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 § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claims 1-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to an abstract idea without significantly more.
Independent claim 1
A method comprising:
by a control circuit:
accessing information regarding radiation delivery parameters;
accessing a calculation algorithm; and
calculating both radiation dose and radiation dose rate volumes using the calculation algorithm and the information regarding radiation delivery parameters to provide at least one calculated radiation dose volume and at least one calculated radiation dose rate volume.
Analysis:
Claim 1 is ineligible
Step 1: Statutory Category?
Yes. The claim recites a series of steps and is therefore a process.
Step 2A-Prong 1: Judicial exception recited?
Yes. The claim recites the limitations of:
(edited for brevity, see above for full recitation of claim limitations)
accessing information … accessing a calculation algorithm … calculating … using the calculation algorithm and the information.
[Examiner treats the aforementioned limitations as examples of mathematical calculations type of abstract idea; wherein accessed data is mathematically operated on to determine/ provide a variable or number].
Examiner further note(s): claim 1 incorporates the phrase: by a control circuit, which is recited as generic computing device. Examiner takes the position that the method, carried out in a generic computing device, does not amount to significantly more than the abstract idea.
Examiner concludes that claim 1 falls under the mathematical calculations type of abstract idea. For purposes of analysis, Examiner identifies the judicial exception as an abstract idea.
Step 2A - Prong Two: Integrated into a Practical Application?
No. The claim does not recite additional elements that integrate the judicial exception into a practical application.
Step 2B: Claim provides an Inventive Concept?
No. The additional element of a control circuit, considered individually and in combination with the recited judicial exception, merely implements the mathematical calculations on a generic computing device and does not amount to significantly more than the judicial exception.
Dependent claims 2-10, when analyzed as a whole are held to be patent ineligible under 35 USC101 because the additional recited limitations fail to establish that the claims are not directed to a mathematical calculations type of abstract idea. The dependent claims further limit the process, but do not add anything significantly more that would make the claims patent eligible.
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.
Claim(s) 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102a1 as being anticipated by Khuntia et al. (U.S. Patent Application Publication 20210016108).
As per claims 1 and 11, Khuntia et al. disclose a method and corresponding apparatus, by way of a control circuit ¶ [0044], configured to:
access information regarding radiation delivery parameters ¶ [0079];
access a calculation algorithm ¶ [0051]; and
calculate both radiation dose and radiation dose rate volumes using the calculation algorithm and the information regarding radiation delivery parameters to provide at least one calculated radiation dose volume and at least one calculated radiation dose rate volume ¶¶ [0051;0082].
As per claims 2 and 12, Khuntia et al. disclose a method and corresponding apparatus, wherein the radiation delivery parameters include radiation beam delivery parameters ¶ [0058].
As per claims 3 and 13, Khuntia et al. disclose a method and corresponding apparatus, wherein the radiation beam delivery parameters comprise proton beam delivery parameters ¶ [0055].
As per claims 4, 5, 14 and 15, Khuntia et al. disclose a method and corresponding apparatus, wherein the proton beam delivery parameters include position information for particles ¶ [0082].
As per claims 6 and 16, Khuntia et al. disclose a method and corresponding apparatus, wherein the proton beam delivery parameters include: velocity information for the particles; and/or energy and directional information for the particles ¶¶ [0058; 62; 79; 82].
As per claims 7 and 17, Khuntia et al. disclose a method and corresponding apparatus, wherein the proton beam delivery parameters include temporal information corresponding to the particles ¶¶ [0064; 0079; 0082].
As per claims 8, 9 and 18-20, Khuntia et al. disclose a method and corresponding apparatus, wherein the calculation algorithm comprises a probabilistic computation ¶ [0082].
As per claim 10, Khuntia et al. disclose a method wherein the calculation algorithm includes radiation beam delivery logic ¶¶ [0058; 0064].
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to COURTNEY D THOMAS whose telephone number is (571)272-2496. The examiner can normally be reached M-F: 9 AM - 5 PM.
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/COURTNEY D THOMAS/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2884
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