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
1. This office action is in response to communications filed 3/20/2026 Claim 1 is amended. Claim 2 is original.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-2 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.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 3/24/2026 was filed after the mailing date of the claims on 9/12/2024. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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.
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.
1. Claim(s) 1-2 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Patent Application 2009/0298017 Boerjes in view of U.S. Patent 6971875 Cao further in view of U.S. Patent Application 2013/0236850 Wu et al. (hereinafter Wu) further in view of U.S. Patent Application 2016/0330355 Tchouprakov et al. (hereinafter Tchouprakov).
2. Regarding Claim 1, Boerjes discloses An intraoral reporting device to report a state of an intraoral medical device (Title: Digital Dentistry, see Fig. 1; [00134], “the system 100 may include a scanner 102 that captures images from a surface 106 of a subject 104, such as a dental patient, and forwards the images to a computer 108, which may include a display 110 and one or more user input devices such as a mouse 112 or a keyboard 114.”), the intraoral reporting device (see Fig. 1; [00134]) comprising:
an information processing unit (Fig. 1; [0134], “forwards the images to a computer 108, which may include a display 110”); and
a light source connected to the information processing unit (Fig. 1: 102; [0135]-[0136], “the scanner 102 may employ structured light.” [0140], “The scanner 102 may also, or instead, include a strobe, flash, or other light source to supplement illumination of the subject 104 during image acquisition.”), and arranged so as to be able to emit light in an oral cavity (Fig. 1; [0140], “The scanner 102 may also, or instead, include a strobe, flash, or other light source to supplement illumination of the subject 104 during image acquisition.” [0141], “the object 104 may include human dentition captured intraorally from a dental patient's mouth.”),
However, Boerjes does not explicitly disclose plurality of light sources connected to the information processing unit and arranged so as to be able to emit respective lights of different colors in an oral cavity,
when detecting that the intraoral medical device is in a state where a function of the intraoral medical device is difficult to be maintained,
or where the function thereof is difficult to be maintained soon,
the information processing unit executes the process of making any one of the light sources corresponding to the different colors on, or on and off according to the state.
Cao teaches when detecting that the intraoral medical device is in a state where a function of the intraoral medical device is difficult to be maintained ((Title: Dental Curing Light; Figs. 1, 35, 36; Col. 5 lines 21-28, “An audible indicator or beeper may be provided in some embodiments of the invention to indicate when light emission from the curing light begins and ends. A first light emitting diode indicator lamp 107 is located on the housing in a visible location in order to indicate to the user low battery power. A second light emitting diode indicator lamp 108 is located on the housing in a visible location in order to indicate to the user that the battery is being charged.” Low battery is a classic “function difficult to maintain/likely soon” state-because the device may not continue operating reliably),
or where the function thereof is difficult to be maintained soon (Claimed in the alternative),
It would have been obvious to a person ordinary skill in the art to implement the intraoral scanner 102 of Boerjes using well-known dental device approach of Cao (processor-detected low battery -> LED indicator) to provide immediate, unmistakable status feedback on the intraoral device itself, yielding predictable results (e.g., improved user awareness; reduced downtime).
Cao does not explicitly disclose plurality of light sources connected to the information processing unit and arranged so as to be able to emit respective lights of different colors in an oral cavity,
the information processing unit executes the process of making any one of the light sources corresponding to color on, or on and off according to the state
Further, Wu teaches the information processing unit executes the process of making any one of the light sources corresponding to color on, or on and off according to the state (Fig. 1; [0015], “the real-time reconstruction system for an inner surface topographic image of an oral cavity includes a three-color LED light source module 1” [0017], “the computer system 10 also employs a synchronizing circuit control system to control a strobe frequency of the multicolor LED light source” The computer system 10 turns specific colored LEDS on and off according to the scanning device’s operational state)
It would have been obvious to a person ordinary skill in the art to substitute the external LED indicators of Boerjes/Cao combination with Wu’s intraoral multi-color LED tip structure, because Wu demonstrates that placing processor-controlled, color differentiated LEDs within the scanner tip inserted into the oral cavity is known in the field of intraoral scanning. Hence, improving operator awareness of device state during intraoral scanning.
Wu does not explicitly disclose plurality of light sources connected to the information processing unit and arranged so as to be able to emit respective lights of different colors in an oral cavity,
Further, Tchouprakov teaches plurality of light sources connected to the information processing unit and arranged so as to be able to emit respective lights of different colors in an oral cavity (Abstract, “A technique to enable an existing monochrome camera in an intra-oral scanner to capture color images without making hardware changes to the camera. This operation is achieved by retrofitting a “tip” assembly of the scanner with red, green and blue light emitting diodes (LEDs), and then driving those diodes to illuminate the scene being captured by the scanner… operative to synchronize the LEDs to the frame capture of the monochrome camera in the device. A color image is created by combining the red-, green- and blue-illuminated images. Thus, color imagery is created from a monochrome camera and, in particular, by illuminating the screen with specific colors while the camera captures images. In this manner, single colored images are captured and combined into full color images.”, The information processing unit executes (Fig. 7; [0030], “As illustrated in FIG. 7, preferably data is processed in a pipeline distributed across several computing resources”) the process of making any one of the light sources corresponding to the different colors on, or on and off ([0034], “The PC based software (also described above) then creates a color image by combining the red, blue, and green illuminated images. In a preferred embodiment, a microprocessor 1016 is included on the flex circuit 1005 that controls whether the LEDs are on or off.”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the intraoral reporting device of Boerjes to incorporate the state-based LED activation of Cao, as further modified by the processor-controlled multi-color LED in oral cavity teaching of Wu, and further modified by the plural-colored LED tip assembly of Tchouprakov. While Wu teaches a three-color LED module within the oral cavity, Tchouprakov further and explicitly teaches retrofitting an intraoral scanner tip with a plurality of discrete red, green, blue LEDS each corresponds to a different color connected to a microprocessor that selectively drives each individual LED on or off to illuminate the oral cavity with a specific color corresponding to the device’s operational state. One of ordinary skill would have combined familiar elements in a predictable way to yield a device that communicates distinct devices states to the operator through different colored lights, with the reasonable expectation of improved user awareness and reduced device downtime.
3. Regarding Claim 2, Boerjes discloses An intraoral medical device (see Fig. 1; [00134], comprising the intraoral reporting device (Title: Digital Dentistry) according to claim 1.
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 OMER KHALID whose telephone number is (571)270-5997. The examiner can normally be reached Monday- Friday 9am-7pm.
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/OMER KHALID/Examiner, Art Unit 2422
/JOHN W MILLER/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2422
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