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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 4/7/2026 has been entered.
Response to Amendment
The Amendment filed on 4/7/2026 has been entered. Claims 1-7 and 9-14 remain pending in the application.
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) 1-3, 5-7 and 9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over CN 111440719 A, hereinafter Ma in view of CN 109261234A, hereinafter Gao.
Regarding claim 1, Ma teaches an integrated microfluidic chip (figures 1 and 2), comprising: a base (page 2, paragraphs 9-10, micro-flow control channel layer), comprising a front side and a back side set opposite to each other (the two sizes of the micro-flow control channel layer); an inlet flow channel and an outlet flow channel (labeled in figure below), both buried in the base and spaced apart (see figure below); a plurality of common flow channels (labeled in figure below), buried in the base and spaced apart (see figure below), wherein each of the common flow channels has two ends connected to the inlet flow channel and the outlet flow channel, respectively (see figure below); and a plurality of functional units (see below), wherein each of the functional units comprises a single-cell introduction port (the opening between the bottom of item 10 and item 3), a cell culturing-screening chamber (item 10), a cell export chamber (the channel where item 71 is), a cell export port (item 71), and a drive element (each square of item 3), wherein the single-cell introduction port is provided on the front side of the base and connected to a first common flow channel of the common flow channels (see figure below), wherein the cell culturing-screening chamber and the cell export chamber are both buried in the base (see figure below), and both ends of the cell culturing-screening chamber are connected to the common flow channel and the cell export chamber (see figure below), respectively, wherein the cell export port is provided at the back side of the base and is connected to the cell export chamber (see figure below), wherein the drive element is disposed inside the cell export chamber (see figure below) wherein the projections of the drive element and the cell export port overlap on a plane parallel to the base (one of the electrodes of item 3 is where item 71 is and they would overlap with each other), wherein the drive element is used to provide power to liquid for introducing single cells entering the common flow channel into the cell culturing-screening chamber and, after culturing and screening, to export target cell population in the cell culturing-screening chamber through the cell export port (intended use MPEP § 2114 (II)).
Ma fails to teach the drive element attached to an inner surface of the cell export chamber away from the back side of the base and the drive element comprises a heating film, wherein the heating film forms a thermal bubble nozzle along with the cell export chamber and the cell export port.
Gao teaches a device for moving particles in which a substrate is utilized with the electrode layer on the top of the substrate and the liquid layer on the top of the electrode layer (Gao, page 4, paragraph 2) and a heating film is used in addition to a dielectric layer as it can improve the drop moving speed and improves the experiment efficiency (Gao, page 4, paragraph 2).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have made the drive element attached to an inner surface of the liquid layer away from the back side of the base and added a heating film to the device of Ma because it would improve the drop moving speed and improves the experiment efficiency (Gao, page 4, paragraph 2). Regarding the limitation that the heating film forms a thermal bubble nozzle along with the cell export chamber and the cell export port, these limitations are directed to the function of the apparatus and/or the manner of operating the apparatus, all the structural limitations of the claim has been disclosed by Ma and Gao and the apparatus of modified Ma is capable of having the heating film act as a thermal bubble nozzle. As such, it is deemed that the claimed apparatus is not differentiated from the apparatus of modified Ma (see MPEP §2114).
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Regarding claim 2, Ma teaches wherein the inlet flow channel extends in a direction parallel to a direction in which the outlet flow channel extends (see figure above).
Regarding claim 3, Ma teaches wherein the common flow channels extend in a direction perpendicular to a direction in which the inlet flow channel extends (see figure above).
Regarding claim 5, Ma teaches wherein a width of the cell culturing-screening chamber is greater than a width of the cell export chamber (see figure above), wherein the two widths are in a direction perpendicular to the direction pointing from the cell culturing-screening chamber towards the cell export chamber (see figure above).
