/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 .
DETAILED ACTION
This communication is in responsive to the Amendment filed on 04/29/2026.
In the Instant amendment, claims 2, 4-5 and 18-20 were canceled; Claims 1, 10 and 16 have been amended; Claims 1, 10 and 16 are independent claims; Claims 1, 3 and 6-17 have been examined and are pending. This Action is made FINAL.
Response to Arguments
While Applicant’s arguments are not found persuasive, in attempt to accelerate the process of prosecution, the Examiner applies new ground(s) of rejections to reject claims 1, 10 and 16 reciting Yu (US 2018/0203682). The Examiner reserves the right to re-apply previous recited references (i.e., Stolikj et al., US 2023/0418721) when needed.
Claim Objections
Claim 3 is objected to because of the following informalities:
Regarding claim 3, Claim 3 recites the limitation “[t]he processor-implemented method of claim 2.” However, claim 2 has been canceled. For the purpose of applying art, claim 3 is considered as depending on claim 1.
Appropriate correction is required.
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 of this title, 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, 3 and 6-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bohle (US 2008/0189646), published on Aug. 7, 2008, in view of Yu (US 2018/0203682), published on Jul. 19, 2018.
Regarding claim 1, Bohle discloses a processor-implemented method comprising:
receiving user input from one or more user input devices (pars. 0023, 0029 and 0038; Figs. 1 and 9; receiving input 104 into a UI display 105 of computing device 101), the user input corresponding to a selected element of a displayed graphical user interface having one or more software hooks to functionality provided by an undisplayed interface (pars. 0023, 0029, 0038 and 0041; Figs. 1, 4-6 and 9; the transactional logic 201 of the legacy program 107 may be used to perform a function with data input by the user 100; the software upgrade 1000 may implement a hook function to capture the user input and responsive commands performed by the legacy program);
determining one or more corresponding target functions of the undisplayed interface based on the selected element (pars. 0023, 0029, 0038 and 0041; Figs. 1, 4-6 and 9; the transactional logic 201 of the legacy program 107 may be used to perform a function with data input by the user 100).
Bohle does not explicitly disclose wherein the one or more corresponding target functions include controlling operation of a medical image device.
However, Yu discloses a unified extensible firmware interface, wherein one or more corresponding target functions include controlling operation of a medical image device (Yu: par. 0020; user interface input devices may include medical imaging input devices such as computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, position emission tomography, medical ultrasonography device).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine teachings of Yu with the system/method of Bohle. One would have been motivated to provide users with a unified extensible firmware interface enabling new customized codes/applications can be serviced by the existing protocol interface function of a medical image device (Yu: pars. 0020 and 0056).
The combination of Bohle and Yu further discloses:
executing the one or more corresponding target functions via the one or more software hooks (Bohle: pars. 0023, 0029, 0038 and 0041; Figs. 1, 4-6 and 9; the software upgrade 1000 may implement a hook function to capture the user input and responsive commands performed by the legacy program; Yu: pars. 0056 and 0060-0064; Figs. 2 and 5-6; hook function 230; vendor core reference code modules 206, and customization modules 212); and
displaying one or more changes to the displayed graphical user interface based on the execution of the one or more corresponding target functions (Bohle: pars. 0028-0029 and 0035-0041; Figs. 1, 4-6 and 9; step 916; create new UI for display to the user at 900);
wherein the displayed graphical user interface is stored on a first computing device and displayed by the first computing device, the undisplayed interface is stored on a second computing device, and the one or more software hooks are stored on a server (Bohle: pars. 0023-0026; Figs. 1-4; server 103; the UI module and the intermediary module 106 and/or the legacy program 107 may be executed by different system components; Yu: pars. 0056 and 0060-0064; Figs. 2 and 5-6), and wherein the second computing device is configured to receive and process medical imaging data from the medical imaging device (Bohle: pars. 0021, 0023-0026 and 0036; Figs. 1-2; Yu: pars. 0020, 0056 and 0060-0064; Figs. 2 and 5-6; user interface input devices may include medical imaging input devices such as computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, position emission tomography, medical ultrasonography device), and the displayed graphical user interface is configured to display images acquired by the medical imaging device (Bohle: pars. 0021, 0023-0026 and 0036; event detection to detect user interaction with a UI; Figs. 1-2; Yu: pars. 0020, 0056 and 0060-0064; Figs. 2 and 5-6; user interface input devices may include medical imaging input devices such as computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, position emission tomography, medical ultrasonography device).
