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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
Claim 1 (and depending claims 2-9) are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claims contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventors, at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
Claim 1 has been amended to recite, “…a computer programmed to receive inputs from said sensor to determine drop success and failure from said at least one dispense tip….” However, the originally filed specification consistently and exclusively describes the computer as being programmed to receive inputs from the sensor to determine “drop success or failure” from the dispensing tip. For example, the Abstract, the Summary of the Invention, and the Detailed Description each describe determining “drop success or failure,” and the originally filed claims likewise recite determining “drop success or failure.” The originally filed disclosure does not describe, either expressly or inherently, a computer programmed to determine “drop success and failure.”
Applicant has amended the claim to replace the originally disclosed alternative determination (“or”) with a conjunctive determination (“and”). The originally filed disclosure does not reasonably convey possession of the amended limitation requiring determination of both drop success and failure, nor does the Response to Arguments dated 4/24/2026 point to support for this amendment.
Accordingly, the originally filed disclosure fails to provide adequate written description support for the amended limitation, and claim 1 (and depending claims 2-9) is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a).
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a). A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/DAVID P ANGWIN/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3754
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