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) have been reviewed by the examiner and are found to comply with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97, 1.98, and MPEP § 609.
Drawings
The drawing(s) have been reviewed by the examiner and are found to comply with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.81 to 1.85.
Claim Objections
Claim 1 is objected to because of the following informalities: examiner recommends amending “the control unit controlling” and “the control unit determines” to include “configured to” language. Examiner notes that claim 1 is an apparatus claim, and therefore the control unit must be “configured to” perform the claimed functionality. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim 3 is objected to because of the following informalities: claim 3, page 2, line 7 should be amended to replace “amoving” with “a moving”; claim 3, page 3, line 5, should be amended to recite “connected to a front side”; and, claim 3, page 3, line 8 should be amended to recite “control unit is configured to control”. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim 5 is objected to because of the following informalities: line 6 should be amended to recite “and the limit switch is configured to stop”.
Claim 8 is objected to because of the following informalities: line 19 should be amended to recite “and the control unit is configured to control”.
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.
Claim(s) 1 - 2 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Pham (US 20210379275).
1. Pham discloses an intelligent exhaled sputum-suction and inhaled oxygen-supply device, configured to be applied to a respiratory tract of a patient (see [0002], [0076], where ventilator provided air is an oxygen supply), including: a sputum-suction and oxygen-supply tube unit, including a major oxygen-supply tube (38, which is connected to the ventilator as described in [0079]) and a major sputum-suction tube configured to be disposed within the respiratory tract (40, see Fig. 5, [0077]); a gas-regulating unit, including an oxygen-supply module (ventilator, see [0002, 0076], see also [0079], where ventilator provided air is oxygen supply), a sputum-suction module (suction pump as described in [0076], as well as pump 25 in Fig. 18, [0094]), a minor oxygen-supply tube communicating the oxygen-supply module with the major oxygen-supply tube (36, see [0079]), a minor sputum-suction tube communicating the sputum-suction module with the major sputum-suction tube (15, see [0076], [0094]), and a respiration sensor configured to sense a breathing state of the patient (35, see [0079]); and a control unit, electrically connected with the sputum-suction module and the respiration sensor, the control unit controlling the sputum-suction module to draw gas from the minor sputum-suction tube when the respiration sensor senses that the patient is in an exhalation state (10, see [0079], [0094]); wherein the respiration sensor is a pressure sensor or a flow sensor [0079], and the control unit determines that the patient is in an inspiratory state when the respiration sensor senses a negative airway pressure or an inhaled flow [0079].
2. Pham discloses the intelligent exhaled sputum-suction and inhaled oxygen-supply device of claim 1, wherein the sputum-suction module includes a gas extractor and at least one filter, and the at least one filter is communicated between the gas extractor and the minor sputum-suction tube and configured to collect sputum from the patient (examiner considers the gas extractor as pump 25 and the filter as container 17, and additionally considers the minor sputum-suction tube to include tube 18, see [0094]; under the broadest reasonable interpretation of “is communicated between”, part of the filter 17 communicates with extractor 25 and tube 18, and locates physically between 25 and 18, as seen in Fig. 18).
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.
Claim(s) 9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Pham in view of Phillips (US 20230109332).
9. Pham discloses the intelligent exhaled sputum-suction and inhaled oxygen-supply device of claim 1, but does not disclose wherein the gas-regulating unit further includes a gas supply module communicated with the minor oxygen-supply tube. Phillips discloses an air source that includes multiple sources of gas supply such as air, oxygen, and/or helium modules, see [0033]. Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to modify the air source of Pham to include another gas supply module such as air or helium for the benefits associated therewith, e.g. dilution of oxygen, or therapeutic delivery of helium.
Claim(s) 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Pham in view of Orr (US 20040216743).
10. Pham discloses the intelligent exhaled sputum-suction and inhaled oxygen-supply device of claim 1, but does not disclose wherein the gas-regulating unit further includes a one-way input tube communicated with the minor oxygen-supply tube. Orr discloses a ventilator comprising a minor oxygen supply tube (as indicated by 50’ in Fig. 7), wherein the gas-regulating unit further includes a one-way input tube communicated with the minor oxygen-supply tube (52’, see Fig. 7, [0053]). Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to modify Pham to include the one-way input tube of Orr for the benefit of preventing expired gases from flowing directly into an inspiratory limb.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3 – 8 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.
The claims in the instant application have not been rejected using prior art because no references, or reasonable combination thereof, could be found which disclose or suggest all the features of claim 3 or dependents therein.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance:
Pham, the closest prior art of record, fails to teach a base, a driving unit and a front adapter unit, wherein the driving unit includes a first motor, a moving platform and a second motor, the first motor is disposed on the base and electrically connected with the control unit, the moving platform is drivable by the first motor to move back and forth in a front-rear direction, the second motor is electrically connected with the control unit, the second motor includes a motor body disposed on the moving platform.
Additional prior art to WO 2024221587, US 20210228289, and US 20220125539 referenced below discloses endotracheal instrument (or similar instrument) insertion/rotation using control motors, including features such as a base, a driving unit and a front adapter unit, wherein the driving unit includes a first motor and a moving platform, the first motor is disposed on the base and electrically connected with the control unit, the moving platform is drivable by the first motor to move back and forth in a front-rear direction. However, the prior art fails to teach a hollow drive shaft, the hollow drive shaft disposed through the motor body in the front-rear direction and is drivable by the motor body to rotate about an axis extending in the front-rear direction, the hollow drive shaft has a guiding hole extending therethrough, the front adapter unit includes a front mounting portion disposed in front of the second motor and a front rotating portion rotatably disposed on the front mounting portion and connected with a front end of the hollow drive shaft, the front mounting portion has a front outer connecting hole, an end of the front outer connecting hole is open forward, another end of the front outer connecting hole is connected with the minor oxygen-supply tube, the front rotating portion has a front inner connecting hole penetrating therethrough and communicated with the guiding hole, the major oxygen-supply tube is stretchably sleeved to a front side of the front mounting portion, the major sputum-suction tube is disposed within the major oxygen-supply tube and connected a front side of the front rotating portion so as to be communicated with the front inner connecting hole and be drivable to rotate with the front rotating portion by the hollow drive shaft, and the control unit controls the first motor and the second motor to drive the major sputum-suction tube to move and rotate.
Features such as the hollow drive shaft, front mounting portion with front outer connecting hole, and front rotating portion in communication with the second motor have been designed to communicate between the minor sputum suction tube and the major sputum suction tube, so as to provide rotational movement of the sputum tube while simultaneously providing linear progression of the major sputum and oxygen supply tubes as well as directed sputum suction within the oxygen supply tube. See instant application, Fig. 2, p. 6, l. 10 – p. 8., l. 11. While the prior art teaches the sputum/supply arrangement in Pham, and insertion/rotation of the endotracheal interface as described in prior art noted above, the prior art does not render obvious the special combination of these features in addition to the structure for rotational movement of the major sputum suction tube within the major oxygen supply tube.
As such, claim 3 and dependents therein patentably define over the closest prior art of record.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
WO 2024221587 – endotracheal instrument insertion/rotation using control motors
US 20210228289 – endotracheal instrument insertion/rotation using control motors
US 20220125539 – endotracheal instrument insertion/rotation using control motors
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BRADLEY H PHILIPS whose telephone number is (571)270-5180. The examiner can normally be reached 8:00 - 5:00 M-F.
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/BRADLEY H PHILIPS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3799