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 . 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 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.
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” dye injector” must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s) 1 and 10. 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.
Appropriate action is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
Claims 1-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
The subject matter “dye injector” is claimed in claims 1 and 10 with no disclosure.
Claims 1-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the enablement requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to enable one skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and/or use the invention.
Independent claims recite subject matter “a dye injector”, but there is no instruction or disclosure about dye injector, which element it is, where it is located? What is the mechanism and elements to store and to inject dye into the mechanical system.
Turning to MPEP 2164.01(a), i.e. the Wands factors, Examiner finds the breath of the claims, nature of invention, amount of direction or guidance: the state of the prior art are sufficient evidences that the disclosure does not satisfy the enablement requirement, and undue experimentation would be required.
Remaining claims are rejected because of their dependency to independent claims.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
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.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Independent claims recite subject matter “a dye injector”, but it is not enabled, and therefore, it is not clear how to compare it with prior art. Typically, in any leak detection system using dye detection, dye is injected into a suspected malfunctioning component of a larger mechanical unit, therefore, for examination, any leak detection system comprising detecting leaks via detecting dyes in mechanical system being illuminated by the UV light source in interpreted to read on a dye injector.
Remaining claims are rejected because of their dependency to independent claims.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 1-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Taylor, US 20030117617 A1 in view of Fengler, US20070015963A1.
Claim 1
Taylor in fig.1 teaches:
A system for detecting leaks in a mechanical system, the system comprising:
a dye injector for injecting dye into the mechanical system (e.g., ¶0025);
a borescope (10) having one or more tubes (20,12¶0019: one or more fiber optic cables may be provided for delivering the blue/black light from the bore-scope housing 12 to the bore-scope 22) each tube (20,12) including a UV light source (e.g., ¶0009 and using switches 16,18 in ¶0016-¶0022: blue light sources can be co-located with the bore-scope 22); and
an image detector (bore-scope 22 and ¶0028 teaches eyepiece can be replaced with CCD camera which reads on an image detector) connected with at least one of the one or more tubes (20,12) and configured to image a field-of-view of dye in the mechanical system being illuminated by the UV light source (e.g., ¶0023¶0016¶0028).
Taylor teaches lens cap 14 but does not specifically teach the image detector including a light-filtering lens cap configured for filtering a first portion of UV rays from the UV light source to allow passage of a second portion of UV rays of the dye being illuminated by the UV light source.
In the similar field of endeavor, Fengler teaches the image detector including a light-filtering lens cap (e.g., 79 in figs.2B-3, 118 in fig.7A-B) configured for filtering a first portion of UV rays (see e.g., fig.6A green and red are blocked or filtered, 6D blue and red filtered but green is passed e.g., ¶0049) from the UV light source 52A to allow passage of a second portion of UV rays (fig.6A blue is passed) of the dye being illuminated by the UV light source (e.g.,¶0049 and figs.6A,6D).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use Fengler‘s light-filtering for Taylor‘s UV rays and lens and the modified Taylor’s image detector including a light-filtering lens cap configured for filtering a first portion of the modified Taylor’s UV rays from the UV light source to allow passage of a second portion of UV rays of the dye being illuminated by the UV light source. One of ordinary skill in the art knows filter blocks excitation light from reaching an image sensor, but passes some blue light and would have been motivated to make this modification in order to block excitation light from reaching an image sensor, but transmitting some fluorescence light so that both primary fluorescence images and color/white light images of tissue can be produced (e.g., Fengler ¶0007).
Claim 2
Taylor in view of Fengler teaches the system in accordance with claim 1, Flenger teaches wherein the light-filtering lens cap of the image detector is a shade of yellow (e.g., fig.9 filter 202 ¶0085) for the same reason and motivation above.
Claim 3
Taylor in view of Fengler teaches the system in accordance with claim 1, Taylor further teaches wherein at least one of the one or more tubes 20 is flexible (¶0017).
Claim 4
Taylor in view of Fengler teaches the system in accordance with claim 1, Taylor further teaches wherein at least one of the one or more tubes 20 is rigid (¶0029).
Claim 5
Taylor in view of Fengler teaches the system in accordance with claim 1, Taylor further teaches wherein the image detector (CCD camera) is configured to detect and collect still images and/or video images (¶0028 CCD camera).
Claim 6
Taylor in view of Fengler teaches the system in accordance with claim 1, Fengler teaches wherein the second portion of UV rays is a shade of blue waves (e.g., fig.6A) for the same reason and motivation as cited above.
Claim 7
Taylor in view of Fengler teaches the system in accordance with claim 1, Taylor teaches wherein the image detector 22 is connected at a distal end of the at least one of the one or more tubes 20 and coincident with the UV light source 16 (this is also taught by Fengler as cited above)1.
