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 .
Election/Restrictions
Claims 1-10 and 16-20 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected inventions, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 10/27/2025.
Claim Objections
Claims 12 and 14 are objected to because of the following informalities:
-Claim 12, line 3: please correct “container, third port” to “container, the third port”
-Claim 14, line 2: please correct “perimeter, a portion of which is” to “perimeter, wherein a portion of [[which]]the perimeter is”
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 15 is 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.
Claim 15 recites the limitation “the first portion and the second portion [of the manifold] are configured to…fluidly seal the first opening”. However, claim 1, from which claim 15 depends, recites “a cap configured to…cover the first opening; and a manifold configured to…cover the second opening”. In other words, claim 1 establishes that the cap covers the first opening and the manifold covers the second opening. The limitation in claim 15 then appears to require that the manifold covers the first opening. It is unclear whether this is a typographical error or whether claim 15 should be interpreted as requiring that the manifold must cover both the second opening and additionally the first opening. This is not made clear in the specification, as paragraph [0018] also recites “the first opening”, paragraph [0022] simply states “the opening”, and paragraph [0084] recites “the opening 274” (which the Examiner believes would correspond to the claimed “second opening” as also shown in Fig. 4). For examination purposes, the Examiner interprets that “the first opening” in claim 15 is a typographical error and should state “the second opening” as supported by Fig. 4 and paragraph [0084] of the specification.
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 11 and 13-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Richmond (US 5,405,333 A).
Regarding claim 11, Richmond discloses a fluid reservoir assembly (see Figs. 5-8, col. 8 line 60-col. 9 line 53) configured to couple to a tubing assembly in fluid communication with an endoscope (note: the limitation “configured to couple to a tubing assembly in fluid communication with an endoscope” is a functional limitation and neither a tubing assembly nor an endoscope are positively recited. The fluid reservoir assembly of Figs. 5-8 is configured to couple to fluid delivery tubing for medical procedures (see Fig. 1, col. 8 line 60-col. 9 line 4, col. 9 lines 39-44) and thus could connect to a tubing assembly for an endoscope), the fluid reservoir assembly (see Figs. 5-8) comprising:
a container (liquid medicament bag 300) having a first opening (belly button port 36, not shown in Figs. 5-8, see Fig. 1, col. 4 lines 39-41, col. 5 line 66-col. 6 line 7) and a second opening (opening of liquid medicament bag 300 covered by valve assembly 308, see Figs. 5-8, col. 9 lines 8-22);
a cap (valve 42, not shown in Figs. 5-8, see Fig. 1, col. 4 lines 39-41) configured to couple to the container (liquid medicament bag 300) and cover the first opening (belly button port 36) (see Figs. 1 and 5-8, col. 4 lines 39-41, col. 5 line 66-col. 6 line 7, col. 7 lines 20-29, col. 8 lines 3-10); and
a manifold (valve assembly 308) configured to couple to the container (liquid medicament bag 300) and cover the second opening (opening of liquid medicament bag 300 covered by valve assembly 308, see Figs. 5-8, col. 9 lines 8-22), the manifold (valve assembly 308) having a first port (valve 314) and a second port (valve 316) positioned exterior of the container (liquid medicament bag 300) when the manifold (valve assembly 308) is coupled to the container (liquid medicament bag 300) (see Figs. 5-8, valves 314 and 316 are located external to sides 302+304 of container 300); and
wherein the first port (valve 314) and the second port (valve 316) are in fluid communication with an interior of the container (liquid medicament bag 300) (see Figs. 5-8, col. 9 lines 15-53).
