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
The Amendment filed October 21st, 2025 has been entered. Claim 2 is cancelled. Claims 1 and 4-6 are pending in the application. Applicant’s amendments to the Claims 1 and 4-6 have overcome the rejections previously set forth in the Non-Final Office Action mailed May 21st, 2025. A second search has been performed to address the material amended in the aforementioned claims. Newly found reference Tanabe (WO 2019203309 A1; hereinafter Tanabe ’09) was used for the newly amended claim limitations.
Response to Arguments
The Examiner appreciates the Applicant’s thorough review of the previous action. The arguments filed October 21, 2025 have been considered. The argument regarding Mei and claim 1 was considered persuasive, but the argument regarding Tanabe (hereinafter Tanabe ’11) and claim 1 was not considered persuasive.
Specifically, Applicant cites Pg. 3, par. 10 of Tanabe ‘11 from the previous action, and states that “Particularly, Tanabe ‘11 merely discloses binarization and thickness analysis of blood vessels but provides no teaching or suggestion of identifying or processing vessels as line-shaped portions or bulge portions, nor of distinguishing vessels in this morphological manner.”
However, Tanabe ‘11 teaches that: “In step 1238, the image processing unit 182 generates a binarized image from the extracted image of the predetermined area. In step 1240, the image processing unit 182 sets a circle 404 having a predetermined radius centered on the VV position 402 in the generated binarized image, as shown in FIG. 17” (Pg. 7, par. 9). In Fig. 17, the “circle 404” is centered on the intersection, or “bulge” created by the veins – Tanabe ‘11 teaches that “The radius of the circle 404 may be set based on the blood vessel traveling pattern around the VV position” (Pg. 7, par. 9, emphasis added). Setting the circle based on the blood vessel travelling pattern inherently requires distinguishing the pattern from the rest of the vessel image. Therefore, the Examiner understands Tanabe ‘11 to teach extracting a bulge portion of the vortex vein by binarization processing.
However, while Tanabe ’11 teaches detection of a circle representing the vortex vein position, Tanabe ‘11 does not appear to explicitly teach extracting the lines representing choroidal vessels. Therefore, the Examiner agrees with the Applicant that Tanabe ’11 does not teach or suggest “extracting a first choroidal vessel that is a line shaped portion of the vortex vein by line shaped extraction processing and binarization processing.”
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, 5, and 6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mei (US 20210319551 A1) in view of Tanabe (WO 2019203309 A1; hereinafter Tanabe ’09) and Tanabe (WO 2019203311 A1, hereinafter Tanabe ‘11):
Regarding claim 1:
Mei teaches:
An image processing method (Mei: a three dimensional (3D) quantification method [0005]) performed by a processor (Mei: The above-described aspects are envisioned to be implemented via hardware and/or software by a processor [0036]), the image processing method comprising:
acquiring OCT volume data (Mei: acquiring 3D optical coherence tomography (OCT) volumetric data of an object of a subject [0005]) including a choroid (see Note 1A);
extracting a first choroidal vessel based on the OCT volume data and generating a first three-dimensional image of the first choroidal vessel (Mei: performing a first segmentation technique on the pre-processed data, thereby producing first segmented data, the first segmentation technique being configured to segment the physiological component from the pre-processed data [0006]; see Note 1B);
extracting a second choroidal vessel based on the OCT volume data and generating a second three-dimensional image of the second choroidal vessel (Mei: performing a second segmentation technique on the pre-processed data, thereby producing second segmented data, the second segmentation technique being configured to segment the physiological component from the pre-processed data [0006]; see Note 1B); and
generating a three-dimensional image of a choroidal vessel by combining the first three- dimensional image and the second three-dimensional image (Mei: producing the 3D segmented data by combining the first segmented data and second segmented data [0006]).
Note 1A: Mei teaches: “Briefly, the analysis is performed on, and the visualizations are created by, segmenting OCT data for a component of interest (e.g., choroidal vasculature)” [0014]. The analysis of choroidal vasculature requires that a choroid be present.
