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 .
Response to Amendment
The amendment filed 06/17/2026 is acknowledged and entered. Claims 1-11 and 13-19 are pending.
The specification has been amended so that the previous drawing objections are overcome, therefore, the previous drawing objections are withdrawn.
Claim 11 has been amended so that the previous 112(b) rejection is overcome, therefore, the previous 112(b) rejection of claim 11 is withdrawn.
Claim 12 has been amended so that the previous 112(b) rejection is overcome, therefore, the previous 112(b) rejection of claim 12 is withdrawn.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see pages 9-11, filed 06/17/2026, with respect to the rejection of claim 1 under 35 U.S.C. 103 has been fully considered and is persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of James (US 20220170847 A1). James, related to a polarimeter, does teach a demultiplexing microlens array (Fig. 5: microlens array 520) +(Shown in Figs. 5 and 6 where a set of four images 600 is simultaneously captured by polarization imaging detector 500 where each image 602, 604, 606, and 608 is produced at different polarization state (e.g., 0, 45, -45, and 90 degrees) ([0054])). Please see detailed rejection below.
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.
Claims 1-3, 7-11, and 13-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Meng (US 20150373316 A1) in view of Pang (US 20210175270 A1) and McEldowney (US 20210333150 A1), and further in view of James (US 20220170847 A1).
Regarding Claim 1, Meng teaches a polarization imaging system comprising:
a camera (Fig. 1A: plenoptic imaging system 110), comprising:
a main lens (Fig. 1A: objective lens 112), wherein:
an aperture plane (Fig. 1A: SP’ where objective lens 112 is) of the main lens is overlaid with a multiplexed polarization filter ([0051]: A filter array is placed in the aperture plane where each filter occupies a portion of the main lens. Filter arrays 125 used can be polarization filters where the filter may be before, after, or in the middle of the imaging optics 112 [0030].);
the multiplexed polarization filter ([0030]: Filter 125 contains a number of spatially multiplexed filters 127A-127D where the filter can be a polarization filter) comprises a plurality of sub-filters ([0030] and shown in Fig. 1A: filter 125);
a detector array (Fig. 1A: sensor array 180), wherein the detector array comprises a plurality of sensor pixels (shown in Fig. 1A); and
a microlens array (Fig. 1A: microlens array 114 [0029]) comprising a plurality of microlenses overlaid over the detector array (shown in Fig. 1A where microlens array 114 is overlaid in front of the sensor array 180), wherein:
the microlens array is placed at a focal plane of the main lens (shown in Fig. 1A with light ray tracing);
and each microlens of the plurality of microlenses is:
unfiltered (Fig. 1A: there are no filters in front of microlens array 114); and
configured to direct incident light to a distinct subset of the plurality of sensor pixels (shown in Figs. 1A);
a memory (memory from [0079]), wherein the memory stores:
image data from the plurality of sensor pixels ([0079]); and
instructions for processing the image data ([0079]);
and a processor (processing module 190 from [0034]) configured to execute the instructions to process the image data ([0034]).
Meng appears to be silent to the camera is an autofocus sensor.
Pang, related to polarization imaging, does teach that the camera is an autofocus sensor ([0016]: “Advantageously, embodiments described herein provide a single sensor solution for dense and omni-directional phase difference calculations for substantially instant autofocus.”; [0018]: “Components of image sensor 100 are optically aligned to form the plurality of subpixels 103 and plurality of polarization pixels 104 of image sensor 100 for capturing images (e.g., color images, depth map images, video, and the like) while also providing phase detection auto focus.”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify Meng so that the camera is an autofocus sensor, as disclosed by Pang. Autofocus cameras are known in the field of endeavor. Therefore, one of ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to combine prior art elements (image sensor) according to known methods (image sensor with autofocus) to yield predictable results (For optimizing automatic focusing on object to be imaged/detected) (MPEP 2143 (I)(A)).
Meng modified by Pang appears to be silent to the multiplexed polarization filter comprises a plurality of sub-filters and each sub-filter of the plurality of sub-filters follows a distinct polarization angle.
