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 .
DETAILED ACTION
This action is in response to the amendment filed August 10, 2026.
Claims 1, 13, and 20 have been amended and claim 12 has been canceled.
Claims 1-11 and 13-20 have been examined and are pending with this action.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed August 10, 2026, with respect to the rejection of claims 1-3, 6-11, 13-15, and 18-20, previously rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) and 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Wang et al. (US 2024/0118784 A1), have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of Sylvain et al. (US 7,840,668 B1).
In response to applicant's arguments against the references individually, one cannot show nonobviousness by attacking references individually where the rejections are based on combinations of references. See In re Keller, 642 F.2d 413, 208 USPQ 871 (CCPA 1981); In re Merck & Co., 800 F.2d 1091, 231 USPQ 375 (Fed. Cir. 1986).
The applicant seems to be arguing neither Wang nor Bergkvist teach the claimed element of “establishing a session between a user and an organization within a virtual environment, wherein the session is based at least in part on a distance between a first avatar and a second avatar within the virtual environment, wherein the distance corresponds to an area surrounding the second avatar or a boundary of a virtual space associated with the organization, or both”. The examiner disagrees.
Wang explicitly discloses, teaches, and/or suggests establishing a session between a user and an organization within a virtual environment. Want teaches in paragraph [0070], “It will be appreciated that the network connections shown are example and other means of establishing a communications link between the computers can be used”, and in paragraph [0075], “Data sessions can comprise traffic, or content(s), exchanged with networks external to the mobile network platform 510, like wide area network(s) (WANs) 550, enterprise network(s) 570, and service network(s) 580, which can be embodied in local area network(s) (LANs),… Based on radio technology layer(s) available in technology resource(s) or radio access network 520, PS gateway node(s) 518 can generate packet data protocol contexts when a data session is established; other data structures that facilitate routing of packetized data also can be generated.”, emphasis added.
Furthermore, it is well-known, routine, and conventional for establishing a communication session. Establishing a communication session requires a trigger to instantiate the session, such as a request or some other means, which includes the exchange of data such as parameters, metrics, or values comprising plurality of subjective or necessary information. Wang does not explicitly teach such parameters, metrics, or values, however, Bergkvist does. Clearly, a simple substitution of a trigger data (i.e., “distance value”) is well-known, routine and conventional and obvious.
Nonetheless in the interest of expediting prosecution, Sylvain et al. (US 7,840,668 B1) has been cited to better and more explicitly teach this limitation. Sylvain not only teaches establishing a session, but Sylvain also teaches establishing a session based on the distance between the two participants. Please see rejections below.
For these reasons and the rejections set forth below, claims 1-11 and 13-20 remain rejected and pending.
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.
6. Claims 1-3, 6-11, 13-15, and 18-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang et al. (US 2024/0118784 A1) in view of Sylvain et al. (US 7,840,668 B1).
