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 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.
Claims 1-20 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.
Claims 1 and 14: the term “horizontally” is indefinite because the claimed structure has no definite orientation in space. Suggestion: use perpendicularly or radially.
Claims 9 and 16 recite “barrel shaped,” which is indefinite because a barrel shape can be non-cylindrical, and therefore, unclear how the seal would work.
Claims 10 and 18 recite “food grade materials,” which is indefinite because the disclosure does not have any particular meaning for food grade material. Food grade materials are an unlimited species ranging from metals to ceramics to plastics to glasses. Therefore, lack any metes and bounds.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102 and 103
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.
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) 1, 6-12 and 14-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a1) as being anticipated by Donatelli (US 2006/0016742).
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Donatelli teaches an end cap (26) and a connector with 3 or more ridges and two or more grooves as claimed – see figures 1 and 5. Grooves 22 accommodate O-rings. See [0028]-[0029]. O-ring 28 seals in the end cap.
Claims 6 and 7: The figure shows a filter center connector of the end cap, and an O-ring fits and seals by interference fit – O-ring compresses to form a seal.
Other dependent claims: The device is cylindrical or barrel shaped, and has 4 groves, each having an O-ring. Id. Food grade material is only a certification by FDA for use in food applications and does not add any particular structure. The device is intended for water filters – see [0004.]
Claim(s) 1-3, 5-12 and 14-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a1) as being anticipated by Taylor et al (US 2012/0137879).
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Taylor teaches an assembly of reverse filtration membrane modules in a housing in fig. 25. Connector 424 has 4 grooves and multiple ridges as claimed, with each groove having an O-ring – fig. 25 A. The connector connects two end caps (tube sheets; connector endcaps) together as can be seen in fig. 25. See [0172.]
Note: tube-sheets cap the ends of the cartridges, and therefore are endcaps.
Fig. 22 shows a different design of the connector (see [0170]) which connects end tube sheets to housing endcaps (different end caps.)
The connectors are connecting filters and endcaps together. They have cylindrical/barrel shapes, and have the requisite number of grooves and ridges – all seen in the figures.
O-rings for interference fit by compression. Food grade material is not a patentable invention.
Claim(s) 4, 13 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Taylor et al (US 2012/0137879).
Teaching of Taylor is explained above in rejection 2. Taylor is silent on over-molding and the “dual endcap.”
A dual endcap is just another name/design for the endcap, and is deemed not a patentable invention unless otherwise shown, or additional patentable structure for the endcap is included in the claim.
Over-molding is only a process of forming the seal and the device integral. Making integral or sparable is prima facie obvious – MPEP 2144.04.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KRISHNAN S MENON whose telephone number is (571)272-1143. The examiner can normally be reached Flexible, but generally Monday-Friday: 8:00AM-4:30PM.
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/KRISHNAN S MENON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1777