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 .
Claim Objections
Claims 1-3, 5-12, 14, and 20 are objected to because of the following informalities: claims 1, lines 6-7 and claim 20, lines 9-10 have grammatical errors such as “the the”. 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.
Claim 20 is 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.
The scope of claim 20 is unclear. The claim recites a preamble without setting forth limitations of the claim body. The claim merely recites intended use of the computer arrangement. The claim fails to set forth the computer instructions or algorithm.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-3, 5-12, and 14 are allowed.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: the prior art of record fails to disclose or render obvious the claimed combination of subject matter of a method for virtual pancreatography comprising: receiving radiological images; receiving patient demographic data and patient clinical data; performing automatic segmentation of the radiological images to generate a pancreas segment, a duct segment, and a lesion segment; determining a pancreas centerline based on the pancreas segment; particularly, constructing a duct centerline based on the duct segment, wherein the duct segment includes a plurality of duct portions with associated duct portion centerlines and the constructing a duct centerline further comprises connecting the duct portion centerlines to determine a continuous duct centerline; particularly, performing automatic lesion classification based on the radiological images, the demographic and clinical data, the pancreas segment, the duct segment, the lesion segment, the pancreas centerline and the duct centerline to determine a lesion classification; and particularly, generating and displaying a three dimensional rendition based on the pancreas segment, the duct segment, and the lesion segment, the at least one of a pancreas centerline and duct centerline and lesion classification on a display device, the three dimensional rendition including a first navigation mode using the pancreas centerline and a second navigation mode using the duct centerline.
Any comments considered necessary by applicant must be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee. Such submissions should be clearly labeled “Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance.”
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 9/24/2025 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant’s amendment to claim 20 fails to overcome the 112 rejection. The claim merely recites a preamble without setting forth limitations of the claim body. The claim recites the preamble of “a non-transitory computer-accessible medium having stored thereon computer executable instructions” and the intended use “for a computer to perform procedures comprising: …”. The claim fails to set forth the computer executable instructions or algorithm.
Conclusion
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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to PETER LUONG whose telephone number is (571)270-1609. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9-6.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Anhtuan T Nguyen can be reached at (571)272-4963. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/PETER LUONG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3797