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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102/103
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.
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.
Claims 25 and 30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(1)(1) as anticipated by or, in the alternative, under 35 U.S.C. 103 as obvious over Feaver USPA 2011/0223494 A1.
Regarding claims 25 and 30, Feaver discloses a carbon aerogel (paragraph 45), comprising: a pyrolyzed or pyrolyzed and etched co-polymeric composition (paragraph 45): having from 5% by weight to about 6% by weight of nitrogen (paragraph 114: less than 10% Nitrogen includes 5-6%); and having a nanostructured form with micropores (paragraph 180), wherein at least 60%, or more, of a surface area measured by the N.sub.2 sorption porosimetry method at 77 K is assigned to micropores (paragraph 180: 80% micropores).
In the alternative, if Feaver is not deemed to disclose 5-6% Nitrogen and at least 60%, or more, micropores, absent a proper showing of criticality or unexpected results, the amount of Nitrogen and % micropores are considered to be general conditions that would have been routinely optimized by one having ordinary skill in the art in order to provide an optimal aerogel, and since Feaver discloses ranges that overlap with the claimed ranges. MPEP 2144.05.
Claims 32, 34, 36, 38, 40 and 41 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Feaver USPA 2011/0223494 A1.
Feaver is relied upon as above.
Regarding claims 32, 34, 36, 38 and 40, Feaver does not disclose the various absorption capacities or specific pore volume. Nevertheless, since Feaver discloses optimizing porosity and pore volume (paragraphs 10 and 180), which in turn optimizes absorption capacities, absent a proper showing of criticality or unexpected results, the absorption capacities and specific pore volume are considered to be a general conditions that would have been routinely optimized by one having ordinary skill in the art in order to provide optimal performance. MPEP 2144.05.
Regarding claim 41, Feaver does not disclose polyamides (paragraph 209) but does not disclose polyimide and polyurea. Nevertheless, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the claimed invention to utilize polyimide and polyurea, since it has been held to be within the general skill of a worker in the art to select a known material on the basis of its suitability for the intended use as a matter of obvious design choice. In re Leshin, 125 USPQ 416.
Claims 29, 31, 33, 35, 37 and 39 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Feaver USPA 2011/0223494 A1 in view of Leventis USPA 2012/0134909 A1.
Feaver is relied upon as above.
Regarding claims 29, 31, 33, 35, 37 and 39, Feaver does not disclose that the co-polymeric composition is etched. Leventis discloses a similar invention where etching is used to increase the number of micropores (see Leventis paragraph 86). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the claimed invention to modify Feaver so that the aerogel is etched, as taught by Leventis, for the purpose of increasing the microporosity.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 26-28 are 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 following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: The prior art fails to disclose or make obvious the carbon aerogel of dependent claim 26 where the nitrogen is in a form of pyridinic nitrogen, pyridonic nitrogen, quaternary nitrogen, and pyridine oxide.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHRISTOPHER P JONES whose telephone number is (571)270-7383. The examiner can normally be reached 9AM-6PM EST M-F.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Jennifer Dieterle can be reached at (571)270-7872. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/CHRISTOPHER P JONES/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1776
