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 .
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 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.
Claim Objections
Claims 1 and 8 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 1 ln. 15: “each of channel group” appears instead of “each channel group”
Claim 8 ln. 13: “each of channel group” appears instead of “each channel group”
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.
Claims 2-4 and 9-11 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.
Claims 2 and 9 recite the limitation:
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It is indefinite what the minimum of “BeamformDelay (n)” is. It appears that “BeamformDelay (n)” is a single number such that the minimum is always just “BeamformDelay (n)”. Is this supposed to find the minimum of all of the “BeamformDelay (n)” in k? Claims 3-4, being dependent on claim 2, and Claim 10-11, being dependent on claim 9, are similarly rejected.
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, 5, 7-8, 12, and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Freeman US 20180003810 A1 in view of Tanaka US 20150313575 A1.
Regarding claim 1, Freeman teaches an ultrasonic imaging system, comprising:
a transmitting beamformer (14 in Fig. 1, [0021]);
a receiving beamformer (Fig. 2, [0021-22]);
a plurality of transducer elements corresponding to a plurality of receiving channels (12 in Fig. 2, [0017]);
a controller circuit connected to the transmitting beamformer and the receiving beamformer (controller 26, [0021]);
wherein, in a transmitting process, the controller circuit is configured to control the transmitting beamformer to transmit a plurality of ultrasonic sound signals that focus at scan depths through the transducer elements ([0021]);
wherein the receiving beamformer is configured to generate a plurality of output beam signals (Fig. 2, [0022]) and includes:
a common fine delay beamformer including a plurality of channel groups, each of channel group corresponding to a part of the receiving channels and including a plurality of fine delay circuits and a first summation unit (14 in Fig. 2, [0022]);
a plurality of coarse delay beamformers respectively corresponding to the output beam signals (22 in Fig. 2, [0022]) and each including:
a plurality of coarse delay circuits connected to multiple ones of the first summation unit (28 in Fig. 2, [0022]); and
a second summation unit connected to the coarse delay circuits (30 and 31 in Fig. 2, [0022]; more than two outputs possible in [0022]);
wherein, in the receiving process, echo signals of the ultrasonic sound signal are received at the transducer elements and sent to the channel groups (Fig. 2, [0022]), the controller unit applies a common fine delay set to the echo signals by controlling the common fine delay beamformer (DL1-3 in Fig. 2, [0022]), multiple ones of the first summation unit perform first summation operations on the corresponding echo signals to generate a plurality of first summation signals (SUM_1-6 in Fig. 2, [0022]), the controller unit applies a plurality of compensated coarse delay sets to the first summation signals by controlling the coarse delay beamformers (28 in Fig. 2, [0022]), and multiple ones of the second summation unit perform second summation operations the corresponding delayed first summation signals to generate a plurality of output beam signals (30 and 31 in Fig. 2, [0022]).
Freeman does not explicitly teach but Tanaka teaches the plurality of transducer elements selectively connected to the transmitting beamformer or the receiving beamformer (switch 40 in Fig. 3, [0046])
Regarding claim 5, Freeman as modified above teaches the ultrasonic imaging system according to claim 1,
Freeman does not explicitly teach but Tanaka teaches further comprising: a switch circuit configured to be controlled by the controller unit, so as to connect the plurality of transducer elements to the transmitting beamformer in the transmitting process, and to connect the transducer elements to the receiving beamformer in the receiving process (transmission/reception switch 40 in Fig. 3, [0046]).
Regarding claim 7, Freeman as modified above teaches the ultrasonic imaging system according to claim 1, further comprising: a display device (30 in Fig. 1, [0021]); and
an image processing unit connected to the multiple ones of the second summation unit and the display device, wherein the image processing unit receives the output beam signals, and is configured to process and convert the output beam signals into image data and transmit the image data to the display device for displaying an ultrasonic imaging result (24 in Fig. 1, [0021]).
