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 .
Election/Restrictions
Claims 8-14 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected group, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 12/11/25.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 1 recites “tempering”. It is not clear what conditions (eg heating, cooling, moisture?) or actions would be required for the act of “tempering’. The application also fails to provide any guidance as to what “tempering” would entail.
Claim 2 recites “boiling water scalding or high-temperature steam”. It is not clear what temperatures are required for the water and/or steam. It is not clear if “scalding” is referring to water or steam. It is not clear what temperatures would be considered “scalding” or “high-temperature”.
Claim 5 recites “the whole grain has a thickness of 8 mm to 10 mm and a width of 600 mm to 800 mm”. It is not clear if this describing the size of the individual grain itself, or if it is describing a bed of plural grains.
Claim 6 recites “a movement speed”. It is not clear what step of the process would utilize this “speed”. It is not clear is this is describing linear movement on a belt, or simply some other form of agitation.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
Claims 1-4, 7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yongfu et al [CN 113662134A] in view of Seong [KR 20030008597A] and Vignola et al [WO 2016/0192418A1]
Yongfu et al teach a method for making easy-to-cook highland barley (title) by first subjecting the grain to heat and moisture (paragraph 0010, 0012), the heat lasting for 40-60 seconds (paragraph 0010), then conducting short-time microwave-induced cracking for 40-60 seconds (paragraph 0009, 0011, 0007).
Yongfu et al do not explicitly recite tempering and cooling (claim1), the microwave power being 21-30 kW (claim 1), use of boiling water, scalding or high-temperature steam (claim 2), the heat-moisture being 10-30 seconds (claim 3), tempering for 10-15 minutes (claim 4).
Seong teaches a method for treating cereal/grain with microwave energy (title) by providing grain such as rice and barley (page 2, final paragraph, S1), a water immersion step (page 3, second paragraph, S2), a microwave heating step on a conveyor using 60-70 kW to dry and sterilize the grain (page 3, fifth paragraph, S4), and a cooling step (page 3, S5).
Vignola et al teach a method for making quick-cooking cereals (title) by providing rice or barley (page 11, line 9; page 14, line 20), parboiling the grain on a belt with steam (page 15, lines 11-22), then microwave heating for 1-2 minutes (page 15, lines 23-30), then a drying and tempering step (page 16, lines 10 to page 17, line 8), and a cooling step (page 17, lines 9-15).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to incorporate the claimed tempering and cooling into the invention of Yongfu et al, in view of Vignola et al ad Seong, since all are directed to methods of making quick-cooking grains, since Yongfu et al already included heating of the grain, since the heated grains of Yongfu et al would naturally cool to room temperature after their treatment, since quick-cooking grains were commonly made by microwave heating for 1-2 minutes (page 15, lines 23-30), then a drying and tempering step (page 16, lines 10 to page 17, line 8), and a cooling step (page 17, lines 9-15) as shown by Vignola et al, since the claimed tempering and cooling steps would have provided a more uniform moisture and temperature level within the treated grain of Yongfu et al, in view of Vignoa et al, which would have enabled longer storage.
It further would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to incorporate the claimed microwave power levels into the invention of Yongfu et al, in view of Vignola et al ad Seong, since all are directed to methods of making quick-cooking grains, since Yongfu et al already included microwave heating but simply did not mention the power levels, since systems for making quick-cooking grains commonly used many 1 kW magnetrons to provide up to 60-70 kW of energy (page 3) as shown by Seong, and since the claimed microwave power levels would have been used during the course of normal experimentation and optimization procedures due to factors such as the type of grain, the amounts and size of the grain being treated, the depth and width of the grain bed, and/or the desired amount of cracking to be achieved in the grain of Yongfu, in view of Seong.
It further would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to incorporate the claimed hot water/steam into the invention of Yongfu et al, in view of Vignola et al ad Seong, since all are directed to methods of making quick-cooking grains, since Yongfu et al already included subjecting the grain to heat and moisture (paragraph 0010, 0012) but simply did not mention hot water/steam, since methods of making quick-cooking cereals commonly used parboiling the grain on a belt with steam (page 15, lines 11-22) as shown by Vignola et al, and since combining the water and heating steps of Yongfu et al into a single step would have enabled faster treatment times.
It also would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to incorporate the claimed time periods into the invention of Yongfu et al, in view of Vignola et al ad Seong, since all are directed to methods of making quick-cooking grains, since Yongfu already included the heat lasting for 40-60 seconds (paragraph 0010) as well as many different types of grain, since Vignola et al and Seong already included conveyors, and since the claimed times would have been used during the course of normal experimentation and optimization procedures due to factors such as the type of grain, the amount of grain, the size of the magnetrons, and/or the desired degree of heating to be used in the process of Yongfu, in view of Vignola et al and Seong.
Claims 5-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yongfu, in view of Seong and Vignola et al, as applied above, and further in view of Weibye [US 4,385,074].
Yongfu, Seong, and Vignola et al teach the above mentioned concepts. Yongfu does not explicitly recite a thickness of 8-10 mm and width of 600-800nm (claim 5), and speed of 8-10 m/min (claim 6). Weibye teaches a method for making quick-cooking rice (title) by applying steam for 0.25-3 minutes (column 4, line 11), a rice thickness of 3-10 mm on a moving belt (column 4, line 28), and microwave drying (column 5, line 18). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to incorporate the claimed thickness, width, and speed into the invention of Yongfu, in view of Weibye, since both are directed to methods of making quick-cooking grain, since Yongfu already included fluidization and microwave treatment, since systems for making quick-cooking grain commonly included a depth of 3-10 mm on a moving belt as shown by Weibye, and since the claimed width, thickness, and speed would have been used during the course of normal experimentation and optimization procedures due to factors such as the type of grain, the amount of grain, the length of the belt, the size of the magnetrons, and/or the desired degree of heating to be used in the process of Yongfu, in view of Weibye.
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Zhihua, Carmen, McIlroy et al, Lina et al, Gorakhpurwalls, Velupillai et al, Mori, Ames et al, Fukumori et al, Ando et al, Johnson, and Watkins teach systems and methods for par-boiling and/or preparing quick-cooking grains.
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/DREW E BECKER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1792