McEldowney, related to a polarimetric imaging camera, does teach that the multiplexed polarization filter (Figs. 7A, 7B, and 8B: polarization filter 728-734 described in [0091] where a polarization filter may be formed over a sub-pixel) comprises a plurality of sub-filters (Fig. 8B: unit cells [0098]) and each sub-filter of the plurality of sub-filters follows a distinct polarization angle (Shown in Figs. 7A, 7B, and 8B and described in [0092]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify Meng combined with Pang so that the multiplexed polarization filter comprises a plurality of sub-filters and each sub-filter of the plurality of sub-filters follows a distinct polarization angle, as disclosed by McEldowney. The multiplexed polarization filter comprising a plurality of sub-filters and each sub-filter of the plurality of sub-filters follows a distinct polarization angle has the advantage of extracting information relating to polarization of received light which can provide more insight to be obtained from an imaged scene as compared to regular color images ([0002] from McEldowney).
Meng does disclose in [0034] that a multiplexed image 170 (shown in Fig. 1B) can be processed by a processing module to reconstruct desired images of the object where the processing could be deinterleaving and demultiplexing.
However, Meng modified by Pang and McEldowney appears to be silent to having a demultiplexing microlens array.
James, related to a polarimeter, does teach a demultiplexing microlens array (Microlens array 520 is shown in Fig. 5. Fig. 6 shows how the microlens array 520 demultiplexes where a set of four images 600 is simultaneously captured by polarization imaging detector 500 where each image 602, 604, 606, and 608 is produced at different polarization state (e.g., 0, 45, -45, and 90 degrees) ([0054])).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify Meng combined with Pang and McEldowney to incorporate a demultiplexing microlens array. The advantage of having a demultiplexing microlens array is that ellipsometry measurements are enabled without moving polarizers ([0054] from James).
Regarding Claim 2, Meng modified by Pang, McEldowney and James teaches the polarization imaging system of claim 1.
Meng modified by Pang, McEldowney, and James further teaches that processing the image data comprises deriving, from the image data, a plurality of sub-aperture images (Meng, Fig. 1B: multiplexed image 170 [0029] and [0032]); and
each sub-aperture image of the plurality of sub-aperture images corresponds to a particular sub-filter of the plurality of sub-filters (McEldowney, Figs. 7A, 7B, and 8B: polarization filter 728-734 [0091-0093]).
Regarding Claim 3, Meng modified by Pang, McEldowney, and James teaches the polarization imaging system of claim 2.
Meng modified by Pang, McEldowney and James further teaches that the plurality of sub-aperture images comprises a plurality of polarized views of a singular perspective of a scene (Meng, [0004]: “A spectrally coded plenoptic camera can collect multispectral images in a single snapshot by use of a filter array in the pupil plane of the main lens.” This is shown in Fig. 1A where the filter array 125 can be a polarizer filter array [0030]); and
the singular perspective is captured by the camera in a single shot (Meng, [0004]).
Regarding Claim 7, Meng modified by Pang, McEldowney, and James teaches the polarization imaging system of claim 2.
Meng modified by Pang, McEldowney, and James further teaches demultiplexing microlenses (Figs. 5 and 6: microlens array 520 [0052-0054])
Meng modified by Pang, McEldowney, and James (for claim 2) appears to be silent to the distinct subset of the plurality of sensor pixels, that each microlens of the plurality of microlenses directs incident light to, comprises a sensor pixel associated with each sub-filter of the plurality of sub-filters.
