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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election of species a, c, g and i in the reply filed on 01/06/2026 is acknowledged. Because applicant did not distinctly and specifically point out the supposed errors in the restriction requirement, the election has been treated as an election without traverse (MPEP § 818.01(a)).
Status of Claims
Claims 1-5, 7-11, and 14-23 are pending, claim 23 is withdrawn from consideration, and claims 1-5, 7-11, and 14-22 are currently under consideration for patentability under 37 CFR 1.104
Foreign Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant's claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d). The certified copies have been received.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 03/30/2023 (3) and 04/18/2024 have been considered by the examiner.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, the tip housing comprising a tubular housing part (claim 1) must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). No new matter should be entered.
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, a camera housing positioned in the camera lumen extension, the camera housing comprising; a tubular housing part having an inner face; and a support structure including a tubular end part having an outer face adhesively bonded to the inner face of the tubular housing part to secure the camera module to the camera housing (claim 1) must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). No new matter should be entered.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
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) 1-5, 7-11, and 18-22 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Daher et al. (U.S. 2013/0158351) in view of Wood et al. (U.S. 2012/0298111) and Sakamoto (U.S. 2020/0060514).
With respect to claim 1, Daher et al. teaches a medical device including:
a main tube having an outer wall, a distal end (FIG. 3), a first lumen (120), a second lumen (110), and a camera lumen (150L), the first lumen having a proximal end and a distal end, the camera lumen having a proximal end and a distal end (FIG. 3), the outer wall enclosing the first lumen and the second lumen, and the camera lumen extending within the outer wall (FIG. 8B); and
a camera module (150).
However, Daher et al. does not teach a tip housing. Daher et al. further does not teach a camera housing.
With respect to claim 1, Wood et al. teaches a medical device including:
a main tube (28) having an outer wall, a distal end, a first lumen (14), a second lumen (16), and a camera lumen (94, para [0031]), the first lumen having a proximal end (22) and a distal end (18), the camera lumen having a proximal end and a distal end (FIG. 1 for example), the outer wall enclosing the first lumen and the second lumen, and the camera lumen extending within the outer wall (FIG. 2 for example);
a tip housing (30) separately manufactured from the main tube, the tip housing comprising:
a proximal end (46) mounted at the distal end of the main tube (via 32, para [0023] for example),
a distal end (FIG. 1 for example),
a first lumen extension having an open end and extending distally from the first lumen (para [0022]),
a second lumen extension extending distally from the second lumen (para [0022]),
a camera lumen extension extending distally from the camera lumen (para [0031] for example);
a tubular housing part extending from the proximal end to the distal end of the tip housing, the tubular housing part enclosing the first lumen extension, the second lumen extension and the camera lumen extension (FIG. 2, 3, 4, 6); and
With respect to claim 1, Sakamoto teaches a medical device including:
a camera housing comprising;
a tubular housing part having an inner face (23, FIG. 6); and
a support structure (28) including a tubular end part having an outer face adhesively bonded to the inner face of the tubular housing part to secure the camera module to the camera housing (FIG. 9, para [0127]).
Therefore, it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date to modify Daher et al. to have a tip housing in the manner taught by Wood et al. in order to provide additional manufacturing flexibility by having interchangeable components with different functionality or features (para [0039] of Wood et al.).
Further, it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date to modify the camera of Daher et al. to utilize the camera housing as taught by Sakamoto in order to provide an endoscope capable of positioning an imaging element and a lens assembly with high accuracy, forming an optical image with high accuracy on an image reception surface of the imaging element to obtain a high-quality image with little loss of to image, defocusing, and the like, performing easy assembling, and firmly joining members (para [0013] of Sakamoto).
With respect to claim 2, Sakamoto teaches the tubular end part comprises a plurality of ribs (23d) extending from the outer face (when combined with 23, FIG. 9).
With respect to claim 3, Sakamoto teaches the plurality of ribs include ribs laying on a first plane and ribs laying on a second plane orthogonal to the first plane (FIG. 6 for example), wherein the ribs laying on the first plane extend radially outwardly more than the ribs laying on the second plane (FIG. 3 vs 4).
With respect to claim 4, Daher et al. modified by Wood et al. in the manner set forth above would result in the main tube comprises a flush lumen (proximal end of 160, para [0127] of Daher et al.) and the tip housing (as taught by Wood et al.) comprises a flush lumen extension (distal portion of 160, para [0127] of Daher et al.) and a flush outlet (156 of Daher et al.).
