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 Objection
Claims 6-7 are objected to because of the following informalities: the status reads as “(Withdrawn)” – this appears to be a result of a restriction requirement in the US 17/245,249 parent application. For purposes of examination these will be treated as pending, further amendments must show status as “(Previously Presented)” or “(Currently Amended)”. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Interpretation
Examiner notes that definitions of “high voltage” and “low current” are provided in the specification on paragraph [0041], thereby setting forth clear ranges for these terms.
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 15-18 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.
Regarding claims 15-16 in claim 15, “high frequency” is a relative term without clear metes and bounds; the exemplary claim language in para [0041] does not constitute a clear definition, therefore the metes and bounds of this phrase are unclear; it is noted that claim 16 provides clear metes and bounds for this claim.
Regarding claims 17-18, in claim 17, “low frequency” is a relative term without clear metes and bounds; the exemplary claim language in para [0041] does not constitute a clear definition, therefore the metes and bounds of this phrase are unclear; it is noted that claim 18 provides clear metes and bounds for this claim.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 1-7, 11-16 and 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sobel et al (US 2017/0312726) taken in combination with Dean Jr et al (US 2005/0243144).
Regarding claim 1, Sobel discloses a method for preparing an encapsulated product having a core component encapsulated within a wall material (electrostatic spray drying process for encapsulating a core material, such as a volatile flavor oil, within a carrier or wall material, Abstract) comprising the steps of: forming an emulsion by emulsifying at least one core material with at least one liquid solvent and at least one wall material (forming an emulsion by emulsifying at least one core material with a solution or a suspension comprising water and at least one wall material, Claim 1 ); atomizing the emulsion into droplets using an atomizing gas and an atomizer connected to a high-voltage source that supplies a voltage charge to the droplets in the range of about 2 kV to about 200 kV (atomizing the emulsion into droplets in an electrostatic spray dryer and applying an electrostatic charge to the droplets in the range of about 5 kV to about 60 kV, Claim 1; The atomizing unit also includes an inlet port for introducing an atomizing gas into the nozzle assembly, [0024]; The atomizing unit includes an electrostatic nozzle assembly that comprises a hollow conductive metal electrode terminating at its distal end in an electrode pin that projects from the center tip of the electrode. The electrode is connected at its proximal end to a high voltage source which supplies a voltage ranging from 0.5 kV to 60 kV, alternatively 5 kV to 60 kV, to the electrode, [0023]); spraying the charged droplets into a drying chamber (The charged emulsion is atomized by the tangential shearing forces provided by the pressurized gas and sprayed into the drying unit, [0026]); drying the droplets in the drying chamber by contacting the droplets with a drying gas introduced into an inlet of the drying chamber, wherein the drying chamber has an inlet temperature set at about 25° C to about 150°C and an outlet temperature of about 25°C to about 110°C (drying the droplets in the electrostatic spray dryer at an inlet temperature of about 25°C to about 110°C and an outlet temperature of about 25°C to about 80°C to obtain the encapsulated product, Claim 1); and collecting the dried droplets as the encapsulated product (The dried, encapsulated product flows into the product collection chamber where it is then collected as a final product [0026]).
However Sobel fails to explicitly disclose the current is low-current alternating-current.
Dean is also in the field of formation of particles from droplets of solution (Dean, [0112]) and teaches low-current alternating-current (The coils 42 and AC magnetic core 56 act as the primary of the transformer 34, with the loop 48 of conducting liquid 38 acting as a shorted secondary. A waveform W, having low current and high Voltage, is created by a wave form generator 62 and is applied to the coils 42, Dean [0065]).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify Sobel with the teachings of Dean motivated to induce a pressure disturbance which serves to control the breakup of the liquid jet into regularly sized droplets (see Dean, [0062]).
