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 .
Claims 1-20 are currently pending.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 11 September 2024 and 27 May 2026 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are being considered by the examiner.
Claim Objections
Claims 17-19 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Regarding Claim 17, claim language “cause the first device to perform: perform channel listening” should be amended to “cause the first to: perform channel listening” in order to remove the duplicate phrase.
Regarding Claim 18, claim language “the first device further performs: receive…or receive” should be amended to “the first device further receives…or receives”.
Regarding Claim 19, claim language “the first device further performs: transmit” should be amended to “the first device further transmits”.
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 4, 7, 10 and 19 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 4, the claim language recites (emphasis added by the Office) “a total length of a channel occupation time.” However, it is not clear whether this channel occupation time references the claimed “first channel occupation time” in Claim 1. Claims 10 and 19 recite similar phrasing that is indefinite in light of the claim language in respective parent Claims 9 and 17.
Regarding Claim 7, the claim language recites (emphasis added by the Office) “a first device identification.” However, it is not clear whether this references the claimed “first device” in Claim 1 (i.e., an identification of the first device or a separate device identification).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) and 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Bae et al (United States Pre-Grant Publication 20070069859), hereinafter Bae.
Regarding Claim 17, Bae discloses a first device (Figure 1 – wireless communication terminal), comprising:
a processor (Figure 1 and paragraph 0025 – terminal controller 110 controls the general operation of the wireless communication terminal) and
a memory (Figure 1 – terminal memory 120), wherein the memory is configured to store a computer program (paragraph 0024 - the program memory stores programs for controlling general call operation of the wireless communication terminal and programs for executing a mobile RFID service and displaying the result on a display unit), and
the processor is configured to invoke and execute the computer program stored in the memory (paragraph 0025 - the terminal controller 110 controls the general operation of the wireless communication terminal), to cause the first device to perform:
perform channel listening (Figure 3 at step s311 and paragraph 0061 – the terminal performs a Listen operation that determines whether a corresponding channel is available or not by comparing the received RSSI with a RSSI threshold value LISTEN_RSSL_THRESHOLD at steps S311), and
perform channel occupation (Figure 3 at steps 311 and 312 and paragraph 0061 – performs a Listen operation that determines whether a corresponding channel is available or not by comparing the received RSSI with a RSSI threshold value LISTEN RSSL THRESHOLD at steps S311, and S312 and Figure 3 at steps S316, 317, and 318 paragraph 0063 – the Reader-to-Tag communication operation S316 to S318 for the LBT frequency occupying method), and
transmit a first signal to a second device during a first channel occupation time; wherein the first signal is used by the second device to generate a second signal (Figure 3 steps S319 and S333 and paragraph 0008 – a reader controller for beginning a reader operation to communicate with a tag in response to a command of a terminal controller of the wireless communication terminal; an anti-collision state machine for controlling collision among a plurality of tags, and transferring the result of communication with the tag to the reader controller, a reader transmitter for generating a reader command message decided at the anti-collision state machine, and coding and modulating the generated reader command message; a reader receiver for demodulating and decoding a tag signal received through an antenna, and reporting a tag response state to the anti-collision state machine; and a channel controller for selecting a channel to use to communicate with a tag in response to a command of the reader controller), and
the second device is a zero-power consumption device (Figure 3 steps S319 and S333 and paragraph 0008 – a reader controller for beginning a reader operation to communicate with a tag in response to a command of a terminal controller of the wireless communication terminal).
Claim 1 is a method claim comprising the same steps performed by the first device of Claim 17. Therefore, Claim 1 is rejected for the same reasons as presented above for Claim 17.
Regarding Claim 2, Bae discloses receiving by the first device (Figure 1 – wireless communication terminal), the second signal during the first channel occupation time (Figure 3 at steps S301-S305, S306-S330, and S331-333 and paragraph 0045 – the operation of a mobile RFID reader includes tag communication preparing steps S301 to S305 for setting commands and basic parameters for the operation of the RFID reader, tag information obtaining steps S306 to S330 for obtaining tag information by communicating with a tag based on a LBT or a FHSS frequency occupying method, and tag information reading steps S331 to S333 for reading the obtained tag information).
