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 .
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, the “ two driving portions “ and “ two sub-wheels” 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 § 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.
Claims 1-3, 8-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Garribotto [US Pub # 2004/0153032] in view of Gorman [US Pat # 7144384].
Regarding claim 1: Garribotto shows a drive structure of a drug infusion device comprising:
at least one driving unit (266) and at least one driving wheel (262), wherein the driving unit,
moving in a driving direction, drives the driving wheel to rotate;
a linear actuator (268) connected with the driving unit (266);
a switch unit electrically connected with the linear actuator (see [0009]);
a power supply (80), wherein the power supply (80), the switch unit and the linear actuator
are electrically connected to form a power supply circuit that supplies power to the
linear actuator, and the linear actuator pulls the driving unit to move in the
driving direction after being powered; and
a program unit (50)
Garribotto does not explicitly show the program unit including a timer electrically connected to the switch unit, when the timer works, the switch unit is closed to turn on the power supply circuit,and the linear actuator is powered; when the timer stops working, the switch unit is opened to disconnect the power supply circuit, and the linear actuator stops being powered.
However Gorman shows the program unit (40) including a timer electrically connected to the switch unit, when the timer works, the switch unit is closed to turn on the power supply (56) circuit,and the linear actuator is powered; when the timer stops working, the switch unit is opened to disconnect the power supply circuit, and the linear actuator stops being powered (see col 10, lines 10-15).
It would have been obvious to someone having ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filling date to provide the drug infusion device with timer to control the activation of the linear actuator when its needed.
Regarding claim 2: Garribotto shows wherein the driving unit (266) includes at least one driving portion, the driving wheel (262) is provided with wheel teeth (262) which are pushed by the driving portion (266) to drive the driving wheel.
Regarding claim 3: Garribotto shows wherein a movement mode of the driving unit includes a linear reciprocating movement or a rotary reciprocating movement (see [0069]).
Regarding claim 8: Garribotto shows wherein the switch unit includes a MOS field effect transistor, an analog switch or a relay. ([0047], lines 2-3)
Regarding claim 9: Garribotto shows wherein the linear actuator is a shape memory alloy (see [0070], lines 1-2).
Regarding claim 10: Garribotto shows wherein the driving unit includes a variety of different reciprocating frequencies, a variety of different reciprocating speeds, or a variety of different movement amplitudes (second embodiment see [0098], lines 1-3).
Claims 4-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Garribotto [US Pub # 2004/0153032] in view of Gorman [US Pat # 7144384] in further view of Dilanni [US Pub # 2005/0238507].
Regarding claim 4: Garribotto does not show wherein the at least one driving portion includes two driving portions while the driving wheel includes two sub-wheels, and the two driving portions respectively cooperate with the two sub-wheels, and the driving unit drives the two sub-wheels to rotate in two directions of a reciprocating rotation. However, Dilanni shows at least one driving portion includes two driving portions (264a, 269b, see fig 5) while the driving wheel includes two sub-wheels (258a,258b) and the two driving portions respectively cooperate with the two sub-wheels, and the driving unit drives the two sub-wheels to rotate in two directions of a reciprocating rotation (see fig 5).
It would have been obvious to someone having ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filling date to modified the device in Garribotto to have tow driving unit and two sub-wheels to provide a backup system in case one of the driving unit and sub-wheel fail, the other can continue to operate.
Regarding claim 5 and 6: Garribotto shows at least one blocking wall (20b ,20c), and the driving unit reaches a movement end of the driving direction when contacting the blocking wall, and during a process of the driving unit moving in the-One-entire driving direction, Garribotto does not explicitly disclose that a movement time of the driving unit is t while a working time of the timer is T, then T'> t. wherein 0 ms< T-t <30ms. However, specifying or determining a movement time or travel time is mere design choice based on the user need, it does not involve any inventive step.
It would have been obvious to someone having ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filling date to provide the drug infusion device with specific working time interval to control the activation of the linear actuator when its needed.
Regarding claim 7: Garribotto shows comprising an elastic member (270, see fig 10-12), and a reciprocating movement includes the driving direction and a resetting direction, and the elastic member applies a resetting and resilience force to the driving unit (see fig 10-12).
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Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ZAKARIA ELAHMADI whose telephone number is (571)270-5324. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 10-6 EST.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Minnah Seoh can be reached on 571-270-7778. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ZAKARIA ELAHMADI/
Examiner, Art Unit 3618