DETAILED ACTION
This action is in response to applicant’s amendment received on August 13th, 2026.
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.
Claims 1-5, 7-11, and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zehavi (U.S. Publication 2023/0240763) in view of Brisson (U.S. Publication 2003/0208296).
Regarding claims 1-5 and 7:
Zehavi discloses a device (for example see Figure 7) comprising:
(claim 1) a first robotic arm with an imaging device coupled thereto (for example see paragraphs 92-93; see Figure 7)
(claim 1) a second robotic arm with a surgical instrument coupled thereto (for example see paragraphs 92-93; see Figure 7)
(claim 4) wherein a portion of the surgical instrument is configured to resect anatomical tissue
(claim 1) a processor coupled with the robotic arms (for example 704; for example see paragraphs 101-119)
(claim 1) a memory (706) coupled with the processor and storing data thereon
(claim 1) wherein when the data is processed by the processor the processor is enabled to
(claim 1) control the second robotic arm to move from a first pose to a second pose (for example see paragraphs 81 and 101-119)
(claim 1) receive, from the imaging device and in response to the second robot arm moving from the first pose to the second pose, an image depicting an anatomical element, the surgical instrument, and a navigational marker on the surgical instrument (for paragraph 95 and paragraphs 125-128)
(claim 1) segment the image into a segmented image (for example see paragraph 91)
(claim 1) render, to a display, the segmented image
(claim 1) determine, in response to the second robotic arm moving from the first pose to the second pose, a position and an orientation of the surgical instrument based on the navigational marker relative to the anatomical element (for example see paragraphs 101-119)
(claim 1) determine, based on the position and the orientation of the surgical instrument and a type of a portion of the surgical instrument, a modification to the section of the anatomical element, i.e. determining to drill a bore in the hard tissue
(claim 1) render, to the display, an update segmented image showing the modification of the section of the anatomical element
Zehavi discloses the device as claimed except for the segmented image including a plurality of voxels, modify the plurality of voxels based on the modification of the anatomical element, and rendering an updated segmented image including the modified subset of voxels. Brisson teaches a device comprising a processor (for example see Figure 5), a memory (for example see paragraph 114) that stores data thereon enabling the processor to receive an image, such as a 2D or 3D image (claim 5), depicting an anatomical element, wherein the image is segmented into a plurality of voxels (for example see paragraphs 52 and 54), wherein the subset of voxels are modified based on a modification of the anatomical element (for example see paragraphs 61-67), and render to a display an updated imaged showing the modified subset of voxels (for example see paragraphs 9, 25-26, 48, 50, 63-64, 76, 79, 82, and 98) in order to more accurately display the anatomical modification to the surgeon during a surgical procedure. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to provide the device of Zehavi wherein the segmented image includes a plurality of voxels, modifying the plurality of voxels based on the modification of the anatomical element, and rendering the updated segmented image including the modified subset of voxels in view of Brisson in order to more accurately display the anatomical modification to the surgeon during a surgical procedure.
The device of Zehavi as modified by Brisson discloses the invention as claimed, see above, wherein the subset of a plurality of voxels are rendered with a first visual depiction a first time and a second visual depiction at a later second time (for example see paragraphs 9, 10, and 12 of Brisson; for example changing a waste voxel to an empty voxel to depict removed hard tissue), wherein the modified subset of voxels are rendered with at least one different color and a different border than the subset of the plurality of voxels (for example see paragraphs 9, 10, 12, and 87 of Brisson), and wherein the modified plurality of voxels indicate that a portion of the anatomical element has been resected (for example see paragraphs 9, 10, and 12 of Brisson).
