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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 04 JUNE 2026 has been entered.
Status of Claims
The claim set submitted on 30 MARCH 2026 is acknowledged and considered. In the claim set, Claims 1, 2, 4 and 6 are ‘Currently Amended’ and Claims 3, 5 and 7-9 are ‘Original’.
It should be noted that while Claim 9 has the status of ‘Original’ there are in fact amendments to the claim language. Examiner believes that this is an oversight.
Current pending claims are Claims 1-9 and are considered on the merits below.
Response to Amendment
Applicant’s arguments, see REMARKS, filed 30 MARCH2026, with respect to the 112(a) and 112(b) rejections have been fully considered and are persuasive. The 112(a) and 112(b) rejections have been withdrawn.
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.
Claims 1-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over TAKAHASHI, US Publication No. 2013/0108508 A1, submitted on the Information Disclosure Statement on 21 AUGUST 2024, and further in view of NISHIDA, US Publication No. 2009/0292483 A1, submitted on the Information Disclosure Statement 20 DECEMBER 2022, US Patent Documents Cite No. A3.
Applicant’s invention is directed towards a device.
Regarding Claim 1, the reference TAKAHASHI discloses an automatic analyzer , abstract, comprising:
a reaction promotion unit, including a thermostatic tank, that has a plurality of holding positions where a reaction vessel is arranged, Figure 1, reaction disk 1 with 20 positions with containers 2, it is interpreted that the disk is also a tank, as similarly characterized by Applicant unit 108 is formed into incubator, [0029, 0030]; and
an expendable item transport unit, having a structure that is configured to hold expendable items including the reaction vessel , Figure 1, reaction container transfer mechanism 3 holds containers 2, [0030, 0031], and configured to transport the reaction vessels to a first position and a second position of the reaction promotion unit, Figure 1, reaction container transfer mechanism 3 ‘catches and transfers’, [0030, 0031], A range within which the reaction container transfer mechanism 3 is capable of transferring and moving each reaction container is limited within a reaction container transfer mechanism movable area 6. The reaction container transfer mechanism 3 is capable of accessing 36 reaction container positions on the magazine, and the holes at fixed coordinate positions T, U, X, A, B, C, D, E, F, G on the reaction disk 1,
wherein the reaction promotion unit regularly operates in each operation cycle, and the holding position located at the second position during a first operation cycle is moved to the first position after an n (n: integer) operation cycle, [0031], mechanism 3 is capable of moving to holding section 15,
the first position is a position where the expendable item transport unit sets the reaction vessel in the reaction promotion unit and the second position is a position where the expendable item transport unit disposes of the reaction vessel from the reaction promotion unit, [0031], reaction container transfer mechanism 3 is capable of moving to a reaction container stirring mechanism 14, a reaction container holding section 15 and a reaction container disposal outlet 18, and
from a first operation cycle to an n-th operation cycle, [0030-0033], the expendable item transport unit is configured to perform[[s]] an operation of disposing of the reaction vessel from the second position, [0031, 0033, 0044], computer 26 controls the mechanisms, and mechanism 3 is capable of moving to disposal, and at position D, reaction container is disposed of to the reaction container disposal 18, and is configured to perform[[s]] an operation of setting the reaction vessel at the first position and an operation of disposing of the reaction vessel from the second position in each operation cycle after an (n+1)-th operation cycle, [0030-0033].
The TAKAHASHI reference discloses claimed invention but is silent in regards to wherein the expendable item transport unit is configured to perform the particular operations, but does teach that reaction container transfer mechanism 3 is capable of moving to a reaction container stirring mechanism 14, a reaction container holding section 15 and a reaction container disposal outlet 18, and the computer 26 controls the reaction disk driving mechanism, the reaction container transfer mechanism 3, the reaction container stirring mechanism 14, the arm 11 of the first reagent (R1) dispensing mechanism, the arm 13 of the sample (S) dispensing mechanism, and the like, [0031, 0033].
As seen from TAKAHASHI, the analyzer is configured to have at different positions on the reaction disk 1 to have different operations perform at stops (A to X), [0030, 0036-0078]. TAKAHASHI even suggests that in certain situations the steps are changed/modified and or repeated, [0045, 0078]. Moreover, the reaction container transfer mechanism 3 is capable of moving to a reaction container stirring mechanism 14, a reaction container holding section 15 and a reaction container disposal outlet 18, [0031].
