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 .
Status of Claims
Claims 15-34 are pending in this application. Claims 21-22, and 34 are withdrawn, and Claims 15-20 and 23-33 have been examined on the merits.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 15-16, 19, 23-24, 26, and 29-33 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Wada (US20190328479A1, disclosed in the Applicant’s IDS).
Regarding Claim 15,
Wada teaches a surgical assistance system for use in a surgical intervention on a patient (corresponding disclosure in at least [0010], where the system is for surgical purposes “the present disclosure proposes a novel and improved control device, control method, and surgical system that can further improve safety”), the surgical assistance system comprising:
A. a surgical microscope comprising: i. a microscope head that is movable (corresponding disclosure in at least [0042] and Figure 1, where there is a microscope comprising a microscope head (microscope unit), which is movable “Actuators are provided at each of the joint units, and by controlling driving of the actuators with control of the control device 140, an attitude of the arm unit and a position and an attitude of the microscope unit 111 are controlled.”)
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Figure 1 of Wada
the microscope head comprising a housing and an optical system adapted to provide optical magnification of a targeted area in a direction of an optical microscope axis and to create a microscope image via a downstream microscope image unit (corresponding disclosure in at least [0039], where the microscope head comprises a housing and optical system “The microscope unit 111 is configured with an image sensor, an optical system for guiding light from an observation target (observation light) to the image sensor, and the like accommodated in a housing” and further in [0040], where the optical system is adapted for magnification with adjustments available “The optical system of the microscope unit 111 has a focus lens for adjusting focal distances and a zoom lens for adjusting magnifications. In the microscope unit 111, a driving mechanism for moving the focus lens and the zoom lens in the optical axis direction is provided”);
ii. a microscope arm that is movable and connected to a base, the microscope head being attached on the base, the base being adapted to adjust a position and/or orientation of the microscope head (corresponding disclosure in at least Figure 1 and [0042], where there is an arm connected to a base 140 (control device) with the microscope head (microscope unit) attached, with the base adjusting the position of the head “The arm unit 112 is configured by connecting a plurality of links to each other by a plurality of joint units to be rotatable. Actuators are provided at each of the joint units, and by controlling driving of the actuators with control of the control device 140, an attitude of the arm unit and a position and an attitude of the microscope unit 111 are controlled”);
and iii. a camera system with at least one surrounding camera arranged on the microscope head, the at least one surrounding camera being adapted in such a way that a field of view of the at least one surrounding camera includes a field of view of the optical system to detect an area targeted by the optical system and surroundings around the targeted area and to provide a surroundings image (corresponding disclosure in at least Figure 1 and [0047], where the camera is on the microscope head, and the camera captures the FOV of the system and the surroundings “The peripheral image acquisition camera 130 is configured, for example, as a camera having a wide angle lens to photograph an image of as wide a range as possible. In addition, a plurality of peripheral image acquisition cameras 130 may be provided in the microscope unit 111 in order to obtain images of all surroundings”);
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Figure 1 of Wada
B. at least one display device for displaying a visual content (corresponding disclosure in at least [0044], where there is a display device “On the display device 120, an image of the operating site photographed by the microscope unit 111 of the observation device 110 by control of the control device 140 is projected”);
C. a control unit adapted to: i. process the microscope image and control the at least one display device for a view accordingly, and ii. process the surroundings image and generate a combined view with the microscope image and the surroundings image and output the combined view visually by the at least one display device (corresponding disclosure in at least [0046], where a combination of views can be displayed, with the microscope image (operating site image) and the surrounding view “In addition, instead of or along with the image of the operating site, the display device 120 may display various kinds of information relating to the surgery (e.g., physical data of the patient 205, the result of inspection performed beforehand, information of the surgical technique, etc.)”); and
D. a storage unit with preoperative 3D image data, the control unit being adapted to spatially detect a 3D structure of the patient via the camera system and correlate the 3D structure with the preoperative 3D image data in order to register the patient (corresponding disclosure in at least [0041], where there is 3D image data obtained “ the microscope unit 111 is configured as a stereo camera having a pair of image sensors. That is, the microscope unit 111 acquires an image signal for 3D display.” And further in [0072], where image processing steps are completed prior to surgery (preoperative data) “Before the surgeon 201 performs treatment after the surgical settings are completed, the image processing unit 141 performs various kinds of image processing for displaying an image of the operating site on the display device 120 on an image signal of a peripheral image acquired by the peripheral image acquisition camera 130” and further in [0088], where steps are taken to register patient data (image acquired by the microscope unit) to the preoperative data (operating site data) “The image processing unit 141 performs various kinds of image processing (e.g., similar processing to the above-described image processing for the peripheral image) for causing the image of the operating site acquired by the microscope unit 111 to be displayed on the display device 120 with respect to the image signal of the image of the operating site. Then, the image signal that has undergone the image processing is transmitted to the display device 120, and the display device 120 is caused to display the image of the operating site on the basis of the image signal”).
