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 .
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 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.
Claim(s) 1-4, 9, 10, and 13-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nabetani (US 2018/0262232) in view of Ramamurthi et al. (US 2018/0103381).
Regarding claim 1, Nabetani discloses a communication device (Paragraph 69, terminal 1; Figure 21 and paragraph 195, terminal (STA) 500) comprising:
a receive antenna (Figure 21, antenna 51A);
a receiver coupled to the receive antenna (Figure 21, receiver 503 coupled to antenna 51A) and configured to receive full duplex information from a base station (Paragraph 69, the controller 25 may transmit, prior to the full-duplex communication, a trigger frame (hereinafter referred to as “FD trigger frame” [full duplex information]) via the transmitter 22 to the terminal…terminal 1…that is made to perform uplink transmission…), the full duplex information comprising uplink timing information identifying uplink transmission timing for transmission of an uplink signal from an uplink-transmitting device to the base station (Paragraph 69, The FD trigger frame is a frame whose purpose is to synchronize the timings of the full-duplex uplink transmission and the full-duplex downlink transmission performed by the access point itself; Figure 5, FD trigger frame include Duration/ID field, which is disclosed as being a medium reservation time [uplink transmission timing] at paragraph 52);
a memory configured to store (Figure 21 and paragraph 198, The memory 505 saves data received at the receiver 503 or the second wireless communication module 506, or data processed by the application processor 504); and
a receive antenna controller configured to adjust at least one of the receive antenna and the receiver to create a receive antenna pattern having a reception null in an uplink device direction from the communication device to the uplink-transmitting device when the receiver is receiving a downlink signal from the base station in a channel and the uplink-transmitting device is transmitting the uplink signal within the channel (Paragraph 88, in the full-duplex communication, when a signal that the terminal 1 transmits by uplink transmission to the access point 11 reaches the terminal 2, the signal causes interference (inter-terminal interference) with the downlink signal that the terminal 2 receives from the access point 11. In view of this, the controller 35 of the terminal 2 uses the plurality of antennas 31-1 to 31-N to receive the downlink signal addressed to the terminal 2 itself from the access point 11 in the full-duplex communication, and carries out reception beamforming processing for directionality control that directs a null toward the terminal 1. By virtue of this, the terminal 2 receives the full-duplex communication downlink signal addressed to the terminal 2 itself from the access point 11 while eliminating or minimizing the interference caused by the terminal 1. FIG. 7 illustrates an example of a directional pattern when the directionality control for directing a null toward the terminal 1 is performed).
Nabetani does not disclose the following limitations that are disclosed by Ramamurthi et al.: store a transmitting UE device location of the transmitting UE device (Ramamurthi et al., Paragraphs 28-30, antenna patterns adjusted to form nulls based on location and antenna parameters of respective satellite base station, base station, or mobile device; Paragraphs 35, 45, 54, mobile device, base station and satellite system station respectively comprising memory for storing information, data and instructions) a null reception gain within the null being less that at least one other portion of the receive antenna pattern (Ramamurthi et al., Figure 5 and paragraph 66, Mobile device 105 may compensate for the energy received along interference path 145 by forming null 565 in receive antenna pattern 555, to reduce the receive gain in the direction of side lobe 545).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Nabetani with the cited disclosure from Ramamurthi et al. to further mitigate interference between transmitters and receivers (Ramamurthi et al., Abstract).
Regarding claim 2, Ramamurthi et al. disclose wherein the null reception gain is less than a base station portion of the antenna pattern in a base station direction from the communication device to the base station (Figure 5 and paragraph 63, Base station 110 may compensate for the energy received along interference path 140 by forming null 525 in receive antenna pattern 510, to reduce the receive gain in the direction of side lobe 540; Paragraph 66, Mobile device 105 may compensate for the energy received along interference path 145 by forming null 565 in receive antenna pattern 555, to reduce the receive gain in the direction of side lobe 545).
