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 .
Drawings
The drawings are objected to because the unlabeled rectangular boxes in Figure 1 should be provided with descriptive text labels. Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Claim Objections
Claims 1-3, 5-7, 9-11 and 13-18 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Regarding claim 1, “a first subset of active” in lines 7-8 should be changed to –a first active subset of--, so as to be consistent with the same limitation recited in claim 19. All dependent claims on claim 1 are objected to for the same reason.
Appropriate correction is required.
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.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-3, 5-7, 9-11 and 13-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Regarding claim 1, it appears the terms “sub-symbol” (e.g., line 6), “generated partial symbol (e.g., line 6) and “partial symbol” (e.g., line 8) are all directed to the same thing. A claim is confusing and indefinite when a limitation is described by several different terms in the claim. Further, it appears the terms “encoding units” (e.g., line 7) and “coding units” (e.g., line 8) are also referred to the same limitation.
Regarding claim 19, it appears the terms “sub-symbol” (e.g., lines 6-7), “generated partial symbol (e.g., line 7) and “partial symbol” (e.g., line 9) are all directed to the same thing. A claim is confusing and indefinite when a limitation is described by several different terms in the claim. Further, it appears the terms “encoding units” (e.g., line 8) and “coding units” (e.g., line 8) are also referred to the same limitation.
The applicants are required to check all pending claims to use the same term for a limitation throughout all claims.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Neumann et al. (US 2024/0380642) is a co-pending application.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Chieh M Fan whose telephone number is (571)272-3042. The examiner can normally be reached 6:30-3:00 M-F.
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The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/CHIEH M FAN/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2632
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