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, 5-7 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Knoth (US 8,863,480) in view of Knoth et al. (US 7,886,506).
Claim 1, Knoth discloses a drug dispensing device in which a plurality of mounting parts (20,250), on which a plurality of tablet cassettes (30,100) is mounted respectively, are arranged, and tablets are packaged (blister packaging configuration) by being discharged from the plurality of tablet cassettes (30,100) through a tablet discharge passage (canister 30,100 inherently has a discharge passage) of the mounting parts to a tablet dropping passage (canister 30,100 inherently has a dropping passage), the drug dispensing device comprising: a detachable tablet receptacle (40) that receives the tablets discharged to the tablet discharge passage (canister 30,100 inherently has a discharge passage); wherein the tablet receptacle (40) is configured to receive the tablets discharged from the tablet cassette (30,100) mounted on the mounting part located above the tablet receptacle (40).
Knoth does not explicitly disclose wherein a first opening for discharging tablets from the tablet cassette mounted on the mounting part through the tablet discharge passage to the tablet dropping passage, and a second opening for receiving the tablets from the tablet dropping passage into the tablet receptacle are formed in the tablet dropping passage, the tablets passing through the first opening, falling along the tablet dropping passage, and entering the tablet receptacle through the second opening.
Knoth (US 7,886,506) discloses tablets discharged from the plurality of tablet cassettes (50) through a tablet discharge passage (56) to a tablet dropping passage (54), a detachable tablet receptacle (33) that receives the tablets discharged to the tablet discharge passage (top opening of 56), wherein a first opening (top opening of 56) for discharging tablets from the tablet cassette (50) mounted on the mounting part through the tablet discharge passage (56) to the tablet dropping passage (54), and a second opening (fig.3; bottom opening of 54 that allow pills to drop into 33) for receiving the tablets from the tablet dropping passage (54) into the tablet receptacle (33) are formed in the tablet dropping passage (54), the tablets passing through the first opening (top opening of 56), falling along the tablet dropping passage (54), and entering the tablet receptacle (33) through the second opening (fig.3; bottom opening of 54 that allow pills to drop into 33). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to provide the device of Knoth with tablets discharged from the plurality of tablet cassettes through a tablet discharge passage to a tablet dropping passage, a detachable tablet receptacle that receives the tablets discharged to the tablet discharge passage, wherein a first opening for discharging tablets from the tablet cassette mounted on the mounting part through the tablet discharge passage to the tablet dropping passage, and a second opening for receiving the tablets from the tablet dropping passage into the tablet receptacle are formed in the tablet dropping passage, the tablets passing through the first opening, falling along the tablet dropping passage, and entering the tablet receptacle through the second opening because it's a widely known configuration in the art for automatically filling prescriptions via canisters.
Claim 5, Knoth discloses wherein the tablet receptacle (40) is mounted on any one of the mounting parts (20,250) by being replaced with the tablet cassette (30,100).
Claim 6, Knoth discloses wherein a plurality of the tablet receptacles (40) is respectively mounted (fig.1), and each of the tablet receptacles (40) is configured to simultaneously receive the tablets in the tablet cassette (30,100) mounted on the mounting part (20,250) located above the tablet receptacle (40).
Claim 7, Knoth discloses wherein the mounting parts (20,250) in a plurality of stages are provided in a plurality of rows (fig.1), the tablet receptacles (40) are respectively mounted near the mounting parts (250) in the plurality of rows, and each of the tablet receptacles (40) is configured to simultaneously receive the tablets in the tablet cassette (30,100) mounted on the mounting part (20,250) located above the tablet receptacle (40).
Although Knoth does not disclose the tablet receptacles (40) are respectively mounted below the mounting parts (250), it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to implement such a configuration since it has been held that rearranging parts of an invention involves only routine skill in the art. In re Japikse, 86 USPQ 70.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-4, 8-9 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.
Conclusion
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/AYODEJI H OJOFEITIMI/Examiner, Art Unit 3651
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