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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement(s) (IDS) submitted on 04/25/2024 is/are being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claims 14 and 15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to non-statutory subject matter. The claim(s) does/do not fall within at least one of the four categories of patent eligible subject matter because it/they is/are drawn to a image file archive which is data per se and is not subject matter eligible under 35 USC 101 (see MPEP 2106.03, I, fifth paragraph, “Non-limiting examples of claims that are not directed to any of the statutory categories include: Products that do not have a physical or tangible form, such as information (often referred to as "data per se”) or a computer program per se (often referred to as "software per se") when claimed as a product without any structural recitations”).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 4-6, 8, and 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 4 recites the limitation "the position of the particular image data entry of the particular image tile k at the particular resolution level i". There is insufficient antecedent basis each of these limitations in the claim.
Claim 5 recites the limitation "the position or the position and length". There is insufficient antecedent basis each of these limitations in the claim.
Regarding claim 6¸ the claim recites “an embedded file archive” then specifies a specific embedded zip archive by using “in particular”. However, based upon reading the Specification, it is unclear if the “particular” archive is required or merely preferred in the claim and therefore makes the meets and bounds unclear (i.e. would a generic embedded archive still be encompassed in this claim).’
Claim 8 recites the limitation "the method" in the preamble. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Regarding claim 11¸ the claim recites “index access scheme” then specifies a specific index access scheme by using “in particular”. However, based upon reading the Specification, it is unclear if the “particular” scheme is required or merely preferred in the claim and therefore makes the meets and bounds unclear (i.e. would a generic index access scheme still be encompassed in this claim).
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.
Claim(s) 1, 2, 6, 9, 10, 14, and 15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Inada, U.S. Publication No. 2012/0268465 in view of Ozawa et al, U.S. Publication No. 2004/0190784.
Regarding claim 1, Inada teaches a method for generating an image file archive (see Inada Figure 9), comprising:
providing an image in a number m of resolution levels, with each of the m resolution levels having a level-specific number ni of image tiles (see Figure 3 and paragraph [0058]);
providing an image data, comprising the image in the m resolution levels, with the image data having an image data entry for each of the ni image tiles of each of the m resolution levels (see Figure 9, step 122 and paragraph [0097]);
on the basis of the number m of resolution levels and the level-specific numbers ni of image tiles, providing an index data, which comprises a succession of address data fields, with each address data field of the succession of address data fields being indicative of a position of a particular image data entry of a particular image tile k at a particular resolution level i in the image data (see Figure 9, step 126 and paragraphs [0082] and [0099]); and
combining the image data and the index data into the image file archive (see Figure 9, step 128 and paragraph [0100]).
Inada does not expressively teach the image data and the index data are respective bit streams.
However, Ozawa in a similar invention in the same field of endeavor teaches a method involving tile image data (see Ozawa paragraph [0069]) and index data based on the image data (see paragraph [0070]) as taught in Inada wherein
the image data and the index data are respective bit streams (see paragraphs [0069]-[0070]).
One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention would have found it obvious as a matter of simple substitution to replace the data of Inada with bit streams as taught in Ozawa to yield the predictable results of successfully analyzing and storing the image and index data.
Regarding claim 2, Inada in view of Ozawa teaches all the limitations of claim 1, but does not expressively teach including an indication regarding the number m of resolution levels and the level-specific numbers ni of image tiles of the image in the image file archive.
However, Inada in view of Ozawa further teaches that other information can be stored in the image file archive (see Inada paragraph [0125]) and the system further is aware of the number of levels and tiles (see Inada Figure 9, steps 120-122 and paragraphs [0096]-[0097]).
Therefore, one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention would have found it obvious to including an indication regarding the number m of resolution levels and the level-specific numbers ni of image tiles of the image in the image file archive in Inada in view of Ozawa as claimed, the motivation being to allow other systems to read and interpret the stored data more easily via this information.
Regarding claim 6, Inada in view of Ozawa teaches all the limitations of claim 1, but does not expressively teach wherein the image bit stream is provided in the form of an embedded file archive, in particular in the form of an embedded zip archive.
However, one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention would have found it obvious as a matter of simple substitution to replace the archive of Inada in view of Ozawa with that claimed to yield the predictable results of successfully storing the image data.
Regarding claim 9, Inada teaches a method for restoring a partial image from an image file archive (see Inada Figure 15), the image file archive comprising an image data (see Figure 9, step 122), comprising an image in a number m of resolution levels, with each of the m resolution levels having a level-specific number ni of image tiles (see Figure 3 which shows the hierarchy data and paragraph [0058]) and with the image data having an image data entry for each of the ni of image tiles of each of the m resolution levels (see Figure 3 which shows the hierarchy data and paragraph [0058]), the method comprising:
receiving a user selection regarding an area of interest within the image, the user selection indicating the location and extension of the area of interest (see Figure 15, steps s70-s72);
on the basis of the location and extension of the area of interest, selecting a specific resolution level of the image and determining at least one specific image tile at the specific resolution level, corresponding to the area of (see Figure 15, step s84 and paragraph [0129]);
from an index data, which comprises a succession of address data fields, with each address data field being indicative of a position of a particular image data entry of a particular image tile k at a particular resolution level i in the image data (see Figure 9, step 126 and paragraphs [0082] and [0099]), determining at least one position in the image bit stream for at least one specific image data entry, the at least one specific image data entry corresponding to the at least one specific image tile at the specific resolution level (see Figure 15, steps s76-s84 and paragraph [0131]); and
restoring the partial image from the at least one specific image data entry contained in the image data at the at least one position (see Figure 15, step s96).
