9DETAILED 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 Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by US2019/0212457 (LI).
Regarding claim 1, LI disclose a detector micro-block for emission computed tomography (ECT), comprising:
detector units arranged side by side along a second direction (Fig. 11a and 11b), wherein each of the detector units includes:
crystal elements (411) that are arranged in crystal element rows along the second direction and crystal element columns along a first direction perpendicular to the second direction (Fig. 11a and 11b), each crystal element having a first end and a second end and extending from the first end to the second end along a third direction perpendicular to the first direction and the second direction (Fig. 11a and 11b); and
an optical sensor array (421) including optical sensors arranged along the first direction (Fig. 11a and 11b);
wherein the first ends of the crystal elements in each crystal element row are optically coupled with one optical sensor of the optical sensor array (Fig. 11a and 11b), and an optical bridge is configured at the second ends of the crystal elements in each crystal element column (Fig. 11a and 11b).
Regarding claim 2, LI disclose the detector micro-block of claim 1, wherein for each crystal element column of each detector unit, an optical separator is configured between each pair of adjacent crystal elements in the crystal element column (412), the optical separator extends from the first ends of the corresponding pair of adjacent crystal elements without reaching the second ends of the corresponding pair of adjacent crystal elements (Fig. 11a and 11b).
Regarding claim 3, LI disclose the detector micro-block of claim 2, wherein the second ends of the crystal elements in each crystal element column are integrated into an integral part that serves as the optical bridge (Fig. 11a and 11b).
Regarding claim 4, LI disclose the detector micro-block of claim 2, wherein the optical bridge of each crystal element column comprises: a light transmitter configured between each pair of adjacent crystal elements in the crystal element column, the light transmitter extends from the second ends of the corresponding pair adjacent crystal elements to the optical separator between the corresponding pair of adjacent crystal elements (Fig. 7).
Regarding claim 5, LI disclose the detector micro-block of claim 1, wherein for each detector unit, an optical separator is configured between each pair of adjacent crystal element columns in the detector unit, the optical separator extends from the first ends of the crystal elements in the corresponding pair of adjacent crystal element columns to the second ends of the crystal elements in the corresponding pair of crystal element columns (Fig. 11a and 11b).
Regarding claim 6, LI disclose the detector micro-block of claim 1, wherein for each crystal element column of each detector unit, an optical separator is configured between each pair of adjacent crystal elements in the crystal element column, the optical separator extends from the first ends of the corresponding pair of adjacent crystal elements to the second ends of the corresponding pair of adjacent crystal elements, and the optical bridge includes a light transmitter covering the second ends of the crystal elements in the crystal element column (Fig. 11a and 11b, Fig. 7).
Regarding claim 7, LI disclose the detector micro-block of claim 1, wherein a second optical bridge is configured between each pair of adjacent detector units in the detector micro-block (Fig. 11a and 11b).
Regarding claim 8, LI disclose the detector micro-block of claim 1, wherein an optical separator is configured between each pair of adjacent detector units in the detector micro-block, the optical separator extends from the second ends of the crystal elements in the corresponding pair of adjacent detector units without reaching the first ends of the crystal elements in the corresponding pair of adjacent detector units (Fig. 11a and 11b).
Regarding claim 9, LI disclose the detector micro-block of claim 1, wherein for each detector unit, two crystal elements are arranged in each crystal element column of the detector unit along the first direction, and two crystal elements are arranged in each crystal element row of the detector unit along the second direction (Fig. 11a and 11b).
Regarding claim 10, LI disclose the detector micro-block of claim 1, wherein each crystal element has a long side along the first direction and a short side along the second direction, the length of the long side along the first direction is larger than the length of the short side along the second direction (Fig. 11a and 11b).
Regarding claim 11, LI disclose the detector micro-block of claim 10, wherein a ratio of the length of the long side along the first direction and the length of the short side along the second direction is greater than 1 and less than 5 (Fig. 11a and 11b).
Regarding claim 12, LI disclose a detector block for emission computed tomography (ECT), comprising a plurality of detector micro-blocks of claim 10 arranged in a block array (Fig. 11a and 11b).
Regarding claim 13, LI disclose the detector block of claim 12, wherein the short sides of the crystal elements in the plurality of detector micro-blocks are parallel to each other (Fig. 11a and 11b).
Regarding claim 14, LI disclose the detector block of claim 12, wherein the short sides of the crystal elements in one or more first detector micro-blocks of the plurality of detector micro-blocks are perpendicular to the short sides of the crystal elements in one or more second detector micro-blocks of the plurality of detector micro-blocks (Fig. 11a and 11b).
Regarding claim 15, LI disclose the detector block of claim 14, wherein each pair of adjacent detector micro-blocks in the plurality of detector micro-blocks include one first detector micro-block and one second detector micro-block to form a checkerboard structure (Fig. 11a and 11b).
Regarding claim 16, LI disclose the detector block of claim 15, wherein the detector block includes first sub-blocks and second sub-blocks, each of the first sub-blocks and the second sub-blocks includes multiple detector micro-blocks, the detector micro-blocks of each first sub-block have a first arrangement manner, the detector micro-blocks of each second sub-block have a second arrangement manner different from the first arrangement manner (Fig. 11a and 11b).
Regarding claim 17, LI disclose a method for identifying positions of photon gamma interactions, implemented on a computing machine having one or more processors and one or more storage devices, the method comprising:
obtaining output information of the optical sensors of the detector micro-block according to claim 1 (Fig. 11a and 11b, Fig. 16 and 17); and
determining, based on the output information of the optical sensors, position information of a photon gamma interaction that occurs in the crystal elements of the detector micro-block according to claim 1 (Fig. 11a and 11b; Fig. 16 and 17).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 18-20 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:
Regarding claim 18, LI disclose a method for emission computed tomography (ECT), implemented on a computing machine having one or more processors and one or more storage devices, the method comprising:
obtaining output information of the optical sensors of the plurality of detector micro-blocks of the detector block according to claim 14 (Fig. 16 and 17);
dividing the output information into a first subset and a second subset, the first subset corresponding to the optical sensors of the one or more first detector micro-blocks, the second subset corresponding to the optical sensors of the one or more second detector micro-blocks (Fig. 16 and 17).
LI fails to teach the details of generating a first ECT image based on the first subset; and generating a second ECT image based on the second subset.
Claims 19 and 20 depend on claim 18.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DANI FOX whose telephone number is (571)272-3513. The examiner can normally be reached M-F: 9-5.
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/DANI FOX/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2884