Note 1B: Mei teaches that a “physiological component” may be a choroidal vessel: “the physiological component is choroidal vasculature” [0006]. Furthermore, Mei teaches that the “pre-processed data” may be OCT volume data: “acquiring 3D optical coherence tomography (OCT) volumetric data of an object of a subject, […] pre-processing the volumetric data, thereby producing pre-processed data” [0005].
Mei fails to explicitly teach:
acquiring OCT volume data including a choroid by scanning a region of a fundus including a vortex vein;
extracting a first choroidal vessel that is a line shaped portion of the vortex vein by line shaped extraction processing and binarization processing based on the OCT volume data and generating a first three-dimensional image of the first choroidal vessel
extracting a second choroidal vessel that is a bulge portion of the vortex vein by binarization processing based on the OCT volume data and generating a second three-dimensional image of the second choroidal vessel;
Tanabe ’09 teaches:
acquiring OCT volume data including a choroid by scanning a region of a fundus including a vortex vein (Tanabe ‘09: Various fundus images are used to generate choroidal blood vessel images, (Pg. 4, par. 4); Tanabe ’09: the fundus image may be […] an image obtained by OCT angiography (Pg. 8, par. 3, Fifth Modification); see Note 1D);
extracting a first choroidal vessel that is a line shaped portion of the vortex vein by line shaped extraction processing and binarization processing (Tanabe ’09: In step 234, the image processing unit 182 binarizes the choroidal blood vessel image with a predetermined threshold value, and creates a binarized image shown in FIG. In step 236, the image processing unit 182 converts the binarized image into a line image having a width of 1 pixel as shown in FIG. 10.; see Note 1E) based on the OCT volume data (Tanabe ‘09: Various fundus images are used to generate choroidal blood vessel images, (Pg. 4, par. 4); Tanabe ’09: the fundus image may be […] an image obtained by OCT angiography (Pg. 8, par. 3, Fifth Modification)), and generating a first three-dimensional image of the first choroidal vessel (see Note 1F).
Note 1C: The English translated documents supplied may have missing figure numbers due to OCR error. The Figure numbers cited by the Examiner were found by cross-referencing with the original Japanese document, which is included after the OCR English translation.
Note 1D: Tanabe ’09 teaches “choroidal blood vessel images” generated from “fundus images” which in turn are acquired by an OCT camera. Additionally, Tanabe teaches: “there are many cases where VVs exist at the four corners in the choroidal blood vessel image as shown in FIG. In FIG. 9, 246N1, 246N2, 246N3, and 246N4 indicate frames for specifying the VV position.” (Pg. 4, par. 6). That is, Figure 9 depicts multiple vortex veins “VV” in a choroidal blood vessel image. Therefore, it must be that originally, the OCT camera “acquir[ed] OCT volume data including a choroid by scanning a region of a fundus including a vortex vein”. In Note 1B above, it was shown that Mei teaches that the OCT data may be OCT volume data. When the teachings of Tanabe ’09 are combined with Mei, it would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to generate a choroidal blood vessel image from the OCT volume data.
Note 1E: Figure 10 of Tanabe ’09 depicts a binarized image that includes lines representing blood vessels. The Examiner therefore understands the “binarization processing” claimed to be analogous to creating the binarized image, and the “line shaped extraction processing” to be analogous to converting the binarized image to a “line image” in Tanabe ’09.
Note 1F: Mei teaches in [0006] cited above that three-dimensional images may be generated based on “choroidal vasculature” above. It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to generate a three-dimensional image based on a selection of said choroidal vasculature.
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to combine the teachings of Tanabe ‘09 with Mei. Acquiring OCT volume data including a choroid by scanning a region of a fundus including a vortex vein; extracting a first choroidal vessel that is a line shaped portion of the vortex vein by line shaped extraction processing and binarization processing based on the OCT volume data and generating a first three-dimensional image of the first choroidal vessel, as in Tanabe ‘09, would benefit the Mei teachings by ensuring that a segmented blood vessel is choroidal instead of retinal or otherwise.
