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 .
Election
Applicants’ election of claims 1-8, without traverse, is acknowledged and made final. Claims 9-21 are withdrawn from further consideration.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 05/24/2022 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Objections
Claim 4 is objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 4 recites, “nanometre” in line 2. Instead, it should read “nanometer”
Appropriate correction is required.
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.
Claim(s) 1 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102 as being anticipated by Kittrell (US 5290275).
Regarding claim 1, Kittrell discloses a catheter probe (FIG. 13E), comprising:
a catheter tip, said catheter tip comprising a plurality of channels (Optical fibers 20a,b,b',c,c' are disposed within the catheter body 16.) which house a plurality of optical sensors (The reflected light from the tissue is received at the lens and passes through the fiber for analysis. FIGS. 21-23; The device can be used as imaging device as well. Col., 21, lines 16-21), each plurality of optical sensors comprising:
a ferrule (Plug 11; FIG. 13E) comprising a central micro via (Region where plug 11 is positioned);
an optical fiber (Optical fibers 20a,b,b',c,c') passed through said micro via; a microlens (multiple lenses 222) attached to said ferrule and aligned to said optical fiber; and
a catheter body (laser catheter 10) configured to house said optical fibers and connected to a monitoring means (Light can be delivered to the tissue via one fiber, and the reflected light returned by means of the same or another "sensing" fiber for spectroscopic or other forms of analysis; collecting return light for spectral analysis. Col. 4, line 60-col. 5, line 5; Spectral analyzer; FIG. 21).
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 2, 3, 5, is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kittrell (US 5290275) in view of Cardwell (US 20210167232).
Regarding claim 2, Kittrell does not expressly disclose wherein said optical fibers has a diameter of about 50 microns and the core diameter of said optical fibers is about 2-5 microns.
Cardwell is directed to techniques for transmitting power through optical fibers (Para [0002]) and teaches wherein said optical fibers has a diameter of about 50 microns (An overall diameter of the fiber between about 100 micrometers and about 5 millimeters; Para [0142]) and the core diameter of said optical fibers is about 2-5 microns (Optical fiber 1001 may be a single mode fiber, with a diameter of the fiber core below about 15 micrometers; Para [0142]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Kittrell to have fiber of about 50 microns in overall diameter and core diameter of about 2-5 microns because small core diameter and overall diameter would provide thinner fiber to be accommodated in a catheter. Further, it would provide space for accommodating a large number of fibers in the catheter.
Regarding claim 3, Kittrell as modified teaches wherein said vias have a diameter of about 52-55 microns (Cardwell: For having overall diameter of the fiber between about 100 micrometers and about 5 millimeters, one would need a via of about the similar size.).
Regarding claim 5, Kittrell as modified teaches wherein said the optical fiber is a single mode fiber (Cardwell: Optical fiber 1001 may be a single mode fiber, with a diameter of the fiber core below about 15 micrometers; Para [0142]).
Claim(s) 4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kittrell (US 5290275) in view of Yamazaki (WO 2015060114).
Regarding claim 4, Kittrell does not expressly disclose wherein said optical fibers are configured to operate at wavelengths of around 1310 nanometer.
Yamazaki is directed to an optical imaging probe capable of mitigating the occurrence of rotation transmission delays (abstract) and teaches wherein said optical fibers are configured to operate at wavelengths of around 1310 nanometer (OCT images often use near-infrared light having a wavelength of about 1300 nm (nanometers) as a light source).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Kittrell to have 1300 nm as radiation light in accordance with the teaching of Yamazaki so that excellent spatial resolution could be provided.
Claim(s) 6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kittrell (US 5290275) in view of Milton (US 9395296).
Regarding claim 6, Kittrell does not expressly disclose wherein the optical fiber has a narrow cladding and high numerical aperture.
Milton is directed to optical detector array (abstract) and teaches wherein the optical fiber has a narrow cladding and high numerical aperture (For efficient light transmission, fiber used in this application should be multimode with relatively thin cladding and high numerical aperture to assure light gathering from a large range of light incidence angles. The fibers should also have minimum transmission loss near 1.5 μm wavelength.).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Kittrell to have narrow cladding and high numerical aperture so that efficient light transmission through the fiber could be achieved.
Claim(s) 7, 8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kittrell (US 5290275) in view of Lundahl (US 5303324).
Regarding claim 7, Kittrell does not expressly disclose wherein said optical fiber comprises a dimensioned tapered channel to define a fiber mode adapter.
Lundahl is directed to cylindrical optical radiating device (abstract) and teaches wherein said optical fiber comprises a dimensioned tapered channel (Tapered channel; a fiber optic cylindrical diffuser 1; FIG. 1; Through the use of the tapered bore, it is possible to obtain an output distribution which is radially and linearly uniform even though the energy distribution is not uniform within the core of the fiber optic. ) to define a fiber mode adapter.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Kittrell to have tapered channel so that light is radially and uniformly distributed.
Regarding claim 8, Kittrell as modified teaches wherein the fiber comprises a narrow core fiber (Lundahl: FIG. 3B) to a larger core fiber wherein the tapered channel expands a mode from the narrow core fiber to the larger core fiber (Lundahl: As can be seen in FIG. 3b, the light is radiated from the narrow core to the wider core.).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. See PTO – 892.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SHANKAR R GHIMIRE whose telephone number is (571)272-0515. The examiner can normally be reached 8 AM - 5 PM.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Anhtuan Nguyen can be reached on 571-272-4963. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/SHANKAR RAJ GHIMIRE/Examiner, Art Unit 3795
/ANH TUAN T NGUYEN/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3795
02/02/26
Prosecution Insights