DETAILED ACTION
Summary
This Office Action is responsive to Applicant submission filed 07/23/2025.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Species I in the reply filed on 07/23/2025 is acknowledged. Claims 1, 2, 17, 19, 21, and 24 read on the elected Species.
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.
Claims 1, 2, 17, 19, 21, and 24 are 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 1 recites the limitation "the conversion" in line 6. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. While lines 3-4 recite “a relay medium recording the plurality of parameters converted in a specific format”, there is no specific limitation that covers “the conversion” itself. For purposes of examination, lines 5-6 have been interpreted as “a restoration unit for decoding the imported parameters in the specific format to each parameter in an original format”.
Claim 2 recites the limitation "the conversion" in line 8. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. While lines 5-6 recite “a relay medium recording the plurality of parameters converted in a specific format”, there is no specific limitation that covers “the conversion” itself. For purposes of examination, lines 7-8 have been interpreted as “a restoration unit for decoding the imported parameters in the specific format to each parameter in an original format”.
Claims 17, 19, 21, and 24 are rejected by dependence.
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)(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.
Claim(s) 1, 17, and 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by NAKAJIMA, US 2021/0318347.
Re claim 1:
NAKAJIMA discloses an analysis apparatus (automatic analyzer) comprising:
An importing unit for importing a plurality of parameters, which is required when a specific type of measurement is performed on a specific analysis apparatus, from a relay medium recording the plurality of parameters converted in a specific format (code input unit 50 reads an encoded code containing parameter address and parameter value information [0068] [0070] [0086]);
A restoration unit for decoding the imported parameters in the specific format to each parameter in an original format (input unit/decoding unit 46 [0059] [0066] [0086] [0101]); and
A setting unit (control unit 41) for setting the parameters obtained by the restoration unit to each required setting address (control unit 41 sets or updates parameters [0060] [0086] [0095] [0098]-[0101] [0112] [0120]-[0122]).
Re claim 17:
NAKAJIMA discloses the analysis support apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the relay medium is a contactless IC chip, and the importing unit is a reader for the contactless IC chip (i.e., code input unit may be configured with an RFID reader that reads the code stored in an RFID tag [0149]).
Re claim 19:
NAKAJIMA discloses the analysis apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the relay medium is a two-dimensional code, and the importing unit is a camera [0068] [0086].
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.
Claim(s) 2 and 24 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over NAKAJIMA, US 2021/0318347 in view of KUWAOKA et al, US 2015/0012227.
Re claim 2:
NAKAJIMA teaches an analysis support system including an analysis apparatus, a repeater, and a manufacturer management device,
The analysis apparatus comprising:
An importing unit for importing a plurality of parameters, which is required when a specific type of measurement is performed on a specific analysis apparatus, from a relay medium recording the plurality of parameters converted in a specific format (code input unit 50 reads an encoded code, such as QR code 61, containing parameters address and parameter value information [0068] [0070] [0086]);
A restoration unit for decoding the imported parameters in the specific format to each parameter in an original format (input unit/decoding unit 46 [0059] [0066] [0086] [0101]); and
A setting unit (control unit 41) for setting the parameters obtained by the restoration unit to each required setting address (control unit 41 sets or updates parameters [0060] [0086] [0095] [0098]-[0101] [0112] [0120]-[0122]),
The repeater comprising:
A communication unit for receiving data in the specific format corresponding to the information specifying an analysis apparatus and a type of measurement transmitted from a manufacturer device; an output unit for outputting the data in the specific format (i.e., a personal digital assistant that can receive QR code 61 transmitted from the manufacturer and display the QR code on the screen [0146] [0148]).
A manufacturer management device transmitting to the repeater the data in the specific format (i.e., the management device is implicit as the manufacturer must utilize a device to transmit QR code 61 to the personal digital assistant [0097]).
NAKAJIMA does not explicitly teach the repeater transmits information specifying the analysis apparatus and the type of measurement to the manufacturer management device; the manufacturer management device comprising: a communication unit for receiving the information specifying the analysis apparatus and the type of measurement transmitted from the repeater, and giving the received information to a storage unit, and transmitting to the repeater the data in the specific format obtained from the storage unit; and the storage unit for recording the data in the specific format corresponding to the information specifying the analysis apparatus and the type of measurement.
KUWAOKA teaches an analysis apparatus support system including an analysis apparatus (100), a repeater (102), and a manufacturer management device (200), wherein the repeater comprises a communication unit for transmitting information specifying the analysis apparatus and the type of measurement to the manufacturer device (i.e., analysis device ID 601, registration type information, and measurement reference value information is transmitted to manufacturer device 200 [0099]-[0104] [0115] [Figure 7]); and the manufacturer management device comprises a communication unit (226) for receiving the information specifying the analysis apparatus and the type of measurement transmitted from the repeater, and giving the received information to a storage unit (223) (i.e., measurement parameter reference value database is referenced to determine whether the reference value transmitted to the management device exceeds a reference value stored in the database corresponding to a particular measurement [0115] [0117]-[0119] [0128] [0130] [0136] [0137] [Figure 10]), and transmitting to the repeater data obtained from the storage unit (i.e., reference value set in the reference value database is transmitted [0130] [0137] [0139] [Figure 10]); and the storage unit for recording the data corresponding to the information specifying the analysis apparatus and the type of measurement [0062] [0063].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to further incorporate the teachings of KUWAOKA in the system of NAKAJIMA such that the repeater transmits information specifying the analysis apparatus and type of measurement to the manufacturer device and the manufacturer device receives the transmitted data to lookup specific information in a data storage unit. The practice of referencing a remote database for information is well-known in the art and allows terminals connected to the remote database to obtain information that is not stored locally with the terminal.
Re claim 24:
NAKAJIMA, in view of KUWAOKA, teaches the analysis apparatus support system according to claim 2, wherein the relay medium is a two-dimensional code, the importing unit of the analysis apparatus is a camera for importing the two-dimensional code as an image, and the output unit of the repeater is a display for displaying the two-dimensional code [0068] [0086] [0146] [0148].
Claim(s) 21 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over NAKAJIMA, US 2021/0318347 in view of KUWAOKA et al, US 2015/0012227, as applied in claim 2, and further in view of WHELAN et al, US 2005/0009122.
Re claim 21:
NAKAJIMA, in view of KUWAOKA, teaches the analysis apparatus support system according to claim 2, wherein the relay medium is a contactless IC chip and the importing unit of the analysis apparatus is a reader for the contactless IC chip (i.e., code input unit may be configured with an RFID reader that reads the code stored in an RFID tag [0149]).
NAKAJIMA does not teach the output unit of the repeater is a writer for the contactless IC chip.
WHELAN teaches an analysis apparatus support system, wherein the relay medium is a contactless IC chip, the importing unit of the analysis apparatus is a reader for the contactless IC chip, and the output unit is a writer for the contactless IC chip [0018] [Figure 1].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to further incorporate the teachings of WHELAN in the system of NAKAJIMA, in view of KUWAOKA, such that the output unit is a writer for the contactless IC chip. Such incorporation would be for the purpose of writing the data received from the manufacturer in the specific format to enable that data to be read by the importing unit when the importing unit is configured as an RFID reader.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LAURA A GUDORF whose telephone number is (571)270-7607. If the Examiner cannot be reached by telephone, she can be reached through the following e-mail address: laura.gudorf@uspto.gov. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 6:00-4:00 PM.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Michael Lee, can be reached at telephone number (571)272-2398. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/LAURA A GUDORF/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2876