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
Claims 13-18 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected method for ablating, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 02/18/2026.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 07/11/1014 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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.
Claims 1-7, 9-11, and 19-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Brannan (US20190090929A1) herein referred to as “Brannan” in view of Hong et al (20080015562A1) herein referred to as “Hong”
Regarding claim 1, Brannan discloses: An ablation system, ([0001] system for ablating tissue) comprising: an ablation device configured to be inserted into an ablation target, ([0024] electrosurgical device which is equivalent to the ablation device; [0049] the device can be inserted into the ablation target through track ablation which means it must be inserted into the tissue) the ablation device having an electrode configured to be placed within the ablation target ([0024] contains an electrode which delivers energy to the target tissue) and retracted along an axis defined through the ablation target while delivering energy to tissue; ([0049] the electrode can advance through the tissue along a track or trajectory and deliver energy to the ablation target; Additionally, [0051] If the electrode can be advanced through tissue, it can similarly be retracted through the tissue along a track which is equivalent to saying “along an axis,”) an electrosurgical generator configured to deliver electrosurgical energy to the ablation device ([0031] electrosurgical generator provides power to the electrosurgical device and allows it to deliver electrosurgical energy); a display device in communication with the electrosurgical generator and configured to display the calculated number of Joules of electrosurgical energy delivered to the electrode during an ablation procedure; ([0032] the display device is in operation with the electrosurgical generator which requires them to be in communication with each other; The display device communicates information such as energy output which is seen as the calculated number of Joules) and an audio device in communication with the electrosurgical generator ([0032] the electrosurgical generator also includes an audio device) and configured to broadcast a sound correlated with the number of Joules of electrosurgical energy delivered to the electrode such that the audio device changes at least one property of the sound based on the calculated number of Joules of energy delivered to the electrode ([0048] the audible signals or tones, which are different properties of the sound, change based on completion of a particular ablation operation, which is seen as change in the energy and thus the calculated number of Joules, by the electrosurgical device). However, Brannan does not explicitly disclose: the energy is calculated in Joules
Hong discloses: the energy is calculated in Joules ([0041] Gives the formula for the calculation of Energy (Joules))
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the electrosurgical generator as disclosed in Brannan to incorporate calculating the energy in Joules. The motivation for this being to prevent over ablation. (Hong [0074]). Additionally, it is known in the art to substitute one known element of how energy is calculated with another.
Regarding claim 2, Brannan discloses: The ablation system according to claim 1, however, Brannan does not explicitly disclose: wherein the electrosurgical generator is configured to calculate a suggested total number of Joules of electrosurgical energy for delivering to the electrode based on at least one of a size of the ablation target or a size of the electrode.
Hong discloses: wherein the electrosurgical generator is configured to calculate a suggested total number of Joules of electrosurgical energy for delivering to the electrode based on at least one of a size of the ablation target or a size of the electrode ([0072] transmurality which is linked to the size of the ablation target is monitored and the energy, which is seen as the calculated number of Joules is measured and calculated throughout actively ablating the tissue)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the electrosurgical generator as disclosed in Brannan to incorporate the calculation of the total number of Joules of electrosurgical energy for delivering to the electrode based on size of the ablation target or size of the electrode. The motivation being it is important to know the size of the ablation target to prevent termination of ablations (Hong [0073]).
Regarding claim 3, Brannan in view of Hong discloses: The ablation system according to claim 2, wherein the display device is configured to display the suggested total number of Joules of electrosurgical energy for delivering to the electrode (Brannan [0032] The display device communicates information such as energy output which is seen as the calculated the number of Joules).
Regarding claim 4, Brannan in view of Hong discloses: The ablation system according to claim 1, wherein the electrosurgical generator is configured to receive as input a total number of Joules of electrosurgical energy for delivering to the electrode (Brannan [0030] the electrosurgical generator receives input in the form of electrical power and converts this to energy which is seen as, the total number of Joules, to deliver to the electrode. Delivering energy is seen as delivering joules).
Regarding claim 5, Brannan in view of Hong discloses: The system according to claim 4, wherein the audio device is configured to broadcast a sound associated with at least one of: the calculated number of Joules of electrosurgical energy delivered to the electrode reaching the total number of Joules of electrosurgical energy received as input; or the calculated number of Joules of electrosurgical energy delivered to the electrode approaching the total number of Joules of electrosurgical energy received as input (Brannan [0066] the audio device broadcasts sound based on exceeding of the threshold of impedance to the electrosurgical instrument).
