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 .
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 . This action is made non-final.
The preliminary amendments to the specification, abstract, and claims filed on 08/29/2024 have been entered.
Claims 1-15 filed on 08/29/2024 have been reviewed and considered by this office action.
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant's claim for foreign priority based on Application No. KR 10-2200-0052306 filed on 04/27/2022. Copies of certified papers required by 37 CFR 1.55 have been received. Priority is acknowledged under 35 USC 119(e) and 37 CFR 1.78.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement filed on 08/29/2024 has been reviewed and considered by this office action.
Drawings
The drawings filed on 08/29/2024 have been reviewed and are considered acceptable.
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: “Electric and Hydrogen Vehicle Charging on a Smart Grid using Renewable Energy.”
Claim Objections
Claim 1 is objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 1 recites the limitation “a system” in line 8. The phrase creates a potential problem of indefiniteness with the limitation “a power system” if the limitation is later referred (e.g. Claim 8, Claim 9). The Examiner suggests adding an adjective before the “system” to clarify the difference (e.g. “the first system”).
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 3-13 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 3, the claim recites, “the control unit distributes a supply value to the load and a charging value of the electric vehicle at a certain ratio.” The claim further recites “the distributed ratio”. There is no mention of “the distributed ratio” in the said claim as well as any of the claims the said claim depends on, rendering the claim lacking antecedent basis. For the purpose of examination, “the distributed ratio” will be interpreted as “the certain ratio”.
Claim 4 and 5 are rejected due to their direct or indirect dependency of Claim 3.
Regarding Claim 6, the claim limitation recites “comprising at least two of”. The claim is written as a Markush group (see MPEP 2117), which requires the group to be a closed group. The claim indicates that the units "comprise" at least two of, making the members of the group alternative useable members. The claim further is stated as “each provided by at least one” in line 2 of the claim rendering the claim indefinite. For the purpose of examination, the examiner is omitting the phrase “each provided by at least one” because the examiner cannot under what the phrase refers to. The Examiner suggests amending the claim to recite “at least two of the group consisting of:” to make it a closed group and proper Markush claim.
Claim 7 is rejected due to its direct or indirect dependency of Claim 6.
Regarding Claim 8, the claim recites “the system” in line 4. The said reference to “the system” is does not specify whether it is a depiction of the said “power system” mentioned within the said claim or “a system” mentioned in claim 1, which the said claim depends on. For the purpose of Examination, “the system” will be interpreted as “the power system”.
Regarding Claim 9, the claim is rendered indefinite for the same reasons set forth in the Claim 8 rejection.
Furthermore, the claim is written as a Markush group (see MPEP 2117), which requires the group to be a closed group. The claim indicates that the units "comprise" at least two of, making the members of the group alternative useable members. For the purpose of examination, the examiner is interpreting the limitation to be “at least one of voltage, current, power, frequency, power factor, and load of the system and at least one of voltage, current, power, frequency, power factor, and load of the power unit .
Regarding Claim 10, the claim limitation reads “the virtual inertia as a value that power supplied by the supply unit to be operated is”. The phrase “that power” is unclear. For the purpose of examination, the phrase will be interpreted as “the virtual inertia as a value of the power supplied by the supply unit to be operated”.
Claims 11 and 12 are rejected due to their direct or indirect dependency of Claim 8.
Regarding Claim 13, the claim limitation reads “to a certain reference range” and further reads “to the reference range” in line 2. It is unclear whether “the reference range” is intended to refer back to “a certain reference range” or a different “reference range”. For purposes of examination, “the reference range” will be interpreted as “the certain reference range”.
Regarding Claim 14, the claim limitation reads “a fuel cell part” and further reads “the fuel cell unit”. There is no mention of the said “the fuel cell unit” or “a fuel cell unit” in any of the claims the said claim depends upon, and therefore provides no antecedent basis for the said “the full cell unit” term. For examination purposes, “the fuel cell unit” will be interpreted as “the fuel cell part”.
Regarding Claim 15, it is indefinite because the multiple "ands" in the claim make it impossible to determine how the different limitations are linked to each other. For example, does the control unit determine the predicted power consumption value, the predicted power charging value, and a predicted hydrogen charging value based on the power consumption history, or does the control unit only use the power consumption history to determine the predicted hydrogen charging value? Another instance of the interpretation of the claim does the control unit determine the predicted power consumption value, the predicted power charging value, and a predicted hydrogen charging value of the hydrogen vehicle based on the power charging history, or does the control unit only use the power charging history to determine the predicted hydrogen charging value? For examination purposes, the said claim will be interpreted as the control unit determines the predicted power charging value based on the power consumption history and the power charging history of the hydrogen vehicle.
