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 .
REQUIREMENT FOR UNITY OF INVENTION
As provided in 37 CFR 1.475(a), a national stage application shall relate to one invention only or to a group of inventions so linked as to form a single general inventive concept (“requirement of unity of invention”). Where a group of inventions is claimed in a national stage application, the requirement of unity of invention shall be fulfilled only when there is a technical relationship among those inventions involving one or more of the same or corresponding special technical features. The expression “special technical features” shall mean those technical features that define a contribution which each of the claimed inventions, considered as a whole, makes over the prior art.
The determination whether a group of inventions is so linked as to form a single general inventive concept shall be made without regard to whether the inventions are claimed in separate claims or as alternatives within a single claim. See 37 CFR 1.475(e).
When Claims Are Directed to Multiple Categories of Inventions:
As provided in 37 CFR 1.475 (b), a national stage application containing claims to different categories of invention will be considered to have unity of invention if the claims are drawn only to one of the following combinations of categories:
(1) A product and a process specially adapted for the manufacture of said product; or
(2) A product and a process of use of said product; or
(3) A product, a process specially adapted for the manufacture of the said product, and a use of the said product; or
(4) A process and an apparatus or means specifically designed for carrying out the said process; or
(5) A product, a process specially adapted for the manufacture of the said product, and an apparatus or means specifically designed for carrying out the said process.
Otherwise, unity of invention might not be present. See 37 CFR 1.475 (c).
Restriction is required under 35 U.S.C. 121 and 372.
This application contains the following inventions or groups of inventions which are not so linked as to form a single general inventive concept under PCT Rule 13.1.
In accordance with 37 CFR 1.499, applicant is required, in reply to this action, to elect a single invention to which the claims must be restricted.
Group I, claims 1-5, drawn to an ultraviolet light irradiation system.
Group II, claim 6, drawn to a control method for an ultraviolet light irradiation system.
The groups of inventions listed above do not relate to a single general inventive concept under PCT Rule 13.1 because, under PCT Rule 13.2, they lack the same or corresponding special technical features for the following reasons:
Groups I and II lack unity of invention because even though the inventions of these groups require the technical feature of An ultraviolet light irradiation system comprising:one ultraviolet light source unit that generates ultraviolet light; an irradiation unit that irradiates a desired portion with the ultraviolet light in a limited manner; an optical fiber that propagates the ultraviolet light from the ultraviolet light source unit to the irradiation unit; a sensing unit that monitors a state of the desired portion and outputs the state as monitoring information; and an irradiation control unit that controls output of the ultraviolet light from the ultraviolet light source unit on a basis of the monitoring information. This technical feature is not a special technical feature as it does not make a contribution over the prior art in view of Iimura (JP H09140633 A, provided in Applicant’s IDS of 12/27/2023).
Iimura teaches An ultraviolet light irradiation system comprising:
one ultraviolet light source unit that generates ultraviolet light (Fig. 1: light source 40);
an irradiation unit that irradiates a desired portion with the ultraviolet light in a limited manner (Fig. 1, 6: ultraviolet light guiding lid 10);
an optical fiber that propagates the ultraviolet light from the ultraviolet light source unit to the irradiation unit (Fig. 6: optical fibers 90);
a sensing unit that monitors a state of the desired portion and outputs the state as monitoring information; and an irradiation control unit that controls output of the ultraviolet light from the ultraviolet light source unit on a basis of the monitoring information (par. 26: The approach of a human body is detected by, for example, a pyroelectric effect (piloelectric effect ) type infrared sensor 72 for detecting infrared rays radiated from the human body, the detection signal is outputted to a lighting control circuit 82, and the ultraviolet ray source 40 is turned off to prevent the ultraviolet rays from entering human eyes).
Applicant is reminded that upon the cancelation of claims to a non-elected invention, the inventorship must be corrected in compliance with 37 CFR 1.48(a) if one or more of the currently named inventors is no longer an inventor of at least one claim remaining in the application. A request to correct inventorship under 37 CFR 1.48(a) must be accompanied by an application data sheet in accordance with 37 CFR 1.76 that identifies each inventor by his or her legal name and by the processing fee required under 37 CFR 1.17(i).
The examiner has required restriction between product or apparatus claims and process claims. Where applicant elects claims directed to the product/apparatus, and all product/apparatus claims are subsequently found allowable, withdrawn process claims that include all the limitations of the allowable product/apparatus claims should be considered for rejoinder. All claims directed to a nonelected process invention must include all the limitations of an allowable product/apparatus claim for that process invention to be rejoined.
In the event of rejoinder, the requirement for restriction between the product/apparatus claims and the rejoined process claims will be withdrawn, and the rejoined process claims will be fully examined for patentability in accordance with 37 CFR 1.104. Thus, to be allowable, the rejoined claims must meet all criteria for patentability including the requirements of 35 U.S.C. 101, 102, 103 and 112. Until all claims to the elected product/apparatus are found allowable, an otherwise proper restriction requirement between product/apparatus claims and process claims may be maintained. Withdrawn process claims that are not commensurate in scope with an allowable product/apparatus claim will not be rejoined. See MPEP § 821.04. Additionally, in order for rejoinder to occur, applicant is advised that the process claims should be amended during prosecution to require the limitations of the product/apparatus claims. Failure to do so may result in no rejoinder. Further, note that the prohibition against double patenting rejections of 35 U.S.C. 121 does not apply where the restriction requirement is withdrawn by the examiner before the patent issues. See MPEP § 804.01.
