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
Claim 1 is pending and currently under consideration for patentability under 37 CFR 1.104
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on December 24, 2008 has been 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 elevator having three indentations 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 § 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) 11 and 17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Masabuchi et al. (U.S. 5,460,168).
With respect to claim 11, Masabuchi et al. teaches a distal end of a medical device, comprising:
a distal tip defining an interior sidewall and an exterior sidewall (FIG. 24b); and
an elevator (74a) defining:
a first lateral-facing surface (FIG. 25a,b);
a second lateral-facing surface (FIG. 25a,b);
a proximal portion that is fixed relative to the interior sidewall of the distal tip (19:51-20:10),
wherein the proximal portion includes a first indentation (88), wherein the first indentation is configured to facilitate bending of the elevator;
a distal portion that is movable relative to the proximal portion (FIG. 23), wherein the distal portion includes a second indentation (90), wherein the second indentation is configured to receive an instrument, wherein the proximal portion bends relative to the distal portion when the elevator moves from a first position to a second position (FIG. 23); and
a passage (87) extending between the first lateral-facing surface and the second lateral-facing surface of the distal portion, wherein the passage is configured to receive a control wire.
With respect to claim 17, Masabuchi et al. teaches the control wire is configured to move the elevator from the first position to the second position in response to the control wire moving proximally relative to the distal tip, such that the instrument received on the elevator is deflected relative to the distal tip, and wherein the control wire is configured to move the elevator from the second position to the first position in response to the control wire moving distally relative to the distal tip, such that the instrument received on the elevator is longitudinally aligned with the distal tip (FIG. 22A, 23).
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) 1-4, 7, 9, 10, 12, 18, and 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Masabuchi et al. (U.S. 5,460,168) in view of Hosogoe (US 2016/0309993).
With respect to claim 1, Masabuchi et al. teaches a distal end of a medical device, comprising:
a distal tip defining an interior sidewall and an exterior sidewall (FIG. 24b);
an elevator (74a) including a first lateral-facing surface and a second lateral-facing surface (FIG. 25a,b), and a passage extending between the first lateral-facing surface and the second lateral-facing surface (87), wherein the elevator is movable relative to the interior sidewall and the exterior sidewall from a first position to a second position, and
a control wire (76) extending through the passage of the elevator from the first lateral- facing surface to the second lateral-facing surface (FIG. 6 for example).
However, Masabuchi does not teach first and second indentations.
With respect to claim 1, Hosogoe teaches a distal end of a medical device, comprising:
a distal tip defining an interior sidewall and an exterior sidewall (FIG. 2);
an elevator (30) including a first lateral-facing surface and a second lateral-facing surface (FIG. 3D), wherein the elevator is movable relative to the interior sidewall and the exterior sidewall from a first position to a second position,
wherein the elevator includes a first indentation (33) and a second indentation (35),
wherein each of the first indentation and the second indentation is configured to receive an instrument, and wherein the first indentation is wider, deeper, and/or longer than the second indentation (FIG. 3A,D).
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 the elevator of Masabuchi et al. to include first and second indentations in the manner taught by Hosogoe in order to allow for deployment of a guidewire simultaneously with a treatment tool (para [0019] of Hosogoe).
With respect to claim 2, Masabuchi et al. teaches the elevator includes a proximal portion (77) that is fixed relative to the interior sidewall of the distal tip, and a distal portion that is movable relative to the proximal portion, wherein the proximal portion bends relative to the distal portion when the elevator moves from the first position to the second position (FIG. 23 for example).
With respect to claim 3, Masabuchi et al. teaches the elevator includes a third indentation (88 for example) configured to facilitate bending of the proximal portion of the elevator relative to the distal portion of the elevator.
With respect to claim 4, Masabuchi et al. teaches the elevator is configured to deflect the instrument relative to the distal tip when moving from the first position to the second position (FIG. 23 for example).
With respect to claim 7, Masabuchi et al. teaches the passage of the elevator is defined in the distal portion of the elevator (FIG. 23 for example).