Mei in view of Tanabe ’09 fails to explicitly teach:
extracting a second choroidal vessel that is a bulge portion of the vortex vein by binarization processing based on the OCT volume data and generating a second three-dimensional image of the second choroidal vessel;
Tanabe ‘11 teaches:
a extracting a second choroidal vessel that is a bulge portion of the vortex vein by binarization processing (Tanabe ’11: In step 1240, the image processing unit 182 sets a circle 404 having a predetermined radius centered on the VV position 402 in the generated binarized image, as shown in FIG. 17, (Pg. 7, par. 9); see Note 1G) based on the OCT volume data (see Note 1H) and generating a second three-dimensional image of the second choroidal vessel (Tanabe: a choroidal blood vessel image is generated from the first fundus image, Pg. 3, par. 8; see Note 1F);
Note 1G: Tanabe ’11 teaches: “In step 1238, the image processing unit 182 generates a binarized image from the extracted image of the predetermined area. In step 1240, the image processing unit 182 sets a circle 404 having a predetermined radius centered on the VV position 402 in the generated binarized image, as shown in FIG. 17” (Pg. 7, par. 9). In Fig. 17, the “circle 404” is centered on the intersection, or “bulge” created by the veins – Tanabe ‘11 teaches that “The radius of the circle 404 may be set based on the blood vessel traveling pattern around the VV position” (Pg. 7, par. 9). Therefore, as best understood by the Examiner, when Tanabe ‘11 sets the circle 404, Tanabe effectively extracts a position of the “bulge” of a vortex vein.
Note 1H: Tanabe ‘11 teaches that the OCT data may be 3D OCT data: “In each of the above embodiments, a choroidal blood vessel image is analyzed. However, the technology of the present disclosure is not limited to this, and for example, an OCT-En Face image (fundus image constructed from 3D OCT data), […] etc. Also good,” (Pg. 8, First Modification)
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to combine the teachings of Tanabe ‘11 with Mei in view of Tanabe ‘09. Extracting a second choroidal vessel that is a bulge portion of the vortex vein by binarization processing based on the OCT volume data and generating a second three-dimensional image of the second choroidal vessel, as in Tanabe ‘11, would benefit the Mei in view of Tanabe ’09 teachings by enabling detection of the positions where choroidal veins intersect.
Claim 2 is cancelled.
Regarding claim 4:
Mei in view of Tanabe ’09 and Tanabe ‘11 teaches:
The image processing method of claim 1 (as shown above) further comprising:
extracting choroid OCT volume data of the choroid from the OCT volume data (Tanabe ‘11: In each of the embodiments described above, the choroidal blood vessel is extracted from the fundus image, Pg. 8, par. 4; see Note 4A), wherein the generating the three-dimensional image includes
generating the three-dimensional image based on the choroid OCT volume data (see Note 4B).
Note 4A: The fundus image is analogous to the OCT volume data, as discussed in Note 2A above. Furthermore, Tanabe ‘11 teaches: “The image processing program is executed when the management server 140 receives a fundus image from the ophthalmologic apparatus 110 and generates a choroidal blood vessel image based on the fundus image”, Pg. 3, par. 6, “The image processing program…”), i.e., the choroidal blood vessel extracted from the fundus image is itself an image.
Note 4B: Mei teaches that the three dimensional image may be based on OCT volumetric data (see Note 1B above). Furthermore, Tanabe ‘11 has taught that the choroid may be extracted from the OCT data. Therefore, it would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine the teachings of Mei and Tanabe ’11 such that a three-dimensional image is generated based on the choroid OCT volume data.
Regarding claim 5:
Mei teaches:
An image processing device, comprising: a memory; and a processor connected to the memory (Mei: The processor may be able to execute software instructions stored in some form of memory, either volatile or non-volatile, such as random access memories, flash memories, digital hard disks, and the like [0036]), wherein the processor is configured to perform processing comprising:
acquiring OCT volume data (Mei: acquiring 3D optical coherence tomography (OCT) volumetric data of an object of a subject [0005]) including a choroid (see Note 1A);
extracting a first choroidal vessel based on the OCT volume data and generating a first three-dimensional image of the first choroidal vessel (Mei: performing a first segmentation technique on the pre-processed data, thereby producing first segmented data, the first segmentation technique being configured to segment the physiological component from the pre-processed data [0006]; see Note 1B);
extracting a second choroidal vessel based on the OCT volume data and generating a second three-dimensional image of the second choroidal vessel (Mei: performing a second segmentation technique on the pre-processed data, thereby producing second segmented data, the second segmentation technique being configured to segment the physiological component from the pre-processed data [0006]; see Note 1B); and
generating a three-dimensional image of a choroidal vessel by combining the first three- dimensional image and the second three-dimensional image (Mei: producing the 3D segmented data by combining the first segmented data and second segmented data [0006]).