Regarding claim 3, Nabetani discloses wherein the full duplex information further comprises an uplink device identifier identifying the uplink-transmitting device (Figure 5 and paragraph 70, The Control field includes a field for specifying a terminal given permission to perform full-duplex uplink transmission).
Regarding claim 4, Ramamurthi et al. disclose a transmitter configured to transmit, to the base station, location information indicating to the base station a transmitting UE device location of the uplink-transmitting device (Paragraphs 28-30, antenna patterns adjusted to form nulls based on location and antenna parameters of respective satellite base station, base station, or mobile device; Paragraphs 63, 64, 66, 67, 72, 81, 84, 89, 90, 94, receiving, determining, obtaining location data/information of base station and satellite station).
Regarding claim 9, Nabetani in view of Ramamurthi et al. discloses wherein the receive antenna controller is configured to adjust at least one of the receive antenna and the receiver (Nabetani, Paragraph 88, receive antenna pattern adjustment to direction reception null; ) to create the receive antenna pattern to have a lobe (Ramamurthi et al., Figure 5 and paragraph 66, Mobile device 105 may compensate for the energy received along interference path 145 by forming null 565 in receive antenna pattern 555, to reduce the receive gain in the direction of side lobe 545) such that the base station is within the lobe when the receiver is receiving the downlink signal from the base station and the uplink- transmitting device is transmitting the uplink signal (Ramamurthi et al., Figure 5 and paragraph 66), a lobe reception gain within the lobe being greater that all other portions of the receive antenna pattern (Ramamurthi et al., See figure 5 for lobes of mobile device 105, base station 110 and satellite base station 115).
Regarding claim 10, Nabetani discloses wherein the uplink-transmitting device is an uplink-transmitting user equipment (UE) device (Paragraphs 69 and 88, terminal).
Regarding claim 13, Nabetani discloses a base station (Figure 18 and paragraph 159, access point/base station 400; Figure 4 and paragraph 69, access point/base station) comprising:
a controller (Figure 4, controller 25; Figure 18, processors 401, 404) configured to schedule full duplex communication comprising transmission of a downlink signal from the base station to a downlink-receiving device within a channel and transmission of an uplink signal from an uplink-transmitting device to the base station with the channel (Paragraph 69, the controller 25 may transmit, prior to the full-duplex communication, a trigger frame (hereinafter referred to as “FD trigger frame”) via the transmitter 22 to the terminal (hereinafter referred to as “terminal 1”) that is made to perform uplink transmission and to the terminal (hereinafter referred to as “terminal 2”) that is made to perform downlink reception. The FD trigger frame is a frame whose purpose is to synchronize the timings of the full-duplex uplink transmission and the full-duplex downlink transmission performed by the access point itself) and at the same time as the transmission of the downlink signal (Paragraph 54, the controller 25 may transmit, prior to the full-duplex communication, a trigger frame (hereinafter referred to as “FD trigger frame”) via the transmitter 22 to the terminal (hereinafter referred to as “terminal 1”) that is made to perform uplink transmission and to the terminal (hereinafter referred to as “terminal 2”) that is made to perform downlink reception. The FD trigger frame is a frame whose purpose is to synchronize the timings of the full-duplex uplink transmission and the full-duplex downlink transmission performed by the access point itself; Paragraph 65, When full-duplex communication is performed, specifically, when transmission and reception are performed at the same time,…; Paragraph 75, The controller 25 of the access point 11 receives by uplink reception the frame from the terminal 1…and at the same time transmits by downlink transmission the frame to the terminal…); and
a transmitter (Figure 18, transmitter 402; Figure 4, transmitter 22) configured to transmit full duplex information (Figure 5, FD trigger frame) to at least one of the uplink- transmitting device and the downlink-receiving device (Paragraph 69, the controller 25 may transmit, prior to the full-duplex communication, a trigger frame (hereinafter referred to as “FD trigger frame”) via the transmitter 22 to the terminal (hereinafter referred to as “terminal 1”) that is made to perform uplink transmission and to the terminal (hereinafter referred to as “terminal 2”) that is made to perform downlink reception) to invoke an interference-reducing antenna pattern at the least one of the uplink-transmitting device and the downlink receiving UE device (Paragraphs 134, 136, 138, 139, FD trigger frame triggers terminals to switch among antenna patterns based on having permission to perform full-duplex communication indicted in the FD trigger frame; Paragraphs 108, 113-115, 125, 139, interference reduction actions based on FD trigger frame), the interference-reducing antenna pattern comprising a null in a direction (Paragraphs 88, 116, 117, 129, 154, antenna pattern that directs a null toward a terminal),
