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 .
Response to Amendment
Applicant’s amendments, filed 07 March 2026, with respect to the claims and the specification have been entered. Therefore, the objections to the drawings under 37 CFR 1.84(p)(4), and the objections to the drawings for failing to include reference signs mentioned in the description, have been withdrawn.
Applicant’s amendments, filed 07 March 2026, have not resolved the objection to the listing of references in the specification, nor the objection to the drawings for including reference character(s) not mentioned in the description. See Information Disclosure Statement and Drawings below.
Information Disclosure Statement
The listing of references in the specification is not a proper information disclosure statement. 37 CFR 1.98(b) requires a list of all patents, publications, or other information submitted for consideration by the Office, and MPEP § 609.04(a) states, "the list may not be incorporated into the specification but must be submitted in a separate paper." Therefore, unless the references have been cited by the examiner on form PTO-892, they have not been considered. In particular, the reference cited in paragraph 0023 of the present application has not been listed in an information disclosure statement.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to as failing to comply with 37 CFR 1.84(p)(5) because they include the following reference character(s) not mentioned in the description:
FIG. 2: element 260.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d), or amendment to the specification to add the reference character(s) in the description in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(b) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
Claim 22 is 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 22 recites the limitation “the second center of mass” in line 2. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1, 4-14, 17-21, and 23-24 are allowed.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance:
Claim 1 is allowed because the prior art of record fails to teach “mapping the first center of mass of the AR-EELS image from the energy-momentum coordinate space to a momentum-momentum coordinate space” in combination with the additional limitations of claim 1.
The closest prior art of record, Müller et al. (“Atomic electric fields revealed by a quantum mechanical approach to electron picodiffraction”, 2014), hereinafter Müller, teaches determining a center of mass in a momentum-momentum coordinate space (Müller, page 2, equation (1) and the surrounding paragraph).
However, Müller fails to teach an energy-momentum coordinate space. Therefore, the prior art of record fails to teach “mapping the first center of mass of the AR-EELS image from the energy-momentum coordinate space to a momentum-momentum coordinate space” as currently claimed.
Claims 4-11 are allowed because of their dependence on claim 1.
Claim 12 is allowed because the prior art of record fails to teach “the first center of mass being defined for a first energy-momentum coordinate space” in combination with the additional limitations of claim 12.
The closest prior art of record, Müller, teaches determining a center of mass in a momentum-momentum coordinate space (Müller, page 2, equation (1) and the surrounding paragraph).
However, Müller fails to teach an energy-momentum coordinate space. Therefore, the prior art of record fails to teach “the first center of mass being defined for a first energy-momentum coordinate space” as currently claimed.
Claims 13-14 and 17-20 are allowed because of their dependence on claim 12.
Claim 21 is allowed because the prior art of record fails to teach “mapping the first center of mass of the AR-EELS image from the energy-momentum coordinate space to a momentum-momentum coordinate space” in combination with the additional limitations of claim 21.
The closest prior art of record, Müller, teaches determining a center of mass in a momentum-momentum coordinate space (Müller, page 2, equation (1) and the surrounding paragraph).
However, Müller fails to teach an energy-momentum coordinate space. Therefore, the prior art of record fails to teach “mapping the first center of mass of the AR-EELS image from the energy-momentum coordinate space to a momentum-momentum coordinate space” as currently claimed.
Claims 23-24 are allowed because of their dependence on claim 21.
Claim 22 would be allowable, because of its dependence on claim 21, if rewritten to overcome the rejection under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) set forth in this office action.
Any comments considered necessary by applicant must be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee. Such submissions should be clearly labeled “Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance.”
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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ALINA R KALISZEWSKI whose telephone number is (703)756-5581. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 8:00am - 5:00pm EST.
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/A.K./Examiner, Art Unit 2881
/DAVID E SMITH/Examiner, Art Unit 2881