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 .
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) s 2-14 and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zibrida (US 4,689,156) in view of JP 2006-334472 A, further in view of DD 268230 A1, for the reasons given in the last Office Action.
Claim(s) 15 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zibrida (US 4,689,156) in view of JP 2006-334472 A, further in view of DD 268230 A1, as applied to claim 2 above, even further in view of Josse et al (US 10,239,776), for the reasons given in the last Office Action.
Claims 17 and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zibrida (US 4,689,156) in view of JP 2006-334472 A, further in view of DD 268230 A1, as applied to claim 2 above, even further in view of Gruber et al (US 6,231,632), for the reasons given in the last Office Action.
Applicant’s argument, that the mass transfer rates recited in claim 1 are not optional process preferences, but rather are quantified minimum kinetic constrains that define whether the integrated system is operating in the claimed manner, is not convincing, since claims 2-18 do not recite these mass transfer rates.
Lutz et al (US 12,552,678) is made of record for disclosing a method for separating ammonia from ammonia-containing wastewater.
Claim 1 is allowed.
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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to WAYNE A LANGEL whose telephone number is (571) 272-1353. The examiner can normally be reached Monday through Friday from 8:15 am to 4:15 pm.
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.
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/WAYNE A LANGEL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1736
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