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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-27 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) and (a)(2) as being anticipated by Napolitano (WO 99/30617 A1).
Regarding claims 1, 15, and 27, Napolitano discloses a method and systems for acoustic evaluation of a target using an array of electro-acoustic transducers, the method comprising:
generating pulses for transmission by respective ones of a plurality of electro- acoustic transducers in a transducer array [[pg. 4:10-20] phased transducer array] to contemporaneously establish respective acoustic beams corresponding to at least two different acoustic beam steering directions for an acquisition, the pulses comprising [[prior art claim 27] transmitting a set of ultrasonic transmit beams into a region, at least some of the transmit beams focused at spatially distinct directions; [pg. 4:15-30] transmit beamformer 12 in part operates as a conventional transmit beamformer to generate a set of transmit signals for the individual transducers included in the transducer array 14. For example, the transmit 20 beamformer 12 can include a waveform generator 20 that applies a suitably shaped ultrasonic pulse to a focus delay 22. The focus delay 22 provides conventional steering delays by any suitable combination of delays, phase shifts and phase rotations. The focus delays are selected to cause ultrasonic signals from the transducer array 14 to constructively interfere at a selected 25 transmit focus along a selected transmit beam direction. In Figure 1, an exemplary transmit beam T1 is shown]:
a first sequence of pulses with a first polarity [[fig. 2] transmit first transmit beam (+ polarity) #40; [pg. 6:25-30] pulses shown in Figure 5 represent the fundamental components 80, 82 of the transmit 30 beams T1 and T2, respectively.], the first sequence of pulses generated by applying respective time delays to the plurality of electro-acoustic transducers to establish a first beam steering direction [[pg. 4:20-25] conventional steering delays; [pg. 4:25-31] thus, transmit beams T1, T3, ... are 30 transmitted with positive polarity, and transmit beams T2, T4, T6, ... are transmitted with inverted or negative polarity.], and
a second sequence of pulses with a second polarity opposite the first polarity [[fig. 2] transmit second transmit beam (- polarity) #44]], the second sequence of pulses generated by applying respective time delays to the plurality of electro-acoustic transducers to establish a second beam steering direction [[pg. 4:25-31] thus, transmit beams T1, T3, ... are 30 transmitted with positive polarity, and transmit beams T2, T4, T6, ... are transmitted with inverted or negative polarity.]; and
in response to transmission of the pulses, receiving respective acoustic echo signals and aggregating the received acoustic echo signals to form an image of a region of interest on or within the target [[fig. 2] sum selected first and second receive beams #48; supply composite signal to image processor #50; [pg. 5:20-25] selected receive beams associated with multiple, spatially distinct transmit beams are applied to a summer 30 for summation to form a composite signal C that is applied to an image processor 32. The image processor 32 forms a conventional image such as a B mode image and presents this image on a display 34.].
(claim 15 additionally recites an ultrasonic inspection system for acoustic evaluation of a target, the system comprising: an analog front end comprising transmit and receive circuitry coupled to a plurality of electro-acoustic transducer elements [[fig. 1] multiplexer and transmit and receive beamformers coupled to array #14; [pg. 18:1-15] systems and methods described above can be implemented using a wide variety of hardware. For example, the transmit beamformer 12 and the receive beamformer 18 can be made to operate using any suitable architecture, including both analog and digital architectures. The beamformers 12, 18 can also be of the simultaneous multi-beam transmit-multi beam receive, particularly where simultaneous transmit beams are widely spaced. The transducer array 14 can be a one-dimensional, 1.5 dimensional or 2 dimensional array, flat or curved, and of either constant or varying thickness.]; a processor circuit communicatively coupled with the analog front end [[fig. 1] image processor #32; [pg. 5:20-25] composite signals … applied to an image processor]; and a memory circuit comprising instructions that, when executed by the processor circuit [[pg. 18:24-25] summer 30 can be implemented as analog or digital systems, and the line 25 buffer 28 may correspond to a digital memory for multiple receive beams.])
(claim 27 appears to be a similar system as compared with the system of claim 1 and is therefore rejected for the same reasons).
Regarding claim 2, Napolitano teaches the method of claim 1, wherein generating the pulses includes generating respective sequences for different ones of the plurality of electro-acoustic transducers including suppressing generation of pulses for a central element or aperture defined by the transducer array [[pg. 2:25-30] transmit and receive beams include beams of at least first and second types. the first and second types of beams differ in at least one scan parameter other than transmit and receive line geometry, and can for example differ in phase, aperture, frequency or focus.; [pg. 12:5-30]].
Regarding claims 3 and 16, Napolitano teaches the method of claim 1 and system of claim 15, wherein generating the pulses comprises, for each respective one of the plurality of electro-acoustic transducers, linearly summing (claim 16: summing) contributions from the first sequence and the second sequence to produce a pulse sequence for the respective electro-acoustic transducers [[pg. 6:5-15] note that the first and second receive beams R1, R2 that are summed in step 48 are associated with spatially distinct transmit beams T1 (positive polarity) and T2 (negative polarity), respectively; [fig. 12][fig. 13]; [pg. 11:10-20] compounded combination of the fundamental and first harmonic components. As used herein, the term “combining” is 15 intended broadly to encompass both linear and nonlinear combinations, including the examples set out above as well as other useful combinations of receive signals or beams.].
