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 .
Election/Restrictions
The restriction mailed 24 December 2025 is withdrawn in view of the prior art search revealing there is no search burden between the rotational and linear magazines. Claims 1-14 are examined below.
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.
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 8 and 10-12 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.
Claims 8 and 11-12 recite the limitation "the distal instrument tip" in line 2 respectively. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
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 1-6, 9 and 13-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Knight et al. (US 2016/0213363), cited by applicant.
[Claim 1] Knight discloses a device (#4) for supplying operating material into an endoscopic operating site or for removing operating material from an endoscopic operating site, the device comprising:
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a trocar (cannula, #6);
a medical instrument (elongate probe, #8, having a distal end tool, #9) that is insertable into the operating site through the trocar; and
a loadable magazine (#2) which is arranged at the proximal end of the trocar and serves to accommodate material containers (chambers, #12, of the magazine are arranged to receive a medical intervention including medicine, drugs, a medical instrument or a tool) which, by means of the medical instrument and through the trocar, are insertable into the operating site or removable therefrom [pars. 0059-0061].
[Claim 2] Knight discloses the magazine is formed as a cylinder that is rotatable about the longitudinal axis of the trocar [pars. 0026, 0059-0061].
[Claim 3] Knight discloses the magazine is formed as a slide that is displaceable (moves linearly) across the longitudinal axis of the trocar [par. 0064; Fig. 4].
[Claim 4] Knight discloses the magazine is drivable by motor [pars. 0009, 0026].
[Claims 5, 6] Knight discloses each material container is securable to a distal instrument tip of the medical instrument by means of a latch mechanism, wherein the latch mechanism consists of a latch element arranged at the distal instrument tip of the medical instrument and a corresponding latch receptacle on the material container (engaging portion, #66, preferably comprising a male engaging portion which is adapted to be received in a female engaging portion, #68, provided in the tool body of the tool head) [pars. 0059, 0072-0073].
[Claim 9] Knight discloses a biopsy may be collected from a patient and withdrawn into the magazine and immediately removed for analysis whilst the surgeon carries on with the surgical operation [par. 0014]. The examiner notes the claims are directed to a device comprising a trocar, medical instrument and loadable magazine. The material containers are not positively claimed. Based on the disclosure of Knight, the magazine is capable of containing material containers wherein each material container has a sealable opening for filling and/or emptying the material container.
[Claim 13] The device is couplable to a medical telemanipulation robot (this is an intended use and the instant device has a cannula which could be coupled by a clamp/mount including a clamp/mount of a medical telemanipulation robot).
[Claim 14] Knight discloses the device is configured to couple with a manually operable medical instrument (user operable input arrangement includes a trigger, #14) [par. 0059].
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 7 and 12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Knight et al. (US 2016/0213363) as applied to claim 6 and claim 1 above, respectively, in view of Cowley et al. (US 2021/0059705).
[Claims 7, 12] Knight discloses the latch element arranged at the distal instrument tip but does not disclose the distal instrument tip is rotatable about the longitudinal axis of the medical instrument.
Cowley discloses a bi-stable spring latch connector (Figs. 6-8 #500) for analogous surgical instruments comprising a female end (#510) and male end (#520). The male end has a pair of protrusions (#522) that are rotated, along the longitudinal axis of an associated instrument, within grooves (#513) of the female end to couple the components of the latch together [par. 0047].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to substitute the latch taught by Knight with the bi-stable spring latch taught by Cowley in order to predictably couple the distal instrument tip to the container. The substitution constituting a simple substitution of one known coupling means for another known coupling means.
Claim 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Knight et al. (US 2016/0213363) as applied to claim 1 above in view of Desjardin et al. (US 2023/0093375).
[Claim 8] Knight discloses each material container (arranged to receive a medical intervention including medicine, drugs, a medical instrument or a tool) is securable to a distal instrument tip of the medical instrument but does not disclose by means of a magnetic coupling system.
Hufnagel discloses a surgical system wherein interchangeable surgical instruments may be detachably fastened to the distal end of surgical robot arm using a mechanical mating feature or through magnetic coupling [par. 0034].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to substitute the frictional coupling system taught by Knight with a magnetic coupling system as taught by Desjardin in order to predictably couple the material container with the distal instrument tip. The substitution constituting a simple substitution of one known coupling means for another known coupling means.
Claims 9 and 10 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Knight et al. (US 2016/0213363) as applied to claim 1 above in view of Nock (US 2019/0374210).
[Claims 9, 10] Knight discloses a magazine that is capable of containing material containers wherein each material container has a sealable opening for filling and/or emptying the material container but does not disclose the opening of the material container is opened and closed by means of the medical instrument coupled with the material container.
Nock discloses an apparatus to permit selective biopsy sample comprising a gate assembly (#600) coupled to a cutter (#130) to communicate rotational and translational motion of the gate assembly to the cutter. Rotation and translation of a cutter drive member (#502) results in corresponding rotation and translation of the cutter via the coupling between a gate portion (#504) and the gate assembly [par. 0051] i.e. to opening/closing the cutter to collect a tissue sample.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to configure the medical instrument of Knight such that rotational and/or translation motion from the medical instrument imparted on a material container in the form of a biopsy cannula causes a cutter to open/close to collect a tissue sample as taught by Nock. The examiner notes Knight discloses a biopsy may be collected from a patient and withdrawn into the magazine and immediately removed for analysis whilst the surgeon carries on with the surgical operation [par. 0014].
Claim 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Knight et al. (US 2016/0213363) as applied to claim 1 above in view of Shelton, IV et al. (US 2022/0218349).
[Claim 11] Knight does not disclose the distal instrument tip of the medical instrument is able to be angled in relation to the longitudinal axis of the medical instrument by means of at least one joint.
Shelton, IV discloses an analogous surgical instrument comprising an articulation joint (#32) in a shaft (#16) of the instrument that pivots to enable additional positioning during surgery [par. 0166].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the distal instrument tip taught by Knight to include an articulation joint as taught by Shelton, IV in order to provide additional positioning capabilities during surgery.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
(1) Larkin et al. (US 9,060,678) discloses an instrument magazine (#3002) having several instruments (#3004a, b, c) that may be selectively introduced into a guide tube (#3008) [col. 50, line 59 – col. 51, line 28].
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Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to NATHAN J JENNESS whose telephone number is (571)270-5055. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:00-5:00 EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Edward Lefkowitz can be reached at 571-272-2180. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/NATHAN J JENNESS/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3733 18 January 2026