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 .
Header
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.
Claim(s) 1-9, 11-12, 14-18, and 21 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Yagi (JP 2019000352 A, translation of description was used).
Regarding claim 1 Yagi discloses an endoscope system (endoscope system – [0001]), comprising:
an endoscope device including a bendable insertion unit (bending portion – [0021]);
an operation device (smartphone 3 in Figure 1) including:
a housing (housing of smartphone 3 in Figure 1);
a user interface that is disposed on the housing and generates a first signal in accordance with a state of the user interface (touch panel 34 in smartphone 3 of Figure 1; when the user touches the bending operation button 43 on the display screen, the endoscopic application transmits a bending command – [0045]; the bending command being transmitted is being interpreted as the first signal);
wherein the state changes when the user interface touches an object (when the user touches the bending operation button 43 on the display screen, the endoscopic application transmits a bending command – [0045]); and
a motion sensor configured to generate a second signal in accordance with physical movement of the operation device (sensor unit includes a gyro sensor – [0037]); and
a processor configured to:
calculate a first control value used in first control of the endoscope device based on the first signal (when the user touches the bending operation button 43 on the display screen, the endoscopic application transmits a bending command – [0045]); and calculate a second control value used in second control of the endoscope device based on the second signal, wherein at least one of the first control and the second control is executed to bend the insertion unit (the user can perform the bending operation of the bending portion of the insertion portion by turning the smartphone around a predetermined axis or moving the smartphone in a predetermined direction with holding the smartphone by hand – [0050]).
Regarding claim 2 Yagi discloses the endoscope system according to claim 1, wherein the first control and the second control are executed to bend the insertion unit (when the user touches the bending operation button 43 on the display screen, the endoscopic application transmits a bending command – [0045]; the user can perform the bending operation of the bending portion of the insertion portion by turning the smartphone around a predetermined axis or moving the smartphone in a predetermined direction with holding the smartphone by hand – [0050]).
Regarding claim 3 Yagi discloses the endoscope system according to claim 2, wherein a maximum value of a bending amount of the insertion unit in the second control is different from a maximum value of the bending amount of the insertion unit in the first control (when the user touches the bending operation button 43 on the display screen, the endoscopic application transmits a bending command – [0045]; the user can perform the bending operation of the bending portion of the insertion portion by turning the smartphone around a predetermined axis or moving the smartphone in a predetermined direction with holding the smartphone by hand – [0050]; the operation of turning the smartphone 3 shown in FIG. 4 around the axis O corresponds to a bending operation instruction in the left-right direction in the normal mode, and the smartphone 3 shown in FIG. 5 is rotated about the axis PO Corresponds to the vertical bending operation instruction in the normal mode, the operation of moving the smartphone 3 shown in FIG. 6 in parallel to the axis PO corresponds to the bending operation instruction in the horizontal direction in the fine mode, and the operation The operation of moving the smartphone 3 shown in 7 in parallel to the axis O can correspond to the vertical bending operation instruction in the fine mode – [0060]).
Regarding claim 4 Yagi discloses the endoscope system according to claim 2, wherein the processor is configured to: calculate the first control value in a first period during which the first signal is generated without the second signal being generated; and calculate the first control value without calculating the second control value in a second period during which the first signal and the second signal are generated after the first period (when the user touches the bending operation button 43 on the display screen, the endoscopic application transmits a bending command – [0045]; the user can perform the bending operation of the bending portion of the insertion portion by turning the smartphone around a predetermined axis or moving the smartphone in a predetermined direction with holding the smartphone by hand – [0050]).
Regarding claim 5 Yagi discloses the endoscope system according to claim 2, wherein the processor is configured to: calculate the second control value in a first period during which the second signal is generated without the first signal being generated; and calculate the second control value without calculating the first control value in a second period during which the first signal and the second signal are generated after the first period (the user can perform the bending operation of the bending portion of the insertion portion by turning the smartphone around a predetermined axis or moving the smartphone in a predetermined direction with holding the smartphone by hand – [0050]).
Regarding claim 6 Yagi discloses the endoscope system according to claim 2, wherein a range of a bending amount of the insertion unit in the second control is different from a range of the bending amount of the insertion unit in the first control (the rotation angle in the operation shown in FIG. 4 or the operation shown in FIG. 5 is calculated from the output signal of the sensor unit 35. From the calculated rotation angle, the curvature angle of the bending portion 4b in the up and down or right and left direction A target value is calculated – [0089]; it is noted that the range of the bending amount of the insertion unit in the first control is 0).
Regarding claim 7 Yagi discloses the endoscope system according to claim 1, wherein the movement contains rotation of the operation device (Figures 4 and 5 show the rotation of the operation device).
