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 .
DETAILED ACTION
Status of Continued Examination Application (RCE)
1. A request for continued examination (RCE) under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set
forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after the 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CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn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. Applicants’ submission filed on 08/17/2026 has been entered.
Response to Amendment
2. The amendment filed on 07/22/2026 has been made of record and entered.
Claim 13 has been amended.
Claims 15 & 16 have been canceled.
Claims 1-14 & 17-22 are currently pending in this application and under consideration.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102 (a)(1)
3. 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) 1-14 & 17-22 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by WO 2017/153329 A2 (which has equivalence US 10,717,042).
WO 2017/153329 A2 discloses a process for taking up (adsorbing) one or more nitrogen oxide(s) from a medium, the process comprising the following steps:
a) providing a gaseous and/or aerosol medium comprising one or more nitrogen oxide(s),
b) providing at least one particulate earth alkali carbonate-comprising material and/or at least one particulate earth alkali phosphate-comprising material having a BET specific surface area as measured by the BET nitrogen method in the range from 10 to 200 m2/g, and
c) contacting the gaseous and/or aerosol or liquid medium of step a) with the at least one particulate earth alkali carbonate-comprising material and/or at least one particulate earth alkali phosphate-comprising material of step b) in any order, for taking up (adsorbing) at least a part of the one or more nitrogen oxide(s) from the gaseous and/or aerosol or liquid medium onto the surface and/or into the pores of the at least one particulate earth alkali carbonate-comprising material and/or at least one particulate earth alkali phosphate-comprising material (see page 4, lines 10-30 and page 71, claim 1).
The contacting step c) is carried out at a temperature ranging from -40 to 600oC, preferably from -30 to 450oC, and most preferably from -20 to 350oC (see page 38, lines 6-8).
The reference teaches the at least one particulate earth alkali carbonate-comprising material having an intra-particle intruded specific pore volume from 0.150 to 1.300 cm3/g, and preferably from 0.178 to 1.244 cm3/g, as measured by mercury intrusion porosimetry, (see page 73, line 4).
Regarding claims 1, 9, 20, & 22, the reference appears to teach the claimed process comprising the same process steps as claimed (see page 4, lines 10-30 and page 71, claim 1).
The claimed temperature ranges of step c) of -10 to 150oC, 0 to 80oC, and 10 to 55oC recited in the instant claims 1, 9, & 22, respectively, appear falling within the disclosed most preferable temperature range of -20 to 350oC, thus the claims are met. Example 3 on page 67 of the reference teaches absorption at room temperature (23 ± 2oC).
The claimed BET specific surface area from 40 to 400 m2/g of at least one particulate magnesium ion-comprising material in claim 1 encompassed the disclosed range of 10 to 200 m2/g (see page 4, lines 10-30 and page 71, claim 1).
The claimed intra-particle intruded specific pore volume of from 0.150 to 1.300 cm3/g, as measured by mercury intrusion porosimetry, of at least one particulate magnesium ion-comprising material is taught by the reference (see page 73, line 4).
The reference teaches the particulate earth alkali carbonate-comprising material of step b) is magnesium carbonate, hydromagnesite and/or dolomite (see page 38, lines 6-8 and pages 17-18), which meets the claim limitation on “at least one particulate magnesium-ion-comprising material” and particularly the magnesium compounds recited in the instant claims 1, 6, & 20.
Regarding claims 2-3, 6, & 17, the reference teaches the claimed gaseous and/or aerosol medium of step a) and the at least one particulate magnesium ion-comprising material of step b) (see page 70, claims 2-6).
Regarding claims 4 & 18, the NOx partial pressures in the gaseous and/or aerosol medium of “up to 200 mbar” and “up to 100 mbar” according to these claims are considered as arbitrary and obvious selection in view of the reference teaching that the medium may contain any NOx amount, and preferably up to 1500 ppm by volume, corresponding to up to 1.5 mbar (see page 12, line 28- page 13, line 5). The gaseous and/or aerosol medium may comprise the one or more nitrogen oxide(s) in any amount. However, in order to obtain a sufficient adsorbing of nitrogen oxides in the process of the claimed invention, it is preferred that the gaseous and/or aerosol medium comprises the one or more nitrogen oxide(s) in a total amount of up to 1500 ppm, based on the total volume of the gaseous and/or aerosol medium.
Regarding claims 5 & 19, the reference teaches the at least one particulate earth alkali carbonate-comprising material and/or or at least one particulate earth alkali phosphate-comprising material is in form of a powder, granulated powder, suspension, such as aqueous suspension or suspension in organic solvents, column, cartridge, paint, coating, filter material. gabions, preferably gabions placed next to a motorway or a waste incineration plant, building material, etc. (see page 75, claim 17).
Regarding claims 7 & 21, the reference teaches the claimed volume median particle size d50, BET specific surface, and particle size distribution d98/d50 (see page 73, claim 7).
Regarding claim 8, the reference teaches the at least one particulate earth alkali phosphate-comprising material of step b) has a moisture content of at least 0.001 mg/m2 (see page 74, claim 9).
Regarding claims 10-12, the reference teaches to include a washing step d) as recited in the instant claims to remove the impurities (see page 20, lines 26-29).
Regarding claims 13 & 14, the reference teaches the claimed particulate magnesium-ion-comprising material prepared by the same process for adsorbing one or more nitrogen oxide(s) from a gaseous and/or aerosol medium as discussed above thus anticipates the instant claims.
Claims 1-14 & 17-22 are unpatentable as being anticipated by WO 2017/153329 A2.
Response to Applicants’ Arguments
4. Applicants’ remarks submitted with the amendment on 07/15/2026 have been reviewed, however they are not deemed persuasive because of the following reasons.
As explained in the Advisory Action (dated 07/22/2026) that WO 2047/153329 A2 teaches the same particulate magnesium ion-comprising material as claimed. The term “earth alkali” means alkaline earth metals, which includes magnesium, meeting the claim limitation in claim 1. The instant claim 6 further defines the particulate magnesium ion-comprising material is selected from a group including “magnesium carbonate-comprising material”, which is the same as the disclosed material. The reference may only exemplified “calcium carbonate” with calcium carbonate is being a preferred material, magnesium or magnesium carbonate is also taught to be suitable as an alkaline earth material. Page 17 of the reference discloses apatite, magnesium carbonate, hydromagnesite and/or dolomite (which is a carbonatic calcium-magnesium-mineral (CaMg(CO3)2) (CaCO3.MgCO3)) is used in admixture with the surface-modified calcium carbonate. The phrase “magnesium ion-comprising material” in the instant claim 1 is open to include the calcium carbonate and the dolomite, magnesium carbonate, hydromagnesite, etc. of the reference.
5. This is an RCE of applicant's earlier Application No. 18/257,625. All claims are identical to, patentably indistinct from, or have unity of invention with the invention claimed in the earlier application (that is, restriction (including lack of unity) would not be proper) and could have been finally rejected on the grounds and art of record in the next Office action if they had been entered in the earlier application. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL even though it is a first action in this case. See MPEP § 706.07(b). Applicants are 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.
Conclusion
6. Claims 1-14 & 17-22 are pending. Claims 1-14 & 17-22 are rejected. No claims are allowed.
Contacts
7. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Primary Examiner CAM N. NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)272-1357. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F (8:30 am – 5:00 pm) at alternative worksite or at cam.nguyen@uspto.gov.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Anthony Zimmer, can be reached at 571-270-3591. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/Cam N. Nguyen/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1736
/CNN/
August 26, 2026
Prosecution Insights