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 .
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 1/16/2026 has been entered.
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.
Claims 1-4, 6-8, 12, and 15-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Rothberg (US 2017/0360397 A1; search report) and Lim (US 2012/0035479 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Rothberg teaches an ultrasonic imaging system, comprising:
an ultrasound imaging probe [[abstract] ultrasound probe] comprising an ultrasonic transducer [[abstract] plurality of ultrasonic transducers to generate and/or detect ultrasound signals having frequencies in the second frequency range] and preprocessing circuitry [[abstract] control circuitry configured to: control the plurality of ultrasonic transducers to generate and/or detect ultrasound signals having frequencies in the first frequency range], the ultrasonic transducer being configured to produce an electrical signal from an ultrasonic pressure wave [[0060] one or more components in the analog processing block 210 and/or the digital processing block 214 may thus serve to allow the RX circuitry 106 to receive transmitted and/or scattered ultrasound pressure waves with an improved signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and in a manner compatible with a diversity of waveforms] and comprising a transducer element [[0003] a plurality of ultrasonic transducers], the preprocessing circuitry being electrically coupled to the ultrasonic transducer and comprising a signal converter [[0059] the RX circuitry 106 for a respective transducer element 204 includes an analog processing block 210, art analog-to-digital converter (ADC)] and a signal integrator [[0053] one or more output ports 114 may output a high-speed serial data stream generated by one or more components of the signal conditioning/processing circuit 110], the signal converter being configured to condition a signal from the transducer element and convert the signal to a digital signal [[0059] ADC 212 may, for example, comprise an 8-bit, 10-bit, 12-bit or 14-bit, and 5 MHz, 20 MHz, 25 MHz, 40 MHz, 50 MHz, or 80 MHz ADC. The ADC timing may be adjusted to nm at sample rates corresponding to the mode based needs of the application frequencies], the signal integrator being configured to combine the digital signal into a transmission signal with at least a 10 Gigabit per second (Gbps) data rate and transmit the transmission signal [[0053] data streams may be, for example, generated by one or more USB 2.0, 3.0 and 3.1 modules, and/or one or more 10 GB/s, 40 GB/s, or 100 GB/s Ethernet modules, integrated on the die 112. In sonic embodiments, the signal stream produced on output port 114 can be fed to a computer];
a computing device configured to receive the transmission signal and implement a signal processing operation on the transmission signal to produce an ultrasound image [[fig. 1a] shows ultrasound probe #100 connected to computing device #106 through wired connection #103 to display an ultrasound image on the computer screen]; and
a link for communicatively coupling the computing device and the signal integrator of the ultrasound imaging probe [[0029] ultrasound probe 100 may be configured to transmit data collected by probe 100 via wired connection 103 to computing device 105 (a laptop in this non-limiting example), which may process the data to generate and display an image 111 of the subject 101 on a display].
Rothberg does not explicitly teach and yet Lim teaches apply lossless compression to the transmission signal [[0041] compression unit 120 may use a lossless compression process to compress the digital signal. The lossless compression process compresses the digital signal such that when the compressed data is restored, the restored data completely coincide with data before compression.].
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the order prior to the effective filing date of the invention to combine the high speed wired connection between probe to computing device as taught by Rothberg, with the lossless compression of digital signals as taught by Lim so that when the data is restored the data completely coincides with the data before compression (Lim) [[0041]].
Regarding claim 2, Rothberg teaches the ultrasonic imaging system of Claim 1, wherein the ultrasonic transducer is a piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducer (pMUT) [[0043] piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducers (PMUTs)].
Regarding claim 3, Rothberg teaches the ultrasonic imaging system of Claim 1, wherein the ultrasonic transducer is a capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducer (cMUT) [[0043] one or more capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducers (CMUTs)].
Regarding claim 4, Rothberg teaches the ultrasonic imaging system of Claim 1, wherein the transmission signal has a transmission speed of up to 40 Gbps [[0053] data streams may be, for example, generated by one or more USB 2.0, 3.0 and 3.1 modules, and/or one or more 10 GB/s, 40 GB/s, or 100 GB/s Ethernet modules, integrated on the die 112].
Regarding claim 6, Rothberg teaches the ultrasonic imaging system of Claim 1, wherein the ultrasound image is a 3D image or a 4D image [[0039] 3D imaging probe. Additionally, in some embodiments, the ultrasound probe may be embodied in a hand-held device].
Regarding claim 7, Rothberg teaches the ultrasonic imaging system of Claim 6, wherein the computing device is further configured to implement a signal processing operation on the transmission signal to produce other ultrasound images [[0039] hand-held device may he configured to transmit (via a wireless or a wired connection) data to an external device for further processing (e.g., to form one or more ultrasound images)].
