DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Status of the Claims
Claims 1-19 are pending.
Claims 8 and 16 recite “alum ions” but the claims and specification do not explicitly state what is meant by this term. Alum is generally used to refer to potassium aluminum sulfate. It is recommended that Applicant amend the claims to recite potassium aluminum sulfate instead of alum.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 10 December 2023 was filed before the mailing of an Office action. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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 10 and 14-15 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.
Claims 10 and 15 state a soft deer gel, a hard deer gel, an isinglass, a cow gel, a rabbit gel and a sanzenbon glue. These are not art recognized biogels and the specification does not explicitly define what is intended by these terms. Therefore, it is unclear what is meant by the biogels recited, and the metes and bounds of the instant claims are not clearly defined.
Claim 14 recites “mixing a functional material suspension solvent containing a functional material into a water-based solvent using a biogel or a biodegradable gel”, and “mixing a polymeric stabilizing material into another water-based solvent using a biogel or a biodegradable gel”. It is unclear what is meant by using the biogel or biodegradable gel for the steps of mixing. For the purposes of applying art, the examiner is construing the claim as stating that the water-based solvent comprises a biogel or a biodegradable gel.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
Claims 1-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Yen et al. (TW M621627 U; machine translation provided).
Regarding claim 1, Yen et al. disclose a plant surface modification structure comprising a covering structure layer with a functional material for covering one of the plant organs of a plant, and a protective structure layer that covers the surface of the covering structure layer; wherein the covering structure layer is a water-based structure with adjustable surface charge that has the adhesiveness of bio-glue or biodegradable glue and includes a stomata-expanding material, and the protective structure layer is a water-based structure with a bio-glue or biodegradable glue (pg. 3).
Regarding claims 2 and 17, Yen et al. disclose that the covering structure layer and the protective structure layer are applied by spraying, smearing or coating (pg. 3).
Regarding claims 3 and 16, Yen et al. disclose that the covering structure layer contains fusicoccin (pg. 3).
Regarding claim 4, Yen et al. disclose that the content of the pore expansion material in the covering structure layer is less than or equal to 70 µM (pg. 3).
Regarding claims 5 and 18, Yen et al. disclose that the particle size of the functional material is 2 μm ~ 5 nm (pg. 3).
Regarding claim 6, Yen et al. disclose that the functional material is a nanoscale material, a sub-nanoscale material or a micro-nanoscale material (pg. 3).
Regarding claims 7 and 19, Yen et al. disclose that the zeta potential formed by the surface charge of the functional material is +0 ~ +60 meV or -0 ~ -60 meV (pg. 4).
Regarding claims 8 and 16, Yen et al. disclose that the polymeric stabilizing material of the protective structure layer is alum ions that polymerize and stabilize the bio-glue or the bio-degradable glue (pg. 4).
Regarding claim 9, Yen et al. disclose that the weight percentage of the polymeric stabilizing material in the protective structural layer is less than or equal to 10% (pg. 4).
Regarding claims 10 and 15, Yen et al. disclose that the biological glue is soft deer glue, hard deer glue, swim bladder glue, cattle glue, rabbit glue, granulated glue and/or Sanqianben glue; and the biodegradable glue is polyamide, polyvinylpyrrolidone and/or polyvinyl acetate (pg. 4).
Regarding claim 11, Yen et al. disclose that the water-based structure of the covering structural layer is an acidic water-based structure, wherein the acidic water-based structure contains citric acid, succinic acid, tannic acid, salicylic acid, malic acid, ascorbic acid, gallic acid, hydrochloric acid, nitric acid and/or acetic acid water-based solvents (pg. 4).
Regarding claim 12, Yen et al. disclose that the water-based structure of the covering structural layer is an alkaline water-based structure, wherein the alkaline water-based structure contains sodium bicarbonate, sodium carbonate, sodium hydroxide, potassium bicarbonate, potassium carbonate and/or potassium hydroxide of water-based solvents (pg. 4).
Regarding claim 13, Yen et al. disclose that the functional material of this invention is not limited to specific functional materials. It can be any material with various functions to perform various functions. For example, it can make the plants glow without poisoning the plants or make the plants have more nature. For example, if the functional material is needle-shaped or sea urchin-shaped gold nanoparticles, it can be used as an excitation light source, and can make the plant glow after being irradiated with ultraviolet rays (pg. 6).
Regarding claim 14, Yen et al. disclose a method comprising: taking the production of the covering structure layer as an example, first, the functional material suspension solvent containing the functional material is mixed into a water-based solvent using bio-glue or biodegradable glue, thereby forming an adhesive functional material suspension solvent. Then, this adhesive functional material suspension solvent is mixed into an acidic or alkaline water-based solvent. In this way, an adhesive functional material suspension with adjustable surface charge is formed, which is the above-mentioned covering structure layer that can be applied to the plant organ so that the plant organ contains the above-mentioned functional material. Taking the production of the protective structural layer as an example, polymeric stabilizing materials, such as alum ions, are mixed into a water-based solvent using bio-glue or biodegradable glue to form the protective structural layer, which can be used to cover the protective structure layer as described above. The above-mentioned covering structure layer surface (pg. 6).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Nathan W Schlientz whose telephone number is (571)272-9924. The examiner can normally be reached 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM, Monday through Friday.
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/N.W.S/Examiner, Art Unit 1616
/Mina Haghighatian/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1616