DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application is being examined under the pre-AIA first to invent provisions.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group I (claims 1-3, 8, and 16) in the reply filed on July 8, 2026, is acknowledged. Claims 4-7 and 9-15 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
(a) A patent may not be obtained though the invention is not identically disclosed or described as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the subject matter sought to be patented and the prior art are such that the subject matter as a whole would have been obvious at the time the invention was made to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which said subject matter pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 1-3 and 16 is/are rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Thomson et al. (US 2006/0074292; hereinafter Thomson) in view of Lee (US 2004/0165696).
Regarding claim 1, Thomson discloses a radiation treatment planning system (520) comprising: a computing device (par. 34); wherein the computing device is configured to: acquire a calculated position of each of the at least one radiation beam required to treat a target tissue in a patient, wherein each of the positions is a function of a phase of a physiological cycle of the patient (par. 46); determine dosages in the target tissue to be irradiated (par. 46), wherein timing of some or all of the at least one radiation beam is based on the phase of the physiological cycle of the patient (abstract and par. 5).
However, Thomson fails to disclose an interface for a user to communicate with the computing device and plan delivery of at least one radiation beam.
Lee teaches an interface for a user (106) to communicate with the computing device (100) and plan delivery (24) of at least one radiation beam (title).
It would have been obvious, to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made, to modify Thomson with the teaching of Lee, since one would have been motivated to make such a modification for allowing more user input, improved care, and efficiency (Lee: pars. 12 and 92).
Regarding claim 2, Thomson discloses wherein the calculated position of each of the at least one radiation beam is acquired based on a received image volume encompassing the target tissue (abstract).
Regarding claim 3, Thomson discloses wherein the image volume is generated by at least one of computed tomography (CT) (abstract), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), positron emission tomography (PET), X-ray, and ultrasound.
Regarding claim 16, Thomson discloses wherein the physiological cycle is a heartbeat cycle or a respiratory cycle (par. 7).
Claim 8 is/are rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Thomson and Lee as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Meier et al. (WO 2006/012631 A2; hereinafter Meier).
Thomson as modified above suggests claim 1. Thomson further discloses wherein the computing device is further configured to: acquire a baseline set of a plurality of images of the target tissue with each image taken at a different phase of the physiological cycle (fig. 2, abstract: with CT images) and registered to a phase at which the image was taken (par. 7); acquire a current image of the target tissue, wherein the current image of the target tissue is taken at a current phase of the physiological cycle (135); register the current image of the target tissue to an image in the baseline set of a plurality of images of the target tissue that occurred at a same phase of the physiological cycle as the current phase of the physiological cycle (140); and calculate the calculated position of the each of the at least one radiation beam based on the registration (par. 46).
However, Thomson fails to disclose updating.
Meier teaches updating (par. 50, fig. 2: by modifying (142) the plan (102)).
It would have been obvious, to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made, to modify Thomson with the teaching of Meier, since one would have been motivated to make such a modification for enhancing efficiency and efficacy (Meier: par. 3).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Chih-Cheng Kao whose telephone number is (571)272-2492. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9-5.
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/Chih-Cheng Kao/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2884
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