Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
1. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
DETAILED ACTION
SUMMARY
2. The application amendment filed on November 06, 2025, has been received and made of record. In response to Non-Final Office Action mailed on August 11, 2025, applicant amended claims 1, 10, 13-14, and 21 of which claims 1, 14, and 21 are independent claims. Claims 2-9, 11-12, and 15-19 are maintained. Claim 20 is cancelled as before the Non-Final Office Action. NO claim has been cancelled and/or added as new claim after the Non-Final Office Action. Therefore, claims 1-19 and 21 are pending for consideration.
Response to Arguments
3. Applicant's arguments in "Remarks" submitted on November 06, 2025, with respect to independent claims 1, 14, and 21 have been considered but are moot in view of new ground of rejection as necessitated by applicant's amendment.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
4. 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.
5. Claims 1-19 and 21 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.
Claims 1, 14 and 21 recite the limitations, “where a and b are different natural numbers, and greater than the first and less than m”, “--where p is a natural number greater than the first and less than n”. Claim 13 also recites the limitations, “-- where q is a natural number different from p, and greater than the first and less than n”.
However, one of ordinary skill in the art cannot compare first with the natural number. There is a difference in usage of ordinal number(first, second, third, ---) and cardinal number(1, 2, 3, ----).
Ordinal numbers are used in indicating sequence, precedence, order or priority. On the other hand, cardinal numbers are used in indicating top rank, leading position, or a count-based label, especially when conveying competition, charts, or emphasis on being the best. Therefore, value of a, b, p and q could not be defined in ordinal form. In the respective claims a, b, p, and q values are defined as sequence or priority value not a numerical value. As the value of a, b, p, and q are defined with mixed cardinal and ordinal numbers, the claims are indefinite.
Claims 2-12, and 15-19 are also rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph because of their dependency on the rejected base claims respectively.
Conclusion
6. Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground 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.
Contact
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MD SAIFUL A SIDDIQUI whose telephone number is (571)270-1530. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri: 9:00AM - 5:30PM.
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, Lun-Yi Lao can be reached on (571)272-7671. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MD SAIFUL A SIDDIQUI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2621
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