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.
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 plurality of locking holes 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.
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 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Tan et al. (CN112274307).
With respect to claim 1, Tan et al. discloses a medical walking boot (1000) comprising a boot body (30) and a toes shield (40, 20); the toes shield is removably connected (by means of 401) with the boot body (see figures 5-6).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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) 3-4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tan et al. in view of Romo et al. (10,993,826).
Tan et al. substantially discloses the invention, please see above; Tan et al. also discloses an inflatable cushion (304) is provided inside the boot body (see figure 6) and an air discharging valve (1001) is provided (see figure 6).
Tan et al. does specifically disclose inflating pumps on both sides of the boot body. However, Romo et al. teaches the boot body is provided with inflating pump (603) to inflate the inflatable cushion (607). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the apparatus of Tan et al. to have inflating pump over the boot body to inflate the inflatable cushion as taught by Romo et al. to provide easily available pump over the boot body to inflate cushion; further to have this pumps placed on both sides of boot body as required by the claim as it would have been an obvious matter of design choice to modify as merely a matter of engineering design choice, and thus does not serve to patentably distinguish the claimed invention over the prior art. See In re Kuhle, 526 F.2d.553, 188USPQ7 (CCPA 1975).
Allowable Subject Matter
As allowable subject matter has been indicated, applicant's reply must either comply with all formal requirements or specifically traverse each requirement not complied with. See 37 CFR 1.111(b) and MPEP § 707.07(a).
Claims 2 and 5-6 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.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance:
With respect to claim 2, the subject matter of the independent claims could either not be found or was not suggested in the prior art of record. The subject matter not found was the boot body comprises a plurality of locking holes arranged in at least one row where each row comprise more than one of said plurality of locking holes and where each row is arranged linearly along a direction from a rear end of the boot body towards a front end of the boot body; said at least one locking stud is locked to at least one of said plurality of locking holes so that the toes shield is fixedly mounted to the boot body, in combination with the other elements (or steps) of the apparatus and method recited in the claims.
With respect to claims 5-6, the subject matter of the independent claims could either not be found or was not suggested in the prior art of record. The subject matter not found was a tightening device is provided between the boot body and each of two ends of the rear strap to loosen or tighten the rear strap; wherein each tightening device comprises locking protrusions fixed to the boot body and a plurality of adjustment holes provided on a corresponding end of the two ends of the rear strap; by locking the locking protrusions to different adjustment holes, the rear strap is loosen or tightened, in combination with the other elements (or steps) of the apparatus and method recited in the claims.
Conclusion
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/TARLA R PATEL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3786