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 § 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 1-5, 7-10, 12 and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Taylor et al. (US 5,397,323).
Regarding claim 1, Taylor et al. disclose a method of controlling a robotic arm (“manipulator” - 25/26) to maintain a remote center of motion (“Cmot”) fixed (col. 5, lines 18-23; Figure 1), comprising: driving, by a processor (Abstract; col. 3, lines 28-31 and elsewhere), the robotic arm to move a surgical tool (11) that is inserted into a patient along an insertion axis (W-W) through the remote center of motion (Figure 1); determining, by the processor, movements of a plurality of joints or links of the robotic arm to maintain the remote center of motion fixed (at least when moving the tool about axis V-V; col. 5, lines 18-23), wherein the remote center of motion is at an intersection of the insertion axis and a roll axis (U-U) of a roll joint (12) of the robotic arm, wherein a prismatic link (1 or 2 or 3 or 4; col. 4, lines 15-16; col. 9, line 56; the structure of the arm would only allow the telescopic joints to move along 1 axis as evident from Figure 1 - thus making them prismatic links) connects the roll joint to a tool drive (9; alternatively linkage 1 and/or 2 can be considered as, or part of, a tool drive) supporting the surgical tool, and wherein the prismatic link includes a plurality of prismatic sublinks (each telescopic joint would comprise at least an outer sublink and an inner sliding sublink) coupled by a prismatic joint (as with Applicant’s arm, the interface of the sliding sublinks); and driving, by the processor, the robotic arm to effect movements of the plurality of joints or links including telescopically moving the prismatic sublinks relative to each other by the prismatic joint to maintain the remote center of motion fixed while moving the surgical tool (required by the processor to at least control pivoting about axis V-V; col. 3, lines 28-31).
Regarding claim 2, telescopically moving the prismatic sublinks includes sliding a first prismatic sublink along a linear axis of the prismatic joint relative to a second prismatic sublink (each telescopic joint would comprise at least an outer sublink and an inner sliding sublink which is moved or slid along a linear axis of the telescopic or prismatic link).
Regarding claim 3, sliding the prismatic sublinks includes sliding the first prismatic sublink relative to an intermediate prismatic sublink in a first direction along the linear axis, and sliding the second prismatic sublink relative to the intermediate prismatic sublink in a second direction opposite to the first direction (any possible movements of the arm are considered to be disclosed by Taylor et al. and part of the method; moving the arm to the right in Figure 1 about joint K or L while maintaining the position of tool 11 would require opposite sliding of sublinks 1a/1b relative to eachother and relative to an intermediate sublink, e.g. 2b - the claim does not require the intermediate sublink to be part of the prismatic link).
Regarding claim 4, the linear axis (longitudinal axis of 3 or 4) is oblique to the roll axis and the first prismatic sublink is coupled to the roll joint by a first pitch joint (K or L), the second prismatic sublink is coupled to the tool drive (linkage 1 or 2 being considered as the tool drive or part of a tool drive in this interpretation) by a second pitch joint (E, F, G or H), and the first prismatic sublink is coupled to the second prismatic sublink by the prismatic joint (the sliding interface of two telescopic components as explained above).
Regarding claim 5, the first prismatic sublink is coupled to the roll joint by a first pitch joint (K or L) that rotates about a first pitch axis (e.g. S-S), the second prismatic sublink is coupled to the tool drive (linkage 1 or 2 being considered as the tool drive or part of a tool drive in this interpretation) by a second pitch joint (E, F, G or H) that rotates about a second pitch axis, the first prismatic sublink is coupled to the second prismatic sublink by the prismatic joint and the linear axis is orthogonal to the first pitch axis or the second pitch axis (evident from Figure 1).
Regarding claim 7, the method further comprises moving a carriage of the tool drive relative to a tool guide in a direction of the insertion axis (col. 4, lines 48-50).
Regarding claim 8, telescopically moving the prismatic sublinks includes sliding a first prismatic sublink along a linear axis of the prismatic joint relative to a second prismatic sublink using a motor (col. 8, lines 19-24).
Regarding claim 9, Taylor et al. disclose a method of controlling a robotic arm (“manipulator” - 25/26) to maintain a remote center of motion (“Cmot”; Figure 1) fixed (col. 5, lines 18-23; Figure 1), comprising: driving, by a processor (Abstract; col. 3, lines 28-31 and elsewhere), the robotic arm to move a surgical tool that is inserted into a patient along an insertion axis (W-W) through the remote center of motion; determining, by the processor, movements of a plurality of joints or links of the robotic arm to maintain the remote center of motion fixed (col. 5, lines 18-23), wherein the remote center of motion is at an intersection of the insertion axis and a roll axis (U-U) of a roll joint (12) of the robotic arm, wherein a prismatic link (3 or 4; col. 9, line 56; the structure of the arm would only allow the telescopic joints to move along 1 axis as evident from Figure 1 - thus making them prismatic links) connects the roll joint to a tool drive (9; alternatively linkage 1 and/or 2 can be considered as, or part of, a tool drive) supporting the surgical tool, wherein the prismatic link extends along a linear axis and includes a plurality of prismatic sublinks (each telescopic joint would comprise at least an outer sublink and an inner sliding sublink) coupled by a prismatic joint (as with Applicant’s arm, the interface of the sliding sublinks), and wherein the linear axis is oblique to the roll axis (evident from Figure 1); and driving, by the processor, the robotic arm to effect movements of the plurality of joints or links including telescopically moving the prismatic sublinks relative to each other by the prismatic joint to maintain the remote center of motion fixed while moving the surgical tool (col. 5, lines 45-50).
Regarding claim 10, telescopically moving the prismatic sublinks includes sliding a first prismatic sublink along the linear axis of the prismatic joint relative to a second prismatic sublink (each telescopic joint would comprise at least an outer sublink and an inner sliding sublink which is moved or slid along a linear axis of the telescopic or prismatic link).
Regarding claim 12, the first prismatic sublink is coupled to the roll joint by a first pitch joint (K or L), the second prismatic sublink is coupled to the tool drive (linkage 1 or 2 being considered as the tool drive or part of a tool drive in this interpretation) by a second pitch joint (E, F, G or H), and the first prismatic sublink is coupled to the second prismatic sublink by the prismatic joint (the sliding interface of two telescopic components as explained above).
Regarding claim 13, the method further comprises moving a carriage of the tool drive relative to a tool guide in a direction of the insertion axis (col. 4, lines 48-50).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 6 and 11 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. Claims 14-20 allowed.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Thomas McEvoy whose telephone number is (571) 270-5034 and direct fax number is (571) 270-6034. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday, 9:00 am – 6:00 pm.
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/THOMAS MCEVOY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3771
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