Inada does not expressively teach the image data and the index data are respective bit streams.
However, Ozawa in a similar invention in the same field of endeavor teaches a method involving tile image data (see Ozawa paragraph [0069]) and index data based on the image data (see paragraph [0070]) as taught in Inada wherein
the image data and the index data are respective bit streams (see paragraphs [0069]-[0070]).
One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention would have found it obvious as a matter of simple substitution to replace the data of Inada with bit streams as taught in Ozawa to yield the predictable results of successfully analyzing and storing the image and index data.
Regarding claim 10, Inada in view of Ozawa teaches all the limitations of claim 9, but does not expressively teach obtaining the number m of resolution levels and the level-specific numbers ni of image tiles from the image file archive.
However, Inada in view of Ozawa further teaches that other information can be stored in the image file archive (see Inada paragraph [0125]) and the system further is aware of the number of levels and tiles (see Inada Figure 9, steps 120-122 and paragraphs [0096]-[0097]).
Therefore, one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention would have found it obvious to including an obtaining the number m of resolution levels and the level-specific numbers ni of image tiles from the image file archive Inada in view of Ozawa as claimed, the motivation being to allow other systems to read and interpret the stored data more easily via this information.
Regarding claim 14¸ Inada in view of Ozawa teaches all the limitations of claim 1, and further teaches the image file archive generated in accordance with a method according to claim 1 (see Inada Figure 9, step 128).
Regarding claim 15, Inada teaches an image file archive (see Inada Figure 9, step 128), comprising:
an image data (see Figure 9, step 122), comprising an image in a number m of resolution levels, with each of the m resolution levels having a level-specific number ni of image tiles (see Figure 3 which shows the hierarchy data and paragraph [0058]) and with the image data having an image data entry for each of the ni image tiles of each of the m resolution levels (see paragraph [0097]); and
an index data (see Figure 9, steps 126-128 and paragraph [0100]), which comprises a succession of address data fields, with each address data field being indicative of a position of a particular image data entry of a particular image tile k at a particular resolution level i in the image data (see paragraphs [0082] and [0099]).
Inada does not expressively teach the image data and the index data are respective bit streams.
However, Ozawa in a similar invention in the same field of endeavor teaches a method involving tile image data (see Ozawa paragraph [0069]) and index data based on the image data (see paragraph [0070]) as taught in Inada wherein
the image data and the index data are respective bit streams (see paragraphs [0069]-[0070]).
One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention would have found it obvious as a matter of simple substitution to replace the data of Inada with bit streams as taught in Ozawa to yield the predictable results of successfully analyzing and storing the image and index data.
Claim(s) 3 and 11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Inada, U.S. Publication No. 2012/0268465 in view of Ozawa et al, U.S. Publication No. 2004/0190784 and Ebberson et al, U.S. Publication No. 2016/0342620.
Regarding claim 3, Inada in view of Ozawa teaches all the limitations of claim 1, but does not expressively teach wherein the succession of address data fields is generated in accordance with an index generation scheme based on the number m of resolution levels and the level-specific numbers ni of image tiles.
However, Ebberson in a similar invention in the same field of endeavor teaches a method of creating an image file archive comprising an image data (see Figure 4A, structure 302), comprising an image in a number m of resolution levels, with each of the m resolution levels having a level-specific number ni of image tiles (see Figure 2A and paragraph [0036]) and with the image data having an image data entry for each of the ni of image tiles of each of the m resolution levels (see Figure 3A, mapping 304 and paragraph [0041]) the method comprising using an index data comprising a succession of address data field (see Figure 3A which shows tiles indexed by their zoom level and position and how they are saved based on that index number in mapping 304) as taught in Inada in view of Ozawa wherein
the succession of address data fields is generated in accordance with an index generation scheme based on the number m of resolution levels and the level-specific numbers ni of image tiles (see Figure 4A which shows the index for each zoom level and number of tiles).
One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention would have found it obvious as a matter of simple substitution to replace the succession of address data fields of Inada in view of Ozawa with those of Ebberson to yield the predictable results of successfully storing and retrieving the tile data.
Regarding claim 11, Inada in view of Ozawa teaches all the limitations of claim 1, but does not expressively teach wherein said determining of the at least one position in the image bit stream for the at least one specific image data entry of the at least one specific image tile k at the specific resolution level comprises:
selecting at least one specific address data field from the succession of address data fields in the index bit stream in accordance with an index access scheme, with the index access scheme in particular being a bit-level index access scheme.
