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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 26 August 2026 has been entered.
Response to Amendment
The Amendment filed 12 June 2026 has been entered. Claims 1-13 remain pending in the application. Applicant’s amendment to Claim 10 has overcome each and every objection previously set forth in the Final Office Action mailed on 15 January 2026. However, Applicant’s amendments to Claims 1, 2-4 and 6-13 do not overcome the U.S.C. 103 rejections.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see Remarks, filed 12 June 2026, with respect to the U.S.C. 103 rejections of claims 1-13 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection has newly cited references teaching the amended claim.
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 of this title, 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, 2, 4, 5 and 7-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Seed Co. Ltd. (WO-2020195199-A1 from the IDS), in view of Menon (US8380270B2), and further in view of Tomota et al. (JP2008116432A), hereinafter Tomota.
As to claims 1, 4 and 7, Seed Co. Ltd. teaches a light intensity measurement system and method [claims 1 and 7] / a Raman scattered light spectroscopic measurement system [claim 4] ([0001]; aqueous humor Raman spectroscopic measurement system and method) comprising:
a light source configured to emit coherent light to aqueous humor of a subject eye (fig. 1; [0057]; first light source unit 21 emits excitation light L1 for spectroscopically measuring Raman scattered light in the aqueous humor 12 of the eye 10 to be inspected);
a spectrometer configured to measure light intensity of scattered light of the coherent light in the aqueous humor (fig. 1; [0065]; the spectrometer 29 spectrally measures the light that has passed through the filter 25) in order to non-invasively measure a concentration of a substance contained in the aqueous humor (abstract; “makes it possible to noninvasively analyze a substance contained in the aqueous humor of the subject’s eye”);
and a notch filter configured to selectively block light with a wavelength component of the Rayleigh scattered light (fig. 1; [0061]; the notch filter 25 blocks the Rayleigh scattered light and transmits the Raman scattered light).
However, Seed Co. Ltd. does not explicitly disclose a polarization controller that is arranged between the light source and the subject eye, and configured to control a polarization state of the coherent light to maximize light intensity of Rayleigh scattered light, such that the polarization state of light in the aqueous humor is made into linear polarization vertical to a traveling direction of the light; and the notch filter arranged to receive the Rayleigh scattered light scattered by light polarized by the polarization controller.
Menon, in the same field of endeavor as the claimed invention, teaches a polarization controller that is arranged between the light source and the subject eye (Menon col. 8 ln. 4-9 and ln. 20-23; fig. 2b; “The device 200 includes a first variable rotator 206 a positioned between the optical splitter 202 and the eye 104 for rotating the polarization of the first and second polarized rays 208 and 210”. “The first polarized ray 208 is further passed through a half wave plate 204 a which rotates the polarization of the first polarized ray 208 by about 90 degrees”. Thus, the polarization can be controlled by the first variable rotator 206 a and the half wave plate 204 a between the light source and the subject’s eye),
such that the polarization state of light in the aqueous humor is made into linear polarization vertical to a traveling direction of the light (Menon fig. 2b; col. 7 ln. 57-63; “The device 200 can further include an optical splitter 202 for splitting the incident light 201 from the illumination source 102 into a first polarized ray 208 with a first polarization and a second polarized ray 210 with a second polarization perpendicular to the first polarization, and an optical combiner 212 for combining a first reflected ray 308 and a second reflected ray 310”. The polarization state of light is made into linear polarization (i.e. plane polarization confined to a single plane) vertical to the traveling direction of the light—i.e. the reflection of polarized rays 208, 210 are reflected rays 308, 310, which are vertical/perpendicular to the traveling direction of the light prior to reflection).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify Seed Co. Ltd. to incorporate the teachings of Menon to include a polarization controller that is arranged between the light source and the subject eye, such that the polarization state of light in the aqueous humor is made into linear polarization vertical to a traveling direction of the light; for the advantage of quick and accurate measurements (Menon col. 2 ln. 21-26).
Still lacking the limitation such as the polarization controller configured to control a polarization state of the coherent light to maximize light intensity of Rayleigh scattered light, such that the polarization state of light in the aqueous humor is made into linear polarization vertical to a traveling direction of the light; and the notch filter arranged to receive the Rayleigh scattered light scattered by light polarized by the polarization controller.
