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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The Information Disclosure Statements (IDS) filed on 04/02/2025 and 12/10/2025 (2) has been acknowledged
Abstract
The abstract of the disclosure is objected to because implied phrases are present (“Aspects of tire sensor auto-location are described”). A corrected abstract of the disclosure is required and must be presented on a separate sheet, apart from any other text. See MPEP § 608.01(b).
Drawings
The drawings, specifically Figure 9, are not of sufficient quality to permit examination. Accordingly, replacement drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to this Office action. The replacement sheet(s) should be labeled “Replacement Sheet” in the page header (as per 37 CFR 1.84(c)) so as not to obstruct any portion of the drawing figures. If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action.
Applicant is given a shortened statutory period of TWO (2) MONTHS to submit new drawings in compliance with 37 CFR 1.81. Extensions of time may be obtained under the provisions of 37 CFR 1.136(a) but in no case can any extension carry the date for reply to this letter beyond the maximum period of SIX MONTHS set by statute (35 U.S.C. 133). Failure to timely submit replacement drawing sheets will result in ABANDONMENT of the application.
Claim Objections
Claims 1, 8, and 15 are objected to because of the following informalities: change “a longitudinal acceleration parameter, and lateral acceleration parameter” to “a longitudinal acceleration parameter, and a lateral acceleration parameter”. 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 3-4, 10-11, and 17-18 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.
Claims 3-4, 10-11, and 17-18 recite the limitation “the tire sensor values”. It is unclear whether these values refer to the plurality of tire sensor values introduced in the independent claims or if they refer to a new set of values. The office advises applicant to keep terminology consistent.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to an abstract idea without significantly more.
101 Analysis – Step 1
Claim 1 is directed to a system. Therefore, claim 1 is within at least one of the four statutory categories.
Claim 8 is directed to a method. Therefore, claim 8 is within at least one of the four statutory categories.
Claim 15 is directed to a product. Therefore, claim 15 is within at least one of the four statutory categories.
101 Analysis – Step 2A, Prong I
Regarding Prong I of the Step 2A analysis in the 2019 PEG, the claims are to be analyzed to determine whether they recite subject matter that falls within one of the follow groups of abstract ideas: a) mathematical concepts, b) certain methods of organizing human activity, and/or c) mental processes.
Claims 1, 8 and 15 include limitations that recite an abstract idea (emphasized below) and Claim 1 will be used as a representative claim for the remainder of the 101 rejections.
Claim 1 recites: A system comprising: at least one computing device comprising at least one processor; and at least one memory comprising instructions, when executed, cause the at least one computing device to at least:
receive, by a sensor position detection device, a plurality of tire sensor values from a tire sensor device, wherein the plurality of tire sensor values are measured or calculated for a respective one of: a tire footprint length parameter, a longitudinal acceleration parameter, and lateral acceleration parameter;
process, by the sensor position detection device, the plurality of tire sensor values for the tire footprint length parameter, the longitudinal acceleration parameter, and the lateral acceleration parameter, wherein the sensor position detection device generates at least a longitudinal acceleration coefficient and a lateral acceleration coefficient;
and assign, by the sensor position detection device, the tire sensor device to a particular tire position in relation to a vehicle based at least in part on a sign of the longitudinal acceleration coefficient and a sign of the lateral acceleration coefficient.
The examiner submits that the foregoing bolded limitation(s) constitute a “mental process” because under its broadest reasonable interpretation, the claim covers performance of the limitation in the human mind. Specifically, the “calculating, processing, and assigning” steps encompass a user to gather data and make calculations using that data. Calculating a parameter is doing calculations to determine a value. Processing the parameters to generate coefficients is simply plugging in the parameters into an equation to generate a value. Assigning the tire position to a sign of a coefficient is a limitation that can be done in the human mind. Accordingly, the claim recites at least one abstract idea.
