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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of the invention of group I in the reply filed on 6/25/2026 is acknowledged.
Claims 14-20 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 6/25/2026.
DETAILED ACTION
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
Claim(s) 1-4, 6-13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102a1 as being anticipated by Ince 20060184037.
Ince discloses for claim 1, “A target analysis system (0063 describes spectrophotometry for assessment of microcirculatory oxygen transport; 0106-0107 describes spectrophotometry modules having an image processor for computing and displaying spectral characteristics of the reflected light from the examination substrate as seen in fig 1; 0106 specifically cites the light reflected by the examination substrate may be examined to measure “a variety of characteristics of the examination substrate, including, without limitation, hemoglobin saturation and hematocrit concentration”; and 0063 describes analysis of discrete wavelengths outputs in order to perform this tissue characteristic examination) comprising:
an illumination device (light transport section 14 includes internal and external light sources 18, 20; fig 1, 5; 0101 describes the light transport section configured to project light on and/or receive reflected light from an external substrate and 0114 describes the light as one or more LEDs with discrete wavelength of light/different color) configured to illuminate an anatomical target with illuminating light having different wavelengths (0110 and 0114 describes the light as one or more LEDs with discrete wavelength of light/different color) and being configured to produce the illuminating light such that a time average of the illuminating light, as perceptible by a human eye, appears as white light (0080 describes the use of a high speed rate, higher than video rate for imaging and 0157 describes the video camera’s rate of about 20 -30 fps);
at least one optical sensor (image capture devices 416; fig 14; 0126) configured to receive, as response illumination, a portion of the illuminating light that is detected from the anatomical target in response to the illuminating light from the illumination device; and
a controller (controller 900; fig 18; 0150) configured to:
provide, based on the response illumination, spectral intensity information of the received response illumination (0144-0146 describes reflectance spectrophotometry to examine the spectral reflectance characteristics of tissue, e.g. hemoglobin saturation; determination of the concentration of material in the examination substrate based on the absorbance of light by the examination substrate); and
determine, based at least in part on the spectral intensity information, a composition of the anatomical target (0144-0146, including 0106 which states “a variety of characteristics of the examination substrate, including, without limitation, hemoglobin saturation and hematocrit concentration”)”.
Ince discloses for claim 2, “The target analysis system of claim 1, wherein the illuminating light having the different wavelengths comprises a repeating plurality of sequential light pulses (0150 describes using pulsed lighting systems).
Ince discloses for claim 3, “The target analysis system of claim 2, wherein each sequential light pulse in the plurality of sequential light pulses comprises light centered at a corresponding single wavelength for a corresponding duration (0110 and 0114 describes the light as one or more LEDs with discrete wavelength of light/different color)”.
Ince discloses for claim 4, “The target analysis system of claim 2, wherein the sequential light pulses in the plurality of sequential light pulses comprise light centered at different single wavelengths from one another (0110 and 0114 describes the light as one or more LEDs with discrete wavelength of light/different color)”.
Ince discloses for claim 6, “The target analysis system of claim 1, wherein the response illumination is reflected from the anatomical target (0053, 0101)”.
Ince discloses for claim 7, “The target analysis system of claim 1, wherein the response illumination is generated by the anatomical target in response to the illuminating light from the illumination device (0053, 0101)”.
Ince discloses for claim 8, “The target analysis system of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to provide a spectral intensity signal of the response illumination (controller 900; 0151 describe the control of the lighting elements as part of providing the signal and also to direct the signal to the analyzing section 602)”.
Ince discloses for claim 9, “The target analysis system of claim 1, further comprising an endoscope (based on the description in the examples provided, an endoscope is interpreted as a tubular insertion section which Ince discloses via fig 14) configured to support the at least one optical sensor”.
Ince discloses for claim 10, “The target analysis system of claim 9, including a first optical path configured to conduct the response illumination from a first end of the endoscope toward a second end of the endoscope (fig 14)”.
Ince discloses for claim 11, “The target analysis system of claim 10, wherein the at least one optical sensor is configured to receive the response illumination from the first optical path (fig 14)”.
Ince discloses for claim 12, “The target analysis system of claim 11, wherein the at least one optical sensor includes a camera (image capture device 416; fig 14)”.
Ince discloses for claim 13, “The target analysis system of claim 11, wherein the at least one optical sensor includes a spectrometer (0008, 0063 describes a spectrophotometry module)”.
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) 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ince as applied to claim 4 above, and further in view of Forkey US5733246.
Ince does not disclose for claim 5, “The target analysis system of claim 4, wherein the different single wavelengths decrease from a first sequential light pulse in the plurality of sequential light pulses to a last sequential light pulse in the plurality of sequential light pulses”. Ince discloses the controlling of sequential narrowband light source pulses, but simply does not indicate the order of the wavelengths pulses. It is within the ordinary skill of an artisan in the field to order the pulses in any manner desired including in decreasing wavelength since it simply involves programming a controller to emit and activate the LEDs which is also without any special technical complications. But additionally, Forkey provides a particular example of narrowband imaging where the wavelengths decrease from red, green, to blue (7:47), which provides the sufficient disclosure to order the narrowband illumination pulses of Ince in any viable order disclosed in the art. Since Ince fails to disclose the nature of the ordering of the narrowband pulsed illumination sequence, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have used any suitable configuration known in the art, including the one taught by Forkey to achieve the predictable result of narrowband pulsed illumination
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. See PTO892.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JAE K WOO whose telephone number is (571)272-0837. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:30-2:30p, 6p-9p.
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.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/Jae Woo/Examiner, Art Unit 3795
/ANHTUAN T NGUYEN/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3795
9/6/26
Prosecution Insights