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 and sub-species c in the reply filed on 11/13/2025 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)).
Applicant asserts that the election reads on claims 1 and 3-11.
Claim 3 recites equations found in paragraph [0168] of the published specification and as such is directed to the non-elected embodiment of species b. Therefore, claim 3 is withdrawn from consideration.
Claim 4 recites equations found in paragraph [0201] of the published specification and as such is directed to the nonelected embodiment of species b. Therefore claim 4 is withdrawn from consideration.
Claim 5 recites equations found in paragraph [0213] of the published specification and as such is directed to the nonelected embodiment of species b. Therefore claim 5 is withdrawn from consideration.
Claim 6 recites, “a second flat surface.” This is found in paragraph [0222] of the published specification and as such is directed to the nonelected embodiment of species b. Therefore claim 6 is withdrawn from consideration.
Claim 7 recites equations found in paragraph [0235] of the published specification and as such is directed to the non-elected embodiment of species b. Therefore claim 7 is withdrawn from consideration.
Claim 8 recites equations found in paragraph [0253] of the published specification and as such is directed to the non-elected embodiment of species b. Therefore claim 8 and all dependent claims thereof are withdrawn from consideration.
Claim 9 recites equations found at paragraph [0269] of the published specification and as such is directed to the non-elected embodiment of species b. Therefore claim 9 is withdrawn from consideration.
Status of Claims
Claims 1-12 are pending, claims 2-10 and 12 have been withdrawn from consideration, and claims 1 and 11 are currently under consideration for patentability under 37 CFR 1.104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 04/12/2023, and 09/11/2023 has been considered by the examiner.
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 and 11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Fujii (U.S. 2016/0195706).
With respect to claim 1, Fujii teaches an endoscope (100) comprising:
an insert part (101);
an imaging unit (7)provided in the insert part;
a light guide (4a,b) having a light guide exit surface provided in the insert part (FIG. 2D); and
an end cover (10) provided at the distal end of the insert part, wherein illumination light is emitted from the light guide exit surface,
the end cover has a cut-through portion in which the imaging unit is inserted and fixed (FIG. 2A,D),
the end cover has a first surface on its object side, a second surface on its operator side, and a side surface on its outer circumference (FIG. 2D),
the first surface includes a first flat surface and a curved surface (FIG. 2D),
the curved surface is located between the first flat surface and the side surface (FIG. 2D),
the second surface has an illumination area (8a,b) on which the illumination light is incident,
at least a portion of the illumination area is formed as a partial torus surface (FIG. 2D),
first specific cross sections are defined as cross sections containing the center axis of the end cover and intersecting the light guide exit surface (FIG. 2D).
Fujii discloses substantially all of the limitations of the claim except that the endoscope satisfies the following conditional expression (1) in at least one first specific cross section:
0
≤
h
A
/
r
≤
0.5
where the partial torus surface is defined as a surface partially cut out from a torus surface,
the torus surface is the surface of a body of revolution formed by rotating a circle in a plane about an axis of rotation that lies in the same plane and does not intersect the circle, the circle is referred to as a small circle,
hA is the distance between a first intersection point and a second intersection point,
the first intersection point is the point of intersection of the straight line passing through the center of the small circle and parallel to the center axis and the light guide exit surface,
the second intersection point is the point of intersection of a ray passing through the boundary of the first flat surface and the curved surface and parallel to the center axis in the space between the light guide exit surface and the illumination area and the light guide exit surface,
in the case where the second intersection point is located between the first intersection point and the side surface, the distance is represented by a value with a plus sign, and
r is the radius of the small circle.
Fujii does disclose the curvature radius of the partial torus surface is chosen to increase the scattering effect (para [0015]-[0018] of Fujii) which is the purpose of the above equation. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date to modify Fujii to satisfy the relationship of
0
≤
h
A
/
r
≤
0.5
since doing so is directed to adjusting the radius of curvature and it has been held that discovering an optimum value of a result effective variable involves only routine skill in the art, and that such modifications would have involved a mere change in the relative dimensions of a component - a change in relative dimensions is generally recognized as being within the level of ordinary skill in the art.
With respect to claim 11, Fujii teraches an endoscope system comprising an endoscope according to claim 1 and an image processing apparatus (para [0043]).
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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/ALEXANDRA L NEWTON/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3799
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