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 1-14 are pending and currently under consideration for patentability under 37 CFR 1.104.
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 at least one additional port comprises both a proximal port at a proximal portion of the insert housing and a distal port at a distal portion of the insert housing (claim 14) must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). No new matter should be entered.
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 § 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) 1-10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ouyang et al. (U.S. 2018/0132700) in view of Trusty et al. (U.S. 2011/0152612).
With respect to claim 1 Ouyang et al. teaches a single-use, disposable portion of an endoscope comprising:
an insert housing (130) elongated along a longitudinal axis and having an electrical connector (310);
a cannula (120) extending distally from said insert housing along the longitudinal axis;
wherein said insert housing comprises a snap-in portion that is elongated along the longitudinal axis and is shaped and configured for insertion, in a snap-in motion in a snap-in direction transverse to the longitudinal axis, into a correspondingly shaped slot (FIG. 3A,B);
wherein the cannula is mounted to the insert housing for rotation about the longitudinal axis relative to the insert housing (FIG. 3C);
a proximal port (132) at a proximal end of the insert housing;
a working lumen (420) extending along said axis from the proximal port to a distal portion of the cannula;
an imaging and illumination module mounted at the distal portion of the cannula and operatively coupled to the electrical connector (FIG. 4); and
a cable (410) electrically coupling the imaging and illumination module with the electrical connector,
wherein the cable has a distal portion inside said cannula (FIG. 4 for example) and a proximal portion that is operatively coupled with the electrical connector and is sufficiently long and flexible to enable rotation of at least 180 degrees of the cannula relative to the insert housing about said longitudinal axis (FIG. 3C).
However, Ouyang et al. does not teach positioning aids configured to facilitate the snap-in insertion and to releasably secure the insert housing in place.
With respect to claim 1, Trusty et al. teaches positioning aids configured to facilitate the snap-in insertion and to releasably secure the insert housing in place (para [0022]).
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 Ouyang et al. to include positioning aids in the manner taught by Trusty et al. in order to retain the cannula in the desired position (para [0022] of Trusty et al.).
With respect to claim 2, Trusty et al. teaches the positioning aids include spring-loaded projections (para [0022]) configured to move along directions that are transverse both to the longitudinal axis and to the snap-in direction.
With respect to claim 3, Trusty et al. teaches the spring-loaded projections extend down from a bottom side of the insert housing and are configured to move in directions normal to the bottom side of the insert housing (para [0022]).
With respect to claim 4, Trusty et al. teaches the spring-loaded projections comprise spring loaded balls (para [0022]).
With respect to claim 5, Trusty et al. teaches the positioning aids further include one or more posts projecting in the snap-in direction (FIG. 7).
With respect to claim 6, Ouyang et al. teaches the electrical connector faces in a proximal direction and the snap-in motion further includes a component in a direction along said longitudinal axis (FIG. 3A,B).
With respect to claim 7, a rearrangement of parts is considered to be within the level of one of ordinary skill in the art In re Japikse, 181 F.2d 1019, 86 USPQ 70 (CCPA 1950)
With respect to claim 8 Ouyang et al. teaches the cannula further includes a cable lumen (430) extending from the imaging and illumination module to the electrical connector and housing the cables (para [0043]).
With respect to claim 9, Ouyang et al. teaches in which the electrical connector is above the snap-in portion of the insert housing (when upside down, FIG. 3A,B).
With respect to claim 10, Ouyang et al. teaches the electrical connector is below the snap-in portion of the insert housing (FIG. 3A,B).
Claim(s) 11-14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ouyang et al. (U.S. 2018/0132700) in view of Trusty et al. (U.S. 2011/0152612) as applied to claim 1 above and further in view of Truckai et al. (U.S. 2018/0184892).
Ouyang et al. in view of Trusty et al. teaches a single-use, disposable portion of an endoscope as set forth above. However, Ouyang et al. in view of Trusty et al. does not teach the insert housing further includes at least one additional port communicating with the working lumen.
With respect to claim 11, Truckai et al. teaches the insert housing further includes at least one additional port (515), communicating with the working lumen (FIG. 9).
With respect to claim 12, Truckai et al. teaches the at least one additional port comprises a proximal port at a proximal portion of the insert housing (FIG. 9).
With respect to claim 13, Ouyang et al. as modified by Truckai et al. teaches the at least one additional port comprises a distal port at a distal portion of the insert housing (FIG. 3A,B of Ouyang et al., FIG. 9 of Truckai et al.).
With respect to claim 14, Ouyang et al. as modified by Truckai et al. teaches the at least one additional port comprises both a proximal port at a proximal portion of the insert housing and a distal port at a distal portion of the insert housing (FIG. 3A,B of Ouyang et al., FIG. 9 of Truckai et al.).
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 Ouyang et al. to include an additional port in the manner taught by Truckai et al. in order to allow for the insertion of tools (para [0048] of Truckai et al.).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Alexandra Newton Surgan whose telephone number is (571)270-1618. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8am-4pm EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Michael Carey can be reached at (571) 270-7235. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ALEXANDRA L NEWTON/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3799
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