Regarding Claim 16,
Wada further teaches wherein the camera system comprises at least one of: a 3D camera configured for detecting the 3D structure (corresponding disclosure in at least [0041], where there is a 3D camera (stereo camera) “the microscope unit 111 is configured as a stereo camera having a pair of image sensors. That is, the microscope unit 111 acquires an image signal for 3D display”); and
a 2D camera configured to move over an area of interest of the patient in order to obtain a plurality of views of the area of interest, wherein the control unit is adapted to compute the 3D structure from the plurality of views using image analysis (corresponding disclosure in at least [0146], where there are a plurality of views that can be captured “rotating the microscope unit 111 about the first axis O1 makes it possible to change the field of view as though rotating the captured image” , further in [0150], where it’s specified the image captured is on a flat plane (2D) “makes it possible to move the field of view of the captured image on a flat plane” and [0064] “for example, the microscope unit 111 of the observation device 110 may be configured as a stereo camera, or configured to have, for example, a single-plate image sensor to acquire an image signal for 2D display”).
Regarding Claim 19,
Wada further teaches wherein the surgical microscope comprises at least one actuator to actively move the microscope arm and the microscope head, and the control unit is further adapted to control the actuator to actively move the microscope head to a predetermined position and/or orientation (corresponding disclosure in at least [0162], where the orientation (pivot motion) is predetermined “driving of the arm unit 112 may be controlled such that the arm unit performs a pivot motion. Here, the pivot motion is to move the microscope unit 111 such that the optical axis of the microscope unit 111 faces a predetermined point”).
Regarding Claim 23,
Wada further teaches wherein data including geometric relations, of at least one medical instrument and associated use instructions are stored in the storage unit (corresponding disclosure in at least [0198], where the geometric relation (the position and attitude) of a medical instrument is stored “while a position and an attitude of the medical instrument are maintained and an instruction to output a warning” and further in [0118], where instructions are provided “an instruction to change the operation mode may be input by the surgeon 201 at an arbitrary timing in the series of processes performed after Step S105. In the case in which the instruction is input, the process returns to Step S105, and the process of setting the operation mode in accordance with the instruction is performed”),
and the control unit is adapted to detect a surgical instrument in the surroundings image based on the geometric relation stored in the storage unit and to output the associated use instructions to a user via the display device (corresponding disclosure in at least [0062], where there is a camera for detecting the 3D image data “The operation recognition camera 154 transmits an image signal of the photographed image of the surgeon 201 to the control device 140. By performing an image recognition process on the basis of the image signal, the control device 140 detects a head track and a gesture of the surgeon 201 and recognizes the operation via the operation recognition camera” and further in [0209] where the surgical image is detected in the peripheral image “ intrusion of a medical instrument or an arm unit supporting the medical instrument is determined in a space on a basis of a peripheral image showing a peripheral state of the medical instrument or the arm unit”).
Regarding Claim 24,
Wada further teaches wherein the at least one display device is an OR monitor and/or a head-mounted display and/or a binocular system with data capable of fading in (corresponding disclosure in at least [0045] where a head mounted display is used “as the display device 120, an eyeglass-type 3D display is used.”).
