DETAILED ACTION
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) 1, 5, 6, 9, 10, 11, 13, and 16-19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Michael R. Nguyen (US 2010/0076595 A1 – hereinafter Nguyen) in view of Eric Hilton (US 11,532,388 – hereinafter Hilton).
Re Claim 1:
Nguyen discloses a solid medication dispensing device, comprising a dispenser body (outer shell) comprising a body cover (201) (see paragraph [0031]), a baseplate (206) comprising a dispensing opening (opening for pills) (see paragraph [0032]), a medication carousel (267) including a plurality of solid medication holding chambers (297) (see paragraph [0035]), each configured to contain a single type of solid medication, the medication carousel (267) configured to be rotated relative to the dispensing opening (opening for pills), a controllable opening cover (207) configured to in a closed state block the dispensing opening (opening for pills) and thereby prevent a solid medication from exiting a solid medication holding chamber (297) and in an open state allow a solid medication to exit a solid medication holding chamber (297) (see Claim 19), and a dispensing distributor (225) disposed beneath the controllable opening cover (207); a removable storage compartment (229) (see paragraph [0038]); and a controller (253), wherein the dispensing distributor (225) is configured to direct solid medication from the dispensing opening (opening for pills) to the removable storage compartment (229); and the controller (253) is configured to control a rotation of the medication carousel (267) and an action of the controllable opening cover (207) during the dispensing action such that a solid medication output including one or more solid medications from one or more solid medication holding chambers (297) is provided to the removable storage compartment (229) (see paragraphs [0051-0062]) (see Figs. 1-3), but where if fails to specifically teach the medication carousel is configured to rotate to position a solid medication holding chamber above the dispensing opening to permit dispensing of solid medication from that solid medication holding chamber during a dispensing action.
Hilton teaches a medication carousel (at 6 – base of cartridge holder) is configured to rotate to position a solid medication holding chamber (7) above a dispensing opening (metered dose aperture) (“rotatable in order to align a chamber with the metered dose aperture”) to permit dispensing of solid medication from that solid medication holding chamber (7) during a dispensing action (see col. 7 lines 55 to 67) (see Figs. 1-3). Therefore, it would have been obvious, before the effective filing date of the invention, to have been motivated to combine the teachings of Nguyen with that of Hilton, to provide an alternative dispensing formation for a carousel device, allowing the product chambers to be switched between for dispensing from a specific chamber.
Further Re Claim 5:
Nguyen discloses an electronic user input device (150, 224, 260, 299) (see paragraphs [0016, 0028, 0041, and 0056]) configured to receive user input and provide instructions to the controller based on the user inputs.
Further Re Claims 6 and 18:
Nguyen discloses wherein the controller (253) is configured to receive an identity of a solid medication held in a solid medication holding chamber (see paragraphs [0016, 0032, 0055 and 0062]).
Further Re Claims 9 and 18:
Nguyen discloses wherein the controller (253) is configured to receive a dosage schedule of a solid medication held in a solid medication holding chamber (see paragraph [0016]).
Further Re Claims 10, 11, and 13:
Nguyen discloses wherein the controller (253) is configured to receive a receive a medication regimen and dispense one or more solid medications to the removable storage compartment based on the medication regimen (see paragraphs [0006, 0016, and 0056]) (Examiner notes that the dispenser is capable of dispensing all daily if the parameters are set as such, as the user is able to input what it wants the device to do, for example if only 1 pill is required for that day, then the device would dispense all of what is required for that day).
Further Re Claim 16:Nguyen discloses a portable electronic user device, wherein the solid medication dispensing device is configured to receive user input from the portable electronic user device to provide an instruction to the controller based on the user input (see paragraphs [0028 and 0056]).
Further Re Claims 17 and 18:
Nguyen discloses wherein the portable electronic user device is configured to provide an alert to a user (see paragraphs [0028, 0056, and 0062]).
Further Re Claim 19:
Nguyen discloses wherein the controller is configured to track a quantity of units of a solid medication held in a solid medication holding chamber and transmit to the portable electronic user device a low medication alert when the quantity is at a threshold value (see paragraphs [0017 and 0062]).
