DETAILED ACTION
The following Office action concerns Patent Application Number 18/918,217. Claims 1-20 are pending in the application.
Claims 14-16 are withdrawn from consideration as being drawn to a non-elected invention.
The applicant’s amendment filed October 1, 2025 has been entered.
Election/Restrictions
A restriction requirement was sent to the Applicant on September 4, 2025. The Applicant was required to elect among several groups of inventions. The Applicant responded to the restriction requirement on October 1, 2025 and elected Group I, claims 1-13 and 17-20, without traverse.
Accordingly, claims 14-16 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a non-elected invention.
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 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 1-6 and 9-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over Rule et al (US 2010/0316845) in view of Anthamatten et al (US 2016/0137778).
Rule et al teaches a shape memory composition comprising a crosslinked polymer and a plasticizer (par. 15, 40). The composition has two-way shape memory property as that term is described in the instant specification (par. 14). The plasticizer is the claimed organic free phase. The composition is an organogel as that term is described in the specification.
Rule et al does not teach a photoinitiator. However, Anthamatten et al teaches a shape memory composition including a photoinitiator (par. 40). The photoinitiator includes 2,2-dimethoxy-2-phenylacetophenone (par. 42). In an example, the amount of photoinitiator is 1 wt % (par. 68).
Rule et al and Anthamatten et al are both directed to crosslinked shape memory polymers. Anthametten et al further teaches crosslinking with a photoinitiator. A person of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to combine the photoinitiator of Anthametten et al with the composition of Rule et al in order to obtain a known method of crosslinking a shape memory polymer.
Regarding claims 2-6, Rule et al teaches that the shape memory polymer includes poly(1,4)butadiene (par. 22). Poly(1,4)butadiene is understood in the art to refer to cis-poly(1,4)butadiene. As discussed above, Anthametten et al teaches an amount of photoinitiator of 1 wt % (par. 68). By subtraction, the amount of crosslinked polymer is up to 99 wt %.
Anthametten et al further teaches that the amount of crosslinking agent (photoinitiator) is selected according to the amount of crosslinking desired (par. 39). Therefore, the claimed amount of photoinitiator is obvious in view of the references. The optimum amount would have been determined by routine experimentation, since the amount of photoinitiator was known to be a result-effective variable. MPEP 2144.05(II).
Regarding claims 9-13, Rule et al is silent with respect to vacuum weight loss, amount of reversible elongation and contraction, and actuation reversibility. However, the combination of teachings from Rule et al and Anthamatten et al have rendered obvious the instantly claimed ingredients and amounts thereof. Therefore, it is reasonable that a person of ordinary skill in the art would expect the claimed physical properties to naturally arise.
Claims 7 and 8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over Rule et al (US 2010/0316845) in view of Anthamatten et al (US 2016/0137778) and Patel (US 5,300,573).
Rule et al in view of Anthamatten et al teaches a shape memory composition comprising a plasticizer as described above. Rule et al in view of Anthamatten et al does not teach the claimed plasticizer.
However, Patel teaches a plasticizer for an elastomer including dioctyl phthalate (col. 5, lines 49-51). The amount of plasticizer is 10-50 parts by weight of the composition (col. 5, lines 45-50).
Rule et al suggests a plasticizer, but is silent regarding the specific type. Patel teaches a plasticizer which enhances the elastomeric properties and stability of the composition (col. 5, lines 35-45). A person of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated by design need to combine the plasticizer of Patel with the composition of Rule et al in view of Anthamatten et al in order to obtain improved elasticity and stability.
Claims 17-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over Rule et al (US 2010/0316845) in view of Anthamatten et al (US 2016/0137778) and Rule et al (US 2010/0155998).
Rule et al in view of Anthamatten et al teaches a shape memory composition comprising a plasticizer as described above. Rule et al in view of Anthamatten et al does not teach use in a temperature sensor.
However, Rule et al (‘998) teaches a shape memory composition which is used to make a temperature sensor (par. 48). It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to combine the temperature sensor of Rule et al (‘998) with the composition of Rule et al in view of Anthamatten et al in order to obtain a known use of a shape memory polymer composition.
Examiner’s Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to William Young whose telephone number is (571) 270-5078. The examiner can normally be reached Monday through Friday, 8:30 AM to 5 PM.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Angela Brown-Pettigrew, can be reached at 571-272-2817. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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