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 .
Comments
The Amendment – After Non-Final Rejection filed on March 23, 2026 has been entered and made of record.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 18 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 18 recites the limitation “the lesion in the first region of interest” in line 3. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. Claim 19 depends upon claim 18.
Appropriate correction is required.
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, 2, and 9-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Park et al. (U.S. Pub. No. 2017/0262600).
Re claims 1, 9 and 10: Park et al. disclose a medical image apparatus (i.e., “apparatus for diagnosis”, Paragraph [0040]) comprising: at least one processor (i.e., “processing device”, Paragraph [0088]), wherein the processor is configured to/medical image method (i.e., “method of diagnosis”, Paragraph [0067]) executed by a processor provided in a medical image apparatus, the method comprising/a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium (i.e., “Various examples of methods and units described above may be implemented in part, with computer-readable codes. The computer readable codes may be stored in a non-transitory computer-readable recording medium”, Paragraph [0086]) storing a medical image program for causing a processor provided in a medical image apparatus to execute:
acquire/acquiring a medical image (i.e., “The medical image may be an image acquired through an ultrasonography, a Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) device, a Computed Tomograpy (CT) device or other medical devices”, Paragraph [0041]), information indicating a plurality of regions of interest included in the medical image (i.e., “analyzing unit 110 generates a group of candidate lesion areas, which is a plurality of candidate lesion areas”, Paragraph [0041]), and an attribute of each of the plurality of regions of interest (i.e., “analyzing unit 110 may generate detailed analytical information on each candidate lesion area of the plurality of candidate lesion areas”, Paragraph [0042]);
select/selecting at least one region of interest from among the plurality of regions of interest (i.e., “processing unit 120 may select one or more candidate lesion areas from among the group of candidate lesion areas generated by the analyzing unit 110”, Paragraph [0044]); and
perform/performing control to display information regarding a region of interest other than the selected region of interest (See for example, Paragraph [0050]; and “The apparatus may include an interface unit configured to arrange one or more candidate lesion areas selected from among the group of candidate lesion areas and brief analytical information about each of the one or more selected candidate lesion areas in a first region of an interface according to a predetermined criterion”, Paragraph [0078]) based on an attribute of the selected region of interest,
wherein the processor performs control to display information indicating a presence of a region of interest having an attribute different from the attribute of the selected region of interest as the control to display the information regarding the region of interest (i.e., “in the event that a user selects one of the candidate lesion areas 21 displayed on the first region 20, detailed analytical information about the user selected candidate lesion area 21 may be displayed on the second region 30 of the interface in 350”, Paragraph [0075]; the information about regions not selected, i.e., the images for the regions labeled BIRADS Class 2, Shape: Oval, BIRADS Class 3, Shape: Round, BIRADS Class 5, Shape: Irregular, and BIRADS Class 5, Shape: Irregular are still displayed in the interface).
Re claim 2: Park et al. disclose wherein the processor is configured to perform control to display information regarding a region of interest having the same attribute as the attribute of the selected region of interest (i.e., “in the event that two or more candidate lesion areas 21 have the same class level, a candidate lesion area 21 having a higher priority may be arranged closer to the center of the first region than other candidate lesion areas 21 having a relatively lower priority”, Paragraph [0056]).
