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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments regarding Hatsuno have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Applicant argues that the cited posture adjustment part does not extend from the insertion guidance piece 36. The Examiner would note that the best view of the cited portion can be seen in Fig. 5, in which it is quite clear that the cited portion for the posture adjustment part is in fact attached to 36, and is not as shown in the Applicant’s argument drawing. Proof of this is further indicated as it is clear the item 46 is a crosspiece between 33 and 34, thus indicating that the cited portion is not in fact in the location indicated by the Applicant.
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, 4 and 7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Hatsuno, US 7334700.
Regarding claim 1, Hatsuno discloses: A drug supply apparatus (Fig. 1, medicine supplying apparatus 1) that packages a drug with packaging paper (Col. 6, line 14, “The package paper 22 wound around the roll 21 has a substantially V-shaped section whose upper surface is opened and which is folded (half folded) by the lower end”) that is conveyed from an upstream side to a downstream side, the packaging paper being folded in half with an opening on an upper side (Col. 6, line 14, “The package paper 22 wound around the roll 21 has a substantially V-shaped section whose upper surface is opened and which is folded (half folded) by the lower end”), the drug supply apparatus comprising:
A nozzle (Figs. 3-11, nozzle 24) that dispenses the drug into the packaging paper, the packaging paper including a sealed part where the packaging paper is sealed on the downstream side (Col. 6, line 23, “the package paper 22 is comparted every pack by the thermal fusion by the thermal seal head 26. The package paper 22 comparted into each pack is next cut by the cutter 29,”), wherein
the nozzle includes: an insertion guidance piece (Fig. 5, paper guide 36) that protrudes downward and positions a folded part of a lower end of the packaging paper in a state of being inserted in the packaging paper from the opening on the upper side, and
a posture adjustment part (Fig. 4, narrow portion 33) that guides to inside of the packaging paper the drug to be dispensed, and causes the drug to stand while shifting the drug toward the sealed part side in the packaging paper (Col. 6, line 34 discloses that the portion 33 narrows the passage as that is performed in the current application. This feature would cause the pill to be oriented correctly, as it could not pass through the narrow passage in any other form factor; “An outlet portion of a tip (lower end) of the nozzle is formed into a narrow portion 33 whose rear wall is brought forwards in a stair form in such a manner that a forward/backward dimension of the outlet portion is smaller than that of an upper end on an inlet side. The lower end of the narrow portion 33 opens as an outlet 34A of a medicine falling passage 34 constituted in the nozzle 24. “, further see Examiner Illustration 1 – these parts are exactly the same, in the same place), the posture adjustment part being provided on the downstream side of the insertion guidance piece (see Figs. 4-5).
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Examiner Illustration 1
Regarding claim 2, Hatsuno further discloses: the posture adjustment part causes the drug to stand in a posture inclined to the downstream side with respect to a vertical direction (As seen in Figs. 2-3, the entire nozzle/paper packaging assembly is angled towards the downstream direction. As such, the upright pill would naturally lean forward due to gravity action upon it) .
Regarding claim 4, Hatsuno further discloses: the posture adjustment part is provided integrally with the insertion guidance piece (see Figs. 4-5).
Regarding claim 7, Hatsuno further discloses: the packaging paper is conveyed from the upstream side to the downstream side in a posture tilted more toward the downstream side than a vertical direction (see Fig. 3).
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.
Claim 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hatsuno.
Regarding claim 3, Hatsuno discloses the device of claim 1.
Hatsuno does not explicitly disclose: a length in a conveyance direction from an end part of the posture adjustment part on the downstream side to the sealed part is 15.2mm or more.
It would have been an obvious matter of design choice to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to select an appropriate spacing between the posture adjustment part and the sealed part as a matter of common sense, as this part MUST correlate to the appropriate size of the pills that are being dispensed. Too big and the pills would not stand upright and would fall through in any form factor, while too small and the pill would get stuck. As such, as a matter of common sense, the spacing must fall into a “Goldilocks Zone” – not too big, not too small. The current application applies the same logic in [0044], describing the relationship between the pill size and the opening.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DANIEL JEREMY LEEDS whose telephone number is (571)272-2095. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Thurs, 0730-1730.
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/DANIEL JEREMY LEEDS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3731