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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 1 is indefinite because of the phrase “inserted/coupled.” The term “inserted” is narrower than the term “coupled”; therefore, treating the diagnostic test kit as either inserted or coupled to one side of the urine container does not give equivalent or interchangeable interpretations. The “/” conveys that the two words are roughly the same or equivalents and can be used interchangeably, but the words lead to different interpretations and it is unclear how the Applicant intends to claim the test kit.
Claims 2, 9, and 10 contains the trademark/trade name Velcro. Where a trademark or trade name is used in a claim as a limitation to identify or describe a particular material or product, the claim does not comply with the requirements of 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph. See Ex parte Simpson, 218 USPQ 1020 (Bd. App. 1982). The claim scope is uncertain since the trademark or trade name cannot be used properly to identify any particular material or product. A trademark or trade name is used to identify a source of goods, and not the goods themselves. Thus, a trademark or trade name does not identify or describe the goods associated with the trademark or trade name. In the present case, the trademark/trade name is used to identify/describe hook and loop fasteners and, accordingly, the identification/description is indefinite.
Claims 3-8 are rejected for being dependent from claim 1 and subsequently incorporating said indefinite subject matter of claim 1.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-10 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance: there is no art alone or in combination that discloses a body-worn urinal for female patients comprising a cup, a connecting adapter a urine collecting tube, a urine discharge tube; wherein the body-worn urinal has a far-infrared sterilizer mounted through one end of an upper side of the collecting tube. Further, there is a diagnostic test kit on a side of the urine container. The closest prior art is discussed below.
Lee (KR 20210022892 A) discloses a female body urinal with a urination cup that fits tightly against the user’s body and a collecting pipe with a connector that connects the cup to the fluid conduit. The urinal of Lee similarly leads to a collection container to temporarily store the urine. However, the device of Lee does not disclose a far-infrared sterilizer mounted through one end of the upper side of a urine collecting tube. Further, Lee does not disclose a diagnostic test kit located at one side of the urine container.
Burnett (US 20190343445 A1) discloses a urinary catheter with a conduit that leads to an analysis system. Burnett teaches a UV lamp that is installed in the collection chamber of the system. Combining Burnett with Lee does not cure all of the deficiencies because Burnett does not each a far-infrared sterilizer, and the location of the UV lamp is not where the claim language requires it to be. The UV lamp of Burnett is not mounted through one end of the upper side of the urine collecting tube, and it would not have been obvious to first modify the lamp of Burnett to shine far-infrared light and then to move the location such that the lamp can protrude through the device of Lee.
Claims 2-10 are indicated as allowable due to the nature of their dependence on claim 1.
Any comments considered necessary by applicant must be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee. Such submissions should be clearly labeled “Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance.”
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ERIN A KIM whose telephone number is (703)756-4738. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 8:00 am - 5:00 pm (EST).
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/ERIN A KIM/Examiner, Art Unit 3781
/SUSAN S SU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3781 23 April 2026
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