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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-18 have been considered but are moot in view of new grounds of rejection.
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.
Claim(s) 1-10 and 13-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by U. S. Publication No. 2023/0132148 to Sowards et al. in view of U. S. Patent No. 11,090,118 to Taylor and further in view of U. S. Patent No. 10,231,694 to Vajinepalli et al.
Regarding Claim 1 and 18, Sowards teaches an information processing device for processing ultrasonic wave information obtained from an ultrasonic wave sensor including a plurality of ultrasonic wave elements, the information processing device comprising: an obtainer configured to obtain the ultrasonic wave information from the ultrasonic wave sensor provided on a body surface of a subject (fig. 4 teaches an ultrasonic probe for imaging); a recognizer configured to recognize a first blood vessel of the subject and a second blood vessel, based on the ultrasonic wave information, the second blood vessel being different from the first blood vessel (para 008, 017 and claim 8 teaches a control unit for detecting blood vessel and getting blood flow data); and a controller configured to cause a display to display comparison information in which first blood vessel information relating to the first blood vessel and second blood vessel information relating to the second blood vessel are compared with each other (figs. 3ab, 4, 24a-d, and 25a-d teaches a display for displaying blood vessel and flow rate data of the blood vessels) .
Sowards teaches all of the above claimed limitations but does not expressly teach a numerical value indicating of comparing between two blood vessels and a numerical value indicative of a comparison between the first blood vessel information and second blood vessel information being a ratio.
Taylor teaches a numerical value indicating of comparing between two blood vessels (figs. 21 and 22 show a graph blood flow and pressure with numerical values of blood vessels, Aorta, LAD1, LAD2, etc.).
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to modify Sowards with a numerical value indicating of comparing between two blood vessels.
as taught by Taylor, resulting in precise measurements and differences in blood flow/pressure of the two vessels.
Sowards and Taylor teach all of the above claimed limitations but does not expressly teach numerical value indicative of a comparison between the first blood vessel information and second blood vessel information being a ratio.
Vajinepalli teaches calculating a ratio of comparing the blood vessels (para 0069 and 077teaches computing a ratio, which is a numerical value).
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to modify Soward and Taylor with a numerical value indicative of a comparison between the first blood vessel information and second blood vessel information being a ratio as taught by Vajinepalli since such a setup would result in precise determination of the blood vessels.
Regarding Claim 2, Sowards teaches that the recognizer is configured to recognize respective positions of the first blood vessel and the second blood vessel (para 008 teaches comparing position of first and second blood vessel).
Regarding Claim 3 and 7, Sowards teaches that the comparison information includes information in which the first blood vessel information and the second blood vessel information in the same time period are compared with each other (para 008 teaches comparing spatial position of first and second blood vessel).
Regarding Claims 4-6, Sowards teaches that the comparison information includes information in which the first blood vessel information and the second blood vessel information in a first time period, and the first blood vessel information and the second blood vessel information in a second time period are compared with each other, the second time period being different from the first time period (para 008 and 017 teaches comparing blood vessel images with one stored in memory, as such they are taken during a second time).
Regarding Claim 8, Sowards teaches that the comparison information includes at least one of a graph or a numerical value in which the first blood vessel information and the second blood vessel information are compared with each other.
Regarding Claim 9, Sowards teaches a calculator configured to calculate the first blood vessel information and the second blood vessel information, based on the ultrasonic wave information, wherein the controller is configured to cause the display to display the comparison information in which the first blood vessel information and the second blood vessel information are compared with each other, the first blood vessel information and the second blood vessel information being calculated by the calculator (para 013 and 104 teaches a calculator for calculating parameters and comparing).
Regarding Claim 10, Sowards teaches an event obtainer configured to obtain event information relating to an event occurring in the subject, wherein the controller is configured to cause the display to display the event information together with the comparison information (para 0104 and 0105 teaches displaying the result of the comparison).
Regarding Claim 13, Sowards teaches that the first blood vessel information includes information relating to at least one of a flow velocity or a flow rate of the first blood vessel, and the second blood vessel information includes information relating to at least one of a flow velocity or a flow rate of the second blood vessel (para 0111 and 0124 teaches flow velocity in the vessel).
Regarding Claim 14, Sowards teaches that the first blood vessel and the second blood vessel are branched from a third blood vessel at a proximal position (fig. 3 teaches arteries have branches, and different images of blood vessels can be from different branches).
Regarding Claim 15, Sowards teaches that the first blood vessel and the second blood vessel are an internal carotid artery and an external carotid artery (para 003 teaches carotid artery).
Regarding Claim 16, Sowards teaches an ultrasonic wave sensor including a plurality of ultrasonic wave elements (fig. 4 teaches a probe for ultrasonic imaging).
Regarding Claim 17, Sowards teaches that the ultrasonic wave sensor further includes a sheet-shaped member attached to a body surface of a subject (fig. 4 element 148 is a rectangular transducer array, which forms the shape of a sheet).
Claim(s) 11 and 12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U. S. Publication No. 2023/0132148 to Sowards et al. in view of U. S. Patent No. 11,090,118 to Taylor further in view of U. S. Publication No. 2014/0221837 to Park et al.
Regarding Claim 11, Sowards and Taylor teaches all of the above claimed limitations but does not expressly teach that the event information includes medication event information relating to medication to the subject.
Park teaches monitoring drug administration using ultrasound (abstract, para 5 and figs. 21-23 teaches monitoring drug administration using ultrasound).
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to modify Sowards and Taylor with monitoring drug administration with ultrasound as taught by Park, since such a setup would result in monitoring the drug administration, resulting in better healthcare and efficacy of treatment for the patient.
Regarding Claim 12, Sowards teaches that the medication event information includes information relating to at least one of a type, a dose, or an administration time of a drug administered to the subject (abstract, para 5 and figs. 21-23 teaches monitoring drug administration using ultrasound).
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 nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) 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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SANJAY CATTUNGAL whose telephone number is (571)272-1306. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9-5 EST.
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/SANJAY CATTUNGAL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3798
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