However, Ebberson in a similar invention in the same field of endeavor teaches a method of creating an image file archive comprising an image data (see Figure 4A, structure 302), comprising an image in a number m of resolution levels, with each of the m resolution levels having a level-specific number ni of image tiles (see Figure 2A and paragraph [0036]) and with the image data having an image data entry for each of the ni of image tiles of each of the m resolution levels (see Figure 3A, mapping 304 and paragraph [0041]) the method comprising using an index data comprising a succession of address data field (see Figure 3A which shows tiles indexed by their zoom level and position and how they are saved based on that index number in mapping 304) and determining at least one specific image data entry of the at least one specific image tile k at the specific resolution level (see Figure 4B, steps 436-440 and paragraph [0049]) as taught in Inada in view of Ozawa wherein
said determining the at least one specific image data entry of the at least one specific image tile k at the specific resolution level comprises:
selecting at least one specific address data field from the succession of address data fields in the index data in accordance with an index access scheme (see Figure 3A which shows tiles indexed by their zoom level and position and how they are saved based on that index number in mapping 304).
One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention would have found it obvious to combine the teaching of selecting specific address data fields for specific image tiles as taught in Ebberson with the method of having image tiles in a bit stream and index data in a bit stream as taught in Inada in view of Ozawa, the motivation being to easily and quickly identify only tiles needed thereby saving time in the system.
Inada in view of Ozawa and Ebberson does not expressively teach the index access scheme in particular being a bit-level index access scheme.
However, one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention would have found it obvious as a matter of simple substitution to replace the index access scheme of Inada in view of Ozawa and Ebberson with a bit-level index access scheme as claimed to yield the predictable results of successfully retrieving the image tile data.
Claim(s) 7 and 8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Inada, U.S. Publication No. 2012/0268465 in view of Ozawa et al, U.S. Publication No. 2004/0190784 and Lee, U.S. Publication No. 2016/0275105.
Regarding claim 7, Inada in view of Ozawa teaches all the limitations of claim 1, but does not expressively teach wherein the image is a microscopic image, resulting from scanning of a sample via a digital microscope.
However, Lee in a similar invention in the same field of endeavor teaches a method of providing an image in a number m of resolution levels, with each of the m resolution levels having a level-specific number ni of image tiles (see Lee paragraph [0227] and Figure 43 which shows a pyramid structure with tiles) as taught in Inada in view of Ozawa wherein
the image is a microscopic image, resulting from scanning of a sample via a digital microscope (see paragraph [0226]).
One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention would have found it obvious to combine the teaching of creating the image with a digital microscope as taught in Lee with the method taught in Inada in view of Ozawa, the motivation being to expand the file saving system to different imaging systems thereby expanding the utility of the method.
Regarding claim 8, Inada in view of Ozawa teaches all the limitations of claim 1, but does not expressively teach the method for providing a microscopic image in an image file archive, comprising: scanning a sample, using a digital microscope for creating a microscopic image; providing said microscopic image in a number m of resolution levels, with each of the m resolution levels having a level-specific number ni of image tiles; and with said microscopic image), carrying out the method for generating an image file archive in accordance with claim 1.
However, Lee in a similar invention in the same field of endeavor teaches a method of providing an image in a number m of resolution levels, with each of the m resolution levels having a level-specific number ni of image tiles (see Lee paragraph [0227] and Figure 43 which shows a pyramid structure with tiles) as taught in Inada in view of Ozawa a method of providing a microscopic image in an image file archive (see Abstract), comprising:
scanning a sample, using a digital microscope for creating a microscopic image (see Figure 1 and paragraph [0226]);
providing said microscopic image in a number m of resolution levels, with each of the m resolution levels having a level-specific number ni of image tiles (see paragraph [0227] and Figure 43 which shows a pyramid structure with tiles); and
with said microscopic image, carrying out the method for generating an image file archive (see paragraph [0075]) as with claim 1.
One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention would have found it obvious to combine the teaching of creating the image with a digital microscope as taught in Lee with the method taught in Inada in view of Ozawa, the motivation being to expand the file saving system to different imaging systems thereby expanding the utility of the method.
Claim(s) 12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Inada, U.S. Publication No. 2012/0268465 in view of Ozawa et al, U.S. Publication No. 2004/0190784 and Guntur et al, U.S. Publication No. 2015/02081030.
Regarding claim 12, Inada in view of Ozawa teaches all the limitations of claim 9, and further teaches wherein said restoring of the partial image comprises combining a plurality of specific image tiles into an assembled image (see Inada Figure 15, steps s84 and s96. While only one tile is explicitly described, paragraph [0127] implies that multiple tiles would be identified based on the changes requested by a user).
Inada in view of Ozawa does not expressively teach
cropping the assembled image to correspond to the area of interest.
However, Guntur in a similar invention in the same field of endeavor teaches a method of assembling an image based on specific image tiles in an area of interest (see Guntur paragraph [0090]) as taught in Inada in view of Ozawa further comprising
cropping the assembled image to correspond to the area of interest (see paragraph [0090]).
One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention would have found it obvious to combine the teaching of cropping an assembled image as taught in Guntur with the method taught in Inada in view of Ozawa, the motivation being to ensure only specific data requested by the user is visible.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 13 is 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.
Claims 4 and 5 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
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/CASEY L KRETZER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2635