DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
1. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 7/28/2025 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
On page 8, the applicant argues that Higuchi does not disclose setting the additional imaging position, or the execution of the additional capturing. However, column 14 lines 38-42 disclose wherein additional imaging position 71B is set and an image 73B is captured from this position.
Regarding bullet (a) on page 9, Higuchi's displays the extraction position and additional imaging position in an overlapping manner (Fig. 5, wherein 71B overlaps 71A).
Regarding bullet (b), Higuchi's 71A-B are moved in conjunction with each other (column 14 lines 21-42 & Fig. 5).
Regarding bullet (c), Higuchi discloses displaying the 2D tomographic image based on the extraction position, in which the additional imaging position is set (column 14 lines 4-7 and 21-42).
Regarding bullet (d), a tomographic image 73B is acquired from 71B (column 14 lines 33-42).
Claim Objections
3. Claim 2 is objected to because of the following informality:
In claim 2, line 3, “patter” should read “pattern”
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
4. The following is a quotation of 35 USC 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 USC 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.
5. Claims 1-4 and 8-14 are rejected under 35 USC 112(b) or 35 USC 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 USC 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Regarding claim 1, in line 12, the applicant claims “receive an instruction from a user on the displayed two-dimensional front image.” It is unclear how an instruction could be received from a user “on” the displayed 2D image. For the purposes of this Office action, the examiner will interpret such that lines 12-13 were to read “receive an instruction from a user
In lines 14-15, applicant claims “an additional imaging position of a two-dimensional tomographic image.” Since “a two-dimensional tomographic image” is already claimed in lines 13-14, it is unclear whether line 15 is intended to read “a second two-dimensional tomographic image” or “the two-dimensional tomographic image.” For the purposes of this Office action, the examiner will interpret such that lines 14-15 were to read “an additional imaging position of the two-dimensional tomographic image.”
In line 21, applicant claims “extract a two-dimensional tomographic image.” It is unclear whether the claim is intended to read or “the two-dimensional tomographic image,” “a second … image,” or “a third … image” For the purposes of this Office action, the examiner will interpret such that lines 21 was to read “extract the two-dimensional tomographic image.”
Claims 2-13 inherit the issues of clarity introduced by claim 1.
Claim 14 contains issues of clarity similar to claim 1.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
6. The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 USC 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.
7. Claims 1-4, 9-10, and 12-14 are rejected under 35 USC 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Higuchi et al. (US 11019993 B2, of record).
Regarding claim 1, as best understood, Higuchi discloses an OCT apparatus (Fig. 1, 100) that processes an OCT signal based on reference light and measurement light with which a subject eye is irradiated to capture a tomographic image of a tissue of the subject eye (column 7 lines 13-31), the OCT apparatus comprising a controller (Fig. 1, 30) configured to:
capture a three-dimensional tomographic image of the tissue by irradiating a two- dimensional measurement region, which expands in a direction intersecting an optical axis of the measurement light, with the measurement light (Abstract);
display a two-dimensional front image on a display unit, the two-dimensional front image being an image of the tissue, of which the three-dimensional tomographic image is captured, viewed from a direction along the optical axis of the measurement light (column 13 line 8, 47; column 14 lines 21-25);
receive an instruction from a user on the displayed two-dimensional front image, the instruction for designating both an extraction position at which a two-dimensional tomographic image is extracted from the three-dimensional tomographic image (Fig. 5, 71A) and an additional imaging position of a two-dimensional tomographic image (Fig. 5, 71B);
display both the extraction position and the additional imaging position in an overlapping state on the two-dimensional front image (Fig. 5, 71A-B), move both the extraction position and the additional imaging position in conjunction with each other on the two-dimensional front image in response to an instruction input by the user (Fig. 5, 80), and set the extraction position and the additional imaging position (column 13 lines 27-48);
extract a two-dimensional tomographic image on the set extraction position from the three-dimensional tomographic image (column 11 lines 59-62) to display the extracted two-dimensional tomographic image on the display unit (column 13 lines 7-8);
receive a trigger for executing an additional capturing of a two-dimensional tomographic image in a state where the two-dimensional tomographic image extracted on the extraction position is displayed on the display unit (column 6 lines 26-42); and
perform the additional capturing by irradiating a set additional imaging position with the measurement light, in a case of receiving the trigger for the additional capturing (column 6 lines 26-42; Fig. 5).
Regarding claim 2, Higuchi discloses wherein the controller is further configured to set one of a plurality of types of line patterns (Abstract), each type of line patter different from the other (Abstract), for the two-dimensional measurement region in the three-dimensional tomographic image (Abstract), and
the controller is configured to extract the two-dimensional tomographic image in a line of the set line pattern from the three-dimensional tomographic image to display the two-dimensional tomographic image on the display unit (column 12 lines 9-35).
Regarding claim 3, Higuchi discloses wherein the controller is further configured to set an imaging condition for the additional capturing of the tomographic image (Fig. 5, 70, 80, 85, and 90), and
the controller is configured to perform the additional capturing of the tomographic image at the additional imaging position according to the set imaging condition (Fig. 5).
Regarding claim 4, Higuchi discloses wherein the imaging condition includes an imaging pattern for the additional capturing of the tomographic image (Fig. 5, 70).
Regarding claim 9, Higuchi discloses wherein the controller is configured to display an Enface image as the two-dimensional front image on the display unit, the Enface image being an image in which the captured three-dimensional tomographic image is viewed from the direction along the optical axis of the measurement light (column 9 lines 6-21).
Regarding claim 10, Higuchi discloses wherein the controller is further configured to analyze the captured three-dimensional tomographic image to generate an analysis map which two-dimensionally represents a distribution of an analysis result (Fig. 5, 73A-B), and
the controller is configured to display the analysis map as the two-dimensional front image on the display unit (Fig. 5, 73A and/or 73B).