Therefore, it would be obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the operation of the expendable item transport unit so that is configured to perform[[s]] an operation of disposing of the reaction vessel from the second position without performing an operation of setting the reaction vessel at the first position in each operation cycle,
and is configured to perform[[s]] an operation of setting the reaction vessel at the first position and an operation of disposing of the reaction vessel from the second position in each operation cycle after an (n+1)-th operation cycle in the case of urgent analysis, interruptions or if reactions need to be repeated for consistency, accuracy, reliability and validity of results, [0045, 0078, 0091, 0093].
The TAKAHASHI reference discloses the claimed invention, but is silent in regards to wherein the expendable item transport unit is configured to hold dispensing tips.
The NISHIDA reference discloses an automatic analyzer , Figure 1, comprising : a rection promotion unit, that has a plurality of holding positions, Figure 1, reaction section 109, [0043, 0044], and an expendable item transport unit, having a structure that is configured to hold expendable item including dispensing tips, Figure 1, [0025, 0058], section 112/device 113/section 114.
It would be obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the TAKAHASHI reference with the expendable item transport unit, having a structure that is configured to hold expendable item including dispensing tips so that the dispensing tips used in each container of TAKAHASHI can be replace and disposed over to minimize any cross contamination between containers.
Additional Disclosures Included are: Claim 2: wherein the automatic analyzer according to claim 1, wherein the expendable item transport unit is configured to transport a new reaction vessel to the first position in each operation cycle after the (n+1)-th operation cycle, sets the new reaction vessel at the holding position located at the first position, then is moved to the second position, takes out the reaction vessel set at the holding position located at the second position, and transports the reaction vessel to a disposal unit to dispose of the reaction vessel, [0030-0044]. ; and Claim 3: wherein the automatic analyzer according to claim 1, wherein the reaction promotion unit sets the reaction vessel on a circumference and performs a predetermined amount of rotational operation in each operation cycle, [0036-0078], in particular [0078].
Applicant’s invention is directed to a device, an automatic analyzer.
Regarding Claim 4, the TAKAHASHI reference discloses an automatic analyzer , abstract, comprising:
a reaction promotion unit, including thermostatic tank, that has a plurality of holding positions where a reaction vessel is arranged, Figure 1, reaction disk 1 with 20 positions and containers 2, it is interpreted that the disk is also a tank, as similarly characterized by Applicant unit 108 is formed into incubator, [0029, 0030];
an expendable item transport unit, having a structure that is configured to hold expendable items including the reaction vessel , Figure 1, reaction container transfer mechanism 3 holds containers 2, [0030, 0031], and configured to transport the reaction vessels to a first position and a second position of the reaction promotion unit, Figure 1, reaction container transfer mechanism 3 ‘catches and transfers’, [0030, 0031], A range within which the reaction container transfer mechanism 3 is capable of transferring and moving each reaction container is limited within a reaction container transfer mechanism movable area 6. The reaction container transfer mechanism 3 is capable of accessing 36 reaction container positions on the magazine, and the holes at fixed coordinate positions T, U, X, A, B, C, D, E, F, G on the reaction disk 1,
a control device, including a computer, that manages a position state for each holding position of the reaction promotion unit, Figure 1, computer 26, [0033, 0087],
wherein the position state includes a first state indicating that arrangement of the reaction vessel is unknown, and a second state indicating that the reaction vessel is not arranged, [0029, 0030], the first position is a position where the expendable item transport unit sets the reaction vessel in the reaction promotion unit and the second position is a position where the expendable item transport unit disposes of the reaction vessel from the reaction promotion unit, [0031],
The TAKAHASHI reference discloses the claimed invention, but is silent in regards to wherein the expendable item transport unit is configured to perform[[s]] a reaction vessel setting operation when a position state of the holding position located at the first position is the second state, and configured to perform[[s]] a reaction vessel disposal operation when a position state of the holding position located at the second position is the first state.
