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 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.
Claims 1-3 and 6-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Takanashi et al (WO 2019230740 A1 / see US 11307153 B2 for English equivalent).
Takanashi et al (WO 2019230740 A1, equivalent to US 11307153 B2 and US 20210262947 A1) disclose an embodiment where, in order to increase reproducibility of a reconstructed tomographic image without increasing the computational load, detection is performed by oversampling in (N+n) directions during imaging for detection by N detection elements. A vector having N×(N+n) elements is obtained, and vector decimation step is performed in which a total of n×N elements corresponding to a sequence {k} 30 denoting a decimation order are removed. In a discrete Radon transform step, a corresponding discrete Radon inverse matrix WSQ 40 is operated, and in an image data generation step, de-vectoring is performed, thereby tomographic image data are acquired. When oversampling is used, a discrete Radon inverse matrix WSQ−1 is obtained. Therefore, a tomographic image is obtained by matrix computation without resorting to iterative approximation.
Referring to claims 1 and 9:
Takanashi et al disclose a computer-implemented method (control device 150, which can be a computer device for performing the method) for determining an operating parameter of a tomographic imaging system for reconstructing a tomographic image by an inverse discrete Radon transform in a scan angle range of a predetermined value being less than (180°-180°/number of projections), comprising:
a step for determining a system matrix on the basis of the values of one or two operating parameters designated from among a number of detection elements, a number of projections, and a scan angle range less than (180°-180°/number of projections) (see description of Fig. 3 and sec. 2-2: Overview of Processing – The sampling for the detection direction θ is done in the conventional method in increments of, for example, (180/N)°, so that the sampling is carried out for N directions that does not overlap within the required range, such as 0 to 180°, for example. In contrast, the sampling of the detection direction θ in this embodiment is made for N+n directions (n is an integer greater than or equal to 1), which is non-overlapping within the required range, e.g., in increments of (180/(N+)n)°). A system matrix is generated by performing the same processing as the conventional system matrix shown in FIG. 3 in N + n detection directions in the case of oversampling (S112). The system matrix obtained here has N x (N + n) elements in the column direction corresponding to the detection direction and detection elements, and N x N elements in the row direction corresponding to the number of pixels of the tomographic image);
a step for generating a square system matrix (WSQ) from the system matrix (WOS)(see sec. 2-2 and description of Fig. 4: S112-S114, Fig. 5: 212-214);
a step for deciding whether an inverse matrix (WSQ-1) exists for the square system matrix (see sec. 2-2 and description of Fig. 4 and 5: S116); and
a step for repeating each of said steps as necessary (see description of Fig. 6A: S114-2 to S114-8, and sec 2-3-1: selection algorithm using determination by rank) to determine the value of an operating parameter that corresponds to an operating parameter other than the designated one or two operating parameters (decimation sequence {k}) for which the inverse matrix of the square system matrix exists (sec 2-3: determining thinning order to give a regular square system matrix).
Referring to claim 2:
Takanashi et al disclose the step for generating a square system matrix first removes elements of overlapping row or column vectors from the determined system matrix to generate a square system matrix (see sec 2-2: A vector decimation process (S130) for decimating the elements of the first vector XOS, following an identical decimation order in which the square system matrix WSQ was obtained, will yield the second vector 230, which is a column vector with N×N elements that can satisfy the relationship of Formula (1) between the square system matrix WSQ).
Referring to claim 3:
Takanashi et al disclose the step for generating a square system matrix first removes elements of overlapping row or column vectors from the determined system matrix, and subsequently removes row or column vectors randomly for elements of the remaining row or column vectors to generate a square system matrix (see sec. 2.2: matrix decimation process S114, and sec. 2-3-1: "Random selection algorithm using determination by rank).
Referring to claims 6 and 10:
Takanashi et al disclose a device (control device 150, which can be a computer device) for determining an operating parameter of a tomographic imaging system for reconstructing a tomographic image by an inverse discrete Radon transform in a scan angle range of a predetermined value being less than (180°-180°/number of projections), comprising:
at least one processor, and at least one memory storing a program which when executed by the at least one processor causes operations (see col. 7 line 64 to col. 8, line 2, and sec. 3 – Implementation on Tomographic Imaging Devices & in Computer Program, the computer 150 inherently requiring at least one processor and program storing memory to execute operations) comprising:
determining a system matrix on the basis of the values of one or two operating parameters designated from among a number of detection elements, a number of projections, and a scan angle range of less than (180°-180°/number of projections) (see description of Fig. 9: system matrix generation unit 162);
generating a square system matrix from the system matrix (see description of Fig. 9: the matrix decimation processing unit 164); and
deciding whether an inverse matrix exists for the square system matrix (see description of Fig. 9: inverse matrix calculation unit 166),
repeating, as necessary, the system matrix determination, the square system matrix generation, and the decision on whether the inverse matrix exists (see description of Fig. 6A: S114-2 to S114-8, and sec 2-3-1: selection algorithm using determination by rank), to determine the value of an operating parameter that corresponds to an operating parameter other than the designated one or two operating parameters (decimation sequence {k}) for which the inverse matrix of the square system matrix exists (sec 2-3: determining thinning order to give a regular square system matrix).
Referring to claims 7-8:
The same reasoning that applied to claims 2-3 above applies mutatis mutandis to corresponding claims 7-8.
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 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Takanashi et al as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of well-known prior art (MPEP 2144.03).
