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
1. 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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 07/01/2026 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
2. Applicant's arguments and amendments filed 07/01/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. The Applicant argues that neither the art of Schuele nor Bor teach “direct the plurality of beams towards the floater in the vitreous in order to create the bubble jet to fragment the floater and move the fragmented floater away from a visual axis of the eye, the directing based on an expected lifetime of the plurality of cavitation bubbles such that neighboring cavitation bubbles interact to create the bubble jet.” The Examiner respectfully disagrees. The Applicant describes in their specification that “If a scanner forms cavitation bubbles 8, the scan rate (which determines the temporal separation) may be selected according to the lifetime of bubbles to yield bubbles that are sufficiently temporally close to interact. For example, the bubble lifetime may be approximately 0.1 to 0.3 milliseconds (ms). A scan rate of 50 kilo hertz (kHz) forms bubbles every 1/50 kHz = 20 microseconds (ps), so neighboring bubbles are inflated long enough to interact.” In other words, using a scan rate at or above 50KHz would allow for the cavitation bubbles to have a lifespan long enough to form a bubble jet. Bor discloses a method of applying laser beams to the eye for treatment, wherein the device employs the laser to create a strong jet of cavitation bubbles within the eye (Par. 0059). They further teach in Par. 0025 that “the laser pulses generated by laser engine 110 may have a pulse duration in the range of 100-10,000 femtoseconds, 600-5000 femtoseconds, or 600-1000 femtoseconds, a per-pulse energy in the range of 0.1-1000, and a repetition frequency in the 1 kHz-1 MHz range”. According to the Applicant’s specification, this would allow for the lifetime to be long enough to create the jet. Therefore, this new portion of the claims is rejected over Schuele in view of Bor.
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.
3. Claim(s) 1-2, 5-11, and 14-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Schuele (US 20170326003 A1) in view of Bor (US 20180360657 A1).
In regards to claims 1 and 10, Schuele discloses an ophthalmic laser system/method for treating a floater in a vitreous of an eye (Abstract), comprising:
a laser device configured to direct a plurality of laser pulses towards the floater in the vitreous of the eye (Par. 0024 teaches a laser system [2] to target the vitreous),
the laser device comprising:
a laser configured to generate a laser beam (Par. 0023); and
a beam multiplexer configured to split the laser beam into a plurality of beams (Par. 0091 and 0094 teach using a wedge/interferometer means to split the light beam.);
an ophthalmic microscope configured to provide an image of a shadow cast by the floater onto a retina of the eye (Par. 0073 teaches an OCT or optical microscopy means for imaging); and
a computer configured to: instruct the laser device to direct the plurality of beams towards the floater in the vitreous in order to fragment the floater and move the fragmented floater away from a visual axis of the eye, wherein at least a portion of the plurality of beams are directed outside an area of the floater in order to limit movement of the floater during fragmentation. (Par. 0044 teaches a controller to provide control signals to the system and that the processor is connected to a computer readable medium. Par. 0049 teaches using a laser ablation process, i.e. fragmentation. Par. 0108 teaches moving the floaters out of the line of vision).
While Schuele teaches the system can operate with cavitation bubble formation (Par. 0116), they do not explicitly teach the laser forming a plurality of cavitation bubbles to create a bubble jet in the eye, the directing based on an expected lifetime of the plurality of cavitation bubbles such that neighboring cavitation bubbles interact to create the bubble jet. However, in the same field of endeavor, Bor teaches a method of applying laser beams to the eye for treatment (Abstract) wherein the device employs the laser to create a a strong jet of cavitation bubbles within the eye that are applied at 1 kHz-1 MHz range (Par. 0059 and Par. 0025- see Par. 0062 of Applicant’s specification) in order to destroy and remove the undesired part of the target tissue (Par. 0048)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have taken the teachings of Schuele and modified them by having the laser create a cavitation bubble path, as taught and suggested by Bor, in order to destroy and remove the undesired part of the target tissue (Par. 0048)
In regards to claims 2 and 11, the combined teachings of Schuele and Bor disclose the ophthalmic laser system/method of Claim 1/10, the beam multiplexer comprising an optical device selected from the following: a diffractive optical element (DOE), a holographic optical element (HOE), a spatial light modulator (SLM), a polarizing prism, a beam amplitude splitting interferometer, a wavefront splitting interferometer, or a birefringent optical component (Par. 0091 and 0094 of Schuele teach using a wedge/interferometer means to split the light beam).
