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 § 103
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) 1-3 and 5-14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Fackelmeier (US 2018/0348315 A1) in view of Fury et al (US 10,317,291 B2), hereinafter referred to as Fury. With reference to claim 1, Fackelmeier teaches radio frequency (RF) receiver array for magnetic resonance imaging, the RF receiver array comprising: at least one receiver coil element for receiving a magnetic resonance signal from at least a portion of a target region (Fig. 2, 16), at least one on-board digital receiver circuit for processing the received magnetic resonance signal (Fig. 2, 18), the on-board digital receiver circuit comprising an application-specific integrated circuit, ASIC for on-coil digitization of the magnetic resonance signal (¶0024, ¶0042), the RF receiver array comprising a plurality of signal lines configured and arranged to carry data between the on-board digital receiver circuit and a receiving unit (¶0045), and a high pass filter (Fig. 2, 40). However, is silent with regards to a capacitor in series. Fury teaches ASIC comprising at least one on-chip capacitor for each signal line, for providing a capacitive communication between the on-board digital receiver circuit and the receiving unit, wherein the on-chip capacitor is disposed in series with the signal line (Fig. 3, C, Column 5 line 50- Column 6 line 24).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to use the teaching of Fury with the RF receiver array of Fackelmeier so as to simply implement a high pass filter (Fury, Column 6 lines 4-7).
With reference to claim 2, Fackelmeier further teaches the receiving unit is a data interface of a magnetic resonance imaging system and/or a second on-board digital receiver circuit (Fig. 2) With reference to claim 3, Fackelmeier as combined above further teaches each application-specific integrated circuit, ASIC of the on- board digital receiver circuit comprises a communication module for data communication over the signal lines, wherein each communication module comprises a transmitter and/or a receiver and each of the communication modules further comprising the on-chip capacitor disposed in series with the signal line (Fig. 2). With reference to claim 5, Fackelmeier further teaches the signal lines are wires and/or a twisted differential pair cables and/or monolithic conductive lines (¶0045).
With reference to claim 6, Fackelmeier as combined above further teaches on-chip capacitors are on-chip high voltage, low capacitance capacitors (Fury, Column 5 line 50- Column 6 line 24).
With reference to claim 7, Fackelmeier as combined above further teaches capacitance of the on-chip capacitors is about between 50 Femtofarad and 100 Femtofarad (It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to optimize the capacitance of the capacitors so as to find a working range for the MRI through no undue experimentation).
With reference to claim 8, Fackelmeier as combined above further teaches the on-chip capacitor is monolithically integrated into the application-specific integrated circuit, ASIC of the on-board digital receiver circuit (Fackelmeier ¶0024, Fury Column 5 line 50- Column 6 line 24).
With reference to claim 9, Fackelmeier as combined above further teaches the on-chip capacitor is formed by a bottom electrode, wherein the bottom electrode is a portion of a first metal layer of the application-specific integrated circuit (4), ASIC of the on-board digital receiver circuit, by an insulating layer formed on the bottom electrode and by a top electrode formed on the insulating layer, wherein the top electrode is a portion of a second metal layer of the application-specific integrated circuit (4), ASIC of the on-board digital receiver circuit (Fury, Column 5 line 50-Column 6 line24).
With reference to claim 10, Fackelmeier further teaches the RF receiver array comprises a plurality of on-board digital receiver circuits, wherein the on-board digital receiver circuits are connected in series with each other by the signal line (¶0040, ¶0042).
With reference to claim 11, Fackelmeier as combined above further teaches a magnetic resonance imaging system comprising a radio frequency (RF) receiver array for magnetic resonance imaging according to claim 1 (Fig. 1). With reference to claim 12, Fackelmeier as combined above further teaches A method for operating a radio frequency (RF) receiver array the method comprising the following steps: providing an radio frequency (RF) receiver array according to claim 1, receiving a magnetic resonance signal from at least a portion of a target - region using at least one receiver coil element of the RF receiver array, converting the magnetic resonance signal to a digital signal by an - application-specific integrated circuit, ASIC of an on-board digital receiver circuit of the RF receiver array, sending the digital data over at least one signal line to a receiving unit (¶0040-¶0042).
With reference to claim 13, Fackelmeier as combined above further teaches he step of sending the digital data over at least one signal line to a receiving unit comprises the step of: providing a communication module in the application-specific integrated circuit, ASIC of the on-board digital receiver circuit, the communication module comprising a transmitter and a receiver for data communication over the signal lines, sending the digital data over the signal lines to a receiving unit by the transmitter, receiving the digital data by the receiver of the communication module in the application-specific integrated circuit, ASIC (¶0040-¶0042). With reference to claim 14, Fackelmeier further teaches A computer program product comprising machine executable instructions stored on a non-transitory computer readable medium, wherein the machine executable instructions are configured to be executed by a processor controlling a radio frequency (RF) receiver array according to claim 12 (¶0039).
Claim(s) 4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Fackelmeier as combined with Fury as applied to claim 3 above, and further in view of Shrestha (US 8,896,377 B2). Fackelmeier as combined teaches all that is required, however is silent with regards to the receiver of the communication module comprises a common mode suppression circuit.
Shrestha teaches the receiver of the communication module comprises a common mode suppression circuit (Column 5 line 61- column 6 line 6). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to use the teaching of Shrestha with the RF receiver array of Fackelmeier as combined above so as to suppress CM voltages (Column 5 lines 61-65).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Twieg et al. (US 10,511,261 B2) teaches a system and method for improved RF system performance in MRI systems.
Ouzounov (US 10,429,460 B2) teaches a RF antenna device for generating a digital magnetic resonance information signal.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to GREGORY H CURRAN whose telephone number is (571)270-7505. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday, 8am-5pm, EST.
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/GREGORY H CURRAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2852