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 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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 1/7/2026 has been entered.
In view of the amendments to the claims with respect to the “common optical system”, it was determined that the Sharma reference does not teach of the amended subject matter. Therefore, an updated search was conducted resulting in the modified 103 Rejection below with respect to Sharma/Patil.
In view of the amendments and lack of clarity issues, a 112(b) Rejection is set forth below.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 1 recites “a part of the screening optical system and a part of the Raman scattered light detection optical system are configured by a common optical system”. It is not clear from the claim language which “part of the screening optical system” and which “part of the Raman scattered light detection optical system” are configured by the “common optical system”. The Applicant Remarks refer to sections from the specification such as paragraphs [0014, 0018, 0019, 0058] and fig, 1, 8 to provide support for this subject matter. However, the claim language itself lacks clarity with respect to the configuration of the “common optical system” and how/which parts of the 2 optical systems are configured by the “common optical system”. Under broadest reasonable interpretation, the claimed caries detection device includes the fluorescence detection sensor, the screening optical system, and the Raman scattered light detection optical system. But the language lack clarity with respect to how the screening optical system and the Raman scattered light detection optical systems are configured to be part of the “common optical system”.
As per Applicant’s Remarks (Page 3):
“claim is amended in such a manner as to clearly define "a part of the screening optical system and a part of the Raman scattered light detection optical system are configured by a common optical system (the optical system 14 in the embodiment 1, and the optical system 24 in the second embodiment), on the basis of the configuration including the optical system 14 which is the optical system for forming a path of the inspection light and the transmitted light from the light source 11 in the screening optical system 10A to the transmitted light detection sensor 12, and is also the optical system for forming a path of the inspection light and the Raman scattered light from the light source 11 in the Raman scattered light detection system 10B to the Raman scattered light detection sensor 13. See paragraphs [0014], [0018], [0019], and [0053] and FIGS. 1 and 8)”.
The claim does not recite specific configuration/specifics of the “common optical system” with respect to the “screening optical system”, and the “Raman scattered light detection optical system” and how the parts of these two optical systems are configured by this “common optical system”.
It is suggested claim 1 be modified to include the specific configuration (as set forth in the Remarks above) to clarify the configuration of the “common optical system”.
The dependent claims 2-13 stand rejected under 112(b) due to lack of additional clarity.
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.
Claim(s) 1-12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sharma et al. in view of Patil et al. (2012/0188538).
With respect to claims 1 and 2, Sharma et al. teach of a caries detection device [0119] comprising a fluorescence detection sensor or optical system 1100 to detect fluorescence generated from a tooth [0122, 0124]. Sharma et al. teach of the screening optical system 1100 that irradiates the tooth with light from an optical source 1101 or light source or laser and detects transmitted light through the tooth or florescence generated from the tooth [0125, 0126] to identify a caries candidate area [0142, 0151]. Sharma et al. teach of a Raman scattered light detection optical system that irradiates the caries candidate area with second inspection light from the light source and detects Raman scattered light generated from the caries candidate area or detecting and analyzing the scattered light at a different frequency from the incident light and obtaining information about the scattering material [0123, 0152-0154]. Sharma et al. therefore teaches of examining the light beam 5107 incident on the portion of the tooth 5109 as scattered beam 5111 which is collected by the conditioning optics 5103 and directed towards the optical receiver system 5113 [0158]. Sharma et al. also teaches of the optical system 5100 to comprise two optical paths where the illumination beam can be directed along a first optical path towards the tooth and then Raman scattered light 5113 can be directed along a second optical path toward an optical receiver for image generation [0173]. Sharma et al. teach of collecting multiple images each corresponding to Raman-shifted light in a different range of wavenumbers which are overlayed onto each other to create a multispectral or hyperspectral image [0172, 0173].
