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 .
The Applicant’s amendment filed on June 2, 2026 was received. All previous claims were cancelled and claims 21-26 were newly added.
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S.C. code not included in this action can be found in the prior Office action issued October 24, 2024.
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 April 2, 2026 has been entered.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
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.
Claim 25 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. Claim 25 requires that the face of the frame holding the syringe receptacles is “oriented substantially orthogonal to a top face of the treatment applicator”, which has no basis whatsoever in the original disclosure. Nothing about the disclosure discusses the relative orientation of these two elements, and figures 7A and 7B which appear to best show their relationship clearly suggest that the two elements are at oblique angles to each other, and also separated by a fair amount of space such that a simple image cannot show exactly how they are angled to one another without further description, of which there is none.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
Claims 21-26 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Campbell (US 2016/0370264) in view of Dockrill et al. (US 2014/0315256) and Ford et al. (US 6,192,945).
Regarding claim 21: Campbell discloses a slide processing system (100) having a housing containing one or more reservoirs (709, 718) comprising one or more treatment fluids connected to a treatment system (703) having a frame secured within the housing, with a plurality of jet nozzles (706) attached to the frame for supplying the treatment fluids to a slide (306) as well as a slide positioner (203) that places the slides (306) from a first position away from the slide treatment zone to a second position in the treatment zone (par. 17-19, 26, 44-47, figures 1-3, 8-9). Campbell fails to explicitly disclose that the treatment applicator has a first and second rail defining a treatment channel or that the reservoirs are syringe reservoirs received through the face of the frame into a corresponding receptacle of a plurality of receptacles.
However, Dockrill et al. discloses a similar slide treatment system including a cover member (1000) having one or more fluid inlets (1012) that supply fluid through a constricting neck (1016) such that it enters a void region (1124) which is an application surface surrounded by walls (1122) which are opposing rails under which a slide (200) is arranged in order to supply a fluid reagent to the slide (200) via capillary action through the necks (1016) of the inlets through use of a supply device such as a syringe pump which uses syringes as the reservoir, the syringe pump being controlled by a controller (7060) (pars. 87, 127-132, 138, 158, 198, figures 1-2). It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the cover system and syringes of Dockrill et al. as part of the fluid treatment system of Campbell because Dockrill et al. teaches that this is an improvement over existing automated staining systems that does not lead to high costs and treatment failures (pars. 2-6).
Campbell discloses that the reservoirs (709) are attached to a frame above the nozzles (706) such that when replaced by syringe reservoirs, the syringes would be mounted to this frame as well (see figure 8A). Campbell and Dockrill et al. fail to explicitly disclose that the syringes are mounted into a plurality of receptacles in the frame. However, Ford et al. discloses a similar slide treatment system which includes a reagent tray (10) which is a frame that includes a plurality of fluid dispenser receptors (11), each configured to releasably receive a plurality of fluid dispensers (12) each of which can take the form of a syringe dispenser (col. 9 lines 8-32, col. 25 lines 42+, figures 2 and 15). It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use a reagent tray with receptacles for syringes as taught by Ford et al. for the reservoirs of Campbell and Dockrill et al. because Ford et al. teaches that this helps ensure precise and reliable dispensing by allowing for easy assembly and priming of the dispenser device (abstract, col. 2 lines 6-13, col. 6 lines 38-46).
Regarding claim 22: Campbell discloses that the slide treatment system (703) includes a pressurized supply line including pressure regulators (712) for supplying the treatment fluid in predefined bursts to the slide (306) (pars. 44-45, figure 8).
Regarding claim 23: Campbell and Dockrill et al. disclose the above combined device which includes a void region (1124) which is an application surface surrounded by walls (1122) which are opposing rails under which a slide (200) is arranged in order to supply a fluid reagent to the slide (200) via capillary action through the necks (1016) of the inlets when liquid is supplied to the inlets (Dockrill et al. pars. 87, 127-132, 138, 158, 198, figures 1-2).
Regarding claim 24: Campbell discloses that the pressure regulators (712) can pressurize the supply line by using pressure regulated air or other gas (par. 44) such that they comprise a pneumatic pump.
Regarding claim 25: Campbell, Dockrill et al. and Ford et al. disclose the above combination using syringe reservoirs which include plungers external to the syringe reservoirs (Ford et al. col. 2 lines 63+, col. 3 lines 1-15, col. 14 lines 14-36), and Campbell and Dockrill et al. show that a face of the frame of the applicators (706) (Campbell figure 8) could be considered to be lined up substantially orthogonally to the top face of the cover member (1000) (see ref #400 of Dockrill et al., figure 2). Regardless, it would have been obvious for one ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to rearrange the applicator frame and cover member such that the face of the frame is orthogonal relative to the top of the cover member because a simple change in size and shape and/or rearrangement of parts is not considered to be a patentable advance (MPEP 2144.04).
Regarding claim 26: Campbell and Dockrill et al. show multiple end walls extending between the walls (1122) which constitute the rails (see Dockrill et al. figure 1).
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed June 2, 2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Applicant broadly argues that the new claim set is not taught by the prior art.
In response:
Applicant's arguments fail to comply with 37 CFR 1.111(b) because they amount to a general allegation that the claims define a patentable invention without specifically pointing out how the language of the claims patentably distinguishes them from the references. Applicant has not provided any specific arguments, and has merely broadened the scope of the previous claims to an extent that there is no reason to suggest they require anything not previously taught by the original claim set without further arguments. As there is nothing specific Applicant has argued, there is no way to present any detailed response.
Conclusion
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/S.A.K/
Stephen KittExaminer, Art Unit 1717
6/10/2026
/Dah-Wei D. Yuan/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1717
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