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 .
Response to Amendment
The Amendment filed February 23rd, 2026 has been entered. Claims 1-3, 6-8, and 10-11 have been amended. Claims 1-3, 5-12, 14-19 are now pending in the application, with claims 12, 14-19 withdrawn. The previous claim objections of claims 7 and 8, as well as, the previous 35 U.S.C. 112(b) rejections of claims 1-2, 7 and 10 are withdrawn in light of Applicant's amendment.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-11 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Examiner’s Comments
The present rejection(s) reference specific passages from cited prior art. However, Applicant is advised that the rejections are based on the entirety of each cited prior art. That is, each cited prior art reference “must be considered in its entirety”. Therefore, Applicant is advised to review all portions of the cited prior art if traversing a rejection based on the cited prior art.
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.
Claim(s) 1-3, 5-11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kikuchi et al. (US 5408263 A, hereinafter Kikuchi) in view of Yamano et al. (US 20130306880 A1, hereinafter Yamano).
Regarding Claim 1, Kikuchi discloses
An endoscope (electronic endoscope 81, FIG. 1/ electronic endoscope 2, FIG. 3), comprising:
an element (disc-like member/ turret 270, FIG. 62) positioned in a beam path (depicted in FIG. 61),
which adjoins an element-free area (filter non-installation portion 274) to the beam path (depicted in FIG. 62),
the element is planar (depicted in FIG. 62) and includes various surface areas (plurality of optical filters 271-273),
the surface areas have at least two different coefficients of transmission (Col. 44, Ln. 1-2 disclose the plurality of optical filters each have individual transmissive wavelength regions), and
the at least two different coefficients of transmission are different from a coefficient of transmission in the element-free area (Col. 44, Ln. 3-5 disclose filter non-installation portion used when wavelength irradiation is not performed, i.e. there is a difference in transmissive wavelength regions since the non-installation portion is not used for wavelength irradiation), and
wherein at least one of a label or coding formed via the at least two different coefficients of transmission of the element (FIGS. 87a-87b, Col. 57, Ln. 10-15 disclose bar code for identification disposed on rotary filters, Col. 44, Ln. 1 discloses disc-like member, i.e. element, is part of a rotary filter), and
such that the at least one of the label or coding is adapted to be captured by a camera (solid-state image sensing device 13, FIG. 3; Col. 56, Ln. 50-55 disclose rotative filter, and the light it separates, are received and imaged by a CCD, i.e. solid-state imaging device; FIGS. 85, Col. 57, Ln. 15-25 disclose bar code discrimination results in drive of CCD, i.e. imaging),
connected to the endoscope to form an endoscope arrangement (depicted in FIG. 3), and
the endoscope can thus be identified (Col. 57, Ln. 15-19 disclose bar code is read and discriminated to identify the configuration of the filter of the endoscope, i.e. endoscope is identified).
However, Kikuchi does not disclose the element is a diaphragm.
Yamano teaches an analogous element (rotary aperture diaphragm 150, FIG. 6) positioned in a beam path (depicted in FIG. 5) of an endoscope [0046-0048]. The element (150) is a planar rotary filter with various surface areas (doughnut-shaped aperture diaphragm 100A-100E, FIGS. 5-6) which are each aperture diaphragms with blade members (20A) which can have a filter portion (21) and non-filter portion (22, i.e. element-free area). The element (150) is rotatable such that the aperture diaphragms allow for variable illumination of the subject, i.e. illumination of different wavelengths [0048].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the effective filing date of the invention to provide the rotary filter of Kikuchi with the diaphragm apertures of Yamano in order to provide a system allowing for improved control over transmission of light at different wavelengths by having adjustable filters/ apertures which can further fine tune light transmission [Yamano - 0050].
