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 12/5/2023 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments filed 6/15/2026, with respect to the rejection(s) of claim(s) 1-11 under 35 USC 101 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 Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn.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 Abbosh et. al. (United States Patent Application Publication US 2021/0353149 A1) and Surowiec, Andrzej et al. “Dielectric properties of breast carcinoma and the surrounding tissues.” IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering 35 (1988): 257-263.
With regards to independent claims 1 and 11, Abbosh et. al. discloses imaging device comprising: a multistatic antenna array including (i) a plurality of transmitters which are disposed on both sides of a region to be measured, and each of which transmits a wave to the region, the wave being a radio wave, and (ii) a plurality of receivers which are disposed on the both sides, and each of which receives the wave (Abbosh et. al. Abstract). Surowiec et. al. teaches the tumor having a different dielectric constant than the breast tissue surrounding the tumor (Surowiec et. al. Introduction: They found significantly higher permittivity of the tumor tissue at 20 kHz as compared to the normal or nonmalignant tissues.). Johnson et. al. teaches a imaging method and apparatus specifically for imaging the breast. Therefore, the amendments necessitate an updated search, and an updated search produced prior arts that could be used to reject the independent claims.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 1 and 11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Abbosh et. al. (United States Patent Application Publication US 2021/0353149 A1) in view of Surowiec et. al. (Surowiec, Andrzej et al. “Dielectric properties of breast carcinoma and the surrounding tissues.” IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering 35 (1988): 257-263.) and Johnson et. al. (United States Patent Application Publication US 2004/0034307 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Johnson et. al. discloses an imaging device for use in mammography.
However, Johnson et. al. fails to disclose the imaging device comprising: a multistatic antenna array including (i) a plurality of transmitters which are disposed on both sides of a region to be measured, and each of which transmits a wave to the region, the wave being a radio wave, and (ii) a plurality of receivers which are disposed on the both sides, and each of which receives the wave; an information processing circuit which derives an imaging function corresponding to a scattering field function related to scattering of the wave according to a correspondence between (i) measurement data obtained by the plurality of transmitters and the plurality of receivers and (ii) a composition of a plurality of functions related to multiple first-order scattering forming multiple scattering, and generates an image indicating a three-dimensional structure of a tumor scatterer included in breast tissue in the region, using the imaging function, the tumor having a different dielectric constant than the breast tissue surrounding the tumor; and a display which displays the image indicating a three-dimensional structure of the tumor included in the breast tissue in the region generated by the information processing circuit.
Abbosh et. al. teaches the imaging device comprising: a multistatic antenna array including (i) a plurality of transmitters which are disposed on both sides of a region to be measured, and each of which transmits a wave to the region, the wave being a radio wave, and (ii) a plurality of receivers which are disposed on the both sides, and each of which receives the wave; an information processing circuit which derives an imaging function corresponding to a scattering field function related to scattering of the wave according to a correspondence between (i) measurement data obtained by the plurality of transmitters and the plurality of receivers and (ii) a composition of a plurality of functions related to multiple first-order scattering forming multiple scattering, and generates an image indicating a three-dimensional structure of a tumor scatterer included in breast tissue in the region, using the imaging function; and a display which displays the image indicating a three-dimensional structure of the tumor included in the breast tissue in the region generated by the information processing circuit.
(Abbosh et. al. Abstract, [0098]-[0100]).
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Surowiec et. al. teaches the tumor having a different dielectric constant than the breast tissue surrounding the tumor (Surowiec et. al. Introduction: They found significantly higher permittivity of the tumor tissue at 20 kHz as compared to the normal or nonmalignant tissues.).
These features are all important to the claimed invention because multistatic antenna arrays for mammography enables non-invasive tumor detection and improved imaging coverage. Thus, it would have been obvious to a person skilled in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have combined the teachings of Johnson et. al. for mammography, Abbosh et. al. for the multistatic antenna array imaging system, and Surowiec et. al. so that all of the features are included in the solution of the claimed invention.
Regarding claim 11, which is an imaging method for use in mammography, which corresponds to the device of claim 1, which the rejection analysis is incorporated herein.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-10 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Claims 2-10 contain scattering field functions that are not disclosed in any prior art. The information processing circuit derives an analytical solution of the equations based on the measurement data, and thus creates a faster way for computing a solution to these equations for the scattering expression with measurement data.
Conclusion
Response to Amendment
Examiner has carefully considered the filed claim amendments and performed an updated search. The allowable subject matter involves the complex equations included as dependent claims. However, prior art was found to reject independent claims 1 and 11.
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 JESSICA YIFANG LIN whose telephone number is (571)272-6435. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 7:00am-6:15pm, with optional day off.
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/JESSICA YIFANG LIN/Examiner, Art Unit 2668
June 26, 2026
/VU LE/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2668
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