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 with traverse of Group II in the reply filed on June 1, 2026 is acknowledged. The traversal is on the ground(s) that the apparatus and method are not patentably distinct. Although examiner may need to look in similar subclasses for each species, there exists an examination burden when looking for claims of different statutory categories. Further, the process as claimed can be practiced by another and materially different apparatus as stated in the Restriction Requirement.
The requirement is still deemed proper and is therefore made FINAL.
Claims 1-11 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b), as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. As such, claims 12-20 are currently pending in the instant application.
Claim Objections
Claims 12-20 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 12, line 5 should recite “a tracking system configured to determine…”
Appropriate correction is required.
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)(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) 12-16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Madier Vigneux et al. (US 2024/0156469), hereinafter “Madier Vigneux”.
The applied reference has a common assignee with the instant application. Based upon the earlier effectively filed date of the reference, it constitutes prior art under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2). This rejection under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) might be overcome by: (1) a showing under 37 CFR 1.130(a) that the subject matter disclosed in the reference was obtained directly or indirectly from the inventor or a joint inventor of this application and is thus not prior art in accordance with 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(A); (2) a showing under 37 CFR 1.130(b) of a prior public disclosure under 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(B) if the same invention is not being claimed; or (3) a statement pursuant to 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) establishing that, not later than the effective filing date of the claimed invention, the subject matter disclosed in the reference and the claimed invention were either owned by the same person or subject to an obligation of assignment to the same person or subject to a joint research agreement.
Regarding claim 12, Madier Vigneux discloses a system for registering output of a sensor-enabled implant with a bone axis during a robotically-assisted arthroplasty procedure, the system comprising: a surgical robot (118, ¶49) comprising an articulating arm (126) configured to move within a coordinate system for the surgical robot; a tracking system (100) configured determine locations of one or more trackers in the coordinate system; a sensor-enabled implant (102) configured to be implanted into anatomy and output orientation data; and a controller (108) for the surgical robot, the controller comprising: a communication device (¶32) configured to receive data from and transmit data to the surgical robot, the tracking system and the sensor-enabled implant; a display device (¶33) for outputting visual information from the surgical robot, the tracking system and the sensor-enabled implant; and a non-transitory storage medium (¶31) having computer-readable instructions stored therein comprising: registering anatomy of a patient to a surgical tracking system (¶27); determining a bone axis of a bone of the anatomy using the surgical tracking system (¶27); obtaining orientation output from an orientation sensor of a sensor-enabled prosthetic implant implanted into bone (¶28); and shifting the orientation output from the orientation sensor to align with the bone axis (¶29).
Regarding claim 13, Madier Vigneux discloses the system of claim 12, wherein shifting the orientation output from the orientation sensor to align with the bone axis comprises: aligning one axis of a three-dimensional coordinate system of the orientation sensor to align with the bone axis (¶32).
Regarding claim 14, Madier Vigneux discloses the system of claim 12, wherein shifting the orientation output from the orientation sensor comprises: digitally adjusting the orientation output to align with the bone axis (¶32).
Regarding claim 15, Madier Vigneux discloses the system of claim 14, wherein digitally adjusting the orientation output to align with the bone axis: applying a mathematical correction factor to the orientation output (¶32).
Regarding claim 16, Madier Vigneux discloses the system of claim 15, wherein applying a mathematical correction factor to the orientation output comprises: automatically applying the mathematical correction factor with a controller of the surgical tracking system (¶32).
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) 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Madier Vigneux.
Regarding claim 20, Madier Vigneux discloses the system of claim 12, except wherein the display device comprises an augmented reality headset. However, Madier Vigneux states “The controller 108, including a human-machine interface, can include various output devices, such as screens, video displays, monitors and the like“ (¶33); wearable screens/monitors such as head-mounted displays are well known in the art, therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention, to use an augmented reality headset as the display, to produce predictable results.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 17-19 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:
Madier Vigneux discloses a system for registering output of a sensor-enabled implant with a bone axis during a robotically-assisted arthroplasty procedure, the system comprising: a surgical robot (118, ¶49) comprising an articulating arm (126) configured to move within a coordinate system for the surgical robot; a tracking system (100) configured determine locations of one or more trackers in the coordinate system; a sensor-enabled implant (102) configured to be implanted into anatomy and output orientation data; and a controller (108) for the surgical robot, the controller comprising: a communication device (¶32) configured to receive data from and transmit data to the surgical robot, the tracking system and the sensor-enabled implant; a display device (¶33) for outputting visual information from the surgical robot, the tracking system and the sensor-enabled implant; and a non-transitory storage medium (¶31) having computer-readable instructions stored therein comprising: registering anatomy of a patient to a surgical tracking system (¶27); determining a bone axis of a bone of the anatomy using the surgical tracking system (¶27); obtaining orientation output from an orientation sensor of a sensor-enabled prosthetic implant implanted into bone (¶28); and shifting the orientation output from the orientation sensor to align with the bone axis (¶29), wherein shifting the orientation output from the orientation sensor comprises: digitally adjusting the orientation output to align with the bone axis (¶32), wherein digitally adjusting the orientation output to align with the bone axis: applying a mathematical correction factor to the orientation output (¶32), wherein applying a mathematical correction factor to the orientation output comprises: automatically applying the mathematical correction factor with a controller of the surgical tracking system (¶32).
However, the prior art, alone or in combination, fails to disclose wherein applying a mathematical correction factor to the orientation output comprises: displaying a digital representation of the bone axis on an output device of the surgical tracking system; displaying a digital representation of a sensor axis of the orientation sensor on the output device of the surgical tracking system; and receiving a manual shift in orientation of the digital representation of the sensor axis to align with the digital representation of the bone axis using an input device of the surgical tracking system.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to OLIVIA C CHANG whose telephone number is (571) 270-5017. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday, 7:30AM-5:00PM.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, please contact the examiner’s supervisor, KEVIN TRUONG, at (571) 272-4705. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571 -273-8300.
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/OLIVIA C CHANG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3775
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