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
Applicant's amendments dated 5/19/26 amend claims 1, 3-4, and 10-11, cancel claims 2 and 12, and add claims 21-22. The amendments to claims 4 and 10 are sufficient to overcome the previous 112(b) rejections.
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, 3-7, 9, 11, 13-17 is/are rejected under 35 USC 103 as being unpatentable over Mumaw et al. [US 2012/0116261 A1, hereinafter “Mumaw”] in view of Naitoh [US 5626483 A].
Re. claim 1, Mumaw discloses an ultrasonic transducer [Fig. 19] comprising:
a plurality of piezoelectric elements [1310] arrayed along a longitudinal direction [left-right in Fig. 19];
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a contact receiver [1350, 1370, 1352, 1356, 1322] fitted to the housing [Par. 0119], the contact receiver configured to transmit an electric signal to the plurality of piezoelectric elements [Par. 0119], wherein the contact receiver includes:
a body [1350 and 1370], wherein the body is electrically insulating [Par. 0117]; and a wiring pattern [1322] electrically connected to a lead [1382] [Par. 0119].
Mumaw fails to explicitly disclose the housing storing the piezoelectric elements, and the wiring pattern being formed by three-dimensional plating, and
Wherein the body includes:
a first portion [1350] having a tubular shape; and
a second portion [1370] configured to cover at least a part of an outer surface of the first portion [Fig. 19], wherein the wiring pattern is provided between the first portion and the second portion [Fig. 19].
Regarding the housing: in another embodiment, Mumaw discloses a housing [250, Fig. 2] configured to store the plurality of piezoelectric elements. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the apparatus of the embodiment of Fig. 19 by adding a housing as taught by Fig. 18 because this is a conventional part of a handheld transducer, allowing a user to hold and operate the device. Regarding the lead being provided on the housing, this would have been obvious given the above modifications to allow the elements to connect to a power source.
Regarding the limitation “wherein the wiring pattern is formed by three-dimensional plating:” Mumaw discloses a conductive pattern formed by Molded Interconnect Device (MID) technology [Par. 0117], but does not disclose the method of forming the wiring pattern. However, Naitoh discloses a wiring pattern formed by 3-D plating [Col. 2 lines 14-16]. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the apparatus of Mumaw by forming the wiring pattern by 3-D plating as taught by Naitoh because this results in a lower manufacturing cost (e.g., compared to MID) [Naitoh Col. 1 line 65-Col. 1 line 9].
Re. claim 11, Mumaw in view of Naitoh discloses the ultrasonic transducer as set forth with respect to claim 1 above. Mumaw further discloses the transducer being present in ultrasonic treatment tool [10, Fig. 1] comprising the ultrasonic transducer and a hand piece [60], wherein the hand piece includes a contact unit [the “switch that is operable by a trigger or button” Par. 0067] to which the ultrasonic transducer is attached [electrically, Par. 0067], and wherein the contact receiver is configured to transit the electric signal from the hand piece to the piezoelectric elements via the contact unit [“one of the casing contacts (260, 270) may be electrically coupled to a wire that is electrically coupled to a switch that is operable by a trigger or button. Accordingly, the trigger or button may be used to selectively activate transducer (200),” Par. 0067].
Re. claims 3 and 13, Mumaw further discloses an electrically conducting contact portion [1352, 1356] has a ring shape [Par. 0117], and wherein the electrically conducting contact portion is connected to the wiring pattern on an outer surface of the body [outer surface of 1350, Fig .19].
Re. claims 4 and 14, Mumaw discloses an electrically conducting contact portion is formed integrally with the wiring pattern [Par. 0118], and wherein the electrically conducting contact portion is provided on the outer surface of the body [of 1350, Fig. 19].
Re. claims 5 and 15, Mumaw discloses the body has a tubular shape [body portion 1370 is shown as tubular], and wherein the wiring pattern is provided on an inner circumferential surface of the body [on the inner circumferential surface of 1370, Fig. 19].
Re. claims 6 and 16, Mumaw discloses the limitations as set forth with respect to claims 3 and 4 above.
Re. claims 7 and 17, Mumaw discloses the limitations as set forth with respect to claim 4 above
Re. claim 9, Mumaw discloses the housing is provided with an ultrasound transducer [1312 and 1314] configured to transmit ultrasonic vibrations from a proximal end side in the longitudinal direction to a distal end side [Pars. 0115, 0057].
Claim(s) 8 is/are rejected under 35 USC 103 as being unpatentable over Mumaw et al. [US 2012/0116261 A1, hereinafter “Mumaw”] in view of Naitoh as applied to claim 1 and further in view of Takinishi [US 4175338 A].
Re. claim 8, the modified Mumaw fails to disclose a through-hole penetrating in a direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction. However, Takinishi discloses, in a contact device with a wiring pattern for a medical device, a through-hole [11a/b] penetrating in a direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction [the direction of wires], wherein the through-hole is formed in a first end of the wiring pattern [Fig. 5], and wherein the first end is on a first side opposite to a second side on which the wiring pattern is connected to the lead [Fig. 5, leads 15]. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the apparatus of the modified Mumaw by adding a through-hole to a first end of the wiring pattern, as taught by Takinishi, because this is a “preferable” method to provide a wiring pattern [Col. 3 lines 12-15].
Claim(s) 10 is/are rejected under 35 USC 103 as being unpatentable over Mumaw et al. [US 2012/0116261 A1, hereinafter “Mumaw”] in view of Naitoh as applied to claim 1 and further in view of Sanai [US 20130218185 A1].
Re. claim 10, as best understood, the modified Mumaw fails to disclose the body comprising super engineering plastic. However, Sanai teaches, in an ultrasonic treatment device, for several internal tube members, PEEK is used [Pars. 0065 and 0069. PEEK is one of the materials indicated as a super engineering plastic in Applicant’s disclosure Par. 0051]. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the apparatus of the modified Mumaw by forming the body to comprise a super engineering plastic as taught by Sanai because this material “[has] high strength and high heat resistance properties, and its resistance properties with respect to ultrasonic vibration are enhanced” [Sanai Par. 0065].
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 21-22 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.
Mumaw fails to teach the second portion exposing a contact portion of the wiring pattern as claimed, in combination with the other claim elements.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 5/19/26 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Applicant argues that 1570 should not be mapped to a part of the body. The examiner respectfully disagrees and does not find that the claim language prevents such a mapping. The wiring pattern is provided between 1350 and 1370, so as long as 1370 is included in the body, Applicant’s arguments that the conductor pattern is not provided between the first and second portions are unpersuasive.
Conclusion
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 ERIN MCGRATH whose telephone number is (571)270-0674. The examiner can normally be reached M-Th 9 am to 3 pm ET.
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/ERIN MCGRATH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3771
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