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 .
Restriction/Election
Applicant’s election of the invention of Group I, claims 1-9, in the reply filed on 05/15/2026 is acknowledged. Because applicant did not distinctly and specifically point out the supposed errors in the restriction requirement, the election has been treated as an election without traverse (MPEP § 818.01(a)). Claims 10-20 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 05/15/2026.
Objection – Drawings
The drawings are objected to because Figs. 17 and 20 illustrate bar charts wherein the notation and numerical scale along the left ordinate is too light to permit adequate reproduction. See 37 CFR 1.84(l). Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Objection – Specification
The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities:
Referring to paragraph [0079] (top of page 15), a typographical error is noted: “desnity” is misspelled.
Referring to paragraph [0095] (page 18), the abbreviation “PSBMA” should be defined at its first occurrence in the description.
Referring to paragraph [00117] (page 23), the structure shown in formula (1) is incomplete in that the lower portion of the structure is truncated/cut-off at the bottom of the page.
Appropriate correction of the specification is required.
Claim Rejections – 35 U.S.C. 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.
Claims 1, 4-6, and 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Xie, et al (J. of Membrane Sci. 289 (2007, 76-85) (‘Xie’).
Regarding Claims 1 and 4, reference to Xie is directed to fabrication of thermo-responsive gating membranes with controllable response temperature (see Title, Abs.). Control or adjustment of the response temperature of the membranes is achieved by adding hydrophilic or hydrophobic monomers into a N-isopropylacrylamide (NIPAM) co-monomer solution in the fabrication of the thermo-responsive gates. Grafting of thermo-responsive copolymers, including poly(N-isopropylamide-co-butyl methacrylate) (PNB), onto porous PVDF and Nylon-6 (N6) substrates via plasma-induced grafting polymerization is specifically described (see section 2.2 and Fig. 1(b); and page 79, section 3.1 and Fig. 3(b)).
It is noted that PNB corresponds to the second copolymer selection recited in claim 1 herein and that both PVDF and N6 are species of “porous substrate” as recited in dependent claim 4. It is further noted that Xie observes that “PNB copolymers were mainly grafted on the surface of membrane rather than into the membrane pores … when using the PVDF substrates,” and in the case of PNB-g-N6 membranes, that “grafted … PNB copolymers were found not only on the membrane outer surface but also on the inner surfaces of the pores throughout the entire membrane thickness” (see page 77, final full sentence of right-hand column and page 79, 3rd sentence of right-hand column) (emphasis added). Based on these findings, the position is taken that the formation of PNB copolymer on the surface of both porous substrates of Xie (PVDF and N6) amounts to a “layer coated” thereon as per present claim 1, and, further, that the present claim language does not preclude penetration of the recited poly(N-alkyl amide-co-alkyl methacrylate) into pores of the substrate as well, as in Xie. As such, Xie is considered to fully describe an embodiment of the instant thermo-induced stimuli-responsive membrane as claimed.
Regarding Claims 5-6, notwithstanding the further limitations pertaining to the poly(acrylic acid-co-alkyl methacrylate) copolymer selection, both claims still read on selection of poly(N-alkyl amide-co-alkyl methacrylate) as the copolymer of the layer composition of the claimed membrane, and this latter embodiment is described by Xie as discussed above.
Regarding Claim 9, notwithstanding the further limitations pertaining to weight percentages of the mixture of poly(acrylic acid-co-alkyl methacrylate) and poly(N-alkyl amide-co-alkyl methacrylate), the claim still reads on selection of poly(N-alkyl amide-co-alkyl methacrylate) as the copolymer of the layer composition of the claimed membrane, and this latter embodiment is described by Xie as discussed above.
Pertinent Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Chang et al (US 12274987 B2) is cited as pertinent to platelet filtration membrane, comprising a layer that is coated on surfaces of a porous substrate, wherein the layer comprises at least a first copolymer comprising a plurality of amide groups and a second copolymer comprising a plurality of carboxylic acid groups; in particular, poly(N-isopropyl acrylamide)-poly(butyl methacrylate) as the first copolymer and poly(acrylic acid)-poly(butyl methacrylate) as the second polymer (note claims 1-5). The citation does not teach the present invention, especially a layer composition that comprises at least one copolymer selected from one of group consisting of poly(acrylic acid-co-alkyl methacrylate), poly(N-alkyl amide-co-alkyl methacrylate) and their mixture.
Hogt is cited as pertinent to preparation of thin films on glass by dip-coating glass slides in polymer solutions comprising copolymers of methyl methacrylate (MMA) and methacrylic acid (MAA) (note Table II). The citation does not teach the present invention, especially a thermo-induced stimuli-responsive membrane, comprising a layer coated on a porous substrate.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-3 and 7-8 are objected to as being dependent on a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claim.
The closest prior art to Xie, et al, discussed above, does not describe the inventions of instant claims 2-3 and 7-8, or provide proper rationale for modifying its disclosed subject matter into the invention of instant claim 2, 3, 7 or 8.
Correspondence
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Examiner F. M. Teskin whose telephone number is (571) 272-1116. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday through Friday from 9:00 AM - 5:30 PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner's supervisor, Robert Jones, can be reached at (571) 270-7733. The appropriate fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) Form at https://www.uspto.gov/patents/uspto-automated- interview-request-air-form.
/FRED M TESKIN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1762
/FMTeskin/08-28-26
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