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 .
This application is a domestic application, filed 30 April 2024; claims benefit as a CON of PCT/CN2023/096370, filed 25 May 2023; and claims benefit of foreign priority document CHINA 202211628377.2, filed 17 Dec 2022. This foreign priority document is not in English.
Claims 1-9 are pending in the current application and are examined on the merits herein.
Claim Objections
Claim 1 is objected to because of the following informalities: claim 1 at the section starting “operation 8” ends in a period, as well as at the end of the section starting “operation 9”. MPEP 608.01(m) provides “Each claim begins with a capital letter and ends with a period. Periods may not be used elsewhere in the claims except for abbreviations.” In this case the period at the end of the section starting “operation 8” appears to be a typographical error for a semicolon, based on the claim text as a whole.
Appropriate correction is required.
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 1-6 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.
Claim 1 contains the trademark/trade name “Siemens distributed control system (DCS)” (emphasis added). Where a trademark or trade name is used in a claim as a limitation to identify or describe a particular material or product, the claim does not comply with the requirements of 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph. See Ex parte Simpson, 218 USPQ 1020 (Bd. App. 1982). The claim scope is uncertain since the trademark or trade name cannot be used properly to identify any particular material or product. A trademark or trade name is used to identify a source of goods, and not the goods themselves. Thus, a trademark or trade name does not identify or describe the goods associated with the trademark or trade name. In the present case, the trademark/trade name is used to identify/describe the DCS used in the claimed method, and, accordingly, the identification/description is indefinite. Dependent claims 2-9 incorporate all limitations of claim 1, including the trademark/trade name, and are indefinite for the same reason.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-9 would be allowable if rewritten or amended 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: The closest prior art is CN’338 (CN 111205338 A, published 29 May 2020, provided by Applicant in IDS filed 22 May 2024) in view of CN’854 (CN 102659854 A, published 12 Sep 2012, provided by Applicant in IDS filed 22 May 2024).
Citations to CN’338 are found in the included English translation. CN’338 teaches a method for recovering arabinose from arabinose mother liquor to improve the purity and recovery rate of the finished arabinose (abstract). CN’338 teaches the general method comprising step one, alkali injection; step two, primary decoloring; step three, ion exchange; step four, concentration and crystallization; step five, centrifugal separation and redissolution; and step eight: secondary centrifugation, drying and packaging (page 6), corresponding the claimed method operations 2, 4, 3, 6 and 7, 8, and 9, respectively.
Citations to CN’854 are found in the included English translation. CN’854 teaches a purification method for L-arabinose (abstract). CN’854 teaches the ordinary level of skill in the pertinent art. CN’854 teaches the selection or optimization of conditions such as temperature in the steps. (page 3).
It would not have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine CN’338 in view of CN’854 in a manner that arrives as the claimed invention. While CN’338 teaches a general process for the method for recovering arabinose from arabinose mother liquor to improve the purity and recovery rate of the finished arabinose, and CN’854 teaching the ordinary level of skill in the pertinent art suggests optimization of conditions such as temperature of the steps, the closest prior art does not provide sufficient guidance to select the claimed process conditions when considering the size of the pertinent genus of process steps. Therefore the claimed invention is not obvious over the combined teachings of the closest prior art.
Conclusion
No claim is currently in condition for allowance.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Jonathan S Lau whose telephone number is (571)270-3531. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9a-5p Eastern.
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/JONATHAN S LAU/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1693
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