McEldowney, related to polarization imaging, does teach that the distinct subset of the plurality of sensor pixels (Figs. 6, 7A-7C, and 8B: sensor pixels 612-618, 720-722, and 814-820), that each microlens of the plurality of microlenses (Fig. 6: microlens 620 [0081], Fig. 7A: microlens 702-704 [0087]) directs incident light to, comprises a sensor pixel associated with each sub-filter of the plurality of sub-filters (shown in Figs. 6-8B and described in [0081] and Abstract).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify Meng combined with Pang, McEldowney, and James (for claim 2) so that the distinct subset of the plurality of sensor pixels, that each microlens of the plurality of microlenses directs incident light to, comprises a sensor pixel associated with each sub-filter of the plurality of sub-filters, as disclosed by McEldowney. The above-mentioned configuration is well-known in the field of endeavor, therefore, one of ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to combine prior art elements (microlenses, sensor pixels, and plurality of sub-filters) according to known methods (so there is a distinct subset of a plurality of sensor pixels where a sensor pixel is associated with each sub-filter of a plurality of sub-filters) to yield predictable results (for polarization imaging) (MPEP 2143 (I)(A)).
Regarding Claim 8, Meng modified by Pang, McEldowney, and James teaches the polarization imaging system of claim 7.
Meng modified by Pang, McEldowney, and James further teaches that the sensor pixel (McEldowney, sub-pixels from Abstract) associated with a given sub-filter of the plurality of sub-filters (McEldowney, polarization filter from [0091]; Abstract) is sensitive to an orientation angle of the given sub-filter (McEldowney, Abstract and shown in Figs. 7B and 8B [0092]).
Regarding Claim 9, Meng modified by Pang, McEldowney, and James teaches the polarization imaging system of claim 7.
Meng modified by Pang, McEldowney, and James further teaches that deriving, from the image data, a first sub-aperture image of the plurality of sub-aperture images (Meng, images from Figs. 4A-4B) comprises:
for each demultiplexing microlens (James, Figs. 5 and 6: microlens array 520 [0052-0054]) of the plurality of demultiplexing microlenses, locating a corresponding sensor pixel, of the distinct subset of the plurality of sensor pixels, where the corresponding sensor pixel is associated with a first sub-filter of the plurality of sub-filters (McEldowney, Abstract); and
digitally combining the image data of the corresponding sensor pixels associated with the first sub-filter into the first sub-aperture image (Meng, images from Figs. 4A-4B and Fig. 1 which shows how multiplexed optical images are produced [0032]).
Regarding Claim 10, Meng modified by Pang, McEldowney, and James teaches the polarization imaging system of claim 9.
Meng modified by Pang, McEldowney, and James further teaches that for the first sub-aperture image, a relative position of each demultiplexing microlens (James, Figs. 5 and 6: microlens array 520 [0052-0054]) in the demultiplexing microlens array is equivalent to a relative position of the corresponding sensor pixel associated with the first sub-filter in the first sub-aperture image (McEldowney, described in Abstract and shown in Figs. 6, 7, and 8B).
Regarding Claim 11, Meng modified by Pang, McEldowney, and James teaches the polarization imaging system of claim 1.
Meng modified by Pang, McEldowney, and James further teaches that the main lens (Meng, Fig. 1A: imaging optics 112) is a singular lens (Meng, [0029]: imaging optics 112 can be a single objective lens.).
Regarding Claim 13, Meng modified by Pang, McEldowney, and James teaches the polarization imaging system of claim 1.
Meng modified by Pang, McEldowney, and James further teaches that the main lens (Meng, Fig. 1A: imaging optics 112) is a lens stack comprising a plurality of lens elements (Meng, [0029]: “For convenience, the imaging optics 112 is depicted in FIG. 1A as a single objective lens, but it should be understood that it could contain multiple elements.”).
Regarding Claim 14, Meng modified by Pang, McEldowney, and James teaches the polarization imaging system of claim 1.
Meng modified by Pang, McEldowney, and James further teaches that the plurality of sub-filters comprises:
a first sub-filter with a polarization orientation angle of 0° (McEldowney, Fig. 7B: linear polarizer 730);
a second sub-filter with a polarization orientation angle of 45° (McEldowney, Fig. 7B: linear polarizer 734);
a third sub-filter with a polarization orientation angle of 90° (McEldowney, Fig. 7B: linear polarizer 728); and
a fourth sub-filter with a polarization orientation angle of 135° (McEldowney, Fig. 7B: linear polarizer 732).
