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 .
Drawings
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, the “Y-axis direction” and the “X-axis direction” (claim 5) must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). No new matter should be entered.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
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.
Claim(s) 1-3, 5, 7, 8, and 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Lafferty et al. (US 8,437,874 B2).
Regarding claim 1, Lafferty et al. discloses a plant leaf sampler (10), comprising a sampling portion (28; fig. 3), a transfer portion (transferring portion of magazine 38; fig. 4) and a storage portion (205; fig. 7), wherein: said sampling portion (28; fig. 3) comprises a sampling punch (32), a movable sampling plate (40; fig. 4), a collecting plate (34; fig. 3) and a docking chamber (punch position 40’ of magazine 38; fig. 4), said collecting plate (34) is provided with a through-hole capable of allowing at least a part of a tip of said sampling punch (32) to enter (die 34 has a through-hole allowing punch 32 to enter and deposit a plug punched from a leaf into magazine 38; c. 5, ll. 6-10), said docking chamber (40’) is located below said collecting plate (34) and is provided such that said movable sampling plate (40) enters and exits said docking chamber (punch position 40’ of magazine 38 is located below die 34 and capsule 40 enters and exits punch position 40’; fig. 3 and c. 5, ll. 29-38), and a sample (plug) from said through-hole (through-hole in die 34) can be collected when said movable sampling plate (40) enters said docking chamber (a plug of a leaf is collected from the through-hole in die 34 when capsule 40 enters punch position 40’; c. 5, ll. 44-47); said transfer portion (38) includes a track (44) for guiding movement of said sampling plate (transferring portion of magazine 38 includes pathway 44 for guiding movement of capsule 40; fig. 4 and c. 5, ll. 40-43), an in-cassette punch assembly (155; fig. 8) for dropping the sample (plug) from said sampling plate (punching rod assembly 155 allows dropping of a plug from capsule 40; c. 9, l. 65 – c. 10, l. 6) and an anchor assembly (145) for combining said sampling plate (40) with said in-cassette punch assembly (magazine receiver 145 allows for interaction of capsule 40 with punching rod assembly 155; c. 8, ll. 7-9); and said storage portion (205) comprises a storage cassette (54) provided with at least one storage hole (wheel 205 includes tray 54 with at least one well 52; figs. 5 and 6), said storage cassette (54) being detachably mounted to a bottom of said plant leaf sampler (tray 54 is detachably mounted to a bottom portion of the plant leaf sampler; fig. 6).
Regarding claim 2, Lafferty et al. discloses wherein said movable sampling plate (40) is provided with a receiving cavity (capsule 40 has a receiving cavity in to receive plugs; fig. 15), and a bottom of said receiving cavity is provided with a structure enabling a sample (plug) to fall into said storage hole (52) under an action of the in-cassette punch (a bottom of the receiving cavity of capsule 40 is an opening enabling a plug to fall into well 52 under an action of punching rod 90 of punching rod assembly 155; c. 10, ll. 2-8).
Regarding claim 3, Lafferty et al. discloses wherein, said sampling portion (28) further comprises a first motor, which is connected to said sampling punch (32), thereby drives said sampling punch (32) to move toward said collecting plate (punch 32 must include some actuating means to drive punch 32 toward die 34 under activation by keypad 36; c. 5, ll. 6-9), and a sample (plug) of desired size is cut from a plant leaf placed on said collecting plate (a plug of some desired size is cut from a plant leaf placed on die 34; c. 5, ll. 6-9); said in-cassette punch assembly (155; fig. 10) includes an in-cassette punch (190) and a second motor (185), said second motor (185) is connected to said in-cassette punch (190), thereby drives said in-cassette punch (190) to move toward said receiving cavity (inside capsule 40) and at least a part of said in-cassette punch (190) to enter said receiving cavity (inside capsule 40), or drive said in-cassette punch (190) to move away from said receiving cavity (punching rod assembly 155 includes punching rod 190 and actuator 185 to drive punching rod 190 to move toward the cavity inside capsule 40 to enter capsule 40 or to retract from capsule 40; c. 10, ll. 2-8).