Regarding claim 2, Sobel discloses wherein the core material comprises 5% to 50% by weight, and the wall material comprises 50% to 95% by weight, based on the total dry weight of the core material and the wall material combined (the core material comprises 5% to 50% by weight, and the wall material comprises 50% to 95% by weight, based on the total dry weight of the core material and the wall material combined, Claim 2).
Regarding claim 3, Sobel teaches, wherein the emulsion is introduced into the atomizer at a feed rate of about 20 ml/min to about 400 ml/min (the emulsion is introduced into the electrostatic spray dryer at a feed rate of about 2 ml/min to about 10,000 ml/min, Claim 5).
Regarding claims 4-5, Sobel discloses wherein the atomizing gas is inert gas at from 5-120 psi (see [0024]).
Regarding claims 6-7, Sobel discloses using drying gas at rates greater than 150 CFM [0026], and in the case where the spray dried product is oxygen sensitive [0003] the skilled artisan would find obvious to utilize low oxygen drying gas in order to preserve integrity of the spray dried product.
Regarding claims 11-14, Sobel discloses the wall material and core materials as claimed ([0015-0019]).
Regarding claim 15, modified Sobel teaches all limitations as set forth above, but fails to explicitly disclose wherein the high-voltage alternating-current source is a high-voltage low-current high frequency alternating-current source.
However, Dean is also in the field of formation of particles from droplets of solution (Dean, [0112]) and teaches wherein the high-voltage alternating-current source is a high-voltage low-current high frequency alternating-current source (The coils 42 and AC magnetic core 56 act as the primary of the transformer 34, with the loop 48 of conducting liquid 38 acting as a shorted secondary. A waveform W, having low current and high Voltage, is created by a wave form generator 62 and is applied to the coils 42, Dean [0065]; The excitation winding of the coils 42 may also need to be modified as higher frequencies are used, using finer-Strand Litz wire. Litz wire is conventionally used at frequencies up to about 3-5 MHz. Thus, with a Litz-wire winding and ferrite cores, exciter operation is possible at frequencies high enough for 0.5 um particles, Dean [0095]). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify Sobel with the teachings of Dean motivated to produce droplets of very small size, and thereby accommodate for the production of smaller sized dried particles (Dean, [0006]).
Regarding claim 16, modified Sobel teaches all limitations as set forth above, but fails to explicitly disclose wherein the high frequency is in the range of about 3 MHz to about 30 MHz.
Dean is also in the field of formation of particles from droplets of solution (Dean, [0112]) and teaches wherein the high frequency is in the range of about 3 MHz to about 30 MHz (The excitation winding of the coils 42 may also need to be modified as higher frequencies are used, using finer-Strand Litz wire. Litz wire is conventionally used at frequencies up to about 3-5 MHz. Thus, with a Litz-wire winding and ferrite cores, exciter operation is possible at frequencies high enough for 0.5 um particles, Dean [0095]). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify Sobel with the teachings of Dean motivated to produce droplets of very small size, and thereby accommodate for the production of smaller sized dried particles (Dean, [0006]).
Regarding claim 19, Dean further teaches the waveform generator is low current high voltage transformer (see Dean Figs 1-6, [0064-0065], transformer 34, FIG. 1, includes one or more AC magnetic cores 56 that are disposed through the port 54 in the body 32 of the non-conducting, non-magnetic material. Two or more coils 42 are wound or looped around the AC magnetic core 56 and are disposed such that the plane of each of the coils 42 is substantially in the same plane as the plane of the flow-passage loop 48 in the body 32. The specific materials and dimensions of the coils 42 and AC magnetic core 56 will depend on the particular conducting liquid 38 as well as the desired drop size, and will be discussed in greater detail hereinbelow…The coils 42 and AC magnetic core 56 act as the primary of the transformer 34, with the loop 48 of conducting liquid 38 acting as a shorted secondary. A waveform W, having low current and high voltage, is created by a waveform generator 62 and is applied to the coils 42. As shown in FIG. 5 and FIG. 6, this creates a magnetic field B that is aligned with the magnetic field 100 of the AC magnetic core 56 through the loop 50. As a result, a current, J, of N times the primary current in the coils 42 is induced in the loop 48 of the conducting liquid 38, where N is the ratio of the number of primary turns of the two coils 42 to the liquid loop 48 (usually one). Because the current J is induced through a transformer 34, it can only be an AC current. Thus, the transformer 34 transfers a high current at low voltage into the liquid loop 48 without the need for electrical contacts with the conducting liquid 38).