Regarding Claim 15, Meng modified by Pang, McEldowney, and James teaches the polarization imaging system of claim 1.
Meng modified by Pang, McEldowney, and James further teaches that the distinct subset of the plurality of sensor pixels follows a rectangle grouping (Meng, Sensory array 180 shown in Fig. 1A [0031]).
Meng modified by Pang, McEldowney, and James (for claim 1) appears to be silent to the distinct subset of the plurality of sensor pixels follows a square grouping.
McEldowney, related to polarization imaging, does teach that the distinct subset of the plurality of sensor pixels follows a square grouping (shown in Fig. 6 and described in [0080] where superpixel 610 comprises four sub-pixels 612-618 arranged in a 2x2 array.; Fig. 8B: unit cell 812).).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify Meng combined with Pang, McEldowney, and James (for claim 1) so that the distinct subset of the plurality of sensor pixels follows a square grouping, as disclosed by McEldowney. Sensor pixels following a square grouping is well-known in the field of endeavor, therefore, one of ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to combine prior art elements (sensor pixel groupings) according to known methods (sensor pixel groupings to be square groupings) to yield predictable results (for image detection and analysis using a super pixel ([0080] from McEldowney)) (MPEP 2143 (I)(A)).
Regarding Claim 16, Meng modified by Pang, McEldowney, and James teaches the polarization imaging system of claim 15.
Meng modified by Pang, McEldowney, and James further teaches that the square grouping is a 2 x 2 configuration of sensor pixels (McEldowney, shown in Fig. 6 and described in [0080] where superpixel 610 comprises four sub-pixels 612-618 arranged in a 2x2 array.; Fig. 8B: unit cell 812).
Regarding Claim 17, Meng modified by Pang, McEldowney, and James teaches the polarization imaging system of claim 1.
Meng modified by Pang, McEldowney, and James further teaches that the autofocus sensor is a phase-detection autofocus sensor (Pang, phase detection auto focus from [0016]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4-6 and 18 are 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 4, Meng modified by Pang, McEldowney, and James teaches the polarization imaging system of claim 3.
Meng modified by Pang, McEldowney, and James further teaches that processing the image data further comprises obtaining, from the plurality of polarized views, a set of depth cues (Meng, Abstract: Invention obtains depth maps which would derive from depth information where depth information necessarily has depth cues as depth cues are required to obtain depth information and depth maps.) for multiple multiview images (Meng, [0007-0008]).
Meng modified by Pang, McEldowney, and James does not teach that the processing of the image data further comprises obtaining, from the plurality of polarized views, a set of depth cues for the singular perspective.
Mceldowney 2 (US 20210084284 A1), related to polarization imaging, does teach that the processing of the image data further comprises obtaining, from the plurality of polarized views (shown in Figs. 2-3), a set of depth cues for the singular perspective ([0073]: “Consistent with the disclosure, the stereo polarization capture device 100 may obtain the RGB images, the polarization parameters (e.g., DOLP and AOLP), and the depth information in one shot.”). However, Mceldowney 2’s invention is related to a stereo polarization capture device ([0073]) which is not compatible with Meng’s invention where Meng recites in [0047] that the traditional stereo technique is not compatible with Meng’s method for estimating depth. Therefore, one of ordinary skill in the art would not have found it obvious to modify Meng combined with Pang and McEldowney so that that the processing of the image data further comprises obtaining, from the plurality of polarized views, a set of depth cues for the singular perspective, as disclosed by Mceldowney 2.
As to Claim 4, the prior art of record, taken either alone or in combination, fails to disclose or render obvious a polarization imaging system comprising a process where processing the image data further comprises obtaining, from the plurality of polarized views, a set of depth cutes for the singular perspective, in combination with the rest of the limitations in Claim 4.
Claims 5-6 would be allowed by virtue of their dependence on claim 4.
Regarding Claim 18, Meng modified by Pang, McEldowney, and James teaches the polarization imaging system of claim 1.
