DETAILED ACTION
Notice of AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 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.
Claim 2 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) 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.
Claim 2 recites the limitation "the storage memory" at Line 8 of Claim 2 (claim references made by lines of Claim and not of page) where antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim is not clear because separate recitations of “a storage memory” have been introduced at Line 2 of Claim 1 and at Line 3 of Claim 2 and there exists confusion as to which introduced storage memory that “the storage memory” properly refers back to.
Allowable Subject Matter
The subject matter of Claims 1 and 3 – 20 is allowable over the prior art of record.
Response to Applicants Amendments and Arguments
Applicants amendments and arguments filed August 19, 2026 have been fully considered.
First, the Examiner accepts the replacement drawing of Figure 4 filed August 19, 2026 and agrees that the subject matter recited in original claims 4 and 14 filed April 02, 2025 have been incorporated into the Specification via said replacement drawing sheet, such that the rejections of Claims 4 and 14 under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) made of record in the Office Action mailed May 19, 2026 have been overcome.
Second, the Examiner agrees that amendments to Claims 1 – 20 filed August 19, 2026 have overcome the rejections of Claims 1 – 20 under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) as set forth and made of record in the Office Action mailed May 19, 2026.
Third, new grounds for rejection are made of record above that have been necessitated by the amendments to Claim 1 filed August 19, 2026.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BRIAN M BUTCHER whose telephone number is (571)270-5575. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday – Friday from 6:30 AM to 3:00 PM.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner's supervisor, Ke Xiao, can be reached at (571) 272 - 7776. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free).
/BRIAN M BUTCHER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2627 August 27, 2026
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