Re claims 11-13: Park et al. disclose a medical image apparatus (i.e., “apparatus for diagnosis”, Paragraph [0040]) comprising: at least one processor (i.e., “processing device”, Paragraph [0088]), wherein the processor is configured to/a medical image method (i.e., “method of diagnosis”, Paragraph [0067]) executed by a processor provided in a medical image apparatus, the method comprising/a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium (i.e., “Various examples of methods and units described above may be implemented in part, with computer-readable codes. The computer readable codes may be stored in a non-transitory computer-readable recording medium”, Paragraph [0086]) storing a medical image program for causing a processor provided in a medical image apparatus to execute:
acquire/acquiring a medical image (i.e., “The medical image may be an image acquired through an ultrasonography, a Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) device, a Computed Tomograpy (CT) device or other medical devices”, Paragraph [0041]), information indicating a plurality of regions of interest included in the medical image (i.e., “analyzing unit 110 generates a group of candidate lesion areas, which is a plurality of candidate lesion areas”, Paragraph [0041]), and an attribute of each of the plurality of regions of interest (i.e., “analyzing unit 110 may generate detailed analytical information on each candidate lesion area of the plurality of candidate lesion areas”, Paragraph [0042]);
select/selecting at least one region of interest from among the plurality of regions of interest (i.e., “processing unit 120 may select one or more candidate lesion areas from among the group of candidate lesion areas generated by the analyzing unit 110”, Paragraph [0044]);
generate/generating a comment on findings for a region of interest (i.e., “In response to the generation of the group of candidate lesion areas, detailed analytical information including feature information, class information and diagnostic result information may be generated with respect to each of the candidate lesion areas”, Paragraph [0070]) having the same attribute as an attribute of the selected region of interest (i.e., “the medical image may depict tissues or cell masses that are suspected of being abnormal”, Paragraph [0068]); and
display/displaying information indicating a presence of a region of interest having an attribute different (i.e., “in the event that a user selects one of the candidate lesion areas 21 displayed on the first region 20, detailed analytical information about the user selected candidate lesion area 21 may be displayed on the second region 30 of the interface in 350”, Paragraph [0075]; the information about regions not selected, i.e., the images for the regions labeled BIRADS Class 2, Shape: Oval, BIRADS Class 3, Shape: Round, BIRADS Class 5, Shape: Irregular, and BIRADS Class 5, Shape: Irregular are still displayed in the interface) from the attribute of the selected region of interest (See for example, Paragraph [0050]; and “The apparatus may include an interface unit configured to arrange one or more candidate lesion areas selected from among the group of candidate lesion areas and brief analytical information about each of the one or more selected candidate lesion areas in a first region of an interface according to a predetermined criterion”, Paragraph [0078]).
Claims 14-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Matsuki (U.S. Pub. No. 2017/0300664).
Re claim 14: Matsuki disclose a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium (i.e., “Embodiment(s) of the present invention can also be realized by a computer of a system or apparatus that reads out and executes computer executable instructions (e.g., one or more programs) recorded on a storage medium (which may also be referred to more fully as a ‘non-transitory computer-readable storage medium’) to perform the functions of one or more of the above-described embodiment(s)”, Paragraph [0182]) storing a medical image program to execute:
acquiring a medical image (i.e., “The medical image photographing apparatus 40 captures a medical image”, Paragraph [0033]) and a plurality of regions of interest included in the medical image (i.e., Paragraphs [0054] and [0064]-[0065]);
selecting at least one first region of interest designated by a user from among the plurality of regions of interest (i.e., “a target region specified by the doctor”, Paragraph [0085]) when creating a report regarding the medical image (See for example, Paragraph [0134]);
highlighting both the first region of interest designated by the user and a second region of interest (i.e., “the target regions in the individual medical images 710, 730, and 750 are specified by the doctor as a plurality of associated lesion regions”, Paragraph [0085]),
which is distinct from the first region of interest and identified based on the first region of interest designated by the user (i.e., “An indicator 761 based on the indicator 751 included in the medical image 750, an indicator 762 based on the indicator 752 included in the medical image 750, and an indicator 763 based on the indicator 753 included in the medical image 750 are included in the representative image 760”, Paragraph [0086]; and “corresponding region information and corresponding findings information in the medical report generation apparatus 10 may be highlighted. In this case, if information on a plurality of findings is associated with one region information, all the associated findings information may be highlighted”, Paragraph [0137]).
Re claim 15: Matsuki disclose wherein the first region of interest is a region of a lesion designated by the user as a subject of the report (i.e., “the target regions in the individual medical images 710, 730, and 750 are specified by the doctor as a plurality of associated lesion regions”, Paragraph [0085]).
Re claim 16: Matsuki disclose wherein the first region of interest is designated by an arrow representing a mouse pointer (See for example, FIG. 7, “The medical image 710 includes an indicator 711 indicating a target region specified by the doctor”, Paragraph [0085]).
