DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
1. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Notice to Applicant
2. This communication is in response to the communication filed 1/30/2026 and the information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted 6/26/2026. Claims 3, 8, 12 and 17 are currently amended. Claim 20 is newly added. Claims 1-20 are currently pending.
2.1. Newly discovered prior art appears to teach the claim limitations thereby necessitating re-opening of prosecution.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
3. 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.
3.1. Claims 1-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tosun et al. (US 2020/0294231), in view of Ferreira et al. (WO 2020/046773), and in view of Ogi et al. (US 2021/0233497).
CLAIM 1
Tosun teaches a system (Tosun: abstract) comprising:
at least one memory storing executable instructions (Tosun: abstract; ¶¶ [0037], [0248]);
at least one processor (Tosun: abstract; ¶¶ [0248]-[0250]);
wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the system to (Tosun: abstract; ¶¶ [0248]-[0250]):
using a machine learning model, identify at least one of at least one cell or at least one tissue included in a pathological slide image by analyzing the pathological slide image (Tosun: abstract; ¶¶ [0015]-[0024], [0092], [0111]-[0113] “the machine learning process itself can determine that a subset of these features can reliably indicate the conditions of interest”, [0116]; FIGS. 1-25F);
generate information from the at least one of at least one cell or at least one tissue, and control a display apparatus to display the pathological slide image with the generated information (Tosun: abstract; ¶¶ [0015]-[0024] “the displaying step includes: displaying in one panel: (i) at least a portion of the WSI with boundary of the ROI having the highest risk metric highlighted, (ii) the label designated to that ROI, and (iii) a user interface (UI) providing to the user access to the stored explanation for the designated label of that ROI. The displaying step also includes displaying in another panel thumbnails of the sequence of ROIs”, [0092], [0111]-[0113], [0116]; FIGS. 1-25F).
Tosun does not appear to explicitly teach the following:
overlaid on top of the pathological slide image, and a control panel outside the pathological slide image, wherein the control panel and elements of the control panel are not part of the generated information, and wherein the generated information is not displayed in the control panel;
wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the system to: change an output magnification based on a first user input, and control the display apparatus to change a size at which at least part of the pathological slide image is displayed and an output form of the generated information based on the changed output magnification, and wherein the change of the output form comprises a change of a way that represents at least one tissue or at least one cell included in a displayed portion of the pathological slide image according to the change of the output magnification.
Ferreira, however, teaches the following:
wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the system to: change an output magnification based on a first user input, and control the display apparatus to change a size at which at least part of the pathological slide image is displayed and an output form of the generated information based on the changed output magnification, and wherein the change of the output form comprises a change of a way that represents at least one tissue or at least one cell included in a displayed portion of the pathological slide image according to the change of the output magnification (Ferreira: abstract; ¶¶ [0041], [0056]-[0058], [0068]-[0070] GUI adapted to zoom level manipulated by the user, [0078] A user can change the zoom level (i.e., magnification) thereby accessing a second visualization of an image in greater detail including additional viewer panels to convey information to a user, ROIs, annotations, etc.; FIGS. 4A-C).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to include the contextually adaptive digital pathology interface that includes output magnification to change the size of a pathological slide image, as taught by Ferreira, with the explainable AI platform for computational pathology, as taught by Tosun, with the motivation of enabling a user to interact more efficiently with the GUI thereby resulting in quicker review and analysis of images of tissue samples (Ferreira: ¶¶ [0042]-[0043]).
Tosun and Ferreira do not appear to explicitly teach the following:
overlaid on top of the pathological slide image, and a control panel outside the pathological slide image, wherein the control panel and elements of the control panel are not part of the generated information, and wherein the generated information is not displayed in the control panel.