Regarding Claim 26,
Wada further teaches wherein the microscope head comprises the camera system and is adapted in such a way via an orientation of its optical camera axis and via its camera optics that a field of view of the surrounding camera includes the field of view of the optical system (corresponding disclosure in at least [0047], where the microscope head (microscope unit) comprises a camera system (peripheral image acquisition camera) to capture the field of view of the optical system “he peripheral image acquisition camera 130 is provided in the microscope unit 111 of the observation device 110 and photographs peripheral images showing a state of surroundings of the microscope unit 111 and the arm unit 112. The peripheral image acquisition camera 130 is configured, for example, as a camera having a wide angle lens to photograph an image of as wide a range as possible. In addition, a plurality of peripheral image acquisition cameras 130 may be provided in the microscope unit 111 in order to obtain images of all surroundings”).
Regarding Claim 29,
Wada further teaches wherein the surrounding camera is arranged rigidly on the housing (corresponding disclosure in at least [0047] and Figure 1, where the camera is arranged on the housing “The peripheral image acquisition camera 130 is provided in the microscope unit 111 of the observation device 110 and photographs peripheral images showing a state of surroundings of the microscope unit 111 and the arm unit 112”)
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Figure 1 of Wada
Regarding Claim 30, Wada teaches the limitations of Claim 15 and further teaches an image display method for correlated display of a microscope image and a surroundings image for the surgical assistance system (corresponding disclosure in at least [0046] where the microscope and surrounding image are displayed “In addition, instead of or along with the image of the operating site, the display device 120 may display various kinds of information relating to the surgery (e.g., physical data of the patient 205, the result of inspection performed beforehand, information of the surgical technique, etc.). Switching of the display may be executed in accordance with an arbitrary operation by the surgeon 201”) according to claim 15, comprising the steps of:
A. targeting an area via the optical system arranged on the microscope head (corresponding disclosure in at least [0039], where an area is targeted by the optical system on the microscope head “The microscope unit 111 is configured with an image sensor, an optical system for guiding light from an observation target (observation light) to the image sensor, and the like accommodated in a housing”);
B. creating the microscope image by the downstream microscope image unit of a magnification provided by the optical system (corresponding disclosure in at least [0040], where there is magnification for the microscope with the axis direction being movable “the optical system of the microscope unit 111 has a focus lens for adjusting focal distances and a zoom lens for adjusting magnifications. In the microscope unit 111, a driving mechanism for moving the focus lens and the zoom lens in the optical axis direction is provided”) ;
C. creating the surroundings image by the at least one surroundings camera (corresponding disclosure in at least [0047], where there is a surrounding camera for surrounding image “The peripheral image acquisition camera 130 is provided in the microscope unit 111 of the observation device 110 and photographs peripheral images showing a state of surroundings of the microscope unit 111 and the arm unit”);
D. creating the combined view with the microscope image and the surroundings image (corresponding disclosure in at least [0048], where both the microscope and surrounding image are displayed “The distance information acquired by the peripheral image acquisition camera 130 is also transmitted to the control device 140 along with the image signal.”);
E. outputting the combined view by the display device (corresponding disclosure in at least [0048] and further in [0046], where the combined view (both images are viewable) are outputted “In addition, instead of or along with the image of the operating site, the display device 120 may display various kinds of information relating to the surgery (e.g., physical data of the patient 205, the result of inspection performed beforehand, information of the surgical technique, etc.)”);
F. spatially detecting the 3D structure via the camera system; and G. correlating the 3D structure with the 3D image data to register the patient (corresponding disclosure in at least [0041], where there is 3D image data obtained “ the microscope unit 111 is configured as a stereo camera having a pair of image sensors. That is, the microscope unit 111 acquires an image signal for 3D display.” And further in [0072], where image processing steps are completed prior to surgery (preoperative data) “Before the surgeon 201 performs treatment after the surgical settings are completed, the image processing unit 141 performs various kinds of image processing for displaying an image of the operating site on the display device 120 on an image signal of a peripheral image acquired by the peripheral image acquisition camera 130” and further in [0088], where steps are taken to register patient data (image acquired by the microscope unit) to the preoperative data (operating site data) “The image processing unit 141 performs various kinds of image processing (e.g., similar processing to the above-described image processing for the peripheral image) for causing the image of the operating site acquired by the microscope unit 111 to be displayed on the display device 120 with respect to the image signal of the image of the operating site. Then, the image signal that has undergone the image processing is transmitted to the display device 120, and the display device 120 is caused to display the image of the operating site on the basis of the image signal”).