Claim(s) 2 and 14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nguyen in view of Hilton, and further in view of Patrick Townley (US 11,160,730 B2 – hereinafter Townley) and Greenspan et al. (US 2020/0234811 A1 – hereinafter Greenspan).
Re Claims 2 and 14:
Nguyen in view of Hilton discloses the device of claim 1, but fails to teach a filling distributor configured to receive a solid medication input and distribute the solid medication input to a solid medication holding chamber during a filling action, wherein the controller is configured to control to which solid medication hold chamber the solid medication input is distributed by controlling at least one selected from the group consisting of the filling distributor and the medication carousel.
Townley further in view teaches a filling distributor (104) configured to receive a solid medication input and distribute the solid medication input to a solid medication holding chamber (108) during a filling action, wherein a controller is configured to control to which solid medication hold chamber (108) the solid medication input is distributed by controlling at least one selected from the group consisting of the filling distributor and the medication carousel (106) (see col. 6 lines 3-15) (see Figs. 1-15). Therefore, it would have been obvious, before the effective filing date of the invention, to have been motivated to combine the teachings of Nguyen in view of Hilton, with that of Townley, to provide controlled filling of individual chambers so that product is distributed in proper containers without necessarily having to remove the chambers.
Greenspan further in view teaches distributing (by way of 920 and/or 934) solid medication input to a solid medication holding chamber (see Fig. 18) (see Figs. 1-32). Re Claim 14: Greenspan further in view teaches wherein a body cover (top wall) includes a filling opening (at 920) configured to allow a solid medication to be supplied to a filling distributor (by way of 920 and/or 934) (see Fig. 18). Therefore, it would have been obvious, before the effective filing date of the invention, to have been motivated to combine the teachings of Nguyen in view of Hilton, with that of Townley and Greenspan, to provide controlled filling of individual chambers, by way of alignment of outlet and inlets, so that product is distributed in proper containers without necessarily having to remove the chambers.
Claim(s) 3, 4, and 12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nguyen in view of Hilton, and further in view of Junyuan Chen (US D966,697 S – hereinafter Chen) and Gi Beom Gwon (US 10,196,212 B1 – hereinafter Gwon).
Re Claims 3, 4, and 12:
Nguyen in view of Hilton discloses the device of claim 1, but where if fails to specifically teach wherein the removable storage compartment comprises a plurality of sub-compartments and the dispensing distributor is configured to direct a first portion of the solid medication output to a first sub-compartment and a second portion of the solid medication output to a second sub-compartment (Examiner notes, however, that Nguyen discloses using pill organizers and trays (see paragraph [0038]).
Chen further in view teaches wherein a removable storage compartment comprises a plurality of sub-compartments (see Figs. 1-10). Therefore, it would have been obvious, before the effective filing date of the invention, to have been motivated to combine the teachings of Nguyen in view of Hilton, with that of Chen to provide a particular type of pill organizer/tray as known within the art and further suggested by Nguyen.
Gwon further in view teach a dispensing distributor (100) is configured to direct a first portion of a solid medication output to a first (container) and a second portion of the solid medication output to a second (container) (see col. 1 lines 24-29) (see Figs. 1-5c). Re Claim 4: Gwon further in view teaches wherein a controller is configured to control an orientation of the dispensing distributor (100) to direct a portion of the solid medication output to a (container) (see col. 1 lines 38-44). Therefore, it would have been obvious, before the effective filing date of the invention, to have been motivated to combine the teachings of Nguyen in view of Hilton, with that of Chen and Gwon, to distribute product into multiple containers/sub-compartments, thus, allowing for filling from a single location (chute) instead of having to have separate locations (chutes). With regards to Claim 12, Examiner notes that the combination would be capable of providing wherein the daily regimen is divided into one or more sub-regimens (Gwon teaches dispensing into one or more paths), each sub-regimen including at least one solid medication to be taken at a set time of day (Examiner notes that a recitation of the intended use of the claimed invention must result in a structural difference between the claimed invention and the prior art in order to patentably distinguish the claimed invention from the prior art; if the prior art structure is capable of performing the intended use, then it meets the claim) the removable storage compartment comprises a plurality of sub-compartments (Chen teaches a storage compartment with a plurality of sub-compartments); and each sub-regimen is dispensed to a different sub-compartment of the removable storage compartment (Gwion teaches dispensing to different containers). Therefore, it would have been obvious, before the effective filing date of the invention, to have been motivated to combine the teachings of Nguyen in view of Hilton, with that of Chen and Gwon, to distribute product into multiple containers/sub-compartments, thus, allowing for filling from a single location (chute) instead of having to have separate locations (chutes).