Ogi, however, teaches the following:
overlaid on top of the pathological slide image, and a control panel outside the pathological slide image, wherein the control panel and elements of the control panel are not part of the generated information, and wherein the generated information is not displayed in the control panel (Ogi: abstract; ¶¶ [0059] “The image 500 includes a main window 501 for displaying the original image or a processed image generated by processing the original image, and menu buttons 502 to 508 used by the user to designate contents of an image to be displayed in the main window 501”—the menu (i.e., control panel) is outside of the display window 501, [0065] “a processing of overlapping visual information on the source image with a certain level of transparency given to the visual information so that original image contents of the source image can be visually confirmed also in a processed image. A display method, i.e. a so-called overlay display, falls under this. The visual information can include, for example, a color change, color coding, emphasis of a contour or shading of a region, attachment of a marker by a symbol or graphic or character information, or the like. These may be combined as appropriate”, [0082] Image 541A depicts a slide image with overlaid information and can be enlarged (i.e., magnified), as shown in 543A, with information remaining overlaid on the image.; FIGS. 1-8B).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to include the image processing apparatus, system and method, as taught by Ogi, with the contextually adaptive digital pathology interface that includes output magnification to change the size of a pathological slide image, as taught by Ferreira, with the explainable AI platform for computational pathology, as taught by Tosun, with the motivation of facilitating multifaceted image processing (Ogi: abstract; ¶¶ [0002]-[0011]).
CLAIM 2
Tosun does not appear to explicitly teach the system of claim 1, wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the system to: determine whether the changed magnification is greater than or equal to a threshold magnification, and control the display apparatus to display a position of the at least one cell on the at least part of the pathological slide image according to the result of the determination.
Ferreira, however, teaches wherein the at least one processer determines whether the changed magnification is greater than or equal to a threshold magnification, and controls the display apparatus to display a position of the at least one cell on the at least part of the pathological slide image according to the result of the determination (Ferreira: abstract; ¶¶ [0041], [0056], [0068]-[0070] GUI adapted to zoom level manipulated by the user; FIGS. 4A-C).
The motivation to include the teachings of Ferreira with the teachings of Tosun is the same as that of claim 1 above and is incorporated herein.
CLAIM 3
Tosun teaches the system of claim 1, wherein the display apparatus displays information about an immune phenotype of the pathological slide as the generated information, and wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the system to control the display apparatus so that the information about the IP is changed into information about a characteristic of the at least one of the at least one cell or the at least one tissue (Tosun: abstract; ¶¶ [0015]-[0024], [0092]-[0093] “immune cells”, [0109] “immunohistochemistry (IHC labels)”, [0111]-[0113], [0116]; FIGS. 1-25F; It is also noted the specific type of information displayed is non-functional descriptive language without any new and unobvious functional relationship and thus, the descriptive language is given no patentable weight.).
Tosun does not appear to explicitly teach based on the changed output magnification.
Ferreira, however, teaches based on the changed output magnification (Ferreira: abstract; ¶¶ [0041], [0056], [0068]-[0070] GUI adapted to zoom level manipulated by the user; FIGS. 4A-C).
The motivation to include the teachings of Ferreira with the teachings of Tosun is the same as that of claim 1 above and is incorporated herein.
CLAIM 4
Tosun teaches the system of claim 1, wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the system to: control the display apparatus to further display additional information about a characteristic of the at least one of the at least one cell or the at least one tissue on the pathological slide image (Tosun: abstract; ¶¶ [0015]-[0024], [0092], [0111]-[0113], [0116]; FIGS. 1-25F).
Tosun does not appear to explicitly teach based on the changed output magnification.
Ferreira, however, teaches based on the changed output magnification (Ferreira: abstract; ¶¶ [0041], [0056], [0068]-[0070] GUI adapted to zoom level manipulated by the user; FIGS. 4A-C).
The motivation to include the teachings of Ferreira with the teachings of Tosun is the same as that of claim 1 above and is incorporated herein.
CLAIM 5
Tosun teaches the system of claim 1, wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the system to: receive a second user input for selecting or deselecting a check box displayed on the display apparatus, and control the display apparatus so that indicators indicating locations of a certain type of cells are displayed or removed on the at least part of the pathological slide image based on the second user input (Tosun: abstract; ¶¶ [0104], [0115]-[0117]; FIGS. 8-9).
CLAIM 6
Tosun teaches the system of claim 1, wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the system to: receive a third user input for setting a region of interest on the at least part of the pathological slide image, and control the display apparatus to display quantitative information about cells included in the region of interest based on the third user input (Tosun: abstract; ¶¶ [0095], [0098], [0111]-[0115]; FIGS. 6-9).
CLAIM 7
Tosun does not appear to explicitly teach the system of claim 1, wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the system to: determine whether the changed output magnification is greater than or equal to a threshold magnification, and control the display apparatus to display a thumbnail image representing the at least part of the pathological slide image according to the result of the determination.
