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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 04/16/2026 has been entered.
Response to Amendment
The amendment filed on 04/16/2026 has been entered into the prosecution of the application.
Currently, claim(s) 1-20 is/are pending, with claims 19-20 withdrawn from consideration.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 1-5 and 7-8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Frederic Avery Bourke of US 2009/0294692 A1 (hereinafter referred to as Bourke) in view of Philip Roche of WO 2015/006864 A1 (hereinafter referred to as Roche) and Wang, Di, et al. "Spatial and temporal nanoscale plasmonic heating quantified by thermoreflectance." Nano Letters 19.6 (2019): 3796-3803 (hereinafter, Wang) and Victor Joseph of US 2018/0201978 A1 (hereinafter, Joesph).
As to claim 1, Bourke pertains to the instant invention because Bourke relates to surface plasmon resonance effects resulting in improved reaction kinetics (Bourke, paragraph [0146]).
Bourke discloses introducing a metal micro-object (the use of metallic nanoparticles as plasmonic agent; Bourke, claim 10) to a reaction mixture (biochemical pathways; Bourke, paragraph [0069]). The nanoparticles are considered as micro-objects because there is no size limitation recited in the instant invention.
Bourke discloses determining a plasmon resonance of the metal micro-object (Bourke, Figs. 5A and 5B, paragraph [0134]). Figs. 5A and 5B represent plasmonic nanostructures and their theoretical electromagnetic enhancement at different excitation wavelength (Bourke, paragraph [0020]).
Bourke discloses applying, with an electro-magnetic radiation source, electro-magnetic radiation to the reaction mixture, wherein the electro-magnetic radiation is wavelength-matched to the plasmon resonance of the metal micro-object such that application of the electro-magnetic radiation to the metal micro-object excites atoms within the metal micro-object, causing those atoms to release energy in the form of phonons within the reaction mixture thereby increasing an average kinetic energy of the reaction mixture (a general description of plasmon surface resonance effect; Bourke, paragraph [0147]).
Heating is considered as regulating a chemical synthesis reaction because heating causes changes in thermodynamic and reaction kinetics (Bourke, paragraph [0146]), wherein Bourke teaches that improved reaction kinetic is disclosed as a benefit of the plasmonic effects. The claim recitation “causing atoms to release energy in the form of phonons within a reaction mixture thereby increasing an average kinetic energy of the reaction mixture” pertains to heating in a simple term, which is taught by Bourke in paragraph [0093].
Bourke does not disclose “monitoring the reaction by measuring a background illumination at the electromagnetic radiation source.”
Roche pertains to the Bourke because Roche relates to having a plasmon resonance (Roche, pg. 20, ln. 19) and plasmonic heating (Roche, pg. 17, ln. 21).
Roche teaches to “monitoring the reaction by measuring a background illumination at the electromagnetic radiation source” because Roche teaches “monitoring a reaction resulting from said irradiating, said monitoring comprising probing the nanoparticles with a probing light beam having a wavelength different from than a wavelength of the activation light beam and coordinated with an absorption feature of the nanoparticles spectrally separate from the photo-thermal properties used to release heat” (Roche, pg. 4, ln. 10-14).
Both Bourke and Roche relate to plasmon resonance (Roche, pg. 20, ln. 19) and plasmonic heating (Roche, pg. 17, ln. 21). Bourke does not explicitly teach monitoring a reaction by measuring a background illumination at the electromagnetic source. Bourke does teach that suitable activatable agents include a biological molecule (Bourke, paragraph [0070]). Roche teaches to a method of heating a reaction mixture containing a DNA molecule (Roche, pg. 4, ln. 2-4) and using a plasmonic PCR (Roche, pg. 7, ln. 19) in regards to Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) (Roche, pg. 1, ln. 10).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the instant invention to have modified the plasmonic heating method of Bourke with the monitoring step of Roche for obtaining a plasmonic PCR product with rapid cycles (Roche, pg. 2, ln. 5-24, Figs. 10 and 11).
