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 .
Priority: the current application has the effective filing date of 11/30/2021 according to the priority chain on the record.
Claim Status
As per Applicant’s response received on 02/24/2026, claims 1-13, 16-19, 21 and 72-73 are pending; claims 14-15, 20, 22-71 have been cancelled; claims 1-13, 16-17 have been amended, and claims 72-73 have been newly added.
Response to Amendment
The claim objection to claims 2-4 are withdrawn in view of current claim amendments.
With regard to the 35 USC 112(b) rejection, the term “reversibly couple” in claim 1 is interpreted as couple and uncoupled by design based on persuasive arguments; the rejections to claims 5 and 11 have been overcome by the current claim amendment.
As for the 35 USC 103 rejection based on Chen et al. (US 10,758,118) in view of Uram et al. (US 2019/0216306), the Applicant’s arguments have been fully considered but are moot in view of new grounds of rejections below.
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claims 1, 3-4 and 6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Danchinyu et al. US 2016/0262597 A1 (hereinafter “Dan”).
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Regarding claim 1, Dan discloses an intraocular cyclophotocoagulation device (Figs. 1-2: endoscopic system; see [0050-0051] photocoagulation system) comprising:
a proximal, reusable portion (handle 20) comprising:
a proximal housing portion having a distal end region comprising a first coupling mechanism (see Figs. 1-2 and [0056] “The probe 10 is connected to the handle 20 through a coupling device (not shown) that also allows the optical alignment between the handle 20 and the probe 10”);
a laser treatment assembly (laser unit 150) comprising a laser diode (LED 113) and a collimating lens (collimating lens 111) positioned a distance distal (see Fig. 2) to the laser diode (113) and configured to collimate light from the laser diode into a collimated laser beam ([0064] “ a collimating lens 111 for collimating the lights emitted from the branched optical fiber bundle 119”) and direct the collimated laser beam towards the distal end region of the proximal housing portion ([0054, 0064]); and
an imaging assembly (imaging unit 120; [0054]); and
a distal, disposable portion (detachable probe 10, “disposable” is implicitly taught; [0053]) comprising:
a distal housing portion having a proximal end region comprising a second coupling mechanism that is configured to reversibly couple with the first coupling mechanism on the distal end region of the proximal housing portion (see Figs. 1-2 and [0056] “The probe 10 is connected to the handle 20 through a coupling device (not shown) that also allows the optical alignment between the handle 20 and the probe 10” the coupling and de-coupling of probe 10 and handle 20 is taken to encompass “reversibly couple” in this claim);
an elongate shaft (rod lens 13) extending distally from a distal end region of the distal housing portion (see Figs. 2-3 and 5-6), the elongate shaft (13) sized for insertion inside an eye to position a distal end of the elongate shaft inside the eye adjacent a treatment location (see [0002-0003] endoscopic device adapted for intraocular procedures; also see [0069, 0095] diameter of the optical fiber bundle is adapted for the adapted use);
a laser guide (15) extending through the elongate shaft;
an imaging guide (13) extending through the elongate shaft; and
an illumination light guide (15) extending through the elongate shaft. (see Figs. 2)
Regarding claim 3, Dan discloses the device of claim 1, wherein the collimated laser beam is configured to be unchanged with minimal divergence or convergence crossing a junction from the reusable portion to the disposable portion. (see [0084-0093] collimated laser beam)
Regarding claim 4, Dan discloses the device of claim 1, further comprising a focusing lens (focusing lens 11) positioned within the distal housing portion (distal end of probe 10) and configured to receive the collimated laser beam (beam through collimated lens 111; [0064]) from the proximal reusable portion (20) and direct the collimated laser beam toward a proximal end of a fiberoptic (119) of the laser guide; wherein the focusing lens (11) is configured to correct for spherical aberration and provide focus of both paraxial and marginal rays so that all light of the collimated laser beam enters the proximal end of the fiberoptic of the laser guide. (see Fig. 3 and [0078])
Regarding claim 6, Dan discloses the device of claim 1, wherein the imaging guide (13) further comprises an objective lens (imaging lens 13) that is monolithic and apertureless. (implicit, see [0078])
Claim Objection/Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2, 5, 7-13, 16-19, 21, 72 and 73 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.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SHIRLEY X JIAN whose telephone number is (571)270-7374. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:00-4:00.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Benjamin Klein can be reached at 571-270-5213. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/SHIRLEY X JIAN/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3792
May 21, 2026
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