DETAILED ACTION
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of claims 1-13 in the reply filed on 5/12/2026 is acknowledged.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
Claim(s) 1-7, 12 and 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Brondum et al. (US2019/0025273) in view of Weltin et al. (EP 3988642).
Claim 1. Brondum et al. teach a system comprising:
a probe (sensor assembly 8);
a fast scanning cyclic voltammetry electrode disposed on the probe (working electrode WE disposed on the probe; [0037]);
a conductive wall disposed around the cyclic voltammetry electrode, wherein the conductive wall is disposed on the probe, and wherein the conductive wall is grounded (reference electrode RE encircle the WE, the reference electrode is disposed on the probe and performed under cyclic voltammetry [0037][0056] and Fig 1) and reference electrode surrounding the WE provide the electrode to be grounded); and
a wire in electronic communication with the cyclic voltammetry electrode, and
wherein the wire is disposed on the probe (lead segment 21 is in electrical communication with the WE and is disposed on the probe; see Fig 1 and [0038]).
Brondum et al. teach the electrode is cyclic voltammetry electrode but do not teach fast-scanning cyclic voltammetry electrode.
However, Weltin et al. teach system for detecting signals of electrodes using cyclic voltammetry or fast scan cyclic voltammetry [0050].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention in view of Weltin et al. teaching to choose any voltammetry method among different voltammetry methods of detecting signals of electrodes because these methods are suitable equivalent of detecting signals and one having ordinary skill in the art would expect that using fast scan cyclic voltammetry would have yielded predictable solution with reasonable expectation of success.
Claim 2. Brondum et al. in view of Weltin et al. teach fast scanning cyclic voltammetry electrode currents are enclosed within the conductive wall (WE is enclosed within the reference electrode; see Fig 1).
Claims 3-5. Brondum et al. teach the conductive wall has a height from 1 µm to 100 µm and defines a gap between the conductive wall and an outer edge of the fast-scanning cyclic voltammetry electrode from 0.1 µm to 1000 µm (reference electrode has thickness i.e. height of 1 µm; [0037] and a gap between the reference electrode and outer edge of the WE; see Fig 1; Brondum et al. do not explicitly teach gap is from 0.1 µm to 1000 µm. However, Brondum et al. teach the sensor assembly utilizes microchip manufacturing; [0045], thus it would be obvious to space the electrodes in micrometer spacing to satisfy microchip dimension).
Claim 6. Brondum et al. teach the fast-scanning cyclic voltammetry electrode is fabricated of Ti/Au [0036].
Claim 7. Brondum et al. a carbon coating disposed on the fast- scanning cyclic voltammetry electrode (carbon coating disposed on the electrode; [0129]).
Claim 12. Brondum et al. the conductive wall is fabricated of a material that includes gold, platinum, silver, AgCl, IrOx, or PEDOT:PSS (reference electrode is made up of platinum; [0037]).
Claim 13. Brondum et al. teach the conductive wall extends upward from a surface of the probe to fully encircle the fast-scanning cyclic voltammetry electrode, and wherein the fast-scanning cyclic voltammetry electrode is exposed through an aperture in a center of the conductive wall (the reference electrode has thickness of 1 microns [0037], thus it extends upwards from the surface of substrate to full encircle the WE and WE is exposed through an opening in a center; see Fig 1).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 8-11 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including 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: cited prior art Brondum et al. teach reference electrode reads on conductive wall encircle the working electrode (see Fig 1) but do not teach the reference electrode/conductive wall is disposed on an insulator layer that extends around the fast-scanning cyclic voltammetry electrode.
Conclusion
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/GURPREET KAUR/
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 1759
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