Regarding Claim 3, Bae discloses receiving by the first device (Figure 1 – wireless communication terminal) further comprising, the second signal during a second channel occupation time (Paragraph 0077 – meanwhile, if the tag response for the Ack command is successfully received, the anti-collision state machine 220 transfers the state information RetStatus==OK to the reader controller 210 to inform that the tag response is successfully received); wherein the second channel occupation time is a channel occupation time obtained by performing channel listening by the second device (Figures 4 and 5 and paragraph 0079 – referring to FIG. 5, the anti-collision state machine 220 initializes state parameters at step S501, and instructs the transmitting message generating unit 232 to generate a Req_RN command at step S502. The tag receiving the Req_RN command transits its state to an Open state or a Secured state for enabling a read and a write operation to a tag).
Regarding Claim 4, Bae discloses transmitting by the first device (Figure 1 – wireless communication terminal) further comprising, transmitting, by the first device, first information related to the first channel occupation time to the second device (Figure 4 and paragraph 0074 – when a channel is selected for Reader-to-Tag communication operation by the LBT controller 250 or the FHSS controller 260, the anti-collision state machine 220 instructs the transmitting message generator 232 to generate a Select command at step S402. Also, the anti-collision state machine 220 sets a Q slot value (Q.sub.slot) to `2.sup.Q-1` at steps S402 and S403 after determining the value of Q. The anti-collision state machine 220 initializes state parameters TagResp, nNoResp, and nCRCErr at step S404. In the present embodiment, four slots (Q=2) are selected to read small number of tags in a mobile RFID environment); wherein the first information comprises: at least one of a type of the channel listening (Note: this is claimed in the alternative and is therefore not required as part of the broadest reasonable interpretation), a channel priority (Note: this is claimed in the alternative and is therefore not required as part of the broadest reasonable interpretation), a total length of a channel occupation time (Figure 4 and paragraph 0074 – when a channel is selected for Reader-to-Tag communication operation by the LBT controller 250 or the FHSS controller 260, the anti-collision state machine 220 instructs the transmitting message generator 232 to generate a Select command at step S402. Also, the anti-collision state machine 220 sets a Q slot value (Q.sub.slot) to `2.sup.Q-1` at steps S402 and S403 after determining the value of Q. The anti-collision state machine 220 initializes state parameters TagResp, nNoResp, and nCRCErr at step S404), or a remaining length of the channel occupation time (Note: this is claimed in the alternative and is therefore not required as part of the broadest reasonable interpretation).
Regarding Claim 5, Bae discloses acquiring the first channel occupation time based on the channel listening of the first device or periodic channel listening; and transmitting the first signal to the second device during the first channel occupation time (Figure 3 at step s311 and paragraph 0061 – the terminal performs a Listen operation that determines whether a corresponding channel is available or not by comparing the received RSSI with a RSSI threshold value LISTEN_RSSL_THRESHOLD at steps S311).