Mei fails to explicitly teach:
acquiring OCT volume data including a choroid by scanning a region of a fundus including a vortex vein;
extracting a first choroidal vessel that is a line shaped portion of the vortex vein by line shaped extraction processing and binarization processing based on the OCT volume data and generating a first three-dimensional image of the first choroidal vessel
extracting a second choroidal vessel that is a bulge portion of the vortex vein by binarization processing based on the OCT volume data and generating a second three-dimensional image of the second choroidal vessel;
Tanabe ’09 teaches:
acquiring OCT volume data including a choroid by scanning a region of a fundus including a vortex vein (Tanabe ‘09: Various fundus images are used to generate choroidal blood vessel images, (Pg. 4, par. 4); Tanabe ’09: the fundus image may be […] an image obtained by OCT angiography (Pg. 8, par. 3, Fifth Modification); see Note 1D);
extracting a first choroidal vessel that is a line shaped portion of the vortex vein by line shaped extraction processing and binarization processing (Tanabe ’09: In step 234, the image processing unit 182 binarizes the choroidal blood vessel image with a predetermined threshold value, and creates a binarized image shown in FIG. In step 236, the image processing unit 182 converts the binarized image into a line image having a width of 1 pixel as shown in FIG. 10.; see Note 1E) based on the OCT volume data (Tanabe ‘09: Various fundus images are used to generate choroidal blood vessel images, (Pg. 4, par. 4); Tanabe ’09: the fundus image may be […] an image obtained by OCT angiography (Pg. 8, par. 3, Fifth Modification)), and generating a first three-dimensional image of the first choroidal vessel (see Note 1F).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to combine the teachings of Tanabe ‘09 with Mei. Acquiring OCT volume data including a choroid by scanning a region of a fundus including a vortex vein; extracting a first choroidal vessel that is a line shaped portion of the vortex vein by line shaped extraction processing and binarization processing based on the OCT volume data and generating a first three-dimensional image of the first choroidal vessel, as in Tanabe ‘09, would benefit the Mei teachings by ensuring that a segmented blood vessel is choroidal instead of retinal or otherwise.
Mei in view of Tanabe ’09 fails to explicitly teach:
extracting a second choroidal vessel that is a bulge portion of the vortex vein by binarization processing based on the OCT volume data and generating a second three-dimensional image of the second choroidal vessel;
Tanabe ‘11 teaches:
a extracting a second choroidal vessel that is a bulge portion of the vortex vein by binarization processing (Tanabe ’11: In step 1240, the image processing unit 182 sets a circle 404 having a predetermined radius centered on the VV position 402 in the generated binarized image, as shown in FIG. 17, (Pg. 7, par. 9); see Note 1G) based on the OCT volume data (see Note 1H) and generating a second three-dimensional image of the second choroidal vessel (Tanabe: a choroidal blood vessel image is generated from the first fundus image, Pg. 3, par. 8; see Note 1F);
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to combine the teachings of Tanabe ‘11 with Mei in view of Tanabe ‘09. Extracting a second choroidal vessel that is a bulge portion of the vortex vein by binarization processing based on the OCT volume data and generating a second three-dimensional image of the second choroidal vessel, as in Tanabe ‘11, would benefit the Mei in view of Tanabe ’09 teachings by enabling detection of the positions where choroidal veins intersect.