Referring to claim 5:
While Takanashi et al do not describe the computer program (see sec. 3-2: Implementation in Computer Program) for causing a computer to perform the method described above as being recoded in a computer-readable medium, it is implied and it is notoriously well-known in the prior art to record computer programs in a computer-readable medium. It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have recorded the computer program in Takanashi et al, in view of the well-known prior art, in a computer-readable medium in order to provide a practical and flexible way to distribute, access, run, update, copy and backup the program.
Specification
The title of the invention is not descriptive. A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed (i.e., a descriptive title that distinguishes the invention and is not a generic or general description). The new title should take into account any amendments to the claims to best indicate the claimed invention.
The title must be as short and specific as possible (see 37 CFR 1.72(a)). Applicant should distill a description of the claimed invention into as few words as possible to capture the essence of the claimed invention. Rather than reciting statutory categories (apparatus, method, product) and some generic descriptor (e.g., information processing), a title that is specific, but characterizes the essence or key aspect(s) of the claimed invention, should be submitted.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 20 July 2023 and the IDS submitted 22 November 2023 were filed in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98. Accordingly, the statements have been considered by the examiner as indicated below.
Applicant has provided an explanation of relevance of documents cited on the second IDS on pages 1-4, 29, and 58-59 of the specification.
The relevance of documents cited on the first IDS, in addition to any applied above, can be found in the International Search Report and/or Written Opinion from the ISA dated 5 April 2022 for PCT/JP2022/002247 (of record).
The relevance of other documents cited on the second IDS, in addition to any applied above, can be found in the European Search Report and/or Written Opinion from the EPO dated 21 June 2024 for application no. EP 22 74 2694 (of record).
Cited Art
The prior art and other references made of record and not relied upon are considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Brandt et al (US 5778038 A) disclose an improved computerized tomography method and an apparatus for performing the method are used for construction of visual images of a subject utilizing a Radon transform inversion scheme of lower computational complexity. A multiscale backprojection with a postprocessing step is utilized instead of a conventional backprojection algorithm or direct Fourier method to obtain improved images. Multilevel methods can be applied under weaker regularity requirements than Fourier methods, so the present algorithm can be adjusted to provide different resolutions for different parts of the reconstruction, whether or not the Radon data are equally spaced.
Sijbers et al (US 9996951 B2) disclose a computerized tomographic image exposure and reconstruction method wherein an object is subjected to irradiation during a relative movement of a source of radiation, the object, and a radiation detector and wherein a digital representation of the radiation image of the object is computed by applying a tomographic reconstruction algorithm to image data read out of the irradiated radiation detector. A number of projection images are generated, each of the projection images being generated by integrating X-ray beams continuously emitted during the relative movement through a predefined movement path, and the created projection images are modeled in a tomographic reconstruction algorithm.
Kanda et al (US 11375964 B2, corresponding to US 20210228167 A1 on the second IDS) disclose an embodiment where, in order to raise the reproducibility of a reconstructed tomographic image without increasing a calculation load, any one among two directions adjacent to two boundaries that demarcate an angular scan range is offset from any one among coordinate axes of a two-dimensional tomographic image of N pixels × N pixels, and the angle of the offset is made to be above 0 degrees and under 90 degrees or above −90 degrees and under 0 degrees. A detection device, which includes N detection elements, performs detection in each detection direction, and a first vector having N×N elements is obtained from a detection signal obtained by the detection device in a detection operation. A discrete Inverse Radon transform matrix is applied to the first vector to obtain a second vector having N×N elements. The second vector is de-vectorized to obtain image data for a two-dimensional tomographic image of N pixels × N pixels. An inverse matrix of a system matrix for an offset is obtained and used as the discrete Inverse Radon transform matrix.
Yan et al (US 12394117 B2) disclose a medical image reconstruction method that includes: obtaining real projection data collected by a medical imaging device; obtaining an inverse matrix corresponding to the medical imaging device that is physically stored in advance, in which the inverse matrix is obtained by performing an inverse operation based on a system matrix corresponding to the medical imaging device, and the system matrix indicating a geometrical relationship between projection rays of the medical imaging device at each view angle and of reconstructed image pixels; and determining a reconstructed image of the real projection data according to the real projection data and the inverse matrix. By storing a large inverse matrix of the system matrix, rapid image reconstruction may be achieved through the inverse matrix and the real projection data, reconstruction efficiency of a medical image may be improved, and wide application and development of iterative reconstruction technology in clinical practice may be promoted.
Yan et al (US 20240185488 A1) disclose a method and system for image reconstruction. The method may include obtaining projection data of a subject corresponding to each of at least one projection angle. The method may also include for the projection data corresponding to each of the at least one projection angle, determining a weight corresponding to each of detection angles within a projection range. The method may further include determining a first derivative of Radon transform data based on the weight and the projection data and determining a reconstructed image of the subject based on the first derivative of the Radon transform data.
Okubo et al (US 20250082294 A1) disclose calculates the dose in each of a plurality of angular regions partitioned at each predetermined angular interval of the imaging unit angle, based on the dose distribution on the surface of the virtual model and the imaging unit angle associated with the surface of the virtual model. The display unit is configured to display an angular dose image capable of identifying the magnitude of the calculated doses in each of the plurality of angular regions. The operator, such as a doctor, can easily and accurately select an appropriate imaging unit angle by visually observing the angular dose image on the display unit.
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/Scott A Rogers/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2681
25 October 2025