101 Analysis – Step 2A, Prong II
Regarding Prong II of the Step 2A analysis in the 2019 PEG, the claims are to be analyzed to determine whether the claim, as a whole, integrates the abstract into a practical application. As noted in the 2019 PEG, it must be determined whether any additional elements in the claim beyond the abstract idea integrate the exception into a practical application in a manner that imposes a meaningful limit on the judicial exception. The courts have indicated that additional elements merely using a computer to implement an abstract idea, adding insignificant extra solution activity, or generally linking use of a judicial exception to a particular technological environment or field of use do not integrate a judicial exception into a “practical application.”
In the present case, the additional limitations beyond the above-noted abstract idea are as follows (where the underlined portions are the “additional limitations” while the bolded portions continue to represent the “abstract idea”):
For the following reason(s), the examiner submits that the above identified additional limitations do not integrate the above-noted abstract idea into a practical application.
Regarding the additional limitations of “computing device comprising at least one processor, and at least one memory”, the examiner submits that these limitations are an attempt to generally link additional elements to a technological environment. In particular, the “computing device” is recited at a high level of generality and merely automates the calculating, processing, and assigning steps, therefore acting as a generic computer to perform the abstract idea. Additionally, the computing device is claimed generically and is operating in its ordinary capacity and does not use the judicial exception in a manner that imposes a meaningful limit on the judicial exception, such that the claim is more than a drafting effort designed to monopolize the exception. The additional limitations are no more than mere instructions to apply the exception using a computing device. In addition to that, the examiner submits that receiving a plurality of tire sensor values using a tire sensor device, is insignificant extra-solution activities that merely use a device to perform the process. In particular, the receiving steps are recited at a high level of generality (i.e. as a general means of gathering data for use in the processing step), and amounts to mere data gathering, which is a form of insignificant extra-solution activity.
Thus, taken alone, the additional elements do not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application. Further, looking at the additional limitation(s) as an ordered combination or as a whole, the limitation(s) add nothing that is not already present when looking at the elements taken individually. For instance, there is no indication that the additional elements, when considered as a whole, reflect an improvement in the functioning of a computing device or an improvement to another technology or technical field, apply or use the above-noted judicial exception to effect a particular treatment or prophylaxis for a disease or medical condition, implement/use the above-noted judicial exception with a particular machine or manufacture that is integral to the claim, effect a transformation or reduction of a particular article to a different state or thing, or apply or use the judicial exception in some other meaningful way beyond generally linking the use of the judicial exception to a particular technological environment, such that the claim as a whole is not more than a drafting effort designed to monopolize the exception (MPEP § 2106.05). Accordingly, the additional limitation(s) do/does not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application because it does not impose any meaningful limits on practicing the abstract idea.
101 Analysis – Step 2B
Regarding Step 2B of the 2019 PEG, representative independent Claim 1 does not include additional elements (considered both individually and as an ordered combination) that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception for the same reasons to those discussed above with respect to determining that the claim does not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application. As discussed above with respect to integration of the abstract idea into a practical application, the additional element of the system, the computing device amounts to nothing more than applying the exception using a generic computer component. Generally applying an exception using a generic computer component cannot provide an inventive concept. And as discussed above, the additional limitations of receiving data, the examiner submits that these limitations are insignificant extra-solution activities.
Further, a conclusion that an additional element is insignificant extra-solution activity in Step 2A should be re-evaluated in Step 2B to determine if they are more than what is well-understood, routine, conventional activity in the field. The additional limitations of receiving the data are well-understood, routine, and conventional activities because the background recites that the sensors from which the data is acquired/received are all conventional sensors ([0016]). MPEP 2106.05(d)(II), and the cases cited therein, including Intellectual Ventures I, LLC v. Symantec Corp., 838 F.3d 1307, 1321 (Fed. Cir. 2016), TLI Communications LLC v. AV Auto. LLC, 823 F.3d 607, 610 (Fed. Cir. 2016), and OIP Techs., Inc., v. Amazon.com, Inc., 788 F.3d 1359, 1363 (Fed. Cir. 2015), indicate that mere collection or receipt of data over a network is a well‐understood, routine, and conventional function when it is claimed in a merely generic manner. Hence, claim 1 is not patent eligible.
