DETAILED ACTION
The Examiner acknowledges the amendments received 17 October 2025. New claims 15-20 are added; claims 1-20 are pending.
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 .
Specification
In view of the amendments received 17 October 2025, the Examiner withdraws the objection to the Specification.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see “Remarks”, filed 17 October 2025, with respect to the rejection(s) of claim(s) 1-6 and 13-14 under Chaturvedi have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of Chaturvedi, with corrected citations.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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 1-6 and 13-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(1)(1) as being anticipated by Chaturvedi et al (U.S. 2019/0175158). Chaturvedi discloses (Figures 1-2) a surgical instrument and surgical system (par. 0042) comprising: at least one light emitter (110; par. 0044) disposed at a working end of the surgical instrument; an array of light sensors (112) disposed at the working end of the surgical instrument, individual light sensors in the array of light sensors adapted to generate a signal comprising a non-pulsatile component; and a controller coupled to the array of light sensors, the controller comprising an analyzer (par. 0053) configured to: determine a curve of the non-pulsatile components of the signals of each of the individual light sensors in the array of light sensors (splitter 116 separates the first pulsatile component from the second non-pulsatile component), to identify a plurality of regions of interest along the curve (par. 0081-0083; Figure 13; each dip in the non-pulsatile components are a region of interest), to determine one or more regions of interest of the plurality of regions of interest to consider further based on one or more measures of closeness between the plurality of regions of interest (symmetric metric is determine for each dip in each curve based on measured distances from the edges of each dip on the curve of the corresponding light source, and a combined symmetry metric is made at step 226, where said combined symmetry metric effectively amounts to a measure of closeness between a plurality of dips; the combined metric is then used as a selection/differentiation criteria), and to determine if one or more of the one or more regions of interest are more likely to be associated with a vessel or a tissue based on one or more parameters (par. 0095; using the symmetry metric and a ratio it is determined if a structure is representative of a ureter, a blood vessel, or other tissue).
Regarding claim 2, Chaturvedi discloses (par. 0081-0083 and 0095) the one or more measures of closeness comprise a distance between consecutive starting locations, a distance between consecutive ending locations, and a distance between consecutive starting and ending locations.
Regarding claim 3, Chaturvedi discloses (par. 0081-0083 and 0095) the one or more measures of closeness comprise a distance between mean locations of consecutive regions of the plurality of regions of interest.
Regarding claim 4, Chaturvedi discloses (Figure 7) the analyzer is configured to adjust at least one of a starting location and an ending location of the one or more of the one or more regions of interest prior to determining if the one or more of the one or more regions of interest are more likely to be associated with a vessel or a tissue based on one or more parameters, the analyzer configured to compute a first order differential for the one or more of the one or more regions of interest, to normalize the first order differential by dividing by the maximum value of the one or more of the one or more regions of interest, and to analyze a slope at one or more locations within the one or more of the one or more regions of interest to adjust the at least one of the starting location and the ending location.
Regarding claim 5, Chaturvedi discloses (par. 0081-0081 and 0095) the one or more parameters comprise one or more of the following: a width of a region; a standard deviation of the region; a ratio of a standard deviation of the region normalized by a mean of the region; a minimum intensity value within the region; a location of the region relative to ends of the sensor; a contrast at starting or ending locations of the region, where the contrast comprises a ratio of the minimum intensity value within the region to intensity values at the starting location or the ending location of the region; a width at half maximum of the region; a slope at the starting location of the region, where the slope at the starting location of the region comprises a ratio of a difference between an intensity value at the starting location and the minimum intensity value to a distance between the starting location and a location of the minimum intensity value; and a slope at the ending location of the region, where the slope at the ending location of the region comprises a ratio of a difference between an intensity value at the ending location and the minimum intensity value to a distance between the ending location and the location of the minimum intensity value.
Regarding claim 6, Chaturvedi discloses (par. 0081-0083 and 0095) the one or more parameters consist of: a width of a region; a standard deviation of the region; a ratio of a standard deviation of the region normalized by a mean of the region; and a minimum intensity value within the region.
Regarding claim 13, Chaturvedi discloses (par. 0083) the analyzer is configured to characterize an artifact based on the one or more of the one or more regions of interest determined to be more likely to be associated with a vessel or a tissue.
Regarding claim 14, Chaturvedi discloses (par. 0040) the analyzer is configured to determine a diameter or an effective diameter of a vessel according to the one or more of the one or more regions of interest determined to be more likely to be associated with a vessel.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 7-12 and 15-20 are allowed.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DEBORAH L MALAMUD whose telephone number is (571)272-2106. The examiner can normally be reached Mon - Fri 1:00-9:30 Eastern.
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/DEBORAH L MALAMUD/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3792