Regarding claim 6, Brannan in view of Hong discloses: The ablation system according to claim 4, wherein the display device is configured to display the input total number of Joules of electrosurgical energy received by the electrosurgical generator (Brannan [0032] the display can communicate information such as the amount of energy, which is seen as the total number of Joules, supplied by the electrosurgical generator).
Regarding claim 7, Brannan in view of Hong discloses: The ablation system according to claim 1, wherein the electrosurgical generator is configured to receive as input at least one of a size of the ablation target or a size of the electrode, (Brannan [0046] the electrosurgical generator receives the tissue property such as thickness of the ablation target) and to calculate a suggested total number of Joules of electrosurgical energy for delivering to the electrode based on the received input (Brannan [0046] the amount of energy, which is seen as the total number of Joules, delivered to the electrode is adjusted accordingly based on the measurement of the tissue property).
Regarding claim 9, Brannan in view of Hong discloses: The ablation system according to claim 1, wherein the audio device is integral with the electrosurgical generator (See FIG 2 of Brannan).
Regarding claim 10, Brannan in view of Hong discloses: The ablation system according to claim 1, wherein the display device is integral with the electrosurgical generator (See FIG 2 of Brannan).
Regarding claim 11, Brannan in view of Hong discloses: The ablation system according to claim 1, wherein the at least one property of the sound includes a volume, an intensity, a frequency, a periodicity, or a tone of the sound (Brannan [0043] the property of the sound from the audio device may include varying frequencies and at varying intervals, which indicates at varying periodicity)
Regarding claim 19, An ablation system, ([0001] system for ablating tissue) comprising: an ablation device having an electrode configured to deliver electrosurgical energy to tissue; ([0024] contains an electrode which delivers energy to the target tissue) an electrosurgical generator configured to deliver electrosurgical energy to the electrode ([0031] electrosurgical generator provides power to the electrosurgical device and allows it to deliver electrosurgical energy) and a feedback device in communication with the electrosurgical generator and configured to generate feedback correlated with the calculated number of Joules of electrosurgical energy delivered to the electrode relative to a set total number of Joules of electrosurgical energy (Brannan [0066] the feedback device generates feedback based on the energy delivered by the electrode based on exceeding set impedance), however, Brannan does not explicitly disclose: the energy is calculated in Joules
Hong discloses: the energy is calculated in Joules ([0041] Gives the formula for the calculation of Energy (Joules))
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the electrosurgical generator as disclosed in Brannan to incorporate the ability to calculate the number of Joules of electrosurgical energy delivered to the electrode. The motivation for this being to prevent over ablation. (Hong [0074]). Additionally, it is known in the art to substitute one known element of how energy is calculated with another.
Regarding claim 20, Brannan in view of Hong discloses: The ablation system according to claim 19, wherein the feedback device is one of an audio device configured to generate audible feedback or a display device configured to generate visual feedback (Brannan [0027] the feedback device can be an audio device or a display device which can generate visual feedback).
Claim 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Brannan in view of Hong in further view of Wang et al (CN218899667U) herein referred to as “Wang”
Regarding claim 8, Brannan in view of Hong discloses: The ablation system according to claim 1. However, Brannan in view of Hong does not explicitly disclose: wherein the ablation target is a thyroid nodule
Wang discloses: wherein the ablation target is a thyroid nodule ([page 2: paragraph 1 under “Disclosure of Invention”] an ablation needle for the thyroid nodule)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the target of ablation of Brannan in view of Hong to specify it as the thyroid nodule as disclosed in Wang. The motivation for this being ablation therapy is well suited to malignant thyroid nodules as these cancer cells can be killed through this method without side effect (Wang [page 2: paragraph 1 under “Background”]).
Claim 12 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Brannan in view of Hong in further view of Yates et al (US20170000542A1) herein referred to as “Yates”
Regarding claim 12, Brannan in view of Hong discloses: The ablation system according to claim 1, however, Brannan in view of Hong does not explicitly disclose: wherein the audio device is configured to broadcast a verbal indication
Yates discloses: wherein the audio device is configured to broadcast a verbal indication ([0095] the audio feedback device can be computerized speech and a voice/speech platform which is seen as using words and is classified as “verbal”)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the audio device as disclosed in Brannan in view of Hong to include a broadcast via verbal indication. The motivation being there are only so many finite ways known to one of ordinary skill in the art in which an audio device can broadcast, either through a sound or by using words.
Conclusion
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/C.G.S/Examiner, Art Unit 3794
/JOANNE M RODDEN/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3794