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 .
DETAILED ACTION
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112b
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1, 10, and dependent claims are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 1 recites “use an image produced in response to the image signal to identify a state of a living body by identifying whether stomach mucosa is in a state in which sterilization has not been performed or a state after sterilization has been performed”, effectively defining a pre-sterilization state and a post-sterilization state. The claim later recites “a first state” and “a second state”, i.e. “set a first weight coefficient as a weight coefficient of a light amount of the second narrow band light with respect to a light amount of the first narrow band light upon detection that the state of the living body is in a first state; and set a second weight coefficient larger than the first weight coefficient as the weight coefficient upon detection that the state of the living body is in a second state different from the first state”. These “first state” and “second state” recitations are considered to be referring to the prior defined pre and post sterilization states, but as recited, they are defining new and different state elements and therefore are indefinite. Claim 10 has the same issue.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1 and 10 would be allowable if rewritten or amended to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action.
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.
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/Jae Woo/Examiner, Art Unit 3795
/ANHTUAN T NGUYEN/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3795
9/14/26
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