DETAILED ACTION
Notice of 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 .
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.
Foreign Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant's claim for foreign priority based on an application filed in France on 4 August 2021. It is noted, however, that applicant has not filed a certified copy of the FRANCE 2108490 application as required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 2 February 2024 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, the limitation “at least one implant in or on” must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). No new matter should be entered.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Specification
The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities:
The paragraph [0047] of the Specification recites “Patent applications US2018/37653”, this information is not correct.
Appropriate correction is required.
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 § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
Claims 48-68 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
Claim 1 recites the limitation " at least one selected from: (a) at least one implant in or on, at least one of a human or animal body, or at least one organ of a human or animal body, such as part of a nerve; or (b) at least one apparatus external to a human or animal body, " in lines 2-7. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim because the two optional designs of the device are disclosed as two completely different apparatus: the implant and the at least one apparatus external to a human or animal body. Furthermore, all the claims fail to further define the implant.
Claims 48-68 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) as being incomplete for omitting essential elements, such omission amounting to a gap between the elements. See MPEP § 2172.01. The omitted elements are: the components of “at least one implant”.
Claims 49-68 depend directly or indirectly on a rejected claim and are, therefore, also rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) for the reason set above.
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.
Claim 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Dai et al. (U. S. Pre-Grant Publication No. 20080114415).
Regarding independent claim 1, Dai et al. (e. g. see FIG. 1-1, [0012], [0023]) disclose a device (FIG. 1-1) for exchanging at least one of energy or data, in particular for localization and, where appropriate, tracking purposes, with at least one selected from: (a) at least one implant in or on, at least one of a human or animal body, or at least one organ of a human or animal body ([0023] a method to control power in an implant for a human or animal body is shown, the implant comprising electrodes contacting a tissue of the body, the method comprising: capacitively storing electric charges; providing the electric charges to the electrodes; monitoring when the electric charges are above a high value or below a low value; and controlling the electric charges when above the high value or below the low value.), such as part of a nerve ([0012] an electrode assembly for surgical implantation on a nerve. The matrix was silicone with embedded iridium electrodes. The assembly fit around a nerve to stimulate it.)
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to EMILY P. PHAM whose telephone number is (571) 270-3046. The examiner can normally be reached on MON-FRI 8:00AM-5:00PM.
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, DEDEI HAMMOND, can be reached at (571) 270-7938. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is (571) 273-8300.
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19 September 2026
/EMILY P PHAM/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2837
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