Regarding Claim 2, Kikuchi, as previously modified by Yamano, discloses all of the elements of the current invention disclosed in claim 1, and Kikuchi further discloses further comprising
at least one of a label or coding (FIG. 87a-87b, Col. 57, Ln. 10-15 disclose bar code for identification disposed on rotary filters, Col. 44, Ln. 1 discloses disc-like member, i.e. element, is part of a rotary filter),
which contains at least one of an identifier of the endoscope or optical properties of a camera (Col. 57, Ln. 15-19 disclose bar code is read and discriminated to identify the configuration of the filter of the endoscope), and
which is damped in relation to the element-free area of the beam path (FIG. 87a-87b depict dampening of bar code; Col. 57, Ln. 15-19 disclose bar code identifies color configuration, i.e. relating to irritation wavelength, something which the non-installation portion is not used for so the bar code when identifying this so it is inherent the bar code will transmit a damped response or will be physically damped, as depicted in FIG. 87a-87b, when identifying this region of the filter),
is formed via the at least two different coefficients of transmission of the element (Col. 57, Ln. 10-20 disclose bar code identification is read to discriminate color configuration of filter, i.e. directly relating to transmissive wavelength regions which are used to obtain irradiation light of different wavelengths, i.e. colors).
Regarding Claim 3, Kikuchi, as previously modified by Yamano, discloses all of the elements of the current invention disclosed in claim 1, and Kikuchi further discloses
wherein the at least two different coefficients of transmission are wavelength-dependent (Col. 44, Ln. 20-22 disclose transmissive wavelength regions are used to obtain irradiation light of different wavelengths, i.e. wavelength dependent).
Regarding Claim 5, Kikuchi, as previously modified by Yamano, discloses all of the elements of the current invention disclosed in claim 1, and Yamano further teaches
wherein the element-free area is a field of view, which determines an image size (par. 51 discloses non-filter region of aperture diaphragm allows subject to emit light for forming image, par. 52 discloses regions of aperture diaphragm can be varied to adjust quantity of light for forming the subject image, i.e. image size).
Regarding Claim 6, Kikuchi, as previously modified by Yamano, discloses all of the elements of the current invention disclosed in claim 1, and Kikuchi further discloses
wherein the element having the at least two different coefficients of transmission is formed in an image plane (FIG. 65 depicts image plane with filtered irradiation light).
Regarding Claim 7, Kikuchi, as previously modified by Yamano, discloses all of the elements of the current invention disclosed in claim 1, and Kikuchi further discloses
wherein the coefficient of transmission is selected to be least 50% compared to the free beam path (depicted in FIG. 61-62).
Regarding Claim 8, Kikuchi, as previously modified by Yamano, discloses all of the elements of the current invention disclosed in claim 1, and Kikuchi further discloses
further comprising a rigid shaft (flexible insertion portion 5 + hard leading portion 10), and
at least two rod lenses (objective lens system 12 + image sensing device 13, image sensor will inherently have lens) are in the rigid shaft (depicted in FIG. 1-2).
Regarding Claim 9, Kikuchi, as previously modified by Yamano, discloses all of the elements of the current invention disclosed in claim 1, and Kikuchi further discloses
wherein the endoscope is connectable to a camera (image sensing device 13), with the camera having at least one of an image processing system (processor 4) or a character recognition system (depicted in FIG. 3).
Regarding Claim 10, Kikuchi, as previously modified by Yamano, discloses all of the elements of the current invention disclosed in claim 1, and Kikuchi further discloses
wherein the at least one of the label or the coding (FIG. 87a-87b, Col. 57, Ln. 10-15 disclose bar code for identification disposed on rotary filters, Col. 44, Ln. 1 discloses disc-like member, i.e. element, is part of a rotary filter) becomes visible upon an overexposure (Col. 57, Ln. 15-25 discloses bar code identification allows for automatic control of CCD/ memory which will avoid undesirable color mixture in an image, therefore, at a certain point of exposure, i.e. overexposure, the bar code discrimination will take place to avoid overmixing of colors).
Regarding Claim 11, Kikuchi, as previously modified by Yamano, discloses all of the elements of the current invention disclosed in claim 1, and Kikuchi further discloses
An endoscope arrangement (FIG. 1) comprising the endoscope (electronic endoscope 2, FIG. 1) according to claim 1 and a camera (image sensing device 13) connected to the endoscope (depicted in FIG. 3), the camera (13) having at least one of an image processing system (processor 4) or a character recognition system (depicted in FIG. 3).
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ABDUL HADI ABBASI whose telephone number is (571)272-4076. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 7:30 am - 5:00 pm.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Anhtuan Nguyen can be reached at (571) 272-4963. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ABDUL HADI ABBASI/Examiner, Art Unit 3795
/RYAN N HENDERSON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3795
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