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 .
Response to Amendment
Applicant’s amendment filed 4/13/2026 is acknowledged.
In light of the applicant’s amendments and remarks the 112 rejection set forth in the prior office action has been withdrawn.
Claims 1-5 and 13 remain pending in the current application.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 1-5 and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Navarro de Lara (US 20150099963 A1) in view of Reykowski (Non-Patent Literature) and Li (US 20230141671 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Navarro de Lara teaches local coil for percutaneous magnetic resonance tomography (MRT) guided minimally invasive intervention ([0014] According to one aspect of the invention, there is provided a system for combined transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies, comprising: [0015] a TMS coil for stimulating a stimulation area; [0016] a coil for magnetic resonance imaging, an MR coil, for MR imaging of the stimulation area and an area surrounding the stimulation area; [0017] the TMS coil and the MR coil being spatially arranged to allow said stimulating to be performed through the MR coil)
a central antenna coil ([0091] central basic element 17; see fig. 4)
PNG
media_image1.png
490
411
media_image1.png
Greyscale
having an opening for passing through an instrument ([0091] The basic elements 11-17 are made from insulated copper wire of 1.5 mm in diameter; seeing as the central element is a hollow circle made of copper wire, an instrument could very easily pass through, this configuration is evident in fig. 5)
PNG
media_image2.png
633
413
media_image2.png
Greyscale
a plurality of first peripheral antenna coils, wherein the plurality of first peripheral antenna coils surround the central antenna coil on an outer circumference of the central antenna coil ([0090] Six basic elements 11-16 are arranged into a substantially hexagonal structure, i.e. the structure, in which segments of a straight line, connecting centers of said basic elements, create a figure resembling a hexagon. The seventh basic element 17 is placed substantially in the middle of the hexagonal structure)
wherein the local coil is configured to be arranged flat on a body surface of a patient ([0084] An MR coil 4 is placed between the head (scalp) 5 of a patient and the TMS coil 6, in a "sandwich" arrangement, and the TMS coil 6 provides stimulation to the stimulation area 6a of neurological interest (further referred to as stimulation area 6a) in the brain cortex through the MR coil 4)
PNG
media_image3.png
502
441
media_image3.png
Greyscale
wherein in order to realize an inductive decoupling from the plurality of first peripheral coils, the central antenna coil has a non-empty intersection of a projection of each antenna coil of the plurality of first peripheral antenna coils onto the central antenna coil along a surface normal of the central antenna coil, wherein the central antenna coil has first sections on the outer circumference alternating along a periphery, each of which overlaps with an antenna coil of the plurality of first peripheral antenna coils, and second sections that do not overlap with an antenna coil of the plurality of first peripheral antenna coils ([0091] Each basic element 11-16 partially overlaps with the central basic element 17 and partially overlaps (or is overlapped by) two of its neighbors. The basic elements 11-17 are made from insulated copper wire of 1.5 mm in diameter. Mechanical contacts between overlapping parts of the basic elements have been avoided by bending the top wires at the points of contact 8 (for clarity, only one point of contact 8 is provided with the reference numeral))
PNG
media_image4.png
352
352
media_image4.png
Greyscale
and wherein one of the first sections is electrically connected to the central antenna coil such that when a current flows through the central antenna coil, a magnetic field generated by the one first section has an opposite polarity to a magnetic field generated by an interior space of the central antenna coil, and the one first section has an overlap with two adjacent antenna coils of the plurality of first peripheral antenna coils ([0108] In order to minimize high coupling between non-adjacent basic elements 11-17, preamplifier decoupling is implemented for each basic element. For this purpose, a second order matching network, comprising capacitor C2 (33), capacitor C3 (34), inductor L.sub.pd (30), and capacitor C4 (36), proposed for example by Reykowski, has been designed for each basic element, see Reykowski, A., Wright, S. M., & Porter, J. R., 1995, "Design of matching networks for low noise preamplifiers", Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, 33, 848-852; [0109] The proposed structure A-2 of second order matching network of Reykowski has been selected to minimize possible coupling between the inductor 30 used to achieve preamplifier decoupling and the inductor 31 used to detune the MR coil 4 during generation of the MR transmit pulses; overlap can be seen in the previously cited fig. 4)
Furthermore, the Reykowski paper referenced in the Navarro de Lara disclosure teaches [abst] networks that minimize inductive coupling between the antennas within an array while simultaneously insuring minimum noise contributions from preamplifiers…reduce antenna currents by using lossless impedance transformations to create a high impedance at the coil terminals while simultaneously maintaining a low noise figure for the amplifier.
PNG
media_image5.png
240
417
media_image5.png
Greyscale
One of ordinary skill in the art would realize that the configuration provided in the Reykowski paper that is also utilized in the Navarro de Lara reference would generate a magnetic field at the high impedance coil terminal and a magnetic field with opposite polarity in the interior of the circuit in order to achieve inductive decoupling while simultaneously minimizing the signal to noise ratio.
Navarro de Lara as modified fails to teach a housing configured to support the central antenna coil and the plurality of first peripheral antenna coils, the housing having an opening, such that the instrument is guidable through the central antenna coil.