Further Claims 8 and 15 are not patent eligible for the same reasons.
Dependent Claims 2-7, 9-14, and 16-20 when analyzed as a whole, are held to be patent ineligible under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the additional recited limitation(s) fail(s) to establish that the claim(s) is/are not directed to an abstract idea. The additional elements, if any, in the dependent claims are not sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception for the same reasons as with Claims 1, 8, and 15.
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.
Claim(s) 1-3, 5-10 and 12-14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US-20220230481-A1 to Singh et. al. (“Singh”) in view of US-6204758-B1 to Wacker et. al. (“Wacker”).
Regarding claim 1, Singh teaches a system comprising: at least one computing device comprising at least one processor (Singh Claim 1); and at least one memory comprising instructions, when executed, cause the at least one computing device to at least (Singh [0034] – [0035]):
receive, by a sensor position detection device (Singh Abstract “A processor is in electronic communication with the sensor unit”), a plurality of tire sensor values from a tire sensor device (Singh Fig. 3A – 3B and [0039] “The sensor unit 26 includes wireless transmission means 44, such as an antenna, for wirelessly sending the sensed parameters 42 to a processor 46.” and Claim 1 “a sensor unit being mounted on the tire” ), wherein the plurality of tire sensor values are measured or calculated for a respective one of: a tire footprint length parameter (Singh Abstract “footprint length”), a longitudinal acceleration parameter, and lateral acceleration parameter (Singh [0039] - [0041] “output data 52 from the sensed parameters 26 are analyzed by an initial assessment module 50… The output data 52 may include, by way of example, tire footprint length 28, lateral acceleration of the vehicle 14, longitudinal acceleration of the vehicle”);
process, by the sensor position detection device, the plurality of tire sensor values for the tire footprint length parameter (Singh claim 1 “the processor receiving the measured footprint length; a driving event classifier executed on the processor, the driving event classifier employing the measured footprint length to determine the position of the tire on the vehicle”);
and assign, by the sensor position detection device, the tire sensor device to a particular tire position in relation to a vehicle (Singh Fig. 1 and claim 1 “generating a message correlating the sensor unit to the position of the tire on the vehicle.”).
Singh does not teach
processing, by the sensor position detection device, the plurality of tire sensor values for the longitudinal acceleration parameter, and the lateral acceleration parameter, wherein the sensor position detection device generates at least a longitudinal acceleration coefficient and a lateral acceleration coefficient;
and assigning, by the sensor position detection device, the tire sensor device to a particular tire position in relation to a vehicle based at least in part on a sign of the longitudinal acceleration coefficient and a sign of the lateral acceleration coefficient.
