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 .
This office action is in response to amendment filed on 9/10/25. Claims 1-2,5,7-18,25-30 are amended and claims 3,19-24 are cancelled. Claim 1-2, 4-18 and 25-30 are pending.
The previous 112 second paragraph rejection is withdrawn due to the amendment.
Upon further consideration and updated search, the previous 102 rejection is withdrawn. A new ground of rejection is as followed.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
Claims 5,25-30 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.
In claim 5, the recitation of “ the solid content” does not have antecedent basis; it’s not clear what solid content the claim is referring to.
In claim 25, the limitation “ adding water to the powder or liquid composition” is vague and indefinite because it’s unclear what composition the claim is referring to. Claim 7 does not recite any composition.
Claims 26-30 have the same problem as claim 25.
The new 112 rejection is necessitated by amendment.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
Claim(s) 1-2,4-6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jp 2007-215401 in view of Yamauchi ( jp 2012055324) and Frohberg ( WO 2007/009823).
For claims 1, 2,5, Jp401 discloses a composition comprising a pregelatinized rice flour in amount of 8-20%, ungelatinized rice flour, and a thickener polysaccharide. The ungelatinized rice flour is considered to be the same as the claimed beta rice flour in claim 4 because the starch is not gelatinized. The powder does not contain gluten which meet the limitation of claim 6. The thickener polysaccharide includes gums such as xanthan gum, pectin, guar gum and the like ( see paragraphs 0008,0016)
Jp401 does not disclose the positive peak and the type of polysaccharide as in claim 1 and the negative peak as in claim 2.
Yamauchi discloses an artificial rice. Yamauchi teaches to measure the hardness and stickness of the rice grain using a texture analyzer. The positive value measures the hardness of the rice and the negative value measures the stickiness of the rice. ( see page 11 first paragraph)
Frohberg teaches to measure the quality of rice grains. Frohberg discloses the quality of grain can be determined by measuring the grain hardness and the stickiness of the grains after cooking. The measurement is done on a texture analyzer. A high negative value means a higher stickiness than a lower negative value. Preferably, the rice grains have a stickiness of -10 to -200g. ( see page 11)
It’s known in the art to measure the characteristics of cooked rice grains to determine its quality as shown in Yamauchi and Frohberg. Since pregelatinized rice flour is obtained from rice grains, it would have been equally applicable to measure the quality of the rice flour to determine its properties before use. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to measure the stickiness and hardness to the pregelatinzed rice flour in the Jp401 to ensure that the flour has sufficient hardness and stickiness to be used in the production of the intended products such as noodle, breads etc.. The negative and positive values can vary depending on the stickiness and hardness wanted in the flour. One of ordinary skill in the art can determine the optimum value depending on the intended use of the flour through routine experimentation. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to use other equivalent gum as the thickening polysaccharide. All the claimed polysaccharide is well known thickening agent. As to how the positive and negative values are measured, they are processing parameters which do not determine the patentability of the product and are not given patentable weight in the determination of the product.
Claim(s) 7-18, 25-30 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jp 2007-215401 in view of Yamauchi ( jp2012055324) and Frohberg ( WO 2007;009823) as applied to claims 1-6 above, and further in view of Jp 2006-166724).
Jp 401 discloses the composition comprising the same ingredients and with the pregelatinized rice flour in amount falling within the range claimed. Jp401 does not disclose an outer skin as in claims 7-12, filling-wrapping food comprising inside ingredient and outer skin as in claims 13-18, and method for producing outer skin as in claims 25-30.
Jp 724 discloses noodles or noodle dough sheets comprising thickener polysaccharide and rice powder. Jp 724 discloses mixing the ingredients to form mixture, kneading the mixture and rolling the kneaded material to form strips. The noodle strip can be used through a die cutting machine to obtain noodle skin for gaoza. The wrapping sheet for meat and vegetable dumplings. ( see paragraphs “ solution”,0017-0018,0020,0026)
As shown in Jp724, dough used to form noodle strip can also be used to form noodle skin or wrapping sheet for dumpling. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to form wrapping sheet to make fill-wrapping food, outer skin and rolled product as an obvious matter of preference of forming different types of product. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the roll-forming step to form strip and to use the strip to form outer skin as taught in Jp 724.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-2,4-18 and 25-30 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
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November 10, 2025
/LIEN T TRAN/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1793