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
Applicant's election of Group I (claims 1-12) and Species C (Fig. 4) without traverse in the Remarks of 12/5/2025 is acknowledged. In the Remarks, Applicant states that the elected group and species corresponds to at least claims 1-8 and 11 and states that claims 9-10 and 12-21 are withdrawn accordingly. However, in the claims filed 12/5/2025, claims 1-7 and 10-11 are listed with the status of original, claims 8-9, 12-18, and 20-21 are withdrawn, and claim 19 is cancelled. Thus, there is a discrepancy between the Remarks and the filed claims regarding the status of claims 8-12. It appears that claims 8-9 correspond to the species of Fig. 6 which includes resilient linkages 242a-b that each couple to both the user engagement element 130 and the shaft 120 (see Fig. 6, par. [0056]). It appears that claim 10 corresponds to the species of Fig. 7 which includes linkages 342a-d which wrap around a rotational element 346 (see Fig. 7, par. [0059]). Thus, claims 8-10 are each considered withdrawn by the Examiner as they do not appear to read on the elected species of Fig. 4. However, claims 11-12 each appropriately read on the elected species of Fig. 4. Therefore, the Examiner is considering claims 1-7 and 11-12 as examinable and interprets claims 8-10, 13-18, and 20-21 as withdrawn and claim 19 as cancelled.
Claim Objections
Claims 1-7 and 12 are objected to because of the following informalities:
-Claim 1, line 3: please correct “thereof” to “of the actuatable member”
-Claim 1, line 4: please correct “thereof” to “of the actuatable member”
-Claim 1, line 8: please correct “medical valve assembly” to “valve assembly”
-Claim 1, line 8: please correct “thereto” to “to the valve assembly”
-Claim 1, line 10: please correct “the distal end” to “a distal end”
-Claim 1, line 11: please correct “said valve shaft” to “said shaft”
-Claim 2, line 2: please correct “said valve shaft” to “said shaft”
-Claim 3, line 3: please correct “said valve shaft” to “said shaft”
-Claim 3, line 4: please correct “said valve shaft” to “said shaft”
-Claim 4, line 2: please correct “pivotable” to “pivotably”
-Claim 4, line 3: please correct “said valve shaft” to “said shaft”
-Claim 5, line 8: please correct “said valve shaft” to “said shaft”
-Claim 6, line 2: please correct “said one or more linkages” to “said plurality of linkages”
-Claim 6, line 3: please correct “said linkages” to “said plurality of linkages”
-Claim 6, line 3: please correct “the compressed configuration” to “the contracted configuration”
-Claim 7, line 4: please correct “the expanded configuration” to “the extended configuration”
-Claim 12, line 6: please correct “said valve shaft” to “said shaft”
-Claim 12, line 8: please correct “fluid communication” to “the fluid communication”
Appropriate correction is required.
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 1-7 and 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Reuter (WO 2019/063244 A1, see attached English translation for citations).
Regarding claim 1, Reuter discloses an actuatable member for a valve assembly of a medical instrument (see Figs. 1-3, pages 5-6), said actuatable member having a proximal end (further from patient outlet opening 6) and a distal end (closer to patient outlet opening 6) and comprising:
a user-engagement element (actuating element 10) along the proximal end thereof (see Figs. 1-3, pages 5-6; actuating element 10 is pressed/released by the user to open/close the valve); and
a shaft (closure element 8) along the distal end thereof and movable with respect to said user-engagement element (actuating element 10) (see Figs. 1-3);
wherein:
said actuatable member is extendable through a valve well passage (interior 5 of housing 2) of a valve well (housing 2) of the medical valve assembly and shiftable with respect thereto (see Figs. 1-3), along an actuation axis, between a first position (see Figs. 1-2) and a second position (see Fig. 3) (see pages 5-6; when actuating element 10 is pressed by the user, actuating element 10 and closure element 8 shift from their respective positions in Figs. 1-2 to their respective positions in Fig. 3); and
distal movement of said actuatable member toward the distal end of said valve well (housing 2) causes movement of said valve shaft (closure element 8) toward said user-engagement element (actuating element 10) (see Figs. 1-3, pages 5-6; when actuating element 10 is pressed by the user, actuating element 10 and closure element 8 are moved toward each other).
Regarding claim 2, Reuter discloses the actuatable member of claim 1, further comprising a biasing assembly (conversion element 12 and spring 18) coupling said user-engagement element (actuating element 10) and said valve shaft (closure element 8) (see Figs. 1-3, pages 5-6; conversion element 12 and spring 18 provide a biasing connection between actuating element 10 and closure element 8).
Regarding claim 3, Reuter discloses the actuatable member of claim 2, wherein said biasing assembly (conversion element 12 and spring 18) is configured to shift between an extended configuration in which said user-engagement element (actuating element 10) and said valve shaft (closure element 8) are spaced apart from each other a first distance, and a contracted configuration in which said user-engagement element (actuating element 10) and said valve shaft (closure element 8) are spaced apart from each other a second distance shorter than the first distance (see Figs. 1-3, pages 5-6; actuating element 10 and closure element 8 are extended further away from each other in the configuration of Figs. 1-2 than in the configuration of Fig. 3 because of the contraction/extension of conversion element 12 and spring 18).