Therefore the skilled artisan before the effective filing date of the invention, knew generally what is meant by “low current” and “high voltage” and would have been able to determine optimum ranges, through routine experimentation without unexpected results, further the transformer arrangement set forth in this section of Dean reads upon “electrical resonant transformer circuit”.
Claim(s) 1 and 17-18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sobel et al (US 2017/0312726) taken in combination with Malcolm (US 4,290,091).
Regarding claim 1, Sobel discloses a method for preparing an encapsulated product having a core component encapsulated within a wall material (electrostatic spray drying process for encapsulating a core material, such as a volatile flavor oil, within a carrier or wall material, Abstract) comprising the steps of: forming an emulsion by emulsifying at least one core material with at least one liquid solvent and at least one wall material (forming an emulsion by emulsifying at least one core material with a solution or a suspension comprising water and at least one wall material, Claim 1 ); atomizing the emulsion into droplets using an atomizing gas and an atomizer connected to a high-voltage source that supplies a voltage charge to the droplets in the range of about 2 kV to about 200 kV (atomizing the emulsion into droplets in an electrostatic spray dryer and applying an electrostatic charge to the droplets in the range of about 5 kV to about 60 kV, Claim 1; The atomizing unit also includes an inlet port for introducing an atomizing gas into the nozzle assembly, [0024]; The atomizing unit includes an electrostatic nozzle assembly that comprises a hollow conductive metal electrode terminating at its distal end in an electrode pin that projects from the center tip of the electrode. The electrode is connected at its proximal end to a high voltage source which supplies a voltage ranging from 0.5 kV to 60 kV, alternatively 5 kV to 60 kV, to the electrode, [0023]); spraying the charged droplets into a drying chamber (The charged emulsion is atomized by the tangential shearing forces provided by the pressurized gas and sprayed into the drying unit, [0026]); drying the droplets in the drying chamber by contacting the droplets with a drying gas introduced into an inlet of the drying chamber, wherein the drying chamber has an inlet temperature set at about 25° C to about 150°C and an outlet temperature of about 25°C to about 110°C (drying the droplets in the electrostatic spray dryer at an inlet temperature of about 25°C to about 110°C and an outlet temperature of about 25°C to about 80°C to obtain the encapsulated product, Claim 1); and collecting the dried droplets as the encapsulated product (The dried, encapsulated product flows into the product collection chamber where it is then collected as a final product [0026]).
However Sobel fails to explicitly disclose the current is low-current alternating-current.
Malcolm is also in the field of air atomizing spray guns for electrostatic spraying (Malcolm, Col. 4, Lns. 25-32) and teaches alternating-current (The windings on the stator 64 form two coils and are selected to provide an output voltage of about 12 volts AC, Malcolm Col. 7, Lns. 8-10).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify Sobel with the teachings of Malcolm motivated to produce the desired voltage output required for incorporation in an entirely self-contained electrical power supply (Malcolm Col. 3, Lns. 25-41).
Regarding claim 17, modified Sobel teaches all limitations as set forth above, but fails to explicitly disclose wherein the high-voltage alternating-current source is a high-voltage low-current low frequency alternating-current source.
