UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
`
`
`
`UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
`United States Patent and Trademark Office
`Address: COMMISSIONER FOR PATENTS
`PO. Box 1450
`Alexandria, Virginia 2231371450
`www.uspto.gov
`
`16/322,419
`
`01/31/2019
`
`LEI HUANG
`
`731456.498USPC
`
`1579
`
`Seed IP Law Group LLP/Panason1e (PIPCA)
`701 5th Avenue, Suite 5400
`Seattle, WA 98104
`
`NGUYEN” ANH NGOC M
`
`ART UNIT
`
`2473
`
`PAPER NUMBER
`
`NOTIFICATION DATE
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`DELIVERY MODE
`
`03/09/2020
`
`ELECTRONIC
`
`Please find below and/or attached an Office communication concerning this application or proceeding.
`
`The time period for reply, if any, is set in the attached communication.
`
`Notice of the Office communication was sent electronically on above—indicated "Notification Date" to the
`
`following e—mail address(es):
`US PTOeACtion @ SeedIP .Com
`
`pairlinkdktg @ seedip .eom
`
`PTOL-90A (Rev. 04/07)
`
`

`

`017/09 A0170” Summary
`
`Application No.
`16/322,419
`Examiner
`Anh Ngoc M Nguyen
`
`Applicant(s)
`HUANG et al.
`Art Unit
`2473
`
`AIA (FITF) Status
`Yes
`
`- The MAILING DA TE of this communication appears on the cover sheet wit/7 the correspondence address -
`Period for Reply
`
`A SHORTENED STATUTORY PERIOD FOR REPLY IS SET TO EXPIRE g MONTHS FROM THE MAILING
`DATE OF THIS COMMUNICATION.
`Extensions of time may be available under the provisions of 37 CFR 1.136(a). In no event, however, may a reply be timely filed after SIX (6) MONTHS from the mailing
`date of this communication.
`|f NO period for reply is specified above, the maximum statutory period will apply and will expire SIX (6) MONTHS from the mailing date of this communication.
`-
`- Failure to reply within the set or extended period for reply will, by statute, cause the application to become ABANDONED (35 U.S.C. § 133).
`Any reply received by the Office later than three months after the mailing date of this communication, even if timely filed, may reduce any earned patent term
`adjustment. See 37 CFR 1.704(b).
`
`Status
`
`1). Responsive to communication(s) filed on 01/31/2019.
`CI A declaration(s)/affidavit(s) under 37 CFR 1.130(b) was/were filed on
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`2a)[:] This action is FINAL.
`
`2b)
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`This action is non-final.
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`3)[:] An election was made by the applicant in response to a restriction requirement set forth during the interview
`on
`; the restriction requirement and election have been incorporated into this action.
`
`4):] Since this application is in condition for allowance except for formal matters, prosecution as to the merits is
`closed in accordance with the practice under Expade Quay/e, 1935 CD. 11, 453 O.G. 213.
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`Disposition of Claims*
`
`5)
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`Claim(s) fl is/are pending in the application.
`
`5a) Of the above Claim(s)
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`is/are withdrawn from consideration.
`
`
`
`[:1 Claim(ss)
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`is/are allowed.
`
`8)
`Claim(s 118Is/are rejected
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`D Claim(ss_) is/are objected to.
`
`) ) ) )
`
`S)
`are subject to restriction and/or election requirement
`[:1 Claim(s
`* If any claims have been determined aflowable. you may be eligible to benefit from the Patent Prosecution Highway program at a
`
`participating intellectual property office for the corresponding application. For more information, please see
`
`http://www.uspto.gov/patents/init events/pph/index.jsp or send an inquiry to PPeredback@uspto.gov.
`
`Application Papers
`
`10). The specification is objected to by the Examiner.
`
`11). The drawing(s) filed on 01/31/2019 is/are: a). accepted or b)(j objected to by the Examiner.
`Applicant may not request that any objection to the drawing(s) be held in abeyance. See 37 CFR 1.85(a).
`Replacement drawing sheet(s) including the correction is required if the drawing(s) is objected to. See 37 CFR 1.121 (d).
`
`Priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119
`
`12). Acknowledgment is made of a claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119(a)-(d) or (f).
`Certified copies:
`
`a). All
`
`b)C] Some**
`
`c)C] None of the:
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`1.. Certified copies of the priority documents have been received.
`
`2C] Certified copies of the priority documents have been received in Application No.
`
`SD Copies of the certified copies of the priority documents have been received in this National Stage
`application from the International Bureau (PCT Rule 17.2(a)).
`
`** See the attached detailed Office action for a list of the certified copies not received.
`
`Attachment(s)
`
`1)
`
`Notice of References Cited (PTO-892)
`
`Information Disclosure Statement(s) (PTO/SB/08a and/or PTO/SB/08b)
`2)
`Paper No(s)/Mai| Date 01/31/2019, 10/08/2019
`U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
`
`3) E] Interview Summary (PTO-413)
`Paper No(s)/Mail Date
`4) CI Other-
`
`PTOL-326 (Rev. 11-13)
`
`Office Action Summary
`
`Part of Paper No./Mai| Date 20200305
`
`