Bourke in view of Roche does not explicitly teach using photodiodes or other photo-transducers matched to the same wavelength as the electro-magnetic radiation source.
In an analogous art, Wang teaches to using photodiodes or other photo-transducers matched to the same wavelength as the electro-magnetic radiation source (Wang, Fig. 1, teaches to using photodiode or other photo-transducers matched to the same wavelength as the electro-magnetic radiation source, as Wang teaches to gold nanodisk arrays (NDA) for measuring thermoreflectance by plasmonic heating; Wang, pg. 3799, Fig. 1d, teaches that on optical resonance, indicating that the free electrons are forced by the electromagnetic wave of a matched wavelength to oscillate across the nanodisk. The gold nanodisk arrays read as photo-transducers matched to the same wavelength as the electro-magnetic radiation source, because gold nanodisk arrays are used for converting electromagnetic radiation into another forms of energy that may be measured, converting photon energy into plasmonic oscillators, producing hot electrons, and/or generating heat through plasmon decay; see Figs. 1 and 2).
Both Bourke in view of Roche and Wang relate to plasmonic heating (Wang, abstract). Bourke in view of Roche does not explicitly teach using the same wavelength for both the radiation source and the radiation subject. Bourke in view of Roche, Fig. 5B, does teach using photodiodes in monitoring plasmonic heating in plasmonic thermocycling. Wang teaches using photo-transducers matched to the same wavelength as the electromagnetic radiation source, because Wang teaches to using gold nanodisk arrays for measuring thermoreflectance by plasmonic heating.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the instant invention to have modified the method of Bourke in view of Roche with the method of Wang for monitoring heat generation.
Bourke in view of Roche and Wang teaches to wherein monitoring the reaction comprises using fluorescent signals generated (Roche, pg. 2, ln. 21, teaches to real-monitoring analogous to that of SYBR fluorescence during real time PCR; SYBR Green is a fluorescent dye used in real-time PCR, or qPCR, that binds preferentially to a region with high GC-content).
Bourke in view of Roche and Wang does not explicitly teach from multiple detection probes in the reaction mixture, wherein each detection probe corresponds to a different region of a nucleic acid target.
In an analogous art, Joseph teaches to from multiple detection probes in the reaction mixture, wherein each detection probe corresponds to a different region of a nucleic acid target (Joseph, paragraphs [0112] – [0114], teaches to performing multiplex PCR with various probes including SYBR Green I, HEX, and/or Cy5, for instance).
Both Bourke in view of Roche and Wang and Joseph relate to thermal cycling (Joseph, paragraph [0005]). Bourke in view of Roche and Wang does not explicitly teach using multiplex PCR with various probes used for fluorescent dyes. Bourke in view of Roche and Wang does teach multiplexing with gold nanoparticles probe and a fluorescent dye (Roche, pg. 22). Joseph teaches to performing multiplex PCR with various fluorescent dyes for increased efficiency in reaction monitoring, thereby resulting in maximizing diagnostic information from the simultaneous amplification of multiple DNA or RNA targets in a single reaction.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the plasmonic heating of Bourke in view of Roche and Wang with the various detection probes of Joseph for increased efficiency in reaction monitoring, thereby resulting in maximizing diagnostic information from the simultaneous amplification of multiple DNA or RNA targets in a single reaction.
As to claim 2, Bourke in view of Roche, Wang, and Joseph teaches to the method of claim 1, wherein the characteristic of the metal micro-object comprising one or more of a shape, a metal, and a permittivity (wherein the metal structures comprise at least one of nanospheres, nanorods, nanocubes, nanopyramids, nanoshells, multi-layer nanoshells, and combination thereof; Bourke, claim 233).
As to claim 3, Bourke in view of Roche, Wang, and Joseph teaches to the method of claim 2, wherein the shape of the metal micro-object comprising a sphere, a rod, a cylinder, or a cube (wherein the metal structures comprise at least one of nanospheres, nanorods, nanocubes, nanopyramids, nanoshells, multi-layer nanoshells, and combination thereof; Bourke, claim 233).