INDEPENDENT:
As per claim 1, Wang teaches a method, comprising:
establishing a session between a user and an organization within a virtual environment, wherein the session is based at least in part on a first avatar and a second avatar within the virtual environment (see Wang, Abstract: “assessing, by the processing system and based on the obtaining, a validity of the assertion relative to a threshold, and authorizing, by the processing system and based on the assessing, a first action to be taken by the first avatar, a second action to be taken by a second avatar of a second user, or a combination thereof.”; [0036]: “The network may be associated with an issuer of one or more badges or identification cards. For example, and in an employment context/setting, the issuer may correspond to an employer of the first user. More generally, the network (or an entity or party associated therewith) may be empowered to validate or verify the accuracy of an assertion (an example of which is an identity) that is made by, e.g., the first user, as described further below.”; [0070]: “It will be appreciated that the network connections shown are example and other means of establishing a communications link between the computers can be used”; and [0075]: “”In addition to receiving and processing CS-switched traffic and signaling, PS gateway node(s) 518 can authorize and authenticate PS-based data sessions with served mobile devices. Data sessions can comprise traffic, or content(s), exchanged with networks external to the mobile network platform 510, like wide area network(s) (WANs) 550, enterprise network(s) 570, and service network(s) 580, which can be embodied in local area network(s) (LANs)… Based on radio technology layer(s) available in technology resource(s) or radio access network 520, PS gateway node(s) 518 can generate packet data protocol contexts when a data session is established; other data structures that facilitate routing of packetized data also can be generated. To that end, in an aspect, PS gateway node(s) 518 can comprise a tunnel interface (e.g., tunnel termination gateway (TTG) in 3GPP UMTS network(s) (not shown)) which can facilitate packetized communication with disparate wireless network(s), such as Wi-Fi networks.);
receiving, based at least in part on establishing the session, information associated with at least one account provided by the organization to the user (see Wang, [0028]: “As shown in FIG. 2A, the first user 202a may have a badge 206a that happens to capture her preferences in the moment (e.g., use of the name “Chris” 206a-1, an image or avatar 206a-2 that captures her current hairstyle). The badge 206a may also include an identifier of the 3P communication services provider 206a-3. The badge 206a might not be a physical badge in a traditional/conventional sense, but may encompass data/information that may be presented via a communications device 210a associated with the first user 202a.”);
verifying, via a first sequence of processes, an identifier and the information associated with the at least one account, wherein the identifier is associated with a representative of the organization, and wherein verification of the identifier and the information is based at least in part on respective data validated against one or more distributed ledgers (see Wang, [0014]: “One or more aspects of the subject disclosure include, in whole or in part, authenticating a first user to a network via a first communication device; obtaining, based on the authenticating, an indication of an interaction of the first user within a virtual world of the network; identifying a context, a condition, or a combination thereof, surrounding the interaction, resulting in a first identification; identifying, based on the first identification, a first group or a first entity for assessing the interaction, resulting in a second identification; and invoking an action based on the second identification”; [0029]: “The data/information associated with the badge 206a may be sourced or obtained from a first database, distributed ledger, or the like, as represented by reference character 220a.”; [0031]: “The second user may be able to verify the contents of the badge 206a by matching the contents of the badge 206a to corresponding (hash) values within the second ledger 240a (as obtained directly by the second user from the 3P communications service provider—e.g., without intervention/involvement on the part of the first user 202a).”; and [0032]: “For example, upon arrival at what is notionally the second user's residence (in a physical/real-world context or in a virtual context) the first user 202a may present to the second user 204a a partial badge (e.g., a badge that includes only an employee ID number for the first user 202a). The second user 204a may provide a security code (e.g., a signature, a personal identification number [PIN], a password, or the like) that is to be associated with the first user 202a or the partial badge, as part of request on the part of the second user 204a to the first user 202a to demonstrate that the first user 202a is, in fact, who she claims to be. The first user 202a (or associated device 210a) may authenticate herself to the second ledger 240a and, based on a successful authentication, may be authorized to implement the security code as part of a modified partial badge.”);
authenticating, via a second sequence of processes, the first avatar based at least in part on the first sequence of processes being successful, wherein the second sequence of processes uses information from the one or more distributed ledgers (see Wang, [0017]: “system 100 can facilitate in whole or in part authenticating a first user to a network via a first communication device, obtaining, based on the authenticating, an indication of an interaction of the first user within a virtual world of the network, identifying a context, a condition, or a combination thereof, surrounding the interaction, resulting in a first identification, identifying, based on the first identification, a first group or a first entity for assessing the interaction, resulting in a second identification, and invoking an action based on the second identification. System 100 can facilitate in whole or in part assessing a validity of a first assertion of a first user in a first virtual world of a metaverse via a first entity, determining, subsequent to the assessing of the validity of the first assertion, that the first user has migrated from the first virtual world to a second virtual world of the metaverse, the second virtual world being different from the first virtual world, obtaining, based on the determining, an indication of a second assertion of the first user in the second virtual world, and selecting, based on the obtaining, a second entity for assessing a validity of the second assertion, the second entity being different from the first entity.”); and
indicating, within the virtual environment, that the first avatar and the second avatar are verified based at least in part on the second sequence of processes being successful (see Wang, [0028]: “The data/information may be presented visually using a display 214a of the communications device 210a; in some embodiments the data/information may be at least partially presented in an audio manner, such as for example via a speaker 216a.”; and [0093]: “The generating, obtaining and/or monitoring of this information can be responsive to an authorization provided by the user. In one or more embodiments, an analysis of data can be subject to authorization from user(s) associated with the data, such as an opt-in, an opt-out, acknowledgement requirements, notifications, selective authorization based on types of data, and so forth.”).
