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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 1/27/2026 has been entered.
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.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-4 and 6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, 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 1 recites the limitation “delete data on at least one peak missing in any of the plurality of pieces of peak information from each of the plurality of pieces of peak information”. It is unclear how to delete data that is missing. For the purpose of a compact prosecution, Examiner has interpreted the limitation to have the broadest meaning.
Allowable Subject Matter
Regarding Claim 1, as best understood by the examiner the closest prior art Anderson, Ruderman, and Abe either singularly or in combination, fail to anticipate or render obvious an apparatus for food freshness detection, comprising: a chromatograph mass spectrometry apparatus that obtains a plurality of samples of food, and measures a plurality of pieces of peak information for the plurality of samples by applying gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GCMS) to the plurality of samples and delete, when a coefficient of correlation of data between peaks among remaining peaks is equal to or larger than a prescribed value, data on one peak of the peaks from each of the plurality of pieces of peak information, in combination with all other limitations in the claim as claimed and defined by applicant.
Examiner notes that claims 1-6 are not allowable in light of the rejection of the claims under 35 U.S.C. 112b.
Response to Arguments
35 USC § 101
Applicant’s arguments, filed 1/27/2026, with respect to claims 1-4 and 6 have been fully considered and are persuasive. The rejection of claim 1 has been withdrawn.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SHARAH ZAAB whose telephone number is (571)272-4973. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 7:00 am - 4:30 pm.
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, Catherine Rastovski can be reached on 571-272-0349. 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.
/SHARAH ZAAB/Examiner, Art Unit 2857
/Catherine T. Rastovski/Supervisory Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2863