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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 05/24/23 was filed. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Response to Preliminary Amendment
The preliminary amendment filed 05/24/23 has been entered. Claims 1-6 and 8-15 have been amended. Claim 7 is in the original form. The preliminary specification amendment notes cross-reference to the PCT.
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 “wherein the plane is parallel to a direction of attachment of the head to the breast pump” as in at least claim 4 must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). No new matter should be entered. Applicant could depict the plane in one of the figures and provide the plane with a corresponding reference numeral in the specification & drawings to remedy this drawing objection.
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 § 102
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 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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-4, 6, 8, 10, 12-13, and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Röhrig (WO2008034157: The examiner has provided the reference with a WIPO english translated specification and marked up paragraph reference numbers [0001]-[0033]. See the provided reference for all cited paragraphs), hereinafter Rohrig.
Regarding claim 1, Rohrig discloses a breast pump system (see ‘Modified FIG. 6’ below) comprising:
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a breast pump (9) having a connection interface (see ‘Modified FIG. 6’ above) for connecting the breast pump to a collection vessel (10, see [0029]: milk pump 9 connected to vessel);
a collection vessel (10) for collecting and storing milk (see [0007] and [0029]), comprising:
a head (see ‘Modified FIG. 6’ above) for attachment to the connection interface of the breast pump (see threads for threaded connection shown in at least Fig. 8), the head (see ‘Modified FIG. 6’ above) having an opening for receiving milk from the breast pump (see [0007] and [0029]: milk flows into container from breast pump as in FIG. 6 and therefore the head as shown in ‘Modified FIG. 6’ above must have an opening to allow fluid flow); and
a base part (3, see [0029]: container 3 provided into rigid vessel 10 and ‘Modified FIG. 8’ provided for reference below)
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which defines a plurality of individual compartments (4, see [0029]: container 3 includes partitioned walls 1, 1’ for division into the units 4. See Fig. 3-4 & 8 and [0028]) and a channel arrangement (see [0007]: milk flows into each individual receiving unit and therefore there must be a “channel arrangement”) leading from the opening to the compartments (4, as best seen in FIG. 8),
wherein the compartments (4, see FIG. 8) are formed of a rigid or semi-rigid material (see [0028]: partition forming walls of compartments have “form-fitting connection and therefore must be at least semi-rigid. Further, partitions are referred to as “walls” throughout the specification which inherently are at least semi-rigid) and wherein frozen milk is removable individually from the compartments (see [0007] & [0028]).
Regarding claim 2, Rohrig discloses the system of claim 1, and Rohrig further discloses wherein the compartments (4, see FIG. 8) are sufficiently deformable to assist removal of frozen milk from individual compartments (see [0007]: separating wall has a predetermined breaking point that allows a portion to be separated from the rest of the frozen milk. Thus, the compartments are sufficiently deformable “to assist removal” by the predetermined breaking point).
Regarding claim 3, Rohrig discloses the system of claim 1, and Rohrig discloses further comprising a removable cover (8, see FIG. 4 and [0028]: cover 8 for container 3) for covering the base part (3).
Regarding claim 4, Rohrig discloses the system of claim 3, and Rohrig further discloses wherein the base part (3, see FIG. 8) comprises an array (4a & 4b, see ‘Modified FIG. 8’ below)
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of individual compartments (4) arranged in a plane (plane defined by wall in ‘Modified FIG. 8i’ above), wherein the plane is parallel to a direction of attachment of the head to the breast pump (the head must be vertically moved to connect to the container 3 and thus the wall1 shown in ‘Modified FIG. 8i’ above is parallel to this vertical movement of the head).
Regarding claim 6, Rohrig discloses the system of claim 1, and Rohrig further discloses wherein the head (see ‘Modified FIG. 6’ above) and the base part (3) comprise a unitary piece (as shown in FIG. 6 and described in [0029]).
Regarding claim 8, Rohrig discloses the system of claim 1, and Rohrig further discloses wherein the head (see ‘Modified FIG. 6’ above) is detachable from the base part (3, see [0029] and base part 3 shown separately such as in Fig. 4 and 8 and thus the components are “detachable”).
Regarding claim 10, Rohrig discloses the system of claim 1, and Rohrig further discloses wherein the base part (3, see Fig. 8) comprises a cup (see cylindrical/ cup shape shown in FIG. 8), and the collection vessel (10, see [0029] 10 where 3 is contained) further comprises a divider (1, 1’ as shown individually in FIG. 3 and within container 3 in FIG. 8) for dividing the cup (see [0028-0029]) into the individual compartments (4).
Regarding claim 12, Rohrig discloses the system of claim 10, and Rohrig further discloses wherein the compartments (4, see FIG. 8) comprises segments of a cylinder (compartments formed within cylindrical shape of base part 3 and thus comprise cylindrical segments as shown in FIG. 8).
Regarding claim 13, Rohrig discloses the system of claim 10, and Rohrig further discloses wherein the head (see ‘Modified FIG. 6’ above) forms a removable cover (see [0029]: pump removably attached to head and therefore the head “forms” a removable cover of pump, aligning with Applicant disclosure in [0065] and FIG. 6) to the cup (cylindrical shape of base part 3 as shown in FIG. 8).
Regarding claim 15, Rohrig discloses the collection vessel of the breast pump system of claim 1 (see rejection of claim 1 above).
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 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Rohrig as applied to claim 3 above, and further in view of Jensen (WO2020104698 provided in Applicant IDS dated 05/24/23).
