DETAILED ACTION
Status of the Claims
1. Claims 1-12 are pending.
Status of the Rejections
2. Rejection of claims 1-12 under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph is being withdrawn in view of applicant’s amendment.
Rejection of claims 1-2 and 4-9 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bai et al. and Wang et al. is being withdrawn in view of applicant’s amendment.
Rejection of claim(s) 10-12 under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bai et al. in view of Wang et al. and Eckermann et al. is being withdrawn in view of applicant’s amendment.
Specification
3. Amendments to the specification are accepted.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(d):
(d) REFERENCE IN DEPENDENT FORMS.—Subject to subsection (e), a claim in dependent form shall contain a reference to a claim previously set forth and then specify a further limitation of the subject matter claimed. A claim in dependent form shall be construed to incorporate by reference all the limitations of the claim to which it refers.
The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, fourth paragraph:
Subject to the following paragraph [i.e., the fifth paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112], a claim in dependent form shall contain a reference to a claim previously set forth and then specify a further limitation of the subject matter claimed. A claim in dependent form shall be construed to incorporate by reference all the limitations of the claim to which it refers.
Claims 3 and 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(d) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, 4th paragraph, as being of improper dependent form for failing to further limit the subject matter of the claim upon which it depends, or for failing to include all the limitations of the claim upon which it depends.
Claim 3 recites “the crevice former comprises a sensor array”. Sensor array i.e. plurality of sensors does not further limit the crevice former comprises a silicon wafer having a thin film potentiometric sensor (single potentiometric sensor) as recited in claim 1.
Claim 11 recites “sample comprises stainless steel”. Stainless steel is an alloy of metals and thus the limitation does not further limit the sample comprises metal i.e. single metal as recited in claim 10.
Applicant may cancel the claim(s), amend the claim(s) to place the claim(s) in proper dependent form, rewrite the claim(s) in independent form, or present a sufficient showing that the dependent claim(s) complies with the statutory requirements.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-12 are allowed.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: cited prior art, Bai et al. teach device for crevice corrosion comprising SECM cell, specimen is held within the SECM cell and open circuit potential is measured using Pt/IrOX-pH UME as working electrode, reference and counter electrode (see section 2.4).
Cited prior arts, Bai et al. and Wang et al. do not teach a cervice former within housing and comprised of silicon wafer having a thin film potentiometric sensor on a surface of the wafer positioned 100 micrometer from the surface of the sample.
Response to Arguments
Applicants’ arguments filed 7/27/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant argues on page 8 of remarks that the sensor array of claim 3 requires more than one sensor in order to form an array and thus is narrower in scope than parent claim 1. In response, examiner respectfully disagrees with applicant’s assertion. Parent claim 1 requires “a thin film potentionmetric sensor” i.e. single poentiometric sensor and thus claim 3 which requires more than one sensor does not further limit the single potentiometric sensor but instead adds more than one sensor and thereby making the claim 3 broader in scope than claim 1.
Similarly, applicant argues regarding claim 11, sample comprises stainless steel which encompasses one species of metal while claim 10 encompasses all metals. In response, claim 10 recites “sample comprises metal” i.e. only a/one metal and stainless steel of claim 11 which is alloy of metals does not further limit one metal but instead broaden the scope of claim 11 by including more than one metal i.e alloy of metals.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). 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.
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/GURPREET KAUR/
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 1759
