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 .
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 allowance or after an Office action under Ex Parte Quayle, 25 USPQ 74, 453 O.G. 213 (Comm'r Pat. 1935). 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, prosecution in this application has been reopened pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 4/24/2026 has been entered.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 20, 22, 24-37 are allowed.
Claims 73-86, 88, 92 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.
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.
Claims 72, 87, 90-91, 93 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Buchbinder et al. (PG Pub. No.: US 2014/0005778).
Buchbinder et al. (hereinafter, Buchbinder) discloses an outer frame for a prosthetic heart valve, the outer frame comprising:
a supra-annular member 612 (fig. 28A-B) including a wireframe formed from a single workpiece (e.g., fig. 28A-B), the supra-annular member forming an outer loop, an inner loop, and a spline at least partially suspending the inner loop from the outer loop (fig. 28A-B), the outer loop forming a distal supra-annular anchoring element and a proximal supra-annular anchoring element 620, the inner loop being coupleable to a flow control component having an inner frame and a plurality of leaflets mounted within the inner frame (e.g., fig. 4A-C);
a subannular member 614 including a wireframe formed from a single workpiece (e.g., fig. 28A-B), the subannular member forming a distal subannular anchoring element and a proximal subannular anchoring element (fig. 12A-B); and
a transannular member (central vertical portion under label 618) coupling the supra-annular member to the subannular member.
For claim 87, Buchbinder discloses the outer frame of claim 72, wherein the proximal anchoring element of the subannular member forms at least one protrusion 620.
For claim 90, Buchbinder discloses the outer frame of claim 72, wherein the transannular member includes a wireframe having a first half and a second half coupled to the first half and forming a proximal hinge and a distal hinge therebetween (living hinge, fig. 28A-B).
For claim 91, Buchbinder discloses the outer frame of claim 90, wherein the wireframe of the transannular member forms a plurality of cells (fig. 28A-B, two cells in middle of device), a proximal portion of the wireframe of the transannular member defines a notch (fig. 28B, notch at the transition between the support extensions 618 and central portion).
For claim 93, Buchbinder discloses the outer frame of claim 72, wherein the transannular member is formed at least in part from a biocompatible fabric (para. 23).
Conclusion
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/SUBA GANESAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3774
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