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 .
Status of Claims
Claims 1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, and 10 have been amended by Applicant. Claims 2 and 6 are cancelled. Claims 1, 3-5, and 7-13 are currently pending.
Response to Arguments
The rejection of claims 1, 5, and 7 under 35 U.S.C. 102 has been withdrawn in view of Applicant’s amendments to independent claim 1.
The rejection of claims 3, 4, and 8-10 under 35 U.S.C. 103 has been withdrawn in view of Applicant’s amendments to independent claims 1 and 10.
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 5, 7, and 9 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. Claims 5, 7, and 9 recite a formula containing the variable α without a proper definition of said variable in the claim, thereby rendering the claim indefinite.
Claim 3 (as amended) states that it is dependent on cancelled claim 2 thereby rendering the claim indefinite. Hence, claim 3 (as amended) is hereby rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b).
Appropriate corrections are required.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1, 3-5, and 7-13 (as amended) are allowable over the prior art.
While the found prior art before the effective filing date teaches many of the features in amended claim 1, none of the prior art found teaches or fairly suggests the newly added features recited in amended claim 1.
As independent claim 10 incorporates all of the limitations recited in claim 1 (as amended), it is also found to be allowable.
The closest prior art found was Mithun et al. (US 20210089841 A1), Zhao et al. (US 20200074639 A1), Wang et al. (US 20200302265 A1), and Lee et al. (US 20180365794 A1).
The dependent claims 3-5, 7-9, and 11-13 being definite, enabled by the specification, and further limiting the independent claims, are also allowable.
As allowable subject matter has been indicated, applicant's reply must either comply with all formal requirements or specifically traverse each requirement not complied with. See 37 CFR 1.111(b) and MPEP § 707.07(a).
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/B.R.B./Examiner, Art Unit 2146
/USMAAN SAEED/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2146
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