`

`Application/Control Number: 16/322,419
`Art Unit: 2473
`
`Page 2
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`DETAILED ACTION
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`Notice ofPre-AIA 0r AIA Status
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`The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the
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`first inventor to file provisions of the AIA.
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`Specification
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`The title of the invention is not descriptive. A new title is required that is clearly
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`indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed.
`
`Claim Rejections - 35 US C § 103
`
`In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C.
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`102 and 103 (or as subject to pre—AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the
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`statutory basis for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art
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`relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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`The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness
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`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.
`
`Claims 1 — 8 and 10 — 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over
`
`Ghosh (US Pub. No. 2016/0353435) in view of Chu et al. (US Patent No. 9,942,010).
`
`Regarding claim 1, Ghosh discloses a communication apparatus comprising: a receiver
`
`which, in operation, receives a Trigger frame for allocating resource units (RUs) for random
`
`

`

`Application/Control Number: 16/322,419
`Art Unit: 2473
`
`Page 3
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`access (see Fig. 8, device 800 with transceiver for receiving the trigger frame; abstract, 0002,
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`0028, 0036, 0042, random access trigger frame (TF—R) that indicates one or more resources).
`
`Ghosh discloses the claimed limitations as stated above. However, Ghosh does not
`
`disclose the following features: regarding claim 1, another frame including Random Access
`
`parameter element that comprises a first field indicating an OFDMA contention window (OCW)
`
`minimum value (OCWmin) and a second field indicating an OCW maximum value (OCWmax);
`
`and control circuitry which, in operation, controls Uplink OFDMA—based Random Access
`
`(UORA) procedure using the OCWmin and the OCWmax.
`
`Regarding claim 1, Chu discloses another frame including Random Access parameter
`
`element that comprises a first field indicating an OFDMA contention window (OCW) minimum
`
`value (OCWmin) and a second field indicating an OCW maximum value (OCWmax); and
`
`control circuitry which, in operation, controls Uplink OFDMA—based Random Access (UORA)
`
`procedure using the OCWmin and the OCWmax (see Fig. 3, col. 7 lines 5 — 35, a beacon frame
`
`contains parameters which may include UMCWmin (UL OFDMA contention window
`
`minimum) value and a UMCWmax (UL OFDMA contention window maximum) value. . .these
`
`values may be used by the station to determine when to attempt to communicate with the access
`
`point in the uplink).
`
`It would have been obvious to one ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing
`
`date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Ghosh, and have the features, as taught
`
`by Chu, in order to reduce lag or increase the speed of the system, as discussed by Chu (col. 17
`
`lines 45 — 48).
`
`

`

`Application/Control Number: 16/322,419
`Art Unit: 2473
`
`Page 4
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`Regarding claim 2, Chu discloses wherein the other frame is one of a Beacon frame and a
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`Probe response frame (see col. 5 lines 28 — 45, beacon frames and probe response frames).
`
`Regarding claim 3, Ghosh discloses wherein the control circuitry decrements an OFDMA
`
`Back—Off (OBO) counter to zero when the OBO counter is not greater than a number of available
`
`RU(s) for random access in the Trigger frame; and decrements the OBO counter by the number
`
`of available RU(s) for random access otherwise (see Fig. 2, Fig. 3, para. 0028 — 0033, note at
`
`operation 258, STA 2 with B0 = l is decremented to B0 = 0 for random access and note at
`
`operation 254, STA l with B0 = 10 is decremented by l for every RU assigned for AID 0 210
`
`within the TF—R 209.1).
`
`Regarding claim 4, Ghosh discloses wherein the available RU(s) for random access is a
`
`random access RU for which the communication apparatus has a capability of transmitting an
`
`uplink frame (see para. 0022, 0028, 0030, 0032, trigger frame may indicate an uplink UL—MU—
`
`MIMO and/or UL OFDMA control period including a number of resource units (RUs)).
`
`Regarding claim 5, Ghosh discloses wherein the available RU(s) for random access is
`
`RU(s) unrestricted from being used for a 20 MHz operation station apparatus (see para. 0019,
`
`0021, the subchannel may be 20 MHz for communication).
`
`Regarding claim 6, Chu discloses wherein the control circuitry sets an OCW value within
`
`a range of the OCWmin and the OCWmax; and initializes the OBO counter to an integer value in
`
`a range of 0 and the OCW value (see Fig. 3, col. 7 lines 20 — 34, UMCW (UL OFDMA
`
`contention window) is set to UMCWmin and then select a random value between 1 and UMCW
`
`value where UMcounter is set to the random value).
`
`

