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 Interpretation
Claim 1: “wrapped” will be interpreted as encapsulated.
Claim Objections
Claim 1 is objected to because of the following informalities: “of an n-octadecane” should be “of n-octadecane”. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim 1 is objected to because of the following informalities: “weighting” should be “weighing”. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim 1 is objected to because of the following informalities: “is and sonicating” should be “and sonicating”. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim 1 is objected to because of the following informalities: “stirring in a” should be “stirring with”. Appropriate correction is required.
Claims 2-4 are objected to because of the following informalities: “phase” should be “nano-phase”. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim 4 is objected to because of the following informalities: “materials” should be “material”. 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 1-4 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 solution" in line 8. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. Accordingly, claim 1 and dependent claims 2-4 are indefinite.
Claim 4 recites the limitation "the emulsifier" in lines 1-2. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. The emulsifier will be interpreted as the emulsifying agent.
Claim 4 contains the trademark/trade name Tween 80 and Spectrum 80. Where a trademark or trade name is used in a claim as a limitation to identify or describe a particular material or product, the claim does not comply with the requirements of 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph. See Ex parte Simpson, 218 USPQ 1020 (Bd. App. 1982). The claim scope is uncertain since the trademark or trade name cannot be used properly to identify any particular material or product. A trademark or trade name is used to identify a source of goods, and not the goods themselves. Thus, a trademark or trade name does not identify or describe the goods associated with the trademark or trade name. In the present case, the trademark/trade name is used to identify/describe the emulsifier and, accordingly, the identification/description is indefinite.
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.
Claims 2-4 would be allowable if rewritten 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 and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: Gosselin et al. (US 2016/0236165) discloses processes of making microcapsules having silica shells [abstract], wherein Example 5 [Ex. 5; 0166] encapsulates octadecane in silica by preparing an oil phase by stirring TEOS (tetraethoxysilane [0133]) and octadecane. An aqueous phase was prepared by dissolving SPAN 80 (surfactant, sorbitan monooleate [0138]) and ethanol in an ammonium solution. The oil phase was emulsified in the aqueous phase with stirring at 600 rpm at room temperature for 2h. The obtained product was washed with water, filtered and dried to afford octadecane encapsulated in silica spheres [Ex. 5; 0166]. Gosselin et al. (US ‘165) does not disclose a process corresponding to instant steps S1-S4.
Martinez Goitandia et al. (US 2018/0230972) discloses processes for preparing phase change materials [abstract], wherein Example 1 [Ex. 1; 0071] mixes octadecane, surfactant (Tween 80) and adds an aqueous solution of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) dropwise under agitation at 15000 rpm to afford an octadecane-water emulsion. TEOS (tetraethyl orthosilicate [0054]), GPTMS and acetic acid were mixed in. The resulting solution was centrifuged to obtain octadecane-filled silica microcapsules, which were washed with ethanol to remove surfactant and octadecane that have not been encapsulated, and dried [Ex. 1; 0071]. Martinez Goitandia et al. (US ‘972) does not disclose a process corresponding to instant steps S1-S4.
Peng et al. (CN 114369448) (English machine translation for citation) discloses methods of preparing phase-change nano-capsules [abstract], wherein Example 8 [Ex. 8] mixes n-octadecane, ethyl orthosilicate and ethanol at 8000 rpm for 2 min to form a microemulsion. Ammonia water was added, stirred at 300 rpm for 16 h, filtered and dried to afford phase-change nano-capsules [Ex. 8]. Peng et al. (CN ‘448) does not disclose a process corresponding to instant steps S1-S4.
See attached form PTO-892.
Correspondence
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MICHAEL F PEPITONE whose telephone number is (571)270-3299. The examiner can normally be reached on 7:00 AM - 3:30 PM.
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/MICHAEL F PEPITONE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1767
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