Regarding claim 3, Bohle and Yu disclose the processor-implemented method of claim [[2]] 1.
The combination of Bohle and Yu further discloses wherein the server is communicatively coupled to the first computing device and the second computing device (Bohle: pars. 0028-0029 and 0035-0041; Figs. 1, 4-6 and 9; Yu: pars. 0056 and 0060-0064; Figs. 2 and 5-6).
The motivation is the same that of claim 1 above.
Regarding claim 6, Bohle and Yu disclose the processor-implemented method of claim 1.
Bohle further discloses wherein the displayed graphical user interface comprises layouts, windows, buttons, icons, menus, or a combination thereof (Bohle: par. 0044; Undo/Execute button).
Regarding claim 7, Bohle and Yu the processor-implemented method of claim 1.
Bohle further discloses wherein the selected element comprises a window, button, image, icon, or menu (Bohle: par. 0044; Undo/Execute button).
Regarding claim 8, Bohle and Yu disclose the processor-implemented method of claim 1.
Bohle and Yu further disclose wherein the one or more corresponding target functions are determined based on a mapping between elements of the displayed graphical user interface and a plurality of target functions of the undisplayed interface (Bohle: pars. 0041 and 0045-0047; software upgrade 1000 may implement a hook function to capture the user input and responsive commands performed by the legacy program; the action bay be mapped to one or more commands for input to a legacy program; Yu: pars. 0056 and 0060-0064; Figs. 2 and 5-6).
The motivation is the same that of claim 1 above.
Regarding claim 9, Bohle and Yu disclose the processor-implemented method of claim 8.
Bohle and Yu further disclose wherein the elements of the displayed graphical user interface comprise the selected element, and wherein the plurality of target functions comprises the one or more corresponding target functions (pars. 0023, 0029, 0038 and 0041; Figs. 1, 4-6 and 9; Yu: pars. 0056 and 0060-0064; Figs. 2 and 5-6).
The motivation is the same that of claim 1 above.
Regarding claim 10, claim 10 is directed to a non-transitory computer-readable medium corresponding to the method recited in claim 1. Claim 10 is similar in scope to claim 1, and is therefore rejected under similar rationale.
Regarding claim 11, Bohle and Yu disclose the non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10.
Bohle further disclose wherein the selected element comprises a Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) element (Bohle: pars. 0027-0029; web interface [i.e., HTML] displayed on browser).
Regarding claim 12, Bohle and Yu disclose the non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10.
Bohle and Yu further disclose wherein the displayed graphical user interface is part of a first software application, and wherein the undisplayed interface is part of a second software application (Bohle: pars. 0023, 0029, 0038 and 0041; Figs. 1, 4-6 and 9; Yu: pars. 0056 and 0060-0064; Figs. 2 and 5-6).
The motivation is the same that of claim 1 above.
Regarding claim 13, Bohle and Yu disclose the non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 12.
Bohle further discloses wherein the first software application comprises a web page (Bohle: pars. 0027-0029; web interface displayed on web browser).
Regarding claim 14, Bohle and Yu disclose the non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 13.
Bohle further discloses wherein the web page is updated by a web browser (Bohle: pars. 0028-0029 and 0035-0041; create new web UI for display to the user).
Regarding claim 16, Bohle discloses a system (Figs. 1-4), comprising:
a first computing device configured to:
display a graphical user interface (Figs. 1-4 and 9);
receive user input from one or more user input devices (pars. 0023, 0029 and 0038; Figs. 1 and 9; receiving input 104 into a UI display 105 of computing device 101), the user input corresponding to a selected element of the displayed graphical user interface having one or more software hooks to functionality provided by an undisplayed interface (pars. 0023, 0029, 0038 and 0041; Figs. 1, 4-6 and 9; the transactional logic 201 of the legacy program 107 may be used to perform a function with data input by the user 100; the software upgrade 1000 may implement a hook function to capture the user input and responsive commands performed by the legacy program); and
transmit an indication of the selected element (pars. 0023, 0029 and 0035-0036; the intermediary module 106 may send this information to the legacy program 107 for processing by the legacy program's transaction logic 201); and
a second computing device configured to:
receive the indication of the selected element (pars. 0023, 0029 and 0035-0036; the intermediary module 106 may send this information to the legacy program 107 for processing by the legacy program's transaction logic 201);
determine one or more corresponding target functions of the undisplayed interface based on the selected element (pars. 0023, 0029, 0038 and 0041; Figs. 1, 4-6 and 9; the transactional logic 201 of the legacy program 107 may be used to perform a function with data input by the user 100);
receive an output associated with the execution of the one or more corresponding target functions (pars. 0023, 0029, 0038 and 0041; Figs. 1, 4-6 and 9; the software upgrade 1000 may implement a hook function to capture the user input and responsive commands performed by the legacy program);
Bohle does not explicitly disclose wherein the one or more corresponding target functions include controlling operation of a medical image device;
However, Yu discloses a unified extensible firmware interface, However, Yu discloses a unified extensible firmware interface, wherein the one or more corresponding target functions include controlling operation of a medical image device (Yu: par. 0020; user interface input devices may include medical imaging input devices such as computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, position emission tomography, medical ultrasonography device)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine teachings of Yu with the system/method of Bohle. One would have been motivated to provide users with a unified extensible firmware interface enabling new customized codes/applications can be serviced by the existing protocol interface function of a medical image device (Yu: pars. 0020 and 0056).
