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 of group I and species b in the reply filed on 12/24/2025 is acknowledged. Because applicant did not distinctly and specifically point out the supposed errors in the restriction requirement, the election has been treated as an election without traverse (MPEP § 818.01(a)).
Status of Claims
Claims 1-12 are pending, claims 1-6 an 11-12 are withdrawn from consideration, and claims 7-10 are currently under consideration for patentability under 37 CFR 1.104
Foreign Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant's claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d). The certified copies have been received.
Information Disclosure Statement
Applicant is reminded of 37 C.F.R. 1.56 which states in part, “[e]ach individual associated with the filing and prosecution of a patent application has a duty of candor and good faith in dealing with the Office, which includes a duty to disclose to the Office all information known to that individual to be material to patentability as defined in this section. The duty to disclose information exists with respect to each pending claim until the claim is cancelled or withdrawn from consideration, or the application becomes abandoned.”
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.
Claim(s) 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Wang (U.S. 2014/0051924).
With respect to claim 7, Wang teaches a capsule camera device comprising:
a capsule housing (110);
one or more electrodes (121,122) disposed fixedly through the capsule housing (FIG. 1B), wherein said one or more electrodes apply electrical stimulus to living body tissue in a patient’s gastrointestinal tract (para [0021]);
a signal generation (310) or driver unit (320) to generate the electrical stimulus for said one or more electrodes;
an image sensor to capture images from a scene illuminated by a light source (para [0018]);
an image processing module (150) to determine image characteristics in one or more captured images (para [0032]);
a control module coupled to said one or more electrodes to provide one or more control signals to said one or more electrodes depending on the image characteristics in said one or more captured images (FIG. 5, para [0031]-[0036]); and
wherein the signal generation or driver unit, the image sensor, the image processing module and the control module are enclosed in the capsule housing (FIG. 1B).
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) 8-10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang (U.S. 2014/0051924) in view of Ming et al. (U.S. 2020/0323433).
Wang teaches a capsule camera device as set forth above. However, Wang does not teach at least two light sources which are capable of generating at least two spectrums.
With respect to claim 8, Ming et al. teaches a capsule camera device comprising at least two light sources to illuminate lumen walls of a GI (gastrointestinal) tract, wherein said at least two light sources are capable of generating at least two spectrums (para [0036]-[0037]).
With respect to claim 9, Ming et al. teaches the control module or a second control module, coupled to said at least two light sources, selects one or more selected light sources from said at least two light sources depending on the image characteristics in said one or more captured images (para [0042], FIG. 4).
With respect to claim 10, Ming et la. teaches the image characteristics in said one or more captured images comprise pathological significance in said one or more captured images (para [0042], FIG. 4).
Therefore, it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date to modify Wang to utilize the at least two light sources which are capable of generating at least two spectrums in the manner taught by Ming et al. in order to s help the physician to predict the type of pathological tissue and the depth of invasion of early cancer, so as to provides guide for treatment (para [0049] of Ming et al.).
Conclusion
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/ALEXANDRA L NEWTON/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3799