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 Status: Claims 9, 10, and 25-36 are pending. Claims 10, 25, and 29-36 have been withdrawn from consideration.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Species A in the reply filed on May 15, 2026 is acknowledged.
Applicant stated that Claims 9 and 26-28 read on the elected species.
Claims 10, 25, and 29-36 have been withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected species, there being no allowable generic or linking claim.
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)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 9 and 26-28 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by KAZUHIKO (WO 2010134278 – Please refer to the translation copy provided).
Re Claim 9, Kazuhiko discloses a method of imaging an eye, the method comprising:
generating an electromagnetic radiation beam using a beam source (page 16, light source unit 1, fig. 1);
elliptically polarizing the electromagnetic radiation beam (pages 16 and 17, Here, "unpolarized" refers to a polarization state that includes linearly polarized light, circularly polarized light, and elliptically polarized light; page 72, it is also possible to configure the system to convert the reference light R or signal light S into any desired polarization characteristic (linear polarization, elliptic polarization));
focusing the elliptically polarized electromagnetic radiation beam to a focal point in the eye (page 18, The signal light S is focused onto the eye E under examination by the objective lens 11 while remaining unpolarized.);
scanning the focal point of the elliptically polarized electromagnetic radiation beam to a plurality of different locations in the eye (page 19, The reference mirror movement mechanism 10 is configured to include a driving means such as a piezoelectric element or a pulse motor. By moving the reference mirror 9 in this way, the optical path length of the reference light R (reference optical path length) is changed. The reference optical path length is the round-trip distance between the beam splitter 3 and the reference mirror 9. By changing the reference optical path length, images of corneal Ec at various depth positions can be selectively acquired. In other words, the interference light L contains morphological information of a region of the cornea Ec at a depth where the optical path length of the signal light S (signal optical path length) is equal to the reference optical path length, and an image at that depth is formed by detecting this interference light L.);
receiving electromagnetic radiation reflected from the focal point in response to the step of scanning the elliptically polarized electromagnetic radiation (page 19, The interference light L contains morphological information of a region of the cornea Ec at a depth where the optical path length of the signal light S (signal optical path length) is equal to the reference optical path length, and an image at that depth is formed by detecting this interference light L.);
directing the received reflected electromagnetic radiation to a sensor (fig. 1, pages 20 and 72, interference light L is detected using CCDs 16 and 17 (image sensor));
generating an intensity profile indicative of an intensity of the received reflected electromagnetic radiation (pages 27-28, the image forming unit 241 selects voxels located in a cross-section along the depth direction from the volume data, and forms a tomographic image (vertical tomographic image) along the depth direction based on these voxels. It is possible to create a three-dimensional image (sometimes called stacked data) by arranging multiple horizontal tomographic images in a single three-dimensional coordinate system); and
identifying a first surface and a second surface of the eye using the intensity profile (page 48, To identify the boundary region, the boundary region identification unit 247 analyzes the pixel values of pixels that constitute the image region, including the corneal endothelial region and its neighboring region identified by the image region identification unit 242. In this analysis process, for example, by utilizing the aforementioned analysis results from the image region identification unit 242, the image region corresponding to the anterior surface of the corneal endothelium (the interface with Descemet's membrane) (anterior endothelial boundary region) and the image region corresponding to the posterior surface (the interface with the anterior chamber) (posterior endothelial boundary region) are identified in each vertical tomographic image).
Re Claim 26, Kazuhiko discloses that the first and second surfaces of the eye are respectively an anterior surface and a posterior surface of a cornea of the eye (page 48, To identify the boundary region, the boundary region identification unit 247 analyzes the
pixel values of pixels that constitute the image region, including the corneal endothelial region and its neighboring region identified by the image region identification unit 242. In this analysis process, for example, by utilizing the aforementioned analysis results from the image
region identification unit 242, the image region corresponding to the anterior surface of the corneal endothelium (the interface with Descemet's membrane) (anterior endothelial boundary region) and the image region corresponding to the posterior surface (the interface
with the anterior chamber) (posterior endothelial boundary region) are identified in each vertical tomographic image; page 45, page 60, the abnormality detection unit 246 detects abnormalities in corneal endothelial cells, abnormalities in the anterior or posterior surface of the corneal endothelium, abnormalities in the thickness of the corneal endothelium (endothelial thickness), abnormalities in Descemet's membrane, abnormalities in the thickness of Descemet's membrane (Descemet's membrane thickness), and abnormalities in the thickness of the
cornea (corneal thickness).).
Re Claim 27, Kazuhiko discloses that the step of elliptically polarizing the electromagnetic radiation beam includes passing the electromagnetic radiation beam through a polarization-sensitive device (fig. 1, EMR from light source 1 passes through beam splitter 3 – beam splitter is the polarization-sensitive device), the method further comprising, before directing the received reflected electromagnetic radiation to the sensor, passing the received reflected electromagnetic radiation through the polarization-sensitive device (fig. 1, reflected signal passes through beam splitter 3 before reaching CCD imaging sensor).
Re Claim 28, Kazuhiko discloses that the step of directing the received reflected electromagnetic radiation to the sensor includes blocking portions of electromagnetic radiation reflected from locations other than the focal point location from entering the sensor (fig. 1, page 20, The interference light generated by the beam splitter passes through the aperture diaphragm 12 and is focused into focused light by the imaging lens 13 – The aperture diaphragm performs the function of blocking the portions from entering the sensor).
Conclusion
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/JONATHAN T KUO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3792
/V.V.H./
Vynn Huh, June 10, 2026Examiner, Art Unit 3792
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