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 .
Response to Amendment
This Office Action is responding to applicant’s amendment 3/21/2024. Claims 1 and 7 have been amended. Claims 6 and 8 have been cancelled. Claims 20-22 have been withdrawn from consideration. The claims indicated as having allowable subject matter have been regrettably withdrawn in view of the following rejection due to an updated search.
Response to Arguments
The Jassamine reference has been withdrawn in view of applicant’s amendment.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, a handle element (claim 7) must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). No new matter should be entered.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
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.
Claims 9-10 and 12-16 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 claim 9 reciting a third perforation line, such recitation (with emphasis added) deems out of sequence relative to recitation in claim 1. Did applicant intend to recite a first perforation line instead?
Regarding claim 12 reciting a fourth perforation line, such recitation (with emphasis added) deems out of sequence relative to recitation in claim 1. Did applicant intend to recite a first perforation line instead?
Regarding claim 15 reciting two third tapes, such recitation (with emphasis added) deems out of sequence relative to recitation in claim 1. Did applicant intend to recite two second tapes instead since “a second tape” has not introduced yet? Applicant is invited to provide clarification.
Regarding claim 16 reciting at least one fourth tape, such recitation (with emphasis added) deems out of sequence relative to recitation in claim 1. Did applicant intend to recite a first perforation line instead?
Dependent claims 10 and 13-14 are rejected insofar as they depend from a rejected claim and thereby incorporate the deficiency due to their dependency.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim 1-3, 5, and 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Zoephel (U.S. Patent No. 3,923,052).
Regarding independent claim 1, Figures 1-4 discloses applicant’s colonoscopy auxiliary device (10), comprising:
a foldable shield portion (sheet 12, column 53-69 discloses material which is flexible which deems foldable) provided with a colo-examination aperture (14);
a first adhesive strip (1st short ship 18, 22, Figures 1-4 illustrates various embodiments) disposed on a first edge (1st half of aperture has first edge) of the foldable shield portion (12); and
a flap (26, further column 2 lines 34-43 and column 3 lines 7-15) configured to cover the colo-examination aperture (14);
wherein a first tape (18, column 2 lines 17-24) is disposed around the colo-examination aperture (14) and configured to fix the flap (26) over the colo-examination aperture to cover the colo-examination aperture (14).
Regarding claim 2, Zoehel reference, presented above, discloses applicant’s claimed device comprising all feature as recited in these claims, further comprising a second adhesive strip (Figure 3 illustrates 4 strips 18 forming rectangular configuration surrounding aperture 14) disposed on a second edge (2nd arch on circular fenestration) of the foldable shield portion (12), wherein the second adhesive strip intersects with the first adhesive strip (Figure 3 illustrates two strips 18 intersect each other at corner).
Regarding claim 3, Zoehel reference, presented above, discloses applicant’s claimed device comprising all feature as recited in these claims, wherein the foldable shield portion (12) is a quadrilateral sheet (sheet 12 includes quadrilateral configuration), the first adhesive strip and the second adhesive strip are disposed on the first edge (1st half of aperture 14 corresponds to claimed first edge) and the second edge (2nd half of aperture 12 has 2nd edge) of the foldable shield portion that are adjacent to each other, respectively, wherein the quadrilateral sheet is a rectangle sheet.
Regarding claim 5, Zoehel reference, presented above, discloses applicant’s claimed device comprising all feature as recited in these claims, wherein an area surrounding (area below adhesive strip 22 is interpreted to correspond to claimed limitations an area surrounding) the colo-examination aperture (14) is thicker than an other portion of the foldable shield portion (12); wherein the area surrounding the colo-examination aperture (14) has a multiple-layer structure (material 12 and adhesive 22).
Regarding claim 11, Zoehel reference, presented above, discloses applicant’s claimed device comprising all feature as recited in these claims, further comprising a chuck portion (2nd short strip 18 shown in Figure 3), wherein the chuck portion (2nd short strip 18) is connected to an edge (2nd half edge of aperture 14) of the foldable shield portion opposite to the first edge.
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 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.
Claim 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zoephel (U.S. Patent No. 3,923,052) in view of Aguirre (U.S. Patent Application Publication No. US 2021/0307856).
Regarding claim 7, Zoephel reference, presented above, discloses applicant’s claimed device comprising all features as recited in these claims.
Zoephel does not disclose a handle element, wherein the handle element is disposed on an upper surface of the flap for moving the flap to cover the colo-examination aperture.
However, Aguirre teaches a flap (7) configure to cover sheet (20). Figure 4 illustrates the flap (7) having a handle element (31) disposed on upper surface of the flap (7) for moving the flap (7) to moving relative to sheet (20).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Zoephel’s flap (26) to include a handle element (31), taught by Aguirre, as such handle element features allows for maneuverability of the flap (26) with respect to the foldable shield portion (12) for purposes of accurate position thereof.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4, 11, and 17-19 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CAMTU TRAN NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)272-4799. The examiner can normally be reached 9am-5pm, Monday-Friday.
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/CAMTU T NGUYEN/Examiner, Art Unit 3786