Regarding claim 13, Richmond discloses the fluid reservoir assembly of claim 11, wherein the container (liquid medicament bag 300) has a first end (first side 302), a second end (second side 304), and a side wall (seam 306) extending between the first end (first side 302) and the second end (second side 304) (see Figs. 5-8, col. 8 line 60-col. 9 line 7); and
the first opening (belly button port 36, not shown in Figs. 5-8, see Fig. 1, col. 4 lines 39-41, col. 5 line 66-col. 6 line 7) extends through the first end (first side 302) (not shown in Figs. 5-8, see Fig. 1, col. 4 lines 39-41, col. 5 line 66-col. 6 line 7) and the second opening (opening of liquid medicament bag 300 covered by valve assembly 308, see Figs. 5-8, col. 9 lines 8-22) extends through the side wall (seam 306) proximate the second end (second side 304) (see Figs. 5-8, col. 9 lines 8-22).
Regarding claim 14, Richmond discloses the fluid reservoir assembly of claim 13, wherein the manifold (valve assembly 308) comprises a perimeter (see Fig. 5), a portion of which is parallel to the second end (second side 304) of the container (liquid medicament bag 300) (see Fig. 5, col. 8 line 60-col. 9 line 22, a portion of the perimeter of valve assembly 308 shown to be parallel to the second side 304).
Regarding claim 15, Richmond discloses the fluid reservoir assembly of claim 11, wherein:
the manifold (valve assembly 308) comprises a first portion (see annotated Figs. 6-7 below, portions of valve assembly 308 external to liquid medicament bag 300) configured to be positioned exterior of the container (liquid medicament bag 300) and a second portion (see annotated Figs. 6-7 below, portions of valve assembly 308 internal to liquid medicament bag 300) configured to be positioned in the interior of the container (liquid medicament bag 300) (see Figs. 5-8); and
the first portion (see annotated Figs. 6-7 below, portions of valve assembly 308 external to liquid medicament bag 300) and the second portion (see annotated Figs. 6-7 below, portions of valve assembly 308 internal to liquid medicament bag 300) are configured to couple to one another and fluidly seal the second opening (opening of liquid medicament bag 300 covered by valve assembly 308, see Figs. 5-8, see 112b rejection/interpretation of claim 15 above) (see Figs. 5-8, col. 9 lines 8-53).
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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 12 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Richmond (US 5,405,333 A).
Regarding claim 12, Richmond, in the embodiment of Figs. 5-8, discloses the fluid reservoir assembly of claim 11. However, Richmond, in the embodiment of Figs. 5-8, fails to state wherein the manifold further comprises: a third port, wherein when the manifold is coupled to the container, the third port is positioned exterior of the container and is in fluid communication with the interior of the container.
Richmond teaches another embodiment of a fluid reservoir assembly (see Fig. 13) comprising a first port (valve 388), a second port (valve 406), and a third port (valve 408) each positioned exterior of the container (medicament bag 382) and in fluid communication with the interior of the container (medicament bag 382) (see Fig. 13, col. 10 line 63-col. 11 line 38).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the fluid reservoir assembly of the embodiment of Figs. 5-8 of Richmond to separate one of the first or second ports into two ports such that three ports are present, as suggested by the embodiment of Fig. 13 of Richmond, in order to accommodate an additional port to allow the container to be fluidly coupled to even more components of a fluid delivery system (see col. 10 line 63-col. 11 line 38). Since one of the first or second ports (valve 314 and valve 316) of the manifold (valve assembly 308) of Figs. 5-8 would be separated into two ports as shown in Fig. 13, this modification further teaches wherein the manifold (valve assembly 308 of Figs. 5-8) further comprises a third port (one of the separated valves), wherein when the manifold (valve assembly 308 of Figs. 5-8) is coupled to the container (liquid medicament bag 300 of Figs. 5-8), the third port (one of the separated valves) is positioned exterior of the container (liquid medicament bag 300 of Figs. 5-8) and is in fluid communication with the interior of the container (liquid medicament bag 300 of Figs. 5-8) (see Figs. 5-8 and 13).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to AVERY SMALE whose telephone number is (571)270-7172. The examiner can normally be reached Mon.-Fri. 8-4 ET.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Kevin Sirmons can be reached at (571) 272-4965. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/AVERY SMALE/Examiner, Art Unit 3783
/KAMI A BOSWORTH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3783