Detailed Office Action
Applicant’s amendments and arguments dated 1/29/2026 have been entered and fully considered. Claims 7, 11, 18, and 20 are amended. Claims 1-6 and 17 are cancelled. Claims 7-16 and 18-20 remain pending.
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 Amendments and Arguments
Applicant’s amendments have overcome the objection and the 35 USC 112(b) rejections previously set forth in the non-final office action of 11/28/2025. These objection and rejections are withdrawn.
Applicant argument regarding the secondary reference of MELMAN not being analogous art is persuasive. The rejection in view of MELMAN is withdrawn. However, upon further search and consideration a new rejection is made. As the result, this office action is a second non-final.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 7-16, and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over DOUGHTY (US-2005/0211100), hereinafter DOUGHTY, in view of CHENG (US-2018/0355218), hereinafter CHENG, and NOGUCHI (US-2021/0362091), hereinafter NOGUCHI. Note that the italicized text below are the instant claims.
Regarding claims 7 and 15-16, DOUGHTY discloses A method for fabricating a layered sorbent film {[abstract]}, comprising:
forming a first sorbent layer by adhering a particulate sorbent material to a first adhesive surface of an adhesive film {[0007], [0019]-[0020], [FIG. 1] 13/15 is the adhesive film and 14 is the particulate sorbent material},
the adhesive film further comprising a second adhesive surface opposite the first adhesive surface {[0007] note the substrate or film having adhesive layers on both sides, thus a second adhesive surface opposite the first adhesive surface}.
Regarding the next limitation of claim 7 reciting “and a sacrificial liner coupled to the second adhesive surface; removing the sacrificial liner from the adhesive film by exposing at least the sacrificial liner to a release medium, uncovering the second adhesive surface”, DOUGHTY, however, is silent on the adhesive surfaces having liners or sacrificial liners and that the liner is removed before particulate sorbent is applied to the adhesive surface.
In the same field of endeavor that is related to adhesive backing with sorbent material, CHENG discloses that it is known that adhesive film is protected by a liner {[0015], [0058]} and obviously this liner has to be removed (the release medium which could be the operator) to expose the adhesive surface.
At the effective filing date of the instant invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have incorporated the teachings of CHENG in the method of DOUGHTY and have obtained the adhesive film of DOUGHTY with liner or sacrificial liner that is taught by CHENG in order to protect the adhesive before applying sorbent, since CHENG clearly teaches this protection role {[0015]}.
Combination of DOUGHTY and CHENG, however, is silent on the release medium comprising water (in claim 7), and the limitations of claims 15-16.
In the same field of endeavor that is related to gas separation, NOGUCHI discloses release medium comprising water (in claim 7), wherein exposing at least the sacrificial liner to the release medium comprises submerging the sacrificial liner, the adhesive film, and the first sorbent layer in the release medium, the release medium being a liquid (claim 15), wherein the sacrificial liner comprises polyvinyl alcohol (claim 16) {[0031]-[0034]}.
At the effective filing date of the instant invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have incorporated the teachings of NOGUCHI in the combination method of DOUGHTY and CHENG and have selected the sacrificial liner to be polyvinyl alcohol resin and affecting its release by immersing it in liquid water.
As disclosed by NOGUCHI, the advantage of this removal is that it prevents damage to the rest of the laminate {[0031]}.
Note that for the rest of the claim 7 and other claims, the modified DOUGHTY method and it adhesive film has the liner or sacrificial liner for the purpose of protection and obviously this liner is removed by the method of NOGUCHI to expose the adhesive surface in order to apply the particulate sorbent onto the surface.
Regarding the last limitation of claim 7, modified DOUGHTY disclose forming a second sorbent layer by adhering the particulate sorbent material to the uncovered second adhesive surface of the adhesive film {[0007] note application of sorbent to both sides since it teaches adhesive on both sides and adsorbent immobilized as a layer on the adhesive portion that exists on both sides}.
Regarding claim 8, modified DOUGHTY discloses further comprising: separating a first release liner from the first adhesive surface of the adhesive film, uncovering the first adhesive surface; wherein the sacrificial liner is sufficiently rigid that while the sacrificial liner is coupled to the second adhesive surface, the first release liner may be removed from the first adhesive surface of the adhesive film without causing mechanical damage to the adhesive film {note that as discussed above, both adhesive surfaces of the film of DOUGHTY have the release or sacrificial liner, thus, modified DOUGHTY has the first release liner, and since the purpose of the liner is protection, they are sufficiently rigid to perform such protection}.
Regarding claim 9, modified DOUGHTY discloses wherein the first release liner is also the sacrificial liner {note above and that the Examiner interprets release liner as sacrificial since it is removed to expose the surface for sorbent attachment, thus the liner is sacrificed in favor of the sorbent attachment}.
Regarding claim 10, modified DOUGHTY discloses removing a second release liner releasably coupled to the second adhesive surface of the adhesive film, uncovering the second adhesive surface; and coupling the sacrificial liner to the second adhesive surface of the adhesive film {note above and that modified DOUGHT has a second release liner and that it can be replace with the sacrificial liner}.
