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 .
Claim Objections
Claims 15-20 are objected to because of the following informalities:
The punctuation markings in the claims are not clearly visible. Please check each of the claims and make appropriate corrections.
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) 15 and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim et al. (2016/0216503) in view of O Ruanaidh et al. (2010/0046823).
Regarding claim 15, Kim discloses a microscope (par. 38) comprising multiple cameras (par. 42); wherein each camera of the multiple cameras is configured to capture one or more images of a region of an assembly fixture, wherein the assembly fixture comprises a first section configured to accept a sample, and a second section comprising multiple isolated areas, wherein a combine field of view of the multiple cameras is configured to cover at least portions of the first and second sections of the assembly fixture for capturing images of movements of multiple cells of the sample from the first section to the multiple isolated areas (the plurality sections of sample wells in Fig. 3a); one or more radiation sources (Fig. 3b), wherein the one or more radiation sources are configured to illuminate the sample; a processor. wherein the processor is configured to control the one or more radiation sources to create one or more illumination patterns to the sample (note Fig. 5), wherein the processor is configured to control the multiple cameras to capture images of the sample under the one or more illumination patterns (Fig. 5); except
the processor is configured to track the movements of the multiple cells during a dissociation from the sample and during a transportation to the multiple isolated areas.
Ruanaidh, from the similar filed of endeavor, teaches a system for tracking the movements of cells, which enables one to review the biological processes that takes place within the cell, which is necessary for the analysis of the cells because cell tracking is important to scientific investigation of biological assays (note par. 3).
Therefore, in view of Ruanaidh and knowing that Kim is being used for monitoring samples, if tracking of cell movements is needed in Kim, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include Ruanaidh into Kim so that the movements of the cells could be tracked for scientific investigation of biological assays.
Regarding claim 20, Ruanaidh discloses the processor is configured to generate a spatial map of molecular information of the multiple cells in the sample based on position of the multiple cells determined from the movement tracking, wherein the position of the each cell in the sample is determined by finding a beginning of the movements of the each cell (note Fig. 8).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 16-19 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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MICHAEL LEE whose telephone number 571-272-7349. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday through Thursday from 9:00 am to 6:00 pm.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner's supervisor, John Miller, can be reached on 571-272-7353. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MICHAEL LEE/ Primary Examiner,
Art Unit 2422