Regarding claim 12, Higuchi discloses wherein the controller is configured to set at least one of an extraction position at which the two-dimensional tomographic image is extracted from the three-dimensional tomographic image and the additional imaging position, based on an analysis result of the three-dimensional tomographic image (columns 13-14 lines 66-7).
Regarding claim 13, Higuchi discloses wherein the controller is further configured to:
store data of the three-dimensional tomographic image of a tissue of a subject eye and linked data of the tomographic image, which is obtained by performing the additional capturing, of the same tissue of the subject eye into a storage device (column 12 lines 25-35); and
display the two-dimensional tomographic image extracted from the three-dimensional tomographic image and the tomographic image stored linked to the three-dimensional tomographic image simultaneously or in a switching manner together with the data regarding the three-dimensional tomographic image on the display unit (Fig. 5).
Regarding claim 14, Higuchi discloses a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium (Fig. 1, 34) storing an imaging control program (column 9 lines 22-32) executed by an OCT apparatus (Fig. 1, 100) that processes an OCT signal based on reference light and measurement light with which a subject eye is irradiated to capture a tomographic image of a tissue of the subject eye (column 7 lines 13-31), the imaging control program comprising instructions which, when the imaging control program is executed by a controller of the OCT apparatus, cause the OCT apparatus to:
perform a first imaging step of capturing a three-dimensional tomographic image of the tissue by irradiating a two-dimensional measurement region, which expands in a direction intersecting an optical axis of the measurement light, with the measurement light (Abstract);
display a two-dimensional front image on a display unit, the two-dimensional front image being an image of the tissue, of which the three-dimensional tomographic image is captured, viewed from a direction along the optical axis of the measurement light (column 13 line 8, 47; column 14 lines 21-25);
receive an instruction from a user on the displayed two-dimensional front image, the instruction for designating both an extraction position at which a two-dimensional tomographic image is extracted from the three-dimensional tomographic image (Fig. 5, 71A) and an additional imaging position of a two-dimensional tomographic image (Fig. 5, 71B);
display both the extraction position and the additional imaging position in an overlapping state on the two-dimensional front image (Fig. 5, 71A-B), move both the extraction position and the additional imaging position in conjunction with each other on the two-dimensional front image in response to an instruction input by the user (Fig. 5, 80), and set the extraction position and the additional imaging position (column 13 lines 27-48);
extract a two-dimensional tomographic image on the set extraction position from the three-dimensional tomographic image (column 11 lines 59-62) to display the extracted two-dimensional tomographic image on the display unit (column 13 lines 7-8);
receive a trigger for executing an additional capturing of a two-dimensional tomographic image in a state where the two-dimensional tomographic image extracted on the extraction position is displayed on the display unit (column 6 lines 26-42); and
perform the additional capturing by irradiating a set additional imaging position with the measurement light, in a case of receiving the trigger for the additional capturing (column 6 lines 26-42; Fig. 5).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
8. The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
9. Claim 8 is rejected under 35 USC 103 as being unpatentable over Higuchi in view of Akiba et al. (JP 2018130595 A, of record).
Regarding claim 8, Higuchi discloses wherein the controller is configured to;
receive an instruction from the user for designating a position on the two-dimensional front image that is a still image (column 9 lines 6-21);
acquire a front observation image of the tissue in real time (column 8 lines 7-18), viewed from the direction along the optical axis of the measurement light (column 8 lines 2-6); and
based on the two-dimensional front image and the front observation image, specify the additional imaging position (columns 13-14 lines 27-7), which is designated on the two-dimensional front image (column 14 lines 21-42), on the front observation image captured in real time to perform the additional capturing of the tomographic image at the specific additional imaging position (column 8 lines 7-18).
Higuchi fails to disclose wherein the two-dimensional front image is a still image.
However, Akiba teaches a system which images a patient's eyes using OCT, and discloses wherein "[a] display control unit causes images to be displayed on display means, which images include still images" (Abstract).
10. Claim 11 is rejected under 35 USC 103 as being unpatentable over Higuchi in view of Mao et al. (US 11132797 B2, of record).
Regarding claim 11, modified Higuchi fails to discloses wherein the controller is further
configured to:
input the captured three-dimensional tomographic image to a mathematical model which is trained by a machine learning algorithm and executes analysis of at least one of a specific structure and a disease of a subject eye captured in an input ophthalmic image; and
acquire certainty factor information indicating a certainty factor of the analysis executed on the input three-dimensional tomographic image by the mathematical model, and
the controller is configured to display the two-dimensional front image including the certainty factor information.
However, Mao teaches a system which images the fundus of a patient's eye using OCT, wherein a controller is further configured to: input a captured three-dimensional tomographic image to a mathematical model (Equations 1-5) which is trained by a machine learning algorithm (column 2 line 18) and executes analysis of at least one of a specific structure and a disease of a subject eye captured in an input ophthalmic image ( column 7 line 64, structure; column 9 lines 1-14, disease); and acquire certainty factor information indicating a certainty factor of an analysis executed on an input three-dimensional tomographic image by the mathematical model (column 2 lines 32-38), and the controller is configured to display a two-dimensional front image including the certainty factor information (column 7 lines 37-56).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine modified Higuchi and Mao such that a certainty factor was acquired, motivated by allowing for more precise modeling.
Conclusion
11. Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
12. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Daniel Jeffery Jordan whose telephone number is 571-270-7641. The examiner can normally be reached 9:30a-6:00p.
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/D. J. J./Examiner, Art Unit 2872
/TRAVIS S FISSEL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2872