Although Wang explicitly teaches establishing a session based at least in part on a first avatar and a second avatar within the virtual environment, Wang does not explicitly teach based in part on a distance between the first avatar and the second avatar, and wherein the distance corresponds to an area surrounding the second avatar or a boundary of a virtual space associated with the organization, or both.
Sylvain teaches establishing a session based at least in part on a distance between the first avatar and the second avatar, and wherein the distance corresponds to an area surrounding the second avatar or a boundary of a virtual space associated with the organization, or both (see Sylvain, Figure 3; col.4, lines 19-25: “In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the virtual environment server 14 is affiliated with a communication server 28 to enable communication sessions to be selectively established between participants in the virtual environment. The communication server may interface with communication clients 30 on the user computers to enable communication sessions to be established between participants.”; col.5, lines 14-21: “As shown in FIG. 3, where both Avatars are set to connect automatically, the distance between the Avatars may be used to control establishment of the audio connection between the participants. The use of distance to enable audio connection simulates the real world, in which people are accustomed to talking with each other while in the same room, but not when separated by a great distance”; and col.6, lines 52-65: “Thus, for example, where a connection is disconnected the virtual environment server may require the Avatars to move away from each other beyond the disconnect distance and then re-approach each other before allowing a new connection to be established. Alternatively, the virtual environment server may impose a time restriction to prevent a new connection from being established between the two users, for example for several seconds. Still alternatively, the virtual environment server may disable the auto-connect mechanism for the particular Avatars that were previously associated with a communication session to require those Avatars to connect manually with each other for a period of time. Other methods of preventing unintended automatic reconnect may be implemented as well.”).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the system of Wang in view of Sylvain by implementing establishing a session based at least in part on a distance between the first avatar and the second avatar, and wherein the distance corresponds to an area surrounding the second avatar or a boundary of a virtual space associated with the organization, or both. One would be motivated to do so because such an implementation would enable communication between/among the avatars like in a real-world environment (see Sylvain, col.2, lines 35-40: “When participants encounter each other in the virtual environment, they may desire to communicate with each other, much as people would like to communicate in the real world. The communication may be a simple wave, nod, or other gesture, a simple hello, or optionally the participants may want to converse with each other.”).
As per claim 13, Wang and Sylvain teach a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing code, the code comprising instructions executable by one or more processors (see Wang, [0058]: “Computer-readable storage media can comprise, but are not limited to, random access memory (RAM), read only memory (ROM), electrically erasable programmable read only memory (EEPROM), flash memory or other memory technology, compact disk read only memory (CD-ROM), digital versatile disk (DVD) or other optical disk storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices or other tangible and/or non-transitory media which can be used to store desired information. In this regard, the terms “tangible” or “non-transitory” herein as applied to storage, memory or computer-readable media, are to be understood to exclude only propagating transitory signals per se as modifiers and do not relinquish rights to all standard storage, memory or computer-readable media that are not only propagating transitory signals per se.”) to:
establish a session between a user and an organization within a virtual environment, wherein the session is based at least in part on a distance between with a first avatar and a second avatar within the virtual environment, wherein the distance corresponds to an area surrounding the second avatar or a boundary of a virtual space associated with the organization, or both (see Claim 1 rejection above);
receive, based at least in part on establishing the session, information associated with at least one account provided by the organization to the user (see Claim 1 rejection above);
verify, via a first sequence of processes, an identifier and the information associated with the at least one account, wherein the identifier is associated with a representative of the organization, and wherein verification of the identifier and the information is based at least in part on respective data validated against one or more distributed ledgers (see Claim 1 rejection above);
authenticate, via a second sequence of processes, the first avatar based at least in part on the first sequence of processes being successful, wherein the second sequence of processes uses information from the one or more distributed ledgers (see Claim 1 rejection above); and
indicate, within the virtual environment, that the first avatar and the second avatar are verified based at least in part on the second sequence of processes being successful (see Claim 1 rejection above).
