DETAILED ACTION
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 09/30/2025 has been entered.
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.
Claims 1-2, 5-6, 8, 12, 16 and 20-24 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mueller (US 20150282714) in view of Hallen (US 20190099226).
As per claim 1, Mueller discloses a method to assist in positioning one or more optical detectors of an optical tracking system (Abstract; [0005]), the method comprising:
displaying at least a portion of a view from a visible light detector (Figs. 4-5, #54a) on a display (#40), the visible light detector (#54a) being in a fixed position relative to the one or more optical detectors (#54b-c; [0083]; [0085]); and
displaying a graphic indication (#58 and Fig. 25, #148) on the displayed view, wherein the graphical indication represents at least a portion of a first field-of-view of the one or more optical detectors ([0083]-[0084]; [0127]).
However, Mueller does not teach the graphic indication is generated by a computer processor.
Hallen discloses the graphic indication (Fig. 4A, #408, 410, 412, 414, 416) is generated by a computer processor ([0056]; where a computer processor is inherently present).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have the graphic indication of Mueller generated according to Hallen so that a variety of graphical overlays can be displayed along with the image.
As per claim 2, Mueller in view of Hallen discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the graphic indication is an outline (Mueller: [0084]; [0127]).
As per claim 5, Mueller in view of Hallen discloses the method of claim 2, wherein the outline on the view comprises a bounded geometrical shape, a semi-translucent shaded region, or a bounded region filled with a gradient pattern (Mueller: [0084]; [0127]).
As per claim 6, Mueller in view of Hallen discloses the method of claim 1, further comprising displaying a marking indicating a center of the portion of the first field-of-view of the one or more optical detectors on the view (Mueller: [0084]; [0127]).
As per claim 8, Mueller in view of Hallen discloses the method of claim 21, further comprising displaying two or more graphic indications representing two or more fields-of-view of the two or more optical detectors on the displayed view (Mueller: [0083]-[0084]),
wherein a first graphic indication represents a field-of-view of a first optical detector and a second graphic indication represents a field-of-view of a second optical detector (Mueller: [0083]-[0084]).
As per claim 12, Mueller in view of Hallen discloses the method of claim 8, wherein each of the two or more graphic indications are differentiated from one another by at least one of: an indicia, a color, or a label (Mueller: [0127]; [0133]).
As per claim 16, Mueller discloses a system (Abstract), comprising:
an optical tracking system comprising one or more optical detectors (Figs. 4-5, #54a-b) having a first field-of-view ([0083]);
a visible light detector (#54c) being in a fixed position with respect to the one or more optical detectors (#54a-b), the visible light detector (#54c) having a second field-of-view ([0083]);
a display (#40) for displaying at least a portion of a view of the visible light detector ([0083]); and
one or more processors (#1006) executing software, wherein the software, when executed by the one or more processors ([0143]; [0173]), is configured to display a graphic indication (#58 and Fig. 25, #148) on the displayed view, wherein the graphic indication represents at least a portion of the first field-of-view of the one or more optical detectors ([0083]-[0084]; [0127]).
However, Mueller does not teach the graphic indication is generated by the one or more processors.
Hallen discloses the graphic indication (Fig. 4A, #408, 410, 412, 414, 416) is generated by the one or more processors ([0056]; where one or more processors are inherently present).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have the graphic indication of Mueller generated according to Hallen so that a variety of graphical overlays can be displayed along with the image.
As per claim 20, Mueller in view of Hallen discloses the system of claim 16, wherein the software when executed by the one or more processors displays a marking on the displayed visible detector view, wherein the marking indicates a center of the first field-of-view of the one or more optical detectors (Mueller: [0084]; [0172]).
As per claim 21, Mueller in view of Hallen discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the optical tracking system comprises two or more optical detectors (Mueller: [0083]).
As per claim 22, Mueller in view of Hallen discloses the system of claim 16, wherein the graphic indication is displayed as an outline representing the portion of the first field-of-view (Mueller: [0084]; [0127]).
As per claim 23, Mueller in view of Hallen discloses the system of claim 16, wherein the optical tracking system comprises two or more optical detectors (Mueller: [0083]).
As per claim 24, Mueller in view of Hallen discloses the system of claim 16, wherein the optical tracking system comprises the one or more processors and the software (Mueller: [0143]; [0173]).