However, Wacker teaches
processing, by the sensor position detection device, the plurality of tire sensor values for the longitudinal acceleration parameter, and the lateral acceleration parameter, wherein the sensor position detection device generates at least a longitudinal acceleration coefficient and a lateral acceleration coefficient (Wacker (12) “the sign of the detected tangential acceleration will correspond to the side of the vehicle, with positive acceleration indicating location on the left side of the vehicle and negative acceleration indicating location on the right side of the vehicle.” & (18) – (20) “the front wheels 602, 604 turn to the right. This turning motion requires pivoting about an axis perpendicular to the x-axis and the z-axis of the x-z axes 626 in FIG. 7. This pivoting introduces a yaw acceleration which is detected as acceleration in the z direction, illustrated by the arrow 628 on the x-z axes 626. The rear wheels 606,608, which do not pivot or turn, experience no yaw acceleration. This is illustrated on the axes 630.”);
and assigning, by the sensor position detection device, the tire sensor device to a particular tire position in relation to a vehicle based at least in part on a sign of the longitudinal acceleration coefficient and a sign of the lateral acceleration coefficient (Wacker (12) “Once the receiver learns the sign of the acceleration and its associated side of the vehicle (right side or left side), the receiver can subsequently associate tire characteristic data received from that tire monitor with the position information appropriate for that tire monitor.” & (20) “Accordingly, by detecting acceleration experienced only by the front wheels, tire monitors associated with the front wheels can determine that they are positioned on a front wheel of a vehicle”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention with a reasonable expectation of success to have modified the system of Singh to incorporate the teachings of Wacker such that the system comprises processing, by the sensor position detection device, the plurality of tire sensor values for the longitudinal acceleration parameter, and the lateral acceleration parameter, wherein the sensor position detection device generates at least a longitudinal acceleration coefficient and a lateral acceleration coefficient; and assigning, by the sensor position detection device, the tire sensor device to a particular tire position in relation to a vehicle based at least in part on a sign of the longitudinal acceleration coefficient and a sign of the lateral acceleration coefficient. Doing so would allow for a fully automatic tire position detecting system and allows for the determining from acceleration data the position of the tire monitors on a vehicle (Wacker (8) – (10)).
Regarding claim 2, Singh as modified by Wacker teaches all of the elements of the current invention in claim 1. Singh further discloses that the instructions, when executed, cause the at least one computing device to at least: identify a tire footprint length model that defines a relationship between at least: a tire footprint length, a nominal footprint length, the longitudinal acceleration coefficient, the longitudinal acceleration, the lateral acceleration coefficient, and the lateral acceleration (Singh Fig. 3A – 3B and [0041] “output data 52 from the sensed parameters 26 are analyzed by an initial assessment module 50 to determine if the incoming data is for an ongoing trip, or if a new trip by the vehicle 14 is in progress 54. The output data 52 may include, by way of example, tire footprint length 28, lateral acceleration of the vehicle 14, longitudinal acceleration of the vehicle, yaw rate of the vehicle, a time stamp, a revolution time of the tire 12, a vehicle speed from a global positioning system (GPS), a received signal strength indication (RSSI) from each sensor unit 26, and/or sensor ID information.”).
Regarding claim 3, Singh as modified by Wacker teaches all of the elements of the current invention in claim 1. Singh further discloses that the tire sensor values are processed in real-time by the sensor position detection device (Singh Fig. 3A - 3H and [0006] “A processor is in electronic communication with the sensor unit and receives the measured footprint length. A driving event classifier is executed on the processor and employs the measured footprint length to determine the position of the tire on the vehicle. An auto-location output block is executed on the processor and receives the determined position of the tire on the vehicle and generates a message correlating the sensor unit to the position of the tire on the vehicle.”).
Regarding claim 5, Singh as modified by Wacker teaches all of the elements of the current invention in claim 1. Singh further discloses that the tire sensor device is assigned to a tire position based at least in part on storing a unique tire sensor device identifier of the tire sensor device in association with data indicating the tire position (Singh [0036] “The system 10 employs sensor ID and sensor ID information to identify each sensor unit 26, and analyses data from each sensor unit to determine the location of each respective tire 12 on the vehicle”).
Regarding claim 6, Singh as modified by Wacker teaches all of the elements of the current invention in claim 1. Singh further discloses that the sensor position detection device processes the plurality of tire sensor values to further identify a nominal tire footprint length (Singh [0037] “the sensor unit 26 (FIG. 1) preferably also measures a length 28 of a centerline 30 of a footprint 32 of the tire 12. More particularly, as the tire 12 contacts the ground, the area of contact created by the tread 20 with the ground is known as the footprint 32.” and [0048] “mean footprint length”).
Regarding claim 7, Singh as modified by Wacker teaches all of the elements of the current invention in claim 1. Singh further discloses that the instructions, when executed, cause the at least one computing device to at least: transmit the particular tire position to at least one of a server environment, a client device, or any combination thereof (Singh [0063] “the identified location or positions of each sensor unit 26 and its respective tire 12A, 12B, 12C and 12D is transmitted from the output block 158 to a cloud-based server 160.”).
