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
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group I claims 1-20 (and newly submitted claims 25-28) in the reply filed on 9/16/26 is acknowledged.
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.
Claim(s) 1-3, 7-8, 25-28 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Saavedra et al. 2022/0409402 in view of Aral 2022/0296392.
Saavedra et al. has been disclosed supra and further discloses a dorsal plate (220) which equates to a cover. However, Saavedra et al. does not disclose a palm cover extending partially over the palm portion and defining a lateral opening and a dorsal opening; a thumb cover extending around at least part of the prosthetic thumb and secured to the lateral opening of the palm cover.
Aral teaches a prosthetic hand which comprise a palm portion; prosthetic digits and a prosthetic thumb. Aral further discloses a palm cover [0040] extending partially over the palm portion and defining a lateral opening; a thumb cover [0044] extending around at least part of the prosthetic thumb and secured to the lateral opening of the palm cover (see [0038]). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to modify the invention of Saavedra et al. and provide the covers as claimed in order to protect the internal components of the prosthetic hand.
Regarding claims 2-3, 7, Saavedra et al. does not use the term “recess” however does disclose “knuckle cradles” (see [0043]), which are configured to receive and partially enclose the knuckle sections of the finger modules and secure them to the palm module. It is obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art that the term recess is synonymous to a cradle and that the configuration is capable of aligning to define the prosthetic digit to the chassis.
Regarding claims 7, 25-28 Saavedra et al. discloses a prosthetic hand (200) comprising a prosthetic digit (204); a chassis (202); and a filament (see [0035] which states “…or example, may be routed back to the electronic control circuitry through the fingers and part of the palm of the prosthetic hand via wires…”. The wires are interpreted as a filament and annular grooves (see fig. 300 fig. 3B). Saavedra et al. further teaches annular grooves (see fig. 3b openings 300). Saavedra et al. further disclose a dorsal and a palm cover which are called plates (see [0010’ “…the palm module includes a palmar plate and a dorsal plate separably affixed to each other…”).
Regarding the functional limitation of “configured to be removed by a user via an end portion of the filament… see MPEP 2114.)
It is obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art that the wires/filaments may extend through the annular openings/groove formed at the base of the prosthetic digit to secure the chassis and the prosthetic digit together because [0035] states sensors in the palm area may be routed back to the electronic control circuitry through the fingers and part of the palm of the prosthetic hand via the wires.
Regarding claims 8, see rational as stated in paragraphs supra.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 15-20 are allowed.
Claims 4-6, 9-14 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: The closest prior art has been disclosed above. The prior art fails to teach or disclose (as italicized):
A prosthetic hand comprising: a palm portion having a distal end, a palm side opposite a dorsal side, and a lateral inner side opposite a lateral outer side; a prosthetic digit attached to and extending from the distal end of the palm portion; a prosthetic thumb attached to and extending from the lateral inner side of the palm portion; and a cover assembly comprising: a polymeric palm cover extending partially around the palm portion and defining a lateral opening on the lateral inner side of the palm portion, a distal opening on the distal end of the palm portion, and a dorsal opening on the dorsal side of the palm portion; a ridge of the palm cover located proximal of the distal opening and protruding inwardly from and extending at least partially along one or more inner surfaces of the palm cover, a palm sealing ring extending along the ridge of the palm cover with a chassis compressing the palm sealing ring against the ridge along a palm interface, the palm interface impermeable to liquid; a flexible thumb cover having a sidewall with a closed cross-section and extending from a proximal thumb opening to a distal thumb opening, the proximal thumb opening attached to the lateral opening of the palm cover and a distal end of the prosthetic thumb extending distally from the distal thumb opening; a thumb clamp extending along and securing a first perimeter of the lateral opening of the palm cover with a second perimeter of the proximal thumb opening of the thumb cover along a thumb cover interface; an exterior thumb seal extending over an exterior of the thumb cover interface, wherein the thumb cover interface is impermeable to liquid; and a rigid dorsal cover having an outer perimeter extending at least partially along a corresponding inner perimeter of the dorsal opening along a dorsal interface, wherein the dorsal interface is impermeable to liquid.
Conclusion
11. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Suzette Gherbi whose telephone number is (571)272-
4751. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday 7:00am-3:00pm. Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http:/Avww.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner's supervisor, Melanie Tyson can be reached on 571-272-9062. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/SUZETTE J GHERBI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3774 October 8, 2026
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