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 .
Priority
Applicant’s claim of priority as a 35 U.S.C. §371 national stage entry of
PCT/JP2021/046314 filed Dec. 15, 2021, which claims priority to Japanese application
JP2020-219829 filed Dec. 29, 2020, is hereby acknowledged.
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.
Claim 1, and claims 2-15 that depend therefrom, are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) as indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
Claim 1, line 2, recites “a hydrophilic continuous skeleton” and “continuous pore”. This claim language is indefinite because it is unclear from Applicant’s specification as to how the term “continuous” is to be interpreted, and as to how it modifies/limits the skeleton and pore components of the absorbent polymer, respectively.
Particularly, it is confusing as to how a “single pore can be continuous”.
Moreover, the phrase “local maximum value of a pore volume in a pore distribution curve” as recited in dependent claims 6-10 is also deemed indefinite. It is unclear from the present claims and specification as to how to ascertain this limitation in the claims.
For purposes of the instant action, the phrase “continuous skeleton” component of the polymer skeleton has been interpreted as “a homopolymer”.
Clarification of these terms/phrases is respectfully requested in a subsequent reply to this action.
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-12, 14 and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. §102(a)(1) as anticipated by Yoon (US 2019/0119452 A1 to Yoon et al., published April 25, 2019 and having an effective filing date of December 23, 2016). Yoon had been cited by Applicant in its Information Disclosure Statement filed June 10, 2025.
Examiner notes that the phrase “monolithic absorbent” (present claim 13) has been defined in paragraph [0030] of the present specification, page 14, lies 9-15, as comprising “a crosslinked polymer of a (meth)acrylic acid ester and divinylbenzene before hydrolysis.”
Yoon discloses a porous super absorbent polymer, and a method of preparing thereof, that exhibits excellent absorption performance and enhanced absorption rate due to its pore structure, wherein the porous super-absorbent polymer includes a base resin powder containing a cross-linked polymer of a water soluble ethylene-based unsaturated monomer containing acidic groups (hydrophilic/”continuous polymer”) that are at least partially neutralized, and an inorganic filler contained in the cross-linked structure of the cross-linked polymer, wherein the crossed link structure of the base resin powder includes a plurality of pores (“continuous”) having a sub-micron diameter scale and an interconnected pore structure in the form of an open channel in which 90% or more of the pores are connected to each other. The super-absorbent polymers are applied, inter alia, in sanitary products, hygiene products, and in water retaining/stop applications (abstract; [0002] to [0004]; [0008] to [0017]; [0061]; of Yoon). The water-soluble ethylene-based unsaturated monomer can comprise methacrylic acid, and the anionic surfactant can be sodium dodecanoate/alkyl carboxylate, which would provide a methacrylate/carboxylate compound having a sodium “hydrolysate” group (i.e., hydroxy/alkoxy) compound ([0045]; [0086] to [0088]; claims 3, 6 and 7 of Yoon, present claim 14).
Yoon further discloses that its method provides a porous super-absorbent polymer having a higher porosity than previously known polymers and an enhanced pore structure, wherein the porous super-absorbent polymer hadan interconnected pore structure in the form of an open channel in which a plurality of pores can possess 90% or more of the pores are connected to each other, and high porosity such that the base resin powder possessing a pore volume fraction of 0.74 to 0.9, defined as a ratio of the volume of the plurality of pores to the total volume ([0031];to [0035]). In the examples, Yoon discloses samples wherein the pores have a maximum diameter of 5 to 400 microns wherein 90% or more are connected to each other (Examples 1-4 of Yoon). This disclosure is interpreted as meeting the limitation recited in present claim 1 of “a ratio of a pore volume of a pore … of the polymer adsorbent (having a pore radius of 1 micron or greater) … is 90% or more of a pore volume of the pore.”
Thus, the instant claims are unpatentable over Yoon .
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JOHN J FIGUEROA whose telephone number is (571)272-8916. The examiner can normally be reached on 8:30 am -6:00 pm. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, JOSEPH DEL SOLE can be reached on 571-272-1130. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. 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.
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/JOHN J FIGUEROA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1763
February 21, 2026