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 .
Drawings
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, the “channel” (claim 3) must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). No new matter should be entered.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Claim Objections
Claim 16 is objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 16 states: “and one or more bolster coupled to the thoracic support assembly the lumbar support assembly, or both.”, however, the bolster is suggested to be claimed in plural form for the purposes of clarity and additionally, the Examiner suggest to include an extra comma to better separate the individual options of coupling. Therefore, the following is suggested:
“and one or more bolsters coupled to the thoracic support assembly, the lumbar support assembly, or both.”
Appropriate correction is required.
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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 16-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Lim et al., hereinafter 'Lim' (US 11813217 B2).
In regards to Claim 16, Lim teaches: A patient positioner (10 - Fig. 1), comprising: a thoracic support assembly (24 - Fig. 8), the thoracic support assembly having a thoracic attachment member (112 - Fig. 9) and a thoracic adjustment mechanism (110 - Fig. 11) configured to shift the thoracic support assembly relative to the thoracic attachment member (Col 9 Lines 1-13); a lumbar support assembly (28 - Fig. 1) including a lumbar attachment member (224 - Fig. 18, Col 11 Line 58 - Col 12 Line 2), the lumbar support assembly including a lordosis adjustment member (30 - Fig. 19) and a leg extension member, the lordosis adjustment member having a lordosis adjustment mechanism (30 - Fig. 1) configured to shift the lordosis adjustment member relative to the lumbar attachment member (Col 12 Line 60 - Col 13 Line 10: "The pelvic-tilt mechanism 30 is movable between a flexed position and a fully extended position."); and one or more bolster coupled to the thoracic support assembly the lumbar support assembly, or both.
In regards to Claim 17, Lim teaches, The patient positioner of claim 16, wherein the lordosis adjustment mechanism includes a first threaded rod ([258, at the end has threads from the worm gear] - Fig. 20) and a first carriage coupled to the first threaded rod (Fig. 20-21 shows a first carriage of the upside down triangular support that couples onto the thread rod from beneath).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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) 1-4 and 9-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over 'Lim' (US 11813217 B2) in view of Jackson (US 9308145 B2).
In regards to Claim 1, Lim teaches: A patient positioner (10 - Fig. 1), comprising: a thoracic support assembly (24 - Fig. 8) having one or more thoracic attachment members (112 and 114 - Fig. 9) for securing the thoracic support member to a rail (12 - Fig. 10), the thoracic support assembly having a thoracic adjustment mechanism (110 - Fig. 11) configured to shift the thoracic support assembly relative to the one or more thoracic attachment members (Col 9 Lines 1-13); a lumbar support assembly disposed adjacent to the thoracic support assembly (28 - Fig. 1), the lumbar support assembly including one or more lumbar attachment members for securing the lumbar support assembly to the rail (224, 226, 236 - Fig. 18, Col 11 Line 58 - Col 12 Line 2); wherein the lumbar support assembly includes a lumbar adjustment mechanism (30 - Fig. 19) configured to shift the lumbar support assembly relative to the one or more lumbar attachment members (Col 11 Lines 58 - Col 12 Line 8); and a bolster coupled to at least one of the thoracic support assembly and the lumbar support assembly (Col 6 Lines 42-43: "Reusable soft pads can be used on the load-bearing areas of the various support components."), but Lim does not explicitly teach, the bolster including a ratchet mechanism for adjusting the position of the bolster relative to the at least one of the thoracic support assembly and the lumbar support assembly.
Jackson teaches: the bolster including a ratchet mechanism (736 - Fig. 69, Col 30 Lines 21-54) for adjusting the position of the bolster relative to the at least one of the thoracic support assembly and the lumbar support assembly (rotation shown along axis 'C' in Figs. 64-65).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify the patient positioner of Lim to include a bolster having a ratchet mechanism for adjusting the position of the bolster relative to at least one of the thoracic support assembly and the lumbar support assembly, as taught by Jackson. Incorporating the ratchet-adjustable bolster of Jackson into the patient positioner of Lim would have been a predictable use of prior art elements according to their established functions to provide controlled, incremental adjustment of the bolster position, thereby improving patient positioning flexibility and ease of adjustment. Such a modification would have merely involved the substitution of one known adjustment mechanism for another to achieve the known benefit of adjustable positioning without requiring undue experimentation or a change in the basic operation of Lim’s patient positioner.
In regards to Claim 2, Lim in view of Jackson teaches: The patient positioner of claim 1, Lim further teaches, wherein the thoracic adjustment mechanism is configured to rotate the thoracic support assembly relative to the one or more thoracic attachment members (Fig. 9 and 11 vs. Fig. 10 and 12).
In regards to Claim 3, Lim in view of Jackson teaches: The patient positioner of claim 1, Lim further teaches, wherein the thoracic adjustment mechanism includes a threaded rod (148 - Fig. 12) coupled to a pin (16 - Fig. 12), the pin disposed in a channel formed in the thoracic support assembly (pin 116 shown disposed inside the support assembly through the respective links - Fig. 12, Col 9 Lines 14-28).
