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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 08/11/2026 has been entered. Claims 1-4, 8-16, and 20-23 remain pending in the application.
Response to Amendment
Claims 1-4, 8-16, and 20-23 remain pending in the application in response to the applicant’s amendments to the rejections previously set forth in the Final Office Action mailed 04/06/2026.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments filed 07/30/2026 with respect to claim(s) 1, 11, and 14 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Given the amendments to claims 1, 11, and 14, reference to Stanziola is being relied upon to teach dependent claims 2-4, 8, 12-13, 15-16, and 20 more-consistently with the instant claim language, as shown below.
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.
Claims 1-4, 8-16, and 20-23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Stanziola et al. (US 20190196013 A1, published June 27, 2019) in view of Robert et al. (US 20240277317 A1, published August 22, 2024 with a priority date of May 5, 2022), hereinafter referred to as Stanziola and Robert, respectively.
Regarding claim 1, and similarly for claims 11 and 14, Stanziola teaches an aperture compounding method for reducing speckle in ultrasound data corresponding to ultrasound waves received by an array of ultrasound transducers, distributed in a lateral direction, the method comprising:
obtaining, concurrently, a beamformed first sub-aperture signal from a first beamformer (first summation unit 14) and a beamformed second sub-aperture signal from a second beamformer (second summation unit 15) different from the first beamformer, each corresponding to a focal point (see para. 0006 – “The technique is applicable to imaging with and without contrast agents, and may be generally applicable to all ultrasound acquisition methods and targets, e.g. any type of ultrasound transmission (focused, unfocused, synthetic aperture).”; Fig. 7; see para. 0131 – “The channels 1 . . . Nc are each divided into two groups and the response signals of the channels of the first group are coupled to a first group summation unit 14 and the response signals of the channels of the second group are coupled to a second group summation unit 15. The summation units 14, 15 perform the beamforming process, e.g. by a delay and sum process.”),
wherein the first sub-aperture signal corresponds to a first sub-aperture defined by a first sub-array of the ultrasound transducers, and the second sub-aperture signal corresponds to a second sub-aperture defined by a second sub-array of the ultrasound transducers (Fig. 7; see para. 0131 – “The channels 1 . . . Nc are each divided into two groups and the response signals of the channels of the first group are coupled to a first group summation unit 14 and the response signals of the channels of the second group are coupled to a second group summation unit 15. The summation units 14, 15 perform the beamforming process, e.g. by a delay and sum process.”); and
generating an average signal, corresponding to the focal point, wherein the generating comprises:
generating a full aperture signal by coherently adding the first sub-aperture signal and the second sub-aperture signal (Fig. 7; see para. 0132 – “The filtered pixel data p1[n] and p2[n] respectively from each beamformed channel are correlated in the correlation module 18 to generate a correlation output r[n]. The correlation module may be realised by a simple multiplicative junction.”);
wherein the first sub-array and the second sub-array each comprise non-consecutive groups of ultrasound transducers, such that the first sub-aperture and the second sub-aperture are spatially intermittent in the lateral direction (Fig. 7; see para. 0131 – “The channels 1 . . . Nc are each divided into two groups and the response signals of the channels of the first group are coupled to a first group summation unit 14 and the response signals of the channels of the second group are coupled to a second group summation unit 15.”).
Stanziola teaches combining ultrasound signals, but does not explicitly teach combining logarithmic ultrasound signals.
Whereas, Robert, in an analogous field of endeavor, teaches
generating an average signal, corresponding to the focal point, wherein the generating comprises:
generating a full aperture signal by coherently adding the first sub-aperture signal and the second sub-aperture signal (see para. 0079 "The coherent combination module 920 may be configured to coherently combine (e.g., compound) the data corresponding to the set of subframes. For instance, the coherent combination module 920 may sum (e.g., average) data corresponding to a first subframe o fthe set of subframes and data corresponding to a second subframe of the set of subframes to coherently combine the data corresponding to the set of subframes.");
generating a first sub-aperture logarithmic signal by logarithmically detecting the first sub aperture signal; generating a second sub-aperture logarithmic signal by logarithmically detecting the second sub-aperture signal (see para. 0059 "The signal pathway 600 may further include a log compression module 630 configured to perform log compression on the data corresponding to the set of subframes.");
generating a full aperture logarithmic signal by logarithmically detecting the full aperture signal (see para. 0082 "The signal pathway 900 may further include a log compression module 630 configured to perform log compression on the data corresponding to the set of subframes."); and
averaging the first sub-aperture logarithmic signal, the second sub-aperture logarithmic signal, and the full aperture logarithmic signal to produce the average signal corresponding to the focal point (see para. 0094 "The first image data and the second image data may be received at the image generation module 1150, which may combine [which can include averaging] the first image data and the second image data to generate a compounded ultrasound image.").
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified combining ultrasound signals, as disclosed in Stanziola, by combining logarithmic ultrasound signals, as disclosed in Roberts. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to improve the resolution and/or penetration of the image, as taught in Robert (see para. 0003).
Furthermore, regarding claim 2, Stanziola further teaches converting ultrasound waves, that are incident upon the first sub-aperture, to a first set of ultrasound signals, and converting ultrasound waves, that are incident upon the second sub-aperture, to a second set of ultrasound signals; and generating, by beamforming the first set of ultrasound signals, the first sub- aperture signal that corresponds to the focal point; and generating, by beamforming the second set of ultrasound signals, the second sub-aperture signal that corresponds to the focal point (Fig. 7; see para. 0131 – “The channels 1 . . . Nc are each divided into two groups and the response signals of the channels of the first group are coupled to a first group summation unit 14 and the response signals of the channels of the second group are coupled to a second group summation unit 15. The summation units 14, 15 perform the beamforming process, e.g. by a delay and sum process.”).
