DETAILED ACTION
This is the first office action on the merits in this application. The claims
presented December 5, 2024, are under consideration. Claims 1-20 are pending.
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 .
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) 1-14 and 16-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Greenhalgh et al. (US 2010/0292796 A1) in view of Alheidt et al. (US 2013/0211526 A1).
Regarding claims 1, 16, 19 and 20, Greenhalgh teaches an expandable implant as at fig. 1a comprising:
a first support member 6 configured to engage a first portion of bone, the first support member comprising a first lateral side (into the page) and a second lateral side (out of the page), the first lateral side comprising:
a first side projection 16 (left),
a second side projection 16 (center), and
a third side projection 16 (right),
wherein the second side projection 16 is located between and spaced apart from the first side projection 16 and the third side projection 16 forming a first slot 14 (left) between the first side projection 16 and the second side projection 16 and forming a second slot (14) between the second side projection 16 and the third side projection 16;
a second support member 10 configured to engage a second portion of bone, the second support member comprising a third lateral side (out of the page) and a fourth lateral side (into the page), the third lateral side comprising:
a third slot 18 (left of first 12),
a fourth slot 18 (center), and
a fifth slot 18 (right of second 12),
wherein the fourth slot 18 is located between and spaced apart from the third slot 18 and the fifth slot 18 forming a fourth side projection 12 (left) between the third slot 18 and the fourth slot 18 and forming a fifth side projection 12 (right) between the fourth slot 18 and the fifth slot 18;
a control assembly 8 coupled to the first support member and the second support member, wherein the control assembly includes:
a front portion near 38;
a rear portion near 42; and
wherein, in the collapsed first position (see fig. 2a):
the first side projection 16 (left) is substantially disposed in the third slot 18 (left),
the second side projection 16 (center) is substantially disposed in the fourth slot 18 (center),
the third side projection 16 (right) is substantially disposed in the fifth slot 18 (right),
the fourth side projection 12 (left) is substantially disposed in the first slot 14 (left),
the fifth side projection 12 (right) is substantially disposed in the second slot 14 (right).
Greenhalgh does not teach the controls shaft as claimed. Rather, Greenhalgh teaches the control assembly formed as a central planar body including ramps thereon, which is essentially functionally equivalent to the claimed control shaft in that axial motion of the ramps relative to the upper and lower plates causes expansion of the device.
Alheidt teaches an expandable implant as at fig. 1B which includes a first support member 50, a second support member 20, and a projection 36 carried by the second support member and received in a slot 64 of the first support member. Alheidt’s device includes a control member as seen best at fig. 3A which includes a front member 100, a rear member 102, and a control shaft 80 coupled to the front portion and the rear portion 100/102, wherein rotation of the control shaft 80 controls movement of the front portion 100 relative to the rear portion 102 in order to control movement of the first support member and the second support member 50/20 between a collapsed first position and an expanded second position (compare figs. 1A and 1B; and figs. 2A and 2B).
It would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to substitute a control mechanism of Alheidt for the control mechanism of Greenhalgh. One would have done so removing Greenhalgh’s control mechanism 8 and replacing it with Alheidt’s control mechanism; and modifying the structure of Greenhalgh’s support members to include structures which interact with ramps of the Alheidt device. One would have done so in order to provide the Greenhalgh with a threaded actuation mechanism in place of the sliding engagement mechanism of Greenhalgh. One would have done so in order to provide a practitioner with an actuation means which is simpler to operate and simpler to stop at desired levels of height increase; and provide the practitioner with additional mechanical advantage provided by a threaded mechanism.
The independent claim was rejected in view of the first embodiment of Alheidt due to ease of seeing the control mechanism in the figures. The dependent claims will now be treated under embodiments of other figures, which are understood to operate on an essentially identical control mechanism.
Regarding claims 2-5 and 17, the limitations of claim 1 were suggested by the combination as above. Further, a second embodiment of Alheidt is now reviewed at fig. 15. The rear portion 512 in this embodiment includes a first and second aperture 522 proximate a first lateral side of the rear portion. The first and second apertures receive retention pins 516 to couple the rear portion to the control shaft. (The pins function to retain 512 within 518 and 520 serves to retain the entire structure together in a desired arrangement, thus at least in part maintaining 512 coupled to the control shaft.)
Regarding claims 6 and 18, the limitations of claim 1 were suggested by the combination, as above. Further, the rear portion in Alheidt includes a first pin extending from a top surface to a bottom surface of the rear portion, the first aperture configured to receive a retention pin to couple the rear portion to the control shaft. A pin on 512 (at the end of the lead line) exists at the top surface for retaining the rear portion in the claimed manner.
The combination discloses the claimed invention except for the claimed hole for receiving the pin. It would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to form the pin on the top of 512 separately since it has been held that constructing a formerly integral structure in various elements involves only routine skill in the art. Doing so would have necessitated some sort of a reception structure in the form of a hole therein.
Regarding claim 7, the limitations of claim 1 were suggested by the combination, as above. Further, the rear portion 512 in Alheidt includes a first installation tool interface 522 on a first lateral side of the rear portion. There is no reason that this portion cannot receive an installation tool. There is no reason that this portion cannot serve as both a hole and a tool interface, since claim 7 does not depend from any claim requiring hole 522.
Regarding claims 8-10, the limitations of claim 1 were suggested by the combination, as above. Further, in Alheidt, the second lateral side of the first support member includes and third lateral side of the second support member each include a pin aperture, the first pin aperture configured to receive a first retention pin to restrict movement of the first support member relative to the second support member. See fig. 15.
Regarding claims 11-14, the limitations of claim 1 were suggested by the combination, as above. Alheidt indicates the first and second support members include a first end having rails at the surface 422 offset from a center of the first support between the first lateral side and the second lateral side, where the front portion includes a first cutout at the arrangement of the wedge configured to receive the first rail.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 15 is 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.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to David Bates whose telephone number is (571)270-7034. The examiner can normally be reached Monday through Friday, 10AM-6PM
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/DAVID W BATES/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3799