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 Objections
Claims 2, 15, and 17 objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 2 recites “a carrier” in line 2, it should be “the carrier”.
Claim 15 recites “a carrier”, “a turning device” in line 2, it should be “the carrier”, “the turning device”.
Claim 17 recites “a path” in line 3, it should be “the path”.
Appropriate correction is required.
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.
Claim 1 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 1 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being incomplete for omitting essential structural cooperative relationships of elements, such omission amounting to a gap between the necessary structural connections. See MPEP § 2172.01. The omitted structural cooperative relationships are: It is unclear from the claim how the "turning device (100) for transferring a carrier" is supposed to transfer the carrier, since the claim only defines how the conveying platforms rotates, but not what the rotation of these conveying platforms accomplishes. From Para [0034] “The carrier has a flat horizontal bottom surface so that it may be safely placed on the top surfaces of the conveying platforms 114, 115,116”, which implies that the carrier is placed on top surface of conveying platforms of the turning device. Examiner suggest applicant to use Para [0034-0035] how “turning device” transfer the carrier via conveying platform to provide functional/structural relation between carrier and conveying platform.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-21 objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure “See PTO-892”.
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/MA/Examiner, Art Unit 3651
/GENE O CRAWFORD/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3651