Regarding claim 11, modified DOUGHTY discloses uncovering a third adhesive surface of a second adhesive film, the second adhesive film further comprising a fourth adhesive surface opposite the third adhesive surface, and a second sacrificial liner coupled to the fourth adhesive surface; adhering the uncovered third adhesive surface of the second adhesive film to one of the first sorbent layer and the second sorbent layer coupled to the adhesive film; removing the second sacrificial liner from the second adhesive film by exposing at least the second sacrificial liner to a second release medium, uncovering the fourth adhesive surface; forming a third sorbent layer by adhering the particulate sorbent material to the uncovered fourth adhesive surface of the second adhesive film {[FIG. 7] note that the instant claim 11 describes this illustration (note similarity to instant FIG. 3) where multiple layers are produced according to the procedure of claim 7 that is disclosed by modified DOUGHTY}.
Regarding claim 12, modified DOUGHTY discloses wherein the first adhesive surface and the second adhesive surface comprise pressure sensitive adhesive {[claim 5]}.
Regarding claim 13, modified DOUGHTY discloses wherein the adhesive film is composed of a single layer of an adhesive {[0007] note the embodiment that only one surface has the adhesive}.
Regarding claim 14, modified DOUGHTY discloses wherein the adhesive film comprises a thin film substrate having a first side and a second side opposite the first side, the adhesive film further comprising a first adhesive layer bonded to the first side and a second adhesive layer bonded to the second side, the first and second adhesive layers forming the first and second adhesive surfaces of the adhesive film, respectively {[0007] note the embodiment that surfaces have the adhesive, [FIG. 1] note the thin film 13}.
Regarding claim 19 limitation of “wherein the adhesive film is between 10 µm and 250 µm thick”, modified DOUGHTY discloses that the substrate or the adhesive film is sized (size includes thickness) to accommodate a particular application. Therefore, modified DOUGHT recognizes size or thickness of the film as a result-effective variable that is changed based on a particular application.
It is well established that determination of optimum values of result-effective variables (in this case the effect of film thickness on application appropriateness) is within the skill of one practicing in the art {see MPEP 2144.05 (ll)(B)}. At the effective filing date of the instant invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have optimized the thickness of the adhesive film which is a result-effective variable through routine experimentation to have determined the optimum thickness for each particular application which in some cases may lead to the claimed thicknesses.
Claim 18 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over DOUGHTY, CHENG, and NOGUCHI as applied to claims 7-8 above, and further in view of GREENBANK (US-2021/0039037), hereinafter GREENBANK.
Regarding claim 18, combination of DOUGHTY, CHENG, and NOGUCHI discloses all the limitations of claims 7-8 as discussed above. This combination, however, is silent on perforation of the adhesive film to create a plurality of apertures.
In the same field of endeavor that is related to sorbent material sheets, GREENBLANK discloses further comprising perforating the adhesive film before the first release liner has been removed such that the adhesive film comprises a plurality of apertures allowing an air flow to pass through {note that liner and adhesive film is disclosed by the combination of DOUGHTY, CHENG, and NOGUCHI as discussed above, [0058]}.
At the effective filing date of the instant invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have incorporated the teachings of GREENBLANK in the combination method of DOUGHTY, CHENG, and NOGUCHI and have perforated the adhesive film to create apertures and holes in the film.
As disclosed by GREENBLANK, the advantage of this procedure is to increase the surface area for adsorption by allowing the passage fluid or creating fluid channels {[0058]}.
Claim 20 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over DOUGHTY, CHENG, and NOGUCHI as applied to claim 7 above, and further in view of OKANO (US-2021/0039036), hereinafter OKANO.
Regarding claim 20, combination of DOUGHTY, CHENG, and NOGUCHI discloses all the limitations of claim 7 as discussed above. This combination, however, is silent on particulate sorbent material diameter.
In the same field of endeavor that is related to solid sorbent particulates on a sheet, OKANO discloses wherein the particulate sorbent material has a diameter less than 200 µm {[0030] note particle diameter of 1 mm or less}.
At the effective filing date of the instant invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have incorporated the teachings of OKANO in the combination method of DOUGHTY and CHENG and have chosen the disclosed particle size ranges.
Since OKANO discloses that the sizes are appropriative for CO2 capture {[abstract], [0030]}, in case an artisan would have used the method of combination of DOUGHTY, CHENG, and NOGUCHI for CO2 capture, the appropriate particle size is clearly indicated by OKANO which is in the same field of endeavor.
The Examiner notes that OKANO teaches a range of less than 1000 µm which encompasses the claimed range. A prima facie case of obviousness is established when a claimed narrow range is within a broad prior art range or partially overlaps or touches the broad range. Harris, 409 F.3d at 1341; Peterson, 315 F.3d at 1329-30. Also, see MPEP 2144.05 (I).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to S. BEHROOZ GHORISHI whose telephone number is (571)272-1373. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-(alt Fri) 7:30-5:00.
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/S. BEHROOZ GHORISHI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1748