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
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.
1. Claims 1, and 5-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Milam (US6186957) in view of Burnett (US20060089627).
With respect to claim 1 Milam discloses a stethoscope cover comprising:
An elongated neck portion (12), said elongated neck portion comprising an opening at a proximal end thereof();
A head (20) disposed at a terminal end portion of said elongated neck portion, said head configured to accommodate a chest piece (26) of the stethoscope;
And a cord disposed within or positioned inside of the elongated neck portion (see loops 52).
Burnett discloses the use of a rip rip cord in a disposable sanitary cover of a medical device (para 10).
It would have been obvious to combine the use of a rip cord to destroy the device in the removing with the pull cords of Milam to remove the cover from the stethoscope to insure the used and thus dirty cover is never reused, thus preventing contamination.
With respect to claim 5 Milam as modified further discloses wherein said rip cord extends from said opening to said head (as is seen in Milam the cord starts at the opening, and given the description of Burnett one would have found it obvious to continue the rip cord per se to the head so as to allow for full removal of the device by means of the ripcord. This would allow the removal without leaving a section intact.
With respect to claim 6 Milam as modified further discloses wherein said rip cord extends at least from said opening (see position of loops 52), regarding the termination at the head such a location would allow for full removal and would be only a selection of the length of the cord.
With respect to claim 7 Milam as modified further discloses wherein said rip cord comprises a pull tab (that is to say the loops 52) extending beyond said opening of said elongated neck portion.
With respect to claims 8 and 9, as it regards embedding or adhering to the structure, as the device of Milam as modified (see again para 10 of Burnett) is structure for the rip cord to cut the material the use of any attachment means including embedding or adhesives to provide for the necessary connection would have been an obvious matter to one of ordinary skill in the art. The use of adhesives allows for the use of less of the plastic material, while the use of embedding requires the use of only the plastic material and no other materials. Such would be understood by one of skill in the rat and obvious means of accomplishing the connection to allow the function of the rip cord.
With respect to claim 10 as it regards the placement of the pull tab extending from said head of said stethoscope, this would have been an obvious matter of rearranging the parts of the device, the unction would remain unchanged and as such would have been an obvious variation. It has been held that rearranging parts of an invention involves only routine skill in the art. In re Japikse, 86 USPQ 70.
With respect to claim 11 Milam as modified further discloses (see figures of Milam) wherein said head comprises a flat portion that is positioned to accommodate a diaphragm of a chest piece of a stethoscope when a stethoscope is disposed within said stethoscope cover and wherein said head comprises dimensions that accommodate a chest piece of the stethoscope.
With respect to claim 12 as it regards the specified position of the rip cord, this would have been an obvious matter of rearrangement of the parts to select and area of easy access to the suer. Further it has been held that rearranging parts of an invention involves only routine skill in the art. In re Japikse, 86 USPQ 70.
With respect to claim 13 Milam as modified further discloses (see thickened portion of the cover as taught by Burnett) a lip formed around said opening.
With respect to claim 14 Milam as modified further discloses wherein said proximate end of said elongated neck portion is flared such that said opening comprises a diameter that is larger than a diameter of the rest of the elongated neck portion (see Milam figure 2).
With respect to claim 15 Milam as modified further discloses a method of preserving sterility of a stethoscope, the method comprising:
Disposing a stethoscope at least partially within a cover such that a chest piece of the stethoscope is positioned within a head of the cover and such that at least a portion of tubing of the stethoscope if disposed within a neck portion of the cover (see Milam)
Pressing the head of the cover, having the chest piece disposed therein, against a patient to perform an auscultation (conventional use of the stethoscope see also Milam);
After the auscultation pulling a rip cord (see Milam for pulling a cord for removal of the cover, see Burnett para 10 regarding a ripcord per se) such that the rip cord tears or otherwise cuts through at least a portion of the cover (Burnett) to facilitate removal of the at least a portion of the stethoscope from the cover; and
Removing the cover from the stethoscope (see again Mialm).
With respect to claim 16 Milam as modified further discloses wherein pulling a rip cord comprises a user grasping a pull tab and pulling the pull tab to pull the rip cord (see loops 52 of Milam regarding the grasping, see para 10 of Burnett regarding the rip cord cutting action).
With respect to claim 17 Milam as modified further discloses the step of disposing of the cover after the removing step (Milam column 4 lines 40-45).
With respect to claim 18 Milam as modified discloses (see column 4) the steps of covering the stethoscope and disposing of the cover after use, there is implicitly the teachings of covering the stethoscope again for the next use thereof. One of ordinary skill in the art would have found this teachings to be implicit and such a step obvious based upon the skill in the art of medical examination which has such precautions for gloves and other protective devices.
With respect to claims 19 and Milam as modified further discloses the use of the rip cord and the pulling thereof in the direction which allows for the rip cord to cut, the chosen directions of toward the top or away from the top would have been obvious variations based upon the placement of the loops for grasping which would be obvious variations of one another. It has been held that rearranging parts of an invention involves only routine skill in the art. In re Japikse, 86 USPQ 70.
2. Claims 2-4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Milam (US6186957) in view of Burnett (US20060089627) as applied to claim 1 above and in further view of Earnest (US5623131).
With respect to claim 2 Milam as modified by Burnett discloses the invention as claimed except expressly the use of a tensioning band defining a proximate end of said head.
Earnest (embodiment of figure 5) discloses the use of a tensioning band (22) to define the head of a cover for a stethoscope.
It would have been an obvious matter to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine the teachings of Earnest to use a tensioning band to secure the cover to the stethoscope and define the head portion of the cover with the device of Milam as modified so as to provide a stable and secure connection thus allowing better control of the stethoscope.
With respect to claim 3 Milam as modified further discloses wherein said tension band delineates a transition between said head and said elongated neck portion (see again embodiment of figure 5 of Earnest).
With respect to claim 4 Milam as modified further discloses wherein said tension band comprises a thickness that is greater than a thickness of said head (that is to say as can be seen from the figures of Earnest that the over which includes the elastic band is thicker overall than the other portions of the cover).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Behnke (US9943285) discloses a disposable isolation cover for stethoscope; Deporto (US20160045266) discloses a stethoscope cover; Fong (US201301341223) discloses a stethoscope cover; Brown (US20050257996) discloses a disposable stethoscope cover which includes a tensioning band and a pull tab; Weckerle (US5747751) discloses a disposable cover for stethoscope; and Eddy (US5592946) discloses a stethoscope cover.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to FORREST M PHILLIPS whose telephone number is (571)272-9020. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday from 9:00-5:00.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Dedei Hammond can be reached at (571) 272-3985. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/FORREST M PHILLIPS/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2837
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