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.
Claims 1-7 and 14-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Pickles et al. (US 20210261010 A1, herein Pickles), and in view of Li et al. (CN 106402647 A, herein Li) [A machine translation is used for Li], and further in view of Paul et al. (US 9112382 B2, herein Paul).
Regarding Claim 1, Pickles teaches a power system comprising:
a power unit (see FIG. 1 (1)) that supplies power to a load within a specific area (see FIG. 1 (2,3));
an electric vehicle charging unit that receives power from the power unit and charges an electric vehicle to be charged (see FIG. 1 (6 electric vehicle charging unit) [0039] the power supply unit 1 is connected with the charger 6 to charge the electric vehicle.);
and a control unit that monitors power consumption of the loads and charging of the electric vehicle and controls operations of the power unit and the electric vehicle charging unit ([0044] The supply station provided by the present disclosure is capable of performing reconfiguration, and has the ability to dynamically adjust the ratio of available hydrogen gas to electric power, so as to dynamically respond to vehicle demand.; The citation illustrates the supply station as the control unit).
wherein the power unit comprises:
a first supply unit (see FIG.1; reference numbers 1,2,5 are considered the first supply unit) that receives commercial power from a system connected to the specific area (See FIG.1 [0033] power supply unit 1 is connected with the storage battery system 2 to deliver power);
and controls an operation of the at least one second supply unit according [0049] hydrogen gas storage system 4 is converted into electric power by the device capable of converting hydrogen gas into electric power 5 for delivery to the storage battery system 2 and/or the electric vehicles when the output power of the power grid and storage battery system 2 cannot meet the demand for electricity by the electric vehicles).
Pickles does not explicitly teach and at least one second supply unit that is installed in the specific area to supply its own power;
Li teaches and at least one second supply unit that is installed in the specific area to supply its own power ([0046] The self-supporting hydrogen refueling station according to the present invention is capable of supporting two operating modes: a first operating mode at the time of renewable energy access and a second operating mode at the time of non-renewable energy access.).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to adapt the system of Pickles to incorporate the teachings of Li so as to include a self-powered supply station. Doing so would allow to provide charging despite of grid fluctuations. (Li [0012] provide a fully self-supporting hydrogen refueling station capable of overcoming dynamic power following problems using renewable energy and without external power access, without external hydrogen input, without water access).
Pickles in view of Li does not explicitly teach
Paul teaches [column 4 line 21-24] energy calculating module 5 calculates available charging energy (kWh) that can be provided to waiting EVs based on the power data 1 and stationary battery information 2)
and a predicted power charging value of the electric vehicle ([column 3 line 64- column 4 line 1-4] database 4 contains EV IDs, EV battery capacity, maximum charging voltage, maximum charging current, charging efficiency, maximum numbers of charging and discharging cycles, histories of charging and discharging cycle numbers, minimum SOC (for preventing degradation), target SOC or energy consumption efficiency (kWh/km), expected running distance (km), departure time (driving start time), and charging information.)
based on a power consumption history of the load ([column 3 line 19-20] EV charging prediction data 3 includes expected arrival times of EVs and information)
and a power charging history of the electric vehicle ([column 3 line 64- column 4 line 1-4] database 4 contains EV IDs, EV battery capacity, maximum charging voltage, maximum charging current, charging efficiency, maximum numbers of charging and discharging cycles, histories of charging and discharging cycle numbers, minimum SOC (for preventing degradation), target SOC or energy consumption efficiency (kWh/km), expected running distance (km), departure time (driving start time), and charging information.)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to adapt the control unit of Pickles to incorporate the teachings of Paul so as to include the control unit determining predicted power consumption and the power consumption of the vehicle based on their histories. Doing so would allow (Paul [column 1 line 33-39] required to adjust the charging rate for EVs that have arrived in accordance with predicted power requirement for EVs in the next time range and the departure time of the EVs. Thus, dynamic scheduling for EV charging at a charging station will be required in future).
Regarding Claim 2, Pickles in view of Li and in view of Paul teaches the power system of claim 1,
Li further teaches wherein the at least one second supply unit comprises at least one of:
a fuel cell part ([0036] a reversible fuel cell system);
a battery part ([0038] electric energy access / rectification / distribution subsystem 2 may include a rectifying device, an inverter device, and a monitoring and control device whose main function is to regulate and rectify the alternating current provided by the renewable energy source so as to output an alternating current that meets the requirements of the electric device And DC);
and a renewable energy part ([0036] renewable energy power generation device.).