Meng modified by Pang, McEldowney, and James further teaches that processing the image data further comprises
deriving, from the image data, a plurality of polarized views of a singular perspective of a scene, the singular perspective captured by the camera in a single shot (James, Shown in Fig. 5 and 6 and described in [0054]), and
wherein the polarized view of the plurality of polarized views corresponds to a particular sub-filter of the plurality of sub-filters (James, shown in Figs. 5 and 6); and
obtaining, from the plurality of polarized views, a set of depth cues (Meng, Abstract: Invention obtains depth maps which would derive from depth information where depth information necessarily has depth cues as depth cues are required to obtain depth information and depth maps.) for multiple multiview images (Meng, [0007-0008]).
Meng modified by Pang, McEldowney, and James does not teach that the processing of the image data further comprises obtaining, from the plurality of polarized views, a set of depth cues for the singular perspective.
Mceldowney 2 (US 20210084284 A1), related to polarization imaging, does teach that the processing of the image data further comprises obtaining, from the plurality of polarized views (shown in Figs. 2-3), a set of depth cues for the singular perspective ([0073]: “Consistent with the disclosure, the stereo polarization capture device 100 may obtain the RGB images, the polarization parameters (e.g., DOLP and AOLP), and the depth information in one shot.”). However, Mceldowney 2’s invention is related to a stereo polarization capture device ([0073]) which is not compatible with Meng’s invention where Meng recites in [0047] that the traditional stereo technique is not compatible with Meng’s method for estimating depth. Therefore, one of ordinary skill in the art would not have found it obvious to modify Meng combined with Pang, McEldowney, and James so that that the processing of the image data further comprises obtaining, from the plurality of polarized views, a set of depth cues for the singular perspective, as disclosed by Mceldowney 2.
As to Claim 18, the prior art of record, taken either alone or in combination, fails to disclose or render obvious a polarization imaging system comprising a process where processing the image data further comprises obtaining, from the plurality of polarized views, a set of depth cutes for the singular perspective, in combination with the rest of the limitations in Claim 18.
Claim 19 is allowed.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Regarding Claim 19, Meng (US 20150373316 A1) teaches a polarization imaging system comprising:
a camera (Fig. 1A: plenoptic imaging system 110), comprising:
a main lens (Fig. 1A: objective lens 112), wherein:
an aperture plane (Fig. 1A: SP’ where objective lens 112 is) of the main lens is overlaid with a multiplexed polarization filter ([0051]: A filter array is placed in the aperture plane where each filter occupies a portion of the main lens. Filter arrays 125 used can be polarization filters where the filter may be before, after, or in the middle of the imaging optics 112 [0030].);
the multiplexed polarization filter ([0030]: Filter 125 contains a number of spatially multiplexed filters 127A-127D where the filter can be a polarization filter) comprises a plurality of sub-filters ([0030] and shown in Fig. 1A: filter 125);
a detector array (Fig. 1A: sensor array 180), wherein the detector array comprises a plurality of sensor pixels (shown in Fig. 1A); and
a microlens array (Fig. 1A: microlens array 114 [0029]) comprising a plurality of microlenses overlaid over the detector array (shown in Fig. 1A where microlens array 114 is overlaid in front of the sensor array 180), wherein:
the microlens array is placed at a focal plane of the main lens (shown in Fig. 1A with light ray tracing);
and each microlens of the plurality of microlenses is:
unfiltered (Fig. 1A: there are no filters in front of microlens array 114); and
configured to direct incident light to a distinct subset of the plurality of sensor pixels (shown in Figs. 1A);
a memory (memory from [0079]), wherein the memory stores:
image data from the plurality of sensor pixels ([0079]); and
instructions for processing the image data ([0079]) comprising;
deriving, from the image data, a plurality of sub-aperture images ([0030]: Fig. 1A shows element 125 as a rectangular array of filters 127 which can be polarization filters.),
wherein each sub-aperture image of the plurality of sub-aperture images corresponds to a particular sub-filter of the plurality of sub-filters (shown in Figs. 1A-1B and described in [0030] where a rectangular array of filters 127 can be polarization filters), and
wherein the plurality of sub-aperture images comprises a plurality of polarized views of a singular perspective of a scene, the singular perspective captured by the camera in a single shot scene ([0004]: “A spectrally coded plenoptic camera can collect multispectral images in a single snapshot by use of a filter array in the pupil plane of the main lens.” This is shown in Fig. 1A where the filter array 125 can be a polarizer filter array [0030]); and
obtaining, from the plurality of polarized views, a set of depth cues (Abstract: Invention obtains depth maps which would derive from depth information where depth information necessarily has depth cues as depth cues are required to obtain depth information and depth maps.) for multiple multiview images (Meng, [0007-0008]); and
a processor (processing module 190 from [0034]) configured to execute the instructions to process the image data ([0034]).
