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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1, 9, and 16 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection are necessitated by the amendment to the claims.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claims 1-13, 15, and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
Claim 1 recites “…a potential of a contact point between the drain of the MOS transistor and the high-impedance element is output as an analog signal to a counter or a comparator without passage through a latch circuit…”. A “latch circuit” or equivalent is not disclosed, in the context of the claim language, in the originally filed application or parent application.
Claims 2-8 depend on claim 1 and therefore are rejected.
Claim 9 recites “…a potential of a contact point between the drain of the MOS transistor and the high-impedance element is output as an analog signal to the comparator without passage through a latch circuit…”. A “latch circuit” or equivalent is not disclosed, in the context of the claim language, in the originally filed application or parent application.
Claims 10-13 and 15 depend on claim 9 and therefore are rejected.
Claim 16 recites “…a potential of a contact point between the drain of the MOS transistor and the high-impedance element is output as an analog signal to a counter or a comparator without passage through a latch circuit…”. A “latch circuit” or equivalent is not disclosed, in the context of the claim language, in the originally filed application or parent application.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). 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.
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/NICHOLAS G GILES/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2639