Regarding Claim 31,
Wada further teaches further comprising the step of arranging the at least one surroundings camera on the microscope head (corresponding disclosure in at least Figure 1 and [0047], where the camera is on the microscope head, and the camera captures the FOV of the system and the surroundings “The peripheral image acquisition camera 130 is configured, for example, as a camera having a wide angle lens to photograph an image of as wide a range as possible. In addition, a plurality of peripheral image acquisition cameras 130 may be provided in the microscope unit 111 in order to obtain images of all surroundings”);
Regarding Claim 32,
Wada further teaches A computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform the steps of claim 30 (corresponding disclosure in at least [0112], where there is a storage medium for executing the instructions “a computer program for realizing each of the functions of the control device 140 of the surgical system 10 illustrated in FIG. 2 can be produced can installed in a processing device such as a PC. In addition, a computer-readable recording medium storing such a computer program can also be provided”).
Regarding Claim 33,
Wada further teaches a medical sterile space comprising the surgical assistance system (corresponding disclosure in at least [0054], where the space would be sterile, as the surgeon is holding treatment instruments and does not need to touch unsanitary areas, indicating the sterility of the medical space “The surgeon 201 holds treatment instruments with both hands during surgery, and thus since the operator can perform driving control of the arm unit 112 without using his or her hands in the hands-free mode, it is not necessary for the surgeon 201 to release the treatment instruments once to operate the microscope unit 111. In addition, since the operator can perform driving control of the arm unit 112 without using his or her hands in the hands-free mode, it is not necessary for the surgeon 201 to touch an input device or the like placed in an unsanitary area with his or her hands to operate the microscope unit 111. By operating the arm unit 112 in the hands-free mode as described above, surgery can be performed more smoothly”).
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 17-18, 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wada (US20190328479A1) in view of Philipp (US20220163780A1).
Regarding Claim 17, Wada teaches the limitations of Claim 1 and further teaches wherein the surgical assistance system is configured to detect a position of the microscope head and to provide the position of the microscope head to the control unit (corresponding disclosure in at least [0050], where the microscope head position is detected and the position is inputted into the control unit (control device) “the control device 140 can ascertain a current state of the arm unit 112 (specifically, a current state of the arm unit 112, and a current position and attitude of the microscope unit 111) on the basis of information of rotational angles of each of the joint units detected by the encoders and an internal model of the arm unit 112 input to the control device 140 beforehand”),
and the control unit is adapted to store the position of the microscope head in a storage unit as a registration position and an associated surroundings image as a first surroundings image (corresponding disclosure in at least [0167], where there is a storing element for the position and the surrounding image (the observation device and the joints of the arm) “and a storage element such as a memory are both mounted, or the like. As a result of the processor of the control device 5317 operating in accordance with a certain program, the various functions described above may be realized. Note that, in the example illustrated in the diagram, the control device 5317 is provided as a separate device from the observation device 110, but the control device 5317 may also be unified with the observation device 110, such as by being installed inside the base unit 5315 of the observation device 110, for example. Alternatively, the control device 5317 may be made up of multiple devices. For example, by providing a control board or the like in the microscope unit 5303 and each of the first joint unit 5311 a to the sixth joint unit 5311 f of the arm unit 5309, and communicably connecting these control boards to each other, functions similar to the control device 5317 may be realized”).
Wada does not teach the assistance system further configured to renew the associated surroundings image as a second surroundings image, and upon renewing the associated surroundings image in the registration position, the control unit determines that a deviation exists when an overlay of the first surroundings image and the second surroundings image deviate beyond a predetermined threshold.
