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
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.
Claim(s) 1 and 3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102 (a)(1) as being anticipated by Ingon (US 2014/0343481)
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Regarding claim 1, Ingon teaches a handpiece tip for refrigerant injection of an RF high frequency device for skin treatment, the handpiece tip comprising:
a skin adsorption assembly (Figs. 1-2, Refer to paragraph [0028] “In some embodiments, one or more suction conduits 342 can provide suction 378 to assist in pulling the skin 180 onto the needles 366 and removing waste and/or excess fluids from the skin and/or the treatment surface”) configured such that a step (step formed between 164 and 162, See Figure 6A) is formed along an outer circumferential surface of a lower end of a body portion of the handpiece tip and a hollow space (space formed in the inner wall of 264, See Figure 6A) is formed in the step; and a refrigerant-for-local-anesthesia injector (366) including a refrigerant injection nozzle (344/374) provided at an inner surface of the step of the skin adsorption assembly
the refrigerant injection nozzle (exit of the single delivery conduit pointed by 374 to 344) being capable to inject a refrigerant for local anesthesia in a plane direction (See Paragraph [0028]), the injection nozzle (374/344) in an elbow shape (374 forms an L shaped elbow between sections 374 and 344, See annotated Figure 6A).
Regarding claim 3, Ingon teaches the elbow shaped refrigerant injection nozzle has an L-shaped elbow structure (see annotated Figure 6A).
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) 2 and 4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ingon in view of Bahrami et al. (US 20120265064) hereinafter Bahrami.
Regarding claim 2, Ingon teaches the refrigerant-for-local-anesthesia injector further comprises:
a refrigerant-for-local-anesthesia storage (Container, Refer to paragraph [0032]) capable to store the refrigerant for local anesthesia; and
a refrigerant fluid source (124) configured to send the refrigerant for local anesthesia to a refrigerant injection connection pipe (pipe184, Figure 1) located at one side of the body portion of the handpiece tip, wherein the refrigerant injection connection pipe is configured to transmit the refrigerant for local anesthesia to the elbow shaped refrigerant injection nozzle, and wherein the elbow shaped refrigerant injection nozzle is configured to inject the refrigerant for local anesthesia received from the refrigerant injection connection pipe in the plane direction (see figure 6A).
Ingon fails to explicitly teach the fluid source is a refrigerant suction pump to send the refrigerant for local anesthesia to a refrigerant injection connection pipe.
Bahrami teaches an injector with a fluid source comprising a pump (Refer to paragraph [0081]). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to use a fluid source comprising a pump as the fluid source of Ingon to deliver the refrigerant to the refrigerant injection pipe and injection site.
Regarding claim 4, Ingon teaches the elbow shaped refrigerant injection nozzle is configured such that the refrigerant for local anesthesia is received from the refrigerant injection connection pipe (184) in a coaxial direction with respect to the refrigerant injection connection pipe (184), a direction of the refrigerant for local anesthesia is changed by a guide inclination angle (angle formed by 374 and 344), and the refrigerant for local anesthesia is injected in a direction toward a skin adsorption assembly.
Conclusion
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EDELMIRA BOSQUES
Supervisory Patent Examiner
Art Unit 3762
/EDELMIRA BOSQUES/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3772
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