Regarding claim 4, Reuter discloses the actuatable member of claim 3, wherein said biasing assembly (conversion element 12 and spring 18) comprises a linkage assembly (conversion element 12) comprising a plurality of linkages (conversion element 12 comprises four linkages which include two support portions 12a and two actuation portions 12b – see Fig. 2) pivotable coupled together between said user-engagement element (actuating element 10) and said valve shaft (closure element 8) (see Figs. 1-3, pages 5-6; conversion element 12 comprises four linkages which include two support portions 12a and two actuation portions 12b; the linkages pivot relative to each other when actuating element 10 is pressed and conversion element 12 moves from the position of Figs. 1-2 to the position of Fig. 3).
Regarding claim 5, Reuter discloses the actuatable member of claim 4, wherein said plurality of linkages (conversion element 12 comprises four linkages which include two support portions 12a and two actuation portions 12b – see Fig. 2) comprise:
proximal linkages (actuation portions 12b) having proximal ends and distal ends (see Figs. 1-3); and
distal linkages (support portions 12a) having proximal ends and distal ends (see Figs. 1-3);
wherein:
the proximal ends of said proximal linkages (actuation portions 12b) are coupled to said user-engagement element (actuating element 10) (see Figs. 1-3, pages 5-6; the proximal ends of actuation portions 12b are indirectly coupled to actuating element 10 through conversion element 12);
the distal ends of said distal linkages (support portions 12a) are coupled to said valve shaft (closure element 8) (see Figs. 1-3, pages 5-6; the distal ends of support portions 12a are indirectly coupled to closure element 8 through conversion element 12); and
the distal ends of said proximal linkages (actuation portions 12b) and the proximal ends of said distal linkages (support portions 12a) are pivotably coupled with respect to one another (see Figs. 1-3, pages 5-6; the distal ends of actuation portions 12b and proximal ends of support portions 12a pivot relative to each other at the center of conversion element 12 as shown in Fig. 2).
Regarding claim 6, Reuter discloses the actuatable member of claim 5, further comprising a guide path (path of travel of conversion element 12) positioned with respect to said linkage assembly (conversion element 12) to guide a portion of said one or more linkages (conversion element 12 comprises four linkages which include two support portions 12a and two actuation portions 12b – see Fig. 2) to move said linkages (conversion element 12 comprises four linkages which include two support portions 12a and two actuation portions 12b – see Fig. 2) between the extended configuration and the compressed configuration (see Figs. 1-3, pages 5-6; conversion element 12 moves along a path from the configuration of Figs. 1-2 to the configuration of Fig. 3).
Regarding claim 7, Reuter discloses the actuatable member of claim 6, wherein the distal ends of said proximal linkages (actuation portions 12b) and the proximal ends of said distal linkages (support portions 12a) are guided with respect to said guide path (path of travel of conversion element 12) to move along a guide axis transverse to the actuation axis to shift the linkage assembly (conversion element 12) between the expanded configuration and the contracted configuration (see Figs. 1-3, pages 5-6; conversion element 12 moves along a path from the configuration of Figs. 1-2 to the configuration of Fig. 3; conversion element 12 moves parallel to the flow direction through housing 2, which is perpendicular/transverse to the axis along which actuating element 10 is pressed).
Regarding claim 11, Reuter discloses the actuatable member of claim 1, wherein said user-engagement element (actuating element 10) is biased away from the distal end of said valve well (housing 2) (see Figs. 1-3, pages 5-6; actuating element 10 is normally biased into the position of Figs. 1-2 which is further away from the distal end of housing 2 than the position of Fig. 3).
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 Reuter (WO 2019/063244 A1, see attached English translation for citations), as applied to claim 1 above, in view of Yamane (US 2011/0208003 A1).
Regarding claim 12, Reuter discloses the actuatable member of claim 1. However, Reuter fails to state wherein: an axially-extending port is in fluid communication with the valve well passage along the actuation axis; a transversely-extending port is in fluid communication with the valve well passage in a direction transverse to the actuation axis; and distal movement of said user-engagement element shifts said valve shaft from a position blocking fluid communication between the axially-extending port and the transversely-extending port via the valve well passage, to a position allowing fluid communication between the axially-extending port and the transversely-extending port via the valve well passage.
Yamane teaches an actuatable member (see Figs. 3-4) wherein: an axially-extending port (port connecting base of main body 33 to suction tube 15) is in fluid communication with the valve well passage (bending passage 33B) along the actuation axis (vertical axis along which button 31 is pressed); a transversely-extending port (port connecting main body 33 to connection tube 35) is in fluid communication with the valve well passage (bending passage 33B) in a direction transverse to the actuation axis (vertical axis along which button 31 is pressed) (see Figs. 3-4, the horizontal axis of connection tube 35 is perpendicular/transverse to the vertical axis along which button 31 is pressed); and distal movement of said user-engagement element (button 31) shifts said valve shaft (piston shaft 34) from a position blocking fluid communication between the axially-extending port (port connecting base of main body 33 to suction tube 15) and the transversely-extending port (port connecting main body 33 to connection tube 35) via the valve well passage (bending passage 33B) (see Fig. 3, par. [0033]-[0034]), to a position allowing fluid communication between the axially-extending port (port connecting base of main body 33 to suction tube 15) and the transversely-extending port (port connecting main body 33 to connection tube 35) via the valve well passage (bending passage 33B) (see Fig. 4, par. [0039]).
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 actuatable member of Reuter to include an axially-extending port and a transversely-extending port, as taught by Yamane, in order to allow the actuatable member to open and close bent fluid passageways as is appropriate for suction valves in endoscopic handles (see Yamane par. [0012], [0033], [0039]).
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 /Lauren P Farrar/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3783