Regarding Claim 6, Bae discloses wherein the second signal comprises request information reported by the second device (Figures 4 and 5 and paragraph 0079 – referring to FIG. 5, the anti-collision state machine 220 initializes state parameters at step S501, and instructs the transmitting message generating unit 232 to generate a Req_RN command at step S502. The tag receiving the Req_RN command transits its state to an Open state or a Secured state for enabling a read and a write operation to a tag. Meanwhile, the CRC and message checker 244 checks the CRC of a tag response signal for the Req_RN command at step S503, and transfers the tag response state information with whether the CRC error is present or not to the anti-collision state machine 220); and the request information comprises: at least one of a scheduling request (Note: this is claimed in the alternative and is therefore not required as part of the broadest reasonable interpretation), a transmission duration (Note: this is claimed in the alternative and is therefore not required as part of the broadest reasonable interpretation), a data volume (Note: this is claimed in the alternative and is therefore not required as part of the broadest reasonable interpretation), a data cache status (Figures 4 and 5 and paragraph 0079 – referring to FIG. 5, the anti-collision state machine 220 initializes state parameters at step S501, and instructs the transmitting message generating unit 232 to generate a Req_RN command at step S502. The tag receiving the Req_RN command transits its state to an Open state or a Secured state for enabling a read and a write operation to a tag. Meanwhile, the CRC and message checker 244 checks the CRC of a tag response signal for the Req_RN command at step S503, and transfers the tag response state information with whether the CRC error is present or not to the anti-collision state machine 220), or power control information of the first signal (Note: this is claimed in the alternative and is therefore not required as part of the broadest reasonable interpretation).
Regarding Claim 7, Bae discloses wherein the first signal carries control information (Paragraph 0031 – the transmission message generator 232 generates command messages to be transmitted to the tag upon receipt of a command from the anti-collision state machine 220. The generated messages include commands used in the process of `Inventory` such as `Query,` `QueryAdjust,` `QueryRep,` and `Ack,` and commands used in the process of `Access` such as `Req_RN,` `Read,` and `Write.` The CRC generator 234 generates CRC for frames of the above-generated transmission message and adds the CRC to the transmission message. The generation and addition of the CRC may be carried out in the transmission message generator 232); and the control information comprises: at least one of a terminal identification, terminal group identification information, or a first device identification (Paragraph 0031 – the transmission message generator 232 generates command messages to be transmitted to the tag upon receipt of a command from the anti-collision state machine 220. The generated messages include commands used in the process of `Inventory` such as `Query,` `QueryAdjust,` `QueryRep,` and `Ack,` and commands used in the process of `Access` such as `Req_RN,` `Read,` and `Write.` The CRC generator 234 generates CRC for frames of the above-generated transmission message and adds the CRC to the transmission message. The generation and addition of the CRC may be carried out in the transmission message generator 232).
Regarding Claim 8, Bae discloses the first signal comprises: a carrier signal (Figure 2 and paragraph 0027 – the RFID reader of the present embodiment communicates with a passive RFID tag in the UHF band. Hereinafter, an example where the RFID reader of the present invention is operated based on the ISO/IEC 18000 6C International Standard Specification, which is an RFID protocol specification in the UHF band ranging from 860 MHZ to 960 MHZ), and the first device comprises: at least one of a network device transmitting the carrier signal (Figure 2 and paragraph 0027 – the RFID reader of the present embodiment communicates with a passive RFID tag in the UHF band. Hereinafter, an example where the RFID reader of the present invention is operated based on the ISO/IEC 18000 6C International Standard Specification, which is an RFID protocol specification in the UHF band ranging from 860 MHZ to 960 MHZ), a terminal device transmitting the carrier signal (Figure 2 and paragraph 0027 – the RFID reader of the present embodiment communicates with a passive RFID tag in the UHF band. Hereinafter, an example where the RFID reader of the present invention is operated based on the ISO/IEC 18000 6C International Standard Specification, which is an RFID protocol specification in the UHF band ranging from 860 MHZ to 960 MHZ); or a device dedicated for generating the carrier signal (Note: this is claimed in the alternative and is therefore not required as part of the broadest reasonable interpretation).
Regarding Claim 9, Bae discloses a data transmission method, applied to a second device (paragraphs 0024-0025 - the RFID reader communicates with a tag), wherein the method comprises:
receiving, by the second device, a first signal transmitted by a first device (Figure 3 at step 318 and paragraph 0045 – an RFID reader accesses the tag via a first signal (refer to paragraph 0071 for reader-to-tag communication), and
perform obtaining, by the second device, a second signal according to the first signal during a first channel occupation time (Figure 3 at s319 and paragraphs 0062-0063 – data is obtained by the reader from the tag after performing listen-before-talk); the second device is a zero-power consumption device (Figure 2 and paragraph 0027 -- the RFID reader of the present embodiment communicates with a passive RFID tag in the UHF band).