`

`Application/Control Number: 16/322,419
`Art Unit: 2473
`
`Page 5
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`Regarding claim 7, Ghosh discloses wherein the communication apparatus is a station
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`apparatus operating on a primary 20 MHz channel bandwidth; and the available RU(s) for
`
`random access is RU(s) unrestricted from being used for the station apparatus within the primary
`
`20 MHz channel bandwidth (see para. 0019, 0021, the subchannel may be 20 MHz for
`
`communication with HEW stations 104).
`
`Regarding claim 8, Ghosh discloses wherein the communication apparatus is a 20 MHz
`
`only non—Access Point station apparatus operating on a 20 MHz channel bandwidth (see para.
`
`0019, 0021, the subchannel may be 20 MHz for communication with HEW stations 104).
`
`Regarding claim 10, Ghosh discloses a communication method comprising: receiving a
`
`Trigger frame for allocating resource units (RUs) for random access (see Fig. 8, device 800 with
`
`transceiver for receiving the trigger frame; abstract, 0002, 0028, 0036, 0042, random access
`
`trigger frame (TF—R) that indicates one or more resources).
`
`Ghosh discloses the claimed limitations as stated above. However, Ghosh does not
`
`disclose the following features: regarding claim 10, another frame including Random Access
`
`parameter element that comprises a first field indicating an OFDMA contention window (OCW)
`
`minimum value (OCWmin) and a second field indicating an OCW maximum value (OCWmax);
`
`and controlling Uplink OFDMA—based Random Access (UORA) procedure using the OCWmin
`
`and the OCWmax.
`
`Regarding claim 10, Chu discloses another frame including Random Access parameter
`
`element that comprises a first field indicating an OFDMA contention window (OCW) minimum
`
`value (OCWmin) and a second field indicating an OCW maximum value (OCWmax); and
`
`

`

`Application/Control Number: 16/322,419
`Art Unit: 2473
`
`Page 6
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`controlling Uplink OFDMA—based Random Access (UORA) procedure using the OCWmin and
`
`the OCWmax. (see Fig. 3, col. 7 lines 5 — 35, a beacon frame contains parameters which may
`
`include UMCWmin (UL OFDMA contention window minimum) value and a UMCWmax (UL
`
`OFDMA contention window maximum) value. . .these values may be used by the station to
`
`determine when to attempt to communicate with the access point in the uplink).
`
`It would have been obvious to one ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing
`
`date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Ghosh, and have the features, as taught
`
`by Chu, in order to reduce lag or increase the speed of the system, as discussed by Chu (col. 17
`
`lines 45 — 48).
`
`Regarding claim ll, Chu discloses wherein the other frame is one of a Beacon frame and
`
`a Probe response frame (see col. 5 lines 28 — 45, beacon frames and probe response frames).
`
`Regarding claim 12, Ghosh discloses comprising: decrementing an OFDMA Back—Off
`
`(OBO) counter to zero when the OBO counter is not greater than a number of available RU(s)
`
`for random access in the Trigger frame; and decrementing the OBO counter by the number of
`
`available RU(s) for random access otherwise (see Fig. 2, Fig. 3, para. 0028 — 0033, note at
`
`operation 258, STA 2 with B0 = l is decremented to B0 = 0 for random access and note at
`
`operation 254, STA l with B0 = 10 is decremented by l for every RU assigned for AID 0 210
`
`within the TF—R 209.1).
`
`Regarding claim 13, Ghosh discloses wherein the available RU(s) for random access is a
`
`random access RU for which a communication apparatus that is a recipient the Trigger frame has
`
`a capability of transmitting an uplink frame (see para. 0022, 0028, 0030, 0032, trigger frame may
`
`

