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 .
DETAILED ACTION
Summary
The claim amendment of 8/28/2026 has been entered.
Claim(s) 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20 are pending and claim(s) 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 have been fully considered
Claim(s) 9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20, non-elected/withdrawn
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant's claim for foreign priority based on an application filed in GREECE 20240100181 on 3/26/2024. It is noted, however, that applicant has not filed a certified copy of the GREECE 20240100181 application as required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group I in the reply filed on 8/28/2026 is acknowledged.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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 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.
Claim(s) 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as anticipated by or, in the alternative, under 35 U.S.C. 103 as obvious over US 10960347 (herein known as Wang).
With regard to claim 1, Wang sufficiently teaches an atmospheric water harvester comprising:, especially at abstract
a container 405, especially at c6ln40-50, fig 4
an evaporated water collection system 405 at least partially within the container, especially at c6ln40-50, fig 4
double network Al-alginate/PNIPPAm hydrogel (an alginate-based composite sorbent) contained within the container, especially at c1ln20-26,c2ln5-20,c6ln40-50, fig 4;
in an alternative, assuming that it is determined that Wang does not specifically teach an alginate-based composite sorbent contained within the container
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention (or at the time the invention was made; if pre-AIA ) to provide at least some of an alginate-based composite sorbent of Wang within the container of Wang, since Wang teaches using alginate-based composite sorbent for the desired water uptake; otherwise, since it has been held to be within the general skill of a worker in the art to select a known material on the basis of its suitability for the intended use as a matter of obvious design choice. (MPEP 2144.07)
Wang sufficiently teaches an atmospheric water harvesting material 425 and having a bottom surface 430 with an opening 435 to accept ambient air 440 and an upper surface 445 having an opening 450 to allow atmospheric water 455 captured from the ambient air 440 by the atmospheric water harvesting material 425 to pass into the condensation chamber 405 due to heat generated from solar energy (among other things, within the scope of: wherein the sorbent is exposed to atmosphere in an uptake configuration and is exposed to the evaporated water collection system in an evaporation configuration) , especially at c6ln40-50, fig 4
With regard to claim 2, Wang sufficiently teaches
crosslinked alginate, a "salt" (hygroscopic additive), and "photothermal agent" particles, especially at c1ln20-26,c2ln5-20,c4ln10-25,c6ln40-50, fig 1, 4; in alternative, assuming that Wang does not specifically teach crosslinked alginate, see obvious rationale already setforth herein
With regard to claim 4, Wang sufficiently teaches
alginate crosslinked with "Al" (a trivalent cation), especially at c1ln20-26,c2ln5-20,c4ln10-25,c6ln40-50, fig 1, 4; in alternative, assuming that Wang does not specifically teach alginate crosslinked with a trivalent cation, see obvious rationale already setforth herein
With regard to claim 5, Wang sufficiently teaches
wherein the hygroscopic additive comprises "calcium chloride" (a hygroscopic salt), especially at c4ln50-67, fig 1,4
With regard to claim 6, Wang sufficiently teaches
wherein the photothermal particles comprise carbon nanotube, especially at c4ln65-67, fig 1,4
With regard to claim 8, Wang sufficiently teaches
a condensation surface 465 and a condensed water collector 415 configured to collect condensed water from the condensation surface, especially at c1ln20-26,c2ln5-20,c4ln10-25,c6ln40-65, fig 1, 4
Claim(s) 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as anticipated by or, in the alternative, under 35 U.S.C. 103 as obvious over US 10960347 (herein known as Wang), as evidenced by Entezari et al. “Super Atmospheric Water Harvesting Hydrogel with Alginate Chains Modified with Binary Salts” (including supplement).
With regard to instant claim(s) 7, Wang does not explicitly state that the alginate-based composite sorbent is capable of adsorbing at least 0.5 gram of atmospheric water per gram of the alginate-based composite sorbent at 30% relative humidity, adsorbing at least 2 grams of atmospheric water per gram of the alginate-based composite sorbent at 60% relative humidity, and adsorbing at least 6.5 grams of atmospheric water per gram of the alginate-based composite sorbent at 90% relative humidity.