Regarding Claim 10, Bae discloses receiving, by the second device (paragraphs 0024-0025 - the RFID reader communicates with a tag), first information related to the first channel occupation time transmitted by the first device (Figure 4 and paragraph 0074 – when a channel is selected for Reader-to-Tag communication operation by the LBT controller 250 or the FHSS controller 260, the anti-collision state machine 220 instructs the transmitting message generator 232 to generate a Select command at step S402. Also, the anti-collision state machine 220 sets a Q slot value (Q.sub.slot) to `2.sup.Q-1` at steps S402 and S403 after determining the value of Q. The anti-collision state machine 220 initializes state parameters TagResp, nNoResp, and nCRCErr at step S404. In the present embodiment, four slots (Q=2) are selected to read small number of tags in a mobile RFID environment); wherein the first information comprises: at least one of a type of channel listening (Note: this is claimed in the alternative and is therefore not required as part of the broadest reasonable interpretation), a channel priority (Note: this is claimed in the alternative and is therefore not required as part of the broadest reasonable interpretation), a total length of a channel occupation time (Figure 4 and paragraph 0074 – when a channel is selected for Reader-to-Tag communication operation by the LBT controller 250 or the FHSS controller 260, the anti-collision state machine 220 instructs the transmitting message generator 232 to generate a Select command at step S402. Also, the anti-collision state machine 220 sets a Q slot value (Q.sub.slot) to `2.sup.Q-1` at steps S402 and S403 after determining the value of Q. The anti-collision state machine 220 initializes state parameters TagResp, nNoResp, and nCRCErr at step S404. In the present embodiment, four slots (Q=2) are selected to read small number of tags in a mobile RFID environment), or a remaining length of the channel occupation time (Note: this is claimed in the alternative and is therefore not required as part of the broadest reasonable interpretation).
Regarding Claim 11, Bae discloses transmitting, further comprising, by the second device, the second signal to the first device during the first channel occupation time (Figure 3 at steps S301-S305, S306-S330, and S331-333 and paragraph 0045 – the operation of a mobile RFID reader includes tag communication preparing steps S301 to S305 for setting commands and basic parameters for the operation of the RFID reader, tag information obtaining steps S306 to S330 for obtaining tag information by communicating with a tag based on a LBT or a FHSS frequency occupying method, and tag information reading steps S331 to S333 for reading the obtained tag information).
Regarding Claim 12, Bae discloses transmitting, further comprising, by the second device (paragraphs 0024-0025 - the RFID reader communicates with a tag), the second signal to the first device during a second channel occupation time (Paragraph 0077 – meanwhile, if the tag response for the Ack command is successfully received, the anti-collision state machine 220 transfers the state information RetStatus==OK to the reader controller 210 to inform that the tag response is successfully received, and generates an interrupt for the reader controller to read the tag data at steps S415 and S330. The anti-collision state machine 220 determines whether the tag accessing step is performed or not according to a word count (nWordC) value which is a variable for reading user at step S317); wherein the second channel occupation time is a channel occupation time obtained by performing channel listening by the second device (Figures 4 and 5 and paragraph 0079 – referring to FIG. 5, the anti-collision state machine 220 initializes state parameters at step S501, and instructs the transmitting message generating unit 232 to generate a Req_RN command at step S502. The tag receiving the Req_RN command transits its state to an Open state or a Secured state for enabling a read and a write operation to a tag).
Regarding Claim 13, Bae discloses determining second information according to the first information; wherein the second information is used for at least one of selecting a transmission time interval (Note: this is claimed in the alternative and is therefore not required as part of the broadest reasonable interpretation), determining a data block size (paragraph 0080 – a tag response comprising user-specific data is transmitted in response to receiving the Req_RN command), a modulation method (Note: this is claimed in the alternative and is therefore not required as part of the broadest reasonable interpretation), or a data rate (Note: this is claimed in the alternative and is therefore not required as part of the broadest reasonable interpretation).