Regarding claims 8-11:
(claim 8) a first robotic arm holding an imaging device (for example see paragraphs 92-93; see Figure 7)
(claim 8) a second robotic arm holding a surgical instrument (for example see paragraphs 92-93; see Figure 7)
(claim 8) a processor coupled with the robotic arms (for example 704; for example see paragraphs 101-119)
(claim 8) a memory (706) coupled with the processor and storing data thereon
(claim 8) wherein when the data is processed by the processor the processor is enabled to
(claim 8) control the second robotic arm to move from a first pose to a second pose to interact with an anatomical element (for example see paragraphs 81 and 101-119)
(claim 8) receive, from the imaging device and in response to the second robot arm moving from the first pose to the second pose, a segmented image depicting the anatomical element, the surgical instrument, and a navigational marker on the surgical instrument (for paragraph 95 and paragraphs 125-128)
(claim 8) render, to a display, the segmented image
(claim 8) determine, in response to the second robotic arm moving from the first pose to the second pose, a position and an orientation of the surgical instrument based on the navigational marker relative to the anatomical element (for example see paragraphs 101-119)
(claim 8) determine, based on the position and the orientation of the surgical instrument and a type of a portion of the surgical instrument, a modification to the section of the anatomical element, i.e. determining to drill a bore in the hard tissue
(claim 8) render, to the display, an update segmented image showing the modification of the section of the anatomical element
Zehavi discloses the device as claimed except for the segmented image including a plurality of voxels, modify the plurality of voxels based on the modification of the anatomical element, and rendering an updated segmented image including the modified subset of voxels. Brisson teaches a device comprising a processor (for example see Figure 5), a memory (for example see paragraph 114) that stores data thereon enabling the processor to receive an image, such as a 2D or 3D image (claim 11), depicting an anatomical element, wherein the image is segmented into a plurality of voxels (for example see paragraphs 52 and 54), wherein the subset of voxels are modified based on a modification of the anatomical element (for example see paragraphs 61-67), and render to a display an updated imaged showing the modified subset of voxels (for example see paragraphs 9, 25-26, 48, 50, 63-64, 76, 79, 82, and 98) in order to more accurately display the anatomical modification to the surgeon during a surgical procedure. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to provide the device of Zehavi wherein the segmented image includes a plurality of voxels, modifying the plurality of voxels based on the modification of the anatomical element, and rendering the updated segmented image including the modified subset of voxels in view of Brisson in order to more accurately display the anatomical modification to the surgeon during a surgical procedure.
The device of Zehavi as modified by Brisson discloses the invention as claimed, see above, wherein the updated visual depiction of the voxels comprises an indicator that a portion of the anatomical element has been resected (claim 10; for example see paragraphs 9, 10, and 12 of Brisson; for example changing a waste voxel to an empty voxel to depict removed hard tissue), wherein the updated visual depiction of the voxels are rendered with at least one different color and a different border (claim 9; for example see paragraphs 9, 10, 12, and 87 of Brisson), and wherein the update of the visual depiction of the voxel is based on a surgical workflow, i.e. a surgical procedure (claim 15).
Claims 12 and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zehavi (U.S. Publication 2023/0240763) in view of Brisson (U.S. Publication 2003/0208296) further in view of Esfandiari (U.S. Publication 2025/0169889).
The device of Zehavi as modified by Brisson discloses the invention as claimed except for the image being received from an artificial intelligence data module, such as a convolutional neural network. Esfandiari teaches a system comprising a processor and memory, wherein the memory includes instructions for receiving a segmented image depicting an anatomical element segmented into a plurality of voxels, wherein the image is received from an artificial intelligence data module, such as a convolutional neural network that receives the image data as an input and outputs the segmented image (for example see paragraphs 29 and 90) in order to increase the accuracy of the image data. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to provide the device of Zehavi as modified by Brisson wherein the segmented image data is received from an artificial intelligence data module, such as a convolutional neural network, in view of Esfandiari in order to increase the accuracy of the image data.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 16-18 are allowed.
Claims 6 and 14 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.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed August 13th, 2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. The applicants arguments are directed to the new limitations and amendments to the claims, which are discussed above in the new grounds of rejection provided by the examiner.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. See PTO-892 for cited references the examiner felt were relevant to the application.
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). 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 Nicholas Woodall whose telephone number is (571) 272-5204. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday 8am to 5:30pm.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, please contact the examiner’s supervisor, Kevin Truong, at (571. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/NICHOLAS W WOODALL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3775
