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 .
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.
Claims 8-11, 13-14 and 16-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Goldman (US 8,251,948 B2).
Regarding claim 8, Goldman discloses a treatment system (100, see Fig. 1A-2A) comprising: a tube (102) including a suction lumen (112); and a first closing member (128) and a second closing member (124) configured to close a part of a tubular organ, and the first closing member and the second closing member attached to the tube (see Fig. 1A): and a holding member (126) disposed between the first closing member and the second closing member, wherein a first end of the holding member is configured to contact with one of the first closing member and the second closing member (see Fig. 4A).
Regarding claim 9, Goldman discloses the treatment system according to claim 8, wherein the holding member is expandable together with the first closing member and the second closing member (the balloons are independently inflatable, so it is understood they can be inflated simultaneously if desired, see col. 5, lines 42-53).
Regarding claim 10, Goldman discloses the treatment system according to claim 8, wherein a maximum length in a radial direction of the tube when the holding member is expanded is not more than a maximum length in the radial direction when the first closing member and the second closing member are expanded to a maximum (when central balloon 126 is inflated, its length in the radial direction is not more than the length of the balloons 124, 128 in the radial direction, see Fig. 4B-4C).
Regarding claim 11, Goldman discloses the treatment system according to claim 8, wherein the holding member is configured to be at least one of a linear member, a net, a stent, a balloon, and a twisted wire (the holding member taught by Goldman is a balloon, see col. 5, lines 39-42).
Regarding claim 13, Goldman discloses the treatment system according to claim 8, wherein the tube includes a suction opening disposed between the first closing member and the second closing member (conduit 110 forms a suction opening between balloons 124 and 128, see Fig. 2A and col. 6, lines 21-28).
Regarding claim 14, Goldman discloses the treatment system according to claim 8, wherein the first end of the holding member is configured to be connected to the first closing member and a second end of the holding member is connected to the second closing member (see Fig. 4A).
Regarding claim 16, Goldman discloses the treatment system according to claim 8, wherein the first closing member is expandable at a first length in a radial direction of the tube, the second closing member is expandable at a second length in the radial direction, the holding member is expandable at a third length in the radial direction, and the third length of the holding member is equal to or less than the first length and the second length (when central balloon 126 is inflated, its length in the radial direction is not more than the length of the balloons 124, 128 in the radial direction, see Fig. 4B-4C).
Regarding claim 17, Goldman discloses the treatment system according to claim 16, the holding member is expandable together with the first closing member and the second closing member (the balloons are independently inflatable, so it is understood they can be inflated simultaneously if desired, see col. 5, lines 42-53).
Regarding claim 18, Goldman discloses the treatment system of claim 16, wherein the first closing member is provided distally relative to the second closing member (balloon 128 is distal to balloon 124, see Fig. 2A), the holding member has a first length in a longitudinal direction of the tube, a portion of the tube has a second length between a proximal end of the first closing member and a distal end of the second closing member, and the first length is longer than the second length (the entire length of the balloon 126 is longer than an arbitrarily selected length of the catheter body 102 extending between the balloons 124 and 128, see Fig. 4A).
Regarding claim 19, Goldman discloses the treatment system according to claim 8, wherein the first closing member and the second closing member are balloons (see col. 5, lines 39-42).
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.
Claim 20 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Goldman, as applied to claim 8 above, further in view of Mohl et al (US 4,934,996).
Regarding claim 20, Goldman discloses the treatment system according to claim 8, but fails to expressly teach a suction pump configured to suction fluid from the suction lumen. It is noted that Goldman discloses fluid flowing into and out of the balloons through conduit 112 (i.e., the suction lumen) for inflation/deflation of the balloons (see col. 6, lines 21-37). Goldman simply fails to expressly teach the mechanism for supplying/removing fluid through conduit 112.
Mohl, in the same field of art, teaches a related balloon catheter, having a pump for inflating and deflating the balloon (see col. 1, lines 41-46).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the treatment system of Goldman so that it includes a suction pump, as taught by Mohl, since doing so would have provided the treatment system with a mechanism for inflating and deflating the balloons.
Conclusion
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/SERENITY A MILLER/Examiner, Art Unit 3771
/ELIZABETH HOUSTON/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3771