Sharma et al. do not explicitly teach of a common optical system with respect to the screening optical system and the Raman optical system. In a similar field of endeavor Patil et al. teach of a combined Raman Spectroscopy and OCT system with a single detector arm for both the RS and OCT which allows the use of a single spectrometer to detect both modalities [0007, 0013, 0025]. Patil et al. teach of the detection of early dental caries using a combined OCT and RS system [0004]. The reference “recites a combined RS-OCT system with a single detection arm that is capable of acquiring both morphological and biochemical features of tissues. While previous implementations of the RS-OCT simply provided co-aligned sampling beams, the invented RS-OCT system uses a common detection arm to perform both the RS and OCT. The significance of the common detector design lies in the fact that it reduces the hardware requirements for RS-OCT and simplifies implementation. The system uses a single spectrograph to perform 855 nm OCT in the spectral domain, and RS with a 785 nm source whose biological fingerprint spectral range overlaps the OCT bandwidth. The two beams are co-aligned in the sample arm, allowing the system to perform sequential, co-registered acquisition of the complementary data sets” [0098]. Under broadest reasonable interpretation of the “common optical system” as recited in the claim, the “common detector” is considered to be a possible version of the “common optical system”. It would have therefore been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to use the teaching by Patil et al. to modify Sharma et al. to provide a combined RS and OCT system with single detector (optical system) to reduce the instrumentational complexity, cost and size from previously reported RS-OCT systems with a single detector for sequentially detecting OCT images and Raman spectra [Patil, 0007, 0025].
With respect to claims 2 and 3, Sharma et al. in view of Patil et al. therefore teach circuitry or pro of identifying the caries candidate area in accordance with information of the transmitted light detected by the screening optical system and the Raman scattered light detection optical system where the light 5111 from one or more portions of the tooth 5109 can be collected by the collection optics included in the conditioning optics 5103 and directed towards an optical receiver system 5113 where the light received at the optical receiver system can be analyzed by an electronic processing system 5115 configured to determine one or more characteristics that is representative of a constituent of the teeth and/or a morphology of a constituent of the teeth [Sharma, 0153].
With respect to claim 4, Sharma et al. in view of Patil et al. teach of the light to be both near-infrared rays [Sharma, 0124, 0155].
With respect to claim 5, Sharma et al. in view of Patil et al. teach of the light source to have a shorter wavelength than the fluorescence or illumination by light having wavelengths in the range about 280 nm to about 650 nm [Sharma, 0122]. Sharma et al. teach of the output light to have a wavelength in the near-infrared spectra range [0124, 0155].
With respect to claim 6, Sharma et al. in view of Patil et al. teach of the screening optical system further including a variable focal length optical system capable of changing an irradiation range of the first inspection light on the tooth or changing the focal distance of the incident beam 5107 [Sharma, 0169].
With respect to claims 8 and 9, Sharma et al. in view of Patil et al. teach of the device configured to control the mechanical motion where the position is adjusted via feedback between the camera identifying the current position and mechanical motion devices or the user can position the arm [Sharma, 0175]. Sharma et al. teach of adjusting or correcting the position of the interrogation light beam 10105 in the lateral and vertical directions and the motion controller can be used scan the interrogation light across the surface of the tooth [0212]. Sharma et al. teach of shaking or vibrating motion on the tooth as the device causes pressure wave to be generated in the tooth or in a propagation medium in the tooth [0230]. Under broadest reasonable interpretation, Sharma et al. teach of controlling the motion from the vibration or shake and therefore would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art that it would be capable of controlling or canceling any excess motion or effect of shakes or vibration on the tooth.
With respect to claim 10, Sharma et al. in view of Patil et al. teach of the filter that transmits only light of a specific wavelength from the Raman scattered light generated from the caries candidate area [Sharma, 0160, 0167, 0173].
With respect to claims 11 and 12, Sharma et al. in view of Patil et al. teach of a display device that displays image based on information of fluorescence detected by the optical system and image based on information of the Raman scattered light detected by the Raman scattered light detection optical system [Sharma, 0206]. Sharma et al. teach of displaying an image of the caries candidate area based on information of the florescence detected by the optical system and an image of the caries candidate area based on information of the Raman scattered light detected by the Raman scattered light detection optical system [0206]. Sharma et al. therefore teaches of processing OCT images, florescence images, and Raman maps of the examined portions of the teeth and extra information regarding condition of the examined portions of the teeth [0264].
Claim(s) 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sharma et al. in view of Patil et al. and further in view of Duret et al. (2014/0146142). Sharma et al. do not explicitly teach of a liquid lens. In a related field of endeavor Duret et al. teach of a three dimensional measuring device used in dental field such as detection of caries by fluorescence [0329] that uses a variable focal length or liquid lens to view different levels of field depth (fig. 6, 0191]. It would have therefore been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to use the teaching by Duret et al. to modify Sharma et al. to have different focal lengths to permit two different levels of accuracy [Duret, claim 3] and ensure measuring at an effective field depth on objects very close to the measuring system because of the very small intra-oral space [Duret, 0062].
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BAISAKHI ROY whose telephone number is (571)272-7139. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 7-3 EST.
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, Christopher Koharski can be reached at 571-272-7230. 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.
BR
/BAISAKHI ROY/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3797