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 . This action is in response to the Response to Election/Restriction received on December 01, 2025. Claims 1-15 are currently pending.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group 2, (claims 8-15) in the reply filed on December 01, 2025 is acknowledged.
Claims 1-7 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on December 01, 2025.
Claim Objections
Claim 8 is objected to because of the following informalities: In line 5 recites “endoscopic controller” this should recite “endoscope controller”. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim 9 is objected to because of the following informalities: In lines 2 and 3 recites “endoscopic controller” this should recite “endoscope controller”. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 8-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Tata et al. (US Publication 2023/0136100), hereinafter “Tata”.
Regarding claim 8, Tata discloses an endoscopic imaging system (10; [paragraph 0033], figure 1) comprising: an endoscope (12; figure 1) having a steerable distal tip (32; [paragraph 0048]) including a camera (30; [paragraph 0040]; figure 4); and an endoscope controller (14; paragraph [0033]; figure 2) connected to the endoscope, the endoscope controller comprising a processor (710; paragraph 0074] and memory (712; [paragraph 0074]) and memory, storing instructions [paragraph 0080] that when executed by the processor, cause the endoscope controller to perform operations comprising: receive an indication to activate a virtual anchor (352; [paragraph 0066]; figure 12); based on receiving the indication to activate the virtual anchor set a current image frame from the camera as a reference image frame (50, 72, [paragraph 0042]; figure 3); identify a first position of a landmark feature in the reference image frame (74,76; [paragraph 0042]; figure 3); receive an updated image frame captured subsequent to the reference image frame (72; [paragraph 0046]); identify a second position of the landmark feature in the updated image frame (74, 76; [paragraph 0042], [0046]; figure 3); and based on a difference between the first position and the second position (using a centroid tracking algorithm to correlate steering target between frames [paragraph 0046] wherein such algorithms are known to determine a difference between positions [paragraphs 0045-0046], perform at least one of: generate corrective steering signals to steer the distal tip (80; figure [paragraphs 0032 and 0044]; figure 3); or shift a cropped region of the updated image frame.
Regarding claim 9, Tata discloses wherein the endoscope controller is a video laryngoscope ([paragraph 0034]).
Regarding claim 10, Tata discloses wherein the corrective steering signals are generated to steer the distal tip(80; figure [paragraph 0044]; figure 3).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 11-12 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.
Claims 13-15 are allowed.
Reasons for Allowance
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance: None of the prior discloses an endoscope comprising: a proximal end; a steerable distal tip including an articulating segment; and a collapsible working channel, positioned on an outer surface of the endoscope, capable of selectively collapsing and expanding to receive a surgical tool, the collapsible working channel comprising: a proximal opening; and a distal opening positioned proximally from the articulating segment.
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.”
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DIANA S JONES whose telephone number is (571)270-5963. The examiner can normally be reached Monday to Friday (8am to 4pm EST).
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/Diana Jones/Examiner, Art Unit 3775
/KEVIN T TRUONG/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3775