Tomota, in the same field of endeavor as the claimed invention, teaches the polarization controller configured to control a polarization state of the coherent light to maximize light intensity of Rayleigh scattered light, such that the polarization state of light in the aqueous humor is made into linear polarization vertical to a traveling direction of the light (Tomota p. 28 ln. 9-19; p. 31 ln. 41-55; When polarizer 39 comprises “a Glan-Thompson prism, which is a total reflection type polarizer, is used, it has very high polarization characteristics, and high-purity linearly polarized light can be obtained”. Thus, polarizer 39 maximizes light intensity of Rayleigh scattered light. When the sample 1 is an aqueous humor, when in combination with Seed Co. Ltd. and Menon, Tomota teaches the linear polarization vertical to the traveling direction of the light);
and the notch filter arranged to receive the Rayleigh scattered light scattered by light polarized by the polarization controller (Tomota fig. 11; p. 31 ln. 41-55; Polarizer 39 controls polarization of the light from light source 31. “When the transmittance of the notch filter 37 having the configuration shown in FIG. 11A is set to 10 −4 , a “Rayleigh light leakage light profile (interfacial reflection intensity distribution diagram)” that becomes Rayleigh light leakage light is obtained. An edge filter 38 having a transmittance of 10 −6 is arranged… to obtain a polarization Raman spectrum in the depth direction in a state where Rayleigh light is removed, and a peak of a characteristic Raman band of an arbitrary molecule”. Thus, the notch filter 37 receives the Rayleigh scattered light scattered by light polarized by the polarizer 39).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify Seed Co. Ltd. in view of Menon to incorporate the teachings of Tomota to include the polarization controller configured to control a polarization state of the coherent light to maximize light intensity of Rayleigh scattered light, such that the polarization state of light in the aqueous humor is made into linear polarization vertical to a traveling direction of the light; and the notch filter arranged to receive the Rayleigh scattered light scattered by light polarized by the polarization controller; for the advantage of improved efficiency via high polarization (Tomota p. 28 ln. 9-19).
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As to claims 2, 5 and 8, Seed Co. Ltd. does not explicitly disclose wherein the polarization controller includes any one of a plurality of wave plates, a Babinet-Soleil compensator, and an acousto-optical element.
Menon, in the same field of endeavor as the claimed invention, teaches wherein the polarization controller includes any one of a plurality of wave plates, a Babinet-Soleil compensator, and an acousto-optical element (Menon fig. 2b; The polarization controller is described by Menon as the first variable rotator 206 a and the half wave plate 204 a. Col. 8 ln. 9-12; “Variable rotators 206 a and 206 b can be made from a suitable optoceramic material, such as PLZT, lithium niobate or liquid crystals”. Thus, inherently introducing a controllable phase delay between polarization components, functioning as a wave plate. Therefore, the variable rotator 206 a and the half wave plate 204 a are both wave plates, and the polarization controller includes a plurality of wave plates).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify Seed Co. Ltd. to incorporate the teachings of Menon to include wherein the polarization controller includes any one of a plurality of wave plates, a Babinet-Soleil compensator, and an acousto-optical element; for the advantage of quick and accurate measurements (Menon col. 2 ln. 21-26).
As to claim 9, Seed Co. Ltd. teaches wherein, in the measurement step, the spectrometer measures a spectrum of Raman scattered light of the coherent light in the aqueous humor (fig. 1; [0061]; [0065]; The spectrometer 29 spectrally measures the Raman scattered light that has passed through the filter 25 from the aqueous humor 12 of the eye 10. Thus, a spectrum of Raman scattered light of the coherent light is measured).
Claims 3 and 6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Seed Co. Ltd. in view of Menon and Tomota, and further in view of Ozaki et al. (US5754289A), hereinafter Ozaki.
As to claims 3 and 6, Seed Co. Ltd. teaches a notch filter configured to selectively block light with a wavelength component of the Rayleigh scattered light (fig. 1; [0061]; the notch filter 25 blocks the Rayleigh scattered light and transmits the Raman scattered light);
and inserting and removing the notch filter into and from between the subject eye and the spectrometer ([0061]; fig. 31; The filter 25 may be any filter that performs the same basic function but for different specific wavelengths, for example, a bandpass filter can be used. Filters that respectively transmit different wavelengths may be used when Stokes Raman scattering or anti-Stokes Raman scattering is measured. Because different filters are used, inserting and removing the different filters is necessary. Thus, the notch filter 25 can be inserted and removed from the embodiment between the eye 10 and the spectrometer 29).
