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
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, 7 and 8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102a1 as being anticipated by Hill (US 20210153857).
With respect to claim 1, Hill discloses a lateral retractor system (e.g., 100, see fig. 1, 2 below), comprising: a central subassembly (e.g., 112); a pair of arms (see fig. 1 below) having respective proximal and distal portions (e.g., see fig. 1, 2 below), the arms connected to the central subassembly relative to a central longitudinal axis (e.g., axis r1, see fig. 1, 2 below) and in spaced relation to each other (see fig. 1, 2 below), so that the two arms define a cranial arm (e.g., 400a) and a caudal arm (e.g., 400b), the two arms pivotably secured at respective articulation axes (e.g., axes p1, p2) of the arms (see fig. 1, 2 below), the articulation axes located so that inward movement of the proximal portions toward the central longitudinal axis causes outward movement of the distal portions of the arms to perform lateral retraction on patient anatomy undergoing a spinal procedure (see fig. 1, 2 below and para. 79); a central arm (116) movably connected to the central subassembly and selectively advanceable longitudinally in the distal direction (see para. 80, fig. 2 below and note direction “a”); a cranial-caudal rack (118a, 118b) connected to the central subassembly and extending arcuately and outwardly on both sides of the central longitudinal axis (see fig. 2 below), the rack terminating in two, opposite rack ends proximate to the proximal portions of the arms (see fig. 1, 2 below), the rack ends having rack teeth formed thereon (see fig. 1, 2 below); and a pair of locking mechanisms (132a, 122a) housed on the proximal portions of the arms, respectively, each of the locking mechanisms having a pinion (see para. 85) located and configured to rotatably engage the rack teeth (see fig. 1, 2 below, fig. 4 and para. 85); wherein each of the locking mechanisms comprises a locking foot (e.g., stem of pin 132b, stem of pin 122b), the locking foot being selectively actuatable to engage at least one of the rack or a corresponding one of the pinions to lock movement of the corresponding one of the arms see para. 85), whereby each of the arms may be controlled independently of the other arm (see para. 98, 101).
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As for claim 7, Hill further discloses the system of claim 1, wherein the central arm comprises a rack-and-pinion subassembly (e.g., 116a, 117) and an associated central arm pinion to selectively advance and withdraw a distal end of the central arm (see para. 80, and note operable coupling that allows movement of 500 in direction “a” as shown in fig. 2 above)).
As for claim 8, Hill further discloses the system of claim 7, wherein the central arm pinion is connected to a central arm driveshaft (portion of 112 that drives 166a) terminating in a handle (114), the shaft being unconnected to the cranial arm and the caudal arm to permit selective movement of the central arm independently of movement of the cranial and the caudal arms (see fig. 2 above and para. 80).
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) 2 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hill (US 20210153857), as applied to claim 1 above, in view of Woolley (US 20110130793) in further view of Raymond (US 20050159650).
As for claim 2, Hill further teaches the system further comprising an attachment interface disposed on each of the proximal ends of the arms (see fig. 2 above), the attachment interface configured to attach to at least one of a manually actuatable handle and a driver (e.g., handles 132, 122); wherein the locking mechanism is housed in a housing connected to the proximal portion of a corresponding arm (see fig. 1, 2 below), the housing having an outer surface and a bore (e.g., to receive 122b, see fig. 4 below) defined therethrough; wherein the locking mechanism comprises a user depressible lever disposed in the bore and accessible from the outer surface of the housing (see fig. 4 below).
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Hill is silent regarding specific components of the locking mechanism and does not appear to teach wherein the locking mechanism depressible lever is a button and the locking mechanism further comprises a barrel cam rotatably received in the bore and operatively connected to the button, the barrel cam configured to engage a locking foot against the pinion and to disengage the locking foot from the pinion in response to corresponding first and second, respective actuations of the button.
Wooley, also drawn to lateral retractor systems (see abstract and fig. 7 below), teaches a locking mechanism (e.g., 30, see para. 203-206) further comprises a barrel cam (104) rotatably received in the bore and operatively connected to the lever (see fig. 7 below, para. 206), the barrel cam configured to engage a locking foot (stem 88 and 96) against the pinion and to disengage the locking foot from the pinion in response to corresponding first and second, respective actuations of the lever (see fig. 7 below and para. 203-206) in order to provide known mechanical elements of a locking mechanism that allows the user to selectively engage and disengage the rack (see para. 203-206).