Regarding Claim 3, Pickles in view of Li and further in view of Paul teaches the power system of claim 2,
Pickles further teaches wherein the control unit distributes a supply value to the load and a charging value of the electric vehicle at a certain ratio ([0044] has the ability to dynamically adjust the ratio of available hydrogen gas to electric power, so as to dynamically respond to vehicle demand) when a sum of the predicted power consumption value and the predicted power charging value exceeds a certain reference value ([0049] when the output power of the power grid and storage battery system 2 cannot meet the demand for electricity by the electric vehicles),
and controls the power supply and power charging according to the distributed ratio (see Table.1 [0064] combined supply station provided by the present disclosure is connected with the power grid having an installed capacity of 10 MW power, the rest capacity 22.8 MW is provided by a combination of the fuel cell and the on-site storage battery system, when the fuel cell shares 50% of the cell storage capacity).
Regarding Claim 4, Pickles in view of Li and further in view of Paul teaches the power system of claim 3,
Pickles further teaches wherein when distributing the supply value and the charging value at the certain ratio, the control unit distributes the supply value and the charging value according to at least one of a degree to which the sum exceeds the certain reference value and a ratio of the predicted power consumption value and the predicted power charging value ([0062] the peak power load of the power grid can be reduced in the combined supply station by providing the supplementary electric power through the arrangement of the device (such as a fuel cell) capable of converting hydrogen gas into electric power).
Regarding claim 5, Pickles in view of Li and further in view of Paul teaches the power system of claim 3,
Pickles further teaches wherein when distributing the supply value and the charging value at the certain ratio, the control unit determines a status level based
During non-peak [0052] The power grid is used during a non-peak period of the electric vehicles for charging the storage battery system 2 with electricity to supplement the power consumed by the storage battery system 2, thereby further improve stability of the power grid connected with the wind power station or solar power plant.
During peak [0040] the electric power source of the electric vehicle during the peak charging period of the electric vehicle may be the electric power converted by the storage battery system 2, the power supply unit 1, and the device capable of converting hydrogen gas into electric power 5, so as to meet the requirements of long-distance electric vehicles requiring high voltage and short charging time; The citation illustrates status levels as Peak and Non-Peak times).
Pickles doesn’t explicitly teach a real-time power charging value of the electric vehicle.
Paul teaches a real-time power charging value of the electric vehicle ([column 4 line 5-10] The charging information includes EVSE (Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment) connector IDs, charging start time, charging end time, charging current/voltage, current SOC, or charged energy (kWh), and the remaining time required to achieve the target SOC. The time period between arrival time and departure time represents a charging available period.).
Regarding claim 6, Pickles in view of Li and in further view of Paul teaches the power system of claim 2,
Li further teaches wherein the at least one second supply unit is provided in plurality each comprising at least two of:
the fuel cell part ([0036] a reversible fuel cell system);
the battery part ([0038] electric energy access / rectification / distribution subsystem 2 may include a rectifying device, an inverter device, and a monitoring and control device whose main function is to regulate and rectify the alternating current provided by the renewable energy source so as to output an alternating current that meets the requirements of the electric device And DC);
and the renewable energy part ([0036] renewable energy power generation device.).
Pickles further teaches each provided by at least one, and the control unit controls an operation of at least one of the plurality of second supply units ([0044] has the ability to dynamically adjust the ratio of available hydrogen gas to electric power, so as to dynamically respond to vehicle demand).
Regarding claim 7, Pickles in view of Li and further in view of Paul teaches the power system of claim 6,
Pickles further teaches wherein the control unit controls power to be received and supplied between the plurality of second supply units ([0034] the device capable of converting electric power into hydrogen gas 3 and the device capable of converting hydrogen gas into electric power 5 are units for mutual conversion between hydrogen gas and electric power).
Regarding claim 14, Pickles in view of Li and further in view of Paul teaches the power system of claim 1,
Li further teaches wherein the at least one second supply unit comprises at least a fuel cell part ([0036] a reversible fuel cell system), and the power system further comprises a hydrogen vehicle charging unit that receives hydrogen from the fuel cell unit and charges the hydrogen to a hydrogen vehicle to be charged ([0045] The hydrogen filling machine 9 is a device for supplying hydrogen to a vehicle requiring hydrogenation, which normally has a standard interface capable of being connected to the vehicle, thereby filling the vehicle with hydrogen. ).
Claims 8-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Pickles, in view of Li, in view of Paul, in view of Jafari et al. (Virtual Inertia based Multipower Level Controller for Inductive Electric Vehicle Charging Systems, herein Jafari).