Regarding claim 8, Rothberg teaches the ultrasonic imaging system of Claim 1, wherein the link supplies power from the computing device to the ultrasound imaging probe [[0048] power management circuit 118 may be, for example, responsible for converting one or more input voltages VIN from an off-chip source into voltages needed to carry out operation; [0053] generated by one or more USB 2.0, 3.0 and 3.1 modules].
Regarding claim 12, Rothberg teaches the ultrasonic imaging system of Claim 1, wherein the ultrasonic transducer further comprises an array of transducer elements that includes the transducer element [[0033] ultrasound transducers may be arranged in an array], the signal converter of the preprocessing circuitry comprises ADCs [[0059] RX circuitry 106 for a respective transducer element 204 includes an analog processing block 210, art analog-to-digital converter (ADC) 212, and a digital processing block 214], and each respective transducer element in the array of transducer elements is connected to a respective ADC configured to condition a respective signal from the respective transducer element [[0060] RX circuits on the die 112 (the number of which, in this example, is equal to the number of transducer elements 204 on the chip)].
Regarding claim 15, Rothberg teaches the ultrasonic imaging system of Claim 1, wherein the link comprises a single serial link [[0053] high-speed serial data stream generated by one or more components of the signal conditioning/processing circuit 110. Such data streams may be, for example, generated by one or more USB 2.0, 3.0 and 3.1 modules, and/or one or more 10 GB/s, 40 GB/s, or 100 GB/s Ethernet modules].
Regarding claim 16, Rothberg teaches the ultrasonic imaging system of Claim 1, wherein the link comprises multiple serial links [[0053] high-speed serial data stream generated by one or more components of the signal conditioning/processing circuit 110. Such data streams may be, for example, generated by one or more USB 2.0, 3.0 and 3.1 modules, and/or one or more 10 GB/s, 40 GB/s, or 100 GB/s Ethernet modules].
Regarding claim 17, Rothberg teaches the ultrasonic imaging system of Claim 1, wherein the link comprises a USB4 link, a USB3 link, a PCI-E link, or a PXIE link [[0053] high-speed serial data stream generated by one or more components of the signal conditioning/processing circuit 110. Such data streams may be, for example, generated by one or more USB 2.0, 3.0 and 3.1 modules, and/or one or more 10 GB/s, 40 GB/s, or 100 GB/s Ethernet modules].
Claims 5 and 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Rothberg (US 2017/0360397 A1; search report) and Lim (US 2012/0035479 A1) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Chen (US 2019/0261955 A1).
Regarding claim 5, Rothberg does not explicitly teach and yet Chen teaches the ultrasonic imaging system of Claim 1, wherein the preprocessing circuitry performs one or more of gain compensation [[0042] analog time gain compensation circuitry], selective enhancement, log compression, fill-in interpolation, edge enhancement, image updating [[0005] different types of images can be formed using ultrasound devices], or write zoom.
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the order prior to the effective filing date of the invention to combine the high speed wired connection between probe to computing device as taught by Rothberg, with the time gain compensation as taught by Chen so that differences in the time-gain behavior of different transducer elements are compensated.
Regarding claim 11, Rothberg does not explicitly teach and yet Chen teaches the ultrasonic imaging system of Claim 1, wherein the ultrasonic transducer further comprises an array of transducer elements that includes the transducer element [[[fig. 2] shows multiple transducer elements #260]], the preprocessing circuitry further comprises LNAs [[0029] analog portions of the integrated receive circuitry (e.g., amplifiers and ADCs) in one device (e.g., an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC)) that is bonded to a device including ultrasonic transducers; [0083] preamplifier #542], and each respective transducer element in the array of transducer elements is connected to a respective LNA configured to amplify a respective signal from the respective transducer element [[fig. 2] shows each transducer element #260 connected to individual analog processing #210].
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the order prior to the effective filing date of the invention to modify the signal amplification as taught by Rothberg [[0031]], with preamplifier/low noise amplifiers as taught by Chen so that the received signal is amplified as close as possible to the transducer element so that the signal to noise ratio is improved.
Claim 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Rothberg (US 2017/0360397 A1) and Lim (US 2012/0035479 A1) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Savord (US 2019/0196012 A1; search report).
Regarding claim 9, Rothberg does not explicitly teach and yet Savord teaches the ultrasonic imaging system of Claim 1, wherein the signal converter implements microbeamforming on the signal from the transducer element [[fig. 2] shows transducer array #101 connected to microbeamformers #102; [0003] delaying and combining is performed by the beamformer; [0024] FPGA applies the fully beamformed output signals to the USB controller 105, which then transmits the digital echo signals as serial data over a USB cable 107 to the user control and display system 108. Other high speed digital interfaces such as HDMI or Ethernet can also be used. A suitable USB controller is the FX3.0s controller available from Cypress Semiconductor of San Jose, Calif].
