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 .
Priority
Should applicant desire to obtain the benefit of foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d) prior to declaration of an interference, a certified English translation of the foreign application must be submitted in reply to this action. 37 CFR 41.154(b) and 41.202(e).
Failure to provide a certified translation may result in no benefit being accorded for the non-English application.
Specification
The abstract of the disclosure is objected to because it is longer than 150 words. A corrected abstract of the disclosure is required and must be presented on a separate sheet, apart from any other text. See MPEP § 608.01(b).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
Section 33(a) of the America Invents Act reads as follows:
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no patent may issue on a claim directed to or encompassing a human organism.
Claim 10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 and section 33(a) of the America Invents Act as being directed to or encompassing a human organism. See also Animals - Patentability, 1077 Off. Gaz. Pat. Office 24 (April 21, 1987) (indicating that human organisms are excluded from the scope of patentable subject matter under 35 U.S.C. 101). Claim 10 requires “at least one ophthalmological laser for separating a corneal volume with predefined interfaces of a human or animal eye” in lines 1-3. This limitation claims the human body as part of the inventive system. The claims should be amended to include “configured to” (“adapted to”, etc.) language to preclude this interpretation.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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(s) 1-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Fu et al (U.S. 2019/0060122). Fu discloses (par. 0042) providing control data (“The treatment table may be adjusted according to feedback input into the controller 22 from an automated image analysis system in response to feedback data provided from an ablation monitoring system feedback system”) for an ophthalmological laser of a treatment apparatus (par. 0041, “laser-assisted ophthalmic procedures, and more particularly, to systems and methods for lenticular laser incisions”), wherein the method comprises the following steps performed by a control device (“an energy control module 16 for varying the pulse energy of the pulsed laser beam 18”): determining an anterior interface and a posterior interface in a cornea of a human or animal eye (par. 0075, especially “A cross-sectional view 1302 and top view 1304 are provided of the lenticule cuts 1310, 1320 and side cut 1350. In FIG. 13, a patient interface 1340 is pressed against a cornea 1306. The lenticular incision includes a bottom lens surface 1310 and a top lens surface 1320”); determining a transition zone (par. 0016-0017), in which the anterior interfaces and the posterior interface are connected to each other, wherein transition positions are determined on the anterior interface, from which an incision progression of the anterior interface is changed towards the posterior interface, and wherein transition positions are determined on the posterior interface, from which an incision progression of the posterior interface is changed towards the anterior interface, such that the respective incision progressions of the interfaces converge and connect to each other in the transition zone (“wherein the top and bottom edge transition portions are mirror symmetrical to each other with respect to a transverse center plane perpendicular to an optical axis of the eye, and wherein the top and bottom edge transition portions intersect each other at an intersection location and both extend beyond the intersection location”); and providing control data for controlling the ophthalmological laser, which includes the interfaces and the incision progression of the transition zone (see previous citation, especially “a controller configured to control the XY-scan device and the Z-scan device to form a top lenticular incision and a bottom lenticular incision of a lens in a cornea of the subject's eye, wherein the top lenticular incision has a top convex spherical portion at a center and a top edge transition portion that surrounds the top spherical portion, the top spherical portion being a part of a first sphere, the top edge transition portion being not a part of the first sphere and being located within a volume defined by the first sphere, the top lenticular incision being a smooth surface, wherein the bottom lenticular incision has a bottom convex spherical portion at a center and a bottom edge transition portion that surrounds the bottom spherical portion, the bottom spherical portion being a part of a second sphere, the bottom edge transition portion being not a part of the second sphere and being located within a volume defined by the second sphere, the bottom lenticular incision being a smooth surface”).
Regarding claim 2, Fu discloses (par. 0122) the respective incision progression comprises sections with different slope values.
Regarding claim 3, Fu discloses (par. 0075 and Figure 13) a pose of the transition positions of the posterior interface differs from a pose of the transition positions of the anterior interface viewed in a radial direction (“The lenticular incision includes a bottom lens surface 1310 and a top lens surface 1320. The bottom surface 1310 includes a radius of curvature R1 and the top surface 1320 includes a radius of curvature R2.”).
Regarding claim 4, Fu discloses (Figure 13) the transition positions of the posterior interface are set further inward in the radial direction than the transition positions of the anterior interface.
Regarding claim 5, Fu discloses (par. 0122) the incision progressions of the anterior and the posterior interface converge towards each other with different slope magnitudes in the transition zone.
Regarding claim 6, Fu discloses (par. 0110) the incision progression of the respective interface is continuous and differentiable in the transition zone.
Regarding claim 7, Fu discloses (par. 0048) the incision progressions of the respective interfaces converge towards each other in the transition zone such that they meet halfway.
Regarding claim 8, Fu discloses (par. 0042) controlling a treatment apparatus (“the system 10 further includes a beam splitter 26 and a detector 24 coupled to the controller 22 for a feedback control mechanism (not shown) of the pulsed laser beam 18”), wherein the method comprises transferring the provided control data to a respective ophthalmological laser of the treatment apparatus.
Regarding claim 9, Fu discloses (par. 0042) control device (“energy control module 16”), which is configured to perform the method
Regarding claim 10, Fu discloses (par. 0042) a treatment apparatus (10) with at least one ophthalmological laser (14) for separating a corneal volume with predefined interfaces of a human or animal eye by means of ablation and at least one control device (16).
Regarding claim 11, Fu discloses (par. 0005) the laser is formed to emit laser pulses in a wavelength range between 300 nm and 1400 nm, at a respective pulse duration between 1 fs and 1 ns, and a repetition frequency of greater than 10 kHz (par. 0048).
Regarding claim 12, Fu discloses (par. 0042) the control device comprises at least one storage device for at least temporary storage of at least one control dataset, wherein the at least one control dataset includes control data for positioning and/or focusing individual laser pulses in the eye; and wherein the treatment apparatus includes at least one beam deflection device (“an XY-scanner 28 for deflecting or directing the pulsed laser beam 18 from the laser 14 on or within the material 12”) for beam guidance and/or beam shaping and/or beam deflection and/or beam focusing of a laser beam of the laser.
Regarding claim 13, Fu discloses (par. 0042) a non-transitory computer-readable medium, on which a computer program is stored, the computer program comprising commands that cause a control device to execute the method.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DEBORAH L MALAMUD whose telephone number is (571)272-2106. The examiner can normally be reached Mon - Fri 1:00-9:30 Eastern.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Unsu Jung can be reached at (571) 272-8506. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/DEBORAH L MALAMUD/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3792
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