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 .
2. Applicant’s amendments, filed 11/24/2025, with respect to prior 35 USC 101 and 112 rejections of claims 1, 3-9, 11-17 and 19-20 have been fully considered and are persuasive. The 35 USC 101 and 112 rejections of claims 1, 3-9, 11-17 and 19-20 has been withdrawn.
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1, 19 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
4. 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, 11-12, 15-16, 17-19, 21-22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mugler (U.S. Publication 20040051527) in view of Zeller (U.S. Publication 20190250224).
Regarding claim 1, Mugler teaches a computer-implemented method for ascertaining flip angles of a magnetic resonance sequence with variable flip angles (method for spin echo train MRI using variable refocusing flip angles calculated to achieve prescribed signal evolution [0011-13), wherein the magnetic resonance sequence comprises at least one echo train with an excitation pulse and a plurality of refocusing pulses (fig. 1 excitation pulse alpha followed by multiple refocusing pules Beta in echo train [0065]), the method comprising: ascertaining in each case an adapted flip angle for at least one part of the plurality of refocusing pulses (“calculating flip angles for each refocusing pulse in echo train” [0068-0070]).
Mugler does not explicitly teach wherein a respective initial flip angle for a respective refocusing pulse of the at least one part of the plurality of refocusing pulses is adapted such that at least one specified boundary condition is met to provide a respective adapted flip angle, and wherein the at least one specified boundary condition comprises a performance limit of a radio-frequency amplifier of a magnetic resonance apparatus and/or a maximum specific absorption rate of a patient.
However Zeller in a relevant art teaching a method for operating a magnetic resonance MR apparatus during the acquisition of magnetic resonance data teaches wherein a respective initial flip angle for a respective refocusing pulse of the at least one part of the plurality of refocusing pulses is adapted such that at least one specified boundary condition is met to provide a respective adapted flip angle, and wherein the at least one specified boundary condition comprises a performance limit of a radio-frequency amplifier of a magnetic resonance apparatus and/or a maximum specific absorption rate of a patient (a magnetic resonance method in which , after at least one excitation pulse, multiple refocusing pulses are radiated during a readout period, and wherein the respective strengths of the refocusing pulses proceed according to a flip angle variation over time that is defined so as to minimize the specific absorption rate (SAR) of the patient [0001], selecting flip angle variations in order to further reduce the SAR of the patient compared with the use of identical flip angle variations [0011-0013], refocusing pulses of particularly high power entail a particularly high SAR load, and that selecting flip angle variations prevents such high power refocusing pulses from occurring [0014]).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the flip angle determination of Mugler such that a respective initial flip angle for a respective refocusing pulse is adapted to meet a specified boundary condition comprising a maximum SAR of a patient as taught by Zeller to effectively maintaining refocusing pulse amplitudes with patient SAR limits while preserving the prescribed signal evolution.
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Regarding claims 11, Mugler further discloses ascertaining a global reduction factor according to the formula,
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and wherein the global reduction factor is applied to each refocusing pulse of the at least one part of the plurality of refocusing pulses (applying a prescribed signal level across echo train, which is equivalent to globally scaling flip angles to maintain target evolution [0067, 71]).
Regarding claims 12, Mugler further discloses ascertaining an individual reduction factor for each refocusing pulse of the at least one part of the plurality of refocusing pulses wherein a respective individual reduction factor is ascertained by multiplying a global reduction factor by a weighting of the magnitude integral of the respective refocusing pulse, and wherein the global reduction factor is ascertained according to the following formula (linear or exponential decay signal evolution, varying flip angles to enforce signal profiles such as exponential or linear decay [0067]).
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(calculating flip angles for individually for each pulse [0068-0070]).
Regarding claims 15, Mugler further discloses wherein the ascertaining of the respective adapted flip angle for at least one part of the plurality of refocusing pulses is carried out based on a maximum magnitude integral available in an entire echo train
Regarding claims 16, Mugler further discloses ascertaining an adapted flip angle for a refocusing pulse that precedes the at least one part of the plurality of refocusing pulses
Regarding claim 17, Mugler further discloses wherein the magnetic resonance sequence is a Turbo Spin Echo (TSE) sequence (“an infinite number of possibilities for spatially encoding the MR signal following each refocusing RF pulse. For the purpose of this disclosure, we define the term "spin-echo-train" imaging to encompass all of these possibilities, including, but not limited thereto, RARE, turbo-SE, fast-SE and GRASE imaging” [0005]).
