Detailed Notice
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Claims 1-5 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected method, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 9/8/2026. Claims 6-8 are pending examination.
Examiner thanks the applicant for their identification of the previous error in the requirement for restriction, whereby the groups were incorrectly coupled as 1-6 and 7-8, in contrast to what the applicant has identified and responded with, as 1-5 and 6-8. The correction of this error is appreciated for the purpose of compacting prosecution.
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d). The certified copy has been filed in parent Application No. PLP.436197, filed on 5/30/2023.
Should applicant desire to obtain the benefit of foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d) prior to declaration of an interference, a certified English translation of the foreign application must be submitted in reply to this action. 37 CFR 41.154(b) and 41.202(e).
Failure to provide a certified translation may result in no benefit being accorded for the non-English application.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
Claim(s) 6-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Latorre-Sanchez et. al Chem. Eur. J. 2012, 18, 16774 – 16783, with evidentiary reference to “What is Frequency Doubling (Second Harmonic Generation) in Laser Systems?” https://www.gophotonics.com/community/what-is-frequency-doubling-second-harmonic-generation-in-laser-systems.
Regarding Claims 6-8, Latorre-Sanchez teaches a photocatalytic system comprising a cylindrical Pyrex vessel (e.q. a tank which is a single vessel (as per Claim 7) and is at least partially transmittable to UV-VIS-IR, being made of glass (as per Claim 8)) which becomes irradiated by the second harmonic output of 532nm light produced from a laser, wherein, as shown by the evidentiary reference, comprises a nonlinear optical crystal (e.g. an optical system) and an emitter (e.g. a laser) in order to produce a second harmonic output (Pg. 1 of the evidentiary reference, paragraph 1 and the first shown image). Latorre-Sanchez teaches that a output gas is measured by gas chromatography, which is therefore understood to teach a vent and a hydrogen collection system [Experimental Section, Photocatalytic Hydrogen Production Tests for all of the above].
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to NATHANAEL J DOWNES whose telephone number is (571)272-1141. The examiner can normally be reached 8am to 5pm.
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NATHANAEL JASON. DOWNES
Examiner
Art Unit 1794
/NATHANAEL JASON DOWNES/ Examiner, Art Unit 1794
/BRIAN W COHEN/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1759