Re claim 17: Matsuki disclose wherein the first region of interest is located at a different position from the second region of interest (See for example, FIG. 7, “representative image 760”, Paragraph [0086]).
Re claim 18, as best understood: Matsuki disclose wherein the second region of interest is a region of interest having a same name or a same degree of malignancy as the lesion in the first region of interest but located at a different position (See for example, “the representative images 1411 to 1413 in the region information in the same group (that is, having the same group ID) are associated with a common findings input frame 1421 and a common diagnosis input frame 1422 in display”, Paragraph [0167]).
Re claim 19: Matsuki disclose wherein the first region of interest and the second region of interest have a same attribute (See for example, “the representative images 1411 to 1413 in the region information in the same group (that is, having the same group ID) are associated with a common findings input frame 1421 and a common diagnosis input frame 1422 in display”, Paragraph [0167]).
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 6 and 8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Park et al. in view of Futamura et al. (U.S. Pub. No. 2021/0056690). The teachings of Park et al. have been discussed above.
As to claim 6, Park et al. does not explicitly disclose wherein the processor is configured to perform control to highlight the region of interest as the control to display the information regarding the region of interest.
Futamura et al. teaches a processor (i.e., “controller 21”, Paragraph [0034]) that is configured to perform control to highlight the region of interest as the control to display the information regarding the region of interest (i.e., “the controller 21 generates the display information of the lesion-detected regions (heatmap display information of each lesion-detected region and character information indicating the type of the lesion in each lesion-detected region) that is superimposed on the medical image. The heatmap display information is, for example, information colored according to the values of the certainty degrees”, Paragraph [0090]).
Park et al. and Futamura et al. are analogous art because they are from the field of digital image processing for medical imaging.
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify Park et al. by incorporating the processor is configured to perform control to highlight the region of interest as the control to display the information regarding the region of interest, as taught by Futamura et al.
The suggestion/motivation for doing so would have been to make the display forms of the lesion detected regions differ according to priority degrees.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to combine Futamura et al. with Park et al. to obtain the invention as specified in claim 6.
As to claim 8, Park et al. does not explicitly disclose wherein the processor is configured to, in a case where an attribute of the region of interest other than the selected region of interest is different from an attribute detected in the past, perform control to further display information indicating that the attributes are different.
Futamura et al. teaches a processor (i.e., “controller 21”, Paragraph [0034]) that is configured to, in a case where an attribute of the region of interest other than the selected region of interest is different from an attribute detected in the past, perform control to further display information indicating that the attributes are different (i.e., “a pneumothorax-detected region that is not present in the past medical image is first displayed with large characters, and thereafter it is switched and lesion-detected regions of the other lesions are displayed with small characters. This allows an interpreter to first interpret new lesion-detected regions, which are not present in a past image(s), with focus thereon and also check pre-existing lesions”, Paragraph [0110]).
Therefore, in view of Futamura et al., it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Park et al. by incorporating the processor is configured to, in a case where an attribute of the region of interest other than the selected region of interest is different from an attribute detected in the past, perform control to further display information indicating that the attributes are different, in order to allow the user to interpret new detected lesions with focus and also check pre-existing lesions.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4 and 5 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: the closest prior art made of record fails to disclose, teach, and/or suggest, inter alia, the medical image apparatus according to claim 1, and further comprising the processor is configured to, in a case where the number of regions of interest having the same attribute as the attribute of the selected region of interest is equal to or greater than a threshold value, perform control to display the information regarding the region of interest having the attribute different from the attribute of the selected region of interest.
Response to Arguments
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
With respect to claims 1-3, 6, and 8-13, Applicant’s arguments (Remarks dated March 23, 2026, page 9) have been fully considered. However, in view of the instant amendment and upon further consideration and search, the previous ground(s) of rejection have been withdrawn. A new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of Park et al. and Futamura et al. (Refer to Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102 and Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 Sections above).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JOSE M TORRES whose telephone number is (571)270-1356. The examiner can normally be reached Monday thru Friday; 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM EST.
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/JOSE M TORRES/Examiner, Art Unit 2664 06/09/2026
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