Regarding claim 18, Mugler further discloses wherein the TSE sequence is a Half-Fourier Acquisition Single-shot Turbo spin Echo imaging (HASTE) sequence, or a Sampling Perfection with Application optimized Contrasts using different flip angle Evolution (SPACE) sequence (applies to generalized spin echo train methods including RARE, turbo-SE, fast-SE these encompasses HASSTE and SPACE implementations [0005].
Regarding claim 19, Mugler discloses a magnetic resonance apparatus comprising: a control unit (fig. 7 (11) [0057]) configured to: receive a magnetic resonance sequence having variable flip angles method for spin echo train MRI using variable refocusing flip angles calculated to achieve prescribed signal evolution [0011-13), wherein the magnetic resonance sequence comprises at least one echo train with an excitation pulse and a plurality of refocusing pulses (fig. 1 excitation pulse alpha followed by multiple refocusing pules Beta in echo train [0065]); and ascertain in each case an adapted flip angle for at least one part of the plurality of refocusing pulses (“calculating flip angles for each refocusing pulse in echo train” [0068-0070]).
Mugler does not explicitly teach wherein a respective initial flip angle for a respective refocusing pulse of the at least one part of the plurality of refocusing pulses is adapted such that at least one specified boundary condition is met to provide a respective adapted flip angle, and wherein the at least one specified boundary condition comprises a performance limit of a radio-frequency amplifier of a magnetic resonance apparatus and/or a maximum specific absorption rate of a patient.
However Zeller in a relevant art teaching a method for operating a magnetic resonance MR apparatus during the acquisition of magnetic resonance data teaches wherein a respective initial flip angle for a respective refocusing pulse of the at least one part of the plurality of refocusing pulses is adapted such that at least one specified boundary condition is met to provide a respective adapted flip angle, and wherein the at least one specified boundary condition comprises a performance limit of a radio-frequency amplifier of a magnetic resonance apparatus and/or a maximum specific absorption rate of a patient (a magnetic resonance method in which , after at least one excitation pulse, multiple refocusing pulses are radiated during a readout period, and wherein the respective strengths of the refocusing pulses proceed according to a flip angle variation over time that is defined so as to minimize the specific absorption rate (SAR) of the patient [0001], selecting flip angle variations in order to further reduce the SAR of the patient compared with the use of identical flip angle variations [0011-0013], refocusing pulses of particularly high power entail a particularly high SAR load, and that selecting flip angle variations prevents such high power refocusing pulses from occurring [0014]).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the flip angle determination of Mugler such that a respective initial flip angle for a respective refocusing pulse is adapted to meet a specified boundary condition comprising a maximum SAR of a patient as taught by Zeller to effectively maintaining refocusing pulse amplitudes with patient SAR limits while preserving the prescribed signal evolution.
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Regarding claim 21-22, the performance limit of the radio- frequency amplifier comprises a maximum electrical charging capacity (The MR apparatus also comprises an RF receiver system including an RF receiver coil which is connected via transmitter/receiver circuit 9 to signal amplification and demodulation unit 10 amplifier inherently with maximum charging capacity)
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
10. 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 3-6, 7-10, 13-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mugler (U.S. Publication 20040051527) in view of Park (U.S. Publication 20080278159).
Regarding claim 3, Mugler teaches wherein the ascertaining of the respective adapted flip angle comprises: providing in each case [[an]] the initial flip angle for each refocusing pulse of the at least one part of the plurality of refocusing pulses (initial refocusing flip angles and calculating subsequent flip angles [0066-0069]); and.
Mugler does not explicitly teach providing a magnitude integral of the excitation pulse; providing a respective magnitude integral of the plurality of refocusing pulses; wherein the respective magnitude integral is a temporal integral over an amount of an amplitude of the respective refocusing pulse; ascertaining the respective adapted flip angle for at least one part of the plurality of refocusing pulses based on the magnitude integral of the excitation pulse, the respective magnitude integral of the plurality of refocusing pulses, and the respective initial flip angle for each refocusing pulse of the at least one part of the plurality of refocusing pulses.
