DETAILED ACTION
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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 1/29/2026 has been entered.
In view of the amendments, the 112(b) Rejection is withdrawn.
Under broadest reasonable interpretation of the amendments (specifically claims 22, 23, and 25), the claimed imaging probe include an optical fiber that is not located directly in front of the camera and not located directly between the camera and the distal tip. In view of these amendments, the Gill reference is withdrawn and an updated search resulted in the modified 103 Rejection set forth below with respect to Shia et al.
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) 1-5, 10, and 22-25 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shia et al. (2023/0240513) in view of Themelis.
With respect to claims 1 and 25, Shia et al. teach of an imaging probe 100 with a catheter housing 150 with distal tip 120 (fig. 1), an optical fiber 182 that spans between the distal tip and the proximal end of the housing in a longitudinal direction and terminates at the distal tip such that light carried by the optical fiber illuminates a target in front of the distal tip (0092, fig. 8B], a camera 180 that captures an image in a field of view that overlaps a field of illumination of the optical fiber [0092] which is laterally offset from the camera in a cross-sectional plan perpendicular to the longitudinal direction (as shown by FOV in fig. 1A, 8B). As shown in figure 8B, the optical fibers 182 are laterally offset and not coaxial with respect to the camera 180 and the optical fiber is not located directly in front of the camera in the field of view and not located directly between the camera and the distal tip as shown below with the distal end in figure 1A and the cross-section image in figure 8B.
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Shia et al. also teach of a sample collector that collets sample from the target such as with the use of a surgical tools including clamps graspers, scissors, needles and that are configured to collect samples from a target [0038].
With respect to claims 1, 4, and 5, Shia et al. do not explicitly teach of a band-stop filter. In a similar field of endeavor Themelis teaches of an endoscope system that includes an illumination system 10 for illuminating an object 6 [0062]. Themelis teaches of cameras 30, 32 that captures an image in a field of view that overlaps a field of illumination [0071]. Themelis teaches of a band-stop filter between the distal tip and the camera comprising a multi-band interference filter or a notch filter 35 [0032, 0072, 0078, 0080, 0091] where the band-stop filter suppresses a fluorescence excitation wavelength of a fluorescent compound and allows a fluorescence emission wavelength of the compound to pass through the band-stop filter [0076-0081]. Themelis therefore teaches of a band-stop filter that suppresses a fluorescence excitation wavelength of a fluorescent compound and allows a fluorescence emission wavelength of the compound to pass through the band-stop filter [0076]. It would have therefore been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to use the teaching by Themelis to modify Shia et al. to effectively block wavelengths other than the excitation wavelengths used for triggering fluorescence.
With respect to claim 2, Shia et al. in view of Themelis teach of the sample collector or the tool channel operable to extend from the distal tip 103 into multiple bending segments 103a-c that can bend/rotate [0036] for collecting the sample with an end effector to surgical instrument or tool that may be used for collecting samples [0038].
With respect to claim 3, Shia et al. in view of Themelis teach of the sample collector to a surgical tools including clamps graspers, scissors, needles, to collect samples [0038].
With respect to claim 8, Shia et al. in view of Themelis teach of the catheter housing being flexible/rigid [0075].
With respect to claim 10, Shia et al. in view of Themelis teach of an endoscope system comprising an imaging probe 100 disposed at the distal end of the endoscope system [0035, fig. 1A], an illuminator or LED disposed at the proximal end of the endoscope system [0088]. Shia et al. teach of a flexible cable bundle 1834 that may be attached to the housing mechanism 150, the cable bundle 184 can enclose the optical fibers 182 together through the tool channel 105 [0092]. Therefore, Shia et al. teach of additional optical fibers or flexible cable bundle 184 attached to the housing mechanism 150 and as shown in figure 8B, coupled to the optical fiber 182 and the other end coupled at the proximal end to the diode or illuminator [0092, fig. 8B].
With respect to claims 22 and 23, Shia et al. in view of Themelis teach of the optical fiber being outside a region that is directly in front of the camera in the field of view and directly between the camera and the distal tip (fig. 8B). As shown in figure 8B, the optical fibers 182 is not located directly in front of the camera in the field of view and not located directly between the camera and the distal tip as shown below with the distal end in figure 1A and the cross-section image in figure 8B.
With respect to claim 24, Shia et al. in view of Themelis teach of the housing 150 surrounding the optical fiber 182 and the camera 180 (as seen in figure 8B).
Claim(s) 6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shia et al in view of Themelis and further in view of Treado et al. (2018/0116494). The previous references do not explicitly teach of the fluorescent compounds as claimed. In a similar field of endeavor Treado et al. teach of an endoscope that includes the sue of fluorescent compounds such as cyanine dyes [0026]. It would have therefore been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to use the teaching by Treado et al. to modify the previous references to provide a substance that can bind with the fluorescent compound to induce a color differentiate different tissue types [Treado, 0026, 0028].
Claim(s) 9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shia et al in view of Themelis and further in view of Ma et al. (2011/0134113). The previous references do not explicitly teach of a stylus. In a similar field of endeavor Ma et al. teach of an ultrasound based navigation system that includes a stylus 212 to configure the imaging probe 204 [0086]. It would have therefore been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to use the teaching by Ma et al. to modify the previous references so that the navigation system can determine the position and orientation of field of view of the imaging probe in the tracker coordinate space.
Claim(s) 12-14, 16-19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shia et al. in view of Themelis and further in view of Yamada (2020/0337535).
With respect to claims 12-14, Shia et al. do not explicitly teach of the claimed excitation wavelengths. Yamada teaches of excitation light of 640 nm [0061, 0062]. It would have therefore been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to use the teaching by Yamada to modify the previous references to increase the detection/collection efficiency and maximize SNR [Yamada, 0063].
With respect to claims 16-19, Shia et al. do not explicitly teach of the band-pass filter. Yamada teaches of broadband wavelengths [0038, 0069] and uses a bandpass filter [0055]. Yamada teaches of a narrow-band of wavelengths [0057] and a tunable bandpass filter with cut-off wavelength between 645-700 nm [0045]. Yamada teaches of excitation light of 640 nm [0061, 0062]. It would have therefore been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to use the teaching by Yamada to modify Shia et al. and Themelis to increase the detection/collection efficiency and maximize SNR [Yamada, 0063].
Conclusion
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/BAISAKHI ROY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3797