsystem operating in the solo mode-referred to below as master-creates a copy of its relevant data (i.e., source file), which represent the internal state of the master at the beginning of this update phase, wherein this data is transmitted fragmentedly to the subsystem "to be updated" or newly installed-referred to below as slave or reserve. This internal state is essentially determined or predefined by static and dynamic data, data modules, process input and output values and configuration data.);
backing up, via a second data reconciliator, the static configuration data and creating a target file for the dynamic runtime data on the second subsystem (¶0033 – Grosch teaches the master M creates a local copy K of all relevant data representing its internal state up to this time t11, where the master M still controls the technical process in the solo mode and processes processing sections Va of a control program P5. From a time t12 to a time t13, at which the updating phase of the master M is complete, the master M transmits this copy K to the slave S in fragmented form (indicated in the drawing using arrows Kf), where the copy K has been completely received by the slave S by a time t14. At this time t14, the slave S now has the same internal state as the master at the time t11; Examiner Note: the slave would receive and create a copy of the file sent by master on its own system. Further, it is well-known that systems/subsystems have subcomponents to perform the various tasks of the subsystem as evidenced by Grosch2 and it usage, for example of MTCP (214, 224) which manage the flow of data between control devices.);
starting, by the first data reconciliator, a first independent program unit which incrementally reads out write accesses of dynamic runtime data of the first subsystem to a source file for update of the dynamic runtime data of the second subsystem, and transferring the data contents of repeat write accesses to the second subsystem for synchronization purposes (¶0010 – Grosch teaches at the beginning of the update phase, the subsystem operating in the solo mode-referred to below as master-creates a copy of its relevant data (i.e., source file), which represent the internal state of the master at the beginning of this update phase, wherein this data is transmitted fragmentedly to the subsystem "to be updated" or newly installed-referred to below as slave or reserve. This internal state is essentially determined or predefined by static and dynamic data, data modules, process input and output values and configuration data; Examiner Note: it is well-known that systems/subsystems have subcomponents to perform the various tasks of the subsystem as evidenced by Grosch2 and it usage, for example of MTCP (214, 224) which manage the flow of data between control devices.);
starting, by the second data reconciliator, a second independent program unit which incrementally receives data contents of the repeat write accesses and subsequently storing said received data contents of the repeat write accesses in the target file (¶0010 – Grosch teaches at the beginning of the update phase, the subsystem operating in the solo mode-referred to below as master-creates a copy of its relevant data (i.e., source file), which represent the internal state of the master at the beginning of this update phase, wherein this data is transmitted fragmentedly to the subsystem "to be updated" or newly installed-referred to below as slave or reserve. This internal state is essentially determined or predefined by static and dynamic data, data modules, process input and output values and configuration data; Examiner Note: it is well-known that systems/subsystems have subcomponents to perform the various tasks of the subsystem as evidenced by Grosch2 and it usage, for example of MTCP (214, 224) which manage the flow of data between control devices.);
operating, by the first independent program unit, the first control program in a synchronized manner and operating, by the second independent program unit, the second control program is operated in a synchronized manner, such that an order of the write accesses to the source file and the target file proceeds in an identical manner on the first and second subsystems (¶0033 – Grosch teaches From a time t12 to a time t13, at which the updating phase of the master M is complete, the master M transmits this copy K to the slave S in fragmented form (indicated in the drawing using arrows Kf), where the copy K has been completely received by the slave S by a time t14. At this time t14, the slave S now has the same internal state as the master at the time t11; Examiner Note: after using fragments to update the second subsystem to the same internal state could only be accomplished if both subsystems were the same so the order of write access would need to be same.).
Examiner Note:
Grosch2 discloses usage of sub-parts or sub-components within a subsystem. While the teachings of Grosch covers the functionality that is claimed in the claim set, Grosch is silent as to the usage of sub-components to perform the functions and simply refers to the subsystem as a whole performing said functions. It is well-known in the art that system/subsystems have sub-components that perform a variety of tasks. Grosch2 is used here to demonstrate and show that systems/subsystems can be divided further into sub-components.