Regarding claim 8 Yagi discloses the endoscope system according to claim 7, wherein the motion sensor is configured to generate a third signal in accordance with the rotation of the operation device, and wherein the processor is configured to: allocate one of control of a first function and control of a second function to the first control based on the third signal; and allocate the other of the control of the first function and the control of the second function to the second control based on the third signal (signal generated by the movements shown in Figures 6 and 7).
Regarding claim 9 Yagi discloses the endoscope system according to claim 7, wherein the operation device has an elongated shape (smartphone in Figure 2), wherein the motion sensor is configured to generate the second signal in accordance with the rotation of the operation device around an axis perpendicular to a longitudinal direction of the operation device (movement of smartphone shown in Figure 4), and
wherein the second control is executed to bend the insertion unit (the user can perform the bending operation of the bending portion of the insertion portion by turning the smartphone around a predetermined axis or moving the smartphone in a predetermined direction with holding the smartphone by hand – [0050]).
Regarding claim 11 Yagi discloses the endoscope system according to claim 1, further comprising an insertion device configured to insert a distal end of the insertion unit into a subject and pulls the distal end out of the subject (distal end portion of the insertion portion – [0019]), wherein one of the first control and the second control is executed to bend the insertion unit (the user can perform the bending operation of the bending portion of the insertion portion by turning the smartphone around a predetermined axis or moving the smartphone in a predetermined direction with holding the smartphone by hand – [0050]), and
wherein the other of the first control and the second control is executed to control insertion and pullout of the distal end (the normal mode is an operation mode in which the bending portion 4b is bent with a predetermined bending amount according to an instruction by the user. In the fine mode, in accordance with an instruction by the user, the bending portion 4b is bent finely – [0058]).
Regarding claim 12 Yagi discloses the endoscope system according to claim 11, wherein the operation device has an elongated shape (smartphone shown in Figures 4-6), wherein the motion sensor is configured to generate a third signal in accordance with rotation of the operation device around an axis parallel to a longitudinal direction of the operation device, wherein the insertion device rotates the insertion unit around a center axis of the insertion unit, and wherein the processor is configured to calculate, based on the third signal, a third control value used to control rotation of the insertion unit (the operation of FIG. 6 is assigned to the bending operation of the bending portion 4 b in the left and right direction – [0061]).
Regarding claim 14 Yagi discloses the endoscope system according to claim 1, wherein the user interface includes a movable member disposed on the housing (remote controller – [0031, 0144]).
Regarding claim 15 Yagi discloses the endoscope system according to claim 1, wherein the operation device includes the processor (CPU 31a in Figure 1).
Regarding claim 16 Yagi discloses the endoscope system according to claim 1, wherein the endoscope device includes the processor (CPU 21a n Figure 1).
Regarding claim 17 Yagi discloses the endoscope system according to claim 1, wherein the endoscope device includes an image sensor configured to generate an image based on an optical image acquired by the insertion unit (CCD image sensor, CMOS image sensor – [0019]), and
wherein one of the first control and the second control is executed to control image processing of changing a state of the image (the normal mode is an operation mode in which the bending portion 4b is bent with a predetermined bending amount according to an instruction by the user. In the fine mode, in accordance with an instruction by the user, the bending portion 4b is bent finely – [0058]).
Regarding claim 18 Yagi discloses the endoscope system according to claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to select one of three or more control values corresponding to three or more bending amounts of the insertion unit as the first control value based on the first signal (touch panel 34 in smartphone 3 of Figure 1; when the user touches the bending operation button 43 on the display screen, the endoscopic application transmits a bending command – [0045]).
Regarding claim 19 Yagi discloses the endoscope system according to claim 1, wherein the user interface is disposed on a surface of the housing (touch panel 34 in smartphone 3 of Figure 1), wherein the processor is configured to convert the second signal generated in accordance with the movement of the operation device in a first state into the second signal generated in accordance with the movement of the operation device in a second state, wherein a straight line perpendicular to the surface is not parallel to a gravitational direction in the first state, and wherein the straight line is parallel to the gravitational direction in the second state.
Claim 21 is being rejected on the same basis as claim 1.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 10, 13, 19, and 20 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.
Conclusion
The following prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
US 2024/0237879 US 2019/0274517
US 2024/0237878 US 2013/0002895
US 2023/0148848 US 2002/0026096
US 2022/0338720 WO 2021145418 A1
JP 6116780 B1
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MARIA E VAZQUEZ COLON whose telephone number is (571)270-1103. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 7:30 AM-3:30 PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, CHRISTOPHER S KELLEY can be reached at (571)272-7331. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MARIA E VAZQUEZ COLON/ Examiner, Art Unit 2482
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