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 .
Drawings
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims.
Therefore, the “discharge mechanism portion” as recited in claim 1 line 4 must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). No new matter should be entered.
Therefore, the “a medicine dispensation instruction receiving portion” as recited in claim 2 line 4 must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). No new matter should be entered.
Therefore, the “a remaining medicine collecting dispensation instruction receiving portion” as recited in claim 2 line 6 must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). No new matter should be entered.
Therefore, the “remaining medicine collecting portion” as recited in claim 3 line 4 must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). No new matter should be entered.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
The drawings are objected to as failing to comply with 37 CFR 1.84(p)(4) because reference character “52” has been used to designate both “the plurality of medicine feeders” and “the plurality of general-purpose medicine feeder”. Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
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 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ishiwatari (US 2006/0230710 A1) in view of Yuyama (US 7,827,764).
Referring to claim 1. Ishiwatari discloses a medicine dispensing apparatus (1; Figure 1) comprising:
a plurality of medicine feeders (3; Figure 9) each including a container portion (51) for containing a large number of medicines in a random manner (see Figure 9) and a successive discharge mechanism portion (23; Figure 9) operable to drop and discharge the large number of medicines one by one downward from the container portion (51);
a packing device (13; Figure 2) operable to receive and pack the medicines discharged from the plurality of medicine feeders (3; Figure 9);
a housing capable of accommodating the plurality of medicine feeders (3; see Figure 1) and the packing device (13; Figure 2); and
a control portion (97; Figure 34) configured to control operation of the plurality of medicine feeders and the packing device (Such a medicine supply apparatus is provided with a plurality of tablet cases and control for discharging medicine from each of the tablet cases is performed; Para. [0005]), wherein:
the plurality of medicine feeders (3; Figure 9) include a plurality of general-purpose medicine feeders (medicine feeders 3disposed on the left side of the dispenser 1; Figure 1) each constituted by integrating the container portion (51) and the successive discharge mechanism portion (23);
the plurality of general-purpose medicine feeders (medicine feeders 3 disposed on the left side of the dispenser 1; Figure 1) are separately mounted on a plurality of drawer shelves (2; Figure 1) that are drawable forward out of the housing (see position of shelf 2 in Figure 1);
the plurality of drawer shelves (2; Figure 1) are each provided with a drawn state detecting portion (43) configured to detect a drawn state of the drawer shelf (2; Connected to an input of the microcomputer 97 are an output of a current transformer 96 for detecting the communicating current of each drum motor 14, the outputs of the lock sensors 43, the outputs of the medicine detection sensors 18 and the outputs of identification sensors 33; Para. [120] and [0146]) and
a remaining medicine collecting container detecting portion (microcomputer 97 detects which shelves are withdrawn and which shelves remain in the housing 7 by detecting the position of solenoid 43) configured to detect (by member 43) whether or not a removable remaining medicine collecting container (hopper 54) is mounted ahead of a medicine discharge port (9) of one or more general-purpose medicine feeders (alternate feeders 3),
among the plurality of general-purpose medicine feeders (3) mounted on the drawer shelf (2) that has been drawn out (as shown in Figure 1); and
when the remaining medicine collecting container detecting portion (microcomputer 97 detects which shelves are withdrawn and which shelves remain in the housing 7 by detecting the position of solenoid 43) detects that the remaining medicine collecting container (hopper 54) is mounted to the one or more general-purpose medicine feeders (mounted within the housing 7 and not pulled out of the housing) mounted on the drawer shelf (2) that has been drawn out when the drawn state detecting portion detects (detection of position of member 43) that the drawer shelf (2) is drawn out forward (as shown in Figure 1).
Ishiwatari does not disclose the control portion causes the applicable general-purpose medicine feeders to execute remaining medicine discharge operation.
Yuyama discloses a medicine delivering device (5; Figure 2) wherein the control portion causes the applicable general-purpose medicine feeders to execute remaining medicine discharge operation (Moreover, even while the medicine cassette 13 of the sub medicine storage and take-out device 5 is performing dispensing operation, the door 40a of the main body 40 can be opened to replace the medicine cassette 13 located on the front surface, thus not requiring suspension of the dispensing operation; Col. 8 line 32-37).
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 Ishiwatari to include the control portion causes the applicable general-purpose medicine feeders to execute remaining medicine discharge operation as taught by Yuyama because remainder of the dispensing operation can commence while a portion of the tablet dispensers are inaccessible thus allowing the dispensing processes to continue while the dispenser is being reloaded.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2,10-17 and 3-9 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.
The claim 2 is allowable over the prior art of record because the teachings of the references taken as a whole do not show or render obvious the combination set forth, including:
wherein the control portion includes a medicine dispensation instruction receiving portion configured to receive a medicine dispensation instruction, and a remaining medicine collecting instruction receiving portion configured to receive a remaining medicine collecting instruction for instructing the plurality of general-purpose medicine feeders to release remaining medicines in a state of being drawn out forward; and when the drawn state detecting portion detects that the drawer shelf is drawn out forward and the remaining medicine collecting container detecting portion detects that the remaining medicine collecting container is mounted, the remaining medicine collecting instruction receiving portion causes the corresponding general-purpose medicine feeders to execute the remaining medicine discharge operation...
…in combination with the rest of the claim language is not taught or fairly suggested by the prior art.
The claim 3 is allowable over the prior art of record because the teachings of the references taken as a whole do not show or render obvious the combination set forth, including:
wherein the remaining medicine collecting container includes a plurality of remaining medicine collecting portions corresponding to all the general-purpose medicine feeders mounted on one of the drawer shelves…
…in combination with the rest of the claim language is not taught or fairly suggested by the prior art.
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