With respect to claim 9, Masabuchi et al. teaches an anterior-facing surface of the distal portion of the elevator is angled relative to the proximal portion of the elevator (FIG. 23).
With respect to claim 10, Masabuchi et al. teaches the elevator is integrally formed with the distal tip (19:51-20:10).
With respect to claim 12, Hosogoe teaches the elevator further includes a third indentation (35) configured to receive the instrument, and wherein the second indentation (33) is wider, deeper, and/or longer than the third indentation (FIG. 3A,D)
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 the elevator of Masabuchi et al. to include first and second indentations in the manner taught by Hosogoe in order to allow for deployment of a guidewire simultaneously with a treatment tool (para [0019] of Hosogoe).
With respect to claim 18, Masabuchi et al. teaches a distal end of a medical device, comprising:
a distal tip defining an interior sidewall and an exterior sidewall (FIG. 24b); and
an elevator defining (74a):
a first lateral-facing surface (FIG. 25a,b);
a second lateral-facing surface (FIG. 25a,b);
a proximal portion (77) that is fixed relative to the interior sidewall of the distal tip (19:51-20:10), wherein the proximal portion includes a first indentation (88), wherein the first indentation is configured to facilitate bending of the elevator;
a distal portion that is movable relative to the proximal portion, wherein the distal portion includes a second indentation (90) wherein the proximal portion bends relative to the distal portion when the elevator moves from a first position to a second position; and
a passage (87) extending between the first lateral-facing surface and the second lateral-facing surface of the distal portion, wherein the passage is configured to receive a control wire.
However, Masabuchi et al. does not teach a third indentation.
With respect to claim 18, Hosogoe teaches a distal portion that is movable relative to the proximal portion, wherein the distal portion includes a second indentation (33) and a third indentation (35), wherein each of the second indentation and the third indentation is configured to receive an instrument, wherein the proximal portion bends relative to the distal portion when the elevator moves from a first position to a second position (FIG. 3A,D)
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 the elevator of Masabuchi et al. to include first and second indentations in the manner taught by Hosogoe in order to allow for deployment of a guidewire simultaneously with a treatment tool (para [0019] of Hosogoe).
With respect to claim 19, Masabuchi et al. teaches the elevator is integrally formed with the distal tip (19:51-20:10).
Claim(s) 6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Masabuchi et al. (U.S. 5,460,168) in view of Hosogoe (US 2016/0309993) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Buerger (US 1,901,731).
Masabuchi et al. teaches a distal end as set forth above. However, Masabuchi et al. does not teach a first control wire opening and a second control wire opening, wherein a first portion of the control wire extends from the first control wire opening, wherein a second portion of the control wire extends from the second control wire opening, and wherein a third portion of the control wire extends between the first portion of the control wire and the second portion of the control wire and through the passage of the elevator.
With respect to claim 6, Buerger teaches a first control wire opening and a second control wire opening, wherein a first portion of the control wire extends from the first control wire opening, wherein a second portion of the control wire extends from the second control wire opening, and wherein a third portion of the control wire extends between the first portion of the control wire and the second portion of the control wire and through the passage of the elevator (FIG. 3).
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 the device of Masabuchi et al. to utilize two control wire openings as taught by Buerger because such a modification is a simple substitution of one known elevator control means for another known elevator control means, and the results of such a substitution would have been predictable to one of ordinary skill in the art.
Claim(s) 8 and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Masabuchi et al. (U.S. 5,460,168) in view of Hosogoe (US 2016/0309993) as applied to claims 1 and 18 above, and further in view of Utsugi (US 4,452,236).
Masabuchi et al. teaches a distal end as set forth above. However, Masabuchi et al. does not teach the passage of the elevator has a length that is less than a width of the distal portion.
With respect to claims 8 and 20, Utsugi teaches the passage of the elevator has a length that is less than a width of the distal portion (FIG. 6).
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 Masabuchi et al. to have the passage of the elevator has a length that is less than a width of the distal portion in the manner taught by Utsugi in order to allow for a narrower overall footprint (FIG. 6 of Utsugi).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5 and 13-16 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
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. SURGAN
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 3795
/ALEXANDRA L NEWTON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3799
