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 .
Election/Restrictions
Claims 1-10 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected method, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 6/18/26.
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group II in the reply filed on 6/18/26 is acknowledged.
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.
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.
Claim(s) 11-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Corderman USPA_20060270229_A1 in view of Jani “Nanoporous anodic aluminum oxide”.
1. Regarding Claims 11, 12, 13, and 16, Corderman discloses etching an aluminum film by way of acid (corresponds to claimed limitation of instant Claim 13) to produce anodized aluminum oxide coating (paragraph 0003) that is porous (Abstract) wherein this process is done by electrochemically etching deposition (paragraph 0035) onto a silicon solid substrate (corresponds to limitation of instant Claim 12) (Claim 8). Corderman further discloses that said coating has “large areas” (paragraphs 0012, 0051, 0061) that seemingly suggests having available surface area that is greater than its substrate.
2. However, Corderman does not disclose the claimed functional group.
3. Jani discloses porous anodic aluminum oxide films on a substrate (Abstract) and states that enabling functional groups such as amine and hydroxyl groups (corresponds to claimed limitation of instant Claim 16), is attractive due to the ability to generate reactive and biocompatible polymer surfaces and controlling chemical functionality (Page 666).
4. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to modify the AAO coating, of Corderman, by using such functional groups, of Jani, for obtaining the aforementioned advantages in its coating.
5. Regarding Claims 14 and 15, Corderman in view of Jani suggests using aminosilane group for silanization (Jani: Page 670).
6. Regarding Claims 17 and 20, Corderman in view of Jani suggests having more than one AAO coating (Corderman: paragraph 0036). The same regarding the surface area and functional group of the first coating above can be attributed to the subsequent second coating.
7. Regarding Claims 18 and 19, Corderman in view of Jani suggests using latex microparticles (Jani: Page 683).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TAHSEEN KHAN whose telephone number is (571)270-1140. The examiner can normally be reached Mondays-Saturdays 08:00AM-10:00PM.
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/TAHSEEN KHAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1781 June 29, 2026
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