As seen from TAKAHASHI, the analyzer is configured to have at different positions on the reaction disk 1 to have different operations perform at stops (A to X), [0030, 0036-0078]. TAKAHASHI even suggests that in certain situations the steps are changed/modified and or repeated, [0045, 0078]. Moreover, the reaction container transfer mechanism 3 is capable of moving to a reaction container stirring mechanism 14, a reaction container holding section 15 and a reaction container disposal outlet 18, [0031].
In addition, in Figure 4-1 to 4-5, an analysis of an item based on the standard reaction time is shown. In each of the animations, different states of start/stop/state of sequence is described, [0080-0082].
Therefore, it would be obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the operation of the expendable item transport unit wherein the expendable item transport unit is configured to perform[[s]] a reaction vessel setting operation when a position state of the holding position located at the first position is the second state, and configured to perform[[s]] a reaction vessel disposal operation when a position state of the holding position located at the second position is the first state to take into account urgent analysis, interruptions or if reactions need to be repeated for consistency, accuracy, reliability and validity of results, [0045, 0078, 0091, 0093].
The TAKAHASHI reference discloses the claimed invention, but is silent in regards to wherein the expendable item transport unit is configured to hold dispensing tips.
The NISHIDA reference discloses an automatic analyzer , Figure 1, comprising : a rection promotion unit, that has a plurality of holding positions, Figure 1, reaction section 109, [0043, 0044], and an expendable item transport unit, having a structure that is configured to hold expendable item including dispensing tips, Figure 1, [0025, 0058], section 112/device 113/section 114.
It would be obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the TAKAHASHI reference with the expendable item transport unit, having a structure that is configured to hold expendable item including dispensing tips so that the dispensing tips used in each container of TAKAHASHI can be replace and disposed over to minimize any cross contamination between containers.
Additional Disclosure Included are: Claim 5: wherein the automatic analyzer according to claim 4, wherein the control device sets the position state of all the holding positions of the reaction promotion unit as the first state when an analysis operation is started, Figure 1, computer 26, [0033, 0087]. ; Claim 6: wherein the automatic analyzer according to claim 5, wherein the expendable item transport unit is configured to transport a new reaction vessel to the first position in each operation cycle when the position state of the holding position located at the first position is the second state, sets the new reaction vessel at the holding position located at the first position, then is moved to the second position, take[[s]] out the reaction vessel set at the holding position located at the second position when the position state of the holding position located at the second position is the first state, and transport[[s]] the reaction vessel to a disposal unit to dispose of the reaction vessel, [0030-0044]. ; Claim 7: wherein the automatic analyzer according to claim 6, wherein the control device shifts the position state of the holding position where the expendable item transport unit performs the reaction vessel setting operation from the second to a third state, and shifts the position state of the holding position where the expendable item transport unit performs the reaction vessel disposal operation to the second state, Figure 1, computer 26, [0033, 0087], computer 26 controls the reaction disk driving mechanism, the reaction container transfer mechanism 3, the reaction container stirring mechanism 14, the arm 11 of the first reagent (R1) dispensing mechanism, the arm 13 of the sample (S) dispensing mechanism, and the like. ; Claim 8: wherein the automatic analyzer according to claim 7, wherein the control device shifts the position state of the holding position, which is the third state, to a fourth state by performing a dispending operation on the set reaction vessel by a dispensing unit, and shifts the position state of the holding position, which is the fourth state, to a fifth state by end of a holding period in the reaction promotion unit, Figure 1, computer 26, [0033, 0087], computer 26 controls the reaction disk driving mechanism, the reaction container transfer mechanism 3, the reaction container stirring mechanism 14, the arm 11 of the first reagent (R1) dispensing mechanism, the arm 13 of the sample (S) dispensing mechanism, and the like.; and Claim 9: wherein the automatic analyzer according to claim 8, wherein the expendable item transport unit is further configured to perform[[s]] the reaction vessel disposal operation when the position state of the holding position located at the second position is the fifth state, [0033-0044].
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHRISTINE T MUI whose telephone number is (571)270-3243. The examiner can normally be reached M-Th 5:30 -15:30 EST.
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CTM
/CHRISTINE T MUI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1797
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