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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant's election with traverse of Group I in the reply filed on 1/27/2026 is acknowledged. The traversal is on the ground(s) that there is not a significant search burden on the examiner. This is not found persuasive because this is a lack of unity restriction that has shown that the shared technical feature is not a special technical feature as it has been shown in the prior art. Additionally, even with similar requirements in claims 10 and 12 as argued there is a large difference in scope of the inventions. While both require the same present of pollen microgels with the same affect when immersed in water, claim 10 is dependent on claim 1 which requires that the pollen paper is recycled one that goes through a specific recycling process. The difference in scope paired with the lack of unity restriction process finds the traversal unpersuasive.
The requirement is still deemed proper and is therefore made FINAL.
Claims 12-17 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b), as being drawn to a nonelected Groups II and III, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Applicant timely traversed the restriction (election) requirement in the reply filed on 1/27/2026.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
It is noted that neither SG10202102664T nor SG10202110353Y include the claimed limitations of immersing the pollen paper in an aqueous solution with a pH of 6-14 in the first step. Both prior art references involve a step of agitating the pollen paper in a water bath, but neither includes a pH requirement.
As the pH requirement is present in the independent claims being examined, the effective filling date for prior art determination will be the filing of the 371 on 3/16/2022, and not the oldest of the foreign priority documents of 3/16/2021.
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.
Claim(s) 1-11 and 18-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102a1 as being anticipated by Zhao et al, “Recyclable and Reusable Natural Plant-Based Paper for Repeated Digital Printing and Unprinting” published on 3/15/2022 by Advanced Materials Vol 19 issue 19 (copy already of record provided in IDS field on 9/11/2023).
Regarding claim 1, Zhao teaches a method of recycling a pollen paper (see abstract and page 7 figure 5a), comprising: providing a pollen paper that has been printed upon by a toner and/or an ink and immersing it in an aqueous solution (page 7 figure 5a description) having a pH of from 6 to 14 with mechanical agitation for a first period of time to remove the toner and/or ink and provide a swollen pollen paper (Page 9 section 4 in Situ recycling of the Printed Pollen Paper section at a pH of 12 for 2 minutes under agitation);
(b) placing the swollen pollen paper into a dehydrating solvent for a second period of time to provide a dehydrated pollen paper (Page 9 section 4 in Situ recycling of the Printed Pollen Paper section at dehydrate for 5 minutes); and
(c) subjecting the dehydrated pollen paper to an acidic solution for a third period of time and then drying it to provide a hygro-stable pollen paper suitable for use in a printer (page 7 figure 5a description describes after the recycling step to readminister the acid treating step before additional printing).
Regarding claims 2-7, 9, and 18-19, Zhao remains as applied above and further teaches that the aqueous solution is alkaline (pH of 12) and treated for 2 minutes, the dehydrating solvent is ethanol for 5 minutes, and the acid treatment is at a pH of 4 for 489 hours with a drying step in-between the recycling and reusing stages (Page 9 section 4 in Situ recycling of the Printed Pollen Paper section and acid treatment section).
Regarding claims 8, 10-11, and 20, Zhao remains as applied above and further teaches that the unidimensional swelling ratio is less than or equal to 5% (see figure 3e and page 5 second paragraph that states that a swelling ratio of about 4% was found after soaking in DI water for 5 minutes) with a drying step in-between sections (page 5 left column) and the production of microgels to allow for the above characteristics (see text on page 3).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JACOB T MINSKEY whose telephone number is (571)270-7003. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8-6 PM.
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JACOB T. MINSKEY
Examiner
Art Unit 1741
/JACOB T MINSKEY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1748
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