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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of group I directed to a patient specific cardiovascular stent in the reply filed on 8/12/2026 is acknowledged.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, the “patient-specific cardiovascular stent” must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). The claims require the stent to be for coronary artery spasm treatment but no stent structure is shown to determine if the structure is specific to that application. The structure for this specific treatment is necessary to properly examine the invention. No new matter should be entered.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Claim Objections
Claims 3-5 are objected to because of the following informalities:
In regard to claims 3-5, “wt%” should be “weight %” or “weight percent” for clarity.
Appropriate correction is required.
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) 1-6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Moaddeb (2007/0142907A1) in view of Huang (CN102379762A).
In regard to claim 1, Moaddeb teaches a patient-specific stimuli-responsive cardiovascular stent 114 (see fig 1B) for coronary artery spasm treatment [0130: in a body duct; therefore capable of; leaflets are not present in fib 1A-B and therefore the stent is capable of being used in other locations; the stent will hold the artery open and therefore be capable of providing coronary artery spasm treatment] to eliminate post-surgical interventions (intended use, capable of by allowing adjustments [0011: capability for adjustment using non surgical methodology]) comprising magnetic particles configured to enable magnetically induced shape memory effects. [0015: at least one adjustable element comprises a shape memory material; 0069: adjusted in vivo by applying an energy source to activate the shape memory material and cause it to change to a memorized shape; magnetic field energy; 0076-0077; 0088; 0091: hematite; 0076: powder]
While Moaddeb teaches the magnetic portion can be a powder [0076], Moaddeb does not teach the magnetic portion is in the form of a nanoparticle specifically.
Huang teaches the use of magnetic nanoparticles used in a stent (abstract: magnetic nanoparticles) to induce a shape memory effect in a stent (abstract).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to use make the magnetic material of Moaddeb nanoparticles as taught by Huang because this form avoids thermal damages to the wall of a blood vessel when the material is heated/activated (abstract).
In regard to claim 2, Moaddeb meets the claim limitations as discussed in the rejection of claim 1, and further teaches the magnetic material comprises Hematite (a-Fe2O3). [0091: comprising various mixtures of iron oxides such as hematite of magnetite and the oxides of other metals]
However, Moaddeb does not teach the magnetic particles are nano particles.
As discussed above, Huang teaches the magnetic particles are nanoparticles (abstract).
In regard to claims 3-5, Moaddeb meets the claim limitations as discussed in the rejection of claim 2, but remains silent to the concentration of Hematite.
It has been held that the mere optimization of the working parts of an invention, yielding a predictable result, requires no more than routine skill in the art. The amount of Hematite is a result-effective variable with the concentration of Hematite affecting the shape-memory and magnetic effects of the stent. Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to have the concentration of Hematite is at least 20 wt% (also includes at least 10% and at least 15%) in the mixture of Hematite and oxide of other metals in order to optimize the magnetic and shape memory affects to the desired application. Absent a teaching of criticality (new or unexpected results), this arrangement is deemed to have been known by those skilled in the art at the time the invention was filed. MPEP 2144.05IIA
In regard to claim 6, Moaddeb meets the claim limitations as discussed in the rejection of claim 1, and further teaches the stent 100 is configured to have a desired magnetically induced shape memory position [0076; 0069; 0015] for a coronary artery spasm treatment. [0130: in a body duct; therefore capable of; leaflets are not present in fib 1A-B and therefore the stent is capable of being used in other locations; the stent will hold the artery open and therefore be capable of providing coronary artery spasm treatment]
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHRISTIE BAHENA whose telephone number is (571)270-3206. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9-3.
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/CHRISTIE BAHENA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3774
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