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 .
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)(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) 1-2, 4, and 6-8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Mintchev et al (US 20060152309).
Regarding claim 1, Mintchev discloses a magnetic field generating device 38, for a precision procedure (Fig. 1, 3, 4, section 0021, in order to provide meaningful and sufficiently long testing or monitoring function within the lumen of some internal organs (for example, but not limited to, impedance, pH, or pressure monitoring in the esophagus, the stomach, the small intestine, the colon, and/or the rectum), the capsule is either affixed at a particular location, or/and it has to be steered to a particular location or to multiple locations in a controlled fashion), comprising: a moving unit 10, 12 configured to be movable (section 0022, The belt 38 may also hold one or more batteries 40 for the solenoids 32, 34, as well as one or more controllers 42 for controlling the current provided to the solenoids 32, 34. An external solenoid 32, 34, which is also necessary for the steering and motion control, must also be positioned adjacent the patient's body in close enough proximity to the body 36 so that the magnetic field is effective for the capsule levitation and steering operation); a first magnetic field generating unit 16 installed on the moving unit (Fig. 3, section 0020, a miniature magnet 16 for example, made of NdFeB, an alloy of neodymium, iron and boron, which is contained in or a part of the capsule); and a second magnetic field generating unit 32, 34, 52, 54 configured to generate a magnetic field to overlap a magnetic field area generated by the first magnetic field generating unit (Fig. 3, section 0022, The belt 38 may also hold one or more batteries 40 for the solenoids 32, 34, as well as one or more controllers 42 for controlling the current provided to the solenoids 32, 34. An external solenoid 32, 34, which is also necessary for the steering and motion control, must also be positioned adjacent the patient's body in close enough proximity to the body 36 so that the magnetic field is effective for the capsule levitation and steering operation).
Regarding claim 2, Mintchev discloses the moving unit 10, 12 includes: an accommodating case 12 in which the first magnetic field generating unit 16 is installed (Fig. 1); a driving module 62, 64 driven according to a driving control signal (section 0022,0026, to deliver control signals to the solenoids 32, 34, 52, 54 and/or actuators 62, 64. The computer operator 60 also supplies signals to actuators 62, 64 for the articulating arms 53, 55); and a control module 42, 56, 58, 78 configured to provide the driving control signal to the driving module based on received location information (Figs. 3-4, section 0022, the controllers disclosed here, such as the control circuits 42, 56, 58 and 78 may use conventional wired or wireless communication links to receive sensor inputs, such as from positional sensors, and to deliver control signals to the solenoids 32, 34, 52, 54 and/or actuators 62, 64. The specific embodiments disclosed here are intended to be exemplary. The controllers 42, 56, 58 and 78 may have suitable conventional RF receivers or interfaces associated with them or contained within them to allow communication with the sensors, such as position or physiological sensors, in the capsule 10).
Regarding claim 4, Mintchev discloses the first magnetic field generating unit 16 is composed of a magnetic coil including: a core (section 0040, soft iron cores are used to concentrate the magnetic field generated. A cylindrical magnet with a diameter of 9.55 mm and a height of 5 mm may be used for levitation); and a coil wound around the core (section 0019, "solenoid" is used here according to its general meaning of a long coil through which electric current flows, thereby establishing a magnetic field with a North and South poles on each end of the said solenoid).
Regarding claim 6, Mintchev discloses the magnetic coil is configured as a plurality of magnetic coils at predetermined intervals (Figs. 3-4, section 0040, The electromagnets are separated into inner and outer coils, similar to those of MRI).
Regarding claim 7, Mintchev discloses a magnetic field shielding material is applied to a frame of the magnetic coil to focus the magnetic field (Section 0020, capsule 10 is shown that is comprised of a shell 12 of the capsule, which may or may not contain a cylinder of appropriate diamagnetic material e.g. bismuth, antimony, pyrolytic graphite, carbon graphite, gold, etc.)
Regarding claim 8, Mintchev discloses the second magnetic field
generating unit 32, 34, 52, 54 includes: a lower coil 34, 54 disposed under the first magnetic field generating unit 16 (Fig. 3-4); and an upper coil 32, 52 disposed above the first magnetic field generating unit, and the lower coil and the upper coil are each formed in a donut shape (Figs. 3-4, section 0022, 0026, An external solenoid 32, 34, which is also necessary for the steering and motion control, must also be positioned adjacent the patient's body in close enough proximity to the body 36 so that the magnetic field is effective for the capsule levitation and steering operation. solenoids 52, 54, similar to solenoids 32, 34, are supported by articulating arms 53, 55 about a patient 36 who has swallowed a capsule 10. Current is supplied to the solenoids 52, 54 to levitate the capsule 10 via solenoid current controllers 56, 58, which are controlled by a computer operator).
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) 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mintchev et al (US 20060152309) in view of Katayama et al. (US 20110166416).
Regarding claim 5, Mintchev discloses the invention substantially as claimed however does not show the core is configured to be cooled by one or more cooling methods selected from air cooling and water cooling. Katayama discloses the core 7 is configured to be cooled by one or more cooling methods selected from air cooling and water cooling 301 (section 0127, The cooling unit 301 includes, for example, powder ammonium sulfate and a pack of water). This allows for the cooling of the device within the body to it doesn’t overheat. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, at the time of filing, to modify the device of Mintchev by adding cooling method as taught by Katayama in order to facilitate cooling of the device within the body to it doesn’t overheat.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 3, 9-11 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.
Regarding claim 3, Examiner has not found any prior art showing the control module detects a temperature value and applied current value of the first magnetic field generating unit or the second magnetic field generating unit and controls to interrupt the current applied to the first magnetic field generating unit or the second magnetic field generating unit on the detected temperature value and current value.
Regarding claims 9-10, the prior art is silent on a vertical frame installed upright on the moving unit; and a horizontal frame disposed perpendicular to the vertical frame, wherein the upper coil is installed on the horizontal frame and the horizontal frame is configured to be vertically movable along the vertical frame.
Regarding claim 11, Prior art is lacking any disclosure of the second magnetic field generating unit is formed of a Helmholtz coil.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JON ERIC C MORALES whose telephone number is (571)272-3107. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 830AM-530PM CST.
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/JON ERIC C MORALES/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3796
/J.C.M/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3796