Regarding claim 5, Lafferty et al. discloses wherein, said sampling portion (28) further comprises a third motor (sampling device 28 includes some actuating means to operate drive mechanism 46; c. 5, ll. 32-33), which is connected to said movable sampling plate (40), thereby drives said movable sampling plate (40) to move along a Y-axis direction (sampling device 28 has some actuating means that operates drive mechanism 46 and is connected to capsule 40 to move along a y-axis direction of pathway 44; fig. 4 and c. 5, ll. 42-44), and said storage portion (205) further comprises a fourth motor (330; fig. 17), which is connected to said storage cassette (54), thereby drives said storage cassette (54) to move along an X-axis direction (plate motor 330 rotates plate 205 which moves movable portion 276 to move tray receiver 220 radially; c. 9, ll. 26-40).
Regarding claim 7, Lafferty et al. discloses wherein said track (44) is provided in a fixed position to which said movable sampling plate (40) is tentatively held when said movable sampling plate (40) is moved from said docking chamber (40’) back to the transfer portion (capsule 40 is held in a fixed position of pathway 44 when capsule 40 is moved out of punch position 40’ to a next position using register 42 and counter 47; fig. 4), and in said fixed position the movable sampling plate (40) is anchored to said in-cassette punch assembly (at least when magazine 38 is in attached to magazine receiver 145, capsule 40 is anchored to punching rod assembly 155; fig. 10).
Regarding claim 8, Lafferty et al. discloses wherein said storage cassette (54) comprises an array of a plurality of the storage holes (tray 54 includes a plurality of wells 52; fig. 5), and said movable sampling plate (40) can move to the upper side of each of the storage holes (52) in said array (capsule 40 can move to punch position 40’ located at an upper side of each of wells 52; figs. 4 and 5).
Regarding claim 10, Lafferty et al. discloses further comprising at least one selected from a group consisting of a handle portion (at least a rear portion of sampling device 28 is a handle portion; fig. 3), a battery mounting portion, a display and a controller (leaf sample manager includes a GUI display and a controller; c. 10, ll. 36-39).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
Claim(s) 4 and 9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Fredericksen et al. (US 2017/0027102 A1).
Regarding claim 4, Lafferty et al. discloses the invention as set forth above.
Lafferty et al. is silent on the in-cassette punch having a brush.
Fredericksen et al. teaches a plant sampler (¶ [0003]); wherein an in-cassette cutting mechanism (310; fig. 7) is of a brush configuration (blade 210 can employ cleaning brushes; ¶ [0132]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to modify the apparatus of Lafferty et al. with the punching mechanism having a brush configuration as taught in Wang et al. to reduce sample contamination by cleaning of a punch mechanism (Fredericksen et al., ¶ [0132]).
Regarding claim 9, Lafferty et al. discloses the invention as set forth above.
Lafferty et al. is silent on the sampling punch having an anti-sticking mechanism.
Fredericksen et al. teaches a plant sampler (¶ [0003]); wherein a cutting blade (210) is provided with an anti-sticking mechanism (blade 210 has Teflon coating; ¶ [0132]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to modify the apparatus of Lafferty et al. with the punch having an anti-sticking mechanism as taught in Fredericksen et al. to reduce sample contamination by preventing particles from sticking to the punch mechanism (Fredericksen et al., ¶ [0132]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 6 is 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.
The prior art does not disclose or suggest “wherein said anchor assembly comprises an electromagnet fixed to said in-cassette punch assembly and an iron block fixed to said movable sampling plate” in combination with the remaining claim elements as recited in claim 6.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Erika J. Villaluna whose telephone number is (571)272-8348. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 9:00 am - 5:30 pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Stephanie Bloss can be reached at (571) 272-3555. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ERIKA J. VILLALUNA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2852
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