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 16 and 18-20 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 regard to claims 16 and 18-20, it is unclear whether the claim is intended to be independent claims or dependent claims as they refer to other claims. If they are intended to be independent claims any reference to another claim should be deleted. If they are intended to be dependent claims, they should have the same preamble as the claim from which they are meant to depend.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-15 and 17 are allowed.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance: The prior art does not disclose or fairly suggest a system, device or method for ‘sorting Matthiola seeds including the unique features of a hardware processor executing code that trains at least one neural network for classifying Matthiola seeds based on image data sets’ in combination with the rest of claim language or ‘a container having more than 100 Matthiola seeds consisting of 90% double flowering or 90% single flowering seeds’.
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
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to GENE O CRAWFORD whose telephone number is (571)272-6911. The examiner can normally be reached M-Thurs 6a-5p; Fri 6a-2p.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Joseph Thomas can be reached at 571-272-8004. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/GENE O CRAWFORD/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3651