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 .
DETAILED ACTION
Claim Objections
Claim 1, 8 are objected to because of the following informalities: “communicated with” appears to be in error for “in communication with”. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim 6 is objected to because of the following informalities: “is configures” appears to be in error for “is configured”. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim 8 is objected to because of the following informalities: “said hole” appears to be in error for “said at least one hole”. 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.
Claim 2-3 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. The limitation “said plate cover is provided with a vent hole …” is indefinite because it is unclear if it is associated with one or more of the alternative limitations, or if it is a required limitation regardless of the alternatives. Furthermore, “said plate cover” is indefinite because it is unclear if it refers to the “cover plate” or another element.
Claim 7 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. The limitation “the other end” lacks antecedent basis.
Claim 8 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. The limitation “said horn chamber” lacks antecedent basis.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-4, 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by US 2024/0123126 (Claassen).
Regarding claim 1, Claassen teaches a leakage-proof wearable breast pump (Fig 3, 6, para 17, 117), comprising: a milk bottle (70); a front cover (40); and, a negative pressure chamber (between 50 and 60; para 86; vacuum is negative pressure); said front cover and said negative pressure chamber are arranged above the milk bottle (Fig 6); wherein a connecting chamber is provided between said front cover and said negative pressure chamber (annotated below); said connecting chamber is provided above a bottle mouth of said milk bottle (annotated below), a buffer chamber is provided between said milk bottle and said connecting chamber and communicated with said milk bottle and said connecting chamber respectively (buffer chamber 48; para 92-97).
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Regarding claim 4, 10, Claassen teaches a mounting base with a bottom plate (annotated below), said bottom plate is provided on a top of said milk bottle (Fig 6), said bottom plate is provided with an arch portion (annotated below), and said connecting chamber and said buffer chamber are installed up and down in said arch portion (Fig 6; the “connecting chamber” can include the walls annotated below), a rear cover mounted on said mounting base, said rear cover is matched with a rear side of said milk bottle to form an arc-shaped surface (Fig 6, rear cover 212 matches curvature of rear side of bottle 70 and mounted on base portion 46).
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Regarding claim 1-3 in an alternative interpretation, Claassen teaches a leakage-proof wearable breast pump (Fig 3, 6, para 17, 117), comprising: a milk bottle (70); a front cover (40); and, a negative pressure chamber (between 50 and 60; para 86; vacuum is negative pressure); said front cover and said negative pressure chamber are arranged above the milk bottle (Fig 6); wherein a connecting chamber is provided between said front cover and said negative pressure chamber (annotated below); said connecting chamber is provided above a bottle mouth of said milk bottle (annotated below), a buffer chamber is provided between said milk bottle and said connecting chamber and communicated with said milk bottle and said connecting chamber respectively (buffer chamber annotated below), a top surface of said milk bottle extends upwards around said bottle mouth to form said buffer chamber (annotated below); a bottom of said connecting chamber is provided with a cover plate to cover said buffer chamber (annotated below); said cover plate is provided with a one-way valve, directly facing said bottle mouth (one way valve 58 is biased against the valve seat, and thus only opens in one direction; para 97-100), an end of said one-way valve is close to or extends into said bottle mouth (annotated below), and a gap is provided between said end of said one-way valve and an inner wall of said bottle mouth (annotated below).
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Claim(s) 1, 4-6, 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by CN 110124129 (Chen).
Regarding claim 1, 4-6, 10, Chen teaches a leakage-proof wearable breast pump (Fig 2-3), comprising: a milk bottle (3); a front cover (1); and, a negative pressure chamber (between 22 and 21; suction is provided through hole 211, providing negative pressure); said front cover and said negative pressure chamber are arranged above the milk bottle (Fig 3); wherein a connecting chamber is provided between said front cover and said negative pressure chamber (annotated below); said connecting chamber is provided above a bottle mouth of said milk bottle (annotated below), a buffer chamber is provided between said milk bottle and said connecting chamber and communicated with said milk bottle and said connecting chamber respectively (buffer chamber 48; para 92-97). a mounting base with a bottom plate, said bottom plate is provided on a top of said milk bottle, said bottom plate is provided with an arch portion (annotated below; construed as the entire piece 21), and said connecting chamber and said buffer chamber are installed up and down in said arch portion (annotated below; connecting chamber is installed down towards the milk bottle; buffer chamber is installed up away from the milk bottle), said connecting chamber is provided with a guiding cylinder attached to said arch portion, a bottom of said arch portion is provided with an arc-shaped part, attached to a side wall of said buffer chamber (annotated below), said front cover is mounted on said mounting base and and is configures to match with a front side surface of said milk bottle to form a horn chamber (Fig 3; horn chamber inside cover 1 and 11); a small-opening end of said horn chamber is formed on said front cover and inserted into said arch portion (opening end of 11 is inserted into the arch portion), close to or adhered to one end of said guiding cylinder (Fig 3), a rear cover mounted on said mounting base, said rear cover is matched with a rear side of said milk bottle to form an arc-shaped surface (Fig 3, rear cover 5 mounted on mounting base 214).
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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(s) 2-3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2024/0123126 (Claassen) in view of US 2022/0249750 (Visconti).
Regarding claim 2, Claassen teaches a top surface of said milk bottle extends upwards around said bottle mouth to form said buffer chamber; a bottom of said connecting chamber is provided with a cover plate to cover said buffer chamber; said cover plate is provided with a one-way valve, directly facing said bottle mouth as discussed above. However, even if Claassen did not teach the valve being a one-way valve, Visconti teaches that it was well known in the art to make the valve providing milk to the milk bottle a one-way valve (para 56-58; one way valve 103). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to make the valve a one-way valve in order to keep milk in the milk bottle, as taught by Visconti. It has been held that combining or simple substitution of prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results renders the limitation obvious (see MPEP 2141 (III)). In this case, making the valve a one-way valve yields predictable results (milk delivery and storage).
Regarding claim 3, Claassen in view of Visconit teaches an end of said one-way valve is close to or extends into said bottle mouth (annotated above), and a gap is provided between said end of said one-way valve and an inner wall of said bottle mouth (annotated above).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 7-9 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 and the 112 rejections were overcome.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. US 2024/0001010 teaches a breast pump with a negative pressure chamber and front and rear baffles (Fig 7).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANDREW NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)270-5063. The examiner can normally be reached 8 am - 4 pm, Monday-Friday.
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/ANDREW H NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3741