The suggestion/motivation and obviousness rejection is the same as in claim 1.
As to claim 7, Grosch and Grosch2 discloses:
method as claimed in claim 6, and
Grosch discloses:
wherein as soon as the source file on the first subsystem has been fully read and transferred, the content of the source file is considered identical to the content of the target file, because in the meantime the write accesses have likewise been performed on both subsystems in a synchronized manner, as of this point in time, the redundant operation being achieved and the independent program units for data transfer that were activated in the meantime being again terminatable (¶0010 – Grosch teaches The slave is finally brought to the internal state of the master gradually and in a temporally asynchronous manner with respect to the current processing of the control program by the master using the releases, where the slave begins to process the releases only when it has completely received the copy. The slave executes the same program paths, which have already been executed by the master, with a time delay using the relevant data in accordance with the releases. This means that the master leads the slave in terms of time or the slave lags the master in terms of time with regard to the program processing).
Claims 2 and 4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Application Publication No. 2013/0318041 A1 to Grosch et al. (“Grosch”) in view of U.S. Application Publication No. 2019/0302742 A1 to Grosch et al. (“Grosch2”) in further view of U.S. Patent Application No. 2017/0300244 A1 to Crawford et al. (“Crawford”).
As to claim 2, Grosch and Grosch2 discloses:
redundant automation system as claimed in claim 1, and
Grosch discloses:
wherein redundant automation system is configured such that the first subsystem is further configured to guide the process and, in an event of a possible fault or a failure of the first subsystem, the second subsystem assumes guidance of the process (¶0026 – Grosch teaches The master M is therefore the leader with respect to the control of a technical process and undertakes the process control, the master reading the process input information or process input values from the peripheral unit Pe (FIG. 3) and making it/them available to the slave S in a temporally asynchronous manner. The slave S assumes the master function or the role of master only if the master M fails on account of a fault.); and
Crawford discloses what Grosch and Grosch2 do not expressly disclose.
Crawford discloses:
wherein the redundant automation system is further configured such that failed or faulty first subsystem, after fault correction or a replacement, is updated with status information from the second subsystem which is still running, in order for the control program of the first subsystem to once again operate in sync with the control program of the second subsystem to assume the guidance of the process should a respective subsystem of the first and second subsystems fail again (Figs. 4-8, ¶0031 – Crawford teaches an improved technique is shown to accelerate recovery in a data replication system 100 after a failover has occurred and the outage has been corrected. Once an outage at the primary site has been corrected, the improved technique enables production at the primary site to be quickly resumed. This technique also advantageously reduces an amount of bandwidth needed to resynchronize a primary storage device with a secondary storage device.).
Grosch, Grosch2 and Crawford are analogous arts because they are from the same field of endeavor with respect to failover systems.
Before the effective filing date, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to incorporate response adjustments as discussed in Crawford with subcomponents as discussed in Grosch2 with failover/backup system as discussed in Grosch by adding the functionality of Crawford to the system/method of Grosch and Grosch2 in order to more quickly resume production at a primary site after an outage at the primary site has been corrected. Further needed are systems and methods to reduce an amount of bandwidth needed to resynchronize a primary storage device with a secondary storage device after an outage has been corrected (Crawford, ¶0004).
