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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 10/14/2024 has been considered by the examiner.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant's election of Group I, Claims 1-13, with traverse in the reply filed on 06/05/2026 is acknowledged.
The traversal is on the ground(s) that “the Office has failed to provide any evidence to support the assertion that the claimed product can be made as the Office has alleged or that such a process is materially different”; “There is no evidence of record to show that the claimed process can be performed as the Office Action has alleged or that the apparatus can be used as the Office Action alleges. Further, the Office Action has provided no examples or evidence of record to support the conclusion”; “no reasons and/or examples have been provided to support the Office's conclusion that the groups are unrelated”, and “the Office has not established that the methods are incapable of use together”. This is not found persuasive because for Groups I and II, the CYZ nanostructure layer can be made by using electrodeposition technique by applying a constant negative potential with respect to an Ag/AgCl reference electrode, which is different from the method of the invention II. For Groups I and III, as outlined in the restriction, the electrochemical sensor can be used to electrochemically detect metal ions in water instead of detecting clozapine in invention III. For groups II and III, the invention II is drawn to method of making an electrochemical sensor, and the invention III is drawn to a method of detecting clozapine in an analyte sample. The steps from both inventions are significantly different and have different modes of operation and effects. MPEP does not state that the Office needs to provide examples or evidence of record to support the conclusion. Furthermore, applicant has not provided evidences or examples pointing to the contrary. Therefore, the requirement is still deemed proper and is therefore made FINAL.
Claim Objection
Claims 13 is objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 13: please amend “reference voltage” to – the reference voltage--.
Appropriate correction is required.
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 1-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as failing to set forth 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 1, claim 1 recites “wherein the working electrode comprises a gold-coated microchip”. The specification discloses “wherein the working electrode comprises a gold-coated microchip” [para. 0013, 0126 in PG-Pub] and Step 506 in Fig.5 discloses:” a working electrode of the gold-coated microchip”. Thus, there is an inconsistence in the specification regarding whether a working electrode is an element of a gold-coated microchip or the gold-coated microchip is an element of the working electrode. A claim, although clear on its face, may also be indefinite when a conflict or inconsistency between the claimed subject matter and the specification disclosure renders the scope of the claim uncertain as inconsistency with the specification disclosure or prior art teachings may make an otherwise definite claim take on an unreasonable degree of uncertainty. In re Moore, 439 F.2d 1232, 1235-36, 169 USPQ 236, 239 (CCPA 1971); In re Cohn, 438 F.2d 989, 169 USPQ 95 (CCPA 1971); In reHammack, 427 F.2d 1378, 166 USPQ 204 (CCPA 1970) [see MPEP 2173.03]. Furthermore, claim 1 recites “wherein the computing device is configured to receive an electrical signal generated by the CYZ nanostructure layer between the working electrode and the platinum counter electrode”, and it is unclear if the CYZ nanostructure layer is positioned between the working electrode and the platinum counter electrode or the electrical signal is generated between the working electrode and the platinum counter electrode. Thus, the scope of claim 1 is indefinite. Claims 2-13 are further rejected by virtue of their dependence upon and because they fail to cure the deficiencies of indefinite claim 1.
Conclusion
The prior arts made of record and not relied upon are considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure: Schutz et al. (Microwave-assisted synthesis of nanocrystalline binary and ternary metal oxides, International Materials Reviews, 2018, 63, 341-374) teaches synthesis of ternary metal oxides. Bahnasawy et al. (Fabrication of polyhedral Cu-Zn oxide nanoparticles by dealloying and anodic oxidation of German silver alloy for photoelectrochemical water splitting, Scientific reports, 2022, 12, 16785) teaches Cu-Zn oxides. Ghanbari et al. (Clozapine sensing through paper-based microfluidic sensors directly modified via electrodeposition and electro-polymerization, Sensors and Diagnostics, 2024, 3, 1749) teaches sensing clozapine with a gold-coated microchip. Huang et al. (Sensitive detection of clozapine using a gold electrode modified with 16-mercaptohexadecanoic acid self-assembly monolayer, Talanta, 2007, 72, 457-462) teaches sensing clozapine with a gold-coated microchip. Ishaque et al. (Fabrication of ternary metal oxide (ZnO: NiO: CuO) nanocomposite heterojunctions for enhanced photocatalytic and antibacterial applications, RCS Advances, 2023, 13, 30838) teaches ternary metal oxide (ZnO: NiO: CuO) nanocomposite. Kumar et al. (Biofunctionalized nanostructured yttria modified non-invasive impedometric biosensor for efficient detection of oral cancer, Nanomaterials, 2019, 9, 1190) teaches Y2O3/ITO immunoelectrode for detection of oral cancer. Ben-Yoav et al. (US20230104086A1) teaches electrochemical device comprising a gold-coated microchip for detecting clozapine. Ben-Yoav et al. ( US20140256581A1) teaches electrochemical device comprising a gold-coated microchip for detecting clozapine.
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/SHIZHI QIAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1795
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