Meng appears to be silent to the camera is an autofocus sensor.
Pang (US 20210175270 A1), related to polarization imaging, does teach that the camera is an autofocus sensor ([0016]: “Advantageously, embodiments described herein provide a single sensor solution for dense and omni-directional phase difference calculations for substantially instant autofocus.”; [0018]: “Components of image sensor 100 are optically aligned to form the plurality of subpixels 103 and plurality of polarization pixels 104 of image sensor 100 for capturing images (e.g., color images, depth map images, video, and the like) while also providing phase detection auto focus.”).
Meng modified by Pang appears to be silent to the multiplexed polarization filter comprises a plurality of sub-filters and each sub-filter of the plurality of sub-filters follows a distinct polarization angle.
McEldowney (US 20210333150 A1), related to a polarimetric imaging camera, does teach that the multiplexed polarization filter (Figs. 7A, 7B, and 8B: polarization filter 728-734 described in [0091] where a polarization filter may be formed over a sub-pixel) comprises a plurality of sub-filters (Fig. 8B: unit cells [0098]) and each sub-filter of the plurality of sub-filters follows a distinct polarization angle (Shown in Figs. 7A, 7B, and 8B and described in [0092]).
Meng modified by Pang and McEldowney does not teach that the processing of the image data further comprises obtaining, from the plurality of polarized views, a set of depth cues for the singular perspective.
Mceldowney 2 (US 20210084284 A1), related to polarization imaging, does teach that the processing of the image data further comprises obtaining, from the plurality of polarized views (shown in Figs. 2-3), a set of depth cues for the singular perspective ([0073]: “Consistent with the disclosure, the stereo polarization capture device 100 may obtain the RGB images, the polarization parameters (e.g., DOLP and AOLP), and the depth information in one shot.”). However, Mceldowney 2’s invention is related to a stereo polarization capture device ([0073]) which is not compatible with Meng’s invention where Meng recites in [0047] that the traditional stereo technique is not compatible with Meng’s method for estimating depth. Therefore, one of ordinary skill in the art would not have found it obvious to modify Meng combined with Pang and McEldowney so that that the processing of the image data further comprises obtaining, from the plurality of polarized views, a set of depth cues for the singular perspective, as disclosed by Mceldowney 2.
As to Claim 19, the prior art of record, taken either alone or in combination, fails to disclose or render obvious a polarization imaging system comprising a process where processing the image data further comprises obtaining, from the plurality of polarized views, a set of depth cutes for the singular perspective, in combination with the rest of the limitations in Claim 19.
Other References Considered but not Cited
Borel (US 20170302839 A1), related to imaging, teaches that a raw image can be demosaiced then de-multiplexed ([0002]).
Kudo (US 20170054893 A1), related to imaging, teaches that a light flux is demultiplexed by a micro lens ([0032]).
Yokozeki (US 20160295100 A1), related to imaging, teaches that a luminous flux is demultiplexed by a micro lens ([0039]).
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/JUDY DAO TRAN/Examiner, Art Unit 2877
/MICHELLE M IACOLETTI/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2877
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