Regarding claim 8, Pickles in view of Li and further in view of Paul teaches the power system of claim 1 but does not explicitly teach the limitations in Claim 8.
Jafari further teaches wherein when controlling the operation of the at least one second supply unit,
the control unit calculates a virtual inertia ([abstract] the virtual inertia control (VIC) is incorporated into the proposed multipower level controller) according to an operation of a supply unit to be operated based on information about statuses of the system ([page 2 section II] The expected benefit of applying VIC on EV systems is adapting EVs’ load requirements exactly based on grid dynamics, grid dynamics is interpreted as statuses of the system), the electric vehicle charging unit ([page 2 section II] The expected benefit of applying VIC on EV systems is adapting EVs’ load requirements exactly based on grid dynamics; the vehicle charging unit deals with the EV’s load requirements) and the power unit ([page 2 equation 1] explains the inertia of power system by representing the relation between mechanical power, electrical power, and angular speeds), and operates the supply unit to be operated for the power supply and the power charging by reflecting the virtual inertia ([page 3 paragraph 1] multipower level controller (Section III-A) which gets the power reference value from VIC and sets IPT’s power transfer level based on new reference ).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to adapt the controller of Pickles to incorporate the teachings of Jafari so as to include optimizing the system using virtual inertia. Doing so would allow a real time balance between the generation and utilization of the power grid (Jafari [page 14 conclusion section] the IPT power reference is selected by VIC, contributing to grid stabilization.).
Regarding claim 9, Pickles in view of Li in view of Paul and in view of Jafari teaches the power system of claim 8,
Jafari further teaches wherein the control unit calculates[see Equation 1 page 2]
The said equation is deriving the power system based on the mechanical power, electrical power, and angular speeds where [page 2 section II paragraph 2] where PMech is the mechanical power produced, Pe is the electrical load seen by generator, H is the normalized inertia constant of the machine, D is the damping coefficient of the synchronous generator, and
ω
is the angular frequency of the grid.; grid is the system and the power unit is the power system).
Regarding claim 10, Pickles in view of Li in view of Paul and in view of Jafari teaches the power system of claim 9,
Jafari further teaches wherein the control unit calculates the virtual inertia as a value that power supplied by the supply unit to be operated is synchronized with power supplied by the first supply unit ([page 9 paragraph 1] The experimental results have shown that the proposed IPT power controller is designed to regulate the power transfer level in response to grid frequency change at grid-to-vehicle operational mode as shown in Fig. 17, as long as the EV battery’s SOC lies between 1% or and 100%).
Regarding claim 11, Pickles in view of Li in view of Paul and in view of Jafari teaches the power system of claim 10,
Jafari further teaches wherein the control unit determines the supply unit to be operated according to a real-time power consumption value of the load and [page 9 Case 1] When the load increases, the grid frequency gradually decreases, and the IPT virtual inertia-based multipower level controller accordingly lowers the power transfer level to 9 (4-negative pulses and 5-positive pulses) referring to Fig. 14(d). When the grid frequency further drops to (f = 58.38 Hz), the proposed virtual inertia-based controller lowers power transfer level to 8 (4-negative pulses and 4-positive pulses) as shown in Fig. 14(c).; The following citation illustrates an instance of [page 9 paragraph 3] “The experiments in the article are carried out for G2V connection”.).
Paul further teaches a real-time power charging value of the electric vehicle ([column 4 line 5-10] The charging information includes EVSE (Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment) connector IDs, charging start time, charging end time, charging current/voltage, current SOC, or charged energy (kWh), and the remaining time required to achieve the target SOC. The time period between arrival time and departure time represents a charging available period.).
Regarding claim 12, Pickles in view of Li in view of Paul and in view of Jafari teaches the power system of claim 8,
Jafari further teaches wherein the control unit monitors changes in the virtual inertia ([page 4 section B. switching control logic] Whenever, the grid frequency increases) and controls the operation of the power supply and the power charging in response to the changes in the virtual inertia (see Table 2; [page 4 paragraph 2] As am example, when IPT’s power level is 5 (referring to Table II), it means that three pulses of energy injection happens in positive half cycle, and two energy injection pulses occurs at negative half cycle.; Table 2 is a depiction of different thresholds of virtual inertia values and the output of power in response to the virtual inertia values).
Claims 13 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Pickles, in view of Li, in view of Paul, in view of Jafari, and further in view of Fincham et al. (US 9853488 B2, herein Fincham).
