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 February 24, 2026 is acknowledged. Claims 1-13 remain pending. Applicant amended claims 1 and 8-12. Applicant also amended the abstract to obviate the outstanding objection thereto.
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 Objections
Claim 9 is objected to under 37 CFR 1.75 as being a substantial duplicate of claim 1. When two claims in an application are duplicates or else are so close in content that they both cover the same thing, despite a slight difference in wording, it is proper after allowing one claim to object to the other as being a substantial duplicate of the allowed claim. See MPEP § 608.01(m).
The body of claims 1 and 9 are verbatim identical. The difference is that claim 1 is directed to a device comprising a reaction unit whereas claim 9 is directed solely to the reaction unit. However, the body of claim 1 does not recite any additional elements of the device. Consequently, notwithstanding the nominal differences between claims 1 and 9 (i.e. referring to the invention of claim 1 as a device that has no elements other than the reaction unit), the scope of claims 1 and 9 is identical.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claims 10 and 12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Root et al. (“Root”) (US 4,895,706 A).
With respect to claim 10, Root discloses a cassette guide 62 configured to allow a test tube unit 76 having a plurality of test tubes 78 to be installed therein, the cassette guide comprising (see Fig. 5):
a flange part 72;
a ventilation opening part 110 provided in the flange part; and
a test tube insertion part 74 provided in the flange part, wherein a test tube 78 of the plurality of test tubes is insertable into the test tube insertion part 74, wherein the test tube insertion part 74 has a closed bottom structure, wherein the flange part is installable on an upper surface portion of a cassette box*, and wherein the ventilation opening part suctions air above the flange part by a negative pressure generated in an internal space of the cassette box*.
*The cassette box and the source of the negative pressure are not parts of the claimed invention. They merely provide context for how the claimed cassette guide is used (i.e. the limitations directed to the cassette box and the negative pressure are intended use limitations). That said, prior art need not teach the cassette box or negative pressure to anticipate the claim. The claim is anticipated if the cassette guide is merely usable in the claimed manner. In this case, if a cassette box having the dimensions of the bottom of the cassette guide 62 is provided, said cassette box further comprising a source of negative pressure connectable to element 114 (see Fig. 5), then the cassette guide 62 taught by Root would satisfy all of the intended use limitations.
With respect to claim 12, the test tube insertion part 74 is configured to be in an open state (the top is open) when the test tube of the plurality of test tubes is inserted thereinto (see Figs. 4 and 5).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
Claim 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Root in view of Bucher et al. (“Bucher”) (US 2015/0079684 A1).
With respect to claim 11, Root does not disclose that the test tube insertion part 74 is configured to deform when the test tube of the plurality of test tubes is inserted thereinto.
Bucher discloses a test tube holder 14 comprising an opening lined with a rubber ring 20 for frictionally engaging a test tube inserted into the holder 14 (see Fig. 2A and [0048]). In light of the disclosure of Bucher, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have provided at least a portion of the test tube insertion part 74 with a rubber lining for securing the test tubes 78 in the test tube insertion part 74 in a proper alignment with respect to filter strip 18 (see abstract disclosing the significance of aligning test tubes 78 to respective filter membranes of filter strip 18). If the modification is made, then the rubber lining of the test tube insertion part 74 would be configured to deform when the test tube is inserted into the test tube insertion part 74.
Claim 13 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Root in view of Kopaciewicz et al. (“Kopaciewicz”) (US 2004/0259168 A1).
With respect to claim 13, Root discloses that the cassette guide 62 “typically may be” molded from polycarbonate material (see lines 16-17, col. 5), which is not one of the materials recited in claim 13. However, based on the quoted disclosure, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have formed the cassette guide 62 from a resin of polypropylene, which is considered an analogous material for forming a vacuum manifold (see [0046] of Kopaciewicz.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-8 are allowed.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Conceptually, the closest art is Hu (CN 201799446 U), which teaches a fume hood comprising a cassette guide having a flange part 2 and a ventilation opening part 5, wherein the flange part 2 is installed on an upper surface portion of a cassette box 3, wherein the ventilation opening part 5 suctions air above the flange part 2 by negative pressure generated in an internal space of the cassette box 3 (see Fig. 1). In addition, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have positioned a test tube unit on the flange part 2 for suctioning fumes from test tubes.
However, Hu does not disclose a test tube insertion part provided in the flange part 2, wherein the test tube insertion part comprises a closed bottom structure, as recited in claim 1. Moreover, based on the disclosure of Hu and other relevant prior art, there is no motivation to modify the fume hood taught by Hu to arrive at the claimed invention.
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.
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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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