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 § 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.
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 2-4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Olson (US 2012/0265054 A1) in view of Van Steenwyk et al (US 4,173,228 A, hereinafter “Van Steenwyk”).
Regarding claim 2, Olson discloses a localization system, comprising: at least one catheter configured for delivery of an electrode array comprising one or more biopotential electrodes to a body cavity defined by surrounding tissue (pars 0023, 0027); a patient interface module comprising a plurality of localization electrodes configured for fixed orientation relative to the body (pars 0023-0027, 0029), including pairs of localization electrodes that define axes of a coordinate system (pars 0023-0027, 0029, 0038); and a cardiac information console configured to: drive the localization electrodes to establish an electrical field between localization electrodes in each pair of localization electrodes (pars 0023-0027, 0033-0038), process current output at pairs of the localization electrodes to establish a manipulatable coordinate system for the tissue (pars 0023-0027, 0033-0038), wherein the coordinate system is manipulatable to rotate, make shorter, and/or make longer the axes, to modify a representation of the electrode array (par 0033-0045), and process biopotential signals sensed and/or recorded by the biopotential electrodes to orient the biopotential electrodes within the coordinate system (pars 0023, 0037).
Olson discloses the claimed invention (see rejection above), but does not explicitly disclose driving the localization electrodes with localization signals having both a magnitude and a phase. Van Steenwyk is analogous art in regard to localization structures and methods for catheters (abstract). Van Steenwyk discloses it was known in the art to utilize localization signals with both a magnitude and phase to determine proximity and orientation of a catheter (abstract, col 5, ln 14-39). Applied to the invention of Olson, the features of Van Steenwyk would provide driving localization electrodes with localization signals having both a magnitude and a phase as known in the art. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the features of Van Steenwyk in the invention of Olson, since such a modification would provide the predictable results of avoiding the hazard, inconvenience, and expense of x-ray positioning by utilizing a method that determines catheter position quickly and easily both during and after placement of a catheter.
Regarding claim 3, Olson discloses the cavity is a heart chamber and the surrounding tissue is one or more walls of the heart chamber (pars 0022-0023, 0027).
Regarding claim 4, Olson discloses the electrode array is a 3D array (pars 0041-0042).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5-27 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
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Lindsey G Wehrheim whose telephone number is (571)270-5181. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. EST.
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Lindsey G Wehrheim
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 3799
/LINDSEY G WEHRHEIM/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3799
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