Regarding Claim 14, Bae discloses wherein the second signal comprises: request information reported by the second device to the first device (Figures 4 and 5 and paragraph 0079 – referring to FIG. 5, the anti-collision state machine 220 initializes state parameters at step S501, and instructs the transmitting message generating unit 232 to generate a Req_RN command at step S502. The tag receiving the Req_RN command transits its state to an Open state or a Secured state for enabling a read and a write operation to a tag. Meanwhile, the CRC and message checker 244 checks the CRC of a tag response signal for the Req_RN command at step S503, and transfers the tag response state information with whether the CRC error is present or not to the anti-collision state machine 220. The anti-collision state machine 220 transmits the Req_RN command twice at step S506 and S507 when the anti-collision state machine 220 does not receive the response from a tag (TagResp==No_Resp). If the tag response is not received continually, the anti-collision state machine notices the reader controller 210 with no tag response state (RetStatus=No_TAG) at step S508. The anti-collision state machine 220 transmits the Req_RN command twice when the error is present in the CRC of tag data at step S510 and S511. If the CRC error is continually generated, the anti-collision state machine 220 notices the reader controller 210 with the CRC error state (RetStatus==CRC_Err) at step S513. The RFID reader performs the anti-collision steps of FIG. 4 at step S514 if the tag response for the Req_RN is not successful); and the request information comprises: at least one of a scheduling request (Note: this is claimed in the alternative and is therefore not required as part of the broadest reasonable interpretation), a transmission duration (Note: this is claimed in the alternative and is therefore not required as part of the broadest reasonable interpretation), a data volume (Note: this is claimed in the alternative and is therefore not required as part of the broadest reasonable interpretation), a data cache status (Figures 4 and 5 and paragraph 0079 – referring to FIG. 5, the anti-collision state machine 220 initializes state parameters at step S501, and instructs the transmitting message generating unit 232 to generate a Req_RN command at step S502. The tag receiving the Req_RN command transits its state to an Open state or a Secured state for enabling a read and a write operation to a tag), or power control information of the first signal (Note: this is claimed in the alternative and is therefore not required as part of the broadest reasonable interpretation).
Regarding Claim 15, Bae discloses wherein obtaining, by the second device, the second signal according to the first signal during the first channel occupation time, comprises: obtaining, by the second device, control information from the received first signal; determining the first signal as a target signal, in a case where the second device identifies that the control information matches the second device itself; and obtaining, by the second device, the second signal according to the target signal (Figures 4 and 5 and paragraph 0079 – referring to FIG. 5, the anti-collision state machine 220 initializes state parameters at step S501, and instructs the transmitting message generating unit 232 to generate a Req_RN command at step S502. The tag receiving the Req_RN command transits its state to an Open state or a Secured state for enabling a read and a write operation to a tag).
Regarding Claim 16, Bae discloses wherein the control information comprises: at least one of a terminal identification, terminal group identification information, or a first device identification (Paragraph 0031 – the transmission message generator 232 generates command messages to be transmitted to the tag upon receipt of a command from the anti-collision state machine 220. The generated messages include commands used in the process of `Inventory` such as `Query,` `QueryAdjust,` `QueryRep,` and `Ack,` and commands used in the process of `Access` such as `Req_RN,` `Read,` and `Write.` The CRC generator 234 generates CRC for frames of the above-generated transmission message and adds the CRC to the transmission message. The generation and addition of the CRC may be carried out in the transmission message generator 232).