As per claim 20, Wang and Sylvain teach an apparatus, comprising:
memory (see Wang, [0035]: “In some embodiments, the blocks or operations may be embodied as instructions that may be stored by/in a memory, a computer-readable storage medium, or the like. The instructions may be executed by one or more processing systems to facilitate the operations; each processing system may include one or more processors.”); and
one or more processors coupled with the memory and configured to cause (see Wang, [0053]: “Each of these devices can be implemented via computer-executable instructions that can run on one or more computers, and/or in combination with other program modules and/or as a combination of hardware and software.”) the apparatus to:
establish a session between a user and an organization within a virtual environment, wherein the session is based at least in part on a distance between a first avatar and a second avatar within the virtual environment, wherein the distance corresponds to an area surrounding the second avatar or a boundary of a virtual space associated with the organization, or both (see Claim 1 rejection above);
receive, based at least in part on establishing the session, information associated with at least one account provided by the organization to the user (see Claim 1 rejection above);
verify, via a first sequence of processes, an identifier and the information associated with the at least one account, wherein the identifier is associated with a representative of the organization, and wherein verification of the identifier and the information is based at least in part on respective data validated against one or more distributed ledgers (see Claim 1 rejection above);
authenticate, via a second sequence of processes, the first avatar based at least in part on the first sequence of processes being successful, wherein the second sequence of processes uses information from the one or more distributed ledgers (see Claim 1 rejection above); and
indicate, within the virtual environment, that the first avatar and the second avatar are verified based at least in part on the second sequence of processes being successful (see Claim 1 rejection above).
DEPENDENT:
As per claims 2 and 14, which respectively depend on claims 1 and 13, Wang teaches further comprising:
transmitting, to a system providing the one or more distributed ledgers, a first application programming interface (API) call indicating the information associated with the at least one account (see Wang, [0047]: “In various embodiments, this cloud networking architecture is an open architecture that leverages application programming interfaces (APIs); reduces complexity from services and operations; supports more nimble business models; and rapidly and seamlessly scales to meet evolving customer requirements including traffic growth, diversity of traffic types, and diversity of performance and reliability expectations.”; and [0052]: “The cloud computing environments 375 can interface with the virtualized network function cloud 325 via APIs that expose functional capabilities of the VNEs 330, 332, 334, etc. to provide the flexible and expanded capabilities to the virtualized network function cloud 325. In particular, network workloads may have applications distributed across the virtualized network function cloud 325 and cloud computing environment 375 and in the commercial cloud, or might simply orchestrate workloads supported entirely in NFV infrastructure from these third party locations.”);
receiving a hash key from the system in accordance with the first API call (see Wang, [0043]: “As set forth herein, responsibilities for assessing the validity of a statement or assertion may be allocated to one or more groups or entities. In some embodiments, the universe at large may hold or possess a hash ledger, and a group or entity may be allocated the responsibility for signing-off on, or attesting to the validity of, the statement/assertion. In other embodiments, the group or entity itself may hold or possess the hash ledger. In some embodiments, the group or entity may be compensated for assessing the validity of the assertion, maintaining the hash ledger, etc.”);
transmitting, to the system, a second API call comprising the hash key and the identifier of the representative (see Wang, [0031]: “The second user may be able to verify the contents of the badge 206a by matching the contents of the badge 206a to corresponding (hash) values within the second ledger 240a (as obtained directly by the second user from the 3P communications service provider—e.g., without intervention/involvement on the part of the first user 202a).”); and
receiving, from the system, a message indicating whether the hash key and the identifier are validated against the one or more distributed ledgers, wherein the first sequence of processes is successful based at least in part on receiving the message indicating that the hash key and the identifier are validated against the one or more distributed ledgers (see Wang, [0043]: “In some embodiments, the group or entity may be compensated for assessing the validity of the assertion, maintaining the hash ledger, etc.”; and Claim 1 rejection above).
