DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application is being examined under the pre-AIA first to invent provisions.
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
1. 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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 02/23/26 has been entered.
Information Disclosure Statement
2. The information disclosure statement filed 09/08/25 fails to comply with 37 CFR 1.98(a)(2), which requires a legible copy of each cited foreign patent document; each non-patent literature publication or that portion which caused it to be listed; and all other information or that portion which caused it to be listed. It has been placed in the application file, but the information referred to therein has not been considered. The copy of JP2008275572 provided is not legible.
Claim Status
3. Claims 1-4, 7-8, and 21-34 are pending and examined herein.
Allowable Subject Matter
4. Claims 1-4, 7-8, and 21-34 would be allowable if rewritten or amended to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action.
5. The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: the prior art fails to disclose or teach the features of the differential pumping system as currently recited.
Claim Objections
6. Claims 28 and 33 are objected to because of the following informalities:
In claim 28, line 16, the word “a” is extraneous.
In claim 33, line 4, the word “comprise” should be “comprises”.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
7. The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
8. Claim 33 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
8. The recitation in claim 33 “the target pressure reducing aperture comprise (sic) the smallest diameter of the plurality of pressure reducing apertures” is not found in the disclosure as filed. There does not appear to be any discussion of the relative sizes of the plurality of pressure reducing aperture present in the differential pumping system described at [0056]. This portion of the disclosure states only “Pressure reducing barriers 42 each suitably include a thin solid plate or one or more long narrow tubes, typically 1 cm to 10 cm in diameter with a small hole in the center, suitably about 0.1 mm to about 10 cm in diameter, and more suitably about 1 mm to about 6 cm.”
9. Applicant can overcome this rejection by deleting the limitation from the claim or by pointing to the portion of the disclosure that supports the limitation.
10. 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.
11. Claims 1-4, 7-8, and 21-34 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.
12. Independent claims 1 and 28 and dependent claim 21 contain the trademark/trade name “roots blower.”1 Where a trademark or trade name is used in a claim as a limitation to identify or describe a particular material or product, the claim does not comply with the requirements of 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph. See Ex parte Simpson, 218 USPQ 1020 (Bd. App. 1982). The claim scope is uncertain since the trademark or trade name cannot be used properly to identify any particular material or product. A trademark or trade name is used to identify a source of goods, and not the goods themselves. Thus, a trademark or trade name does not identify or describe the goods associated with the trademark or trade name. In the present case, the trademark/trade name is used to identify/describe a particular brand of positive displacement blower (see above cited website) and, accordingly, the identification/description is indefinite.
13. Regarding claim 8, the recitation “an initial stage” and “ a final stage” are unclear in view of the introduction in claim 1 of “a plurality of states.” It is unclear if the initial and final stages are part of the previously introduced plurality or whether they are additional stages. It is suggested that claim 8 should be amended to recite “ wherein the plurality of stages comprises: an initial stage…”
14. Regarding claim 32, the recitation “wherein the plurality of pressure reducing apertures each comprises a diameter” is unclear. Based on [0056], the recitation appears to be intended to delineate the size of the aperture itself, not an additional constituent part. Accordingly, the examiner suggests “wherein a diameter of each pressure reducing aperture is in a range of 0.1 mm to 6 cm.
15. Any claim not explicitly mentioned above is rejected because it depends on rejected claim 1 or 28.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SHARON M DAVIS whose telephone number is (571)272-6882. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Thursday, 7:00 - 5:00 pm ET.
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/SHARON M DAVIS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3646
1 https://www.rootsblower.com/en/
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