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 .
Response to Amendment
The amendment filed on January 22, 2026 is acknowledged. Claims 1-20 are pending. Applicant amended claims 1-3, 8 and 10-15, and added new claims 16-20.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to the patentability of the claims have been considered but they are moot. The amendment necessitated the new grounds of rejection set forth below.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claim 19 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
Claim 19 recites “both sides of a circular opening”. A circle does not comprise sides, let alone two as suggested by the limitation “both”. Consequently, the scope of the recitation “both sides of a circular opening” is indefinite. It appears that the recitation should be “opposing arcs of a circular opening”.
In addition, claim 19 contradicts subject matter recited in claim 2, a claim from which claim 19 depends. Specifically, claim 2 specifies that for each lane of test tubes, there is a ventilation opening extending along the lane, meaning claim 2 establishes a one-to-one correspondence between lane and ventilation opening. However, because claim 19 recites that each circular opening is associated with a pair of vertical openings on “both sides” of the circular opening, and further specifies that each vertical opening communicates with a ventilation opening, claim 19 establishes a correspondence that deviates from the ratio established in claim 2 (i.e. according to claim 19, there is a ventilation opening along both sides of each lane) (e.g. see Fig. 12).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(d):
(d) REFERENCE IN DEPENDENT FORMS.—Subject to subsection (e), a claim in dependent form shall contain a reference to a claim previously set forth and then specify a further limitation of the subject matter claimed. A claim in dependent form shall be construed to incorporate by reference all the limitations of the claim to which it refers.
Claim 13 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(d) as being of improper dependent form for failing to further limit the subject matter of the claim upon which it depends.
All of the limitations recited in claim 13 are recited in claim 2, a claim from which claim 13 depends. Consequently, claim 13 does not further limit claim 2. Applicant may cancel the claim, amend the claim to place the claim in proper dependent form, or present a sufficient showing that the dependent claim complies with the statutory requirements.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-12, 14-18 and 20 are allowed. In addition, claim 19 may be allowable if it is amended to overcome the rejection under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) set forth in this Office action. An attempt was made to contact Brandon Theiss to obviate the issues above via an examiner’s amendment. However, the attempt was not successful. The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Hu et al. “(Hu”) (CN 201799446 U) discloses a cassette stand comprising (see Fig. 1):
a body 3 defining an internal space;
an upper surface 2 of the body 3 configured to support a test tube unit having a plurality of test tubes, the upper surface being provided with a plurality of circular openings (a subset of holes 5 illustrated in Fig. 1);
a ventilation opening (one opening of another subset of holes 5), and
an exhaust fan 4 installed in or connected to a lateral surface of the body 3 and configured to exhaust gas from the internal space, wherein the exhaust fan 4 sets an internal space to a negative pressure and generates a stream of gas towards the ventilation opening 5 (see abstract).
However, the circular openings 5 do not appear to have a size capable of receiving test tubes, as recited in independent claims 1 and 2, and based on the disclosure of Hu, there is no motivation to modify the size of the circular openings 5 to arrive at the claimed inventions.
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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to PAUL S HYUN whose telephone number is (571)272-8559. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:30-5:00.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Luan Van can be reached at 571-272-8521. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/PAUL S HYUN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1796
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