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 Status
The Preliminary Amendment filed on 29 February 2024 has been entered; claims 1-22 remain pending.
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 1-22 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.
With respect to claim 1, it is unclear what is meant by "recirculate the water in the oxidiser only through the first conductivity sensor and the oxidiser a plurality of times" in step (d) of claim 1, as Applicant’s disclosure does not teach recirculation in the oxidiser only; instead, water flow is led from the exit of the oxidiser back to a position upstream from the first conductivity sensor (see Fig. 1), as consistent with the rest of step d).
It is unclear to the Examiner how step f) can be carried out before step d), as the second conductivity value, measured in the recirculation circuit, is required by step f). Clarification is respectfully requested.
With respect to claims 2 and 3, these claims appear to claiming the same subject matter, as the purified water stream results from the first conductivity sensor, and the water supply has to go through the first conductivity sensor in order to get to the recirculation circuit. Clarification is respectfully requested.
With respect to claim 4, the limitations "and using said water in step (d)" renders the claim indefinite, as it is unclear what flow the water-filled cartridge produces and how that flow is linked to the remaining components of the water purification apparatus. It is also unclear whether the "water-filled cartridge" refers to a vessel with supply water or a different water, or to a water filter having a cartridge that removes or treats water from the supply water, for example.
With respect to claim 5, the limitations "passage around a main recirculation circuit" render the claim indefinite, as it is unclear whether the stream is to circulate in the recirculation circuit or whether it bypasses the recirculation circuit.
With respect to claims 11-13, it is unclear what a “TOC-standard cartridge” refers to, as it could remove TOC substances or measure TOC in a standard solution as discussed in Paragraphs [0101-102] of the Specification. If the latter, it is unclear how the TOC measured in a standard solution would relate to the TOC in the water stream being recirculated. The limitations “providing a TOC-standard concentration” as recited in claim 11 would pertain to the standard solution, and not the water stream.
With respect to claim 15, the feature "the second pump is only able to recirculate water through the oxidiser recirculation circuit, the first conductivity sensor and the oxidiser a plurality of times" is unclear; the Examiner suggests amending as follows; “the second pump recirculates water only through the first conductivity sensor and the oxidiser” to enhance clarity.
Claim 18 is unclear as it suggests that the TOC can only be measured up to 500 ppbC, but not higher, and because TOC is calculated and not measured according to claim 15.
Regarding claims 6-14, 16, 17, and 19-22, they are rejected for being dependent on or otherwise incorporating the limitations of a rejected base claim.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-22 allowed pending resolution of the rejections of the claims under 35 USC 112(b) set forth above, as none of the prior art teaches or suggests the method of claim 1 or apparatus of claim 15.
The Examiner acknowledges the following references which are relevant to the claimed invention but which fall short of disclosing the same:
With respect to claim 1, Underwood et al. U.S. Patent Publication # 2011/0197660, corresponding to U.S. Patent # 8650935 and WO 2010/043896, cited in the IDS and Office Action from UKIPO) teaches a method of determining the total organic carbon content (TOC) of a purified water stream in a water purification apparatus 2 (see Abstract; Fig. 1) having pump 12 (“at least a first pump (P1)”, a first line cell 14 in which conductivity of the supply water stream is measured (“a first conductivity sensor (S1)”) (Paragraph [0044]), an oxidiser (16) (Paragraph [0044]), and an oxidiser recirculation stream 28 (“circuit”), the method comprising at least the steps of: (a) using pump 12 (“the first pump”) to pass a water supply stream 10 through water purification apparatus 2, including through the first line cell 14 (“first conductivity sensor (S1)” and the oxidiser (16), to provide a purified water stream (22) available for dispense (Paragraph [0044]); and (b) using the first line cell 14 (“first conductivity sensor (S1)” to measure a first conductivity value of the water supply stream prior to the oxidizer 16 (see flow arrows and upstream placement of first line cell 14 prior to oxidizer 16 in Fig. 1; see also Paragraph [0044]).
Underwood does not teach “a dedicated second pump”, c) stopping the first pump or d) using the second pump in the oxidizer recirculation circuit to recirculate the water in the oxidiser only through the first conductivity sensor and the oxidiser a plurality of times, as there is no second pump in recirculation loop 28, and the recirculation loop includes the first pump 12, the first conductivity sensor 14, the oxidiser 16, a second conductivity sensor 18, and a deionization unit 20 (see Fig. 1; Paragraphs [0044, 0047]). Additionally, Underwood teaches that TOC is estimated from measurements of conductivity values in cells 14 and 18, positioned before and after oxidiser 16, and the known or measured efficiency of oxidiser 16 (see Fig. 1; Paragraph [0047]); therefore, the TOC is not calculated according to step f).
Egozy et al. (U.S. Patent # 5272091, cited in the IDS and Office Action from UKIPO) teaches a method and apparatus for treating water and predicting TOC of water (Abstract), including measuring resistivity of water and passing it through an oxidiser with recirculation of water treated by the oxidiser via a dedicated pump 54 (see Column 9, lines 47-56), wherein the recycle line 52 (“recirculation loop”) includes only the resistivity sensor and oxidation means 36 (“oxidiser”) (see Fig. 2), wherein the organic carbon content in the water is determined through differences in resistivity of the water before and after passing through the oxidiser (see Column 4, line 8 through Column 5, line 43; Column 6, lines 10-39; Column 7, line 67 through Column 8, line 42).
One of ordinary skill in the art would not think to modify the recirculation loop of Underwood with the pump of Egozy and recirculation through only the oxidiser and conductivity sensor as taught by Egozy because the apparatus of Egozy does not teach measurement of conductivity at all, but of its opposite, resistivity, and because the conductivity/resistivity measurements with determination of TOC are not compatible (they are measured differently) and do not meet the limitations of claims 1 and 15. Also, the Egozy/Underwood combination would not teach stopping a first pump (each reference only has one pump, neither of which is stopped.
Lastly, the Examiner acknowledges GB 2584988 A, cited in the IDS and ISR, in which a method of dispensing a purified water stream from a purification apparatus is described, wherein a first pump 36 pumps water through a first conductivity sensor 38, and oxidiser 42, wherein recirculation loop 32 includes vessel 20, pump 36, conductivity sensor 38, and oxidiser 42 (see Abstract; Page 7, line 7 through Page 8, line 8; Fig. 1; Page 17, line 5 through Page 18, line 32), wherein TOC is calculated from measurements of conductivity in the water in the recirculation loop; however, the recirculation loop contains reservoir 20 and the pump; there is no second pump, and no stopping of the first pump.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CLARE M PERRIN whose telephone number is (571)270-5952. The examiner can normally be reached 9AM-6PM EST M-F.
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/CLARE M. PERRIN/
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 1779
/CLARE M PERRIN/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1779 05 August 2026
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