DETAILED ACTION
Applicant's amendments and remarks, filed 7/29/26, are fully acknowledged by the Examiner. Currently, claims 1-11, 13-17, 19-25 are pending with claims 23-25 added, and claims 1, 7, 8, 10, 13, and 14 amended. The following is a complete response to the 7/29/26 communication.
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 (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.
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 25-26 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Krom in view of Masuda US 2012/0101493).
Regarding claim 25, Krom teaches an end effector, comprising:
a wrist having a distal clevis rotatably coupled to a proximal clevis (wrist 54 with distal clevis proximal to jaw members as in Fig 10, and proximal clevis 531);
a shaft coupled to the proximal clevis and defining a radial shoulder (shaft 43 coupled to 531 with radial shoulder 5321);
one or more jaw members rotatably mounted to the distal clevis (jaw member as in col. 9, lines 53-60);
a protective sleeve extendable over the wrist and a portion of the shaft and providing a body having opposing distal and proximal ends (3 extends over wrist and has a body with proximal and distal ends as in Fig. 3b), wherein the protective sleeve forms an interference fit with an outer surface of the portion of the shaft (inner surface of 3 can be smooth as in col. 20, lines 22-27 and mates with seals 52 of the opposing outer surface of the shaft portion, as in Fig. 10),
wherein, when the protective sleeve is in the assembled position:
the one or more jaw members protrude through an aperture defined in the body at the distal end (aperture 6 where the jaws protrude as in Figs. 7b).
Krom is not explicit regarding a first contact coupled to the wrist and electrically connected to the one or more jaw members;
a second contact radially offset from the first contact and electrically connected to an electrical conductor;
wherein the protective sleeve comprises a contact strip; and
the contact strip contacts the first and second contacts, thereby allowing current to flow from the electrical conductor to the one or more jaw members; and wherein, when the protective sleeve is in the migrated position, the contact strip is displaced from the first and second contacts, thereby preventing current from flowing from the electrical conductor to the one or more jaw members.
However, Masuda teaches two contacts, with one contact radially offset form the other contact and connected to a conductor (par. [0097] with electrical paths 99f and 99s radially offset). Contact between inner sheath 41i and 99f with conductive section 87 determines use of instrument 21 as in par. [0097].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Krom with the conductive elements of Masuda, as a way of using electrical contacts to determine when to stop current flow. One of ordinary skill in the art would appreciate that the shorting may also work in reverse, with conductivity ending when conductivity is not detected.
Regarding claim 26, Krom teaches a positive indicator discernible during use of the end effector
to indicate when the protective sleeve has moved from an assembled position where the proximal end of the protective sleeve engages the radial shoulder, to a migrated position (signage at 5321 as in Fig. 10, if visible, would be an indicator that the protective sleeve has moved to a migrated position).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-24 are allowed.
The closest prior art of record found are Krom (US 9,138,284). Krom teaches two materials of a protective sleeve, but is silent regarding a third material with different coefficient of elasticity than the other materials. While art such as Worrell (US 2019/0314060) teaches multiple materials for a protective sleeve (par. [0056]), examiner does not find reasoning for the three materials with the different coefficients in the different positions. Examiner has not found any piece of art that discloses, fairly suggests, or makes obvious the arrangement.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see the arguments, filed 6/16/26, with respect to claims 1-24 have been fully considered and are persuasive. The rejection of 3/25/26 has been withdrawn.
Applicant's arguments filed 6/16/26 to claims 25-26 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Applicant argues to Krom and Masuda regarding claim 25 that the combination does not teach. Looking to Masuda, one of ordinary skill in the art would appreciate that an opposite action of connecting paths to stop current flow rather than disconnecting paths to stop current flow are well known to treat tissue.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BO OUYANG whose telephone number is (571)272-8831. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8-5 EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Joanne Rodden can be reached at 303-297-4276. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/BO OUYANG/Examiner, Art Unit 3794
/MICHAEL F PEFFLEY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3794
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