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
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Claim Objections
Claims 3, 5-7, and 10 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 3: in line 3, “disposed at one side of the body” should read “disposed at the one side of the body”
Claims 5, 7, and 10: for each claimed range, the tilde should be replaced with a hyphen, e.g. in Claim 5, “100rpm ~ 300rpm” should read “100rpm – 300rpm”
Claims 6 and 7: each recitation of “the second through-hole” and “the first through-hole” should read “the second through-holes” and “the first through-holes”, as a plurality of each has been recited
Appropriate correction is 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.
Claims 1-10 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.
Regarding Claim 1, the limitation “the other side” in line 5 does not have antecedent basis in the claim. Further, the limitations “the other side of the screw” (line 8), “the other side of the precutter” (line 10), “the other side of the first cutter” (line 13), “the other side of the first hole plate” (line 17), and “the other side of the second cutter” (line 20) also lack antecedent basis in the claim and are unclear as there is no reference point for “other side” (i.e. “other” as opposed to what). For examination purposes, these limitations will be interpreted as meaning a side of each recited component which faces the other side of the body, i.e. a downstream side of each component with respect to a transferring direction of the hydrogel.
Regarding Claim 3, the limitations “the surface of the one side” and “the surface of the other side” do not have antecedent basis in the claim.
Claims 2 and 4-10 are rejected by virtue of their dependence upon Claim 1.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 1 would be allowable if rewritten or amended to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action. The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Prior art fails to teach, alone or in combination, a micronizing apparatus for hydrogel of super absorbent polymer comprising a body having a transfer space formed inside thereof, a first rotation shaft having a screw formed on an outer circumferential surface, a first cutter connected to the first rotation shaft so as to be able to rotate with the first rotation shaft, a second rotation shaft co-axially disposed with the first rotation shaft and disposed so as to be rotatable independently from the first rotation shaft, and a second cutter connected to the second rotation shaft so as to be able to rotate together with the second rotation shaft, together with the other limitations of the claim. JP H10-137615 to Ishikura et al. and CN 207533357 to Zheng (each provided by Applicant), which are considered to be the most relevant prior art to Claim 1, each disclose a coaxial first and second rotation shaft disposed to as to be independently rotatable, but in each reference the cutter(s) are only located on the second rotation shaft, with none on the first rotation shaft. One skilled in the art would not be motivated to either split the first and second cutters between the first and second rotation shafts (in the case of Ishikura) or to add an additional cutter to the first rotation shaft (for either reference) to arrive at the claimed invention without the use of impermissible hindsight from the Applicant’s disclosure, so the subject matter of Claim 1 is considered to be allowable.
Claims 2-10 would be allowed by virtue of their dependence upon Claim 1, with Claim 3 being amended to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TERESA A GUTHRIE whose telephone number is (571)270-5042. The examiner can normally be reached M/Tu/Th, 10-6 ET.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Christopher Templeton can be reached at (571) 270-1477. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/TERESA A GUTHRIE/Examiner, Art Unit 3725
/Christopher L Templeton/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3725
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