As per claims 3 and 15, which respectively depend on claims 1 and 13, Wang teaches further comprising:
transmitting, to a system providing the one or more distributed ledgers, a third application programming interface (API) call comprising a request for the information from the one or more distributed ledgers (see Claim 2 rejection above);
receiving, from the system, a message indicating the information from the one or more distributed ledgers (see Claim 2 rejection above); and
transmitting the information from the one or more distributed ledgers, wherein the second sequence of processes is successful based at least in part on one or more actions performed by the first avatar within the virtual environment in response to the information from the one or more distributed ledgers (see Claim 2 rejection above).
As per claims 6 and 18, which respectively depend on claims 3 and 15, Wang further teaches wherein the information from the one or more distributed ledgers is transmitted via a network that is separate from the virtual environment (see Wang, FIG. 1; and [0031]: “The second user may know to reach out to, or look-up, the 3P communications service provider and may access a second ledger 240a associated with the 3P communications service provider.”).
As per claims 7 and 19, which respectively depend on claims 3 and 15, Wang further teaches wherein the information from the one or more distributed ledgers is transmitted via the virtual environment (see Wang, [0017]: “system 100 can facilitate in whole or in part authenticating a first user to a network via a first communication device, obtaining, based on the authenticating, an indication of an interaction of the first user within a virtual world of the network… ”).
As per claim 8, which depends on claim 1, Wang teaches further comprising: verifying an identity of the second avatar using a third sequence of processes, wherein the third sequence of processes is based at least in part on data within the one or more distributed ledgers (see Wang, [0029]: “The data/information associated with the badge 206a may be sourced or obtained from a first database, distributed ledger, or the like, as represented by reference character 220a.”; and [0032]: “For example, upon arrival at what is notionally the second user's residence (in a physical/real-world context or in a virtual context) the first user 202a may present to the second user 204a a partial badge (e.g., a badge that includes only an employee ID number for the first user 202a). The second user 204a may provide a security code (e.g., a signature, a personal identification number [PIN], a password, or the like) that is to be associated with the first user 202a or the partial badge, as part of request on the part of the second user 204a to the first user 202a to demonstrate that the first user 202a is, in fact, who she claims to be.”).
As per claim 9, which depends on claim 8, Wang teaches further comprising:
transmitting, to a system providing the one or more distributed ledgers, a fourth application programming interface (API) call comprising a request to validate the representative (see Wang, [0047]: “In various embodiments, this cloud networking architecture is an open architecture that leverages application programming interfaces (APIs); reduces complexity from services and operations; supports more nimble business models; and rapidly and seamlessly scales to meet evolving customer requirements including traffic growth, diversity of traffic types, and diversity of performance and reliability expectations.”; and [0052]: “The cloud computing environments 375 can interface with the virtualized network function cloud 325 via APIs that expose functional capabilities of the VNEs 330, 332, 334, etc. to provide the flexible and expanded capabilities to the virtualized network function cloud 325. In particular, network workloads may have applications distributed across the virtualized network function cloud 325 and cloud computing environment 375 and in the commercial cloud, or might simply orchestrate workloads supported entirely in NFV infrastructure from these third party locations.”); and
receiving, from the system, a response indicating whether the representative is validated against the one or more distributed ledgers, wherein the response indicates that the representative and the second avatar are verified based at least in part on the identifier being validated against the one or more distributed ledgers (see Wang, [0031]: “The second user may know to reach out to, or look-up, the 3P communications service provider and may access a second ledger 240a associated with the 3P communications service provider. The second user may be able to verify the contents of the badge 206a by matching the contents of the badge 206a to corresponding (hash) values within the second ledger 240a (as obtained directly by the second user from the 3P communications service provider—e.g., without intervention/involvement on the part of the first user 202a).”; and [0043]: “responsibilities for assessing the validity of a statement or assertion may be allocated to one or more groups or entities. In some embodiments, the universe at large may hold or possess a hash ledger, and a group or entity may be allocated the responsibility for signing-off on, or attesting to the validity of, the statement/assertion. In other embodiments, the group or entity itself may hold or possess the hash ledger. In some embodiments, the group or entity may be compensated for assessing the validity of the assertion, maintaining the hash ledger, etc.”).