Claim 8
Taylor in view of Fengler teaches the system in accordance with claim 1, Taylor further teaches comprising a display (¶0028 LCD screen) configured to receive and display image or video received by the image detector (camera ¶0028) through the light-filtering lens cap 14.
Claim 9
Taylor in view of Fengler teaches the system in accordance with claim 1, Taylor teaches further comprising one or more user-operable controls for controlling the UV light source, the image detector, and/or the one or more tubes (Switches 18,16¶0016) (Fengler also teaches controller 64 to teach this limitation).
Claim 10
Taylor in fig.1 teaches:
A system for detecting leaks in a mechanical system, the system comprising:
a dye injector for injecting dye into the mechanical system (e.g., ¶0025);
a borescope 10 having one or more tubes(20,12¶0019: one or more fiber optic cables may be provided for delivering the blue/black light from the bore-scope housing 12 to the bore-scope 22), each tube including a UV light source(e.g., ¶0009 and using switches 16,18 in ¶0016-0022 : blue light sources can be co-located with the bore-scope 22);
an image detector (22, ¶0028 eyepiece can be replaced with CCD cameral) connected with at least one of the one or more tubes (20,12) and configured to image a field-of-view of dye in the mechanical system being illuminated by the UV light source (e.g., ¶0023¶0016¶0028); and
a display (¶0028: LCD color display screen) in communication with the image detector (22, ¶0028 camera) and configured to receive and display image or video received by the image detector( image from camera¶0028) through the lens cap (14).
Taylor does not specifically teach image detector connected with at least one of the one or more tubes and configured to image a field-of-view of dye in the mechanical system being illuminated by the UV light source, the image detector including a light-filtering lens cap configured for filtering a first portion of UV rays from the UV light source to allow passage of a second portion of UV rays of the dye being illuminated by the UV light source; In the similar field of endeavor, Fengler teaches the image detector including a light-filtering lens cap (e.g., 79A in figs.2B-3, 118 in fig.7A-B) configured for filtering a first portion of UV rays from the UV light source 52A to allow passage of a second portion of UV rays of the dye being illuminated by the UV light source (e.g.,¶0049 and figs.6A,6D).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use Fengler‘s light-filtering for Taylor‘s UV rays and lens and the modified Taylor’s image detector including a light-filtering lens cap configured for filtering a first portion of the modified Taylor’s UV rays from the UV light source to allow passage of a second portion of UV rays of the dye being illuminated by the UV light source. One of ordinary skill in the art knows would have been motivated to make this modification in order to block excitation light from reaching an image sensor, but passes some blue light so that both fluorescence images and color/white light images of tissue can be produced (e.g., Fengler ¶0007).
Claim 11
Taylor in view of Fengler teaches the system in accordance with claim 10, Taylor teaches wherein the display (¶0028 LCD color display screen) is in communication with the image detector (camera) via a wired connection (it is well known to connect camera and monitor screen via wired).
Claim 12
Taylor in view of Fengler teaches the system in accordance with claim 10, Fengler in fig.20 teaches wherein the display is in communication with the image detector via a wireless connection (¶0255¶0257¶0259). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use Fengler‘s wireless connection for the modified Taylor‘s image detector connecting to its display. One of ordinary skill in the art well knows these wireless connections would have been motivated to make this modification in order to at least convenient application of connecting devices without wires.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Leighley, US 6056162 A
Leighley teaches a dye injector 10.
Bossé, US 20170167984 A1,
Bossé in fig.16 teaches dye injector, and in figs.7,9 teaches an image detector (760 in fig.7 and 908 in fig.9) connected with at least one of the one or more tubes (720,904), the image detector (e.g.,¶0148 ¶0055) including a light-filtering (960) configured for filtering a first portion of light rays from the light source to allow passage of a second portion of UV rays of the dye being illuminated by the light source (e.g., passage of light is based on the wavelength and is opaque to the excitation wavelengths depends on particulate source and dye¶0165).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Fatemeh E. Nia whose telephone number is (469)295-9187. The examiner can normally be reached 9:00 am to 4:00 pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Kristina DeHerrera can be reached at (303) 297-4237. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/FATEMEH ESFANDIARI NIA/Examiner, Art Unit 2855
1 Term coincident is so broad to be taught by both primary and secondary art. Furthermore, the examiner notes that it has been held that a mere rearrangement of element without modification of the operation of the device involves only routine skill in the art. in re Japiske, 86 USPQ 70 (CCPA 1950). In this case, there is no criticality to the limitation related to tubes being coincident with the UV light source).