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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s arguments, see REMARKS, filed 10/08/2025, with respect to claims 1-20 have been fully considered and are persuasive. The Requirement for Restriction/Election of claims 1-20 has been withdrawn.
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 1-10 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.
Claim 1 recites the limitation "the CT data" in line 7. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
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, 3-4, 13-14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Koehler et al. (US2021/0217140).
To claim 1, Koehler teach a method for creating computed tomography (CT) images of a subject imaged with a CT system comprising:
acquiring or accessing data that includes or can be transformed into a first sinogram acquired by the CT system without the patient present (103-104 of Fig. 1; paragraph 0023, object-less scan using the same reconstruction parameters to provide realistic noise data; 12-13 of Fig. 1) and a second sinogram acquired by the CT system with the patient present (101-102 of Fig. 1; paragraph 0021; 10-11 of Fig. 1);
determining a sinogram bias using the first sinogram and the second sinogram (105-106 of Fig. 1; paragraph 0025, subtract de-noised simulated image data 13 from first pass image data 11);
generating a bias image from the CT data using the sinogram bias (14 of Fig. 1; paragraphs 0026); and
generating an unbiased image of the subject using the bias image and an image produced from the second sinogram (14-15 of Fig. 1; paragraph 0027, subtract estimated bias information 14 from first pass image data 11).
To claims 3 and 13, Koehler teach claims 1 and 11.
Koehler teach wherein generating the unbiased image includes subtracting the bias image from the image produced from the second sinogram (as explained in response to claim 1 above).
To claims 4 and 14, Koehler teach claims 1 and 11.
Koehler teach wherein determining the sinogram bias includes determining an estimate of statistical bias of the second sinogram (estimated bias information is based on simulated data, wherein simulated data is considered as statistical).
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) 5-6, 11, 15, 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Koehler et al. (US2021/0217140).
To claim 11, Koehler teach a computed tomography system, comprising:
an x-ray source (4 of Fig. 1) configured to deliver x-rays to an object as the x-ray source is rotated about the object (paragraphs 0018, 0020);
a detector (5 of Fig. 1) having a plurality of detector elements configured to receive the x-rays and generate sinogram data therefrom (paragraph 0020, detector having a plurality of detector elements would be an obvious implementation);
a controller (inherent) configured to control the x-ray source to deliver the x-rays and to receive the sinogram data from the detector (paragraph 0020);
a processor (inherent) configured to:
access, acquire, or derive a first sinogram acquired without the object present between the x-ray source and the detector; access, acquire, or derive a second sinogram with the object present between the x-ray source and the detector; determine a sinogram bias using the first sinogram and the second sinogram; generate a bias image using the sinogram bias; reconstruct an image of the object from the second sinogram; and generate an unbiased image of the object using the bias image and the image of the object (as explained in response to claim 1 above).
To claim 5, Koehler teach claim 1.
Koehler teach wherein determining the sinogram bias is performed without raw count data form the CT system or post-log sinograms acquired by the CT system with the patient present (obvious as Koehler teaches bias correction without raw detector counts).
To claims 6 and 15, Koehler teach claims 1 and 11.
Koehler teach wherein acquiring or accessing the data includes forward projecting an image of the patient to form the second sinogram (despite lack of disclosure, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to try forward projection from limited implementation of forward projection and back projection).
To claim 20, Koehler teach claim 11.
Koehler teach wherein the processor is configured to determine the sinogram bias without raw detector counts from the detector (obvious as Koehler teaches bias correction without raw detector counts).
Claim(s) 2, 7-10, 12, 16-19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Koehler et al. (US2021/0217140) in view of Brendel et al. (US2018/0204306).
To claims 2 and 12, Koehler teach claims 1 and 11.
But, Koehler do not expressly disclose wherein the CT system is a photon-counting CT system and the data is photon-counting CT data.
Brendel teach the CT system is a photon-counting CT system and the data is photon-counting CT data (paragraph 0048), which would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate into the method of Koehler, in order to implement detection.
To claims 7 and 16, Koehler teach claims 1 and 11.
But, Koehler do not expressly disclose further comprising estimating an actual photon number received by a detector element of the CT system from the data and using an estimated photon number received by a detector element when generating the bias image.
Brendel teach estimating an actual photon number received by a detector element of the CT system from the data and using an estimated photon number received by a detector element when generating the image (paragraph 0048), which would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate into the method of Koehler, in order to implement detection.
To claims 8 and 17, Koehler and Brendel teach claims 7 and 16.
Koehler and Brendel teach wherein estimating an actual photon number received is based on an estimate of an expected x-ray photon number received by a detector element of the CT system without the patient present (as explained in responses to claims 1 and 7 above based on teachings of Koehler and Brendel).
To claims 9 and 18, Koehler and Brendel teach claims 8 and 17.
Koehler and Brendel teach wherein the second sinogram is synthesized by forward-projecting an image reconstructed from data acquired by the CT system with the patient present (Brendel, paragraph 0022, a combination of forward projection to convert images to projection domain and the mathematical inverse of the decomposition to convert from material domain to attenuation domain).
To claims 10 and 19, Koehler and Brendel teach claims 7 and 16.
Koehler and Brendel teach wherein the actual photon number is estimated as
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37
92
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, where
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35
53
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is an estimate of
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36
39
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., which is an expected x-ray photon number received by a detector element of the CT system without the patient present, and y' is the second sinogram (Koehler, --obvious in 103-104 of Fig. 1, paragraphs 0023-0024).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ZHIYU LU whose telephone number is (571)272-2837. The examiner can normally be reached Weekdays: 8:30AM - 5:00PM.
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ZHIYU . LU
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2669
/ZHIYU LU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2665 January 6, 2026