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 .
Status of Claims
Claims 1-20 are pending and currently under consideration for patentability under 37 CFR 1.104
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 02/19/2025 has been considered by the examiner.
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, 2, 6, and 8-10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Adams et al. (U.S. 2007/0156117) in view of Viren (U.S. 2020/0147331).
With respect to claim 1, Adams et al. teaches a medical method, comprising:
advancing an endoscope into a body lumen of a subject (FIG. 4b);
navigating the endoscope to a location in the body lumen while a first light source at a distal tip of the endoscope emits white light (FIG. 4b);
positioning a PEG device at the desired position (FIG. 4d-f).
However, Adams et al. does not teach locating a desired position on a surface of a subject's skin while a second light source at the distal tip of the endoscope emits non-white light.
With respect to claim 1, Viren teaches a medical method, comprising:
navigating the endoscope to a location in the body lumen while a first light source at a distal tip of the endoscope emits white light (para [0030]); and
locating a desired position on a surface of a subject's skin while a second light source at the distal tip of the endoscope emits non-white light (para [0030]).
Therefore, it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date to modify the endoscope of Adams et al. to include a white light source and a red light source in the manner taught by Viren because red light is more effective at shining through skin (para [0030] of Viren).
With respect to claim 2, Viren teaches while locating the desired position, (1) the first light source emits pulsed white light at a first frequency and (2) the second light source emits pulsed non-white light at a second frequency (para [0031]-[0032]).
With respect to claim 6, Adams et al. teaches inserting a needle into the desired position (para [0037]).
With respect to claim 8, Adams et al. teaches performing a final examination of the position of the PEG device while the first light source emits white light (FIG. 4f).
With respect to claim 9, Viren teaches the non-white light is red (para [0030]).
With respect to claim 10, Viren teaches the red light is emitted at an intensity sufficient to be visible on the subject's skin from the body lumen (para [0030])
Claim(s) 3-5 and 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Adams et al. (U.S. 2007/0156117) in view of Viren (U.S. 2020/0147331) as applied to claim 1 above and further in view of Saito et al. (U.S. 2014/0187881).
Adams et al. in view of Viren teaches a medical method as set forth above. However, Adams et al. in view of Viren does not teach while the pulse of white light is emitted from the first light source, the pulse of non-white light is not emitted from the second light source.
With respect to claim 3, Saito et al. teaches a method wherein the first frequency and the second frequency are such that, while the pulse of white light is emitted from the first light source, the pulse of non-white light is not emitted from the second light source (FIG. 6C).
Therefore, it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date to modify Adams et al. in view of Viren so that the first frequency and the second frequency are such that, while the pulse of white light is emitted from the first light source, the pulse of non-white light is not emitted from the second light source in the manner taught by Saito et al. in order to allow for separate red and white imaging frames (FIG. 6C).
With respect to claim 4, Saito et al. teaches visualizing the body lumen using a display device that displays an image captured using an imaging device (para [0059]).
Therefore, it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date to modify Adams et al. in view of Viren to include a display in the manner taught by Saito et al. in order to allow the user to visualize internal anatomy during the method.
With respect to claim 5, Saito et al. teaches a frame rate of the imaging device is such that, while the imaging device is capturing the image, a pulse of white light is emitted and a pulse of non-white light is not emitted (FIG. 6C).
With respect to claim 7, Saito et al. teaches deactivating the second light source after the PEG device has been positioned (FIG. 6C, the second light source is cyclically deactivated).
Claim(s) 11, 12, and 16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Viren (U.S. 2020/0147331) and Saito et al. (U.S. 2014/0187881).
With respect to claim 11, Viren teaches a medical method, comprising:
advancing an endoscope having a first light source into a body lumen of a subject (para [0030]);
navigating the endoscope to a location in the body lumen while the first light source at a distal tip of the endoscope is activated (para [0031]); and
locating a desired position on a surface of a subject's skin, wherein, while the desired position is being located, both the first light source and the second light source emit light (para [0032]).
However, Viren does not teach separate modes wherein only white light is illuminated and both the first light source and the second light source emit pulses of light.
With respect to claim 11, Saito et al. teaches a medical method, comprising:
navigating the endoscope to a location in the body lumen while only the first light source at a distal tip of the endoscope is activated (FIG. 6A); and
while the desired position is being located, both the first light source and the second light source emit pulses of light (FIG. 6C).
Therefore, it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date to modify Viren to utilize separate illumination profiles in the manner taught by Saito et al. in order to allow for easy changeover between modes via a single switch (para [0059] of Saito et al.).
With respect to claim 12, Saito et al. teaches while the desired position is being located, the first light source and the second light source alternate emitting pulses of light, such that only one of the first light source or the second light source emits light at a time (FIG. 6C).
With respect to claim 16, Viren teaches the first light source emits white light and the second light source emits red light (para [0031]-[0032]).
Claim(s) 13-15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Viren (U.S. 2020/0147331) and Saito et al. (U.S. 2014/0187881) as applied to claim 11 above and further in view of Adams et al. (U.S. 2007/0156117).
Viren in view of Saito et al. teaches a method as set forth above. However, Viren in view of Saito et al. does not teach a PEG device.
With respect to claim 13, Adams et al. teaches positioning a PEG device at the desired position (FIG. 4a-f).
Therefore, it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date to modify Viren in view of Saito et al. to include positioning a PEG device in the manner taught by Adams et al. in order to provide a means of retaining an end of a medical catheter within a patient (para [0001] of Adams et al.).
With respect to claim 14, Saito et al. teaches the second light source is deactivated after the PEG device is positioned at the desired position such that only the first light source is activated (FIG. 6C, the second light source is cyclically deactivated).
With respect to claim 15, Adams et al. teaches a final examination of the position of the PEG device while the first light source emits light (FIG. 4f of Adams et al.).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 17-20 are allowed.
Conclusion
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/ALEXANDRA L NEWTON/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3799
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