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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant's election with traverse of Group I Species B and X in the reply filed on June 26, 2026, is acknowledged. The traversal is on the ground(s) that Fig. 8 does not include collar 930. The Examiner agrees that this was an oversight or typographical error. Figure 8 is, therefore, not part of Species B and will not be examined. Species B includes collar 930 and Figs. 9-12, not 8-12.
Claims 1, 2, and 6 read on the species and are addressed on the merits below.
The requirement is still deemed proper and is therefore made FINAL.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1, 2, and 6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102a1/a2 as being anticipated by Kimura et al. (US 5,695,448).
Regarding Claim 1, Kimura discloses:
A cleaning device for an imaging instrument, the cleaning device comprising:
a tubular member (211) sized to receive a shaft of an imaging instrument (see Fig. 37 showing 224 inserted into 211);
a collar (222) configured to be coupled to the shaft of the imaging instrument (see Fig. 37 showing the collar coupled or attached to the shaft of the scope 224);
a collar latching element (215) movably coupled to the tubular member (215 is a push tab that moves relative to tube 211); and
a tubular member anti-rotation feature (221) configured to fix a relative rotational orientation between the tubular member and the collar (220 receives 217 to prevent rotation between 211 and 222).
Regarding Claim 2, Kimura further discloses wherein: the anti-rotation feature comprises a first feature on the tubular member (220); the collar comprises a second feature (217); and the first feature is configured to engage the second feature (see Fig. 37 showing 220 engaging with 217).
Regarding Claim 6, Kimura further discloses wherein: the collar comprises a retention feature (218 being the grooves of 217); the shaft comprises a dimple (end of 220); and the retention feature comprises a protrusion configured to be received in the dimple (see Fig. 37 showing how the protrusions of 217 receive the dimple or end of 220).
Conclusion
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/TIMOTHY J NEAL/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3795
