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 May 4, 2026 in response to the Non-final rejection of February 4, 2026 is acknowledged and has been entered.
Claims 1-14, 19-20, 22-23, and 34 were amended or previously presented and are presently under consideration.
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office Action.
Rejections Withdrawn
The rejection of Claim 34 under 35 U.S.C. 112(d) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, 4th paragraph is withdrawn in view of applicant’s amendments.
The rejection of Claims 1-20, 22-23, and 34 under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement is withdrawn in view of applicant’s amendments thereto.
All non-statutory double patenting rejections made in the non-final rejection of 02/04/2026 (Paragraphs 29-26) are withdrawn in view of applicant’s filing of terminal disclaimers.
Rejections Maintained
Claim(s) 1-14, 19-20, and 22-23 remain rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by WO 2019/196713 (Wei et al., published 10/17/2019, IDS.) for the reasons of record.
Applicants argue that Wei et al. (WO2019/196713) does not constitute prior art because the present application is a 371 national stage of PCT/US21/61410, which claims priority to U.S. Patent Application No. 17/476,661, which is a continuation application of U.S. Patent Application No. 16/881,668, which is a continuation in-part of PCT/CN2019/081064 published as WO2019/196713 (Wei et al.).
This argument has been considered but is not found persuasive. According to the latest official filing receipt (05/20/2024) in this application, there is no claim of priority to PCT/CN2019/081064. The earliest date of priority is 12/02/2020 based on provisional application 63/120692:
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Further, the application data sheet filed 05/08/2024 does not include PCT/CN2019/081064 in the continuity data. Thus, Applicant’s arguments have been considered but have not been found persuasive.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 34 is objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
No claim is allowed.
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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 GARY B NICKOL, Ph.D. whose telephone number is (571)272-0835. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9AM-5:30PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Julie Wu can be reached at 571-272-5205. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/GARY B NICKOL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1643
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