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 .
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.
Claims 1-4,6,10-12,14,15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Andreev et al. (US 3893420 A) in view of Dollansky et al. (WO 2009067089 A1).
For claim 1, Andreev et al. teach a fragile insect storage device for storage of insects, the insects being fragile insects, the device comprising:
at least one hatching compartment (interior of ref. 1), the hatching compartment comprising at least one pupa emergence or hatching element (the barley, maize, etc. for the eggs to thrive and hatch into adults) from which adult insects may emerge;
an open region (duct 2) connected to an air pressure source (air pump of conditioner 3), the open region and the air pressure source together being configured for streaming of an adult insect bearing airflow within said open region (as stated: “As moths accumulate in the insect duct 2, an air pump of a conditioner 3 is actuated by a command sent from a control panel 10 and the whole bulk of the moth imagos are carried with a current of air into a collector 4 for collecting the imagos and their eggs.”);
at least one adult insect storage cartridge (4) at an end of said open region, the adult insect storage cartridge and the air pressure source being positioned respective to each other and to said storage compartment such that said adult insect bearing air flow being streamed across said open region is in a direction to carry said emerging adult insects from said at least one hatching compartment towards said at least one adult insect storage cartridge (as stated in the above excerpt).
However, Andreev et al. are silent about at least one sensor located at a passageway connecting said open region to said at least one adult insect storage cartridge, the at least one sensor located to identify at least one member of a group of sensing data comprising movement and positioning of said emerging adult insects in said air flow in respect of said at least one adult insect storage cartridge, the device configured to obtain from said sensor an indication when said storage cartridge is full, and said at least one adult insect storage cartridge is configured to be disconnected when said indication is provided.
Dollansky et al. teach a fragile insect storage device for storage of insects, the insects being fragile insects, the device comprising: at least one sensor (pages 36,45,59,60 teach optical and level sensors being placed in various location in the system; for example, excerpt stated: “The level sensor 711 sends a signal via the connection 753 to the system controller 260 when the container 710 is nearly full. The level sensor 712 sends a signal via the connection 754 to the system controller 260 when liquid level in the container 710 becomes so low that reducing the liquid level further would also remove eggs from the container 710.”), the at least one sensor (the optical sensor sends images to the controller for status of the pupae in the pipe, thus, it is implied that at least one of movement and positioning are identify in order to know where the pupae are) located to identify at least one member of a group of sensing data comprising movement and positioning of said emerging adult insects, the device configured to obtain from said sensor an indication when said storage cartridge is full (as stated in the excerpt above), and said at least one adult insect storage cartridge is configured to be disconnected when said indication is provided (implied since that is the operation of a sensor that detects full and sends the signal to the controller to stop or disconnect operation because the device is full). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include at least one sensor that detects movement and positioning of the emerging adult insects, and also have the device be configured to obtain from the sensor an indication of full as taught by Dollansky et al. in the device of Andreev et al. in order to alert the controller to stop operation if the device is full and to monitor where the insects are located within the device.
The combination of Andreev et al. as modified by Dollansky et al. would result in the at least one sensor (as modified with Dollansky et al.) located at the passageway connecting said open region to said at least one adult insect storage cartridge (Dollansky et al. teach the sensors being placed in passageways in between parts of the device, thus, the same locations of the sensors would be applied to Andreev et al.’s device in the passageway of the open region in insect duct 2 and storage cartridge 4), the at least one sensor located to identify at least one member of a group of sensing data comprising movement and positioning of said emerging adult insects in said air flow in respect of said at least one adult insect storage cartridge, the device configured to obtain from said sensor an indication when said storage cartridge is full (note that this limitation is merely a functional recitation of the device being configured to obtain, thus, the controller in Andreev et al. with modification from Dollansky et al. would be able to perform the intended function since the sensors from Dollansky et al. will be incorporated in the device of Andreev et al.), and said at least one adult insect storage cartridge is configured to be disconnected when said indication is provided.
For claim 2, Andreev et al. as modified by Dollansky et al. teach the device of claim 1, and further teach wherein said open region is configured such that said airflow is constant (functional recitation to which the opening region of Andreev et al. can perform the intended function if the airflow from the air pump is constant because it is an open region).
For claim 3, Andreev et al. as modified by Dollansky et al. teach the device of claim 2, and further teach wherein said open region is configured such that said airflow provides a gradually decreasing temperature (functional recitation to which the opening region of Andreev et al. can perform the intended function if the airflow from the air pump decreases gradually in temperature because it is an open region).
