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 Species 2 of FIGS. 5-6B, claims 4, 12, 13 and 20, in the reply filed on February 27, 2026 is acknowledged.
Claims 3, 11 and 19 withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected Species, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Accordingly, claims 1-2, 4-10, 12-18 and 20 are under examination.
Claim Objections
Claim 1 is objected to because of the following informalities: line 15 recites “a device latch.” It is understood that applicant intended to recite “the device latch,” which is referred back to “a device latch” in line 13 . Appropriate correction is required.
Claim 9 is objected to because of the following informalities: line 5 recites “the system latch.” For clarity, this limitation should be amended to read “the latch of said system,” to maintain consistency with “the latch of said system” in line 3.
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) 9-10, 16 and 17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Shturman et al. (US 6,077,282, hereinafter “Shturman”).
Referring to claim 9, Shturman discloses a latch locking and release system (FIGS. 1-8, 23 and 49-56. FIGS. 1-8 show a handle of an atherectomy device includes a drive shaft cartridge 60 and a handle housing 10. FIGS. 16-18 show drive shaft cartridge 60 is decoupled from housing 10) shiftable between a locking configuration maintaining a latch of said system engaged with a device latch operably coupled to an implanted device (FIGS. 49-56 show collar 160 of drive shaft cartridge 60 includes flange 165 or latch to engage with fingers 151 or latch of prime mover carriage 30. As to the limitation of “operably coupled to an implantable device,” examiner notes that the implantable device is not positively claimed as part of the invention), and a release configuration allowing the latch of said system to be disengaged from the device latch, said system comprising:
a control knob operably associated with the system latch (“the system latch” has been interpreted “the latch of said system”)(housing 10 includes prime mover carriage 30); and
a latch release mechanism (drive shaft cartridge 60 includes a latch release mechanism 62 (see FIGS. 6 and 23, which are reproduced and annotated below), which includes latch 67 on cartridge housing 62 for engaging with latch 46 on housing 10) shiftable between a locking configuration (FIG. 3) maintaining the control knob in a position maintaining engagement of the latches (FIG. 49), and a release configuration allowing the control knob to release engagement of the latches (FIG. 21 shows drive shaft cartridge 60 is decoupled from housing 10); wherein said latch release mechanism is tubular about an axis and shiftable between a locking configuration blocking axial movement of said control knob with respect to said latch release mechanism and a release configuration allowing axial movement of said control knob with respect to said latch release mechanism (FIG. 2 shows the control knob (housing 10) is not capable to move in a distal direction with respect to drive shaft cartridge 60 when they are in the locking configuration. FIG. 23 shows the control knob (housing 10) is capable of moving in the distal direction).
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Referring to claim 10, Shturman discloses the latch locking and release system of claim 9, wherein said tubular latch release mechanism (cartridge housing 62) has an interior sized, shaped, configured, and/or dimensioned to receive a portion of said control knob therein when in the release configuration and to block said control knob (housing 10) from extending therein when in the locking configuration (FIG. 2 shows the control knob (housing 10) is not capable to move in a distal direction with respect to drive shaft cartridge 60 when they are in the locking configuration).
Referring to claim 16, Shturman discloses a method of actuating a latch locking and release system (FIGS. 1-8, 23. FIGS. 1-8 show a handle of an atherectomy device includes a drive shaft cartridge 60 and a handle housing 10. FIGS. 16-18 show drive shaft cartridge 60 is decoupled from housing 10), said method comprising changing the cross-section of a tubular latch release mechanism (FIGS. 6-9 show housing 62 of drive shaft cartridge 60 includes a latch release mechanism 62 (see FIGS. 6 and 23, which are reproduced and annotated below)) from a locking configuration sized, shaped, configured, and/or dimensioned to block axial translation of a control knob (FIGS. 6-9 show housing 10 includes a latch mechanism 46 for engaging with latch mechanism 67 on drive shaft cartridge housing 62) relative to the axis of the tubular latch release mechanism to a release configuration sized, shaped, configured, and/or dimensioned to allow axial translation of the control knob relative to the latch release mechanism along the axis of the tubular latch release mechanism. (FIGS. 6-9 show housing 62 of drive shaft cartridge 60 is changed from a circular cross-section to an oval cross-section to allow the user to decouple the drive shaft cartridge 60 from housing 10 (FIG. 7 is reproduced below). Col. 12, lines 1-35: “The annular shoulder 67 is interlockable with a proximal complementary interlocking member carried by the handle housing 10. The proximal complementary interlocking member is comprised of a pair of radially outwardly extending tabs 46 carried by the handle housing 10. Preferably the tabs 46 are circumferentially opposed--i.e., they are located on opposite sides of the tubular handle housing 10. As is described in detail below, the proximal stage of the two-stage interlock mechanism is releasable by compressing the annular shoulder 67 of the cartridge housing 62 to an oval shape and moving the shoulder distally over the tabs 46 of the handle housing 10. To permit this compression, the annular shoulder 67 has an inner diameter which is sufficiently larger than the outer diameter of the inner tube 64 of the cartridge housing 62 so that the annular shoulder 67 may be compressed to an oval shape to be moved over the tabs 46 of the handle housing 10.”)
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Referring to claim 17, Shturman discloses the method of claim 16, further comprising moving the control knob (housing 10 of handle) into the interior of the tubular latch release mechanism (drive shaft cartridge housing 62) (FIGS. 8 and 5 show the distal portion, which include latch 46, of housing 10 is inserted into the drive shaft cartridge housing 62).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 1-2 and 4-8 are allowable.
Claims 12-15, 18 and 20 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.
There is no art of record alone or in combination that teaches a system for delivering and/or deploying an implantable device that includes the combination of recited limitation in claim 1. Shturman reference, which is best prior art reference, is about an atherectomy device. Shturman discloses the latch locking and release system as claimed in lines 17-25 of claim 1, however, the device of Shturman is not a device for delivering and/or deploying an implantable device and there is no motivation to modify the device of Shturman for delivering and/or deploying an implantable device.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TUAN V NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)272-5962. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 8:30 AM - 5:30 PM.
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, Jackie Ho can be reached at 571-272-4696. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/TUAN V NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3771