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 .
Status of Application
1. This application was filed on 07/03/2023, which has Provisional of 63358078, which was filed on 07/01/2022.
Claims 1-15 were originally presented in this application for examination.
Claims 1-15 are currently pending in this application and under consideration.
Specification
2. The examiner has not checked the specification to the extent necessary to determine the presence of all possible minor errors (grammatical, typographical, and idiomatic). Cooperation of the applicant(s) is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant(s) may become aware of in the specification, in the claims and in any further amendment(s) that applicant(s) may file.
Applicant(s) is also requested to complete the status of the copending applications referred to in the specification by their Attorney Docket Number or Application Serial Number, if any.
The status of the parent application(s) and/or any other application(s) cross-referenced to this application, if any, should be updated in a timely manner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102(a)(1)
3. 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) 1-15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Rafiee et al. “Recovering of a critical metal from electronic wastes: Germanium extraction with organic acid”, Journal of Cleaner Production 315 (2021) 128223.
Rafiee et al. discloses a method for extraction of germanium from semiconductor diodes using acetic acid, and the characterizations results showed that the sample contains 5092 ppm germanium. The X-ray diffraction analysis indicated that the main phases of germanium in the sample are Ge and GeO2. The obtained results shows that more than 70% of germanium was extracted from diode samples using 2.5 M of acetic acid at 90oC, after 240 min processing (see Abstract).
Regarding claim 1, step a), the reference discloses a method which involves first grinding the diodes and then immersing the ground particles in deionized water and homogenizing using a magnetic stirrer (see page 2, section 2.1, “sample preparation”).
Regarding claim 1, step b), the reference discloses leaching of the non-magnetic ground diodes with a leaching solution (see page 2, section 2.2, “Leaching experiments”).
Regarding claim 1, the reference discloses the leaching solution contains lixiviant and water, and acetic acid as the lixiviant was used (see page 2, section 2.2).
Regarding claims 2-5, the reference teaches to use acetic acid as lixiviant in the leaching solution, which is the same as in the claimed method and thus the pKa should be the same.
Regarding claim 6, a magnetic stirrer was used to homogenize the ground particles with water in the first step and then the magnetic particles attached to the magnetic stir bar was manually removed and the process continued until all magnetic materials were separated (see page 2, section 2.1, “sample preparation”).
Regarding claims 7 & 8, the reference discloses method for extraction of germanium from semiconductor diodes (see Abstract).
Regarding claim 9, the reference discloses the X-ray diffraction analysis indicated that the main phases of germanium in the sample are Ge and GeO2 (see Abstract).
Regarding claim 10, the reference discloses the germanium is present in the solid material in an amount of 5092 ppm (see Abstract), and such amount is falling within the claimed amount of “up to about 10,000 ppm”.
Regarding claim 11, the reference teaches a 2.5 M of acetic acid was used in the leaching solution (see Abstract), and such acid concentration is falling within the claimed acid concentration of “about 1 M to 10 M”.
Regarding claim 12, the leaching step in the reference was performed for a duration of 240 min (see Abstract), which meets the claimed range of “about 5 minutes to about 360 minutes”.
Regarding claim 13, the particle size distribution of non-magnetic ground particles were measured and conducted, and the results indicated that 80% of particles (d80) were smaller than 14.84 um (see page 2, section 3.1, “Characterization”). The disclosed particle size is falling with the claimed range of “about 10 um to about 100 um”.
Regarding claim 14, the leaching solution and mixture of particulate solids have a liquid to solid ratio of 100:1 (v/wt) (see page 2, section 2.2, “Leaching experiments”). The disclosed volume/weight ratio of the reference appears falling within the claimed range of “from 10:1 to about 1000:1).
Regarding claim 15, the reference teaches recovered germanium, and the germanium is recovered using the same method as claimed (see Abstract).
Citations
4. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. All references are cited for related art. See PTO-892 Form prepared.
Conclusion
5. Claims 1-15 are pending. Claims 1-15 are rejected. No claims are allowed.
Contacts
6. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Primary Examiner CAM N. NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)272-1357. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F (8:30 am – 5:00 pm) at alternative worksite or at cam.nguyen@uspto.gov.
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.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Anthony Zimmer, can be reached at 571-270-3591. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/Cam N. Nguyen/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1736
/CNN/
December 11, 2025
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