However, Seed Co. Ltd. in view of Menon and Tomota does not explicitly disclose a driver configured to insert and remove the notch filter.
Ozaki, in the same field of endeavor as the claimed invention, teaches a driver configured to insert and remove the notch filter (Ozaki fig. 6; col. 7 lines 41-46; col. 8 lines 30-35; The system controller controls an operation of switching the filter 6. A plurality of filters 6a having different transmission wavelengths are arranged on the circumference of a discoidal support plate 6b in the bandpass filter 6, and the support plate 6b is rotated by a stepping motor 6c for positioning a desired filter 6a on the optical path of the scattered light).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify Seed Co. Ltd. in view of Menon and Tomota to incorporate the teachings of Ozaki to include a driver configured to insert and remove the notch filter; for the advantage of more control over light transmission (Ozaki col. 8 lines 25-29).
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Claims 10 and 12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Seed Co. Ltd. in view of Menon and Tomota, and further in view of Furusawa (US 6161035 A).
As to claims 10 and 12, Seed Co. Ltd. teaches a notch filter arranged between the subject eye and the spectrometer (fig. 31; [0093]; the filter 25 is in the embodiment located between the eye 10 and the spectrometer 29), the notch filter being configured to selectively block light with a wavelength component of the Rayleigh scattered light (fig. 1; [0061]; the notch filter 25 blocks the Rayleigh scattered light and transmits the Raman scattered light);
and a reflecting mirror arranged between the subject eye and the notch filter, the reflecting mirror being configured to reflect the Rayleigh scattered light in the aqueous humor (fig. 31; [0061]; [0093]; the half mirror 23 is between the eye 10 and the filter 25, and reflects the Rayleigh scattered light in the aqueous humor 12 of the eye 10).
However, Seed Co. Ltd. in view of Menon does not explicitly disclose a photodetector configured to detect light intensity of the reflected the Rayleigh scattered light; and a slide box configured to insert and remove the reflecting mirror into and from between the subject eye and the notch filter.
Tomota, in the same field of endeavor as the claimed invention, teaches a photodetector configured to detect light intensity of the reflected Rayleigh scattered light (Tomota p. 23 ln. 4-18; fig. 11; “The Rayleigh light component leaking from the notch filter 37… has an intensity comparable to the Raman scattered light. This light is incident on a spectroscope, which is a spectroscopic means for dispersing Raman scattered light, and a light intensity profile having the same wavelength as the laser excitation light is measured by a detector 36, which is a photodetection means, and interface information on the film is extracted”. Thus, a photodetector 36 detects light intensity of the reflected Rayleigh scattered light).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify Seed Co. Ltd. in view of Menon to incorporate the teachings of Tomota to include a photodetector configured to detect light intensity of the reflected Rayleigh scattered light; for the advantage of increased information for analysis (Tomota p. 23 ln. 4-18).
Still lacking the limitation such as a slide box configured to insert and remove the reflecting mirror into and from between the subject eye and the notch filter.
Furusawa, in the same field of endeavor as the claimed invention, teaches a slide box configured to insert and remove the reflecting mirror into and from between the subject eye and the notch filter (Furusawa col. 6 ln. 34-37; the mirror box 50 is disposed so as to be slidably moved by a manual operation in place and out of place, inherently into and from between the eye 10 and the filter 25 of Seed Co. Ltd.).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify Seed Co. Ltd. in view of Menon and Tomota to incorporate the teachings of Furusawa to include a slide box configured to insert and remove the reflecting mirror into and from between the subject eye and the notch filter; for the advantage of more control over reflection percentage (Furusawa col. 6 ln. 46-59).
Claims 11 and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Seed Co. Ltd. in view of Menon and Tomota, further in view of Furusawa, and further in view of Munger et al. (US20100245764A1), hereinafter Munger.
