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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to because the photograph in Figure 3 is unclear so that all details in the photograph can be reproducible in the printed patent and is not permissible (see PEP 608.02 V. Drawing Standards & VII, Black and White Photographs and Line Drawings, and the figure in Figure 5 is illegible and has poor quality resulting in a lack of understanding of the claimed subject matter. 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.
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 9-17 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.
In regards to line 5 of claim 9, the phrase “a droplet” is unclear. Is there an additional “droplet”, or is the “droplet” the same as recited in line 4 of claim 1? The limitation will be read as “a photocurrent signal processing module, which is configured to process the photocurrent signals output from the light-detecting region and calculate the viscosity of the droplet” upon further examination.
The remaining claims are rejected due to their dependency.
In regards to line 1 of claim 12, the phrase “a liquid sample” is unclear. Is there an additional “liquid sample”, or is the “liquid sample” the same as recited in line 4 of claim 1? The limitation will be read as “A method for detecting the viscosity of the liquid sample…” upon further examination.
In regards to line 2 of claim 12, the phrase “a viscometer” is unclear. Is there an additional “viscometer”, or is the “viscometer” the same as recited in line 1 of claim 9? The limitation will be read as “…providing the viscometer according to claim 9…” upon further examination.
In regards to line 3 of claim 12, the phrase “a droplet” is unclear. Is there an additional “droplet”, or is the “droplet” the same as recited in line 5 of claim 9? The limitation will be read as “…dropping the liquid sample to a surface of the opto chip to form the droplet…” upon further examination.
In regards to line 3 of claim 16, the phrase “a viscometer” is unclear. Is there an additional “viscometer”, or is the “viscometer” the same as recited in line 1 of claim 9? The limitation will be read as “…providing the viscometer according to claim 9…” upon further examination.
In regards to line 4 of claim 16, the phrase “a droplet” is unclear. Is there an additional “droplet”, or is the “droplet” the same as recited in line 5 of claim 9? The limitation will be read as “…dropping the liquid sample to a surface of the opto chip to form the droplet…” upon further examination.
In regards to line 3 of claim 17, the phrase “a viscometer” is unclear. Is there an additional “viscometer”, or is the “viscometer” the same as recited in line 1 of claim 9? The limitation will be read as “…providing the viscometer according to claim 9…” upon further examination.
In regards to line 4 of claim 17, the phrase “a droplet” is unclear. Is there an additional “droplet”, or is the “droplet” the same as recited in line 5 of claim 9? The limitation will be read as “…dropping the liquid sample to a surface of the opto chip to form the droplet…” upon further examination.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-8 are allowed.
Claims 9-17 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include 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: In the Examiner’s opinion in regards to claim 1, Nguyen et al (NPL - Viscosity measurement based on the tapping-induced free vibration of sessile droplets using MEMS-based piezoresistive cantilevers – Lab Chip. 2015) teaches a simple method to detect the vibration of a sessile droplet using an array of MEMS-based piezoresistive cantilevers (See Figure 1). When a droplet is vibrating on the cantilever array, the normal force acting on each cantilever changes due to the change in the shape of the droplet. These force changes in turn cause the cantilevers to deform; as a result, their resistances change. Therefore, by simply monitoring the resistances of the cantilevers, it is possible to detect the vibration motion of the droplet. The free vibration of the droplet is excited by applying a mechanical impulse, for example, via tapping, to the substrate on which a sessile droplet is deposited. The amplitude of the vibration attenuates immediately after the tapping at a rate α (s−1), which can be directly extracted from the output of the cantilevers placed underneath the droplet. Therefore, it is possible to estimate the viscosity once the volume and density of the liquid are known (Column 1, line 16 – Column 2, line 28; Page 2 | 3671).
However, Nguyen et al does not teach the structural limitations of an opto chip further comprising a substrate layer being light-transmissive and configured to have an upper surface for receiving droplets of the liquid sample and a lower surface bonded to the functional layer where the functional layer is configured to comprise a light-emitting region and a light-detecting region with the light-emitting region being configured to emit measurement light from an upper surface of the functional layer. The light-detecting region is configured to receive reflected light derived from the measurement light wherein a signal of the change in intensity of the reflected light is converted into a photocurrent signal where the stated limitations are not suggested in addition to not being anticipated or taught in combination with the remaining limitations of independent claim 1. The remaining claims 2-8 are allowed due to their dependency.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Wagner et al (US 7821641 B2) - The invention relates to a three-dimensional flow cell for aligning non-isometric particles in a liquid sample in two axes, a method of aligning non-isometric particles in a liquid sample, the use of a three-dimensional flow cell for aligning non-isometric particles in a liquid sample in two axes, a reflectance sensor built up from an optical unit, a sample analysis unit and a system control unit, and also a method of measuring the reflectance of a liquid sample containing non-isometric particles and the use of a reflectance sensor for measuring the reflectance of a liquid sample containing non-isometric particles, preferably a liquid sample in the form of a liquid pigment preparation containing non-isometric particles, at various process stages during the production, further processing and use of the sample, preferably the liquid pigment preparation.
Pinier et al (US 5572321 A) - The present invention relates to a device for measuring the intensity of the light scattered by high concentrations of particles or macromolecules ranging between a plurality of nanometers and hundreds of microns. It is more particularly applied to photon correlation.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JERMAINE L JENKINS whose telephone number is (571)272-2179. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 7-3 EST.
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/J.L.J/ Examiner, Art Unit 2855
/PETER J MACCHIAROLO/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2855