Ex Parte Segawa

Patent Trial and Appeal Board

Aug 16, 2016

13711669 (P.T.A.B. Aug. 16, 2016)

UNITED STA TES p A TENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
APPLICATION NO. FILING DATE
131711,669 12/12/2012
23389 7590 08/18/2016
SCULLY SCOTT MURPHY & PRESSER, PC
400 GARDEN CITY PLAZA
SUITE 300
GARDEN CITY, NY 11530
FIRST NAMED INVENTOR
Hidetake Segawa
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
United States Patent and Trademark Office
Address: COMMISSIONER FOR PATENTS
P.O. Box 1450
Alexandria, Virginia 22313-1450
www .uspto.gov
ATTORNEY DOCKET NO. CONFIRMATION NO.
22747A 1029
EXAMINER
BOLER, RYNAE E
ART UNIT PAPER NUMBER
3779
NOTIFICATION DATE DELIVERY MODE
08/18/2016 ELECTRONIC
Please find below and/or attached an Office communication concerning this application or proceeding.
The time period for reply, if any, is set in the attached communication.
Notice of the Office communication was sent electronically on above-indicated "Notification Date" to the
following e-mail address( es):
Docket@SSMP.COM
PTOL-90A (Rev. 04/07)
UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD
Ex parte HIDETAKE SEGAWA
Appeal2014-008930
Application 13/711,669
Technology Center 3700
Before DONALD E. ADAMS, JEFFREY N. FREDMAN,
and TIMOTHY G. MAJORS, Administrative Patent Judges.
PER CURIAM
DECISION ON APPEAL 1
This Appeal under 35 U.S.C. § 134(a) involves claims 1---6 (Br. 2).
Examiner entered rejections under 35 U.S.C. § 102(b), 35 U.S.C. § 102(a),
and 35 U.S.C. § 103(a). We have jurisdiction under 35 U.S.C. § 6(b).
We REVERSE.
1 Appellant identifies the Real Party in Interest as Olympus Medical Systems
Corporation (see Br. 2).
Appeal2014-008930
Application 13/711,669
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Appellant's invention "relates to a capsule-type medical apparatus,
which is introduced into an inside of an internal organ of a subject such as a
patient to acquire in-vivo information of the subject" (Spec. 1: 14--17).
Independent claim 1 is representative and reproduced in the Claims
Appendix of Appellant's Brief.
Claims 1-3 and 6 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 102(b) as being
anticipated by Honda '461. 2
Claims 1-3 and 6 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 102(a) as being
anticipated by Honda '017. 3
Claim 4 stands rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as unpatentable over
Honda '461 and Takase.4
Claim 5 stands rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as unpatentable over
Honda '461 and Hochrainer. 5
Anticipation:
ISSUE
Does the preponderance of evidence on this record support
Examiner's finding that Honda '461 or Honda '017 teaches Appellant's
claimed invention?
2 Honda et al., US 2005/0049461 Al, published Mar. 3, 2005.
3 Honda, US 2007/0118017 Al, published May 24, 2007.
4 Takase et al., US 2006/0235276 Al, published Oct. 19, 2006.
5 Hochrainer et al., US 2003/0029558 Al, published Feb. 13, 2003.
2
Appeal2014-008930
Application 13/711,669
FACTUAL FINDINGS (FF)
FF 1. The Specification teaches that "when the optical dome is molded by
the mold as mentioned above, burrs are often formed on the outer wall
surface of the optical dome along a boundary line (hereinafter referred to as
'parting line') between the dome-portion-side mold part and the cylindrical-
portion-side mold part" (Spec. 4: 12-17).
FF 2. The Specification's Figure 1 is reproduced below:
HX~ffK>N>NG UN!T
"l4
CAPSULE G-lr.>O~>COf'!~
J.
POsrnON!NG UNrr
15
F!G.1
Figure 1 shows that "the extending portion Al passes through a notch (not
shown) formed in the positioning unit 14" (id. at 48:4---6).
3
Appeal2014-008930
Application 13/711,669
FF 3. The Specification's Figure 8 is reproduced below:
F!G,8
Figure 8 shows that "[t]he cylindrical trunk member 2a can maintain a
separated state of a burr 25 of the optical dome 2b and the inner wall S of the
internal organ by forming the space D with the step M" (id. at 53:9-13).
FF 4. Honda '461 's Figure 1 is reproduced below:
FIG.1 CAPSUU2 HOl.J$!NG 14
.~-~-... -.~---·-"'---------------...........
'--.,,..~-~-.... ·'
128
FOCUS
Af.>JlJSTt''Vff('.H POVvtR
IM.•\G!NG 131 SUPPl Y
BOA!'{O ,IPOwrn SUPPLY 133
1(:4 i £!0A>(,I) ,I
/ .l 1 3~-~ ... /·
,'---.....+, ~,. /
CAPSULE ENDOSCOPE
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