`

`Application/Control Number: 16/322,419
`Art Unit: 2473
`
`Page 7
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`indicate an uplink UL—MU—MIMO and/or UL OFDMA control period including a number of
`
`resource units (RUs)).
`
`Regarding claim 14, Ghosh discloses wherein the available RU(s) for random access is
`
`RU(s) unrestricted from being used for a 20 MHz operation station apparatus (see para. 0019,
`
`0021, the subchannel may be 20 MHz for communication).
`
`Regarding claim 15, Chu discloses comprising setting an OCW value within a range of
`
`the OCWmin and the OCWmax; and initializing the OBO counter to an integer value in a range
`
`of 0 and the OCW value (see Fig. 3, col. 7 lines 20 — 34, UMCW (UL OFDMA contention
`
`window) is set to UMCWmin and then select a random value between 1 and UMCW value
`
`where UMcounter is set to the random value).
`
`Regarding claim 16, Ghosh discloses wherein a recipient of the Trigger frame is a station
`
`apparatus operating on a primary 20 MHz channel bandwidth; and the available RU(s) for
`
`random access is RU(s) unrestricted from being used for the station apparatus within the primary
`
`20 MHz channel bandwidth (see para. 0019, 0021, the subchannel may be 20 MHz for
`
`communication with HEW stations 104).
`
`Regarding claim 17, Ghosh discloses wherein a recipient of the Trigger frame is a 20
`
`MHz only non—Access Point station apparatus operating on a 20 MHz channel bandwidth (see
`
`para. 0019, 0021, the subchannel may be 20 MHz for communication with HEW stations 104).
`
`

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`Application/Control Number: 16/322,419
`Art Unit: 2473
`
`Page 8
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`Claims 9 and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ghosh (US
`
`Pub. No. 2016/0353435) in view of Chu et al. (US Patent No. 9,942,010) and further in view of
`
`Hedayat (US Pub. No. 2016/0323426).
`
`Ghosh and Chu do not disclose the claimed features in claims 9 and 18.
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`Regarding claim 9, Hedayat discloses wherein the Trigger frame comprises a common
`
`information field and a plurality of user information field, each of the plurality of user
`
`information field including an identifier subfield and an RU allocation subfield that indicates an
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`RU used for uplink data transmission by a station apparatus identified by the identifier subfield
`
`(see Fig. 10, para. 0169 — 0171, 0176, the trigger frame includes a common info field 1010 and a
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`plurality of per—user info fields 1012—1 to 1012—n where each per—user info field includes resource
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`unit allocation information 1034 and a user identifier field).
`
`Regarding claim 18, Hedayat discloses wherein the Trigger frame comprises a common
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`information field and a plurality of user information field, each of the plurality of user
`
`information field including an identifier subfield and an RU allocation subfield that indicates an
`
`RU used for uplink data transmission by a station apparatus identified by the identifier subfield
`
`(see Fig. 10, para. 0169 — 0171, 0176, the trigger frame includes a common info field 1010 and a
`
`plurality of per—user info fields 1012—1 to 1012—n where each per—user info field includes resource
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`unit allocation information 1034 and a user identifier field).
`
`It would have been obvious to one ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing
`
`date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Ghosh and Chu, and have the features,
`
`

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`Application/Control Number: 16/322,419
`Art Unit: 2473
`
`Page 9
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`as taught by Hedayat, in order to provide for reliable communication and high data throughput,
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`as discussed by Hedayat (para. 0006).
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`Conclusion
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`Examiner's Note: Examiner has cited particular paragraphs, columns and line numbers in
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`the references applied to the claims above for the convenience of the applicant. Although the
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`specified citations are representative of the teachings of the art and are applied to specific
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`limitations within the individual claim, other passages and figures may apply as well. It is
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`respectfully requested from the applicant in preparing responses, to fully consider the references
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`in entirety as potentially teaching all or part of the claimed invention, as well as the context of
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`the passage as taught by the prior art or disclosed by the Examiner. In the case of amending the
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`claimed invention, Applicant is respectfully requested to indicate the portion(s) of the
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`specification which dictate(s) the structure relied on for proper interpretation and, also to verify
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`and ascertain the metes and bounds of the Claimed invention.
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`Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the
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`examiner should be directed to Anh Ngoc M Nguyen whose telephone number is (571)270—5139.
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`The examiner can normally be reached on Monday to Friday, from 7:30 am to 4:00 pm.
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`If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s
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`supervisor, Kwang Bin Yao can be reached on ((571)272—3182. The fax phone number for the
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`organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571—273—8300.
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`Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in—person, and video conferencing using
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`a USPTO supplied web—based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is
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`

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`Application/Control Number: 16/322,419
`Art Unit: 2473
`
`Page 10
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`encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at
`
`
`htthl'iwwwus jto. oviinteiyiewaractice .
`
`Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent
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`may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished
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`
`/ANH NGOC M NGUYEN/
`
`Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2473
`
`