With respect to claims 8 – 10 and 12 - 14, all limitations have been examined with respect to the system in claims 1 – 3 and 5 - 7. The system taught/disclosed in claims 1 – 3 and 5 – 7 can clearly perform the method of claims 8 – 10 and 12 - 14. Therefore claims 8 – 10 and 12 – 14 are rejected under the same rationale.
Claim(s) 4 and 11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Singh in view of Wacker, further in view of US-20170246915-A1 to Besnoin et. al. (“Besnoin”).
Regarding claim 4, Singh as modified by Wacker teaches all of the elements of the current invention in claim 3. Singh as modified by Wacker does not teach that the sensor position detection device processes the tire sensor values in real-time based at least in part on a recursive least squares fitting process. However, Besnoin teaches that the sensor position detection device processes the tire sensor values in real-time based at least in part on a recursive least squares fitting process (Besnoin [0049] “Wear estimation methods may use the sensor data for utilizing vibration mode frequency shift as an indicator of the tire wear. Tire wear state may be recursively estimated by using a recursive least squares (RLS) algorithm formulated based on a polynomial model, capturing the dependencies between the tire wear state, inflation pressure, and/or the tire vertical mode frequency.”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention with a reasonable expectation of success to further incorporate the teachings of Besnoin to Singh as modified by Wacker such that the sensor position detection device processes the tire sensor values in real-time based at least in part on a recursive least squares fitting process. Doing so would allow for parameter dependencies to be captured in the model (Besnoin [0011]).
With respect to claim 11, all limitations have been examined with respect to the system in claim 4. The system taught/disclosed in claim 4 can clearly perform the method of claim 11. Therefore claim 11 is rejected under the same rationale.
Claim(s) 15-17 and 19-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Singh in view of Wacker, further in view of US-9469166-B2 to McIntyre et. al. (“McIntyre”).
Regarding claim 15, Singh teaches a system comprising: at least one computing device comprising at least one processor (Singh Claim 1); and at least one memory comprising instructions, when executed, cause the at least one computing device to at least (Singh [0034] – [0035]):
receive, by a sensor position detection device (Singh Abstract “A processor is in electronic communication with the sensor unit”), a plurality of tire sensor values from a tire sensor device (Singh Fig. 3A – 3B and [0039] “The sensor unit 26 includes wireless transmission means 44, such as an antenna, for wirelessly sending the sensed parameters 42 to a processor 46.” and Claim 1 “a sensor unit being mounted on the tire” ), wherein the plurality of tire sensor values are measured or calculated for a respective one of: a tire footprint length parameter (Singh Abstract “footprint length”), a longitudinal acceleration parameter, and lateral acceleration parameter (Singh [0039] - [0041] “output data 52 from the sensed parameters 26 are analyzed by an initial assessment module 50… The output data 52 may include, by way of example, tire footprint length 28, lateral acceleration of the vehicle 14, longitudinal acceleration of the vehicle”);
process, by the sensor position detection device, the plurality of tire sensor values for the tire footprint length parameter (Singh claim 1 “the processor receiving the measured footprint length; a driving event classifier executed on the processor, the driving event classifier employing the measured footprint length to determine the position of the tire on the vehicle”);
and assign, by the sensor position detection device, the tire sensor device to a particular tire position in relation to a vehicle (Singh Fig. 1 and claim 1 “generating a message correlating the sensor unit to the position of the tire on the vehicle.”).
Singh does not teach
processing, by the sensor position detection device, the plurality of tire sensor values for the longitudinal acceleration parameter, and the lateral acceleration parameter, wherein the sensor position detection device generates at least a longitudinal acceleration coefficient and a lateral acceleration coefficient;
and assigning, by the sensor position detection device, the tire sensor device to a particular tire position in relation to a vehicle based at least in part on a sign of the longitudinal acceleration coefficient and a sign of the lateral acceleration coefficient.