Claims 3, 13-14, 18-19 and 25-26 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mueller in view of Hallen in view of Berend (US 20160278868).
As per claims 3 and 18, Mueller in view of Hallen discloses the method (system) of claim 1 (claim 16).
However, the prior art of Mueller and Hallen do not teach the one or more optical detectors are one or more tracking cameras configured to detect infrared light.
Berend teaches the one or more optical detectors are one or more tracking cameras configured to detect infrared light ([0032]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to the have the one or more optical detectors of Mueller in view of Hallen configured according to Berend so as to provide determining three-dimensional location of devices carrying or incorporating markers that serve as tracking indicia (Berend: [0032]).
As per claim 13, Mueller in view of Hallen discloses the method of claim 1.
However, the prior art of Mueller and Hallen do not teach displaying positions of fiducial markers on the displayed view.
Berend teaches displaying positions of fiducial markers on the displayed view ([0021]-[0023]; [0034]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to the have the one or more optical detectors of Mueller in view of Hallen configured according to Berend so as to provide arrays that can assist in navigating surgical instruments into particular locations and orientations within an operating room using kinematic motion data collected from a patient pre-operatively using the visual motion tracking system (Berend: [0021]).
As per claim 14, Mueller in view of Hallen in view of Berend discloses the method of claim 3, wherein the one or more optical detectors is a camera (Mueller: [0083]).
As per claim 19, Mueller in view of Hallen discloses the system of claim 16.
However, the prior art of Mueller and Hallen do not teach a hand-held surgical device or a surgical robot.
Berend teaches a hand-held surgical device or a surgical robot ([0021]; [0026]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to the have the one or more optical detectors of Mueller in view of Hallen configured according to Berend so as to provide arrays that can assist in navigating surgical instruments into particular locations and orientations within an operating room using kinematic motion data collected from a patient pre-operatively using the visual motion tracking system (Berend: [0021]).
As per claim 25, Mueller in view of Hallen discloses the system of claim 16, wherein the visible light detector is a visible light camera configured to detect visible light (Mueller: [0083]).
However, the prior art of Mueller and Hallen do not teach the one or more optical detectors are one or more tracking cameras configured to detect infrared light.
Berend teaches the one or more optical detectors are one or more tracking cameras configured to detect infrared light ([0032]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to the have the one or more optical detectors of Mueller in view of Hallen configured according to Berend so as to provide determining three-dimensional location of devices carrying or incorporating markers that serve as tracking indicia (Berend: [0032]).
As per claim 26, Mueller in view of Hallen discloses the system of claim 16, wherein the visible light detector is a visible light camera configured to detect visible light, and wherein the graphic indication represents a boundary of the at least a portion of the first field-of-view of the two or more tracking cameras (Mueller: [0083]-[0084]; [0127]).
However, the prior art of Mueller and Hallen do not teach the one or more optical detectors are two or more tracking cameras configured to detect infrared light
Berend teaches the one or more optical detectors are two or more tracking cameras configured to detect infrared light ([0032]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to the have the one or more optical detectors of Mueller in view of Hallen configured according to Berend so as to provide determining three-dimensional location of devices carrying or incorporating markers that serve as tracking indicia (Berend: [0032]).
Claim 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mueller in view of Hallen in view of NG (US 20170104925).
As per claim 9, Mueller in view of Hallen discloses the method of claim 8.
However, the prior art of Mueller and Hallen do not teach automatically updating a size of each of the two or more graphic indications based on a distance of an object relative to the two or more optical detectors.
NG teaches automatically updating a size of each of the two or more graphic indications based on a distance of an object relative to the two or more optical detectors (Fig. 8; [0046]; [0051]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have included the size decider disclosed by NG to the method of Mueller in view of Hallen so that a two-dimensional (2D) display size of a crosshair can be expanded or contracted with respect to a depth (or Z distance) ([0038]).
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1 and 16 have been considered but are moot because of the new grounds of rejection as presented above.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Nelson Lam whose telephone number is (571)272-8044. The examiner can normally be reached 1pm-9pm.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ke Xiao can be reached on 571 272-7776. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Nelson Lam/Examiner, Art Unit 2627
/KE XIAO/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2627
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