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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group I in the reply filed on 02/11/2026 is acknowledged.
Claims 13-15 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 02/11/2026.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a) and/or PCT Article 7, Paragraph (1). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims, when they are necessary for the understanding of the invention. Therefore, the following must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s).
a milk collection container, additional to the compressible chamber
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 Objections
Claims 1-12 are objected to because of the following informalities.
Claim 1 should read --A breast pump, comprising:
a breast shield for fitting over at least a nipple of a breast
a pump for delivering an under pressure to the cavity; and
a compressible chamber for manually creating a reduced pressure in the cavity.--; these amendments prevent antecedent basis issues and remove superfluous language
Claim 5 should read --The breast pump of claim 4, wherein the milk collection container has a volume greater than 120 ml.--; where a space should be placed before the unit “ml”
Appropriate correction is required.
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.
Claims 11-12 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.
As to Claim 11, the term “a negative pressure” is indefinite. One of ordinary skill in the art would consider the “reduced pressure”, defined in Claim 1, as a negative pressure. As such, it is not clear if the reduced pressure of Claim 1 and the negative pressure of Claim 11 are the same pressures, or if the two pressures are different. If the two pressures are different, it is not clear what differentiates the two pressures. If the two pressures are the same, it is not clear why a new term is being used in place of the defined reduced pressure of Claim 1. For the purpose of examination, the two pressure will be interpreted as the same pressure.
The phrase "such as" in the limitation “the compressible chamber is formed of a rubber material such as silicone” renders the claim indefinite because it is unclear whether the limitations following the phrase are part of the claimed invention. See MPEP § 2173.05(d). For the purpose of examination, the limitation will be interpreted as though the compressible chamber material may be any rubber material.
As to Claim 12, the limitation “comprising a wearable breast pump”, is indefinite in light of the specification. One of ordinary skill in the art would interpret the limitation as a wearable breast pump is included in the claimed breast pump, which is in addition to the pump defined in Claim 1, and the compressible chamber defined in Claim 1. However, instant application Page 4, Lines 12-15, describe the invention shown in Figures 2-4 as being a wearable breast pump, where the wearable breast pump includes the pump 14 and the compressible chamber 40. As such, Figures 2-4 do not show a wearable breast pump in addition to the pump and compressible chamber, but show the wearable breast pump is comprised of the pump and compressible chamber, which is at odds with what is claimed in Claim 12. For the purpose of examination, the limitation will be interpreted as the claimed breast pump is a wearable breast pump to be in line with the invention as described in the specification.
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 1-9 & 11-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Dao (U.S. PGPub 2008/0262420), in view of O’Toole (U.S. PGPub 2022/0395616).
As to Claim 1, Dao teaches a breast pump (10), comprising:
a breast shield (16) for fitting over (as shown in Figure 2) at least the nipple (34) of a breast (14) thereby to create (as shown in Figure 6) a cavity (24) over (as shown in Figure 6) the breast (14);
a pump (12) for delivering an under pressure to (Paragraph 0074) the cavity (24, shown as 70 in Figures 11A-11C, as described in Paragraph 0074); and
a compressible (Paragraph 0061 describes chamber 18 as being flexible, which one of ordinary skill in the art would interpret as being “compressible”) chamber (18).
Dao does not teach the compressible chamber is capable of manually creating a reduced pressure in the cavity.
O’Toole describes a breast pump, and teaches the compressible (Paragraph 0047) chamber (10) is capable of manually (via compressing milk pouch 10 –i.e., the compressible chamber—by the user, as described in Paragraph 0010) creating a reduced pressure (the “suction on the nipple”, as described in Paragraph 0010) in the cavity (20).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to replace the compressible chamber, as taught by Dao, with the compressible chamber, as taught by O’Toole, to allow for passive milk collection, while preventing the pump from “falling from the user and causing mess and/or milk wastage (Paragraphs 0008/0007)”.
As to Claim 2, Dao, as modified, teaches all the limitations of Claim 1, and continues to teach the pump (Dao 12) is an electric pump (Dao Paragraph 0065).
