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 .
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.
Claim(s) 1, 5, 8, 9, 11, and 12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Ariga, et al (JP 2019/45114 A2; cited in IDS, copy in IFW).
Regarding claim 1, Ariga discloses a sample liquid atomization device comprising:
An ultrasonic sample liquid atomization unit including:
An exciting part that emits ultrasonic vibration (implied by ultrasonic horn);
A vibration member having a vibration surface (13b) to be excited by the exciting part;
And a pipe (13e) that supplies a sample liquid to the vibration surface (Fig. 3), the ultrasonic sample liquid atomization unit atomizing the sample liquid supplied to the vibration surface by the ultrasonic vibration of the vibration surface; and
A first pipeline part that is a tubular member (13),
Wherein the first pipeline part extends in a direction of the ultrasonic vibration of the vibration surface (Fig. 3), and
The ultrasonic sample liquid atomization unit is provided inside the first pipeline part and supported by a holding member (13a) in the first pipeline part.
Regarding claim 5, Ariga discloses wherein the vibration member includes the vibration surface at one end, and includes the exciting part between the one end and the other end (Fig. 3 implies that the exciting part is upstream of the vibration member 13b in pipe 13); and
The holding member is connected to the vibration member between the other end and the exciting part (Fig. 3).
Regarding claim 8, Ariga discloses wherein the vibration surface includes a plate-shaped member (13d) having one or more holes on a surface thereof (13d is a planar micro mesh, which is equivalent to a plate shaped member with holes), and
The pipe supplies the sample liquid between the vibration surface and the plate-shaped member (Fig. 3).
Regarding claim 9, Ariga discloses a second pipeline part (14) that is a tubular member;
Wherein the second pipeline part has one end connected to the first pipeline part via a heat insulating member (13g), and includes a heating part (15) that heats a wall surface of the second pipeline part.
Regarding claim 11, Ariga discloses a power source circuit (implied by power cord visible in Fig. 2) that supplies a voltage to the vibration surface.
Regarding claim 12, Ariga discloses the sample liquid atomization device being used to collect a sample solution, which implies that the collected sample solution will be analyzed by an analysis device.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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) 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ariga in view of Reboud, et al (U.S. Patent Application Publication 2014/0083174 A1).
Regarding claim 10, Ariga discloses the sample liquid atomization device according to claim 9, but does not teach a charge applying part at one end or the other of the second pipleline part, that applies a positive or negative charge to a sample component contained in the sample liquid atomized; however, Reboud teaches that the droplets of an atomized spray like Ariga’s must be charged in order to be handled for analysis, and therefore a charge applying part is used to apply a positive or negative charge to the sample droplets (paragraph 0020). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to provide Ariga’s device with a charge applying part at one end or the other of the second pipleline part, that applies a positive or negative charge to a sample component contained in the sample liquid atomized, because doing so would allow the droplets to be handled for analysis.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-4, 6, and 7 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: Regarding claims 2-4, the prior art fails to teach that the holding member supports the ultrasonic sample liquid atomization unit such that the ultrasonic vibration of the ultrasonic sample liquid atomization unit is not transmitted to the first pipeline part Regarding claims 6 and 7, the prior art fails to teach wherein the first pipeline part includes a pipe through which gas flows inside the first pipeline part.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MICHAEL P MASKELL whose telephone number is (571)270-3210. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 10A-6P.
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/MICHAEL MASKELL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2878 24 January 2026