Detailed Office Action
The communication dated 6/26/2024 has been entered and fully considered.
Claims 1-8 are 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 .
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-8 are would be allowable if rewritten or amended to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action.
The Examiner found multiple prior art references which could be designated as the closest prior art. GB 1,466,502 showed that oils can be reacted with sodium hydroxide to form fatty acid soaps (I) in the pulp and paper industry. This however did not suggest the process of making softeners from used oil.
TW1773305B LAI taught taking waste cooking oil, filtering it, removing water from the filtered oil and then reacting with a NaOH aqueous solution at 75-85 degrees C which was lower than the claimed reaction temperature. The water to NaOH ratio was ~2:1 (10:4-10:5) which would be much lower than the 16.67:1 ratio of the claim. The reference further did not suggest the stirring time of 2-3 hours.
KR102015526B1 discloses making a surfactant from used cooking oil by adding NaOH and water. However, the ratio of the prior art did not meet that of the instant claims. Furthermore, the time and temperature of stirring was not disclosed and neither was filtering/water removal.
Drawings and specification
The drawings are objected to because in Figure 1 step 4 the applicant claims a ratio in step (3) but then uses the percent sign. The applicant should remove the “%” signs and add that the ratio is a weight ratio.
In Figure 1 step 5 “stop the stirring until a large amount” is unclear. It appears this should be “stop the stirring when a large amount”
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.
The specification is objected for the same reasons.
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 1-8 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.
Claim 1 recites the limitation "liquid waste cooking oil" in line 6. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. The applicant should state earlier that “a liquid waste cooking oil is obtained”
step 1, preparation: collecting waste cooking oil, heating the waste cooking oil until it is completely melted into a liquid state to obtain a liquid waste cooking oil, preparing a filter mesh for filtering out solid matter from the liquid waste cooking oil, and preparing an oil-water separator for separating water from the liquid waste cooking oil
Claim 1 line 9 recites “the waste cooking oil”. This should be “the preliminary purified waste cooking oil” to match what is produced in step 2.
In step 4 the applicant claims a ratio but then uses the percent sign. The applicant should delete the % signs as this makes it unclear as a ratio is not a percent (the claim does not make sense using percent because it adds up over 100%). Further, the applicant should recite that this is a weight ratio.
In claim 1 the applicant claims “stopping stirring until a large amount of the yellow”. This is not clear because at this period in time stirring is occurring. The claims should state “stopping stirring when until a large amount of yellow” alternatively the applicant could state “continuing
The term “large amount” in claim 1 is a relative term which renders the claim indefinite. The term “large amount” is not defined by the claim, the specification does not provide a standard for ascertaining the requisite degree, and one of ordinary skill in the art would not be reasonably apprised of the scope of the invention.
The term “slowly stopping” in claim 1 is a relative term which renders the claim indefinite. The term “slowly stopping” is not defined by the claim, the specification does not provide a standard for ascertaining the requisite degree, and one of ordinary skill in the art would not be reasonably apprised of the scope of the invention.
Claims 2-8 depend from claim 1 and are similarly rejected.
Claim 3 recites the limitation "the filter screen" in line 2. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. This should be “the filter mesh”.
Claim 4 line 2 recites “the process of water separation”. In step 3 of claim 1 this is recited as “oil-water separation”.
Claim 4 line 3 recites “the separation”. In step 3 of claim 1 this is recited as “oil-water separation”.
The term “slowly and evenly” in claim 6 is a relative term which renders the claim indefinite. The term “slowly and evenly” is not defined by the claim, the specification does not provide a standard for ascertaining the requisite degree, and one of ordinary skill in the art would not be reasonably apprised of the scope of the invention.
The term “moderate level” in claim 7 is a relative term which renders the claim indefinite. The term “moderate level” is not defined by the claim, the specification does not provide a standard for ascertaining the requisite degree, and one of ordinary skill in the art would not be reasonably apprised of the scope of the invention.
The term “too intense or too gentle” in claim 7 is a relative term which renders the claim indefinite. The term “too intense or too gentle” is not defined by the claim, the specification does not provide a standard for ascertaining the requisite degree, and one of ordinary skill in the art would not be reasonably apprised of the scope of the invention.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANTHONY J CALANDRA whose telephone number is (571)270-5124. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 7:45 AM -4:15 PM.
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ANTHONY J. CALANDRA
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 1748
/Anthony Calandra/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1748