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It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify Hill wherein the locking mechanism further comprises a barrel cam rotatably received in the bore and operatively connected to the lever, the barrel cam configured to engage a locking foot against the pinion and to disengage the locking foot from the pinion in response to corresponding first and second, respective actuations of the lever, in view of Wooley, in order to provide known mechanical elements of a locking mechanism that allows the user to selectively engage and disengage the rack.
Raymond, also drawn to surgical retractors (see abstract), teaches that ratchet release levers (e.g., 924, 926) provide the same function as ratchet release buttons (e.g., 110, 400, 734) in order to provide a known alternate equivalent locking actuation mechanism that will release position of the ratchet rack to a ratchet arm (see para. 79, 81, 83).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify Hill wherein the locking mechanism depressible lever is a button, in view of Raymond, in order to provide a known alternate equivalent locking actuation mechanism that will release position of the ratchet rack to a ratchet arm.
Reasons for Allowance
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
The claims in the instant application have not been rejected using prior art because no references, or reasonable combination thereof, could be found which disclose, or suggest, the claimed combination of limitations recited in independent claim 1 and its dependent claim 2. In particular, none of the cited references teach or suggest wherein the locking foot terminates in an engagement edge sized to engage a female portion of the pinion teeth between two adjacent ones of the pinion teeth to arrest movement of the pinion relative to the rack, thereby locking the corresponding arm; wherein each of the arms further comprises a pawl located in the housing and having a distal end extending distally to incrementally engaging the teeth of the rack during corresponding incremental movement of the corresponding arm, the pawl connected at a distance from the locking foot; and wherein the distance between the pawl and the locking foot is selected to maintain the relative position of the engagement edge of the locking foot in alignment with a corresponding one of the female portions of the pinion at any position of the pinion and the corresponding arm, as required by claim 3.
The claims in the instant application have not been rejected using prior art because no references, or reasonable combination thereof, could be found which disclose, or suggest, the claimed combination of limitations recited in independent claim 1 and its dependent claim 2. In particular, none of the cited references teach or suggest wherein the locking mechanism comprises a user-accessible locking screw, the locking screw rotatable relative to the locking foot and connected to the locking foot to engage the pinion in response to rotation in a first direction and to disengage the pinion in response to rotation in a second direction, as required by claim 4.
The claims in the instant application have not been rejected using prior art because no references, or reasonable combination thereof, could be found which disclose, or suggest, the claimed combination of limitations recited in independent claim 1. In particular, none of the cited references teach or suggest an equal, bilateral retraction mechanism secured to the central subassembly, the bilateral retraction mechanism having a gear operatively connected to each of the arms, the gears being mounted to the arm to be arrestable by actuation of the bilateral retraction mechanism to connect motion of one of the arms to the other to move the arms equally in response to movement of either of the arms, as required by claims 5 and 6.
The claims in the instant application have not been rejected using prior art because no references, or reasonable combination thereof, could be found which disclose, or suggest, the claimed combination of limitations recited in independent claim 9. In particular, none of the cited references teach or suggest an equal, bilateral retraction mechanism secured to the central subassembly, the bilateral retraction mechanism having a gear operatively connected to each of the arms, the gears being mounted to the arm to be arrestable by actuation of the bilateral retraction mechanism to connect motion of one of the arms to the other to move the arms equally in response to movement of either of the arms, as required by claim 9.
The claims in the instant application have not been rejected using prior art because no references, or reasonable combination thereof, could be found which disclose, or suggest, the claimed combination of limitations recited in independent claim 10. In particular, none of the cited references teach or suggest a pair of driveshafts extending transversely from the sides of the central arm in relation to the longitudinal axis to define respective outer and inner driveshaft ends, the inner driveshaft ends rotatably connected to the central arm rack at separate, respective locations through central arm pinions to selectively drive the central arm distally or proximally using either of the driveshafts; a pair of split bearings coupling the inner driveshaft ends to the central subassembly; wherein the outer driveshaft ends are pivotally connected at pivot points on the proximal portions of the arms, whereby movement of one of the arms relative to the other of the arms translates the corresponding bearing relative to the other bearing; as required by claims 10-19.
Any comments considered necessary by applicant must be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee. Such submissions should be clearly labeled “Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance.”
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 9-19 are allowed.
Claims 3-6 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.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure: US 20090018399; US 20050149035; US 20220387013.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Tara Carter whose telephone number is (571) 272-3402. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 7am-3pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, please contact the examiner’s supervisor, Eduardo Robert, at (571) 272-4719. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/TARA ROSE E CARTER/ Examiner, Art Unit 3773
/EDUARDO C ROBERT/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3773