the direction from the downlink-receiving device to the uplink-transmitting device when the interference-reducing antenna pattern is a receive antenna pattern at the downlink receiving UE device (Paragraph 88, the controller 35 of the terminal 2 uses the plurality of antennas 31-1 to 31-N to receive the downlink signal addressed to the terminal 2 itself from the access point 11 in the full-duplex communication, and carries out reception beamforming [receive antenna pattern] processing for directionality control that directs a null toward the terminal 1),
the full duplex information comprising timing of the uplink signal when the full duplex information is transmitted to the downlink receiving UE device (Paragraph 69, The FD trigger frame is a frame whose purpose is to synchronize the timings of the full-duplex uplink transmission and the full-duplex downlink transmission performed by the access point itself; Figure 5, FD trigger frame include Duration/ID field, which is disclosed as being a medium reservation time [uplink timing] at paragraph 52),
the full duplex information comprising timing of the downlink signal when the full duplex information is transmitted to the uplink-transmitting device (Paragraph 69, The FD trigger frame is a frame whose purpose is to synchronize the timings of the full-duplex uplink transmission and the full-duplex downlink transmission performed by the access point itself; Figure 5, FD trigger frame include Duration/ID field, which is disclosed as being a medium reservation time [downlink timing] at paragraph 52).
Nabetani does not disclose the following limitations that are disclosed by Ramamurthi et al.: the control configured to determine a distance between the downlink receiving UE device and the uplink-transmitting device is less than a threshold (Ramamurthi et al., Abstract, determining a distance between the transmitter and the receiver based on the received information, determining if the distance is less than a distance threshold, estimating an interference level based on determining that the distance is less than the distance threshold), the transmitter transmitting in response to the controller determining the distance is less than the threshold (Ramamurthi et al., Abstract, determining if the estimated interference level exceeds an interference threshold, computing an angle between an antenna of the transmitter and the receiver based upon determining that the estimated interference exceeds the interference threshold, and directing, when receiving a signal, a main lobe of a receive antenna pattern of the receiver towards the signal, and forming nulls in the receive antenna pattern in a direction of at least one side lobe of a transmit pattern of the transmitter), and the direction from the uplink-transmitting device to downlink-receiving device when the interference-reducing antenna pattern is a transmission antenna pattern at the uplink transmission device (Ramamurthi et al., Paragraph 29, base station 110 may use an electronically controlled antenna array that may be adjusted to form nulls in the transmit antenna pattern in the direction of satellite station 115 and satellite 120, based on, for example, the location, height, and/or the antenna parameters of satellite system station 115 and satellite 120, and the location and antenna parameters of base station 110, to reduce interference on uplink 130 and improve reception at base station 110; Paragraph 30, mobile device 105 may use an electronically controlled antenna array that may be adjusted to form nulls in the transmit antenna pattern in the direction of satellite station 115 and satellite 120, based on, for example, the location, height, and/or the antenna parameters of satellite system station 115 and satellite 120, and the location and antenna parameters of mobile device 105, to reduce interference on downlink 133 and improve reception at mobile device 105; Paragraphs 90, 93, 94, 96, nulling in the transmit antenna pattern).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Nabetani with the cited disclosure from Ramamurthi et al. to further mitigate interference between transmitters and receivers (Ramamurthi et al., Abstract).