Regarding claim 6, these limitations are directed to the function of the apparatus and/or the manner of operating the apparatus, all the structural limitations of the claim has been disclosed by Ma and the apparatus of Ma is capable of receiving cells from a single-cell printing chip. As such, it is deemed that the claimed apparatus is not differentiated from the apparatus of Ma (see MPEP §2114).
Regarding claim 7, the single-cell printing chip is not positively claimed and therefore any limitation on the single-cell printing chip has minimal patentable weight (MPEP § 2115). The claim is therefore taught by Ma.
Regarding claim 9, Ma discloses the claimed invention except for the number of functional units is between 10 to 10,000. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to add additional functional units so that it is between 10 to 10,000, since it has been held that mere duplication of the essential working parts of a device involves only routine skill in the art. MPEP 2144.04(VI)(B).
Claim(s) 4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ma and Gao as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of United States Application Publication No. 2012/0169863, hereinafter Bachelet.
Regarding claim 4, Ma and Gao teach all limitations of claim 1; however, they fail to teach the thickness of the cell culturing-screening chamber.
Bachelet teaches a device where the channel height is designed to have a height that only permits a single layer of cells to fill the channel height thereby presenting a monolayer of cells (Bachelet, paragraph [0038]).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have made the thickness of the cell culturing-screening chamber so that it only permits a single layer of cells because it would present the cells in a monolayer (Bachelet, paragraph [0038]).
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 4/7/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Regarding applicant’s argument that Ma does not disclose a heating film as the drive element. The examiner agrees with this statement and is not using Ma to teach the heating film as a drive element, and instead utilizes the reference of Gao to teach this limitation.
Regarding applicant’s argument that the electrodes in Gao are the actual drive elements for responsible for the droplet movement and the heat-generating layer merely performs an auxiliary heating function to enhance droplet mobility and does not directly participate in driving the droplets is not found persuasive. The examiner notes that the claim is currently written as the “drive element comprises a heating film” and therefore there can be additional structure which is associated with the drive element. In the case of Gao, the electrodes are also present which move the fluid. However, the heat-generating layer is heating the droplet. In heating the droplet, the droplet more easily moves on the surface, as the droplet is moving easier on the surface due to the heating the, heat-generating layer is considered to be part of the drive element and reads on this limitation of the claim.
As described above, the heating film forms a thermal bubble nozzle, a recitation of the intended use of the claimed invention must result in a structural difference between the claimed invention and the prior art in order to patentably distinguish the claimed invention from the prior art. If the prior art structure is capable of performing the intended use, then it meets the claim. In this case, as there is a heating layer present in the device, the heating layer could be used to function as a thermal bubble nozzle. The temperature the heating layer would have to be depends upon the composition of the droplet of fluid and if a droplet of fluid has a low boiling point, the heating layer would be able to act as thermal bubble nozzle. There is no structure present in the device of modified Ma which would prevent the heating layer and associated structure from acting as a thermal bubble nozzle.
Regarding applicant’s argument that the heat generating dielectric layer of Gao is positioned outside and separate from the liquid layer and is not disposed inside any chamber container droplets is not found persuasive. The claim has not defined what is considered to be the cell export chamber and therefore the cell export chamber is considered to be the larger chamber which would include the heat generating layer. Additionally, the examiner notes that the claim does not specify whether the heat generating layer is separated from or touching the liquid layer. The claim only states that the drive element is disposed inside the cell export chamber and attached to an inner surface of the cell export chamber, but this does not specify the relationship of the heat generating layer and the liquid within the chamber. The examiner additionally notes that that the claim states that the drive element is disposed in the specified location, however, the claim specifies that the drive element comprises a heating film and therefore, additional structure which is considered to be part of drive element could be disposed in the specified location, but not that heating film. The claim does not specify that the heating film itself is disposed in the specified location.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MATTHEW D KRCHA whose telephone number is (571)270-0386. The examiner can normally be reached M-Th 7am-5pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Maris Kessel can be reached at (571)270-7698. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MATTHEW D KRCHA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1796
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