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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
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, 3-10, 12 and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102a1 as being anticipated by Mountney et al. (U.S. Patent Application Publication 20140112438).
Instant Application 18/477218
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[0082] The interventional object identification process of the present application will be further described in detail with reference to FIG. 6. A schematic diagram 600 of identifying an interventional object in some embodiments of the present application is shown in FIG. 6. A first volumetric image 601 may be obtained by the imaging system 100 by the means described in any of the above embodiments. The interventional object 602 at least partially punctures the body of a subject to be scanned (not shown) in the interventional procedure. As set forth in the above embodiments herein, position information of the interventional object 602 relative to the subject to be scanned is acquired by the imaging system 100 for determining a second volumetric image 603. It can be understood that the second volumetric image 603 may be virtual and not used for displaying. As can be seen from FIG. 6, the range of the second volumetric image 603 is significantly smaller than the first volumetric image 601, and the second volumetric image 603 is suitable for quickly and accurately identifying the interventional object 602.
U.S. Patent Application Publication 20140112438
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As per claim 1, Mountney et al. disclose a method comprising:
(102) acquiring volumetric data regarding a subject to be scanned, and generating a first volumetric image (202) on the basis of the volumetric data;
(104) acquiring position information of the interventional object (204) relative to the subject to be scanned;
(106) determining a second volumetric image (204) on the basis of the position information, the second volumetric image having a range smaller than the first volumetric image; and
(108; 110; 111) identifying the interventional object in the second volumetric image (see for example, selected Figs. shown above).
As per claims 3-4, Mountney et al. disclose a method wherein the determining a second volumetric image on the basis of the position information comprises:
determining a position range of the interventional object in the first volumetric image on the basis of the position information; and
reducing the range of the first volumetric image on the basis of the position range of the interventional object so as to determine the second volumetric image, the interventional object being comprised in the range of the second volumetric image (see para. [0034]; see also selected Figs. shown above).
As per claims 5-7, Mountney et al. disclose a method further comprising: adjusting the range of the second volumetric image on the basis of the identification result (see paras. [0029-0030]).
As per claim 8, Mountney et al. disclose a method further comprising: displaying the first volumetric image (202) and the identified interventional object (204) (see for example selected Figs. shown above).
As per claim 9, Mountney et al. disclose a method further comprising: adjusting an angle of the first volumetric image on the basis of the identified interventional object (see for example, Fig. 8; para [0036]; not shown above).
As per claim 10, Mountney et al. disclose a method wherein the first volumetric image (202) comprises at least one of a magnetic resonance image and a computed tomography image (see para. [0022]).
As per claim 12, Mountney et al. disclose an imaging system, comprising: a volumetric data acquisition apparatus (720), for acquiring volumetric data regarding a subject to be scanned; a processor, configured to perform the method according to claim 1; and a display ((708) – see also para. [0043]), for receiving a signal from the processor so as to carry out display (see for example, Fig. 7, not shown above).
As per claim 15, Mountney et al. disclose a non-transitory computer-readable medium, having a computer program stored thereon, the computer program having at least one code segment, and the at least one code segment being executable by a machine so as to enable the machine to perform steps of the method according to claim 1. [Examiner note: claim 15 is treated similarly to the system recited in claim 12, for brevity].
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2, 11, 13 and 14 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
As per claims 2 and 11, the Examiner found no reference in the prior art that disclosed or rendered obvious a method wherein the acquiring position information of the interventional object relative to the subject to be scanned comprises:
receiving a position detection signal from a position detection unit; and determining the position information on the basis of the position detection signal, the position information comprising the position of a part of the interventional object exposed outside of the subject to be scanned relative to the subject to be scanned.
As per claims 13 and 14, the Examiner found no reference in the prior art that disclosed or rendered obvious a system further comprising: a position detection unit, for detecting the position of an interventional object relative to the subject to be scanned so as to generate a position detection signal.
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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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, David Makiya can be reached at 571-272-2273. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/COURTNEY D THOMAS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2884