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 .
This Office Action is in response to the applicant’s filing on 03/24/2025.
Applicant’s cancelation of claim 1 is acknowledged and require no further examining. Claims 2-21 are pending and examined below.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 06/02/2025 and 09/23/2025 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, the following features must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). No new matter should be entered.
The first articulation shaft as stated in claim 1;
The second articulation shaft as stated in claim 1;
The protuberance of the first articulation shaft as stated in claim 6;
The protuberance of the second articulation shaft as stated in claim 7; and
The projection as stated in claim 17.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
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 2-3, 5-12, and 17-21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by reference Baxter, III et al. (2016/0174971)(referred as Baxter).
Regarding claim 2, Baxter disclose a hand-held surgical instrument (100) comprising:
a handle housing (110);
a shaft portion (120) extending distally from the handle housing (110),
wherein the shaft portion (120) defines a longitudinal axis, and
wherein the shaft portion (120) is configured to couple to an end effector (130) for treating tissue;
an articulation mechanism (260) operably coupled to the shaft portion (120) for transverse articulation of the end effector (130) relative to the longitudinal axis; and
a rotatable barrel cam (261) comprising:
a first section (see figure 10 below) having a first helical cam slot (262) oriented in a clockwise direction and configured to engage a first articulation shaft (270) of the articulation mechanism (260); and
a second section (see figure 10 below) having a second helical cam slot (263) oriented in a counterclockwise direction and configured to engage a second articulation shaft (280) of the articulation mechanism (260),
wherein the rotation of the barrel cam (261) drives opposing longitudinal translation of the first articulation shaft (260) and the second articulation shaft (280) for articulating motion of the end effector (130).
(Figure 1, 9, 10 and Page 5 paragraph 112, Page 6 paragraph 123, 124)
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Regarding claim 3, Baxter disclose a motor (para 135) operably coupled to the barrel cam (261) for driving rotation thereof. (Page 8 paragraph 135)
Regarding claim 5, Baxter disclose a switch (116) disposed on the handle housing (110) and electrically coupled to the motor (para 135) for actuating an articulation of the end effector (130). (Figure 1 and Page 5 paragraph 112, Page 8 paragraph 135)
Regarding claim 6, Baxter disclose the first helical slot (262) is configured to receive a protuberance (272) of the first articulation shaft (270) for driving longitudinal translation of the first articulation shaft (270) in a first direction. (Figure 9 and Page 6 paragraph 123)
Regarding claim 7, Baxter disclose the second helical slot (263) is configured to receive a protuberance (282) of the second articulation shaft (280) for driving longitudinal translation of the second articulation shaft (280) in a second direction opposite the first direction. (Figure 9 and Page 6 paragraph 124)
Regarding claim 8, Baxter disclose a rotatable knob housing (225) coupled to the handle housing (110). (Figure 6 and Page 6 paragraph 121)
Regarding claim 9, Baxter disclose the shaft portion (120) is received at least partially within the knob housing (225). (Figure 6)
Regarding claim 10, Baxter disclose the knob housing (225) is manually rotatable for driving rotation of the shaft portion (120) and the end effector (130) about the longitudinal axis. (Page 6 paragraph 121)
Regarding claim 11, Baxter disclose the articulation mechanism (260) is received at least partially in the knob housing (225). (Figure 6, 7)
Regarding claim 12, Baxter disclose a shaft assembly (120, 260, 262) for use with a hand-held surgical instrument (100), wherein the shaft assembly comprising:
a shaft portion (120) defining a longitudinal axis, and
wherein the shaft portion (120) is configured to couple to an end effector (130) for treating tissue;
an articulation mechanism (260) operably coupled to the shaft portion (120) for transverse articulation of the end effector (130) relative to the longitudinal axis; and
a rotatable barrel cam (261) comprising:
a first section (see figure 10 above) having a first helical cam slot (262) oriented in a clockwise direction and configured to engage a first articulation shaft (270) of the articulation mechanism (260); and
a second section (see figure 10 above) having a second helical cam slot (263) oriented in a counterclockwise direction and configured to engage a second articulation shaft (280) of the articulation mechanism (260),
wherein the rotation of the barrel cam (261) drives opposing longitudinal translation of the first articulation shaft (260) and the second articulation shaft (280) for articulating motion of the end effector (130).