As to Claim 3, Dao, as modified, teaches all the limitations of Claim 1, and continues to teach the compressible chamber (O’Toole 10)) is elastic (O’Toole describes the milk pouch 10 as being compressible, which one of ordinary skill in the art would interpret as being “elastic”; as shown in O’Toole Figure 12) and delivers a restoring force to return to a non-compressed state (the expansion as described in O’Toole Paragraph 0069).
As to Claim 4, Dao, as modified, teaches all the limitations of Claim 1, and continues to teach the compressible chamber (O’Toole 10) comprises a milk collection container (O’Toole Paragraph 0047).
As to Claim 5, Dao, as modified, teaches all the limitations of Claims 1 & 4, and continues to teach the milk collection container (O’Toole 10) has a volume greater than 120ml (O’Toole Paragraph 0045, where 5 fluid oz is approximately 147 ml).
As to Claim 6, Dao, as modified, teaches all the limitations of Claim 1, but does not teach a milk collection container, additional to the compressible chamber.
O’Toole teaches a variation (O’Toole Figure 26) to the breast pump (O’Toole Element 1, shown in at least O’Toole Figures 1-13) continues to teach a milk collection container (O’Toole 262), additional to (as shown in O’Toole Figure 26) the compressible chamber (O’Toole 10 within O’Toole 260, as shown in O’Toole Figure 26).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to have a milk collection chamber, as taught by O’Toole, in addition to the compressible chamber, as taught by Dao, to allow for easy access to the collected milk without removing the pump from the user.
As to Claim 7, Dao, as modified, teaches all the limitations of Claims 1 & 4, and continues to teach a first, one-way, valve (Dao 74/80) between (as shown in Dao Figure 11A) the breast shield (Dao 16) and the milk collection container (O’Toole 10, shown as Dao 18 in Dao Figure 11A).
As to Claim 8, Dao, as modified, teaches all the limitations of Claims 1, 4 & 7, and continues to teach the first valve (Dao 74/80) is a duckbill valve (Dao Paragraph 0074).
As to Claim 9, Dao, as modified, teaches all the limitations of Claims 1, 4 & 7, and continues to teach a second, one-way, valve (O’Toole 12) from (as shown in O’Toole Figure 1) the compressible chamber (O’Toole 10) to (as shown in O’Toole Figure 1) ambient surroundings (the volume outside of O’Toole 10, as shown in O’Toole Figure 1).
As to Claim 11, Dao, as modified, teaches all the limitations of Claim 1, and continues to teach the compressible chamber (O’Toole 10) is formed of a rubber material such as silicone (O’Toole Paragraphs 0118/0141).
Dao, as modified, does not explicitly teach the values of the negative pressure generated by the compressible chamber, so does not teach the compressible chamber generates a negative pressure between 2kPa and 10kPa.
O’Toole Paragraph 0055 defines the negative pressure value as a result-effective variable (see MPEP 2144.05(II)(B)), where the negative pressure value affects the comfort of the user or the efficiency of the pump.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to have the compressible chamber, as taught by Dao, as modified, generate a negative pressure between 2kPa and 10kPa, since it has been held that where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, discovering the optimum or workable ranges involves only routine skill in the art. In re Aller, 105 USPQ 233. (1955)
As to Claim 12, Dao, as modified, teaches all the limitations of Claim 1, and continues to teach a wearable breast pump (as shown in Dao Figures 1-2 and O’Toole Paragraph 0010).
Claim 10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Dao, in view of O’Toole, further in view of Aalders (U.S. PGPub 2020/0061263).
As to Claim 10, Dao, as modified, teaches all the limitations of Claim 1, but does not teach the breast shield comprises a diaphragm between the cavity and the pump.
Aalders describes a breast pump, and teaches the breast shield (20/23) comprises (as shown in Figure 1) a diaphragm (27; the membrane described in Paragraph 0034) between (as shown in Figure 1) the cavity (22) and the pump (3).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to use a diaphragm, as taught by Aalders, in the breast shield, as taught by Dao, as modified, to prevent milk from leaking into the connection between the breast shield and the pump (Paragraph 0034).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Johnson (2011/0160656) and Makower (2016/0206794) teach breast pumps which appear to read on at least Claim 1.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DAVID BRANDT whose telephone number is (303)297-4776. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Thursday 10-6, MT.
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/DAVID N BRANDT/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3783