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 in the reply filed on November 20, 2025 is acknowledged. Accordingly, claims 13-20 have been withdrawn from further consideration, and claims 1-12 have been examined as follows.
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.
Claims 1-2 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Hillman (US 2016/0327779).
Regarding claim 1, Hillman discloses an imaging apparatus (Fig. 19) comprising:
a first set of optical components (1912-1916) having a proximal end (near 1912) and a distal end (near 1916), wherein the first set of optical components includes a first objective (1916) disposed at the distal end of the first set of optical components (Fig. 19), wherein the first objective has a magnification between 10× and 70× and a numerical aperture between 0.5 and 1.1 (paras. [0565, 0580, 0588-0589, 0593, 0605-0606, 0609-0611]);
a second set of optical components (1924-1928) having a proximal end (near 1928) and a distal end (near 1924), wherein the second set of optical components includes a second objective (1928) disposed at the proximal end of the second set of optical components (Fig. 19);
a scanning element (1910) that is disposed proximally with respect to the proximal end of the first set of optical components (1912-1916) and distally with respect to the distal end of the second set of optical components (1924-1928) (Fig. 19)
wherein the scanning element (1910) is arranged to route excitation light (1901) through the first set of optical components (1912-1916) in a proximal to distal direction so that the excitation light is projected into a sample that is positioned distally beyond the distal end of the first set of optical components (at 1920, Fig. 19),
wherein the excitation light that is projected into the sample forms a sheet of excitation light at an oblique angle (Fig. 19; paras. [0588-0589]; claim 1), wherein a position of the sheet varies depending on an orientation of the scanning element (Fig. 19; para. [0154]; claim 1),
wherein the first set of optical components (1912-1916) routes detection light (1922) from the sample in a distal to proximal direction back to the scanning element (1910) (Fig. 19; paras. [0276-0277]), and
wherein the scanning element (1910) is further arranged to route the detection light (1922) so that the detection light will pass through the second set of optical components (1924-1928) in a distal to proximal direction, so that the second set of optical components forms an intermediate image plane (1930) at a position that is proximally beyond the proximal end of the second set of optical components (Fig. 19);
a folding mirror (1906) disposed proximally with respect to the proximal end of the first set of optical components (1912-1916) and distally with respect to the distal end of the second set of optical components (1924-1928) (Fig. 19),
a light detector array (1940); and
a third objective (1932-1938) arranged to route light arriving from the intermediate image plane (1930) towards the light detector array (1940) (Fig. 19).
Regarding claim 2, Hillman discloses wherein the folding mirror (1906) is positioned between the scanning element (1910) and the distal end of the second set of optical components (1924-1928) (Fig. 19).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-12 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:
Regarding claim 3, Hillman discloses wherein the first objective (1916) has a numerical aperture between 0.9 and 1.1 (paras. [0565, 0580, 0588, 0593, 0605-0606, 0609, 0611]), and
wherein the second objective (1928) has a magnification between 40× and 60× (para. [0294]) and a numerical aperture between 0.65 and 0.85 (para. [0589]).
However, Hillman, along with the other prior art of record, fails to explicitly disclose wherein the first objective has a magnification between 50× and 70× and an effective focal length between 2.5 and 3.5 mm, and wherein the second objective has an effective focal length between 3 and 5 mm.
Therefore, claim 3 would be allowable. Claims 4-12 would also be allowable by virtue of their dependence on claim 3.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to PAISLEY L WILSON whose telephone number is (571)270-5023. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday, 9:00am-5:00pm ET.
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/PAISLEY L WILSON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2871