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 .
Claim Interpretation
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(f):
(f) Element in Claim for a Combination. – An element in a claim for a combination may be expressed as a means or step for performing a specified function without the recital of structure, material, or acts in support thereof, and such claim shall be construed to cover the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification and equivalents thereof.
The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph:
An element in a claim for a combination may be expressed as a means or step for performing a specified function without the recital of structure, material, or acts in support thereof, and such claim shall be construed to cover the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification and equivalents thereof.
Use of the word “means” (or “step for”) in a claim with functional language creates a rebuttable presumption that the claim element is to be treated in accordance with 35 U.S.C. § 112(f) (pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph). The presumption that § 112(f) (pre-AIA § 112, sixth paragraph) is invoked is rebutted when the function is recited with sufficient structure, material, or acts within the claim itself to entirely perform the recited function.
Absence of the word “means” (or “step for”) in a claim creates a rebuttable presumption that the claim element is not to be treated in accordance with 35 U.S.C. § 112(f) (pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph). The presumption that § 112(f) (pre-AIA § 112, sixth paragraph) is not invoked is rebutted when the claim element recites function but fails to recite sufficiently definite structure, material or acts to perform that function.
Claim elements in this application that use the word “means” (or “step for”) are presumed to invoke § 112(f) except as otherwise indicated in an Office action. Similarly, claim elements that do not use the word “means” (or “step for”) are presumed not to invoke § 112(f) except as otherwise indicated in an Office action.
Claim limitation “unit” has/have been interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, because it uses/they use a generic placeholder “unit” coupled with functional language without reciting sufficient structure to achieve the function. Furthermore, the generic placeholder is not preceded by a structural modifier.
Since the claim limitation(s) invokes 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, claim(s) 17-18 has/have been interpreted to cover the corresponding structure described in the specification that achieves the claimed function, and equivalents thereof.
A review of the specification shows that the following appears to be the corresponding structure described in the specification for the 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph limitation: a sensor described in paragraph [0052].
If applicant wishes to provide further explanation or dispute the examiner’s interpretation of the corresponding structure, applicant must identify the corresponding structure with reference to the specification by page and line number, and to the drawing, if any, by reference characters in response to this Office action.
If applicant does not intend to have the claim limitation(s) treated under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112 , sixth paragraph, applicant may amend the claim(s) so that it/they will clearly not invoke 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, or present a sufficient showing that the claim recites/recite sufficient structure, material, or acts for performing the claimed function to preclude application of 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph.
For more information, see M.P.E.P. § 2173 et seq. and Supplementary Examination Guidelines for Determining Compliance With 35 U.S.C. 112 and for Treatment of Related Issues in Patent Applications, 76 FR 7162, 7167 (Feb. 9, 2011).
Claims 1-16 are not interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, because they are all method claims.
Claim 19 is not interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, because it is an article of manufacture claim.
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 2-6 and 11-16 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 2 recites the limitation “the occurrence of an abort condition” in line 3. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 3 recites the limitation “the 3D maps and/or 3D models” in line 5. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claims 4-6 and 12-16 depend on claim 3 and thus are rejected for the same reasons as well.
Claim 11 recites “it” in line 2. It lacks clarity as to what it is referred to. Also, here is insufficient antecedent basis for claim limitation “the answer” in the claim.
Claim 16 is also rejected for the same reasons as applied to claim 11 above because it recites similar claim limitations.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1, 7-10 and 17-19 are allowed.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance:
Regarding claim 1 as a representative claim, the cited prior art does not teach or suggest claimed invention that of: “wherein the capturing signal is provided by a capturing unit embodied to capture a partial area of the graphical display which is currently being viewed by the viewer and to provide the capturing signal in dependence on the captured partial area, and adjusting the graphical display of the at least one of the anatomical and/or medical identified objects by adjustment of a display parameter of the graphical display”.
Claims 7-10 depend on claim 1 and therefore these claims are also allowed for the same reasons.
Each of Claims 17 and 19 recites similar claim limitations called for in the counterpart claim 1. Therefore, claims 17 and 19 are also allowed for the same reasons as set forth in claim 1 above.
Claim 18 depends on claim 17 and therefore these claims are also allowed for the same reasons.
Claims 2-6 and 11-16 depend on claim 1 and 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.
Any comments considered necessary by applicant must be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee. Such submissions should be clearly labeled “Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance.”
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Xia et al. ("A Novel Lung Nodule Accurate Segmentation of PET-CT Images Based on Convolutional Neural Network and Graph Model", IEEE Access, Vol. 11, Published on 3/28/2023, pages: 34015-34031) teaches obtaining dataset of clinical tumor image (abstract), displaying dataset (figure 10), and segmenting dataset to obtain tumor area (page 34028 left column, last 8 lines).
Prasad et al. (U.S. Pat. App. Pub. No 2021/0201476 A1) teaches capturing an image and 3D depth of a patient (504 of fig. 4A), and reconstructing such image of patient and displaying it on the display (para. [0039]).
Papageorgiou et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 9,196,091 B2) teaches a method of displaying images comprising a user interface, obtaining dataset (fig. 1: dataset 7) and displaying it on the display (col. 4 lines 25-36).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DUY M DANG whose telephone number is (571)272-7389. The examiner can normally be reached Monday to Friday from 7:00AM to 3:30PM.
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DMD
1/2026
/DUY M DANG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2662