As to claim 4, Bourke in view of Roche, Wang, and Joseph teaches to the method of claim 1, wherein the electro-magnetic radiation is infrared radiation (a source emitting at least one of x-rays, gamma rays, an electron beam, UV radiation, visible light, infrared radiation, microwaves, chemical energy, or radio waves; Bourke, claim 5).
As to claim 5, Bourke in view of Roche, Wang, and Joseph teaches to the method of claim 1, wherein the metal micro-object comprises gold and silver (Bourke, paragraph [0163]).
As to claim 7, Bourke in view of Roche, Wang, and Joseph teaches to the method of claim 1, further comprising measuring a background illumination using a photodiode matched to the electro-magnetic radiation source (a detector 60, such as for example a photodiode; Roche, pg. 23, ln. 25).
As to claim 8, Bourke in view of Roche, Wang, and Joseph teaches to the method of claim 1, wherein the mixture comprises a buffer solution (Bourke, paragraph [0161]) and reagents (Bourke, paragraph [0359]).
Claim(s) 6 is/are rejected as being unpatentable over Frederic Avery Bourke of US 2009/0294692 A1 (hereinafter referred to as Bourke) in view of Philip Roche of WO 2015/006864 A1 (hereinafter referred to as Roche) and Wang, Di, et al. "Spatial and temporal nanoscale plasmonic heating quantified by thermoreflectance." Nano Letters 19.6 (2019): 3796-3803 (hereinafter, Wang) and Victor Joseph of US 2018/0201978 A1 (hereinafter, Joesph), as applied to claim 1 above, and in further view of Leslie Greengard of US 2005/202185 A1 (hereinafter referred to as Greengard).
As to claim 6, Bourke in view of Roche, Wang, and Joseph does not explicitly teach a laser diode.
Greengard pertains to Bourke in view of Roche and Wang because Greengard relates to a method facilitating catalytic chemical reactions utilizing photon-electron resonance (Greengard, abstract). Greengard discloses at least one electromagnetic radiation source 1202 derived from a laser source, such as, a laser diode (Greengard, paragraph [0079]).
Both Bourke in view of Roche and Wang and Greengard relate to utilizing photon-electron resonance. Bourke does not explicitly teach a laser diode. Bourke in view of Roche and Wang does teach that light of a HeNe laser can be used for excitation (Bourke, paragraph [0146]). Greengard teaches a laser diode (Greengard, paragraph [0079]) as a source of electromagnetic radiation, along with other sources of lasers. One of ordinary skill in the art would have known using a laser diode as a source of electromagnetic radiation and would have had reasonable expectation of success because the laser diode of Greengard would have been operable.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the instant invention to have modified the method of Bourke in view of Roche and Wang with the laser diode of Greengard for efficient heating of nanoparticles by electromagnetic radiation at the plasmon resonance frequency (Greengard, paragraph [0067]).
Claim(s) 9-14 and 17-18 is/are rejected as being unpatentable over Frederic Avery Bourke of US 2009/0294692 A1 (hereinafter referred to as Bourke) in view of D. Keith Roper of US 2008/0131939 A1 (hereinafter referred to as Roper), Wang, Di, et al. "Spatial and temporal nanoscale plasmonic heating quantified by thermoreflectance." Nano Letters 19.6 (2019): 3796-3803 (hereinafter, Wang), and Victor Joseph of US 2018/0201978 A1 (hereinafter, Joesph).
As to claim 9, Bourke discloses introducing a metal micro-object (the use of metallic nanoparticles as plasmonic agent; Bourke, claim 10) to a reaction mixture (biochemical pathways; Bourke; paragraph [0069]).
Bourke discloses determining a plasmon resonance of the metal micro-object (Bourke, Figs. 5A and 5B; paragraph [0134]). Figs. 5A and 5B represent plasmonic nanostructures and their theoretical electromagnetic enhancement at different excitation wavelength (Bourke, paragraph [0020]).