With respect to claim 5, Daher et al. modified by Wood et al. in the manner set forth above would result in the tubular housing part of the tip housing comprises a proximal end and a distal end, wherein the tip housing comprises a flush pipe aligned with the flush lumen extension and extending proximally of the proximal end of the tubular housing part, the flush pipe configured to engage the flush lumen of the main tube (FIG. 6 of Wood et al. for example).
With respect to claim 7, Wood et al. teaches a distal tube mounted onto the distal end of the tip housing (para [0039]), wherein the distal tube and the tip housing comprise different materials (para [0024], [0036], [0038] for example).
With respect to claim 8, Sakamoto teaches the camera housing extends in a longitudinal direction and comprises a distal end wall, wherein the tubular housing part and the distal end wall are integrally moulded and form one single housing element, and wherein the tubular housing part fits tightly into the camera lumen extension (FIG. 2, 6 for example).
With respect to claim 9, Daher et al. modified by Wood et al. and Sakamoto in the manner set forth above would result in the main tube comprises a flush lumen and the tip housing comprises a flush lumen extension and a flush outlet, wherein the tubular housing part comprises a proximal end and a distal end, wherein the tip housing comprises a flush pipe aligned with the flush lumen extension and extending proximally of the proximal end of the tubular housing part, the flush pipe configured to engage the flush lumen of the main tube (FIGS. 7E,7F,8A of Daher et al., FIG. 6 of Wood et al., FIG. 5,6 of Sakamoto).
With respect to claim 10, Daher et al. modified by Wood et al. in the manner set forth above would result in the main tube comprises an anesthetic lumen enclosed by the outer wall, wherein the tip housing comprises an anesthetic lumen extension aligned with and extending distally from the anesthetic lumen, wherein the tip housing comprises an anesthetic outlet port, and wherein the anesthetic lumen extension is in fluid communication with the anesthetic outlet port to discharge an anesthetic received from the anesthetic lumen through the anesthetic lumen extension (para [0130] of Daher et al., FIG. 6 for example of Wood et al.)
With respect to claim 11, Daher et al. modified by Wood et al. in the manner set forth above would result in the tip housing comprises an anesthetic pipe aligned with the anesthetic lumen extension and extending proximally of the proximal end of the tubular housing part, the anesthetic pipe configured to engage the anesthetic lumen of the main tube (para [0127]-[0130] of Daher et al., FIG. 6 for example of Wood et al.).
With respect to claim 18, Wood et al. teaches he proximal end of the tip housing has a proximal junction interface fitting an abutment surface of the main tube, wherein said abutment surface includes at least an end face of the outer wall of the main tube, wherein the proximal junction interface forms a groove with said abutment surface of the main tube, and wherein said groove contains hardened glue (para [0032]).
With respect to claim 19, Wood et al. teaches the tip housing further comprises a proximally protruding pipe engaging the distal end of the first lumen and the first lumen extension (FIG. 2, 6 for example).
With respect to claim 20, Wood et al. teaches a video processing apparatus communicatively connectable to the medical device, the medical device interface tailored technologically to interface with the video processing apparatus (para [0029]).
With respect to claim 21, Wood et al. teaches the proximal end of the tip housing comprises a protruding pipe and a proximal surface facing an abutment surface of the main tube, the protruding pipe extending proximally from the proximal surface of the tip housing and being received in the first lumen or the second lumen of the main tube (FIG. 2 for example).
With respect to claim 22, Sakamoto teaches the camera housing further comprises a proximal portion affixed to the tubular housing part, the proximal portion comprising a proximal end, a distal end and a tapering part between the proximal end and the distal end, and wherein an outer diameter of the proximal end is smaller than an outer diameter of the distal end (FIG. 4).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 14-17 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: the prior art of record does not teach or otherwise render obvious the invention of claim 14 comprising inter alia, “a second inflatable cuff on the distal tube…wherein the tip housing forms a tip extension of the second cuff lumen, wherein the distal tube forms a distal second cuff lumen enclosed by an outer wall of the distal tube, and wherein the distal second cuff lumen of the distal tube connects the tip extension of the second cuff lumen and the second inflatable cuff.”
Wood et al. teaches a distal tube mounted onto the distal end of the tip housing (para [0039]). However, Wood et al. does not teach the second inflatable cuff is located on the distal tube. Therefore Wood et al. does not meet all of the limitations of the currently pending claim
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Alexandra Newton Surgan whose telephone number is (571)270-1618. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8am-4pm EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Michael Carey can be reached at (571) 270-7235. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ALEXANDRA L NEWTON/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3799
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