As per claim 10, which depends on claim 8, Wang teaches wherein the third sequence of processes is automatically triggered by the user or the first avatar, or both (see Wang, [0094]: “Some of the embodiments described herein can also employ artificial intelligence (AI) to facilitate automating one or more features described herein.”).
As per claim 11, which depends on claim 1, Wang further teaches wherein the one or more distributed ledgers comprises a private one or more distributed ledgers associated with the organization (see Wang, [0025]: “the communications network 125 can include… routing and controlling communications traffic over wired, optical and wireless links as part of the Internet and other public networks as well as one or more private networks”; and [0031]: “The second user may be able to verify the contents of the badge 206a by matching the contents of the badge 206a to corresponding (hash) values within the second ledger 240a (as obtained directly by the second user from the 3P communications service provider—e.g., without intervention/involvement on the part of the first user 202a).”).
7. Claims 4-5 and 16-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang et al. (US 2024/0118784 A1) and Sylvain et al. (US 7,840,668 B1), and still further in view of Phan et al (US 2021/0295303 A1).
As per claims 4 and 16, which respectively depend on claims 3 and 15, although Wang teach wherein the information from the one or more distributed ledgers is used for authenticating the first avatar (see Claim 1 rejection above), Wang and Sylvain do not explicitly the information comprises one or more security questions for authenticating.
Phan teaches information comprising one or more security questions for authenticating (see Phan, [0035]: “The next step is that said user needs to input at least 3 authentication data of a password, a pattern code and answer to security question or other security verification data provided internally by said primary device or by third party applications to his/her primary device for DAX App to be sent to DAX Platform”; and [0040]: “DAX App installed in the nominated emergency device B provides an emergency function to let said user A temporally access his/her HUDA account of the lost primary device by entering at least 2 pre-registered authentication data of password, pattern code or answer to security question.”).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the system of Wang and Sylvain in view of Phan by implementing one or more security questions for authenticating. One would be motivated to do so because such implementation is well-known, routine, and conventional for authenticating a user and is usually set during registration of an account, and specifically because Wang teaches in paragraph [0032], “The second user 204a may provide a security code (e.g., a signature, a personal identification number [PIN], a password, or the like) that is to be associated with the first user 202a or the partial badge, as part of request on the part of the second user 204a to the first user 202a to demonstrate that the first user 202a is, in fact, who she claims to be.”, emphasis added.
As per claims 5 and 17, which respectively depend on claims 4 and 16, Wang, Sylvain, and Phan teach further comprising: randomly selecting the one or more security questions from a plurality of predefined questions stored within the one or more distributed ledgers (see Phan, [[0035]: “The next step is that said user needs to input at least 3 authentication data of a password, a pattern code and answer to security question or other security verification data provided internally by said primary device or by third party applications to his/her primary device for DAX App to be sent to DAX Platform”; and [0040]: “DAX App installed in the nominated emergency device B provides an emergency function to let said user A temporally access his/her HUDA account of the lost primary device by entering at least 2 pre-registered authentication data of password, pattern code or answer to security question.”).
Conclusion
8. For the reasons above, claims 1-11 and 13-20 have been rejected and remain pending.
9. 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.
10. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MICHAEL Y WON whose telephone number is (571)272-3993. The examiner can normally be reached on Wk.1: M-F: 8-5 PST & Wk.2: M-Th: 8-7 PST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Nicholas R Taylor can be reached on 571-272-3889. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Michael Won/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2443
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