Regarding claim 14, Nabetani in view of Ramamurthi et al. discloses wherein the null is a reception null in the receive antenna pattern (Nabetani, Paragraph 88, in the full-duplex communication, when a signal that the terminal 1 transmits by uplink transmission to the access point 11 reaches the terminal 2, the signal causes interference (inter-terminal interference) with the downlink signal that the terminal 2 receives from the access point 11. In view of this, the controller 35 of the terminal 2 uses the plurality of antennas 31-1 to 31-N to receive the downlink signal addressed to the terminal 2 itself from the access point 11 in the full-duplex communication, and carries out reception beamforming processing for directionality control that directs a null toward the terminal 1. By virtue of this, the terminal 2 receives the full-duplex communication downlink signal addressed to the terminal 2 itself from the access point 11 while eliminating or minimizing the interference caused by the terminal 1. FIG. 7 illustrates an example of a directional pattern when the directionality control for directing a null toward the terminal 1 is performed), the reception null having a null reception gain less than a base station reception gain of the receive antenna pattern in a first base station direction from the downlink-receiving device to the base station (Ramamurthi et al., Figure 5 and paragraph 66, Mobile device 105 may compensate for the energy received along interference path 145 by forming null 565 in receive antenna pattern 555, to reduce the receive gain in the direction of side lobe 545) and wherein the null is a transmission null in the transmission antenna pattern (Ramamurthi et al., Paragraph 29, base station 110 may use an electronically controlled antenna array that may be adjusted to form nulls in the transmit antenna pattern in the direction of satellite station 115 and satellite 120, based on, for example, the location, height, and/or the antenna parameters of satellite system station 115 and satellite 120, and the location and antenna parameters of base station 110, to reduce interference on uplink 130 and improve reception at base station 110; Paragraph 30, mobile device 105 may use an electronically controlled antenna array that may be adjusted to form nulls in the transmit antenna pattern in the direction of satellite station 115 and satellite 120, based on, for example, the location, height, and/or the antenna parameters of satellite system station 115 and satellite 120, and the location and antenna parameters of mobile device 105, to reduce interference on downlink 133 and improve reception at mobile device 105; Paragraphs 90, 93, 94, 96, nulling in the transmit antenna pattern), the transmission null having a null transmission gain less than a base station transmission gain of the transmission antenna pattern in a second base station direction from the uplink-transmitting device to the base station (Ramamurthi et al., Paragraph 96, processor 220 may provide commands to antenna controller 280 to modify…a gain…of the transmit antenna pattern 555 of mobile device 105; Paragraph 62 and figure 5, nulls 525 (which may be points of low gain in an antenna pattern), which is less gain than other parts of the antenna pattern as seen in figure 5).
Regarding claim 15, Nabetani discloses wherein the full duplex information comprises a UE identifier of the uplink-transmitting device when the full duplex information is transmitted to the downlink receiving UE device (Figure 5 and paragraph 70, The Control field includes a field for specifying a terminal given permission to perform full-duplex uplink transmission), and wherein the full duplex information comprising another UE identifier identifying the downlink-receiving device when the full duplex information is transmitted to the uplink-transmitting device (Paragraph 70, the type of the FD trigger frame may be a value representing “Control,” and the value of the subtype may be newly defined. The Control field includes a field for specifying a terminal given permission to perform full-duplex uplink transmission and a field for specifying a terminal as the target of full-duplex downlink reception).
Regarding claim 16, Ramamurthi et al. disclose a receiver configured to receive location information from at least one the downlink-receiving device and the uplink-transmitting device (Paragraphs 28-30, antenna patterns adjusted to form nulls based on location and antenna parameters of respective satellite base station, base station, or mobile device).
