Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application is being examined under the pre-AIA first to invent provisions.
DETAILED ACTION
Election/Restriction
Restriction to one of the following inventions is required under 35 U.S.C. 121:
I. Claims 1-16, drawn to video laryngoscope, classified in a61b1/00034.
II. Claims 17-20, drawn to a battery Pack, classified in G01R31/382.
The inventions are independent or distinct, each from the other because:
Inventions I and II are related as combination and subcombination. Inventions in this relationship are distinct if it can be shown that (1) the combination as claimed does not require the particulars of the subcombination as claimed for patentability, and (2) that the subcombination has utility by itself or in other combinations (MPEP § 806.05(c)). In the instant case, the combination as claimed does not require the particulars of the subcombination as claimed because the combination can be used with any known power pack in the art. The subcombination has separate utility such as powering a drill.
The examiner has required restriction between combination and subcombination inventions. Where applicant elects a subcombination, and claims thereto are subsequently found allowable, any claim(s) depending from or otherwise requiring all the limitations of the allowable subcombination will be examined for patentability in accordance with 37 CFR 1.104. See MPEP § 821.04(a). Applicant is advised that if any claim presented in a divisional application is anticipated by, or includes all the limitations of, a claim that is allowable in the present application, such claim may be subject to provisional statutory and/or nonstatutory double patenting rejections over the claims of the instant application.
Restriction for examination purposes as indicated is proper because all the inventions listed in this action are independent or distinct for the reasons given above and there would be a serious search and/or examination burden if restriction were not required because one or more of the following reasons apply:
The groupings of patentably indistinct inventions require a different field of search (e.g., searching different classes /subclasses or electronic resources, or employing different search strategies or search queries).
Applicant is advised that the reply to this requirement to be complete must include (i) an election of an invention to be examined even though the requirement may be traversed (37 CFR 1.143) and (ii) identification of the claims encompassing the elected invention.
The election of an invention may be made with or without traverse. To reserve a right to petition, the election must be made with traverse. If the reply does not distinctly and specifically point out supposed errors in the restriction requirement, the election shall be treated as an election without traverse. Traversal must be presented at the time of election in order to be considered timely. Failure to timely traverse the requirement will result in the loss of right to petition under 37 CFR 1.144. If claims are added after the election, applicant must indicate which of these claims are readable upon the elected invention.
Should applicant traverse on the ground that the inventions are not patentably distinct, applicant should submit evidence or identify such evidence now of record showing the inventions to be obvious variants or clearly admit on the record that this is the case. In either instance, if the examiner finds one of the inventions unpatentable over the prior art, the evidence or admission may be used in a rejection under 35 U.S.C. 103 or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) of the other invention.
During a telephone conversation with Mike Wagner on 5/21/26 a provisional election was made without traverse to prosecute the invention of group II, claims 17-20.
Affirmation of this election must be made by applicant in replying to this Office action. Claims 1-16 are withdrawn from further consideration by the examiner, 37 CFR 1.142(b), as being drawn to a non-elected invention.
Applicant is reminded that upon the cancelation of claims to a non-elected invention, the inventorship must be corrected in compliance with 37 CFR 1.48(a) if one or more of the currently named inventors is no longer an inventor of at least one claim remaining in the application. A request to correct inventorship under 37 CFR 1.48(a) must be accompanied by an application data sheet in accordance with 37 CFR 1.76 that identifies each inventor by his or her legal name and by the processing fee required under 37 CFR 1.17(i).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of pre-AIA 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 –
(b) the invention was patented or described in a printed publication in this or a foreign country or in public use or on sale in this country, more than one year prior to the date of application for patent in the United States.
Claim(s) 17, 19-20 is/are rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102b as being anticipated by Bauman (US 4607623 A).
Bauman discloses a removable battery pack fig. 3 capable for used with video laryngoscope, the battery pack comprising: a battery 35, 36; a first major surface (surface of support frame 33) facing inward towards an interior of a laryngoscope body (shell 30, fig. 3) when installed in a recess 37 of the laryngoscope; a second major surface (surface of top section 31 and surface wall 29, fig. 2) facing outward from the laryngoscope body 30 when installed in the recess 37 of the laryngoscope, wherein the second major surface forms part of a grip for a user when installed in the laryngoscope fig. 1; and an activation switch 17, fig. 5, on the second major surface 29, that upon interaction causes power up and power down operations of the video laryngoscope when installed, wherein the battery further comprising an optical display element 16, fig. 2 that, when installed in the video laryngoscope, indicates a state of the video laryngoscope, wherein the first major surface comprises battery retaining formations fig. 3 that retain the battery 35, 36.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) 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 negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claim 18 is rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Bauman in view of Carter (US 20110128008 A1).
Bauman fails to teach that the battery pack comprises an RFID tag storing an available remaining capacity of the battery.
Carter teaches a battery pack comprises an RFID tag (capacity indicator 504, fig. 5) storing an available remaining capacity of the battery.
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention was made to modify the battery pack of Bauman with a capacity indicator in view of Carter in order to provide an indicator for the user of the remaining and used power of the battery pack.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SAMEH RAAFAT BOLES whose telephone number is (571)270-5537. The examiner can normally be reached 9-5 pm.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Kevin Truong can be reached at 571-272-4705. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/SAMEH R BOLES/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3775
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