As to claim 4, Grosch, Grosch2 and Crawford discloses:
redundant automation system as claimed in claim 2, and
Grosch discloses:
wherein the redundant automation system is configured to transfer the process control from solo operation of one subsystem of the first and second subsystems to redundant control operation with another subsystem of the first and second subsystems (¶0002 – Grosch teaches where relevant data from one subsystem is transmitted to the other subsystem within the scope of an updating phase of the automation system to transfer process control from a solo mode of one of the subsystems to a redundant control mode with another of the subsystems);
wherein the one subsystem is configured to transmit contents of the source file in fragmented form to the other subsystem as part of an update phase via the synchronization connection and to temporarily save process input values and approvals by the one subsystem (¶0010 – Grosch teaches where the data are transmitted to the subsystem "to be updated" or the newly connected subsystem (i.e., the slave or reserve) in fragmented form. This internal state is substantially determined or predefined by static and dynamic data, data modules, process input and output values and configuration data);
wherein the approvals show which processing segments of the control program has already processed been proceeded by the one subsystem, in this case the other subsystem being further configured, after receiving the contents of the source file, to process approved processing segments of the control program of the other subsystem, which correspond to the processing segments of the control program of the one subsystem, while taking into consideration the temporarily saved process input values with a time lag (¶0034 – Grosch teaches slave S approaches the internal state of the master M in a temporally asynchronous manner, the slave S lags the master M with regard to the processing of the corresponding processing sections Va of the control program P6, this time lag having to be reduced to a tolerable amount; this is because a time lag which is too high may result in a loss of redundancy. In order to reduce this time lag, provision is made for the processing speed of the slave S to be higher than the processing speed of the master M, which is illustrated in the figure as "shortened" processing sections Va in the control program P6.); and
wherein the redundant automation system is further configured to process the processing segments of the control program of the other subsystem more quickly relative to the processing of the processing segments of the control program to reduce processing time lag to a predefined value (¶0034 – Grosch teaches slave S approaches the internal state of the master M in a temporally asynchronous manner, the slave S lags the master M with regard to the processing of the corresponding processing sections Va of the control program P6, this time lag having to be reduced to a tolerable amount; this is because a time lag which is too high may result in a loss of redundancy. In order to reduce this time lag, provision is made for the processing speed of the slave S to be higher than the processing speed of the master M, which is illustrated in the figure as "shortened" processing sections Va in the control program P6.).
Claim 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Application Publication No. 2013/0318041 A1 to Grosch et al. (“Grosch”) in view of U.S. Application Publication No. 2019/0302742 A1 to Grosch et al. (“Grosch2”) in further view of U.S. Patent Application No. 2022/0317665 A1 to Grosch et al. (“Grosch3”).
As to claim 5, Grosch and Grosch2 discloses:
redundant automation system (100) as claimed in claim 3, and
Grosch discloses:
wherein the first data reconciliator (11) breaks down contents of the source file (QD) into data pieces for the fragmented transfer (¶0010 – Grosch teaches where the data are transmitted to the subsystem "to be updated" or the newly connected subsystem (i.e., the slave or reserve) in fragmented form. This internal state is substantially determined or predefined by static and dynamic data, data modules, process input and output values and configuration data); and
Grosch3 discloses what Grosch and Grosch2 do not expressly disclose.
Grosch3 discloses:
wherein a size of said data pieces is chosen so as to not have a negative influence on a responsiveness of the first subsystem (1) due to an additional load for the data transfer (¶0072 – Grosch2 teaches advantageously, the control system may be dynamically reconfigured. This means that not only can new backups be linked into the system but they are also able to be removed from it again. In this way it is achieved that, with a fluctuating network load, the optimum arrangement can always be automatically determined and configured from the point of view of the reaction time. The dynamic reconfiguration continuously finds the possible minimum for the reaction times; ¶0123 – Grosch2 teaches The transfer takes place together with the enabling signals F5, F7 in order not to increase the communication load between the primary PR and the backup BU during the processing of the processing sections Va up to these enabling signals).
Grosch, Grosch2 and Grosch3 are analogous arts because they are from the same field of endeavor with respect to failover systems.
Before the effective filing date, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to incorporate response adjustments as discussed in Grosch3 with subcomponents as discussed in Grosch2 with failover/backup system as discussed in Grosch by adding the functionality of Grosch3 to the system/method of Grosch and Grosch2 in order to improve real time capability in the control of an automation plant on the basis of computing resources (Grosch3, ¶0006).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TAYLOR A ELFERVIG whose telephone number is (571)270-5687. The examiner can normally be reached Monday (10:00 AM CST) - Friday (4:00 PM CST).
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/TAYLOR A ELFERVIG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2445