Regarding claims 4 and 17, Napolitano teaches the method of claim 1 and the system of claim 15, wherein the array comprises a one-dimensional array [[pg. 18:10-15] the transducer array 14 can be a one-dimensional, 1.5 dimensional or 2 dimensional array, flat or curved, and of either constant or varying thickness].
Regarding claim 5, Napolitano teaches the method of claim 4, wherein the array comprises a linear array [[pg. 18:10-15] the transducer array 14 can be a one-dimensional, 1.5 dimensional or 2 dimensional array, flat or curved, and of either constant or varying thickness].
Regarding claims 6 and 18, Napolitano teaches the method of claim 4 and system of claim 15, wherein an amplitude of a pulse within each respective pulse sequence is at most a single unit-amplitude [[pg. 18:10-20] the transmit beams can be formed of transmit waveforms of the widest variety of shapes including unipolar and bipolar pulses, with or without 15 smoothly rising and falling envelopes. Sinusoidal, square wave or multi-level square wave techniques can be used.].
Regarding claims 7 and 19, Napolitano teaches the method of claim 1 and the system of claim 15, wherein the array comprises a two-dimensional array [[pg. 18:10-15] the transducer array 14 can be a one-dimensional, 1.5 dimensional or 2 dimensional array, flat or curved, and of either constant or varying thickness].
Regarding claims 8 and 20, Napolitano teaches the method of claim 7 and the system of claim 15, wherein generating pulses for transmission by respective ones of the plurality of electro-acoustic transducers in the two-dimensional array comprises contemporaneously establishing respective acoustic beams corresponding to multiple acoustic beam directions for the acquisition [[pg. 5:10-15] receive beamformer 18 applies appropriate delays and phase rotations to coherently sum receive signals from the transducer array 14 to create the desired receive beams along desired directions; [prior art claim 27 and claim 46] transmitting a set of ultrasonic transmit beams into a region, at least some of the transmit beams focused at spatially distinct directions,], the acoustic beams extending at least in part radially in a semi-circular or circular arrangement about a central axis of the two-dimensional array [[pg. 18:10-15] 2 dimensional array, flat or curved].
Regarding claims 9 and 21, Napolitano teaches the method of claim 8 and the system of claim 15, wherein the first and second sequences correspond to adjacent acoustic beams in the semi-circular or circular arrangement about the central axis of the two-dimensional array [[pg. 5:25-30] system transmits a first transmit beam of positive polarity in a first direction in step 40, and receives and stores one or more first receive beams associated with this first transmit beam in step 42. Then the transmit beamformer transmits a second transmit beam of negative polarity in 30 a second direction in step 44. The second transmit beam is usually adjacent to the first transmit beam. One or more second receive beams associated with the second transmit beam are received].
Regarding claims 10 and 22, Napolitano teaches the method of claim 1 and the system of claim 15, wherein any amplitude of a pulse within each respective pulse sequence comprises a half unit-amplitude, a whole unit-amplitude, or zero amplitude [[pg. 18:10-20] the transmit beams can be formed of transmit waveforms of the widest variety of shapes including unipolar and bipolar pulses, with or without 15 smoothly rising and falling envelopes. Sinusoidal, square wave or multi-level square wave techniques can be used.].
Regarding claims 11 and 23, Napolitano teaches the method of claim 1 and the system of claim 15, wherein amplitudes of respective pulses within each respective pulse sequence are established using a count of levels that are fewer than a count of pulses in the sequence [[pg. 18:10-20] the transmit beams can be formed of transmit waveforms of the widest variety of shapes including unipolar and bipolar pulses, with or without 15 smoothly rising and falling envelopes. Sinusoidal, square wave or multi-level square wave techniques can be used.].
Regarding claims 12 and 24, Napolitano teaches the method of claim 1 and the system of claim 15, wherein generating the pulses for transmission includes suppressing formation of a sidelobe or beam in a direction normal to a surface of the target [[pg. 9:10-30 fundamental suppression method]; [pg. 10:29-31] combined signals described above with enhanced second harmonic components and cancelled or suppressed fundamental components may be used in any of the aberration correction techniques].
Regarding claims 13 and 25, Napolitano teaches the method of claim 1 and the system of claim 15, wherein the first sequence and the second sequence are included as a first transmit set defining a first beam group corresponding to a first acquisition; and wherein the method comprises generating respective sequences comprising a second transmit set defining a different second beam group corresponding to a second acquisition [[pg. 3:1-5] first and second types of beams alternate on a line-by-line or group-of-lines by group-of-lines basis; [pg. 14:25-30 multiple receive beam acquisition]].
Regarding claims 14 and 26, Napolitano teaches the method of claim 13 and the system of claim 25, wherein the second beam group defines beam directions located in gaps between respective beam directions of the first beam group [[pg. 16-17 bridging] one alternative embodiment, both transmit phase and receive aperture are alternated among beams, using either sequential or simultaneous alternation techniques. For example, in one sequential alternation embodiment left and right receive apertures are alternated].
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see pgs. 8-14, filed 6/16/2026, with respect to the rejection(s) of claim(s) 1 under 35 U.S.C. 102 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of Napolitano (WO 99/30617 A1).
Conclusion
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/JONATHAN D ARMSTRONG/Examiner, Art Unit 3645
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