Regarding Claim 18, Bae discloses the first device (Figure 1 – wireless communication terminal) according to claim 17, wherein the first device further performs:
receive the second signal during the first channel occupation time ((Figure 3 at steps S301-S305, S306-S330, and S331-333 and paragraph 0045 – the operation of a mobile RFID reader includes tag communication preparing steps S301 to S305 for setting commands and basic parameters for the operation of the RFID reader, tag information obtaining steps S306 to S330 for obtaining tag information by communicating with a tag based on a LBT or a FHSS frequency occupying method, and tag information reading steps S331 to S333 for reading the obtained tag information); or
receive the second signal during a second channel occupation time (Figures 4 and 5 and paragraph 0079 – referring to FIG. 5, the anti-collision state machine 220 initializes state parameters at step S501, and instructs the transmitting message generating unit 232 to generate a Req_RN command at step S502. The tag receiving the Req_RN command transits its state to an Open state or a Secured state for enabling a read and a write operation to a tag).
Regarding Claim 19, Bae discloses wherein the first device (Figure 1 – wireless communication terminal) further performs: transmit first information related to the first channel occupation time to the second device (Figure 4 and paragraph 0074 – when a channel is selected for Reader-to-Tag communication operation by the LBT controller 250 or the FHSS controller 260, the anti-collision state machine 220 instructs the transmitting message generator 232 to generate a Select command at step S402. Also, the anti-collision state machine 220 sets a Q slot value (Q.sub.slot) to `2.sup.Q-1` at steps S402 and S403 after determining the value of Q. The anti-collision state machine 220 initializes state parameters TagResp, nNoResp, and nCRCErr at step S404. In the present embodiment, four slots (Q=2) are selected to read small number of tags in a mobile RFID environment); wherein the first information comprises: at least one of a type of the channel listening (Note: this is claimed in the alternative and is therefore not required as part of the broadest reasonable interpretation), a channel priority (Note: this is claimed in the alternative and is therefore not required as part of the broadest reasonable interpretation), a total length of a channel occupation time (Figure 4 and paragraph 0074 – when a channel is selected for Reader-to-Tag communication operation by the LBT controller 250 or the FHSS controller 260, the anti-collision state machine 220 instructs the transmitting message generator 232 to generate a Select command at step S402. Also, the anti-collision state machine 220 sets a Q slot value (Q.sub.slot) to `2.sup.Q-1` at steps S402 and S403 after determining the value of Q. The anti-collision state machine 220 initializes state parameters TagResp, nNoResp, and nCRCErr at step S404. In the present embodiment, four slots (Q=2) are selected to read small number of tags in a mobile RFID environment), or a remaining length of the channel occupation time (Note: this is claimed in the alternative and is therefore not required as part of the broadest reasonable interpretation).
Regarding Claim 20, Bae discloses a second device (Figure 1 – wireless communication terminal), comprising A second device a processor (the Office submits that the tag inherently comprises a processor) and a memory (paragraph 0045 – user memory), and the processor is configured to invoke and execute the computer program stored in the memory (the Office submits that the processor inherently invokes and executes code stored in the memory), to cause the second device to perform the method according to claim 9 (refer to the rejection of Claim 9 above).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Katan Baf Nezhad et al (United States Pre-Grant Publication 2021/0377859) discloses backscatter nodes selecting backscatter frequency channel mode (paragraph 0076).
Pappu et al (United States Pre-Grant Publication 2010/0148931) discloses tag readers using multiple sub periods within a listen period to monitor more than one channel (paragraph 0069).
Farris et al (“Assessing the Performance of a Novel Tag-Based Reader-to-Reader Communication Paradigm Under Noisy Channel Conditions”) discloses an LBT-based anti-collision protocol (see page 4818).
Lee et al (“An Energy Efficient Active RFID Protocol to Avoid Overhearing Problem”) discloses a listening period for tags (see page 17).
Farris et al (“A novel paradigm to exchange data in RFID piconets”) discloses LBT-based access to reduce reader-to-tag interferences.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANDREW W. CHRISS whose telephone number is (571)272-1774. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday, 8am-4pm ET.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Kevin Bates can be reached at (571) 272-3980. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ANDREW W CHRISS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2472
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