For claim 4, Andreev et al. as modified by Dollansky et al. teach the device of claim 1, and further teach the device is configured to be suitable for live insects (Andreev et al. teach live moths being raised in the device; also, Dollansky et al. teach live insects in their device).
For claim 6, Andreev et al. as modified by Dollansky et al. teach the device of claim 1, and further teach wherein said at least one adult insect storage cartridge is configured to be loaded into a release system (Andreev et al. stated that the insects inside cartridge 4 will be release into areas under agricultural plants, thus, it is implied that there is a release system; excerpt stated: “The marks are necessary for further standardizing of trichogramma release into areas under agricultural plants in order to protect them from pests.” ; also, claim 3).
For claim 10, Andreev et al. as modified by Dollansky et al. teach the device of claim 1, but are silent about wherein said at least one pupa emergence or hatching element comprises liquid containers respectively for holding pupae in water. In addition to the above, Dollansky et al. teach at least one pupa emergence or hatching element comprises liquid containers (710,810,1000, or 1100) respectively for holding pupae in water. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have the at least one pupa emergence or hatching element of Andreev et al. as modified by Dollansky et al. be comprised of liquid containers respectively for holding pupae in water as further taught by Dollansky et al., depending on what type of insects the user wishes to raise. For example, Dollansky et al. wish to raise mosquitos so these insects would be raised in liquid or water.
For claim 11, Andreev et al. as modified by Dollansky et al. teach the device of claim 10, but are silent about wherein said at least one pupa emergence or hatching element respectively comprises a drain opening for draining said water after emergence from said pupae. In addition to the above, Dollansky et al. teach said at least one pupa emergence or hatching element respectively comprises a drain opening (225,226,713,815,1006,1102,1103) for draining said water after emergence from said pupae. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include a drain opening as further taught by Dollansky et al. in the at least one pupa emergence or hatching element of Andreev et al. as modified by Dollansky et al. in order to drain the water for either recycling or for new fresh water for the next batch of insects.
For claim 12, Andreev et al. as modified by Dollansky et al. teach the device of claim 1, but are silent about the device configured to be suitable for flies or mosquitoes. In addition to the above, Dollansky et al. teach the device being configured to be suitable for flies or mosquitoes. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to configure the device of Andreev et al. as modified by Dollansky et al. so as to be suitable for flies or mosquitoes as further taught by Dollansky et al. in order to allow the user the option of raising flies or mosquitoes.
For claim 14, Andreev et al. as modified by Dollansky et al. teach the device of claim 1, and further teach wherein said at least one sensor comprises a plurality of sensors (as modified with Dollansky et al. in the above).
For claim 15, Andreev et al. as modified by Dollansky et al. teach the device of claim 14, and further teach wherein said plurality of sensors are located at a plurality of insect passages respectively (as modified with Dollansky et al. in the above).
Claim 13 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Andreev et al. as modified by Dollansky et al. as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Arsiwalla et al. (US 20160066552 A1).
For claim 13, Andreev et al. as modified by Dollansky et al. teach the device of claim 1, but are silent about wherein said at least one sensor comprises an IR sensor or a laser sensor.
Arsiwalla et al. teach a fragile insect storage device for storage of insects comprising at least one sensor, the sensor being an IR sensor or a laser sensor (para. 0019) for monitoring the insects. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use either an IR sensor or a laser sensor as taught by Arsiwalla et al. as the preferred sensor in the system of Andreev et al. as modified by Dollansky et al., depending on the user’s preference to select known sensors in the market for monitoring the insects in the system.
Claim 16 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Andreev et al. as modified by Dollansky et al. as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Robinson (US 20110132278 A1).
For claim 16, Andreev et al. as modified by Dollansky et al. teach the device of claim 1, but are silent about wherein said at least one adult insect storage cartridge comprises a plurality of adult insect storage cartridges, each adult insect storage cartridge connected via a respective passageway to said open region.
Robinson teaches a fragile insect storage device for storage of insects comprising at least one storage cartridge (180) comprises a plurality of storage cartridges (para. 0016, multi-compartmented cartridge), each storage cartridge connected via a respective passageway (the open top area as shown in fig. 2; also, para. 0016 stated that the whole cartridge has cooling air through the entire interior) to said open region. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have the at least one adult insect storage cartridge of Andreev et al. as modified by Dollansky et al. be comprised of a plurality of adult insect storage cartridges, each adult insect storage cartridge connected via a respective passageway to said open region as taught by Robinson in order to store different species of insects and not intermixed them.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1-4,6,10-16 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SON T NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)272-6889. The examiner can normally be reached 9:00 to 4:00.
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/Son T Nguyen/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3643