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 Objections
Claim 19 is objected to because of the following informalities: in line 10, it appears that “a” should be inserted after “to”. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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.
Claims 1-6, 8-10, and 13-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Wang et al. (USPN 9,861,324 B2).
With respect to claim 1, Wang et al. disclose an X-ray system for acquiring projection measurement data of an examination object, the X-ray system comprising: an X-ray emitter arrangement having an X-ray radiation source (Fig. 14A - 300) configured to emit X-rays (326); and a photon-counting X-ray detector (350) with at least one detection threshold for spectrally resolved detection of the X-rays, the at least one detection threshold being variable at least one of spatially or temporally in a same measurement (column 3, “Brief Summary of the Invention” & column 9, lines 60+ & column 13, lines 41-50 & claim 1).
With respect to claim 20, Wang et al. disclose a method for image reconstruction via an X-ray system, the method comprising: detecting, via energy-resolved detection by a photon-counting X-ray detector (350), at least X-rays (326) passing through an examination object (315) as projection measurement data, wherein the photon-counting X-ray detector has a detection threshold for spectrally resolved detection of the X-rays, the detection threshold being variable at least one of spatially or temporally in a same measurement; and reconstructing an image based on the projection measurement data (column 3, “Brief Summary of the Invention” & column 9, lines 60+ & column 13, lines 41-50 & claim 1).
With respect to claim 2, Wang et al. disclose wherein the X-ray radiation source is configured to emit X-rays that are variable at least one of spatially or temporally spectrally in a same measurement (column 2, lines 26-33).
With respect to claim 3, Wang et al. disclose wherein at least one of the at least one detection threshold is adaptable to the X-rays and variable at least one of spatially or temporally in the same measurement, and the X-rays are variable at least one of spatially or temporally spectrally in the same measurement (column 2, lines 26-33 & column 3, “Brief Summary of the Invention” & column 9, lines 60+ & column 13, lines 41-50 & claim 1).
With respect to claims 4 and 16-17, Wang et al. disclose wherein the X-ray radiation source has a pre-filter configured to divide the X-rays into at least two spatially separated X-ray beam sections with a different X-ray spectrum (column 2, lines 26-33).
With respect to claim 5, Wang et al. disclose wherein the pre-filter is configured to distribute different regions of an X-ray spectrum of the X-rays to spatially defined angular regions of the photon-counting X-ray detector (see Figs. 1A-1D), and detection thresholds of the photon-counting X-ray detector have different values depending on the different regions of the X-ray spectrum in different angular regions (column 2, lines 26-33 & column 3, “Brief Summary of the Invention” & column 9, lines 60+ & column 13, lines 41-50 & claim 1).
With respect to claims 6 and 18, Wang et al. disclose wherein the pre-filter includes a first filter section with a first filter material and a second filter section with a second filter material, the second filter material being different from the first filter material (column 2, lines 26-33).
With respect to claims 8 and 19, Wang et al. disclose wherein the X-ray radiation source is configured to switch between different acceleration voltages under control of a control device, and the photon-counting X-ray detector has at least one temporally variable detection threshold and is configured to detect the X-rays in synchronization with activation of the X-ray radiation source, wherein the synchronization includes an adjustment of the temporally variable detection threshold to a value of the different acceleration voltages (column 9, lines 60+ & column 13, lines 12+ & claim 1).
With respect to claim 9, Wang et al. disclose wherein the photon-counting X-ray detector is configured to read out and transmit only a portion of the at least one temporally variable detection threshold at a time, in synchronization with the switching of the X-ray radiation source and controlled by the control device (column 9, lines 60+ & column 13, lines 12+ & claim 1).
With respect to claim 10, Wang et al. disclose wherein the photon-counting X-ray detector has at least one first sub-area with a first detection threshold and at least one second sub-area with a second detection threshold, which differs from the first detection threshold, wherein the at least one second sub-area is arranged spatially alternating with the at least one first sub-area (column 3, “Brief Summary of the Invention” & column 5, lines 21+ & column 9, lines 60+ & column 13, lines 41+).
With respect to claim 13, Wang et al. disclose a method for image reconstruction via an X-ray system as claimed in claim 1, the method comprising: generating and emitting the X-rays; detecting, via energy-resolved detection by the photon-counting X-ray detector, at least the X-rays passing through the examination object as projection measurement data; and reconstructing an image based on the projection measurement data (column 3, “Brief Summary of the Invention” & column 9, lines 60+ & column 13, lines 41+ & claim 1).
With respect to claim 14, Wang et al. disclose a non-transitory computer program product having a computer program, which is loadable directly into a memory device of a control device of an X-ray system, the computer program having program sections for carrying out the method as claimed in claim 13 when the computer program is executed at the control device of the X-ray system (column 13, lines 51+).
With respect to claim 15, Wang et al. disclose a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing program sections that, when executed by a computing unit, cause the computing unit to carry out the method as claimed in claim 13 (column 13, lines 51+).
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.
Claim 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang et al. (USPN 9,861,324 B2) as applied to claims 1, 4, and 6 above, and further in view of Yeh et al. (USPN 12,178,626 B2).
With respect to claim 7, Wang et al. do not specifically disclose wherein the first filter material has gold and the second filter material has tin. Yeh et al. disclose using gold and tin for filter materials (column 18, lines 61+) to obtain greater separation of the energy spectra. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify Wang et al. to have the first filter material have gold and the second filter material have tin, to obtain greater separation of the energy spectra, as taught by Yeh et al.
Claim 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang et al. (USPN 9,861,324 B2) as applied to claims 1 and 10 above, and further in view of Edic et al. (USPN 7,885,372 B2).
With respect to claim 11, Wang et al. do not specifically disclose wherein the first sub-area and the second sub-area form a checkerboard pattern. Edic et al. disclose this (Fig. 2). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify Wang et al. to have the first sub-area and the second sub-area form a checkerboard pattern, because this is a viable option, as taught by Edic et al., and would be a matter of design choice.
Claim 12 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang et al. (USPN 9,861,324 B2) as applied to claims 1 and 10 above.
With respect to claim 12, Wang et al. disclose wherein the photon-counting X-ray detector is configured to exchange the first detection threshold of the at least one first sub-area and the second detection threshold of the at least one second sub-area (column 3, “Brief Summary of the Invention” & column 9, lines 60+ & column 13, lines 41-50 & claim 1). Wang et al. do not specifically disclose at set time intervals. However, Wang et al. disclose the detection thresholds are dynamically changeable as desired. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify Wang et al. to have the photon-counting X-ray detector be configured to exchange the first detection threshold of the at least one first sub-area and the second detection threshold of the at least one second sub-area at set time intervals, as a matter of design choice.
Conclusion
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/JURIE YUN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2884
January 27, 2026