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 Objections
The following claims are objected to because of the following informalities:
There is a lack of antecedent basis for:
“the end“ in claim 4, line 2.
“the inside“ in claim 4, line 2.
“the end“ in claim 5, line 2.
Appropriate corrections are required.
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.
Claim 5 is 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 5 recites the limitation "the through hole" in line 2. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
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 1-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Choi (KR 101601461 B1) in view of Grevin (US 2010/0145287).
Regarding claim 1, Choi discloses a reagent vessel (fig.1-10) comprising:
a bottle (302, see fig.5b) in which a reagent (see attached translation of Choi, page 4, ll. 21-24) is contained; and a magnetic mold (300, 301, 312) which is coupled to the bottle.
Choi is silent in disclosing a Pasteur pipette which is inserted into an open end of the bottle and has a nozzle through which the reagent is discharged; and a cap which closes the Pasteur pipette and is fastened to the bottle. However, Grevin teaches the commonality of having a bottle (4) that includes a Pasteur pipette (6) which is inserted into an open end of the bottle (see fig.2) and has a nozzle (6) through which the reagent is discharged; and a cap (8) which closes the Pasteur pipette and is fastened to the bottle (via 38 and 22, see fig.2). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the application to modify the discharge cap of Choi to a Pasteur pipette as taught by Grevin, in order to rapidly and precisely controlling the dropping bottle.
Regarding claim 2, Choi discloses a magnet (312) accommodating groove (119) is formed inside the magnetic mold, and a magnet is accommodated in the magnet accommodating groove (see fig.5b).
Regarding claim 3, Choi is silent in disclosing a pair of flanges surrounding the bottle are formed in the magnetic mold. Instead, Choi teaches magnet (312) surrounds the entire base of the container (see fig.5b, 302 and 312). At the time the invention was made, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to change the cylindrical shape of the magnetic flange to a protruding pair, since Applicant has neither placed criticality on use of such a design nor has disclosed that such a pair provides an advantage, is used for a particular purpose, or solves a stated problem other than supporting the container in which the flange of Choi provides such an end result. Therefore, it would have been obvious to modify Choi to obtain the invention as specified in claim 3 because such a modification would have been considered an obvious alteration to the flange of the container of Choi which fails to be patentably distinguished.
Regarding claims 4-5, Choi is silent in disclosing the nozzle of the Pasteur pipette is formed to have a cross-sectional area to be decreased toward the end, and the nozzle extends to the inside of the Pasteur pipette to form a protruding extension end; and the through hole of the nozzle is formed across from the end to the extension end. However, Grevin teaches the commonality of having a bottle (4) that includes
the nozzle of the Pasteur pipette (6) is formed to have a cross-sectional area to be decreased toward the end, and the nozzle extends to the inside of the Pasteur pipette to form a protruding extension end (see area 18 and 6); and a through hole of the nozzle is formed across from the end to the extension end (see fig.2). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the application to modify the discharge cap of Choi to a Pasteur pipette as taught by Grevin, in order to rapidly and precisely controlling the dropping bottle.
Regarding claim 6, Choi discloses a reagent vessel assembly comprising: a holder made of steel (110, see attached translation, page 4, ll. 19-22); and the reagent vessel of claim 1 held on the holder (see fig.5a-b), wherein the reagent vessel is struck to the steel holder by magnetic force to be maintained in an upright state (see fig.5b-b).
Regarding claim 7, Choi discloses the holder is formed to be bent in a ‘ㄱ’ shape (see fig.5a-b).
State of the Prior Arts
Regarding claim 1, the following prior arts to Choi (KR 101601461 B1), HE (CN 203473405 U), Faurie (US 2004/0074925), Li (CN 210700169 U), Chao (CN 106038311 A), Sun (CN 201418685 Y), Nunotani (JP 2014015260 A), Quetua (US 2013/0217134), Marra (US 2023/0083963) and Kelly (US 7,845,845) as cited in PTO-892 are also citing significant pertinent structures or features to the applicant’s claimed invention with regard to a bottle containing a reagent includes a Pasteur pipette which is inserted into an open end of the bottle and has a nozzle through which the reagent is discharged; a cap which closes the Pasteur pipette and is fastened to the bottle; and a magnetic mold which is coupled to the bottle. It appears that claim 1 does not provide any inventive concept over the cited prior arts.
Conclusion
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/BOB ZADEH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3754