However, Li teaches a housing configured to support the central antenna coil and the plurality of first peripheral antenna coils the housing having an opening, such that the instrument is guidable through the central antenna coil ([0029] a flexible housing 13 with an opening 2 and a set of RF loop elements 8, 9 with at least a central loop element 9 running around the opening 2 and a plurality of other loop elements 8 centered around the opening 2. The flexible housing 13 can be round with the previously described arrangement of the loop elements 8, 9; [0035] In FIG. 2 it can be seen, that the coil 1 can be easily bent around the opening 2 of the central part 6 due to the X-shaped grooves 7. This allows the coil 1 to be easily adapted to the corresponding anatomy of the patient. The lateral parts 4, 5 of the coil 1 can, for example, be placed around the part of the patient's body that is to be examined)
PNG
media_image6.png
777
415
media_image6.png
Greyscale
Navarro de Lara as modified and Li are considered analogous because both disclose devices with particular configurations of antenna coils. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the pending application to incorporate the coils into a flexible housing with a central opening that a coil can pass through in order to improve the resolution of the coil (Li [0035]).
Regarding claim 2, Navarro de Lara teaches a plurality of second peripheral antenna coils, wherein the plurality of second peripheral antenna coils surround the plurality of first peripheral antenna coils and the central antenna coil on the outer circumference of the central antenna coil ([0091] Each basic element 11-16 partially overlaps with the central basic element 17 and partially overlaps (or is overlapped by) two of its neighbors. The basic elements 11-17 are made from insulated copper wire of 1.5 mm in diameter. Mechanical contacts between overlapping parts of the basic elements have been avoided by bending the top wires at the points of contact 8 (for clarity, only one point of contact 8 is provided with the reference numeral))
Regarding claim 3, Navarro de Lara teaches wherein one or more peripheral antenna coils of the plurality of first peripheral antenna coils have an opening for passing through an instrument ([0127] For the other six basic elements 11-16, there is even more free space available between the MR coil 4 and the TMS coil 6, and therefore the planar PCBs 18a-18f of the embodiments of the invention, or even standard PCBs of the prior art, can fit in either outside or inside of their corresponding basic elements 11-16, as shown on FIGS. 4, 5 and 10, respectively)
Regarding claim 4, Navarro de Lara teaches wherein in order to realize an inductive decoupling from an adjacent peripheral antenna coil of the plurality of first peripheral antenna coils, a peripheral antenna coil of the plurality of first peripheral antenna coils has a non-empty intersection of a projection of the peripheral antenna coil onto the adjacent peripheral antenna coil along a surface normal of the peripheral antenna coil ([0117] During operation, the TMS coil 6 creates a strong magnetic field of about 2 T in its immediate vicinity. This magnetic field rapidly decays away from the TMS coil 6, so that even in the center of the basic element 17, where it is the strongest, a typical operational reach of the TMS coil 6 (i.e. a distance from the TMS coil 6 to the stimulation area 6a) is about 2-4 cm in depth; overlap can be observed in fig. 4)
Regarding claim 5, Navarro de Lara teaches a plurality of electronics units that are in signal connection with the central antenna coil, the plurality of first peripheral antenna coils, or the central antenna coil and the plurality of first peripheral antenna coils, wherein one electronics unit of the plurality of electronics units that is in signal connection with a peripheral antenna coil of the plurality of first peripheral antenna coils is arranged directly outside on a side of the peripheral antenna coil facing away from the central antenna coil ([0099] As mentioned above, the basic elements 11-17 are provided with respective assemblies of electronic components required for its operation, each comprising a printed circuit board (PCB) 18a-18g, and a cable 32 connecting each PCB to a respective preamplifier 24 (shown in FIG. 6) housed in a separate interface box 22 containing the preamplifiers for all basic elements. PCBs for basic elements 11-17 have been labeled 18a-18g respectively as shown in FIG. 4; [0100] Each PCB 18a-18g contains electronic components for creating optimal conditions for acquiring the MR signal, and for detuning the entire MR coil 4 during the generation of MR transmit pulses).
Regarding claim 13, Navarro de Lara as modified fails to teach the opening of the housing corresponds to the opening of the central antenna coil.
However, Li teaches the opening of the housing corresponds to the opening of the central antenna coil ([0029] a flexible housing 13 with an opening 2 and a set of RF loop elements 8, 9 with at least a central loop element 9 running around the opening 2 and a plurality of other loop elements 8 centered around the opening 2. The flexible housing 13 can be round with the previously described arrangement of the loop elements 8, 9; [0035] In FIG. 2 it can be seen, that the coil 1 can be easily bent around the opening 2 of the central part 6 due to the X-shaped grooves 7. This allows the coil 1 to be easily adapted to the corresponding anatomy of the patient. The lateral parts 4, 5 of the coil 1 can, for example, be placed around the part of the patient's body that is to be examined)
Navarro de Lara as modified and Li are considered analogous because both disclose devices with particular configurations of antenna coils. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the pending application to incorporate the coils into a flexible housing with a central opening that a coil can pass through in order to improve the resolution of the coil (Li [0035]).
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see pages 6-7, filed 4/13/2026, with respect to the rejection(s) of independent claim 1 under 35 USC 103 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of the newly cited Li reference.
Applicant has amended the claims to include limitations regarding a housing and a hole in the center of the housing for a coil to pass through, a feature not found in the primary Navarro de Lara reference. However, an updated search has uncovered the newly cited Li reference which clearly depicts and describes such a feature. For at least the aforementioned reasons the claims remain rejected under 35 USC 103.
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 GABRIEL VICTOR POPESCU whose telephone number is (571)272-7065. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8AM-5PM.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Anne Kozak can be reached at (571) 270-0552. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/GABRIEL VICTOR POPESCU/Examiner, Art Unit 3797 /SERKAN AKAR/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3797
Prosecution Insights