Election by Telephone
During a telephone conversation with Timothy MacIntyre on 2/23/2026 a provisional election was made without traverse to prosecute the invention of Group I, claims 1-5. Affirmation of this election must be made by applicant in replying to this Office action. Claim 6 is withdrawn from further consideration by the examiner, 37 CFR 1.142(b), as being drawn to a non-elected invention.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Bettles (US 20160000953 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Bettles teaches an ultraviolet light irradiation system comprising:
one ultraviolet light source unit that generates ultraviolet light (abstract: an ultraviolet irradiation source);
an irradiation unit that irradiates a desired portion with the ultraviolet light in a limited manner (par. 37: Illustrative wave guiding structures include, but are not limited to, a plurality of ultraviolet fibers, each of which terminates at an opening, a diffuser);
an optical fiber that propagates the ultraviolet light from the ultraviolet light source unit to the irradiation unit (par. 37: Illustrative wave guiding structures include, but are not limited to, a plurality of ultraviolet fibers, each of which terminates at an opening, a diffuser);
a sensing unit that monitors a state of the desired portion and outputs the state as monitoring information (par 82: In another embodiment, the sensing device 39 can include a touch sensor that collects the location and amount of times that a particular region in the touch screen is touched); and
an irradiation control unit that controls output of the ultraviolet light from the ultraviolet light source unit on a basis of the monitoring information (par. 82: The computer system 20 can then use the touch statistics to determine whether the part of the touch screen needs a treatment such as disinfection, sterilization and/or sanitization. If so, the computer system 20 can then direct the ultraviolet radiation sources 14A and/or 14B to emit radiation to a particular region of the touch screen).
Regarding claim 2, Bettles teaches the ultraviolet light irradiation system according to claim 1, as set forth above, and teaches wherein the monitoring information is information indicating that the desired portion is touched by a person (par 82: In another embodiment, the sensing device 39 can include a touch sensor that collects the location and amount of times that a particular region in the touch screen is touched).
Regarding claim 3, Bettles teaches the ultraviolet light irradiation system according to claim 2, as set forth above, and teaches wherein the irradiation unit includes an adjustment unit that adjusts an irradiation direction of the ultraviolet light,
the monitoring information also includes information on a position of the desired portion touched by a person, and the irradiation control unit instructs the adjustment unit on the irradiation direction of the ultraviolet light on a basis of the monitoring information (par. 82: In another embodiment, the sensing device 39 can include a touch sensor that collects the location and amount of times that a particular region in the touch screen is touched. In an embodiment, the touch sensor can provide this data to the computer system 20 (FIGS. 6 and 7) which can derive touch statistics based on the amount of times that a particular region of the touch screen is touched. The computer system 20 can then use the touch statistics to determine whether the part of the touch screen needs a treatment such as disinfection, sterilization and/or sanitization. If so, the computer system 20 can then direct the ultraviolet radiation sources 14A and/or 14B to emit radiation to a particular region of the touch screen; par. 52: The computer system 20 can be configured to control and adjust a direction, an intensity, a pattern, and/or a spectral power (e.g., wavelength) of the at least one ultraviolet radiation source 14, based on the feedback component 16. The computer system 20 can control and adjust each property of the ultraviolet radiation source 14 independently; NOTE: there must necessarily be an adjustment unit responsible for adjusting the direction).
Regarding claim 4, Bettles teaches the ultraviolet light irradiation system according to claim 1, as set forth above, and teaches wherein the irradiation unit includes a plurality of the irradiation units (par. 37: Illustrative wave guiding structures include, but are not limited to, a plurality of ultraviolet fibers, each of which terminates at an opening, a diffuser and/or the like), and an optical branching device that splits the ultraviolet light to each of the irradiation units is further included (par. 37: Additionally, the ultraviolet radiation source 14 can comprise one or more additional components (e.g., a wave guiding structure, a component for relocating and/or redirecting ultraviolet radiation emitter(s), etc.) to direct and/or deliver the emitted radiation to a particular location/area, in a particular direction, in a particular pattern, and/or the like, at the electronic device 1. Illustrative wave guiding structures include, but are not limited to, a plurality of ultraviolet fibers; NOTE: the plurality of optical fibers is interpreted to be the optical branching device).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bettle in view of Gross (US 20180236113 A1).
Regarding claim 5, Bettles teaches the ultraviolet light irradiation system according to claim 1, as set forth above, but does not teach wherein the optical fiber is any one of a solid core optical fiber, a hole assisted optical fiber, a hole structure optical fiber, a hollow core optical fiber, a coupling core type optical fiber, a solid core type multi-core optical fiber, a hole assisted type multi-core optical fiber, a hole structure type multi-core optical fiber, a hollow core type multi-core optical fiber, and a coupling core type multi-core optical fiber.
Bettles teaches optical fibers but does not teach a type of optical fiber.
Gross teaches a device for sterilizing a surface using UV light (par. 2: The present disclosure relates generally to antimicrobial and self-sanitizing surfaces, and more specifically to an apparatus and/or surface structure that is cleaned with ultraviolet (UV) light.).
Bettles teaches wherein the optical fibers used to transmit UV light can be standard single mode fibers, multimode fibers, hollow core or solid core photonic crystal fibers (par. 123: Further, the lenses may be narrow-band lenses as long as they are suitably compatible with the wavelengths generated by the UV light source. When the optics include optical fibers, the fibers may be standard single mode fibers, multimode fibers, hollow core or solid core photonic crystal fibers, etc).
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the optical fibers of Bettles to be standard single mode fibers, multimode fibers, hollow core or solid core photonic crystal fibers, as taught by Gross, in order to provide suitable optical fibers for UV transmission for sterilization.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHANGRU CHEN whose telephone number is (571)272-1201. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 7:30-5:30.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Elizabeth A. Robinson can be reached on (571) 272-7129. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/C.C./Examiner, Art Unit 1796
/DONALD R SPAMER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1799