DETAILED ACTION
Status of Application
This action is responsive to continuing application filed 02/08/2024 as continuation of PCT/KR2024/001338, filed 01/29/2024. Original claims 1-16 are currently pending and under examination herein.
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 . However, in the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for a rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
Information Disclosure Statement(s)
The information disclosure statement(s) (IDS) filed on 02/08/2024, 08/14/2024 and 07/01/2025 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97, 1.98 and MPEP § 609, and therefore the information referred to therein has been considered as to the merits. Initialed copies of the IDS are included with the mailing/transmittal of this Office action.
Foreign Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Common Ownership Notice
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim Rejections – 35 U.S.C. 102/103
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.
Claims 1, 2-7, 9 and 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as anticipated by or, in the alternative, under 35 U.S.C. 103 as obvious over Han et al (US 2014/0217026 A1) (‘Han’).
Regarding Claims 1, 7, 9 and 11: reference to Han is directed to a method of manufacturing polymer hydrogel for an osmosis solute that may include cross-linking polymerizing a zwitterionic monomer (including an anionic group and a cationic group) and a temperature-sensitive monomer (Abs.). Han provides specific disclosure to manufacturing crosslinked polymer hydrogel from a composition, comprising:
an ionic monomer (N,N-dimethyl-N-methacrylamidopropyl ammoniopropane sulfonate (SSP, a zwitterionic monomer) [per claim 1]; or acrylic acid, an anionic monomer [per claim 7/1]);
a crosslinker including two or more acrylic groups (N,N’-methylenebisacrylamide [per claim 9/1];
a polymerization initiator (Irgacure 2959, a photopolymerization initiator [per claim 11/1]); and
a solvent (water).
(Han: ¶¶ [0122]-[0127] (Example 1) and [0129]-[0135] (Example 2))
It is recognized that Han is silent as to functional properties “anti-frost … coating” as recited in the preamble of claim 1. Nevertheless, where, as here, a reference discloses all the limitations of a claim except for a property or function, and examiner cannot determine whether or not the reference inherently possesses properties which anticipate or render obvious the claimed invention, basis exists for shifting the burden of proof to applicant. See, In re Fitzgerald et al, 205 USPQ 594, 596 (CCPA 1980) and MPEP 2112(III). Thus, the onus is shifted to Applicant to establish that the composition claimed in claim 1 is not the same as or obvious from that set forth by the reference.
Regarding Claims 2-3, notwithstanding the further limitations pertaining to the zwitterionic monomer, both claims still read on selection of an anionic monomer such as acrylic acid as the sole “ionic monomer” of the claimed composition, and this latter embodiment is described by Han as discussed above (see ¶¶ [0130]-[0131]).
Regarding Claims 4-6, notwithstanding the further limitations pertaining to the cationic monomer (claims 4-5) and the anionic monomer (claim 6), each of these claims still reads on selection of a zwitterionic monomer as the sole “ionic monomer” of the claimed composition, and this latter embodiment is described by Han as discussed above (see ¶¶ [0123]-[0126]).
Pertinent Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Senak (US 6617372 B2) is cited as pertinent to polymeric hydrogel product of a stable, aqueous polymeric composition which composition forms a clear-to-translucent film upon application to a substrate, comprising, by weight, 5-75% of (a) a water-soluble polymer having (b) in situ-formed, substantially water-insoluble resinous particles of said polymer substantially uniformly dispersed therein, and (c) 25-95% of water, made by irradiating the polymeric composition with high energy electron beam or gamma-radiation (note col. 2, lines 27-35). The citation does not teach the present invention, especially an anti-frost hydrogel coating composition comprising: an ionic monomer, a crosslinker including two or more acrylic groups, a polymerization initiator, and a solvent, wherein the ionic monomer includes at least one ionic monomer from among a zwitterionic monomer, a cationic monomer, and an anionic monomer.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 8, 10 and 12 are objected to as being dependent on a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claim.
The closest prior art to Han, discussed above, does not describe the inventions of instant claims 8, 10 and 12, or provide proper rationale to modify its invention into the invention of any of said claims.
Claims 13-16 are allowed.
The closest prior art to Han, discussed above, does not describe use of an anti-frost hydrogel coating composition as defined in independent claim 13 or 16 to form a coating film on a substrate in accordance with the claimed method or provide a film on at least one of a fin and a tube of a heat exchanger as claimed, or provide proper rationale to modify its invention into the invention of any of claims 13-16.
Correspondence
Any inquiry concerning this communication should be directed to Examiner F. M. Teskin whose telephone number is (571) 272-1116. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday through Friday from 9:00 AM - 5:30 PM.
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, Robert Jones, can be reached at (571) 270-7733. The appropriate fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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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) Form at https://www.uspto.gov/patents/uspto-automated- interview-request-air-form.
/FRED M TESKIN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1762
/FMTeskin/09-04-26
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