DETAILED ACTION
Notice of AIA Status
The present application, filed on 5/9/2024, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Status of Claims
Claims 1-11 are pending.
Claims 1-2 and 8-9 are rejected
Claim 1-11 are objected.
Claim Objections
Claim 1-11 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 1 recites “a pipe one end of which is coupled to the reservoir part and the other end of which is coupled to a liquid delivery destination of the first liquid”. For clarity consider rephrasing ‘a pipe having a first end and a second end, the first end coupled to the reservoir part and the second end coupled to a liquid delivery destination of the first liquid’.
Claim 3 recites “the second liquid having a greater specific gravity than that of the first liquid is extruded into the pipe in a case in which the liquid delivery direction is upward, and the second liquid having a lower specific gravity than that of the first liquid is extruded into the pipe in a case in which the liquid delivery direction is downward”. For clarity consider rephrasing to ‘in a first case, the second liquid has a specific gravity greater than the specific gravity of the first liquid, the second liquid is extruded into the pipe with the liquid delivery direction upward against the direction of gravity; and in a second case, the specific gravity of the second liquid is lower than the specific gravity of the first liquid, the second liquid is extruded into the pipe with the liquid delivery direction downward in the direction of gravity’.
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.
Claim 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
Claim 8 recites two instances of “the tube”. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. Although the two instances of “the tube” may have been intended to refer to the “pipe” first introduced in claim 1, the absence of proper antecedent basis renders the scope of the claim unclear. Consider rephrasing the two instances of “the tube” in claim 8 to ‘the pipe’ or providing proper antecedent basis by first introducing ‘a tube’ before reciting the first instance of ‘the tube’.
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.
Claims 1-2 and 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Nichols (“Step-by-Step Procedures For Extractions”), as evidenced by “solvent miscibility chart”, “water (CAS 7732-18-5) – Thermophysical Properties”, and “diethyl ether (CAS 60-29-7) – Thermophysical Properties”.
With respect to claim 1, Nichols (Step-by-Step Procedures for Extractions) teaches a liquid delivery apparatus (separatory funnel in page 4.6.6) comprising:
a reservoir part (see annotated Fig. 4.29) configured to store therein a first liquid (50 ml aqueous in Fig. 4.29) (aqueous is a solution of water containing a specimen) containing a specimen (e.g. methyl red in Fig. 4.21) and a second liquid (25 ml ether in Fig. 4.29) (the ether is diethyl ether, see page 4.6.6) that is immiscible with the first liquid (50 ml aqueous) (the water and the ether are immiscible, as evidenced by the attached “solvent miscibility chart”, in the entries for water and diethyl ether) and has a different specific gravity from that of the first liquid (50 ml aqueous) (the specific gravity of water is 1.0 at standard conditions as evidenced by “water (CAS 7732-18-5) – Thermophysical Properties” on page 2) (the specific gravity of diethyl ether is 0.7 at standard conditions as evidenced by “diethyl ether(CAS 60-29-7) – Thermophysical Properties” on page 2);
a pipe (see annotated Fig. 4.29) one end of which is coupled to the reservoir part (see annotated Fig. 4. 29) and the other end of which is coupled to a liquid delivery destination (see annotated Fig. 4.29) of the first liquid (50 ml aqueous); and
a liquid delivery part (see annotated Fig. 4.29) configured to extrude the first liquid (50 ml aqueous) and the second liquid (25 ml ether) in this order from the reservoir part to the pipe to deliver the first liquid (aqueous) to the liquid delivery destination (as illustrated in Fig. 4.29, because the aqueous first liquid has a greater specific gravity than the ether second liquid, upon shaking, the aqueous first liquid forms the lower layer and is therefore delivered first through the pipe located at the bottom of the separatory funnel).
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With respect to claim 2, Nichols teaches the liquid delivery apparatus according to claim 1, wherein
the liquid delivery part extrudes the second liquid (25 ml ether) with a specific gravity (the specific gravity of diethyl ether is 0.7 at standard conditions as evidenced by “diethyl ether(CAS 60-29-7) – Thermophysical Properties” on page 2) depending on a liquid delivery direction (downwards in the direction of gravity) from the reservoir part to the liquid delivery destination into the pipe (as illustrated in Fig. 4.29).
With respect claim 9, Nichols teaches the liquid delivery apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising
a first filling part (upper opening of the separatory funnel through which liquid is introduced) configured to fill the reservoir part with the first liquid (50 ml aqueous) from a first container (container containing aqueous from 1 extraction in Fig. 4.29) storing the first liquid (50 ml aqueous) (see Figs. 4.24 and 4.29).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-7 and 10-11 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.
Claim 8 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection under 35 U.S.C. §112(b) set forth in this office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
With respect to claim 3, Nichols teaches the liquid delivery apparatus according to claim 2 wherein
the second liquid (25 ml ether) having a lower specific gravity (the specific gravity of diethyl ether is 0.7 at standard conditions) than that (the specific gravity of water is 1.0 at standard conditions) of the first liquid (50 ml aqueous) is extruded into the pipe in a case in which the liquid delivery direction is downward (downwards in the direction of gravity) (see Fig. 4.29).
Nichols fails to teach the second liquid having a greater specific gravity than that of the first liquid is extruded into the pipe in a case in which the liquid delivery direction is upward.
With respect to claim 4, Nichols teaches the liquid delivery apparatus according to claim 1.
In addition, Der Woning (US20170295990) teaches processing circuitry configured to calculate a volume of a liquid (see [0028], which recites “the control unit may in this case be configured to calculate the liquid volume”).
Neither Nichols nor Der Woning teaches or reasonably suggests processing circuitry configured to
calculate a volume of the second liquid to be extruded from the reservoir part into the pipe based on information of the pipe, and
perform a control by which the liquid delivery part is controlled to extrude the second liquid equivalent to the calculated volume into the pipe.
With respect claim 10, Nichols teaches the liquid delivery apparatus according to claim 9.
In addition, Ota (US20200319089) teaches a first switching part (controller 100 in [0082], which recites “the controller 100 functions as …. a first valve controller 151 to control flow path switching in the first valve 51, a second valve controller 152 to control flow path switching in the second valve 52”).
Neither Nichols nor Ota teaches or reasonably suggests a first switching part configured to switch between a state in which the first filling part can fill the reservoir part with the first liquid and a state in which the liquid delivery part is capable of delivering the first liquid to the liquid delivery destination.
Conclusion
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/JONATHAN BORTOLI/Examiner, Art Unit 1797
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