Philipp, in a similar field of endeavor, teaches a similar concept (surgical microscopes) of the assistance system further configured to renew the associated surroundings image as a second surroundings image, and upon renewing the associated surroundings image in the registration position, the control unit determines that a deviation exists when an overlay of the first surroundings image and the second surroundings image deviate beyond a predetermined threshold (corresponding disclosure in at least [0042], where there is a first surrounding image (template) compared to a second surrounding image (specific operation) to determine whether there is a deviation based on a preexisting threshold (the model would have a threshold of sorts for the state indicator) “this means that the specific course of the operation can be compared to a template provided by the model. By way of example, the regions of interest, for instance according to the phase of the operation, can be determined by the model. By way of example, it would be possible to monitor deviations between the specific operation and a template by the model and a region of interest or, more generally, a state indicator could be determined on the basis of such deviations”).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to have incorporated determining a deviation between a first and second image as taught by Philipp. One of the ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to incorporate this because overlaying and comparing an initial image with a newly updated image ensures that the updated image is in the correct position for accurate measurements or readings.
Regarding Claim 18, the combined references of Wada and Philipp teach the limitations of Claim 17, and further teaches wherein the surgical assistance system is configured to detect a pose of the microscope head and to provide the pose to the control unit (corresponding disclosure in at least [0050] of Wada, where the control device provides the position of the microscope head “Specifically, the control device 140 can ascertain a current state of the arm unit 112 (specifically, a current state of the arm unit 112, and a current position and attitude of the microscope unit 111)”), and the control unit is adapted to store the pose in the storage unit as a registration pose (corresponding disclosure in at least [0162], where there is a stored pose for the microscope “driving of the arm unit 112 may be controlled such that the arm unit performs a pivot motion. Here, the pivot motion is to move the microscope unit 111 such that the optical axis of the microscope unit 111 faces a predetermined point”),
and, upon renewing the associated surroundings image in the stored registration pose, the control unit determines that a deviation exists when a partial area overlay of the first surroundings image and the second surroundings image deviate beyond the predetermined threshold (corresponding disclosure in at least [0042] of Philipp, where there is a first surrounding image (template) compared to a second surrounding image (specific operation) to determine whether there is a deviation based on a preexisting threshold (the model would have a threshold of sorts for the state indicator) “this means that the specific course of the operation can be compared to a template provided by the model. By way of example, the regions of interest, for instance according to the phase of the operation, can be determined by the model. By way of example, it would be possible to monitor deviations between the specific operation and a template by the model and a region of interest or, more generally, a state indicator could be determined on the basis of such deviations”).
Regarding Claim 20, Wada and Philipp teach the limitations of Claim 19 and further teaches the surgical assistance system comprises an input unit for selecting a focus point in the surroundings image (corresponding disclosure in at least [0041] of Philipp, where there is a focus point (region of interest)
and the control unit is adapted to actively control the microscope arm and the microscope head ([0050] of Wada) based on the focus point via the at least one actuator such that the optical microscope axis is aligned with the focus point at the patient at a predetermined associated distance and/or a predetermined image angle (corresponding disclosure in at least [0086] where there are particular positions that are taken on depending on the focus point with an optical axis “ the state indicators can characterize individual features of the visualization quality. Exemplary state indicators would be, e.g.: relative position of regions of interest in the field of view of the microscope (viewing angle of the cameras); concealment of regions of interest on surgical instruments or the situs by surgical instruments or tissue of the situs; and/or illumination of the situs by comparing the position of a region of interest with an optical axis”)
Claim 25 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wada (US20190328479A1) in view of Luna (US20180303574A1).
Regarding Claim 25, Wada teaches the limitations of claim 15 and further teaches the optical system and the surrounding camera ([0047]), but does not specify wherein a magnification of the optical system is at least fivefold and the optical system has a zoom function and/or a magnification of the surroundings camera is at most fivefold.
Luna, in a similar field of endeavor, teaches a similar concept (surgical imaging) wherein a magnification of the optical system is at least fivefold and the optical system has a zoom function and/or a magnification of the surroundings camera is at most fivefold (corresponding disclosure in at least Table 2, where it describes the camera imaging to be fivefold (5x)).
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Table 2 of Luna
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to have incorporated a surrounding camera with magnification of at most fivefold. One of the ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to incorporate this because having too high of a zoom for the surrounding camera would prevent a proper view of the surrounding environment that is being imaged.
Claim 27 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wada (US20190328479A1) in view of Blanz (“Face Recognition Based on Fitting a 3D Morphable Model”, 2003, IEEE, Vol 25 No 9).