The combination of Bohle and Yu further discloses
instruct a third computing device to execute the one or more corresponding target functions via the one or more software hooks (Bohle: pars. 0023, 0029, 0038 and 0041; Figs. 1, 4-6 and 9; Yu: pars. 0040-0046; Figs. 2 and 4-6; performing customization functions using hook functions 230);
receive an output associated with the execution of the one or more corresponding target functions (Bohle: pars. 0023, 0029, 0038 and 0041; Figs. 1, 4-6 and 9; the software upgrade 1000 may implement a hook function to capture the user input and responsive commands performed by the legacy program; Yu: pars. 0020, 0056 and 0060-0064; Figs. 2 and 5-6), wherein the output is associated with control of the medical image device, display of the medical imagery, or a combination thereof (Bohle: pars. 0023, 0029, 0038 and 0041; Figs. 1, 4-6 and 9; the software upgrade 1000 may implement a hook function to capture the user input and responsive commands performed by the legacy program; Yu: pars. 0020, 0056 and 0060-0064; Figs. 2 and 5-6; user interface input devices may include medical imaging input devices such as computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, position emission tomography, medical ultrasonography device); and
instruct the first computing device to change one or more elements of the displayed graphical user interface based on the output (Bohle: pars. 0028-0029 and 0035-0041; Figs. 1, 4-6 and 9; step 916; create new UI for display to the user at 900; Yu: pars. 0020, 0056 and 0060-0064; Figs. 2 and 5-6). wherein the second computing device comprises a server, and wherein the third computing device is configured to receive and process medical imaging data from the medical imaging device (Bohle: pars. 0021, 0023-0026 and 0036; event detection to detect user interaction with a UI; Figs. 1-2; Yu: pars. 0020, 0056 and 0060-0064; Figs. 2 and 5-6; user interface input devices may include medical imaging input devices such as computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, position emission tomography, medical ultrasonography device), and the displayed graphical user interface is configured to display images acquired by the medical imaging device (Bohle: pars. 0028-0029 and 0035-0041; Figs. 1, 4-6 and 9; Yu: pars. 0020, 0056 and 0060-0064; Figs. 2 and 5-6; user interface input devices may include medical imaging input devices such as computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, position emission tomography, medical ultrasonography device).
Regarding claim 17, Bohle and Yu disclose the system of claim 16.
Bohle further discloses wherein the indication of the selected element comprises an input event (Bohle: pars. 0021 and 0036; event detection to detect user interaction with a UI).
Claim 15 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bohle (US 2008/0189646), published on Aug. 7, 2008, in view of Yu (US 2018/0203682), published on Jul. 19, 2018, and further in view of Bender (US 2022/0405157), published on Dec. 22, 2022.
Regarding claim 15, Bohle and Yu disclose the non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 12.
Bohle and Yu do not explicitly disclose wherein the first software application and the second software application are managed by a shared operating system.
However, Bender discloses a system, wherein the first software application and the second software application are managed by a shared operating system (Bender: par. 0033; the shared service of the Operating System is used for the execution of the first application and the second application).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine teachings of Bender with the system/method of Bohle and Yu. One would have been motivated to facilitate the execution of multiple software applications on the same Operating System (Bender: par. 0033).
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 extension fee 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.
Inquiry
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LINH K PHAM whose telephone number is (571)270-3230. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Thursday from 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM (EST).
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, William L Bashore can be reached on (571) 272-4088. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/LINH K PHAM/
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2174
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