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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102 and 103
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.
Claim(s) 1 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102a1 as being anticipated by JP 2009/226491A.
Figure 3 of this reference is copied herein with annotations. It teaches a fluid processing device having a tank reservoir as claimed. The primary drum filter is in “dirty tank 10” (filtration tank) in the tank reservoir, first pump 31 in second clean tank (pumping tank,) and a long switch back channel going from the drum filter outlet through first clean tank into the second clean tank as claimed. Applicant’s disclosed “channel” starts at W0. Similarly, the JP channel starts at the point marked in the drawing, at an equivalent point. From there the channel has constant width until it turn to the top (as seen in the fig) and to the right side f the drum filter, where the width drops – a step down. Thus claim 1 is still anticipated.
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Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5-7 are allowed.
Claims 2-4 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 closest prior arts are JP 2009/226141A and JP 6196409 B1. JP 409 teaches a similar structure as in JP 141, with additional pumps, but does not teach the added filters in special arrangement as in the claimed invention. JP 6996105 B2 teaches an apparatus wherein multiple filters as used, including a cyclone filter for processing cutting fluids, but fails to teach the special arrangement with partitioned reservoir and channel.
Applicant filed another application with same subject matter in US 20240139895 A1, but claims in this application are broader and are not obvious over the instant claims.
Additional related references are included in an 892.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 7/13/26 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. They are addressed in the rejection.
The IDS filed on 7/15/26 and the references including the JP rejection were considered.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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 KRISHNAN S MENON whose telephone number is (571)272-1143. The examiner can normally be reached Flexible, but generally Monday-Friday: 8:00AM-4:30PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Vickie Kim can be reached at 5712720579. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/KRISHNAN S MENON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1777
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