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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 1-7, 9-15, and 17-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Troflmov (EP 1912174 A2).
Regarding claims 1, 9, and 17, Troflmov discloses a method for revising an electro-anatomical map generated using a catheter positioned in a human body, the catheter having a plurality of electrodes (eg. 28), wherein the map is generated from data points acquired using the electrodes as the catheter moves within the body during a medical procedure (eg. Para. 22, 35), the method comprising: displaying (eg. Fig. 1 and Para. 25) a first electro-anatomical map that includes an anatomical structure having a mapped volume with a substantially tubular shape (eg. Fig, 9); at a first cross-section of the mapped volume, determining a first best-fitting ellipse based on data points associated with the first cross-section of the mapped volume (eg. Fig. 7, Para. 49); estimating a first point along a medial axis of the mapped volume in accordance with a center of the first-best fitting ellipse (eg. Para. 49, circle is a type of ellipse); estimating a second point along the medial axis on a second cross-section of the mapped volume (eg. Fig. 7, Para. 49); the first-cross section being different from the second cross-section; calculating a generalized cylindrical volume spanning between the first cross-section and the second cross-section in accordance with at least the first best-fitting ellipse (eg. Fig. 7, Para. 49, circle is a type of ellipse); removing data points from the mapped volume that are outside of the generalized cylindrical volume (eg. Para. 54); and displaying a second electro-anatomical map having an updated version of the anatomical structure generated without the removed data points (eg. another embodiment, Fig. 10, Para. 54).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have combined the embodiments of Troflmov to have the representations of circles and removing certain parts of the meshes to remove parts of the meshes of veins located inside the atrial cavity and closes the meshes of the veins for consistency (eg. Para. 54).
Regarding claims 2, 10, and 18, Troflmov discloses determining a plurality of points defining the medial axis, wherein the first cross-section is normal to the medial axis and the step of estimating the second point comprises selecting one of the plurality of points (eg. Para. 49).
Regarding claims 3, 13, and 19, Troflmov discloses the anatomical structure is a vein associated with a heart muscle (Eg. Para. 53-55, Fig. 9-11).
Regarding claims 4 and 20, Troflmov discloses the data points associated with the first cross-section of the mapped volume correspond to ablation tags (Eg Para. 33).
Regarding claims 5 and 13, Troflmov discloses estimating further points along the medial axis on further cross-sections of the mapped volume; and wherein the generalized cylindrical volume spans the first cross-section, the second cross-section and the further cross-sections (eg. Para. 49).
Regarding claims 6 and 14, Troflmov discloses data points associated with the second cross-section and each of the further cross-sections of the mapped volume do not correspond to ablation tags (eg. Para. 33).
Regarding claim 7 and 15, Troflmov discloses the generalized cylindrical volume is a substantially cylindrical shape (eg. Para. 49).
Claim(s) 8 and 16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Troflmov (EP 1912174 A2) in view of Zoabi (US 2018/0177552 A1).
Regarding claims 8 and 16, Troflmov discloses the invention of claim 1, but does not specifically disclose the electro-anatomical map is a fast anatomical map.
Zoabi teaches a catheter for estimating an anatomical map that uses fast anatomical mapping methods (eg. Para. 19).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have combined the invention of Troflmov with the fast anatomical mapping as taught by Zoabi because fast anatomical mapping is a method commonly used in the art (eg. Zoabi, Para. 19).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MICHAEL J LAU whose telephone number is (571)272-2317. The examiner can normally be reached 8-5:30 PM.
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/MICHAEL J LAU/Examiner, Art Unit 3796