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the order prior to the effective filing date of the invention to modify the beamforming as taught by Rothberg [[0036-0037]], with the microbeamformers and high speed serial data bus as taught by Savord so that a lower power budget may be achieved (Savord) [[0008]].
Claim 10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Rothberg (US 2017/0360397 A1) and Lim (US 2012/0035479 A1) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Mendonca (US 2016/0317127 A1).
Regarding claim 10, Rothberg does not explicitly teach and yet Mendonca teaches the ultrasonic imaging system of Claim 1, wherein the computing device is further configured to provide the transmission signal or the ultrasound image to a deep learning module trained using ultrasound imaging data and configured to produce beamforming instructions when provided with ultrasound imaging data [[0042] the machine learning algorithm may be configured to determine a correlation between input images and preferred probe settings including, for example, contrast, brightness, frequency, frame rate, time-gain control, field of view, depth, beamforming settings and/or signal processing filter parameters].
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention to modify the beamforming as taught by Rothberg [[0036-0037]], with the machine learning to adjust probe/beamforming settings as taught by Mendonca so that the machine learning algorithm may determine new settings which improve the obtained images (Mendonca) [[0042]].
Claims 13-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Rothberg (US 2017/0360397 A1) and Lim (US 2012/0035479 A1) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Wegener (US 7,009,533 B1).
Regarding claim 13, Rothberg does not explicitly teach and yet Wegener teaches the ultrasonic imaging system of Claim 1, wherein the link defines a bandwidth limitation, and the preprocessing circuitry is configured to apply a compression to the transmission signal prior to transmitting the transmission signal based on a determination that a size of the transmission signal will exceed the bandwidth limitation [[col. 2:55-60] ultrasound; [col. 4:35-55] prior art compression techniques are not effective if the bandwidth, SNR, and center frequency of the signal to be compressed vary over time.; [col. 8:10-25] in contrast, present invention monitors the sampled input signal's center frequency, noise floor, and bandwidth and adjusts the preprocessor and/or compressor operation to adapt to the sampled input signal's characteristics; [col. 26:50-67] user 112 selects lossless mode (via lossless/lossy operating mode selection 600) when compressed/encoded signal 119 is to have the highest fidelity, and when compression performance is a secondary goal. User 112 selects lossy mode (via lossless/lossy operating mode selection 600) when compressed/encoded signal 119 is to result in a fixed (or a not-to-exceed) data rate, or when some non-zero amount of distortion is acceptable in exchange for a smaller bit rate; [col. 27:30-60] does not exceed the user specified data rate; [col. 43:50-65] adjusts the sample rate].
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention to modify the beamforming as taught by Rothberg [[0036-0037]], with the adjustable compression of ultrasound medical signals as taught by Wegener so that the compressed data does not exceed a specified size or data rate (Wegener) [[col. 27:30-60][col. 44:25-60]].
Regarding claim 14, Rothberg does not explicitly teach and yet Wegener teaches the ultrasonic imaging system of Claim 13, wherein a type of the compression applied to the transmission signal is based on an amount by which the size of the transmission signal will exceed the bandwidth limitation [[col. 44:25-60] compressor 110 may want to modify one or more of the operating parameters of preprocessor 106 to achieve a given compression ratio specified by user 112. Because compressor 110 is aware of the final size of compressed/ encoded signal 119, and since preprocessor 109 is not, compressor 110 may adjust one or more of preprocessor 106's parameters in order to increase or to decrease the size of each packet of compressed/encoded signal 119. For example, if compressed/encoded signal 119 is not meeting a user-specified compression ratio after preprocessing by pre processor 106, compressor 110 may send preprocessor 106 a command that increases the number of LSBS removed].
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention to modify the beamforming as taught by Rothberg [[0036-0037]], with the adjustable compression of ultrasound medical signals as taught by Wegener so that the compressed data does not exceed a specified size or data rate (Wegener) [[col. 27:30-60][col. 44:25-60]].
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see pgs. 6-9, filed 1/16/2026, with respect to the rejection(s) of claim(s) 1 under 35 U.S.C. 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 Rothberg (US 2017/0360397 A1) and Lim (US 2012/0035479 A1).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JONATHAN D ARMSTRONG whose telephone number is (571)270-7339. The examiner can normally be reached M - F 9am-5pm.
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/JONATHAN D ARMSTRONG/ Examiner, Art Unit 3645
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