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 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 1-6 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.
With regards to claim 1, “fast” in line 1 is a relative term which renders the claim indefinite. The term “fast” is not defined by the claim, the specification does not provide a standard for ascertaining the requisite degree, and one of ordinary skill in the art would not be reasonably apprised of the scope of the invention.
“harmless” in line 1 is also indefinite. The term is contradictory to the function of the treatment which sterilizes or destroys pathogens which makes it harmful to pathogens. Additionally, the medical waste being disinfected is compressed and also thus destroyed or harmed. Further, the device is capable of harming a user in at least some ways (could get caught in the lid and pinched etc.). It is not clear how it is “harmless”.
It is unclear whether “a heating tube” in line 12-13 is the same or additional to the one introduced in line 10. It is suggested to refer to the one in line 12-13 as a “second” or “additional”.
It is unclear whether “an aerosol-mixed gas” in line 15 is the same as the one introduced in line 7.
With regards to claim 2, “the heating tube” in line 3 is indefinite as claim 1 introduces two heating tubes. It is unclear to which “the” refers.
Dependent claims are rejected for at least the same reasons as the claims from which they depend (and all include “fast” and “harmless” in line 1).
Prior Art
The closest prior art is Guo et al. (CN 216965772).
A discussion of Guo is found in the Written Opinion of PCT/CN2023/114141 of which the instant application is a continuation of.
Claim 1 sets forth a device for rapid harmless treatment of a hazardous flexible material. Guo et al. discloses a device for hot melting and compressing waste, for use in harmless treatment of hot-melt compressed waste (see description, paragraphs 36-58, and figures 1-5): the device comprises a barrel 20 and a cover 10, wherein a bottom plate is fixed at the position of the barrel 20 close to the bottom thereof. The device further comprises an upper heating body 13, a lower heating body 23, a lower support 24 (equivalent to a movable plate), a lifting/lowering mechanism 30, and a cooling system 40; a gap is present between the outer edge of the lower support 24 and the inner wall of the barrel 20; the lifting/lowering mechanism 30 is arranged at the bottom of the barrel 20 and connected to the lower heating body 23, and is used for driving the lower heating body 23 to move up and down in the barrel 20, so that the lower heating body 23 can work in conjunction with the upper heating body 13 to heat and melt film-type waste 100a; the film-type waste 100a is supported on the lower heating body 23, and when the lifting/lowering mechanism 30 drives the lower heating body 23 to move upward, the lower heating body 23 and the upper heating body 13 work in conjunction to simultaneously heat the film-type waste 100a sandwiched between the lower heating body 23 and the upper heating body 13 from upper and lower directions, respectively, so that an aerosol generated after pressing flows downward along the gap, so as to enable the film-type waste 100a to be melted and compressed; the upper heating body 13 is arranged in the cover 10, and the lower heating body 23 is arranged in the barrel 20; the cooling system 40 comprises a fan 41; an air outlet is formed in the bottom of the barrel 20; the fan 41 is arranged corresponding to the air outlet; and the fan 41 is used for guiding air around the device for hot melting and compressing waste into the barrel 20 so as to cool the solidified film-type waste 100a.
Hence, the technical features distinguishing claim 1 from Guo et al. are that: "the flexible material is a hazardous flexible material, and a heating tube is provided on a bottom; the lifting/lowering mechanism comprises two linear motors vertically fixed to an inner bottom surface of the barrel and two screw rods having lower ends connected to output shafts of the linear motors and upper ends rotatably fixed to a fixing ring, wherein the fixing ring is arranged at an upper end of the barrel; the two linear motors synchronously drive the two screw rods by means of a transmission assembly, causing the two screw rods to rotate synchronously; two guide rods running through the movable plate are further provided between the inner bottom surface of the barrel and the fixing ring, and the screw rods and the guide rods are evenly and alternately arranged along the circumference of the movable plate; the movable plate matches the screw rods by means of internally threaded screw rod sleeves, and the screw rods are driven by means of the motors to drive the movable plate to move up and down along the guide rods; and a motor is sealed and fixed at a center position of a lower end surface of the bottom plate".
The prior art does not teach or suggest the claimed arrangement. The use of two screw rods and two motors along with the two guide rods is more than an obvious duplication of parts. Duplicating the screw and guide of Guo et al. requires more configuration such as the transmission and components to allow for the motion to be synchronized properly. The prior art does not teach or suggest the claimed invention within the claim environment.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DONALD R SPAMER whose telephone number is (571)272-3197. The examiner can normally be reached Monday to Friday from 9-5.
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/DONALD R SPAMER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1799