As to claims 11 and 13, Seed Co. Ltd. teaches a notch filter arranged between the subject eye and the spectrometer (fig. 31; [0093]; the filter 25 is in the embodiment located between the eye 10 and the spectrometer 29), the notch filter being configured to selectively block light with a wavelength component of the Rayleigh scattered light (fig. 1; [0061]; the notch filter 25 blocks the Rayleigh scattered light and transmits the Raman scattered light).
However, Seed Co. Ltd. in view of Menon does not explicitly disclose a photodetector arranged between the subject eye and the notch filter and tilted with respect to an optical axis of the subject eye to prevent return light returning to the subject eye from a surface of the photodetector; the photodetector being configured to detect light intensity of the Rayleigh scattered light in the aqueous humor; a light absorber configured to absorb light from a surface of the photodetector; and a slide box configured to insert and remove the photodetector into and from between the subject eye and the notch filter.
Tomota, in the same field of endeavor as the claimed invention, teaches the photodetector being configured to detect light intensity of the Rayleigh scattered light in the aqueous humor (Tomota p. 23 ln. 4-18; fig. 11; “The Rayleigh light component leaking from the notch filter 37… has an intensity comparable to the Raman scattered light. This light is incident on a spectroscope, which is a spectroscopic means for dispersing Raman scattered light, and a light intensity profile having the same wavelength as the laser excitation light is measured by a detector 36, which is a photodetection means, and interface information on the film is extracted”. Thus, a photodetector 36 detects light intensity of the reflected Rayleigh scattered light of the sample 1, which is an aqueous humor when in combination with Seed Co. Ltd. in view of Menon);
and a light absorber configured to absorb light from a surface of the photodetector (Tomota fig. 11; p. 28 ln. 22-31; Analyzer 40 of the Raman spectrometer can be a polaroid plate that is an absorption polarizer, which absorbs light from a surface of the photodetector 36, being in its light path).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify Seed Co. Ltd. in view of Menon to incorporate the teachings of Tomota to include the photodetector being configured to detect light intensity of the Rayleigh scattered light in the aqueous humor; and a light absorber configured to absorb light from a surface of the photodetector; for the advantage of improved efficiency via high polarization (Tomota p. 28 ln. 9-19).
Still lacking the limitations such as a photodetector arranged between the subject eye and the notch filter and tilted with respect to an optical axis of the subject eye to prevent return light returning to the subject eye from a surface of the photodetector; and a slide box configured to insert and remove the photodetector into and from between the subject eye and the notch filter.
Furusawa, in the same field of endeavor as the claimed invention, teaches a slide box configured to insert and remove the photodetector into and from between the subject eye and the notch filter (Furusawa col. 6 ln. 34-37; the mirror box 50 of the camera unit 30 (i.e. a photodetector) is disposed so as to be slidably moved by a manual operation in place and out of place, inherently into and from between the eye 10 and the filter 25 of Seed Co. Ltd.).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify Seed Co. Ltd. in view of Menon and Tomota to incorporate the teachings of Furusawa to include a slide box configured to insert and remove the photodetector into and from between the subject eye and the notch filter; for the advantage of more control over reflection percentage (Furusawa col. 6 ln. 46-59).
Still lacking the limitation such as a photodetector arranged between the subject eye and the notch filter and tilted with respect to an optical axis of the subject eye to prevent return light returning to the subject eye from a surface of the photodetector.
Munger, in the same field of endeavor as the claimed invention, teaches a photodetector arranged between the subject eye and the notch filter and tilted with respect to an optical axis of the subject eye to prevent return light returning to the subject eye from a surface of the photodetector (Munger fig. 3; [0062]; [0065]; the detector 73 can be an avalanche photodiode, which is a type of photodetector, arranged between the eye and the filters in the detection pathways).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify Seed Co. Ltd. in view of Menon, Tomota and Furusawa to incorporate the teachings of Munger to include a photodetector arranged between the subject eye and the notch filter and tilted with respect to an optical axis of the subject eye to prevent return light returning to the subject eye from a surface of the photodetector; for the advantage of more detailed measurements, e.g. of diffuse reflection (Munger [0062]).
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Conclusion
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/KEMAYA NGUYEN/Examiner, Art Unit 2877
/TARIFUR R CHOWDHURY/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2877
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