I. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This Office Action addresses U.S. Application No. 18/728741 (“’741 Application” or “instant application”). Based upon a review of the instant application, the actual filing date of the instant application is July 12, 2024.
II. STATUS OF CLAIMS
Claims 1-4 were filed with the application. The preliminary amendment of 7/12/2024 amended claims 1 and 4 and added claims 5 and 6. Therefore, as of the date of this Office Action, the status of the claims is:
a. Claim 1-6 (“Pending Claims”).
b. Claims 1-6 are examined (“Examined Claims”).
III. PRIORITY AND CONTINUING DATA
The ‘892 application is a national stage entry of PCT/JP2023/000402, filed January 11,2 023, which claims priority to JP 2022-004092, filed January 17, 2022. Because the earliest possible effective filing date is after March 16, 2013, the first to file provision of the AIA , apply to this proceeding.
IV. ART REJECTIONS
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 1-3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee US PG PUB 2021/0260396 in view of Prouza et al US PG PUB 2020/0384282.
As to claim 1, Lee shows a device for magnetic stimulation that includes a main body 200 that has a signal generator 210 that outputs a signal wave as a stimulation signal to a probe 300 that includes first and second coils 310 and 320 on opposite sides of a flexible substrate (see figure 10). The Examiner notes that the center of the fields produced by each coil are essentially coincident. The signal in Lee is not more than 100 mhz. However, in paragraph [0257], Prouza teaches that signals from 500 khz to 3 ghz are useable for magnetic stimulation. As such, it would have been obvious to modify Lee to use the frequency range taught by Prouza, to provide a more versatile device able to treat more conditions.
As to claim 2, the exact thickness of the coil would have been a mere matter of design choice for one of ordinary skill in the art.
As to claim 3, the coil is a metal foil (see paragraph [0015]).
Claims 4-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee n view of Prouza, as applied to claims 1-3 above, further in view of Nishi et al US PG PUB 2009/0326315.
Lee does not have a high frequency coil and a low frequency coil. However, Nishi shows in figure 2A, a magnetic stimulation device that has both high frequency and low frequency coils 30 And 40. As such, it would have been obvious to modify the combination to include both coils, to improve therapy overall and provide a wider range of treatment options.
V. CONCLUSION
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ROBERT L NASSER whose telephone number is (571)272-4731. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8-6.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Alexander Kosowski can be reached at (571) 272-3744. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ROBERT L NASSER/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3992
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