DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application is being examined under the pre-AIA first to invent provisions.
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 9/29/25 has been entered.
Claim Objections
Claim 457 is objected to because of the following informalities: There should be a period at the end. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 455-464 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
In claim 455, lines 3 and 6, it should be specified which elements are being referred to (the first or second). In line 7, ‘an’ should be ‘the’.
In claims 456 and 457, it should be specified which elements are being referred to (the first or second).
In claim 464, ‘the plurality of radiation sensors’ and ‘the source signals’ lack antecedence.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claims 459-461, and 463 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
In claims 459 and 460, there is no specification support for a detector. The claimed invention is drawn to instant Fig 22B and there is nothing in the specification that describes a detector can be applied here.
In claim 461, there is no support for the 2D arrangement. Published [0289] refers to a cylindrical or helical arrangement which would be a 3D arrangement.
In claim 463, there is no support for a regular spacing as [0289] only refers to a sparse or irregular arrangement for the invention drawn to Fig 22B.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of pre-AIA 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 –
(b) the invention was patented or described in a printed publication in this or a foreign country or in public use or on sale in this country, more than one year prior to the date of application for patent in the United States.
Claims 455, 457, 458, and 461-464 are rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102(b) as being anticipated by Johnson (US Pub 2006/0287596 -cited by applicant).
Re claim 455: Johnson discloses an apparatus, comprising:
a first plurality of ultrasound elements on a cylindrical support and being arranged such that the ultrasound transducer elements are directed toward an interior of the cylindrical support and configured as ultrasound imaging elements (Figures 1, 2, 34; 0413, 0421, 0425 0477, 0555; see the cylindrical ultrasound transducer 70 wherein elements 100-107 are transmit arrays and 108-115 are receive arrays in a transmission mode; see the cylindrical support a water tank 86 that houses the structure or carriage 34 which directly supports the transducer 70);
a second plurality of ultrasound elements on the cylindrical support in a fixed relationship with respect to each other and being arranged such that the ultrasound transducer elements are directed toward an interior of the cylindrical support, wherein the first plurality of ultrasound elements and the second plurality of ultrasound elements are configured in combination to operate in a transmissive imaging modality in which the one of the first and second pluralities of ultrasound elements are configured to transmit ultrasound signals and the other of the first and second pluralities of ultrasound elements are configured to receive the ultrasound signals (Figures 1, 2, 34; 0413, 0421, 0425 0477, 0555; see the cylindrical ultrasound transducer 70 wherein elements 100-107 are transmit arrays and 108-115 are receive arrays in a transmission mode; see the cylindrical support a water tank 86 that houses the structure or carriage 34 which directly supports the transducer 70); and
processing circuitry configured to generate an ultrasound image by processing the ultrasound signals received by either of the first and second pluralities of ultrasound elements (Figure 4A; 0475; see the processing components to generate an ultrasound image).
Re claim 457: The elements comprise lead zirconate titanate (PZT) elements [0422; see the piezo elements]
Re claim 458: The cylindrical support is sized to accommodate insertion of a subject for imaging [0424; see that the support permits the body to be scanned].
Re claims 461, 462: The first plurality of ultrasound elements are arranged in two dimensions or three dimensions (Figure 2; see elements 100-107 which are disposed vertically in a 2D arrangement (i.e. as array 100) and also three dimensionally in a circular arrangement (i.e. see arrays 100-107).
Re claim 463: The first plurality of ultrasound elements are arranged in a pattern in which the ultrasound elements of the first plurality are regularly spaced from each other (Figure 4C; 0421, 0428, 0439, 0440; see the “thin” elements that are regularly spaced vertically).
Re claim 464: The processing circuitry is further configured to couple to the plurality of radiation sensors and to receive and discriminate between the source signals sensed by the plurality of radiation sensors [0016; see the discriminating of the sources of the signals through the inverse scattering].
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
(a) A patent may not be obtained though the invention is not identically disclosed or described as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the subject matter sought to be patented and the prior art are such that the subject matter as a whole would have been obvious at the time the invention was made to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which said subject matter pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claim 456 is rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Johnson, as applied to claim 455, in view of Haider et al (US Pub 2010/0152587 -cited by applicant).
Re claim 456: Johnson discloses all features including that various types of transducers can be used [0422], but does not disclose cMUTs. However, Haider teaches of a transducer wherein cMUTs or piezo transducers are used [0016]. It would have been obvious to the skilled artisan to modify Johnson, to use cMUTs as taught by Haider, as such are well known in the field of ultrasound to be interchanged as desired.
Claims 459 and 460 are rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Johnson, as applied to claim 455, in view of Smith et al (US Pub 2006/0004290 -cited by applicant)
Re claims 459, 460: Johnson discloses all features except for a detector configured to detect the relative position or orientation of the first plurality of ultrasound elements relative to the second plurality of ultrasound elements. However, Smith teaches of a MUT array wherein sensors are used to detect position and orientation of the array [0033; see the non-imaging sensors]. It would have been obvious to the skilled artisan to modify Johnson, to incorporate detectors as taught by Smith, in order to improve the positioning of the arrays for imaging.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 455-464 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection.
The prior 112 rejections are also withdrawn.
Conclusion
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/MICHAEL T ROZANSKI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3797