In regards to Claim 4, Lim in view of Jackson teaches: The patient positioner of claim 1, Lim further teaches, wherein the lumbar adjustment mechanism is configured to rotate the lumbar support assembly relative to the one or more lumbar attachment members (showing arrows of rotation in Fig. 19, Col 12 Line 60 - Col 13 Line 6, notably: "The pelvic-tilt mechanism 30 also can hyper-extend the hips as a means of lordosing the spine, in addition to tilting the pelvis.").
In regards to Claim 9, Lim in view of Jackson teaches: The patient positioner of claim 1, Lim further teaches, wherein the lumbar adjustment mechanism is configured to adjust a patient spine lordosis (showing arrows of rotation in Fig. 19, Col 12 Line 60 - Col 13 Line 6, notably: "The pelvic-tilt mechanism 30 also can hyper-extend the hips as a means of lordosing the spine, in addition to tilting the pelvis.").
In regards to Claim 10, Lim in view of Jackson teaches: The patient positioner of claim 1, Lim further teaches, wherein the thoracic adjustment mechanism includes an actuator disposed adjacent to a peripheral region of the one or more thoracic attachment members (170 C - Fig. 15, shown offset from the main beam and along a peripheral region, Col 10 Lines 38-56).
In regards to Claim 11, Lim in view of Jackson teaches: The patient positioner of claim 1, Lim further teaches, wherein the lumbar adjustment mechanism includes an actuator disposed adjacent to a peripheral region of the one or more lumbar attachment members (170 B - Fig. 15, shown offset from the main beam and along a peripheral region, Col 10 Lines 38-56).
In regards to Claim 12, Lim in view of Jackson teaches: The patient positioner of claim 1, Lim further teaches, further comprising a leg extension support member coupled to the lumbar support assembly (30 - Fig. 1).
In regards to Claim 13, Lim in view of Jackson teaches: The patient positioner of claim 12, Lim further teaches, wherein the leg extension support member is configured to rotate, translate, or both rotate and translate relative to the lumbar support assembly (Col 12 Line 60 - Col 13 Line 10: "The pelvic-tilt mechanism 30 is movable between a flexed position and a fully extended position.").
In regards to Claim 14, Lim in view of Jackson teaches: The patient positioner of claim 1, Lim further teaches, wherein the bolster includes a strap receiving region (Col 13 Lines 46-56: "When the patient is strapped in via straps (not shown) at the chest and legs, the torso is relatively free to move and can be manipulated. Initially, the paddle 282 is moved by the lever 280 away from the offset main beam 12. After the paddle 282 has been moved away from the offset main beam 12, the torso can be pulled with a strap towards the offset main beam 12. The coronal adjustment assembly 34 also includes safety stops (not shown) to prevent over-extension or compression of the patient, and sensors (not shown) programmed to send patient position feedback to the safety stops.").
In regards to Claim 15, Lim in view of Jackson teaches: The patient positioner of claim 1,Lim further teaches, further comprising one or more additional bolsters (Col 8 Lines 25-28: "The facial support cradle 102 includes padding across the forehead and cheeks, and provides open access to the mouth of the patient P.").
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim(s) 5-8 and 18-20 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:
In regards to Claim 5 and Claim 18, Lim discloses a patient positioner having an adjustment mechanism utilizing a single threaded rod and a single carriage to adjust a support component. Jackson similarly teaches adjustment mechanisms that rely on single-axis or single-actuator arrangements to control movement of a support structure. Neither Lim nor Jackson, alone or in combination, teaches or suggests an adjustment mechanism that includes both a first threaded rod with a first carriage and a second threaded rod with a second carriage, as recited in Claim 5, nor a lordosis adjustment mechanism including a second threaded rod and a second carriage coupled to the second threaded rod, as recited in Claim 18. One of ordinary skill in the art would not have been motivated to modify Lim’s or Jackson’s single threaded rod adjustment mechanisms to include an additional threaded rod and corresponding carriage. Such a modification would require a substantial redesign of the adjustment and mechanical components, including changes to force distribution, synchronization, and mechanical coupling, and would not be a simple substitution of known elements. Moreover, the prior art does not recognize or suggest the benefits achieved by using two sets of dual threaded rods and dual carriages. Therefore, for at least these reasons, Claims 5 and Claim 8 are considered non-obvious in view of Lim and further in view of Jackson.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Jackson et al., (US 11160709 B2) teaches: A surgical table for prone and lateral positioning of a patient, where the table includes a base and a patient support structure. The base may include a head and a foot end support structure. The patient support structure may include an upper body support structure cantilevered off of the head end support structure at a first end and a lower body support structure cantilevered off of the foot end support structure at a second end. The upper body support structure may include a chest pad. The lower body support structure may include a lower body translation and rotation structure and at least one pelvic pad supported thereon.
Skripps et al., (US 9072646 B2) teaches: A patient support for use with a foundation frame is disclosed. The foundation frame includes a first column and a second column. The patient support includes a base beam, a leg support, and a guide. The base beam is coupleable to the foundation frame to be supported by the first column and the second column. The leg support has a first end pivotably coupled to the base beam and a second end spaced apart from the first end. The, guide is coupled to the base beam and to the second end of the leg support. The guide is configured to guide the second end of the leg support along an arcuate path when the leg support pivots relative to the base beam.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MADISON MATTHEWS whose telephone number is (571)272-8473. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 7:30-4:30 EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Justin Mikowski can be reached at (571)-272-8525. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MADISON MATTHEWS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3673