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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s amendments filed 16 July 2026 have overcome a major of the 35 USC 112 rejections of the previous Office Action. However, a few new rejections remain, as shown below.
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 10-11 and 13-14 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.
Regarding claim 10: The last line recites “wherein nth is fifth, sixth, seventh, or eighth.” However, only a second tangential channel has been introduced so far. Thus, it is unclear how many channels are required as the third and fourth tangential channels appear to be missing.
Claim 11 is a rejected due to its dependency on claim 10. Note, it appears claim 9 recites a very similar limitation to claim 10 in a more clear manner.
Regarding claim 13: This is a method claim that depends on apparatus claim 1. A single claim which claims both an apparatus and the method steps of making or using the apparatus is indefinite under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, second paragraph. See In re Katz Interactive Call Processing Patent Litigation, 639 F.3d 1303, 1318, 97 USPQ2d 1737, 1748-49 (Fed. Cir. 2011). See MPEP 2173.05(p). This results in repeated limitations and a general lack of clarity. Some examples of limitations from claim 1 repeated in claim 13 are below. Note, due to the amount, some may be missed. It is suggested for Applicant to go through and ensure this claim is clearly defined.
Line 5: “at least one central protrusion, a plurality of peripheral protrusions, a plurality of teeth and a plurality of grooves”.
Line 10: “at least one fluid inlet opening” and “ant least one fluid outlet opening”.
Line 12: “an upper face”.
Line 13: “at least one fluid inlet channel”.
Line 14: “at least one fluid outlet channel”.
Line 24: “a second side face”.
Lines 26-27: “second tangential channels”.
And similar to claim 10, line 37 recites that nth is sixth seventh, or eighth without there being a third through fifth.
Note, most of these issues would be overcome if claim 13 was written in independent form.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1, 4-5, and 8-9 are allowed.
Claims 10-11 and 13-14 would be allowable if rewritten 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 and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter.
The prior art of record, alone or in combination does not explicitly teach, suggest, or render obvious, at least to the skilled artisan the cooling system of claim 1, specifically comprising:
piercing said at least one first tangential channel and establishing a fluidic connection between said at least one second tangential channel and said at least one first tangential channel, and wherein each of the blind holes of the fluid inlet channels, the fluid outlet channels, and the tangential channels is closed by a sealing element, in the context of the other components in the claim.
The remaining claims are allowable due to their dependency on claim 1.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SEAN GUGGER whose telephone number is (571)272-5343. The examiner can normally be reached M-Th 9:00am - 5:00pm EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, T.C. Patel can be reached at 571 272 2098. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/SEAN GUGGER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2834
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