In regards to claims 5 and 14, the combined teachings of Schuele and Bor disclose the ophthalmic laser system/method of Claim 1/10, the beam multiplexer configured to split the laser beam into the plurality of beams that form the plurality of cavitation bubbles with a bubble center separation of 5 to 20 microns (Par. 0039 of Schuele teaches that the bubble diameters are between 5 and 30 microns and that the distance between them is around less than half of the diameter; i.e. the distance could be between 2.5-10 microns).
In regards to claims 6 and 15, the combined teachings of Schuele and Bor disclose the ophthalmic laser system/method of Claims 1/10, the beam multiplexer configured to: create a first cavitation bubble with a first diameter; and create a second cavitation bubble with a second diameter, the second diameter different from the first diameter (Par. 0039 of Schuele teaches that the bubble diameters are between 5 and 30 microns. Fig 8 shows the bubbles have different diameters).
In regards to claims 7 and 16, the combined teachings of Schuele and Bor disclose the ophthalmic laser system/method of Claims 1/10, the computer configured to instruct the laser device to direct the plurality of beams towards the floater by: instructing the laser device to direct the plurality of beams to form the plurality of cavitation bubbles arranged to direct the bubble jet in a particular direction (Par. 0044 of Schuele teaches a controller to provide control signals to the system. Par. 0030 of Bor also teaches a control means for controlling the direction and strength of the cavitation bubbles).
In regards to claims 8-9 and 17-18, the combined teachings of Schuele and Bor disclose the ophthalmic laser system/method of Claims 1/10, the computer configured to instruct the laser device to direct the plurality of beams towards the floater by: instructing the laser device to direct the plurality of beams to form the plurality of cavitation bubbles arranged in a spiral enface or a raster pattern (Par. 0044 of Schuele teaches a controller to provide control signals to the system. Par. 0026 of Bor also teaches a control means for controlling the direction and strength of the cavitation bubbles into a spiral pattern or a raster pattern).
In regards to claims 19 and 20, the combined teachings of Schuele and Bor disclose the ophthalmic laser system/method of Claims 1/10, further comprising: a floater detection system configured to direct a detection beam toward the eye and determine a location of the floater; and an xy-scanner configured to receive the detection beam from the floater detection system and receive the plurality of beams from the laser device, wherein the xy-scanner is further configured to direct the detection beam and the plurality of beams along a common beam path toward the floater (Par. 0040 of Schuele teaches an X-Y scanner that can be used to scan and direct the emission of the laser to the preferred path, i.e. toward the floater, Par. 0087 of Schuele also teaches the use of an OCT detector to detect areas for removal).
4. Claim(s) 3-4 and 12-13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Schuele and Bor and in further view of Reis (US 4884884 A).
In regards to claims 3-4 and 12-13, the combined teachings of Schuele and Bor disclose the ophthalmic laser system/method of Claim 1/10, the beam multiplexer comprising: a wave plate configured to alter a polarization state of the laser beam (Par. 0077 of Schuele discloses employing a wave plate as a polarization element), the wave plate comprising a k/2 wave plate configured to shift the polarization state of the laser beam (Par. 0077 of Schuele teaches using a half wave plate).; and
The combined teachings do not disclose wherein a prism configured to separate the laser beam into the plurality of beams, the prism comprising a Wollaston prism configured to separate the laser beam into the beams with orthogonal polarization.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Reis teaches a laser system for treating the eye (Abstract) wherein Wollaston prisms are employed (Col. 1, lines 45-51) in order for the laser to have the same energy distributed among the individual spots (Col 1-2).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have taken the teachings of Schuele and Bor and modified them by having the device comprise a Wollaston prism, as taught and suggested by Reis, for the purpose of having the laser have the same energy distributed among the individual spots (Col 1-2 of Reis ).
Conclusion
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/S.L.C./Examiner, Art Unit 3792
/LYNSEY C Eiseman/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3796
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