Regarding claim 6:
Mei teaches:
A non-transitory storage medium storing a program executable by a computer to perform (Mei: The processor may be able to execute software instructions stored in some form of memory, either volatile or non-volatile, such as random access memories, flash memories, digital hard disks, and the like. The processor may […] be part of a computer used for operations other than processing image data [0036]):
acquiring OCT volume data (Mei: acquiring 3D optical coherence tomography (OCT) volumetric data of an object of a subject [0005]) including a choroid (see Note 1A);
extracting a first choroidal vessel based on the OCT volume data and generating a first three-dimensional image of the first choroidal vessel (Mei: performing a first segmentation technique on the pre-processed data, thereby producing first segmented data, the first segmentation technique being configured to segment the physiological component from the pre-processed data [0006]; see Note 1B);
extracting a second choroidal vessel based on the OCT volume data and generating a second three-dimensional image of the second choroidal vessel (Mei: performing a second segmentation technique on the pre-processed data, thereby producing second segmented data, the second segmentation technique being configured to segment the physiological component from the pre-processed data [0006]; see Note 1B); and
generating a three-dimensional image of a choroidal vessel by combining the first three- dimensional image and the second three-dimensional image (Mei: producing the 3D segmented data by combining the first segmented data and second segmented data [0006]).
Mei fails to explicitly teach:
acquiring OCT volume data including a choroid by scanning a region of a fundus including a vortex vein;
extracting a first choroidal vessel that is a line shaped portion of the vortex vein by line shaped extraction processing and binarization processing based on the OCT volume data and generating a first three-dimensional image of the first choroidal vessel
extracting a second choroidal vessel that is a bulge portion of the vortex vein by binarization processing based on the OCT volume data and generating a second three-dimensional image of the second choroidal vessel;
Tanabe ’09 teaches:
acquiring OCT volume data including a choroid by scanning a region of a fundus including a vortex vein (Tanabe ‘09: Various fundus images are used to generate choroidal blood vessel images, (Pg. 4, par. 4); Tanabe ’09: the fundus image may be […] an image obtained by OCT angiography (Pg. 8, par. 3, Fifth Modification); see Note 1D);
extracting a first choroidal vessel that is a line shaped portion of the vortex vein by line shaped extraction processing and binarization processing (Tanabe ’09: In step 234, the image processing unit 182 binarizes the choroidal blood vessel image with a predetermined threshold value, and creates a binarized image shown in FIG. In step 236, the image processing unit 182 converts the binarized image into a line image having a width of 1 pixel as shown in FIG. 10.; see Note 1E) based on the OCT volume data (Tanabe ‘09: Various fundus images are used to generate choroidal blood vessel images, (Pg. 4, par. 4); Tanabe ’09: the fundus image may be […] an image obtained by OCT angiography (Pg. 8, par. 3, Fifth Modification)), and generating a first three-dimensional image of the first choroidal vessel (see Note 1F).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to combine the teachings of Tanabe ‘09 with Mei. Acquiring OCT volume data including a choroid by scanning a region of a fundus including a vortex vein; extracting a first choroidal vessel that is a line shaped portion of the vortex vein by line shaped extraction processing and binarization processing based on the OCT volume data and generating a first three-dimensional image of the first choroidal vessel, as in Tanabe ‘09, would benefit the Mei teachings by ensuring that a segmented blood vessel is choroidal instead of retinal or otherwise.
Mei in view of Tanabe ’09 fails to explicitly teach:
extracting a second choroidal vessel that is a bulge portion of the vortex vein by binarization processing based on the OCT volume data and generating a second three-dimensional image of the second choroidal vessel;
Tanabe ‘11 teaches:
a extracting a second choroidal vessel that is a bulge portion of the vortex vein by binarization processing (Tanabe ’11: In step 1240, the image processing unit 182 sets a circle 404 having a predetermined radius centered on the VV position 402 in the generated binarized image, as shown in FIG. 17, (Pg. 7, par. 9); see Note 1G) based on the OCT volume data (see Note 1H) and generating a second three-dimensional image of the second choroidal vessel (Tanabe: a choroidal blood vessel image is generated from the first fundus image, Pg. 3, par. 8; see Note 1F);
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to combine the teachings of Tanabe ‘11 with Mei in view of Tanabe ‘09. Extracting a second choroidal vessel that is a bulge portion of the vortex vein by binarization processing based on the OCT volume data and generating a second three-dimensional image of the second choroidal vessel, as in Tanabe ‘11, would benefit the Mei in view of Tanabe ’09 teachings by enabling detection of the positions where choroidal veins intersect.
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.
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/VINCENT ALEXANDER PROVIDENCE/Examiner, Art Unit 2617 /KING Y POON/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2617