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 without traverse of Invention I (Claims 2, 7-8) in the reply filed on 11/24/2025 is acknowledged.
Claims 3-6, 9-16 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to nonelected inventions, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 11/24/2025.
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (e) and 120.
Drawings
The originally filed drawings were received on 3/15/2023. These drawings are acceptable.
Specification
The lengthy specification has not been checked to the extent necessary to determine the presence of all possible minor errors. Applicant’s cooperation is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant may become aware in the specification.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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.
Claim(s) 7-8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Fiolka (U.S. Patent Application Publication US 2019/0170646 A1).
Fiolka discloses an axially illuminated microscope (See for example Abstract; Figures 1-17; in particular Figures 1-3, 11-13, and Figures 7-8 (prior art embodiment)) for multiple plane imaging configured to achieve simultaneous imaging of multiple z-planes in laser scanning confocal fluorescence microscopy (See for example Paragraphs 0049-0057; Paragraphs 0004-0006 (prior art embodiment)).
Fiolka additionally discloses an improved laser scanning confocal fluorescence microscope (See for example Abstract; Figures 1-17; in particular Figures 1-3, 11-13, and Figures 7-8 (prior art embodiment)), the improvement comprising configuring said microscope with axial illumination for multiple plane imaging that achieves simultaneous imaging of multiple z-planes (See for example Paragraphs 0049-0057; Paragraphs 0004-0006 (prior art embodiment)).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-2 are allowed.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Claim 1 is allowable over the cited art of record for at least the reason that the cited art of record fails to teach or reasonably suggest a transverse sheet illumination microscopy apparatus as generally set forth in Claim 1, the apparatus including, in combination with the features recited in Claim 1, the imaging unit comprising a linear reflection cavity with an imaging sensor; wherein the imaging unit is configured to select one plane at a time from a plurality of image planes from the sample and remap the selected plane to the imaging sensor; wherein each round trip in the linear reflection cavity allows for an additional plane to be segmented and re-adjusted onto the imaging sensor for imaging the sample. Claim 2 is dependent on Claim 1, and hence is allowable for at least the same reasons Claim 1 is allowable.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
U.S. Patent No. 9810896 to Nishiwaki.
U.S. Patent No. 10746981 to Tomer et al.
U.S. Patent Application Publication US 2014/0139840 A1 to Judkewitz et al.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ARNEL C LAVARIAS whose telephone number is (571)272-2315. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 10:30 AM-7 PM.
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ARNEL C. LAVARIAS
Primary Examiner
Group Art Unit 2872
12/12/2025
/ARNEL C LAVARIAS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2872