Regarding claim 17, Nabetani discloses a communication device (Paragraph 69, terminal 2; Figure 21 and paragraph 195, terminal (STA) 500) comprising:
a receiver (Figure 21, receiver 503 coupled to antenna 51A) configured to receive full duplex information from a base station (Paragraph 69, the controller 25 may transmit, prior to the full-duplex communication, a trigger frame (hereinafter referred to as “FD trigger frame” [full duplex information]) via the transmitter 22…and to the… terminal 2…that is made to perform downlink reception), the full duplex information comprising downlink timing information identifying downlink transmission timing for transmission of a downlink signal from a base station to a downlink-receiving device (Paragraph 69, The FD trigger frame is a frame whose purpose is to synchronize the timings of the full-duplex uplink transmission and the full-duplex downlink transmission performed by the access point itself; Figure 5, FD trigger frame include Duration/ID field, which is disclosed as being a medium reservation time [uplink transmission timing] at paragraph 52);
a memory configured to store (Figure 21 and paragraph 198, The memory 505 saves data received at the receiver 503 or the second wireless communication module 506, or data processed by the application processor 504);
a transmitter (Figure 21, transmitter 502);
a transmit antenna coupled to the transmitter (Figure 21, antenna 51A coupled to transmitter 502).
Nabetani does not disclose the following limitations that are disclosed by Ramamurthi et al.: a transmit antenna controller configured to adjust at least one of the transmit antenna and the transmitter to create a transmit antenna pattern having a transmission null in an downlink device direction from the communication device to the downlink-receiving device when the transmitter is transmitting an uplink signal to the base station in a channel and the downlink-receiving device is receiving the downlink signal within the channel (Ramamurthi et al., Paragraph 29, base station 110 may use an electronically controlled antenna array that may be adjusted to form nulls in the transmit antenna pattern in the direction of satellite station 115 and satellite 120, based on, for example, the location, height, and/or the antenna parameters of satellite system station 115 and satellite 120, and the location and antenna parameters of base station 110, to reduce interference on uplink 130 and improve reception at base station 110; Paragraph 30, mobile device 105 may use an electronically controlled antenna array that may be adjusted to form nulls in the transmit antenna pattern in the direction of satellite station 115 and satellite 120, based on, for example, the location, height, and/or the antenna parameters of satellite system station 115 and satellite 120, and the location and antenna parameters of mobile device 105, to reduce interference on downlink 133 and improve reception at mobile device 105; Paragraphs 90, 93, 94, 96, nulling in the transmit antenna pattern), store a transmitting UE device location of the transmitting UE device (Ramamurthi et al., Paragraphs 28-30, antenna patterns adjusted to form nulls based on location and antenna parameters of respective satellite base station, base station, or mobile device; Paragraphs 35, 45, 54, mobile device, base station and satellite system station respectively comprising memory for storing information, data and instructions), a null transmission gain within the null being less that at least one other portion of the transmit antenna pattern (Ramamurthi et al., Paragraph 96, processor 220 may provide commands to antenna controller 280 to modify…a gain…of the transmit antenna pattern 555 of mobile device 105; Paragraph 62 and figure 5, nulls 525 (which may be points of low gain in an antenna pattern), which is less gain than other parts of the antenna pattern as seen in figure 5).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Nabetani with the cited disclosure from Ramamurthi et al. to further mitigate interference between transmitters and receivers (Ramamurthi et al., Abstract).
Regarding claim 18, Ramamurthi et al. disclose wherein the null transmission gain is less than a base station portion of the antenna pattern in a base station direction from the communication device to the base station Paragraph 96, processor 220 may provide commands to antenna controller 280 to modify…a gain…of the transmit antenna pattern 555 of mobile device 105; Paragraph 62 and figure 5, nulls 525 (which may be points of low gain in an antenna pattern), which is less gain than other parts of the antenna pattern as seen in figure 5).
Regarding claim 19, Nabetani discloses wherein the full duplex information further comprises a downlink device identifier identifying the downlink-receiving device (Paragraph 70, the type of the FD trigger frame may be a value representing “Control,” and the value of the subtype may be newly defined. The Control field includes a field for specifying a terminal given permission to perform full-duplex uplink transmission and a field for specifying a terminal as the target of full-duplex downlink reception).
Regarding claim 20, Nabetani discloses wherein the uplink-transmitting device is an uplink-transmitting user equipment (UE) device (Paragraphs 69 and 88, terminal).
