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
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)(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 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being clearly anticipated by Lam (US 2019/0133888 A1).
Referring to claim 1. Lam discloses a medication dispensing device (300; Figure 3B) and a method, comprising:
a housing (304; Figure 3A),
a tray (400) carrying a plurality of pods (409,511) with interiors that can contain pills (see Figure 5B), the tray (400) being moveable between an open position (position of tray 4000 as shown in Figure 4B) where the pods (409) are exposed to a user (accessible to a user) and a closed position (tray 400 position within the dispenser housing 300) where the pods (409) are not exposed to the user (are disposed within the dispenser housing 300), at least one of the pods (409) being made at least partially of an elastomeric material (pod 409 is deformable to be crushed) and including a passage that can open and close (roller 706 moves out to force the pills to break foil and drop-down chute 512) in response to the application of a pressing force (force from roller 706; Figure 7A) on the at least one pod (409), wherein when the tray (400) is in the open position (position of tray 4000 as shown in Figure 4B),
the pods (400) are able to be individually opened to either receive pills or to dispense pills (the applicant uses the limitations “or” followed by one of the two conditions to be satisfied, thus, the examiner satisfies the second condition “or to dispense pills, as claimed; the pods 409 in the tray 400 can be opened to dispense the pill when the tray is disposed outside the dispense manually by a user), and
a controller (240; Figure 2) that is configured to monitor (via 508 and 510) the insertion of pills into the pods (400 comprising pods 409) and the dispensing of pills out of the pods (409).
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.
Claims 2-4 and 8-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lam (US 2019/0133888 A1) in view of Antonius (US 3,110,335).
Referring to claims 2,12 and 18. (See structure disclosed in rejection of claim 1) Lam does not disclose wherein at least one of the pods has a bottom piece that is made of the elastomeric material and a top piece, wherein the bottom piece includes at least one slit, and wherein the bottom piece is configured such that that the application of a downward force on the top piece can cause the at least one slit to open to expose the passage to dispense at least one pill out of the interior of the pod through the passage.
Antonius discloses a dispensing container (10; Figure 11) and a method wherein at least one of the pods (10) has a bottom piece (top side adjacent to member 18; Figure 11) that is made of the elastomeric material and a top piece (bottom portion of housing of 10), wherein the bottom piece includes at least one slit (16), and wherein the bottom piece (top side adjacent to member 18; Figure 11) is configured such that that the application of a downward force on the top piece (bottom portion of housing of 10) can cause the at least one slit (16) to open to expose the passage to dispense at least one articles out of the interior (see Figure 12) of the pod through the passage (passage as shown in Figure 12).
It would have been obvious for a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the teachings of Lam to include wherein at least one of the pods has a bottom piece that is made of the elastomeric material and a top piece, wherein the bottom piece includes at least one slit, and wherein the bottom piece is configured such that that the application of a downward force on the top piece can cause the at least one slit to open to expose the passage to dispense at least one pill out of the interior of the pod through the passage as taught by Antonius because each of the pods would be able to house a plurality of articles held within the tray thus assuring a larger quantity of articles to be stored in each of the pods thus requiring a fewer reloading of the dispensing device.
Referring to claims 3,13 and 19. Antonius discloses a dispensing container (10; Figure 11) and a method wherein the at least one slit (16) in the bottom piece (top side adjacent to member 18; Figure 11) is at least two slits (see additional slit about member 92; Figure 12) that extend generally perpendicular (extends perpendicular to cut line 16; Figure 12) to one another, and wherein the application of the downward force (force applied from the sides) on the top piece (bottom portion of housing of 10) can cause all of the at least two slits to open to expose the passage (as seen in Figure 12).
Referring to claims 4,11,15 and 16. Antonius discloses a dispensing container (10; Figure 11) and a method wherein the top piece (bottom portion of housing of 10 including member 12) of at least one of the pods (10) is at least partially made of an elastomeric material (The hollow container 10 is formed of flexible and resilient material, such as semihard rubber or plastic material of a similar nature, such as polyethylene or polyvinyl or equivalent materials, and is generally of quasi- rectangular contour as shown; Col. 2 line 53) and includes at least two projections (side wall projections of 12 extending into the sides of 10 into 10; see Figure 14) that protrude downwardly into the interior of the pod (housing of 10) to engage a sidewall of the bottom piece (top of 10 or 12), and wherein the application of the downward force (force applied from the sides) on the top piece (bottom portion of housing of 10) can cause the at least two projections (slit 16 and additional slit about member 92; Figure 12) to press on the sidewall of the bottom piece to open the passage (see Figure 12).
Referring to claims 8 and 14. Antonius discloses a dispensing container (10; Figure 11) and a method wherein for at least one of the pods (10; Figure 11), the top piece (bottom portion of housing of 10) can be at least partially removed from the bottom piece (top side adjacent to member 18; Figure 11) to present the interior of the pod (10) from vertically above the pod (see figure 14; wherein member 12 can be removed from the remained of 10).
Referring to claim 9. Lam discloses a medication dispensing device (300; Figure 3B), and a method comprising:
further including at least one light emitter (emitter portion of sensor 510; Figure 5B) and including at least one light detector (detector portion of sensor 510) that is in electrical communication with the controller (240) and is configured to detect pill insertion (224) and dispensing events (226) into and out of the plurality of pods (409).
Referring to claim 10. Lam discloses a medication dispensing device (300; Figure 3B), and a method comprising:
wherein the at least one light emitter (508) and the at least one light detector (detector portion of sensor 508) are positioned vertically below the plurality of pods (409; see Figure 5B).
Referring to claim 17. Antonius discloses a dispensing container (10; Figure 11) and a method wherein
the step of automatically dispensing at least one pill out of the at least one pod (10; Figure 1) through the passage (deformed opening of 16; Figure 12) includes singulating and dispensing only a single pill (article) out of the at least one pod (10) through the passage (see Figure 1).
Claims 7 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lam (US 2019/0133888 A1) in view of Antonius (US 3,110,335) and further in view of Drought (7,264,137).
Referring to claims 7 and 20. Lam in view of Antonius do not disclose wherein the tray further includes a chute that is positioned vertically below all of the plurality of pods to collect the pills that are dispensed out of the pods.
Drought discloses a tablet dispenser (1; Figure 1) and a method wherein the tray (1; Figure 2) further includes a chute (12) that is positioned vertically below all of the plurality of pods (36) to collect the pills that are dispensed out of the pods (see Figure 2).
It would have been obvious for a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the teachings of Lam in view of Antonius to include the tray further comprising a chute that is positioned vertically below all of the plurality of pods to collect the pills that are dispensed out of the pods as taught by Drought because the dispensed pills can be collected in the tray thus allowing for an easier retrieval by a user.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5 and 6 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.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to RAKESH KUMAR whose telephone number is (571)272-8314. The examiner can normally be reached M-TH from 8AM-6:30PM EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Gene Crawford can be reached at (571) 272-6911. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/RAKESH KUMAR/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3651