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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on December 19, 2025 has been entered.
Withdrawn Rejections
The 35 U.S.C. 103 rejections of claims 1-8 13-15 17 29-30 over Franke in view of Bussey as the primary combination of references, are withdrawn due to Applicant’s amendment filed on December 19, 2026.
New Rejections
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claims 1-35 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
It is unclear in claim 1, what is meant by the term “non-expanded starch” when the starch is present in a slurry which contains water which has a tendency to expand starch (think corn starch and water).
It is unclear in claims 1, 4, 7, 19, 21, 29-33, 35, what ± deviation is intended for the term “approximately”.
It is unclear in claim 26 what the term “on-demand” means.
Claims 2-3 depend on and contain all the subject matter of claim 1, claims 5-25, 31-34 depend on and contain all the subject matter of claim 4, claims 27-28 depend on and contain all the subject matter of claim 26, claims 30, 35 depend on and contain all the subject matter of claim 29, but none provide any solutions to the indefinite issues described above.
Amendment and/or clarification with relevant citation(s) from the specification and teaching references are required.
Any inquiry concerning this communication should be directed to Sow-Fun Hon whose telephone number is (571)272-1492. The examiner is on a flexible schedule but can usually be reached during a regular workweek between the hours of 10:00 AM and 6:00 PM.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner's supervisor, Aaron Austin, can be reached at (571)272-8935. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is (571)273-8300.
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/Sophie Hon/
Sow-Fun Hon
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1782