Malcolm is also in the field of air atomizing spray guns for electrostatic spraying (Malcolm, Col. 4, Lns. 25-32) and teaches wherein the high-voltage alternating-current source is a high-voltage low-current low frequency alternating-current source (high voltage power supply of enduring and reliable character adapted to produce output voltages of 30-100 kilovolts at a current level in the order of 50 microamperes, Malcolm Col. 3, Lns. 8-11; provides a 50 kilovolt minimum output at 50 microamperes with a maximum current flow of about 200 microamperes at short circuit, Malcolm Col. 6, Lns. 12-14; The windings on the stator 64 form two coils and are selected to provide an output voltage of about 12 volts AC, Malcolm Col. 7, Lns. 8-1 O; The stepped up voltage output of about it ±2500 volts at a frequency of from 10 to 50 kilo hertz is delivered by the secondary winding 130 of the transformer, Malcolm Col. 7, Lns. 51-54 ). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify Sobel with the teachings of Malcolm motivated to incorporate parameters in the power supply necessary to drive the conversion of the kinetic energy of a moving air stream into electrical energy (Malcolm Col. 2, Lns. 63-68 - Col. 3, Lns. 1-12).
Regarding claim 18, modified Sobel teaches all limitations as set forth above, but fails to explicitly disclose wherein the low frequency is in the range of about 50 kHz to about 3 MHz.
Malcolm is also in the field of air atomizing spray guns for electrostatic spraying (Malcolm, Col. 4, Lns. 25-32) and teaches wherein the low frequency is in the range of about 50 kHz to about 3 MHz (The stepped up voltage output of about it ±2500 volts at a frequency of from 10 to 50 kilo hertz is delivered by the secondary winding 130 of the transformer, Malcolm Col. 7, Lns. 51-54 ). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify Sobel with the teachings of Malcolm motivated to incorporate parameters in the power supply necessary to drive the conversion of the kinetic energy of a moving air stream into electrical energy (Malcolm Col. 2, Lns. 63-68 - Col. 3, Lns. 1-12).
Claim(s) 8-10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sobel et al (US 2017/0312726) taken in combination with either Dean Jr et al (US 2005/0243144) or Malcolm (US 4,290,091), as set forth above, and further in combination with Beetz et al (US 8,939,388).
Regarding claims 8-10, modified Sobel teaches all limitations as set forth above, but fails to explicitly disclose wherein the method further includes he method further comprises the steps of separating the drying gas from the dried droplets and recirculating the drying gas to the inlet of the drying chamber, wherein the drying gas is processed to remove moisture before introducing the recirculated drying gas to the inlet of the drying chamber; wherein the recirculated drying gas is mixed with nitrogen gas so that the drying gas has an oxygen content of less than 5% by volume.
Beetz teaches a spray drying method and apparatus (see title, abstract), Beetz teaches wherein a known system provides for a recirculation unit having condenser 9 and heater 11 to remove, treat and recirculate the process gas (see Figs 1 and 2, col. 1, ln. 44 through col. 2, ln. 7) which allows the air to be treated, moisture to be removed via condenser and then re used.
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify Sobel with known method configuration to include a recirculation unit in communication with the inlet and the outlet of the drying chamber, the recirculation unit comprising a condenser, for processing the drying gas exiting from the outlet to remove moisture from the drying gas, and a heater, for heating the processed drying gas prior to introducing the processed drying gas to the inlet of the drying chamber as taught and/or suggested by Beetz to implement known recirculation units having condenser and heater to allow recirculation and re use of the drying air in Sobel, and in the case where the spray dried product is oxygen sensitive [0003] the skilled artisan would find obvious to utilize low oxygen drying gas in order to preserve integrity of the spray dried product.
Pertinent Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Lagaron Cabello et al (US 11,253,833) teaches spray drying encapsulation systems. Ackerman et al (US 10,286,411) teaches spray drying system. Park et al (US 2003/0230819) teaches microencapsulation with spraying. Johnson et al (US 3,949,096) teaches spray drying encapsulation.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JONATHAN MILLER whose telephone number is (571)270-1603. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 9 - 5.
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/JONATHAN MILLER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1772
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