Ferreira, however, teaches wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the system to: determine whether the changed output magnification is greater than or equal to a threshold magnification, and control the display apparatus to display a thumbnail image representing the at least part of the pathological slide image according to the result of the determination (Ferreira: abstract; ¶¶ [0075]-[0078], [0082]-[0086]; FIGS. 3-5B).
The motivation to include the teachings of Ferreira with the teachings of Tosun is the same as that of claim 1 above and is incorporated herein.
CLAIM 8
Tosun teaches the system of claim 1, wherein the generated information comprises tissue-level information and cell-level information, wherein the tissue-level information includes at least one of (i) an immune phenotype (IP) or (ii) tissue type segmentation, and wherein the cell-level information includes a type of cells, a location of cells, a number of specific cells included in at least a portion of the pathological slide image, a density of specific cells included in the at least a portion of the pathological slide image, or a ratio of the specific cells included in at least a portion of the pathological slide image (Tosun: abstract; ¶¶ [0017]-[0018], [0028]-[0030], [0035], ]0088] “cellular phenotypes”, [0195]; FIGS. 3; It is also noted the specific type of information displayed is non-functional descriptive language without any new and unobvious functional relationship and thus, the descriptive language is given no patentable weight.).
CLAIM 9
Tosun does not appear to explicitly teach the system of claim 1, wherein the first user input comprises an operation of zooming in or zooming out the displayed pathological slide image.
Ferreira, however, teaches wherein the first user input comprises an operation of zooming in or zooming out the displayed pathological slide image (Ferreira: abstract; ¶¶ [0073]-[0086]; FIGS. 4A-C).
The motivation to include the teachings of Ferreira with the teachings of Tosun is the same as that of claim 1 above and is incorporated herein.
CLAIMS 10-18
Claims 10-18 repeat substantially the same limitations as those in claims 1-9. As such, claims 10-18 are rejected for substantially the same reasons given for claims 1-9 and are incorporated herein.
CLAIM 19
Claim 19 repeats substantially the same limitations as those in claim 10. As such, claim 19 is rejected for substantially the same reasons given for claim 10 and are incorporated herein.
3.2. Claim 20 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tosun et al. (US 2020/0294231), in view of Ferreira et al. (WO 2020/046773), in view of Ogi et al. (US 2021/0233497); and further in view of Gering et al. (US 2006/0033752).
CLAIM 20
Tosun, Ferreira and Ogi do not appear to explicitly teach the system of claim 8, wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the processor to: control the output form of the generated information such that: (i) when the output magnification is smaller than a threshold magnification, the tissue-level information is displayed on the pathological slide image and no cell-level information is displayed; and (ii) when the output magnification is changed to be equal to or greater than the threshold magnification, the cell-level information is displayed as an overlay on the pathological slide image at the location of at least one cell.
Gering, however, teaches wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the processor to: control the output form of the generated information such that: (i) when the output magnification is smaller than a threshold magnification, the tissue-level information is displayed on the pathological slide image and no cell-level information is displayed; and (ii) when the output magnification is changed to be equal to or greater than the threshold magnification, the cell-level information is displayed as an overlay on the pathological slide image at the location of at least one cell (Gering: abstract; ¶¶ [0018]-[0022] A pixel chart is superimposed for zoom levels higher than a predetermined threshold.; Claims 4 and 14; FIGS. 1-5).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to include the image processing apparatus, system and method, as taught by Ogi, with the contextually adaptive digital pathology interface that includes output magnification to change the size of a pathological slide image, as taught by Ferreira, with the explainable AI platform for computational pathology, as taught by Tosun, with the motivation of facilitating viewing, analysis and diagnosis of image data (Gering: abstract; ¶¶ [0003]-[0001]).
Response to Arguments
4. Applicant's arguments filed 1/30/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Applicant’s arguments will be addressed hereinbelow in the order in which they appear in the response filed 1/30/2026.
4.1. Applicant argues, on pages 10-13 of the response, that the cited prior art fails to teach or suggest the features of the claims.
In response, it is submitted that new prior art has been applied to the features of the claims. As such, applicant's remarks with regard to the application of the cited prior art to the claims are addressed in the Office Action above.
Conclusion
5. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Michael Tomaszewski whose telephone number is (313)446-4863. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 5:30 am - 2:30 pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Peter H Choi can be reached at (469) 295-9171. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MICHAEL TOMASZEWSKI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3681
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