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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 08 MAY 2026 has been entered.
Status of Claims
The claim set submitted on 08 MAY 2026 is acknowledged and considered. In the claim set, Claim 1 is ‘Currently Amended’; Claim 2, 3 and 5-9 are ‘Original’; Claim 4 is ‘Canceled’; Claim 10 is ‘Withdrawn’.
Current pending claims are Claims 1-3 and 5-9 and are considered on the merits below.
Response to Amendment
In response to Applicant’s amendments, the ground of rejection for Claims 1-3 and 5-9 are modified to reflect the amendment to the claim. The grounds of rejection are modified compared to the previous Office Action due the amendment but rely on the same prior art.
Based on the amendments to Claim 1 the rejection below has been modified to reflect the amendments including claim mapping and citations.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-3, 5 and 8-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by YOSHIDA, EP 3 410 442 A1, submitted on the Information Disclosure Statement on 29 OCTOBER 2024.
Applicant’s invention is directed towards a device, an automatic analyzer.
Regarding Claim 1, the YOSHIDA reference discloses an automatic analysis system, Figure 1, [0028, 0029], abstract, system, comprising:
two or more analyzers having unique identification information and cumulative information associated with the unique identification information, and configured to analyze a sample, Figure 1, 114a-c, detection units, [0007, 0030] with module identifier, [0013] ; and
a control device, [0029, 0032], Figure 1, management server 150, configured to control operations of the analyzers and manage the unique identification information and the cumulative information of each of the analyzers, [0032], management server 150 includes controller 151, as well as information communication terminal 150 and LC information storage section 152, wherein, in response to detecting a newly introduced analyzer that is introduced into the automatic analysis system, [0022], the analyzing device management system is configured to…the module transfer detecting means … transfer of a new operation module, i.e. 111a-c, 112a-c, 113a-c, 1114a-c, (interpreted to an analyzer, [0016, 0033]), the control device is configured to take over the cumulative information that the newly introduced analyzer has in a pre-rearrangement system based on the unique identification information, and manage cumulative information in a new system including the newly introduced analyzer based on the taken-over cumulative information, [0022], information managing means has function of storing new module identifier of a new operation module in the information storing means (information manager 163, [0031], if it is judged by the module transfer detecting means that a transfer of the new operation module has occurred, and wherein the control device is configured to write and read the unique identification information and the cumulative information to an external storage medium, [0022, 0032], controller controls the reading and writing of data from and in the storage sections 152-154 as well as achieves basic management functions.
Additional Disclosures Included are: Claim 2: wherein the automatic analysis system according to claim 1, further comprising: a display unit configured to display information of the automatic analysis system, wherein the control device causes the display unit to display a setting screen for setting the unique identification information, Figure 2, [0030-0031, 0034].; Claim 3: wherein the automatic analysis system according to claim 2, wherein the control device causes the display unit to display a read-write screen on which the cumulative information 48 is readable and writable, Figure 2, [0030-0032].; Claim 5: wherein the automatic analysis system according to claim 1, further comprising: an internal record medium, wherein the control device records a device serial number on the internal record medium as the unique identification information, [0032]. ; Claim 8: wherein the automatic analysis system according to claim 3, 49wherein the control device is configured to, transmit the cumulative information to a record medium of a host computer connected to the automatic analysis system via a network, and manage the cumulative information on the record medium of the host computer, Figure 1, 6-8, [0004, 0007, 0029, 0032].; and Claim 9: wherein the automatic analysis system according to claim 8, wherein the control device is configured to, transmit the unique identification information input on the read-write screen to the host computer, [0034], Figure 2, information stored in the storage section 152-154 of the management server 150 can be read by the controller 151 and transmitted through the Internet 140 to the information communication terminal 130, to be displayed on the screen of the display unit , and when the record medium of the host computer includes the cumulative information associated with the unique identification information, receive the relevant cumulative information, [0034], displayed on the screen of the display unit connected to the information communication terminal 130, [0037], updating of information is considered to be cumulative information.
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.
Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over YOSHIDA, EP 3 410 442 A1, submitted on the Information Disclosure Statement on 29 OCTOBER 2024, and further in view of AKUTSU, US Publication No. 2019/0317119 A1.
Regarding Claim 6, the reference YOSHIDA discloses the claimed invention, but is silent in regards to the system according to claim 1, further comprising: a barcode reader, wherein the control device is configured to write out the unique identification information as a barcode, and manage the bar-coded unique identification information read by the barcode reader.
The AKUTSU reference discloses an automatic analysis system, Figure 1, automatic analysis device 100, [0022], comprising:
two or more analyzers having unique identification information and cumulative information associated with the unique identification information, abstract, Figure 1 and 9-10, [0007, 0032], in graphs, the different patterns are the two analyzers/analysis occurring, and configured to analyze a sample, [0058]; and
a control device configured to control operations of the analyzers and manage the unique identification information and the cumulative information of each of the analyzers, Figure 1 and 2, control device 4 (control unit), [0022, 0035, 0036], wherein when the analyzers in a system are rearranged, the control device takes over the cumulative information that a newly introduced analyzer has in a pre-rearrangement system based on the unique identification information, and manages cumulative information in a new system based on the taken-over cumulative information, [0032, 0033-0038],
further comprising: a barcode reader, Figure 3, [0031], wherein the control device is configured to write out the unique identification information as a barcode, and manage the bar-coded unique identification information read by the barcode reader, Figure 7, [0046].
It would be obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the claimed invention of YOSHIDA to include the barcode reader as taught by AKUTSU to decrease the turnaround time where there are a lot of specimens to be tested, [0054].
Claim 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over YOSHIDA, EP 3 410 442 A1, submitted on the Information Disclosure Statement on 29 OCTOBER 2024, and further in view of SHIBITA, US Publication No. 2012/0003121 A1.
Regarding Claim 7, the reference YOSHIDA discloses the claimed invention, but is silent in regards to wherein the system according to claim 1, wherein the external storage medium is one or more of a USB media, a CD media, and a DVD media.
SHIBATA discloses an automatic analysis system, abstract, Figure 1, comprising:
two or more analyzers having unique identification information and cumulative information associated with the unique identification information, Figure 1, 5a5b, [0023, 0024], and configured to analyze a sample, [0023, 0024]; and
a control device configured to control operations of the analyzers and manage the unique identification information and the cumulative information of each of the analyzers, Figure 1, control unit 12, [0023, 0024, 0027, 0028], wherein when the analyzers in a system are rearranged, the control device takes over the cumulative information that a newly introduced analyzer has in a pre-rearrangement system based on the unique identification information, and manages cumulative information in a new system based on the taken-over cumulative information, [0027-0029], wherein the control device is able to write and read the unique identification information and the cumulative information to an external storage medium, [0027-0030].
SHIBITA further teaches the memory device is configured to be downloaded by a portable disk drive from a portable recording medium such as a DVD, or a CD-ROM, [0029, 0030].
It would be obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the claimed invention of YOSHIDA to include the external storage medium is of one or more of a USB media, a CD media, and a DVD media as taught by SHIBITA to have a media that is portable to be used in more than one location and/or in different device, [0029].
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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