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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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.
Claims 1-9, 12-15, 18, 22, 25 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Robicheaux (2026/0007523) in view of Dietz et al (8,080,064).
Robicheaux et al teaches a humeral arthroplasty system comprising:
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a humeral head (generally 3900) having an adapter socket (3950) to receive a taper adapter (generally 3800);
a taper adapter (generally 3800) configured to seat within the adapter socket ([0124]); and
a stemless humeral anchor (generally 5300) couplable to said taper adapter (Figs. 39-40).
However, Dalla Pria et al fails to include a sensor device wherein the said humeral head includes a first portion of circuitry of the sensor device and a second portion of circuitry of the sensor device extending into the adapter socket.
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Like Robicheaux et al, Dietz et al teaches a three-component arthroplasty system comprising a tibial tray 12, adapter 38 and anchor 36. The system further comprises a sensor device 70 which includes a first portion of circuitry (see figure 4 one of 74, 76, 72, 80, 84 (76, 74, 72, 88 each include multiple circuitry portions)) within the tibial tray 12 (similar to said humeral head) and a second portion of circuitry (at least 66) of the sensor device extending into the adapter socket 38. Also, see column 5, lines 31-33, of Dietz et al teaching sensor device 70 may be placed in the adapter.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to have incorporated the sensor device of Dietz et al wherein the humeral head includes a first portion of circuitry (see figure 4 one of 74, 76, 72, 80, 84 (76, 74, 72, 88 each include multiple circuitry)) and a second portion of circuitry (another one of 74, 76, 72, 80, 84 (76, 74, 72, 88 each include multiple circuitry)) extending into the adapter socket to monitor various parameter including temperature, pressure, load and strain of the arthroplasty system (6:14 et seq.). This includes placing all of 70 into the overlapping portions of head and adapter socket/taper adapter. Therefore, any of the circuitry of (74, 76, 72, 80, 84 (76, 74, 72, 88 each include multiple circuitry)) can be considered as being the first portion of circuitry or second portion of circuitry.
Claim 2, as shown in the figures above, the taper adapter and the stemless humeral anchor comprise a central bore extending therethrough; and the second portion of the circuitry of the sensor device is connected to the first portion by an electrical circuit (any portion of 70 and/or 66) extending through the taper adapter.
Claim 3, the senor device inherently includes a power source to transmit and has been interpreted as the first portion of circuitry.
Claim 4, the sensor device comprises sensors 82 interpreted as the first portion of circuitry. See figure 4 of Dietz et al.
Claim 5, the second portion has been interpreted as including an antenna or a wireless communication device. See figure 4 of Dietz et al.
Claim 6, the second portion has been interpreted as including an additional sensor circuit such as 72. See figure 4 of Dietz et al.
Claim 7, the second portion has been interpreted as including a communication circuit coupled to the antenna such as 72, 66.
Claim 8, wherein the electrical circuit (any portion of 70 and/or 66) extending through the taper adapter is an electrical lead.
Claim 9, wherein the electrical lead is a flexible wire 66 hardwired into the first portion of circuitry of the sensor device.
Claim 12, with the sensor device 70 within the taper adapter the following is true: the electrical circuit extending through the taper adapter includes a first circuit pathway embedded in the humeral head, the taper adapter, and the stemless humeral anchor (66) configured to conduct a first electrical signal between the first portion of circuitry and the second portion of circuitry; (claim 13) wherein the electrical circuit extending through the taper adapter includes a second circuit pathway embedded in at least the taper adapter and configured to conduct a second electrical signal between the first portion of circuitry and the second portion of circuitry; (claim 14) wherein the second electrical signal is a return path for the first electrical signal (for example to the memory and back from the member) and the electrical circuit extending through the taper adapter is configured to transmit power from the first portion of circuitry to the second portion of circuitry; (claim 15) wherein the first circuit pathway (74, 76, 72, 80, 84 (76, 74, 72, 88 each include multiple circuitry)) is formed by first electrical conductors embedded in the taper adapter that electrically couple to second electrical conductors 66 embedded in the stemless humeral anchor.
Claim 18, at least a load or strain sensor 82 (see column 6, lines 15 et seq.) is a measurement circuit configured to measure a parameter of the first circuit pathway correlated to an amount of impaction between the taper adapter and the humeral head or the taper adapter and the stemless humeral anchor.
Claim 21, further comprising a glenoid prosthesis comprising a glenoid sensor, wherein the glenoid sensor is configured for communication with at least one of the first portion of circuitry and the second portion of circuitry.
Claim 22, at least one of the first or second portions of electrical circuitry of the combination system are place within and through the taper adapter.
Claim 25, wherein: the second portion of circuitry of the sensor device comprises a force sensor 82 (any type of sensor including pressure, load, strain; see 6:14 et seq.) extending into the adapter socket. Wherein the taper adapter is configured to engage (hold, retain) the force sensor when seated in the adapter socket.
Claims 23-24 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Robicheaux (2026/0007523) in view of Dietz et al (8,080,064) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Winslow et al (2024/0325153).
Winslow et al teaches it is well known to make humeral heads entirely from a ceramic; see par. 0052. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to have made the head of Robichcheaux in view of Dietz from a ceramic material for its known wear characteristics. The pocket is the adapter socket.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 10-11, 16-17 and 19-21 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 an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance: The combination rejection of Robicheaux (2026/0007523) in view of Dietz et al is considered to be the most relevant references and rejection. However, these references fail to teach:
Claim 10: The combination of claims 1, 2, 8, 9 and 10, wherein the electrical lead includes a connector on a first end opposite the first portion of circuitry of the sensor device.
Claims 16: The combination of claim 1, 2, 12 and 15, wherein the stemless humeral anchor completes the first circuit pathway with an internal electrical connection between the second electrical conductors and the second portion of circuitry.
Claim 17: The combination of claims 1, 2, 12, 13, and 17, wherein the second circuit pathway includes a first conductive bias member electrically coupling the taper adapter and the first portion of circuitry and a second conductive bias member electrically coupling the taper adapter and the stemless humeral anchor.
Claim 19: The combination of claims 1, 2, 12, 18 and 19, further comprising comparing the amount of impaction is compared to a threshold impaction value indicating that the humeral head, the taper adapter and the stemless humeral anchor are assembled.
Claim 20: The combination claims 1, 2, 12, 18 and 20, further comprising comparing the amount of impaction is compared to a threshold impaction value indicating that the humeral head, the taper adapter and the stemless humeral anchor are assembled sufficient to withstand anticipated physiological loading.
Claim 21: The combination of claims 1, 2, 12 and 21, further comprising a glenoid prosthesis comprising a glenoid sensor, wherein the glenoid sensor is configured for communication with at least one of the first portion of circuitry and the second portion of circuitry.
Claim 26: The combination of claims 1, 25 and 26, wherein: the taper adapter is configured to fully depress the force sensor when the taper adapter is fully seated in the adapter socket; and the taper adapter is configured to partially depress the force sensor when the taper adapter is partially seater or misaligned within the adapter socket.
Any comments considered necessary by applicant must be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee. Such submissions should be clearly labeled “Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance.”
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BRUCE EDWARD SNOW whose telephone number is (571)272-4759. The examiner can normally be reached 7:30 am - 5:00 pm Monday through Thursday.
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/BRUCE E SNOW/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3774