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 action is in response to the documents received on September 30, 2022; as well as the amendment and remarks filed on May 1, 2026.
Election/Restrictions
Claims 11-20 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on May 1, 2026.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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 1-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by LEIMBACH et al. (US 2020/0345356).
In reference to claim 1, LEIMBACH et al. discloses a surgical instrument motor system having a drive train (gears; figure 31) coupled to a motor (paragraph [0485]) to actuate a firing shaft 10250 to actuate an end effector 10400; a control circuit 147 configured to: determine a relative capacity (high speed; paragraph [0561]) of the motor of the drivetrain during an interrogation; compare relative excesss capacity to a predetermined threshold (paragraph [0564-0565]); and increasing a speed of the motor based on the relative excess exceeding the predetermined threshold (paragraph [0566]).
Regarding claim 2, paragraph [0566] of LEIMBACH et al. further discloses the threshold as a percentage (e.g. 40%) of an available capacity to increase a speed of the motor.
With respect to claims 3 and 4, paragraph [0561] discloses monitoring an actual response speed of the motor while paragraph [0562] discloses increasing a target speed of the motor based on a comparison of the monitored actual speed to a magnitude user-perceptible threshold.
In reference to claims 5 and 8, figure 79 of LEIMBACH et al. discloses the control circuit configured to repeatedly determine relative excess capacity (paragraphs [0562-563]) of a motor during a firing stroke of the firing shaft 10250.
Regarding claim 6, paragraph [0520] of LEIMBACH et al. discloses the motor controlled by a pulse width modulation (PWM) circuit, wherein the control circuit is configured to increase a duty cycle to increase the speed of the motor (paragraph [0559] & [0561]).
With respect to claims 7, 9 and 10, paragraphs [0520] and [0562] of LEIMBACH et al. discloses the control circuit configured to determine relative excess capacity of the motor during articulation of jaws of the end effector through a closure stroke (e.g. from an open configuration to a closed configuration) but before a firing stroke begins.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Refer to the attached PTO-892 for a notice of references cited and recommended for consideration based on their disclosure of limitations related to related control circuits for surgical instruments.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to GLORIA R WEEKS whose telephone number is (571)272-4473. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8am-2pm & 5pm-7pm EST.
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/GLORIA R WEEKS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3731
June 6, 2026
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