But, Wang teaches the alginate-based composite sorbent, see such as discussion of claim(s) 1,2,4,5,6
Thus, a property of alginate-based composite sorbent within the claimed range of ‘adsorbing at least 0.5 gram of atmospheric water per gram of the alginate-based composite sorbent at 30% relative humidity, adsorbing at least 2 grams of atmospheric water per gram of the alginate-based composite sorbent at 60% relative humidity, and adsorbing at least 6.5 grams of atmospheric water per gram of the alginate-based composite sorbent at 90% relative humidity,’ is taken to be necessarily present in the alginate-based composite sorbent of Wang, since products of identical or substantially identical chemical structure or composition cannot have mutually exclusive properties. (See MPEP 2112.01 Parts I-II)
MPEP 2112.01 Part I states…
Where the claimed and prior art products are identical or substantially identical in structure or composition, or are produced by identical or substantially identical processes, a prima facie case of either anticipation or obviousness has been established. In re Best, 562 F.2d 1252, 1255, 195 USPQ 430, 433 (CCPA 1977).
MPEP 2112.01 PART II states…
“Products of identical chemical composition can not have mutually exclusive properties.” A chemical composition and its properties are inseparable. Therefore, if the prior art teaches the identical chemical structure, the properties applicant discloses and/or claims are necessarily present. In re Spada, 911 F.2d 705, 709, 15 USPQ2d 1655, 1658 (Fed. Cir. 1990)
[Also, Entezari provides extrinsic evidence the alginate-based composite sorbent is capable of adsorbing 1 gram of atmospheric water per gram of the alginate-based composite sorbent at 26% relative humidity, adsorbing 1.7 grams of atmospheric water per gram of the alginate-based composite sorbent at 62% relative humidity, especially at table S6 of supplementary document]
In the alternative, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to provide the alginate-based composite sorbent of Wang, such that it had the property of the alginate-based composite sorbent within the claimed range of ‘adsorbing at least 0.5 gram of atmospheric water per gram of the alginate-based composite sorbent at 30% relative humidity, adsorbing at least 2 grams of atmospheric water per gram of the alginate-based composite sorbent at 60% relative humidity, and adsorbing at least 6.5 grams of atmospheric water per gram of the alginate-based composite sorbent at 90% relative humidity,’ since where the claimed and prior art products are identical or substantially identical in structure or composition, or are produced by identical or substantially identical processes, a prima facie case of either anticipation or obviousness has been established; otherwise, since it has been held that where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, discovering the optimum or workable ranges involves only routine skill in the art. (MPEP 2144.05 PART II-A)
Claim(s) 3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 10960347 (herein known as Wang) or, in the alternative, under 35 U.S.C. 103 as obvious over US 10960347 (herein known as Wang) as applied to claim(s) above, and further in view of Entezari et al. “Super Atmospheric Water Harvesting Hydrogel with Alginate Chains Modified with Binary Salts” (including supplement), and Cui et al., “Fast Superabsorbent Thermo-Responsive Hydrogel Composite Desiccant with Low Regeneration Temperature.”
Wang does not specifically teach wherein the crosslinked alginate is present at 50 wt% to 70 wt%, the hygroscopic additive is present at 20 wt% to 50 wt%
But, Cui teaches the salt (hygroscopic additive) has a ~40 wt% (i.e. ~60 wt% alginate), especially at pg 11
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention (or at the time the invention was made; if pre-AIA ) to provide the crosslinked alginate and hygroscopic additive of Wang, in the wt% of CUI, which is also within the claimed range(s) of wt%, since it has been held that where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, discovering the optimum or workable ranges involves only routine skill in the art. (MPEP 2144.05 PART II-A)
Wang sufficiently teaches wherein the photothermal particles comprise carbon nanotube, especially at c4ln65-67, fig 1,4
Wang does not specifically teach the photothermal particles are present at 1 wt% to 5 wt%
But, Entezari teaches alginate-based composite sorbent with 5% wt. carbon nanotubes (i.e. photothermal particles), especially at figure S6 of supplementary document
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention (or at the time the invention was made; if pre-AIA ) to provide carbon nanotubes of the alginate-based composite sorbent of Wang-CUI, which is within the claimed range(s) of wt%, since it has been held that where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, discovering the optimum or workable ranges involves only routine skill in the art. (MPEP 2144.05 PART II-A)
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANTHONY R SHUMATE whose telephone number is (571)270-5546. The examiner can normally be reached on M,T,Th,F.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Benjamin Lebron can be reached on (571)272-0475. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ANTHONY SHUMATE/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1773
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