Bourke discloses applying, with an electro-magnetic radiation source, electro-magnetic radiation to the reaction mixture, wherein the electro-magnetic radiation is wavelength-matched to the plasmon resonance of the metal micro-object such that application of the electro-magnetic radiation to the metal micro-object excites atoms within the metal micro-object, causing those atoms to release energy in the form of phonons within the reaction mixture thereby increasing an average kinetic energy of the reaction mixture (a general description of plasmon surface resonance effect; Bourke, paragraph [0147]). Bourke discloses a biological sample and amplification oligomers (oligonucleotides; Bourke, paragraph [0164]).
Heating is considered as regulating a chemical synthesis reaction because heating causes changes in thermodynamic and reaction kinetics (Bourke, paragraph [0146]), wherein Bourke teaches that improved reaction kinetic is disclosed as a benefit of the plasmonic effects. The claim recitation “causing atoms to release energy in the form of phonons within a reaction mixture thereby increasing an average kinetic energy of the reaction mixture” pertains to heating in a simple term, which is taught by Bourke in paragraph [0093].
Bourke does not disclose a thermostable polymerase and deoxyribonucleotide triphosphates. Bourke does not disclose “monitoring the reaction by measuring a background illumination at the electromagnetic radiation source.”
Roper pertains to Bourke because Roper relates to using surface plasmon resonance (Roper, abstract).
Roper discloses using deoxyribonucleoside triphosphate, or dNTP, polymerase (Roper, paragraphs [0037], [0047], [0060], [0061], [0065]). The Office notes that the term “deoxyribonucleotide triphosphate” is used interchangeably with “deoxyribonucleoside triphosphate,” and both terms are understood in the prior art as having the same meaning.
Roper teaches to monitoring the reaction by measuring a background illumination at the electromagnetic radiation source (LightCyclingTM, the fastest real-time PCR method, continuously monitors DNA formation by fluorescence; Roper, paragraph [0017]). Roper teaches that label-free detection of PCR amplicons by surface plasmonic resonance may be used (Roper, paragraph [0032]), such as measuring changes in refractive index (Roper, paragraphs [0034], [0036]). Measuring changes in refractive index requires measuring a background illumination at the electromagnetic radiation source.
Both Bourke and Roper relate to using surface plasmon resonance (Roper, abstract). Bourke teaches to the method of regulating a chemical synthesis reaction. Bourke does not explicitly teach applying the method to plasmonic PCR. Bourke does teach that suitable activatable agents include a biological molecule (Bourke, paragraph [0070]). Roper teach using an optical source to provide heating for thermocycling the PCR reaction (Roper, abstract) using surface plasmon resonance active surface.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the instant invention to modify the method of Bourke with the polymerases, dNTP, and monitoring of Roper for increasing the speed and sensitivity of PCR (Roper, paragraph [0003]).
Bourke in view of Roper does not explicitly teach using photodiodes or other photo-transducers matched to the same wavelength as the electro-magnetic radiation source.
In an analogous art, Wang teaches to using photodiodes or other photo-transducers matched to the same wavelength as the electro-magnetic radiation source (Wang, Fig. 1, teaches to using photodiode or other photo-transducers matched to the same wavelength as the electro-magnetic radiation source, as Wang teaches to gold nanodisk arrays (NDA) for measuring thermoreflectance by plasmonic heating; Wang, pg. 3799, Fig. 1d, teaches that on optical resonance, indicating that the free electrons are forced by the electromagnetic wave of a matched wavelength to oscillate across the nanodisk. The gold nanodisk arrays read as photo-transducers matched to the same wavelength as the electro-magnetic radiation source, because gold nanodisk arrays are used for converting electromagnetic radiation into another forms of energy that may be measured, converting photon energy into plasmonic oscillators, producing hot electrons, and/or generating heat through plasmon decay; see Figs. 1 and 2).
Both Bourke in view of Roper and Wang relate to plasmonic heating (Wang, abstract). Bourke in view of Roper does not explicitly teach using the same wavelength for both the radiation source and the radiation subject. Bourke in view of Roper does teach monitoring plasmonic heating in plasmonic thermocycling (Roper, paragraph [0054]) using gold nanoparticles. Wang teaches using photo-transducers matched to the same wavelength as the electromagnetic radiation source, because Wang teaches to using gold nanodisk arrays for measuring thermoreflectance by plasmonic heating.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the instant invention to have modified the method of Bourke in view of Roper with the method of Wang for monitoring heat generation.