Regarding claim 5, Rohrig discloses the system of claim 3, and Rohrig further discloses wherein the base part (3, see FIG. 8) comprise compartment portions (4) and channel portions (opening through top of each compartment where milk is filled therethrough, see [0028-0029]) which define a channel arrangement (see [0007] & [0029]) and the plurality of individual compartments (multiple compartments 4 such as in FIG.8).
Rohrig is silent to wherein the removable cover comprises “compartment portions and channel portions” such that the removable cover and base part “each” comprise compartment portions and channel portions “which together define the channel arrangement and the plurality of individual compartments”
However, Jensen teaches a system (see FIG. 13) including a collection vessel for collecting and storing milk (see page 20 lines 14-17: tray collects and holds fluid and thus reasonably can collect and store milk which is a fluid), the collection vessel comprising a base part (2) and a removable cover (4, see page 20 lines 1-5: 2/4 can come apart==removable from each other), wherein the removable cover (4) and the base part (2) each comprise compartment portions (3a,b,c and 5a,b,c) and channel portions (30, seen best in FIG. 11 and see page 20 lines 14-17) which together (as shown in assembled view of FIG. 11 and see page 18 lines 4-11) define a channel arrangement and a plurality of individual compartments (see page 18 lines 4-11 and page 20 lines 14-17).
Therefore, it would have been prima facie obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the collection vessel disclosed in Rohrig to include each of the removable cover and the base part with channel and compartment portions as taught by Jensen for the purpose of facilitating cleaning of the collection vessel (see page 7 lines 8-14), thus achieving wherein the removable cover comprises “compartment portions and channel portions” such that the removable cover and base part “each” comprise compartment portions and channel portions “which together define the channel arrangement and the plurality of individual compartments”
Claims 7 and 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Rohrig as applied to claims 6 and 8, respectively, above, and further in view of Chua (U.S. PGPUB No. 2021/0060221).
Regarding claim 7, Rohrig discloses the system of claim 6, but Rohrig is silent to “wherein the unitary piece is silicone”.
However, Chua teaches a system comprising a collection vessel (see FIG. 2) with a head (206) and a base part (204) comprising a unitary piece (as shown in FIG. 2), wherein the unitary piece is silicone (see [0029]).
Therefore, it would have been prima facie obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the unitary piece formed of the head and base part disclosed in Rohrig to be formed of silicone as taught by Chua for the purpose of choosing a food grade polymer that is clear to easily visualize the collected breast milk within (see [0029]), thus achieving “wherein the unitary piece is silicone”.
Regarding claim 9, Rohrig discloses the system of claim 8, but Rohrig is silent to “wherein the base part is silicone.”
However, Chua teaches a system comprising a collection vessel (see FIG. 2) with a head (206) and a base part (204) comprising a unitary piece (as shown in FIG. 2), wherein the unitary piece is silicone (see [0029]).
Therefore, it would have been prima facie obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the base part disclosed in Rohrig to be formed of silicone as taught by Chua for the purpose of choosing a food grade polymer that is clear to easily visualize the collected breast milk within (see [0029]), thus achieving “wherein the base part is silicone.”
Claim 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Rohrig as applied to claim 10 above, and further in view of Finell (U.S. PGPUB No. 2020/0284489).
Regarding claim 11, Rohrig discloses the system of claim 10, but Rohrig is silent to “wherein the divider is silicone”.
However, Finell teaches a system comprising a collection vessel (10, see FIG. 1A) with a divider (14, see [0050]: base 11 includes dividers 14 for making compartments) for dividing a base part (11) into individual compartments (see [0050]), wherein the divider is silicone (see [0010-0011]: entire device including at least one divider formed of silicone).
Therefore, it would have been prima facie obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the divider disclosed in Rohrig to be formed of silicone as taught by Finell for the purpose of forming the divider from food grade material (see [0036]), thus achieving “wherein the divider is silicone”.
Claim 14 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Rohrig as applied to claim 10 above, and further in view of Zonato et al. (WO2016116858 provided in Applicant IDS dated 05/24/23), hereinafter Zonato.
Regarding claim 14, Rohrig discloses the system of claim 10, but Rohrig is silent to “wherein the base part is vertically stackable over an identical base part, such that a bottom of one base part functions as a closure lid for a base part beneath.”
However, Zonato teaches a system comprising a collection vessel (1, see FIG. 1) with a base part (11, see FIG. 2), wherein the base part (11) is vertically stackable over an identical base part (see plurality of base parts 11 stacked in FIG. 1), such that a bottom (“downward” edge in FIG. 1) of one base part (11) functions as a closure lid for a base part beneath (11, see assembly of base parts vertically stacked as in Fig. 1 and see page 4 lines 2-3).
Therefore, it would have been prima facie obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the base part disclosed in Rohrig to be vertically stackable over identical base parts as taught by Zonato for the purpose of saving space (see page 7 lines 34-37), thus achieving “wherein the base part is vertically stackable over an identical base part, such that a bottom of one base part functions as a closure lid for a base part beneath.”
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KATHLEEN PAIGE FARRELL whose telephone number is (571)272-0198. The examiner can normally be reached M-F: 730AM-330PM Eastern Time.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Michael Tsai can be reached at (571) 270-5246. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/KATHLEEN PAIGE FARRELL/Examiner, Art Unit 3783
/MICHAEL J TSAI/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3783