Regarding claim 8, Freeman teaches an ultrasonic imaging method, suitable for the ultrasonic imaging system including a transmitting beamformer (14 in Fig. 1, [0021]), a receiving beamformer (Fig. 2, [0021-22]), a plurality of transducer elements corresponding to a plurality of receiving channels (12 in Fig. 2, [0017]), and a controller circuit connected to the transmitting beamformer and the receiving beamformer (controller 26, [0021]), the ultrasonic imaging method comprising:
configuring the controller circuit to, in a transmitting process, control the transmitting beamformer to transmit a plurality of ultrasonic sound signals that focus at scan depths through the transducer elements ([0021]),
wherein the receiving beamformer includes:
a common fine delay beamformer including a plurality of channel groups, each of channel group corresponding to a part of the receiving channels and including a plurality of fine delay circuits and a first summation unit (14 in Fig. 2, [0022]);
a plurality of coarse delay beamformers respectively corresponding to the output beam signals (22 in Fig. 2, [0022]) and each including:
a plurality of coarse delay circuits connected to multiple ones of the first summation unit (28 in Fig. 2, [0022]); and
a second summation unit connected to the coarse delay circuits (30 and 31 in Fig. 2, [0022]; more than two outputs possible in [0022]);
configuring the transducer elements to, in a receiving process, receive echo signals of the ultrasonic sound signals and send the echo signals to the channel groups (Fig. 2, [0022]);
configuring the controller unit to apply a common fine delay set to the echo signals by controlling the common fine delay beamformer (DL1-3 in Fig. 2, [0022]);
configuring multiple ones of the first summation unit to perform first summation operations on the corresponding echo signals to generate a plurality of first summation signals (SUM_1-6 in Fig. 2, [0022]);
configuring the controller unit to apply a plurality of compensated coarse delay sets to the first summation signals by controlling the coarse delay beamformers (28 in Fig. 2, [0022]); and
configuring multiple ones of the second summation unit to perform second summation operations on the corresponding delayed first summation signals, so as to generate a plurality of output beam signals (30 and 31 in Fig. 2, [0022]).
Freeman does not explicitly teach but Tanaka teaches the plurality of transducer elements selectively connected to the transmitting beamformer or the receiving beamformer (switch 40 in Fig. 3, [0046])
Regarding claim 8, see rejection to claim 5 above.
Regarding claim 14, see rejection to claim 7 above.
Claims 6 and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Freeman US 20180003810 A1 in view of Tanaka US 20150313575 A1 and further in view of Chiang US 20200107815 A1.
Regarding claim 6, Freeman as modified above teaches the ultrasonic imaging system according to claim 5,
Freeman does not explicitly teach wherein the switch circuit includes:
a plurality of multiplexers each connected to one or more transducer elements; and
a plurality of transmitting and receiving switches connected to the plurality of multiplexers, respectively, wherein each of the transmitting and receiving switches provides a transmitting channel to the transmitting beamformer and one of the receiving channels to the receiving beamformer, and is controlled by the controller unit to selectively connect the corresponding multiplexer to the transmitting beamformer in the transmitting process or to the receiving beamformer in the receiving process.
Chiang teaches a plurality of multiplexers with switches to switch between transmit and receive (Figs. 3F, 3I, 4F-6B, [0080-84, 93-99])
Regarding claim 13, see rejection to claim 6 above.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-4 and 9-11 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: The prior art of record does not explicitly teach or render obvious the system of claim 2 or the method of claim 9, including: the specific details of choosing the Coarse Delays, Fine Delays, and Common Fine Delays.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Takano US 20200022677 A1 teaches basic an fine delay circuits and error compensation on transmission (abstract)
Song US 20180192999 A1 teaches coarse and fine beamforming ([0107])
Freeman US 20150297183 A1 teaches coarse and fine delay beamforming ([0016-17])
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/J.C.F./Examiner, Art Unit 3645
/ISAM A ALSOMIRI/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3645