(Figure 1, 9, 10 and Page 5 paragraph 112, Page 6 paragraph 123, 124)
Regarding claim 17, Baxter disclose first articulation shaft (270) comprises a projection (272) receivable by the first helical slot (262) for driving longitudinal translation first articulation shaft (270). (Figure 9 and Page 6 paragraph 123)
Regarding claim 18, Baxter disclose a rotatable knob housing (225) from which the shaft portion extends (120). (Figure 6 and Page 6 paragraph 121)
Regarding claim 19, Baxter disclose the shaft portion (120) is received at least partially within the knob housing (225). (Figure 6)
Regarding claim 20, Baxter disclose the knob housing (225) is manually rotatable for driving rotation of the shaft portion (120) and the end effector (130) about the longitudinal axis. (Page 6 paragraph 121)
Regarding claim 21, Baxter disclose the articulation mechanism (260) is received at least partially in the knob housing (225). (Figure 6, 7)
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.
Claims 4 and 13-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over reference Baxter, III et al. (2016/0174971)(referred as Baxter) as applied to claims 2 and 12 respectively, and further in view of reference Kostrzewski (9,713,466).
Regarding claim 4, Baxter disclose the claimed invention as stated above but do not disclose a ring gear and a drive gear.
Kostrzewski discloses an articulation mechanism (70) comprising: a barrel cam (72); and a ring gear (col 10 ln 6), wherein the ring gear engages a drive gear (76b), wherein the drive gear (76b) is operatively coupled to a motor (col 6 ln 5), wherein rotation of the drive gear leads to rotation of the barrel cam (72). (Figure 13-15 and Column 6 lines 5-7, Column 7 lines 4-6, Column 10 lines 4-8, 18-20)
It would have been obvious to the person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the applicant’s claimed invention, to have modified the articulation mechanism of Baxter by incorporating the ring gear and driving gear as taught by Kostrzewski, since column 10 lines 12-17 of Kostrzewski states such a modification would allow the barrel cam to not interfere with other elements within the shaft portion.
Regarding claim 13, Baxter disclose the first section (see figure 10 above) comprises a first semicircular half section having the first helical cam slot (262), and wherein the second section (see figure 10 above) comprises a second semicircular half section having the second helical cam slot (263). (Figure 9, 10)
However, Baxter does not disclose the first and second helical slots are on an inner surface of the first and second semicircular half sections.
Kostrzewski discloses an articulation mechanism (70) comprising: a barrel cam (72); an articulation shaft (78); and a ring gear (col 10 ln 6), wherein the articulation shaft (78) engages a helical camming surface (73) on the inner surface of the barrel cam (72), wherein the ring gear engages a drive gear (76b), wherein the drive gear (76b) is operatively coupled to a motor (col 6 ln 5), wherein rotation of the drive gear leads to rotation of the barrel cam (72). (Figure 13-15 and Column 6 lines 5-7, Column 7 lines 4-6, Column 10 lines 4-8, 18-20, 42-47)
It would have been obvious to the person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the applicant’s claimed invention, to have modified the articulation mechanism of Baxter by incorporating the ring gear and the driving gear, and having the cam slots on the inner surface as taught by Kostrzewski, since column 10 lines 12-17 of Kostrzewski states such a modification would allow the barrel cam to not interfere with other elements within the shaft portion.
When modifying Baxter in view of Kostrzewski, the first helical slot is interpreted to be on an inner surface of the first semicircular half section, and the second helical slot is interpreted to be on an inner surface of the second semicircular half section.
Regarding claim 14, Baxter modified by Kostrzewski disclose a motor (Baxter – para 135) with a drive gear (Kostrzewski – 76b) operably coupled to the barrel cam (Kostrzewski – 72) for rotation. (Baxter – Page 8 paragraph 135) (Kostrzewski – Column 10 lines 4-8)
Regarding claim 15, Baxter modified by Kostrzewski disclose the barrel cam (Kostrzewski – 72) comprises a ring gear (Kostrzewski – col 10 ln 6) operably coupled to the drive gear (Kostrzewski – 76b) of the motor (Baxter – para 135), such that the motor driving rotation of the ring gear (Kostrzewski – col 10 ln 6) leads to rotation of the barrel cam (Kostrzewski – 72). (Kostrzewski – Column 10 lines 4-8)
Regarding claim 16, Baxter modified by Kostrzewski disclose a switch (Baxter – 116) disposed on the handle housing (Baxter – 110) and electrically coupled to the motor (Baxter – para 135) for actuating an articulation of the end effector (Baxter – 130). (Baxter – Figure 1 and Page 5 paragraph 112, Page 8 paragraph 135)
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to PATRICK B FRY whose telephone number is (571)272-0396. The examiner can normally be reached on Mon-Thur 7am-4pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Shelley Self can be reached at (571) 272-4524. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/PATRICK B FRY/Examiner, Art Unit 3731 February 6, 2026
/SHELLEY M SELF/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3731