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(s) filed on 07/13/2023 and 01/08/2025 is/are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement(s) is/are being considered by the examiner.
Claims
This office action is in response to the preliminary amendment filed on 07/13/2023. As directed by the preliminary amendments, claims 1-4 have been cancelled and claims 5-8 have been added. As such, claims 5-8 are being examined in this application.
Claim Objections
Claim(s) 6 is objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 6, line 2, recites “with a order for an operator to press” but should recite ““with an order for an operator to press”
Appropriate correction is required.
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) A patent may not be obtained though the invention is not identically disclosed or described as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the subject matter sought to be patented and the prior art are such that the subject matter as a whole would have been obvious at the time the invention was made to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which said subject matter pertains. Patentability shall not be negatived 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(s) 5-6 and 8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Watanabe (JP 2012231932 A; machine translated 02/02/2026) in view of Kawamura (US 20100258115 A1).
Regarding claim 5, Watanabe teaches a sprayer (syringe 1, see Fig. 1) comprising:
a spray nozzle (distal end cylinder 1a, see Fig. 1) for spraying content (distal end cylinder 1a comprises a distal end opening 1a1 wherein the contents inside the syringe exits as seen in Figs. 1, 7 and 9 and [0018]-[0019]);
a barrel (intermediate cylinder 1b, see Fig. 1) having a distal end, a proximal end, and a cavity extending along an axis connecting the distal end and the proximal end (intermediate cylinder 1b comprises a distal end (towards reference numeral 1a), proximal end (towards reference numeral 3d) and a cavity (filling space M as seen in Fig. 1 and [0019]) extending along an axis connecting the distal end and the proximal end as seen in Fig. 1), the spray nozzle being attached to the distal end (distal end cylinder 1a is attached to the distal end of the intermediate cylinder 1b as seen in Fig. 1);
a finger grip (finger-hanging portion 1e, see Fig. 1) provided at the proximal end of the barrel (finger-hanging portion 1e is provided at the proximal end of intermediate cylinder 1b as seen in Fig. 1);
a gasket (piston 2, see Fig. 1) disposed inside the barrel and slidable inside the barrel (piston 2 is slidably disposed inside intermediate cylinder 1b as seen in Fig. 1 and [0019]);
a rod (rod 4, see Fig. 1) provided at a proximal end of the gasket and having a distal end inserted into the cavity of the barrel (rod 4 is provided at a proximal end of piston 2 and comprises a distal end 4a1 inserted into the filling space M as seen in Fig. 1); and
a plunger (plunger 3, see Fig. 1) slidably attached to the rod and capable of contacting the rod and pressing the rod toward a distal side (plunger 3 is slidably attached to rod 4 and presses rod 4 towards a distal side as seen in Figs. 6 and 7 and [0007]),
the plunger includes a contact member (plunger stopper 3c, see Fig. 1) which is brought into contact with the finger grip (plunger stopper 3c is brought into contact with finger-hanging portion 1e as seen in Figs. 6-7 and [0029]), and a first pressing surface (cover 3d, see Fig. 1) provided at a proximal end thereof (cover 3d is provided at a proximal end thereof as seen in Figs. 1 and 6-7),
the rod includes a second pressing surface (rod operating portion 4g, see Fig. 1) provided at a proximal end thereof (rod 4 includes a rod operating portion 4g provided at a proximal end thereof as seen in Figs. 1 and 8-9),
the contact member is brought into contact with the finger grip to restrict the movement of the plunger toward the distal side with the gasket positioned between the distal end and the proximal end of the barrel (plunger stopper 3c is brought into contact with finger-hanging portion 1e to restrict the movement of plunger 3 towards the distal side with piston 2 positioned between the distal end and the proximal end of intermediate cylinder 1b as seen in Figs. 6-7 and [0029]).
But does not teach the spray nozzle spraying a drug solution.
However, Kawamura teaches the spray nozzle spraying a drug solution (Kawamura teaches a nozzle comprising spray hole 21 wherein medical solution 50 is sprayed form as seen in Fig. 1 and [0132] and [0001]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the sprayer taught by Watanabe to use a drug solution as taught by Kawamura as an alternative content/liquid that can be sprayed into a user’s nostrils as both Watanabe and Kawamura teaches a syringe used to spray liquid.
Regarding claim 6, Watanabe in view of Kawamura teaches the sprayer of claim 5, but does not teach wherein at least one of the first pressing surface and the second pressing surface is marked with a order for an operator to press.
However, Kawamura further teaches using identification marks 47 and 49 to aid the user in rotating the plunger 32 as seen in Figs. 12 and 13 and [0192].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the sprayer taught by Watanabe in view of Kawamura to use identification marks as taught by Kawamura to aid the user in operation, especially since Watanabe teaches first pressing cover 3d (seen in Figs. 6-7 and [0029]), and then opening cover 3d to press on rod operating portion 4g (seen in Figs. 8-9 and [0030]-[0031]).
Regarding claim 8, Watanabe in view of Kawamura teaches the sprayer of claim 5, and Watanabe further teaches wherein the first pressing surface is positioned closer to a proximal side than the second pressing surface (Watanabe teaches cover 3d to be positioned closer to a proximal side than rod operating portion 4g as seen in Fig. 1).
Claim(s) 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Watanabe (JP 2012231932 A) in view of Kawamura (US 20100258115 A1), as applied to claim 5 above, and further in view of Stroumpoulis (US 20110166531 A1).
Regarding claim 7, Watanabe in view of Kawamura teaches the sprayer of claim 5, and Watanabe further teaches wherein the first pressing surface and the second pressing surface are provided close to each other (Watanabe teaches cover 3d and rod operating portion 4g to be provided close to each other as seen in Fig. 1).
But does not teach an area of the second pressing surface is larger than an area of the first pressing surface.
However, Stroumpoulis teaches an area of the second pressing surface is larger than an area of the first pressing surface (Stroumpoulis teaches a syringe comprising plungers 702 and 703 wherein the pressing surface for 702 (taken as second pressing surface) is larger than the area of the pressing surface for 703 (taken as first pressing surface) as seen in Figs. 7A-7C and [0059]-[0060]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the sprayer taught by Watanabe in view of Kawamura to have the area of the second pressing surface be larger than the area of the first pressing surface as taught by Stroumpoulis as an alternative design choice that would not affect the functionality of the device.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Kubo (US 20140303565 A1) teaches a nasal cavity administration container which comprises of two dosages and step for each dosage to be administered.
Antoshkiw (US 4188949 A) teaches a sequential injection syringe of at least two volumes of liquid.
Haber (US 5445614 A) teaches a syringe with two depressing flanges.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Tina Zhang whose telephone number is (571)272-6956. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 9:00AM-5:00PM.
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/TINA ZHANG/Examiner, Art Unit 3785
/BRANDY S LEE/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3785