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 § 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 14, 17 and 18 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 pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention.
Claim 14, lines 1-2, note that the relationship is unclear between the recited “an edge” of trench recited herein and the previous recited “an edge” of the trench recited in amended claim 1, from which this claim directly depends from (i.e. is the recitation of “an edge” in claim 14 referring to the same “edge” recited in claim 1? Or a separate and distance “edge”?). Clarification is required. Identical issue occurs in claims 17 and 18, line 2 of each claim.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-13 and 19-22 are allowed.
Claims 14, 17 and 18 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Claims 1, 19 and 20 are allowable over the prior art since each of these claims have been amended to include the indicated allowable subject matter of previously presented claim 16, in which Goto et al. (US2023/0006637 A1, Reference of Record) as discussed in the office action mailed on 8/27/2025 does not teach: wherein the distance of the edge of the trench to the closest metal electrode finger is adapted to maximize a reflection of a surface acoustic wave excited by the at least one interdigital transducer electrode. Therefore, the applicants’ claimed inventions have been determined to be novel and non-obvious. By virtue of dependency from claims 1, 19 or 20, claims 2-14, 17, 18, 21 and 22 have also been determined to be novel and non-obvious.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see page 5, filed 12/23/2025, with respect to the rejections of record have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejections of record have been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, new ground of rejections has been made under 35 USC 112b which were necessitated by the amendment made to claim 1.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JORGE L SALAZAR JR whose telephone number is (571)-272-9326. The examiner can normally be reached between 9am - 6pm Monday-Friday.
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/JORGE L SALAZAR JR/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2843