Bourke in view of Roper and Wang teaches to wherein monitoring the reaction comprises using fluorescent signals generated (Roche, pg. 2, ln. 21, teaches to real-monitoring analogous to that of SYBR fluorescence during real time PCR; SYBR Green is a fluorescent dye used in real-time PCR, or qPCR, that binds preferentially to a region with high GC-content).
Bourke in view of Roper and Wang does not explicitly teach from multiple detection probes in the reaction mixture, wherein each detection probe corresponds to a different region of a nucleic acid target.
In an analogous art, Joseph teaches to from multiple detection probes in the reaction mixture, wherein each detection probe corresponds to a different region of a nucleic acid target (Joseph, paragraphs [0112] – [0114], teaches to performing multiplex PCR with various probes including SYBR Green I, HEX, and/or Cy5, for instance).
Both Bourke in view of Roper and Wang and Joseph relate to thermal cycling (Joseph, paragraph [0005]). Bourke in view of Roper and Wang does not explicitly teach using multiplex PCR with various probes used for fluorescent dyes. Bourke in view of Roper and Wang does teach multiplexing with gold nanoparticles probe and a fluorescent dye (Roche, pg. 22). Joseph teaches to performing multiplex PCR with various fluorescent dyes for increased efficiency in reaction monitoring, thereby resulting in maximizing diagnostic information from the simultaneous amplification of multiple DNA or RNA targets in a single reaction.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the plasmonic heating of Bourke in view of Roper and Wang with the various detection probes of Joseph for increased efficiency in reaction monitoring, thereby resulting in maximizing diagnostic information from the simultaneous amplification of multiple DNA or RNA targets in a single reaction.
As to claim 10, Bourke in in view of Roper, Wang, and Joseph discloses the characteristic of the metal micro-object comprising one or more of a shape, a metal, or a cube (wherein the metal structures comprise at least one of nanospheres, nanorods, nanocubes, nanopyramids, nanoshells, multi-layer nanoshells, and combination thereof; Bourke, claim 233).
As to claim 11, Bourke in in view of Roper, Wang, and Joseph discloses the shape of the metal micro-object comprising a sphere, a rod, a cylinder, or a cube (wherein the metal structures comprise at least one of nanospheres, nanorods, nanocubes, nanopyramids, nanoshells, multi-layer nanoshells, and combination thereof; Bourke, claim 233).
As to claim 12, Bourke in in view of Roper, Wang, and Joseph discloses the biological sample comprises genomic DNA (Bourke, paragraph [0160], Fig. 9B).
As to claim 13, Bourke in in view of Roper, Wang, and Joseph discloses that the metal micro-object is between about 100 nm to about 10 μm in diameter (200 nm diameter particles; Bourke, paragraph [0277]).
As to claim 14, Bourke in in view of Roper, Wang, and Joseph discloses the metal micro-object comprising gold and silver (Bourke, paragraph [0163]).
As to claim 17, Bourke in in view of Roper, Wang, and Joseph discloses the reaction mixture further comprising a detection probe (fluorescein; Bourke, paragraph [0072]).
As to claim 18, Bourke in in view of Roper, Wang, and Joseph discloses the detection probe comprising a fluorescent label (fluorescein; Bourke, paragraph [0072]).
Claim(s) 15 is/are rejected as being unpatentable over Frederic Avery Bourke of US 2009/0294692 A1 (hereinafter referred to as Bourke) in view of D. Keith Roper of US 2008/0131939 A1 (hereinafter referred to as Roper), Wang, Di, et al. "Spatial and temporal nanoscale plasmonic heating quantified by thermoreflectance." Nano Letters 19.6 (2019): 3796-3803 (hereinafter, Wang) and Victor Joseph of US 2018/0201978 A1 (hereinafter, Joesph)., as applied to claim 9 above, and in further view of Leslie Greengard of US 2005/202185 A1 (hereinafter referred to as Greengard).
