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 § 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.
Claims 1, 2, 6, and 7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 5125891 (Hossain hereinafter) in view of US 2012/0232469 (Medina hereinafter).
Regarding claim 1, Hossain teaches a pump system with a disposable pump cartridge (Figure 1) that discloses inserting a cartridge into a base including a motor (Cartridge 50 as inserted onto base 10 and secured by 16/18), the cartridge being shaped to define a stator and a port in fluidic communication with the stator (Stator 100 as seen in Figures 5 and 8 with ports allowing fluid to travel within tubing 58 per Figure 6), and including a rotor disposed, respectively, within the stator (Rotor being the pump head 12 with rollers 14 to interact with the tubing 58 and the stator 100); activating the motor to rotate the rotor, respectively, thereby pumping fluid through the port (Column 4 Lines 8-11); and removing the cartridge from the base (Inherent of a cassette pump shown in Figure 1).
Hossain is silent with respect to the use of two stators, two ports, two motors, and two rotors.
However, Medina teaches a pump system with a cassette that discloses the use of two adjacent motor driven pumps to provide a fluid flow to and from a downstream application (Motors driving the shafts 136A/136B in Figure 2 with ¶ 95) featuring two ports (Ports connecting to the patient and to the disposal per ¶ 94) and two rotors wherein activating the motors to rotate the rotors (¶ 95 and 105), respectively, thereby pumping fluid through the pairs of ports (Figures 9A-9B with ¶ 105). The resultant combination would duplicate the pumping system of Hossain such that there would be two motors, the cartridge being shaped to define two stators and respective pairs of ports in fluidic communication with the stators, and including two rotors disposed, respectively, within the stators; activating the motors to rotate the rotors, respectively, thereby pumping fluid through the pairs of ports; and removing the cartridge from the base.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to duplicate the pump arrangement of Hossain with the teachings of Medina to allow for increased fluid flow to the downstream application.
Regarding claim 2, Hossain’s modified teachings are described above in claim 1 where the combination of Hossain and Medina would further disclose that subsequently to removing the cartridge from the base, disposing of the cartridge (Inherent to dispose of a one-time use cartridge).
Regarding claim 6, Hossain’s modified teachings are described above in claim 1 where the combination of Hossain and Medina would further disclose that the base is shaped to define a slot (Slot in base 10 of Hossain for cartridge 50), and wherein inserting the cartridge into the base comprises inserting the cartridge into the base by sliding the base through the slot (Evident of Figure 1 of Hossain).
Regarding claim 7, Hossain’s modified teachings are described above in claim 1 where the combination of Hossain and Medina would further disclose locking the cartridge in place by inserting the cartridge (Clamp of 16/18 of Hossain); and prior to removing the cartridge from the base, unlocking the cartridge (Inherent step of assembly and disassembly of Hossain).
Claims 3-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 5125891 (Hossain) in view of US 2012/0232469 (Medina) and further in view of US 10219940 (Rainey hereinafter).
Regarding claim 3, Hossain’s modified teachings are described above in claim 1 where Hossain further discloses activating the motors comprises: causing a second one of the motors to pump the fluid, together with debris, from the distal end of the probe to a collection container through a second one of the pairs of ports (Motor driving the pump head 12 of Hossain pulls a vacuum to dispel fluid towards a drain bag as seen in Figure 2 of Hossain).
Hossain is silent with respect to causing a first one of the motors to pump the fluid from a reservoir to a distal end of a probe through a first one of the pairs of ports.
However, Rainey teaches pump system for ophthalmic procedures that discloses providing a pump to assist in supplying fluid from a reservoir to a surgical tool (Column 7 Lines 1-17, particularly Lines 14-17). The resultant combination would allow for one of the motors and pumps of Hossain to be used to supply fluid from a reservoir.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the fluid pathing of Hossain with the teachings of Rainey to allow for assisted delivery of the irrigation flow to the patient.
Regarding claim 4, Hossain’s modified teachings are described above in claim 3 where the combination of Hossain, Medina, and Rainey would further disclose that the fluid includes a balanced salt solution (Rainey Column 9 Lines 15-20 disclosing that the irrigation bottle 112 is a balance saline solution which is equivalent to the irrigation source 46).
Regarding claim 5, Hossain’s modified teachings are described above in claim 3 where the combination of Hossain, Medina, and Rainey would further disclose activating the motors comprises causing the motors to rotate the rotors while the probe is used to perform a phacoemulsification of a lens of an eye, and wherein the debris includes pieces of the lens (Inherent of the irrigation/aspiration pump arrangement of Hossain and Rainey where the first motor will supply the irrigation liquid (BSS) to the surgical tool and the eye while the second motor will pump out the fluid/debris from the eye).
Claims 8 and 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 5125891 (Hossain) in view of US 2012/0232469 (Medina) and further in view of US 2005/0118048 (Trax hereinafter).
Regarding claim 8, Hossain’s modified teachings are described above in claim 7 but are silent with respect that the base includes a button, and wherein unlocking the cartridge comprises pushing the button.
However, Trax teaches a cassette pump that discloses a base that includes a button, and wherein unlocking the cartridge comprises pushing the button (¶ 54 with Figure 11).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the manual level lock of Hossain with the button of Trax to increase the ease of removing the cassette from the base.
Regarding claim 9, Hossain’s modified teachings are described above in claim 8 where the combination of Hossain, Medina, and Trax would further disclose that the cartridge is locked in place by a locking element that fits into an aperture in the cartridge (Trax 2 54 with Figure 11), and wherein unlocking the cartridge comprises pushing the button such that the button pushes the locking element from the aperture (Trax ¶ 54 and Figure 11).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 10-12 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.
Claim 10 requires “wherein the base includes: two non-circular shafts coupled with the motors, respectively, such that the shafts are rotatable by the motors, two second connectors, each of which has the non-circular shape, slidably disposed over the shafts, respectively, such that the second connectors are rotatable with the shafts, and two springs slidably disposed over the shafts, respectively, the springs being configured to couple the shafts with the rotors by pushing the second connectors toward the first connectors such that, upon the second connectors rotating into alignment with the first connectors, the second connectors mate with the first connectors.” This limitation would require extensive modifications to the Hossain reference as presented with Medina in claim 1 above. These modifications would not be seen as obvious to the Examiner and therefore claims 10-12 are objected to as allowable over the prior art.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CONNOR J. TREMARCHE whose telephone number is (571)272-2175. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Thursday 0700-1700 Eastern.
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/CONNOR J TREMARCHE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3762
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