However, Wacker teaches
processing, by the sensor position detection device, the plurality of tire sensor values for the longitudinal acceleration parameter, and the lateral acceleration parameter, wherein the sensor position detection device generates at least a longitudinal acceleration coefficient and a lateral acceleration coefficient (Wacker (12) “the sign of the detected tangential acceleration will correspond to the side of the vehicle, with positive acceleration indicating location on the left side of the vehicle and negative acceleration indicating location on the right side of the vehicle.” & (18) – (20) “the front wheels 602, 604 turn to the right. This turning motion requires pivoting about an axis perpendicular to the x-axis and the z-axis of the x-z axes 626 in FIG. 7. This pivoting introduces a yaw acceleration which is detected as acceleration in the z direction, illustrated by the arrow 628 on the x-z axes 626. The rear wheels 606,608, which do not pivot or turn, experience no yaw acceleration. This is illustrated on the axes 630.”);
and assigning, by the sensor position detection device, the tire sensor device to a particular tire position in relation to a vehicle based at least in part on a sign of the longitudinal acceleration coefficient and a sign of the lateral acceleration coefficient (Wacker (12) “Once the receiver learns the sign of the acceleration and its associated side of the vehicle (right side or left side), the receiver can subsequently associate tire characteristic data received from that tire monitor with the position information appropriate for that tire monitor.” & (20) “Accordingly, by detecting acceleration experienced only by the front wheels, tire monitors associated with the front wheels can determine that they are positioned on a front wheel of a vehicle”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention with a reasonable expectation of success to have modified the system of Singh to incorporate the teachings of Wacker such that the system comprises processing, by the sensor position detection device, the plurality of tire sensor values for the longitudinal acceleration parameter, and the lateral acceleration parameter, wherein the sensor position detection device generates at least a longitudinal acceleration coefficient and a lateral acceleration coefficient; and assigning, by the sensor position detection device, the tire sensor device to a particular tire position in relation to a vehicle based at least in part on a sign of the longitudinal acceleration coefficient and a sign of the lateral acceleration coefficient. Doing so would allow for a fully automatic tire position detecting system and allows for the determining from acceleration data the position of the tire monitors on a vehicle (Wacker (8) – (10)).
Singh as modified by Wacker does not teach a non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions executable by at least one computing device, the instructions, when executed by the at least one computing device, causes the at least one computing device to at least perform the instructions. However, McIntyre teaches a non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions executable by at least one computing device, the instructions, when executed by the at least one computing device, causing the at least one computing device to at least perform the instructions (McIntyre Claim 15).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention with a reasonable expectation of success to further incorporate the teachings of McIntyre to Singh as modified by Wacker such that a non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions executable by at least one computing device, the instructions, when executed by the at least one computing device, causes the at least one computing device to at least perform the instructions is provided. Doing so would allow a method to be implemented through execution of computer readable program code (McIntyre Claim 15).
With respect to claims 16-17 and 19-20, Singh as modified by Wacker and McIntyre teaches all of the elements of the current invention in claim 15. Additionally, the limitations recited in claims 16-17 and 19-20 mirror the limitations recited in claims 2-3 and 5-6, which were rejected above. See the rejection of claims 2-3 and 5-6 above.
Claim(s) 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Singh in view of Wacker, further in view of McIntyre and Besnoin.
With respect to claim 18, Singh as modified by Wacker and McIntyre teaches all of the elements of the current invention in claim 17. Additionally, the limitations recited in claim 18 mirror the limitations recited in claim 4, which was rejected above using Besnoin. See the rejection of claim 4 above.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JASON TOAN NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)272-6163. The examiner can normally be reached M-T: 8-5:30 F1:8-12 F2: Off.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Scott Browne can be reached on 5712700151. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/J.N./Examiner, Art Unit 3666
/SCOTT A BROWNE/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3666