As to claim 15, Bourke in view of Roper and Wang does not disclose a laser diode.
Greengard discloses at least one electromagnetic radiation source 1202 derived from a laser source, such as, a laser diode (Greengard, paragraph [0079]).
Both Bourke in view of Roper and Wang and Greengard relate to utilizing photon-electron resonance. Bourke in view of Roper and Wang does not explicitly teach a laser diode. Bourke in view of Roche and Wang does teach that light of a HeNe laser can be used for excitation (Bourke, paragraph [0146]). Greengard teaches a laser diode (Greengard, paragraph [0079]) as a source of electromagnetic radiation, along with other sources of lasers. One of ordinary skill in the art would have known using a laser diode as a source of electromagnetic radiation and would have had reasonable expectation of success because the laser diode of Greengard would have been operable.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the instant invention to have modified the method of Bourke in view of Roper and Wang with the laser diode of Greengard for efficient heating of nanoparticles by electromagnetic radiation at the plasmon resonance frequency (Greengard, paragraph [0067]).
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see pg. 9 of 10, filed 04/16/2026, with respect to the rejection(s) of claim(s) 1 and 9 under 35 U.S.C. 103 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.
Claim(s) 1-5 and 7-8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Frederic Avery Bourke of US 2009/0294692 A1 (hereinafter referred to as Bourke) in view of Philip Roche of WO 2015/006864 A1 (hereinafter referred to as Roche) and Wang, Di, et al. "Spatial and temporal nanoscale plasmonic heating quantified by thermoreflectance." Nano Letters 19.6 (2019): 3796-3803 (hereinafter, Wang) and Victor Joseph of US 2018/0201978 A1 (hereinafter, Joesph).
Claim(s) 6 is/are rejected as being unpatentable over Frederic Avery Bourke of US 2009/0294692 A1 (hereinafter referred to as Bourke) in view of Philip Roche of WO 2015/006864 A1 (hereinafter referred to as Roche) and Wang, Di, et al. "Spatial and temporal nanoscale plasmonic heating quantified by thermoreflectance." Nano Letters 19.6 (2019): 3796-3803 (hereinafter, Wang) and Victor Joseph of US 2018/0201978 A1 (hereinafter, Joesph), as applied to claim 1 above, and in further view of Leslie Greengard of US 2005/202185 A1 (hereinafter referred to as Greengard).
Claim(s) 9-14 and 17-18 is/are rejected as being unpatentable over Frederic Avery Bourke of US 2009/0294692 A1 (hereinafter referred to as Bourke) in view of D. Keith Roper of US 2008/0131939 A1 (hereinafter referred to as Roper), Wang, Di, et al. "Spatial and temporal nanoscale plasmonic heating quantified by thermoreflectance." Nano Letters 19.6 (2019): 3796-3803 (hereinafter, Wang), and Victor Joseph of US 2018/0201978 A1 (hereinafter, Joesph).
Claim(s) 15 is/are rejected as being unpatentable over Frederic Avery Bourke of US 2009/0294692 A1 (hereinafter referred to as Bourke) in view of D. Keith Roper of US 2008/0131939 A1 (hereinafter referred to as Roper), Wang, Di, et al. "Spatial and temporal nanoscale plasmonic heating quantified by thermoreflectance." Nano Letters 19.6 (2019): 3796-3803 (hereinafter, Wang) and Victor Joseph of US 2018/0201978 A1 (hereinafter, Joesph)., as applied to claim 9 above, and in further view of Leslie Greengard of US 2005/202185 A1 (hereinafter referred to as Greengard).
Please refer to the rejection above.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JOHN LEE whose telephone number is (703)756-1254. The examiner can normally be reached M-F, 7:00-16:00.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, James Lin can be reached at (571) 272-8902. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/JOHN LEE/Examiner, Art Unit 1794
/JAMES LIN/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1794
Prosecution Insights