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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
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 1-3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Moubayed et al (US 6164921).
Regarding claim 1, Moubayed discloses:
An infusion device (10; Fig. 1), comprising: a peristaltic pump (10; Fig. 7) being used to transport a fluid in an infusion tube (88; Fig. 9); a gear set (36; Fig. 4) being connected to the peristaltic pump (10); an optical encoder (62/68; Fig. 5) connected to the gear set (36) (Col. 10:1-3); a motor (42) connected to the gear set (36), wherein the motor (42) is used to output power to drive the peristaltic pump (10), such that the peristaltic pump (10) squeezes the infusion tube (88) to transport the fluid (Fig. 7) (Col. 9:1-22), and the optical encoder (62/68) is driven by the motor (42) to operate synchronously with the peristaltic pump (10); and a control module (130; Fig. 17) electrically connected to the motor (42) and the optical encoder (62/68), wherein the optical encoder (62/68) is used to detect a rotational speed of the motor (42) (Col. 10:17-27; Col. 16:2-10), the control module (130) detects a flow rate of the fluid in the infusion tube based on the rotational speed (Col. 16:2-10), and the control module (130) controls the rotational speed to change a peristaltic frequency of the peristaltic pump (10) squeezing the infusion tube (88) to adjust the flow rate (Col. 16:2-18).
Regarding claim 2, Moubayed discloses:
The infusion device according to claim 1, wherein the optical encoder (62/68) includes at least one light-emitting element (64; Col. 10:4-7), at least one light-receiving element (66), a grating plate (70), and a connecting rod (38), the connecting rod (38) is connected to the grating plate (70) and the motor (42), the grating plate (70) is driven by the motor (42) and rotates relative to the connecting rod (38), a rotational speed of the grating plate (70) is same as the peristaltic frequency of the peristaltic pump (10) (Col. 10:20-27), and the at least one light-emitting element (64) and the at least one light-receiving element (66) are respectively disposed at both sides of the grating plate (70) (Fig. 5 – the arms 70 interrupt the light L as they rotate).
Regarding claim 3, Moubayed discloses:
The infusion device according to claim 2, wherein a rotation range of the grating plate (70) is divided into a first part and a second part (light-blocking arms versus light passing gaps), the first part (gaps between arms 70) is light-permeable, and the second part (70) is opaque (Col. 10:17-20); wherein, when a light emitted by the at least one light-emitting element (64) passes through the first part and is received by the at least one light-receiving element (66), the motor (42) drives the peristaltic pump (10) at a fixed rotational speed to keep the fluid flowing in the infusion tube (88) at a fixed flow rate (Col. 16:2-18); wherein, when the light emitted by the at least one light-emitting element (64) is blocked by the second part (70) and unable to be received by the at least one light-receiving element (66) (Col. 10:17-20), the control module (130) is used to control the rotational speed of the motor to increase the flow rate in the infusion tube (88) (Col. 16:2-10).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4-10 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
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TASNIM M AHMED whose telephone number is (571)272-9536. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9am-5pm Pacific time.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Bhisma Mehta can be reached at (571)272-3383. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/TASNIM MEHJABIN AHMED/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3783
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