DETAILED ACTION
Status of Claims
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claims 18-37 are pending.
Claims 1-17 are canceled.
Claim Objections
Claims 22 and all dependent claims therefrom are objected to because of the following informalities: the typographical error “gr[e]ater”. Appropriate correction is required.
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.
Claims 18-21, 23-25, and 31-37 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Kapadia et al. (US 20200261176 Al, 2020-08-20) (hereinafter "Kapadia").
Regarding claims 18-21, 23-25, and 31-37, Kapadia teaches a method of tension compensation in a surgical robotic system, the method comprising: reading actuation data from a storage medium associated with a robotically controlled medical device the actuation data including an initial actuation cycle count for each of a plurality of actuation cables of the robotically controlled medical device; comparing each initial actuation cycle count to a lookup table to directly determine an initial compensation tension to be applied by an instrument controller for each of the plurality of actuation cables, respectively; actuating an independent motor corresponding to at least one of the plurality of actuation cables with the initial compensation tension; incrementing the initial actuation cycle count for the at least one of the plurality of actuation cables to yield an updated actuation cycle count; and storing the updated actuation cycle count to the storage medium (e.g., [0048]-[0051 ], [0060], [0062]; Figs. 4A, 4B) (as recited in claim 18); further comprising the steps of: recomparing the actuation cycle count for the at least one of the plurality of actuation cables to a lookup table to directly determine an updated compensation tension to be applied by the instrument controller for the at least one of the plurality of actuation cables; and reactuating the independent motor corresponding to at least one of the plurality of actuation cables with the updated compensation tension (e.g., [0064] ("In certain embodiments, reference data of the one or more connector members 26 [ which may include only the reference or threshold actuation cycle count, as cited below] can be compared with measured real-time data of the one or more connector members 26 [i.e., real-time actuation cycle count] to determine the real-time health (e.g., remaining/ expended lifespan) of one or more connector members 26 relative to the initial health of one or more connector members 26. If lifespan/health of one or more of connector members 26 remains or is intact, an output signal may be provided."); [0058] ("Controller 4 can include one or more counters to count, for example, a number of uses of one or more of the components of the medical work station (e.g., connector members 26, end effector 100, etc.)."); [0012] ("The reference data can include one or more of: a property of the connector members; a force applied to the connector members; a number of uses of the connector members [ construed as actuation cycle count]; or an age of the connector members."); [0060] ("In some embodiments, the memory of database 4a (or the like) [ construed as a lookup table] includes reference data ... ") (as recited in claim 19); wherein the updated compensation tension is nonzero (as recited in claim 20); wherein the initial compensation tension is nonzero (as recited in claim 21); wherein the storage medium is integrated into the robotically controlled medical device (e.g., [0012]) (as recited in claim 23); wherein the storage medium resides in a controller of the surgical robotic system (e.g., [0057]-[0063]) (as recited in claim 24); wherein the storage medium resides in a remote location (e.g., [0057]) (as recited in claim 25); a tension compensation system, comprising: a robotically controlled medical device comprising a hub having: a data storage medium; and a data interface connected to the data storage medium; an instrument controller configured to operatively connect to the robotically controlled medical device to provide tension to one or more actuation cables of the robotically controlled medical device, wherein the instrument controller is configured to connect to the data interface when the medical device is installed on the instrument controller; and an instrument control module configured to control the instrument controller to provide a compensation tension to at least one actuation cable of the one or more actuation cables to compensate for elongation of the at least one actuation cable of the one or more actuation cables based on actuation data associated with the at least one actuation cable of the one or more actuation cables, wherein the actuation data is stored on the data storage medium of the robotically controlled medical device, wherein the actuation data includes an actuation cycle count, wherein each time a respective independent motor is cycled, the instrument control module increments the actuation cycle count for the respective actuation cable, wherein the compensation tension is directly determined by the instrument control module by comparing actuation cycle count to a lookup table (e.g., [0048]-[0051], [0058], [0012], [0060]-[0064]; Figs. 4A, 4B) (as recited in claim 31); wherein the actuation data includes a number of times the at least one actuation cable of the one or more actuation cables has been actuated, respectively (e.g., [0048]-[0051], [0060], [0062]; Figs. 4A, 4B) (as recited in claim 32); wherein the instrument control module is configured to read the actuation data from the data storage medium of the robotically controlled medical device to determine a compensation tension of each actuation cable, respectively (e.g., [0058], [0012], [0060]-[0064]; Figs. 4A, 4B) (as recited in claim 33); wherein the data storage medium includes a unique instrument identification (e.g., [0057]-[0060]) (as recited in claim 34); wherein the instrument controller includes an independent motor for each actuation wire (e.g., [0047]) (as recited in claim 35); an instrument control module configured to control actuation of an instrument controller to control a robotically controlled medical device that has one or more actuation cables, wherein the instrument control module is configured to: read actuation data associated with the at least one actuation cable of the one or more actuation cables from a data storage medium of the robotically controlled medical device, wherein the actuation data includes an actuation cycle count; increment the actuation cycle count for a respective actuation cable of the at least one actuation cable each time a respective independent motor is cycled; compare actuation cycle count to a lookup table to directly determine a compensation tension for at least one actuation cable of the one or more actuation cables; and provide the compensation tension to at least one actuation cable of the one or more actuation cables to compensate for elongation of the at least one actuation cable of the one or more actuation cables based on the actuation data associated with the at least one actuation cable of the one or more actuation cables (e.g., [0048]-[0051], [0058], [0012], [0060]-[0064]; Figs. 4A, 4B) (as recited in claim 36); wherein the instrument control module is configured to determine a compensation tension of each actuation cable, respectively (e.g., [0048]-[0051], [0058], [0012], [0060]-[0064]; Figs. 4A, 4B) (as recited in claim 37).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 22 and 26-30 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.
The prior art of record does not teach or suggest the claimed invention of a method of tension compensation in a surgical robotic system, wherein the actuating step with the initial compensation tension actuates the independent motor to increase a stroke length greater than a stroke length for an uncompensated tension (as recited in claim 22); wherein the independent motor drives a pushing actuator (as recited in claim 26).
For these reasons the claims are believed to be allowable over the art of record.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SCOTT T LUAN whose telephone number is (571)270-1860. The examiner can normally be reached on 9am-5pm, M-F (generally).
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Gary Jackson, can be reached on 571-272-4697. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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Scott Luan
/SCOTT LUAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3792
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