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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on November 08, 2023 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Drawings
The drawings filed on November 08, 2023 are accepted.
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 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.
Claims 1-4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by (“Tomida”).
Regarding claim 1, Tomida discloses A non-contact blood flow observation apparatus, comprising (Abstract and entire document):
an image acquirer that acquires a first image that is a moving image or a series of still images of a region including a blood vessel in a vicinity of a site that will receive or has received medical treatment, or in a vicinity of a site that will receive or has received treatment of a blood vessel for medical treatment (FIG. 8 and [0063], “The moving image according to the present embodiment is the hue moving image 63 representing the measurement result by a hue (refer to FIG. 8). The hue moving image 63 shows a state in which a specific portion (first portion) is divided into small areas in the shape of a square, and the blood flow variation is represented by a change in hue for each small area. The specific portion is, for example, a part of the face. An example of the hue moving image 63 will be described later.” And [0073]); and
an image processor that correlates a different color with each gradation of brightness in advance, creates a second image by assigning the color corresponding to the brightness for each singular pixel in the first image ([0077], “In order to generate a mosaic hue moving image 63 visually displaying the state of the user's blood flow, the video processing unit 111 divides the first portion 61 in the video into a plurality of small regions, and acquires a temporal change in luminance for each small region. For example, when the lower part of an eye is set as the first portion 61, the lower part of the eye is divided into 30×30 mosaic small areas. Thereafter, the temporal change in luminance of the green signal is calculated for each small area. The small area is composed of at least one pixel. When the small area is composed of a plurality of pixels, the average value of the luminance of the plurality of pixels may be the luminance of the small area.”), and
displays change in the color, corresponding to change in the brightness in accordance with pulsation, in the second image, the second image being a moving image or a series of still images on a display device ([0072] – [0078] see also FIG. 18 and associated paragraphs).
Regarding claim 2, Tomida discloses The non-contact blood flow observation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the color corresponding to the gradation of the brightness is blue, green, red, and a mixed color thereof ([0077], “Thereafter, the temporal change in luminance of the green signal is calculated for each small area. The small area is composed of at least one pixel. When the small area is composed of a plurality of pixels, the average value of the luminance of the plurality of pixels may be the luminance of the small area.”).
Regarding claim 3, Tomida discloses The non-contact blood flow observation apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the color when the brightness is highest is one of blue and red, and the color when the brightness is lowest is the other of blue and red ([0092], “In the following description, a scale of 0 to 9 is set in the color map 50 for convenience of description, and the range of hue is defined based on the scale. The scale 0 is the lowest coordinate of the color map 50, and the scale 9 is the highest coordinate of the color map 50. The low coordinate side is a hue of blue color (cold color), and the high coordinate side is a hue of reddish color (warm color). Furthermore, it is also assumed that the center coordinate of the color map 50 is in the middle of the scales 4 and 5.”).
Regarding claim 4, Tomida discloses The non-contact blood flow observation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image processor displays the second image on the display device at the same time as the first image, with a screen split (FIG. 8).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JOSEPH A TOMBERS whose telephone number is (571)272-6851. The examiner can normally be reached on M-TH 7:00-16:00, F 7:00-11:00(Eastern).
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Robert Chen can be reached on 571-272-3672. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JOSEPH A TOMBERS/Examiner, Art Unit 3791