Claim(s) 5-7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nabetani in view of Ramamurthi et al. as applied to claim 4 above, and further in view of Mishra et al. (US 2021/0250822).
Regarding claim 5, Nabetani in view of Ramamurthi et al. discloses the claimed invention above but does not disclose the following limitations that are disclosed by Mishra et al.: wherein the location information comprises a neighbor list (NL) identifying a plurality of neighbor devices and indicating a location of each neighbor device (Mishra et al., Paragraph 57, The ANR table may include the following data elements, in some embodiments: a particular location, expressed in geographic coordinates, for which neighbors are known; and, for each particular location, a list of neighbors. The list of neighbors may be a list including, for each neighbor, at least the PCI of the neighbor, and optionally one or more of the following data elements: a unique identifier for the neighbor within the operator's entire network, which may be an E-UTRAN cell global identifier (ECGI); a power level observed at a particular location; and the location of the neighbor).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Nabetani and Ramamurthi et al. with the cited disclosure from Mishra et al. to provide automatic neighbor tracking (Mishra et al., Paragraph 118).
Regarding claim 6, Mishra et al. disclose wherein the location information is based at least partially on at least one measurement of a wireless signal as received by the communication device and transmitted by the uplink-transmitting device (Paragraph 64, the mobile base station may be able to triangulate the location of each cell by comparing measured power levels at different locations of the base station; Paragraph 75, the mobile base station may record, in a neighbor table, its own location, as obtained from GPS or another means, and the PCI of the reported cell, and optionally the signal strength and other information contained in the measurement report).
Regarding claim 7, Mishra et al. disclose wherein the at least one measurement comprises a received signal strength of the wireless signal (Paragraph 124, Power level, as referred to above, may refer to RSSI, RSFP, or any other signal strength indication or parameter).
Claim(s) 11, 12 and 21 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nabetani in view of Ramamurthi et al. as applied to claims 1 and 17 above, and further in view of Kurras et al. (US 2023/0318690).
Regarding claims 11 and 21, Nabetani in view of Ramamurthi et al. discloses the claimed invention above but does not disclose the following limitations that are disclosed by Kurras et al.: wherein the base station is an Integrated Access and Backhaul (IAB) donor and the communication device is an IAB node (Kurras et al., Figure 8 and paragraph 291-292; Paragraphs 102-105, interference management may be provided by enabling multiple transmission reception points, TRPs, to create beams that null or minimize an interference, using the information in the feedback…an improved resource management may be enabled by a coordinated transmission between TRPs based on the design base, in IAB networks the inter IAB-node Tx/Rx beam sweeping and selection may be improved when a beam scan is performed that provides additional information that is fed into the design base, the interference management between IAB nodes that operate…in full-duplex is improved; for example…in case of full-duplex, the design base may improve interference management between child and parent links).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Nabetani and Ramamurthi et al. with the cited disclosure from Kurras et al. to improve resource management and improve interference management in full-duplex mode (Kurras et al., Paragraphs 103-105).
Regarding claim 12, Kurras et al. disclose wherein the uplink-transmitting device is an uplink-transmitting IAB node (Paragraph 86, the part of the IAB node that connects to a child IAB or to a UE, may be for the downlink, may be for the uplink or may be used flexibly [child IAB as uplink-transmitting device]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 8 is objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: regarding claim 8, Ramamurthi et al. discloses that an angle between an antenna of a transmitter and a receiver is taken into account when forming nulls in a receive antenna pattern to mitigate interference (Abstract). However, the prior art does not disclose or adequately suggest that neighbor list location information is at least partially based on a measurement comprising a device angle indicator of the wireless signal, the device angle indicator indicative of an angle between a base station direction and an uplink-transmitting device direction, the base station direction from the communication device to the base station, the uplink-transmitting device direction from the communication device to the uplink- transmitting device.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to OTIS L THOMPSON, JR whose telephone number is (571)270-1953. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday, 6:30am - 7:00pm.
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/OTIS L THOMPSON, JR/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2477
September 1, 2026
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