Claim(s) 7 and 8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nguyen in view of Hilton, and further in view Thomas Alston (US 2023/0130729 A1 – hereinafter Alston).
Re Claim 7:
Nguyen in view of Hilton discloses the device of claim 1, but fails to teach wherein the controller is configured to receive a size of a unit of a solid medication held in a solid medication holding chamber.
Alston further in view teaches wherein a controller is configured to receive a size of a unit of a solid medication held in a solid medication holding chamber (116) (see paragraph [0041], see Figs. 1-7). Therefore, it would have been obvious, before the effective filing date of the invention, to have been motivated to combine the teachings of Nguyen in view of Hilton, with that of Alston, to allow for a device to provide information to a controller about the type of pill within a chamber, so that proper operating parameters can be set based on the information.
Further Re Claim 8:
Nguyen discloses wherein the controller (253) is configured to adjust a position of the controllable opening cover (207) to allow only a single unit (gate 207 regulates flow of pills, and may be configured to operate with a maximum or a variable aperture – thus Examiner notes that gate is adjustable to regulate flow, which can be from no flow – 0 - to a number more than 0, 1 etc., as obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art) of the solid medication held in the solid medication holding chamber to be dispensed at a time during a dispensing action (see Figs. 1-3).
Claim(s) 15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nguyen in view of Hilton, Townley and Greenspan and further in view of Pavlik et al. (US 2007/0000935 A1 – hereinafter Pavlik).
Re Claim 15:
Nguyen in view of Hilton, Townley and Greenspan discloses the device of claim 14, but fails to teach wherein the body cover further comprises a blister pack opener.
Pavlick further in view teaches wherein a body cover further comprises a pack opener (188) (see Fig. 12). Therefore, it would have been obvious, before the effective filing date of the invention, to have been motivated to combine the teachings of Nguyen in view of Hilton, Townley and Greenspan with that of Pavlick to allow for cutting/opening of a strip or band of material. Examiner notes that “Expressions relating the apparatus to contents thereof during an intended operation are of no significance in determining patentability of the apparatus claim.” Ex parte Thibault, 164 USPQ 666, 667 (Bd. App. 1969). Furthermore, “[i]nclusion of material or article worked upon by a structure being claimed does not impart patentability to the claims.” In re Young, 75 F.2d *>996<, 25 USPQ 69 (CCPA 1935) (as restated in In re Otto, 312 F.2d 937, 136 USPQ 458, 459 (CCPA 1963)). Although the claims are interpreted in light of the specification, limitations from the specification are not read into the claims. See In re Van Geuns, 988 F.2d 1181, 26 USPQ2d 1057 (Fed. Cir. 1993).
Claim(s) 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nguyen in view of Hilton, and further in view of Albanawi et al. (US 2019/0328616 A1 – hereinafter Albanawi).
Re Claim 20:
Nguyen in view of Hilton discloses the device of claim 1, but where if fails to specifically teach wherein the portable electronic user device is configured to transmit to the controller a dispensing signal that causes the controller to initiate a dispensing action.
Albanawi further in view teaches wherein a portable electronic user device is configured to transmit to a controller a dispensing signal that causes the controller to initiate a dispensing action (see paragraph [0047]). Therefore, it would have been obvious, before the effective filing date of the invention, to have been motivated to combine the teachings of Nguyen in view of Hilton, with that of Albanawi, to allow a patient to dispense a product remotely when needed.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Hae Tae Jung (US 2024/0173210 A1 ) – shows a dispenser with chute combination that is able to divert product to different containers when dispensing.
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/K.L.R/Examiner, Art Unit 3651
/GENE O CRAWFORD/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3651
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