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 .
Summary
This communication is a First Office Action Non-Final Rejection on the merits.
Claim(s) 1-5 is/are currently pending and considered below.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of claims 1-3 in the reply filed on 22 January 2026 is acknowledged. Therefore, claims 4-5 are withdrawn.
Claim Objections
Claim(s) 1 is/are objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 1, paragraph c, “the bulk concentrate being loded” should read:
-- the bulk concentrate being loaded --
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.
Claim(s) 1-3 is/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 pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention.
Regarding claim 1, introduction of “the dispenser” in the final line renders the claim indefinite because the element lacks antecedent basis. For the purposes of examination, “the dispenser” is construed as “the endless piston pump or progressive cavity pump” (consistent with the amendments made to the parent application 17/987,459 prior to its allowance)
All dependent claims of the above claims inherit all of the limitations and thus are likewise rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim(s) 1-3 would be allowable if rewritten or amended to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
The claims in this application have been allowed because the prior art of record fails to disclose or make obvious the claimed invention including the following features:
Claim 1, “the bulk concentrate being loaded into the disposable tube and the plunger being inserted after the tube is loaded and the concentrate is placed into an aluminum housing before an end cap is applied”.
The closest prior art of record, Partansky (US 2021/0267265 A1), discloses an apparatus (100) for practicing a method for dispensing metered shots of cannabis-containing or hemp-containing concentrate (concentrate material, para 56) into a receiving vessel (industrial hemp filled cigarettes, para 35; “a container or cigarette housed in a revolver”, para 57), the apparatus comprising:
a. a control module (“a management application running on the computers 102 can receive input parameters to control the amount and timing of the dosing” para 67) that includes a touch screen (“The system 100 can be controlled via a variety of computers 102, including for example, desktops, laptops, tablets, smart phones or other devices capable of wired or wireless communication” para 55; tablets and smart phones include a touch screen), the control module being adapted to execute operations, including
i. receiving data that characterizes the concentrate, the data being selected from a group consisting of fluid viscosity, density, temperature, and desired mass of a shot size of the concentrate to be dispensed (amount of the dosing, para 67);
ii. controlling process parameters based on the data, the process parameters being selected from a group consisting of revolution, time, and discharge rate (timing of the dosing, para 67) that influence an endless piston pump or a progressive cavity pump (pump assembly 302 and dosing chamber 304; at least Fig. 3 and para 65);;
b. an endless piston pump or progressive cavity pump in communication with the control module (para 67);
c. a disposable tube (dose valve 310; note that the valve 310 can be considered disposable, as the operator is capable of disposing the valve) and plunger (305) to feed the endless piston pump or progressive cavity pump with bulk concentrate (“providing a dosing pressure to the concentrate material in the dosing chamber 304” para 65),
d. an empty receiving vessel positioned in relation to the endless piston pump or progressive cavity pump (“A revolver 116 can be a cylinder or carousel rotatable about an axis (Z) and can be shaped to include a plurality of cavities or hollowed cylinders into which cigarettes or other containers can be placed” para 59);
e. a metered shot of the concentrate loaded into the empty receiving vessel to prepare a filled vessel, the filled vessel being repositioned by a positioning device so that the dispenser becomes engaged with a subsequent empty receiving vessel (“the amount (mass) of material dosed or infused into a cigarette is in the same ratio as the movement of the plunger block 302 along the axis Z”).
Partansky fails to disclose the bulk concentrate being loaded into the disposable tube and the plunger being inserted after the tube is loaded and the concentrate is placed into an aluminum housing before an end cap is applied
Furthermore, other prior art of record (see at least the references listed under PTO-892 mailed herewith) fails to make obvious Partansky’s deficiencies without impermissible hindsight reconstruction of the applicant's invention.
Therefore, the combination of the claimed limitations is novel and found to be allowable over the prior art. The cited references taken singly or in combination do not anticipate or make obvious the Applicant's claimed invention.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure (See PTO-892 Notice of References Cited).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Himchan Song whose telephone number is (571)272-4142. The examiner can normally be reached M-Th 9:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Anna Kinsaul can be reached at (571) 270-1926. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/HIMCHAN SONG/Examiner, Art Unit 3731