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.
Claim 3 is 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 3 recites the limitation "The air conditioner" in line 1. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. Suggested correction is to amend the phrase to recite “The respiratory muscle strengthening device.”
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Section 33(a) of the America Invents Act reads as follows:
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no patent may issue on a claim directed to or encompassing a human organism.
Claims 1-3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 and section 33(a) of the America Invents Act as being directed to or encompassing a human organism. See also Animals - Patentability, 1077 Off. Gaz. Pat. Office 24 (April 21, 1987) (indicating that human organisms are excluded from the scope of patentable subject matter under 35 U.S.C. 101).
Claim 1 recites among other limitations “a mask body surrounding at least a portion of the face of a user” which positively claims a human person in combination with the device.
Appropriate correction is required.
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.
Claims 1-2 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Danford (US PG Pub. No. 2013/0319420, Dec. 5, 2013) in view of Mauger et al (US PG Pub. No. 2021/0077762, effectively filed Sept. 12, 2019) (herein “Mauger”) and Gabriel (US Pat. No. 10,786,695, Sept. 29, 2020).
Regarding claim 1, Danford teaches a respiratory muscle strengthening device comprising: a mask body 10 (see Fig. 1 and 2 below) surrounding at least a portion of the face of a user; a pressure unit (i.e., air valve subassemblies 30,32,34, see Fig. 2 below and para. [0022]) provided on one side of the mask body 10 to control air inhaled from the outside of the mask body; band units (i.e., straps 18,20, see Fig. 2 below and para. [0021]) extending from both ends of the mask body 10 so that the mask body 10 comes into close contact with the face of the user)
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Danford is silent in explicitly teaching a sensor unit disposed on one side of the mask body to measure a respiration pattern of the user.
Mauger, however, in an analogous art of respiratory masks teaches a sensor unit disposed on a side of a mask body to measure a respiration pattern of the user.
(see Mauger, para. [0121] where one or more sensors monitor operation of the mask including pressure levels, air flow, respiratory rate and can include pressure sensors, flow sensors, breath
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the device of Danford to include a sensor unit disposed on one side of the mask body 10 as taught by Mauger in order to monitor operation of the mask including a user condition such as respiratory rate (see Mauger, para. [0121])
Danford is still silent in explicitly teaching a cover unit detachably coupled to one side of the mask body 10, wherein the cover unit comprises a filtering portion for filtering particles in the air.
Gabriel, however, in an analogous art of respiratory masks, teaches a cover unit 31 detachably coupled to one side of a mask body 27 (via snap mechanism 48, see Fig. 3 and 4 below and col. 5, lines 10-22), wherein the cover unit 31 comprises a filtering portion 46 for filtering particles in the air (see col. 5, lines 10-22).
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It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the device of Danford to include a cover unit 31 detachably coupled to one side of the mask body 10, wherein the cover unit 31 comprises a filtering portion 46 for filtering particles in the air as taught by Gabriel in order to filter solid particulates in the air (see Gabriel, col. 5, lines 15-22).
Regarding claim 2, as broadly interpreted, Danford teaches wherein the pressure unit 30,32,34 flows air inhaled from the outside of the mask body when a user inhales air at pressure exceeding a predetermined pressure value (see Fig. 6 below and para. [0027], when a user inhales at a pressure value, a diaphragm 64 flexes inward for air flow), and blocks the air inhaled from the outside of the mask body when the user inhales air at pressure lower than the predetermined pressure value (i.e., diaphragm is sealed in un-deflected condition shown in Fig. 5, if the inspiratory pressure by the user is not sufficient to deflect the diaphragm 64).
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Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 3 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 USC 101 and 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.
Regarding claim 3, none of the prior art either alone or in combination teach or suggest all the limitations of the preceding and intervening claims and further reciting wherein the sensor unit comprises: a fixing portion for fixing the pressure unit and the sensor unit; and a coupling groove for coupling the fixing portion to the mask body.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANDREW S LO whose telephone number is (571)270-1702. The examiner can normally be reached Mon. - Fri. (9:30 am - 5:30 pm EST).
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, LoAn Jimenez can be reached at (571) 272-4966. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ANDREW S LO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3784