Regarding claim 13, Pickles in view of Li and in view of Paul and in view of Jafari teaches the power system of claim 12,
Jafari further teaches wherein the control unit, when the virtual inertia corresponds to a certain reference range ([page 4 section B. switching control logic] Whenever, the grid frequency increases ( f > 0) then C0 = 1 and IPT operates in G2V mode, inversely, as the f < 0thenC0 = 0 and the IPT charger establishes the V2G connection.; [page 4 section B. switching control logic] IPT charger can run in three operation modes including: energy injection (G2V), energy regeneration mode (V2G), and free oscillation mode),
Pickles in view of Li, in view of Paul, and in view of Jafari does not explicitly teach generates notification information about
Fincham teaches generates notification information about [column 13 line 46-49] the user device 680 may receive indications of the desired parameters to be utilized in governing charging (and/or electrical transmission from) the vehicle 660;).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to adapt the controller of Pickles to incorporate the teachings of Fincham so as to include generating notifications about the current state of the charging station. Doing so would allow (Fincham [column 2 line 25-27] be advantageous to provide intelligent qualitative load balancing for electrical loads (e.g., vehicle charging).)
Claims 15 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Pickles, and in view of Li in view of Paul, and further in view of C.E. Thomas (Fuel Cell and Battery Electric Vehicles Compared, herein Thomas).
Regarding claim 15, Pickles in view of Li and further in view of Paul teaches the power system of claim 14,
Pickles in view of Li and further in view of Paul further teaches wherein the control unit determines the predicted power consumption value (see Paul [column 4 line 21-24] energy calculating module 5 calculates available charging energy (kWh) that can be provided to waiting EVs based on the power data 1 and stationary battery information 2), and a predicted see Paul [column 3 line 64- column 4 line 1-4] database 4 contains EV IDs, EV battery capacity, maximum charging voltage, maximum charging current, charging efficiency, maximum numbers of charging and discharging cycles, histories of charging and discharging cycle numbers, minimum SOC (for preventing degradation), target SOC or energy consumption efficiency (kWh/km), expected running distance (km), departure time (driving start time), and charging information.)
based on the power consumption history (see Paul [column 3 line 19-20] EV charging prediction data 3 includes expected arrival times of EVs and information), and the power charging history, and a hsee Paul [column 3 line 64- column 4 line 1-4] database 4 contains EV IDs, EV battery capacity, maximum charging voltage, maximum charging current, charging efficiency, maximum numbers of charging and discharging cycles, histories of charging and discharging cycle numbers, minimum SOC (for preventing degradation), target SOC or energy consumption efficiency (kWh/km), expected running distance (km), departure time (driving start time), and charging information.),
and controls the operation of the at least one second supply unit according to the predicted power consumption value, the predicted power charging value, and the predicted hydrogen charging value, so as to control the power supply to the load, the power charging of the electric vehicle, and hydrogen charging of the hydrogen vehicle (see Pickles [0044] has the ability to dynamically adjust the ratio of available hydrogen gas to electric power, so as to dynamically respond to vehicle demand).
Pickles in view of Li in view of Paul does not explicitly teach the hydrogen vehicle being incorporated into the limitations.
Thomas teaches hydrogen vehicles and their advantages by comparison ([page 3 part 2] compare hydrogen-powered fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEV) with battery-powered electric vehicles (BEV) in terms of mass, volume, greenhouse gases, fueling time, energy efficiency, fueling infrastructure and cost).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to adapt the system of Pickles to incorporate the teachings of Thomas so as to include parameters for hydrogen vehicles. Doing so would allow an increase of hydrogen vehicles used and a reduction of greenhouse gas emission ([page 16 conclusion] Fuel cell electric vehicles are superior to advanced lithium-ion full function battery electric vehicles).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
US 20210261010 A1 Supply Station and Method Capable of Charging Electricity and Filling with Hydrogen Gas Simultaneously or Separately (teaches a system of charging EV and Hydrogen Vehicles)
US 9853488 B2 Systems and Methods for Electric Vehicle Charging and Power Management (Grid power management and charging optimization of electric vehicles)
US 9112382 B2 Electric Vehicle Charging Scheduling System (predicted charging power, load, consumption history)
CN 106402647 A – Self-supporting Hydrogen Refueling Station Utilizing Renewable Energy Sources (hydrogen charging station that is self sustaining using green hydrogen)
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Jason Choi whose telephone number is (571) 270 0512. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Thurs 8:00-6:00 EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Robert Fennema can be reached at (571)272-2748. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/J.J.C./Examiner, Art Unit 2117
/ROBERT E FENNEMA/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2117
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