However Park teaching turbo spin echo imaging sequence with long echo trains teaches providing a magnitude integral of the excitation pulse (Bloch equation based calculations that necessarily integrate the magnitude of the excitation over times [0014]); providing a respective magnitude integral of the plurality of refocusing pulses wherein the respective magnitude integral is a temporal integral over an amount of an amplitude of the respective refocusing pulse; (as part of the block equation simulation computing signal magnitude of each of the refocusing pulse [0027-30]); ascertaining the respective adapted flip angle for at least one part of the plurality of refocusing pulses based on the magnitude integral of the excitation pulse, the respective magnitude integral of the plurality of refocusing pulses, and the respective initial flip angle for each refocusing pulse of the at least one part of the plurality of refocusing pulses (refining flip flop angles based on simulated magnitude values from Bloch equation [0014]).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the Bloch equation based magnitude integral and weighting technique of Park in Mugler signal framework to gain the advantage of optimizing refocusing flip angles to yield predictable improvements like improved contrast for MR images.
Regarding claim 4, Mugler as modified further teaches wherein the ascertaining of the respective adapted flip angle further comprises providing an initial reduction factor for reducing the excitation pulse and the plurality of refocusing pulses wherein the initial reduction factor is based on a power required when applying the magnetic resonance sequence compared to an available power of the magnetic resonance apparatus (prescribing a signal level across the echo train, which require scaling excitation and refocusing pules [0067, 71, 86] reduction factor is simply a mathematical formalization of scaling excitation/ refocusing pulses with predictable results for e.g. SAR), and wherein the ascertaining of the respective adapted flip angle for at least one part of the plurality of refocusing pulses is further carried out based on the initial reduction factor (prescribing a signal level across the echo train, which require scaling excitation and refocusing pules [0067, 71, 86] reduction factor is simply a mathematical formalization of scaling excitation/ refocusing pulses with predictable results for e.g. SAR).
Regarding claims 5, Mugler as modified further teaches ascertaining a global reduction factor according to the formula,
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, and wherein the global reduction factor is applied to each refocusing pulse of the at least one part of the plurality of refocusing pulses (applying a prescribed signal level across echo train, which is equivalent to globally scaling flip angles to maintain target evolution [0067, 71]).
Regarding claims 6, Mugler as modified further teaches ascertaining an individual reduction factor for each refocusing pulse of the at least one part of the plurality of refocusing pulses, wherein a respective individual reduction factor is ascertained by multiplying a global reduction factor by a weighting of the magnitude integral of the respective refocusing pulse, and wherein the global reduction factor is ascertained according to the following formula (linear or exponential decay signal evolution, varying flip angles to enforce signal profiles such as exponential or linear decay [0067]).
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(calculating flip angles for individually for each pulse [0068-0070]).
Regarding claim 7, Mugler as modified further teaches wherein weighting of the magnitude integral is a linear weighting having the formula M3n/<M>, where <M> is a mean value of the amplitude integrals M3n (linear or exponential decay signal evolution, varying flip angles to enforce signal profiles such as exponential or linear decay, applying a prescribed signal level across echo train, which is equivalent to globally scaling flip angles to maintain target evolution [0067, 71] [0067]).
Regarding claim 8, Mugler as modified further teaches wherein the weighting of the magnitude integral is a quadratic weighting, having a formula
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where <M> is a mean value of the amplitude integrals M3n. (varying flip angles to enforce signal profiles such as exponential or linear decay, linear/exponential shaping, the iterative calculation inherently determines on pules flip angle as a function of subsequent echo signal requirement [0067]).
Regarding claims 9, Mugler as modified further teaches wherein the ascertaining of the respective adapted flip angle for at least one part of the plurality of refocusing pulses is carried out based on a maximum magnitude integral available in an entire echo train
Regarding claims 10, Mugler as modified further teaches ascertaining an adapted flip angle for a refocusing pulse that precedes based on
Regarding claim 13, Mugler as modified further teaches wherein weighting of the magnitude integral is a linear weighting having the formula M3n/<M>, where <M> is a mean value of the amplitude integrals M3 (linear or exponential decay signal evolution, varying flip angles to enforce signal profiles such as exponential or linear decay, applying a prescribed signal level across echo train, which is equivalent to globally scaling flip angles to maintain target evolution [0067, 71] [0067]).
Regarding claim 14, Mugler as modified further teaches wherein the weighting of the magnitude integral is a quadratic weighting, having a formula
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where <M> is a mean value of the amplitude integrals M3n. (varying flip angles to enforce signal profiles such as exponential or linear decay, linear/exponential shaping, the iterative calculation inherently determines on pules flip angle as a function of subsequent echo signal requirement [0067]).
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 TAQI R NASIR whose telephone number is (571)270-1425. The examiner can normally be reached 9AM-5PM EST M-F.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Lee Rodak can be reached at (571) 270-5628. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/TAQI R NASIR/Examiner, Art Unit 2858
/LEE E RODAK/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2858