DETAILED ACTION
Status of Claims
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claims 1-10 are pending.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 1-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Neev et al. (US 20190209376 A1, 2019-07-11) (hereinafter “Neev”) in view of Boutoussov et al. (US 20140257254 A1, 2014-09-11) (hereinafter “Boutoussov”) and (Zayhowski, Passively Q-switched Nd:YAG microchip lasers and applications, Journal of Alloys and Compounds, Volumes 303–304, 2000, pp. 393-400).
Regarding claims 1-10, Neev taches a system for skin treatment comprising: a beam scanning system (257, Fig. 1) operable to scan a solid beam emitted by a laser assembly (200) and form a line of micro-beams across a segment of skin. Neev teaches scanning mirrors (e.g., [0034] of Neev) [N1], sub-nanosecond laser pulses (e.g., [0058]) [N2].
However, Neev does not teach a handpiece or a passively Q-switched laser assembly within the handpiece body operatively connected to a pump laser source to receive a pump diode laser beam having a first wavelength.
Boutoussov teaches a handpiece with a laser source (e.g., [0014]-[0015]) [B1]. Boutoussov also teaches rollers (51, Fig. 2) (e.g., [0021]-[0024]) [B1].
Zayhowski teaches that a passively Q-switched laser assembly within the handpiece body operatively connected to a pump laser source to receive a pump laser beam (Fig. 5 and associated text; p. 396) can be used to target biological tissue with sub-nanosecond high intensity pulses (e.g., Abstract and p. 399) [Z1].
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teachings of Zayhowski and Boutoussov with the invention taught by Neev such that the invention further comprises a fractional handpiece for skin treatment comprising: a handpiece body comprising: a passively Q-switched laser assembly within the handpiece body operatively connected to a pump laser source to receive a pump laser beam having a first wavelength [Z1]; and a beam scanning system operable to scan a solid beam emitted by the passively Q-switched laser assembly and form a line of micro-beams across a segment of skin [N1], wherein the passively Q-switched laser assembly generates a high-power sub-nanosecond pulsed laser beam having a second wavelength, and wherein the pump laser source is a diode laser which emits the first wavelength at about 500 nm to about 1000 nm [Z1] (as recited in claim 1); wherein the diode laser emits the first wavelength at about 750 nm to about 980 nm [Z1] (as recited in claim 2); the handpiece body further comprising one or more rollers operable to guide movement of the fractional handpiece and to synchronize with laser pulsing and the beam scanning system (e.g., [0022] of Boutoussov) (as recited in claim 3); wherein the beam scanning assembly comprises at least one scanning mirror which is synchronized with laser pulsing and roller movement [N1] (as recited in claim 4); further comprising a frequency doubling assembly to deliver a third wavelength at a second harmonic wavelength of the second wavelength (e.g., p. 395 of Zayhowski) (as recited in claim 5); wherein each micro-beam has an energy of at least 1 mJ (as recited in claim 6); wherein a cavity length of the passively Q-switch laser assembly is less than about 10 mm (e.g., p. 396 of Zayhowski) (as recited in claim 7); wherein the passively Q-switched laser assembly is a monolithic cavity (Abstrac of Zayhowski) (as recited in claim 8); further comprising a homogenizer after the passively Q-switched laser assembly to mitigate beam characteristic variation at different repetition rates as well as deliver uniform beam profile to skin (e.g., [0111] of Neev) (as recited in claim 9); wherein the beam scanning assembly comprises at least one x-y scanning mirror pair which is synchronized with laser pulsing [N1] (as recited in claim 10) in order to satisfy the particular requirements of specific laser-based skin treatments.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SCOTT T LUAN whose telephone number is (571)270-1860. The examiner can normally be reached on 9am-5pm, M-F (generally).
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Gary Jackson, can be reached on 571-272-4697. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
Scott Luan
/SCOTT LUAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3792
Prosecution Insights