Furthermore, regarding claims 3, 12, and 15, Stanziola further teaches generating an ultrasound image by at least one selected from a group consisting of: iteratively repeating the generating of the average signal at multiple different focal points; and generating, in parallel, the average signal at multiple different focal points (see para. 0136 – “The ASAP techniques described can be compared in complexity with classical Power Doppler to show that real time processing is feasible. Both classical PD and ASAP can be implemented in parallel processes with respect to spatial position in an image, so that each pixel can be computed independently of the others.”).
Furthermore, regarding claims 4, 13, and 16, Stanziola further teaches
transmitting, from the first sub-aperture, a transmitted first sub-aperture signal; transmitting, from the second sub-aperture, a transmitted second sub-aperture signal (see para. 0023 – “…(iii) a transducer array comprising selected elements of a larger array where only selected elements of the larger array are used for each transmit and/or receive operation.”; Fig. 7; see para. 0131 – “The channels 1 . . . Nc are each divided into two groups and the response signals of the channels of the first group are coupled to a first group summation unit 14 and the response signals of the channels of the second group are coupled to a second group summation unit 15. The summation units 14, 15 perform the beamforming process, e.g. by a delay and sum process.”);
generating a transmitted full aperture signal by coherently adding the transmitted first sub-aperture signal and the transmitted second sub-aperture signal, wherein the obtaining of the beamformed first sub-aperture signal and the beamformed second sub-aperture signal is performed for both the transmitted first sub-aperture signal and transmitted second sub-aperture signal (Fig. 7; see para. 0131 – “The channels 1 . . . Nc are each divided into two groups and the response signals of the channels of the first group are coupled to a first group summation unit 14 and the response signals of the channels of the second group are coupled to a second group summation unit 15. The summation units 14, 15 perform the beamforming process, e.g. by a delay and sum process.”), and
Robert further teaches the generating of the average signal is performed for each of the transmitted first sub-aperture signal, the transmitted second sub-aperture signal, and the transmitted full aperture signal (see para. 0094 "The first image data and the second image data may be received at the image generation module 1150, which may combine [which can include averaging] the first image data and the second image data to generate a compounded ultrasound image.").
Furthermore, regarding claims 8 and 20, Stanziola further teaches wherein the non-consecutive groups of the first sub-array and the non-consecutive groups of the second sub-array are interleaved such that the spatially intermittent first sub- aperture and the spatially intermittent second sub-aperture overlap in the lateral direction (Fig. 7; see para. 0131 – “The channels 1 . . . Nc are each divided into two groups and the response signals of the channels of the first group are coupled to a first group summation unit 14 and the response signals of the channels of the second group are coupled to a second group summation unit 15.”).
Furthermore, regarding claims 9 and 21, Robert further teaches wherein each of the ultrasound transducers is at least one selected from a group consisting of a capacitive micromachined ultrasound transducer (CMUT) and a piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducer (PMUT) (see para. 0030-"In some embodiments, the transducer array 112 may include a piezoelectric micromachined ultrasound transducer (PMUT), capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducer (CMUT)…” where PMUTs and CMUTs are known in the art).
Furthermore, regarding claims 10 and 22, Robert further teaches wherein the array of ultrasound transducers is a two-dimensional array comprising rows of ultrasound transducers, the rows being distributed in the lateral direction (see para. 0030 "In some instances, the transducer array 112 may include an array of acoustic elements with any number of acoustic elements in any suitable configuration, such as… a two-dimensional (2D) array. The array of acoustic elements (e.g., one or more rows, one or more columns, and/or one or more orientations) can be uniformly or independently controlled and activated." Where 2D array of transducers are known in the art).
Furthermore, regarding claim 23, Robert further teaches:
a handheld ultrasound probe (Fig. 1; see para. 0027 "In some embodiments, the probe 110 is an external ultrasound imaging device including a housing 111 configured for handheld operation by a user."), comprising: the array of ultrasound transducers (transducer array 112), and the electronic circuitry (includes processor 116 of probe 110); and
a processing device (host 130), being one selected from a group consisting of a computer, a tablet, and a smartphone (see para. 0036 "The host 130 maybe any suitable computing and display device, such as a workstation, a personal computer (PC), a laptop, a tablet, or a mobile phone."), the processing device comprising: the processor (processor 134 of host 130).
The motivation for claims 4, 9-10, 13, 16, and 21-23 was shown previously in claim 1, 11, and 14.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Kim et al. (US 20150099977 A1, published April 9, 2015) discloses the second beamforming unit which is configured to beamform a signal that is transmitted or received by a plurality of transducers belonging to the second transducer block.
Ossmann et al. (US 20200214670 A1, published July 9, 2020) discloses beam-forming the ultrasound signals received by a second plurality of imaging elements of a second subarray of the array of imaging elements to define a second beam-formed signal.
Kawabata et al. (US 20070291589 A1, published December 20, 2007) discloses a second beamforming section for forming a second receiving beam by the second sub array.
Shiba (US 20230043880 A1, published February 9, 2023) discloses sound waves received at the second sub-array are subjected to phasing-processing by the second beam generator.
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/N.C./Examiner, Art Unit 3798