Regarding Claim 27, Wada teaches the limitations of Claim 15 and further teaches the surgical assistance system, but does not teach wherein the surgical assistance system is adapted to spatially detect a face of the patient as the 3D structure.
Blanz, in a similar field of endeavor, teaches a similar concept (imaging for 3D structures) of spatially detecting a face of the patient as the 3D structure (corresponding disclosure in at least [pg. 2, 1. Introduction], where it’s outlined the 3D structure of the patient face is detected “n 1) constructing the morphable model from 3D scans (Section 3), 2) fitting the model to images for 3D shape reconstruction (Section 4), which includes a novel algorithm for parameter optimization (Appendix B), and 3) measuring similarity of faces for recognition (Section 5). Recognition results for the image databases of CMU-PIE [33] and FERET [29] are presented in Section 5. We start in Section 2 by describing two general strategies for face recognition with 3D morphable models”).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to have incorporated spatial detection of a face of the patient as the 3D structure as taught by Blanz. One of the ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to incorporate this because the patient can be determined using the facial recognition to further access any data plans, preoperative scans, etc..
Claim 28 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wada (US20190328479A1) in view of Buehner (US20110069867A1).
Regarding Claim 28, Wada teaches the limitations of Claim 15 and the surrounding camera and patient ([0013] and [0036]), but does not teach wherein only the surrounding camera is used to correlate the 3D structure with the preoperative 3D image data to register the patient.
Buehner, in a similar field of endeavor, teaches a similar concept (image registration) of wherein only the surrounding camera is used to correlate the 3D structure with the preoperative 3D image data to register the patient (corresponding disclosure in at least [0032], where 3D image data is taken and correlated with a spatial relation to further register the patient (image data) “The system comprises an interface adapted to receive three-dimensional image data generated for the object, wherein the image data are representative of at least a portion of the object and of reference markings associated with the object… provide registration tracking data representative of at least one of a spatial location and a spatial orientation of the registration tracker and object tracking data representative of at least one of a spatial location and a spatial orientation of an object tracker… to generate registered image data representative of at least one of the location and the orientation of the object taking into account the spatial relationship between the reference markings and the registration tracker and the relative position between the registration tracker and the object tracker.”).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to have incorporated the use of the surrounding camera to correlate the 3D structure with the preoperative 3D image data to register patient data as taught by Buehner. One of the ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to incorporate this because it provides a method of image registration without the use of bulky equipment and additional trackers, which hinder surgical procedures.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments regarding the Drawing objections and Claim objections filed 02/18/2026 have been withdrawn in light of the amendments.
Applicant's arguments regarding the 35 U.S.C.102(a)(1) and 35 U.S.C. 103 rejections filed 02/18/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Regarding Claim 15, Applicant argues the prior art Wada does not teach Element D, particularly the element of correlation with preoperative 3D image data in order to register the patient. The claim recites “the control unit being adapted to spatially detect a 3D structure of the patient via the camera system and correlate the 3D structure with the preoperative 3D image data in order to register the patient”. Wada teaches where the 3D structure of the patient (operating site acquired by microscope unit [0088]), is correlated with the preoperative 3D image data (the image signal of the image of the operating site [0088], which is displayed with respect to the operating site, where the image being displayed “with respect to” is understood to be correlated “ image of the operating site acquired by the microscope unit 111 to be displayed on the display device 120 with respect to the image signal of the image of the operating site”). Further, the images are 3D as recited in [0041] of Wada “the microscope unit 111 acquires an image signal for 3D display” and further in Figure 3 of Wada, with a peripheral image (3D) being shown. Thus, the elements of D in Claim 15 are taught in Wada.
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Figure 3 of Wada
With respect to Applicant’s arguments to the remaining claims, see page 9-10, regarding claims 16, 19, 23, 24, 26, and 29-33 under 35 U.S.C. 102 (a)(1) and Claims 17, 18, and 20 under 35 U.S.C. 103, these claims are not allowable based on their dependence to the independent claim 15 for at least the reasonings provided above.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/K.E.K./Examiner, Art Unit 3797
/SERKAN AKAR/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3797
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