DETAILED ACTION
Response to Amendment
Applicant’s amendments filed on 05 January 2026 have been entered. Claims 1, 3-5, 8, 10, 11, 13-15, 18, and 20 have been amended. Claims 2 and 12 have been canceled. Claim 21 has been added. Claims 1, 3-11, 13-21 are pending in the application., with claims 1 and 12 being independent.
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 § 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 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 of this title, 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, 4-6, 9, 10, 11, 14-16, 19 and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Douglas et al. (US 20200409480 A1), referred herein as Douglas in view of SCHMIDT (US 20130227493 A1), referred herein as SCHMIDT.
Regarding Claim 1, Douglas in view of SCHMIDT teaches a display method, comprising (Douglas Abst: An interactive 3D cursor facilitates selection and manipulation of a three-dimensional volume from a three-dimensional image):
acquiring position information of a mouse (Douglas [0029] FIG. 1A illustrates a 3D (three-dimensional) cursor 100 overlaid on a three-dimensional medical image 102; [0036] Referring to FIG. 3, location indicators 300 and annotations 302 may be placed by the radiologist or by automated techniques to highlight locations or regions of concern within the interactive 3D cursor. The location indicators may specify a point or region within the volume of the 3D cursor);
acquiring three-dimensional object display areas of Douglas [0032] FIG. 1D illustrates filtering of selected areas or tissues of the selected image portion 112 to remove those areas or tissues from view; [0034] The dimensional measurement markings include tick marks 200, 202, and 204 that respectively designate 1 mm, 5 mm, and 1 cm increments along the edges of the cube (and thus representing three dimensions));
Douglas does not but SCHMIDT teaches
a glasses-free three-dimensional screen (SCHMIDT [0031] the command may be invoked any time the user selects an object using mouse cursor 230. For example, by clicking on the screen at a particular pixel, an object is selected by intersecting a ray drawn through that pixel with any objects in the virtual environment 200; [0020] a display device 110 that may be any conventional CRT or LED monitor).
Douglas in view of SCHMIDT further teaches
adjusting illumination information within a target area according to the three-dimensional object display areas and the position information, the target area being a preset range area centered on a position corresponding to the position information, and the illumination information including at least one of brightness information, contrast, and shadow sharpness of a three-dimensional object (Douglas [0032] FIG. 1D illustrates filtering of selected areas or tissues of the selected image portion 112 to remove those areas or tissues from view. In the illustrated example the background material 104, vein 108, and an artery 110 have been removed from view, leaving only the lobulated mass 106. The tissues to be filtered (removed from view) may be selected based on geometric shape, color, brightness, density, and any other of a variety of available image data, either alone or in combination. Moreover, a designated volume defined by a geometric shape may be removed, e.g. a geometric shape that traverses tissue boundaries.); and
displaying the three-dimensional object in the three-dimensional object display areas according to the adjusted illumination information (Douglas [0033] Transparency modification and tissue filtering facilitate presentation of certain tissue types of concern, both within the cursor and outside of the cursor. Currently, the medical professional must see through any tissue within the cursor but external to the tissue type of concern from the viewing point of the medical professional, thus degrading the visibility of the tissue of concern; [0042] Multiple interactive 3D cursors which could be of differing sizes and/or shapes could be created and displayed).
SCHMIDT discloses a system and method are disclosed for manipulating objects within a virtual environment using a software widget, which is analogous to the present patent application.
It would have been obvious for a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Douglas to incorporate the teachings of SCHMIDT, and apply the CAD program that allow a user to manipulate a 3D object within a virtual environment into the interactive 3D cursor that facilitates selection and manipulation of a three-dimensional volume from a three-dimensional image.
Doing so would enable the user to manipulate multiple degrees of freedom for manipulating the object using simple controls accessible with a single type of user input (e.g., mouse input).
Regarding Claim 4, Douglas in view of SCHMIDT teaches the device of claim 2, and further teaches further comprising: increasing a range of the target area as a duration extends, the duration referring to a period during which a position corresponding to the position information is in the three-dimensional object display areas (Douglas Changing the shape of the 3D cursor would help to overcome this limitation. Customization could be accomplished by wide variety of techniques, possibly including but not limited to selecting an edge, side or vertex of the original 3D cursor with a second type of cursor 412, and then “clicking and dragging” the selected edge, side, or vertex in the desired direction to expand or reduce the volume of the original 3D cursor). “clicking and dragging” extended the duration of time of the cursor.
Regarding Claim 5, Douglas in view of SCHMIDT teaches the device of claim 2, and further teaches wherein the adjusting illumination information within a target area according to the three-dimensional object display areas and the position information includes: improving a brightness of light-receiving surfaces of the three-dimensional object, a contrast of the three-dimensional object, and a shadow clarity of the backlight surfaces of the three-dimensional object in the target area according to the three-dimensional object display areas and the position information (Douglas [0046] Shadows can be added to help bring out depth perception. Proper alignment will accurately align the shadows. This enhances visual assessment for how a lesion is changing over time to include changes in tumor composition, size and morphology; [0049] Step 5 is to subtract from view additional tissue within the interactive 3D cursor as deemed appropriate by the medical professional. Step 6 is to inspect the volume within the cursor and identify region(s) of interest and place indicators, annotations, and registration markers relative to region(s) of interest).
Regarding Claim 6, Douglas in view of SCHMIDT teaches the device of claim 1, and further teaches wherein adjusting illumination information within the target area according to the three-dimensional object display areas and the position information includes: adjusting the illumination information within the target area when a position corresponding to the position information is within the three-dimensional object display areas or between adjacent three-dimensional object display areas, the adjacent three-dimensional object display areas referring to two three-dimensional object display areas whose distance is not greater than a distance threshold (Douglas [0031] FIG. 1C illustrates modification of the transparency of the selected image portion 112. More specifically, transparency may be decreased and/or increased such that tissues and other features can be better observed, e.g. such that overlapping tissues and features are visible. For example, tissues and features located proximate to the back of the selected image portion such as lobulated mass 106 can be seen through overlapping tissues and features located proximate to the front of the selected image portion such as vein 108, when transparency is sufficiently increased).
Regarding Claim 9, Douglas in view of SCHMIDT teaches the device of claim 1, and further teaches wherein displaying the three-dimensional object in the three-dimensional object display areas according to the adjusted illumination information includes:
adjusting pose information of the three-dimensional object according to the three-dimensional object display areas and the position information (SCHMIDT [0034] As shown in FIG. 4A, a user moves mouse cursor 230 to a second location in virtual environment 400a); and
displaying the three-dimensional object in the three-dimensional object display areas according to the adjusted illumination information and the pose information (SCHMIDT [0034] The positioning operation is completed by moving object 220 to the new location such that origin 221 corresponds to point 410 and z-axis 224 is co-axial with normal vector 412. The difference between the new orientation of object 220 and the old orientation of object 220 (with respect to the x-axis and y-axis) is minimized).
Regarding Claim 10, Douglas in view of SCHMIDT teaches the device of claim 1, and further teaches wherein acquiring the three-dimensional object display areas includes: reading, a processor, image data currently displayed on the glasses-free three-dimensional screen, identifying an area where the three-dimensional model is located in the image data, and identifying the three-dimensional object on the glasses-free three-dimensional screen according to the area where the three-dimensional model is located and a mapping relationship between the image data and the glasses-free three-dimensional screen (Douglas [0039] Quantitative analysis can help the radiologist understand how a feature of interest such as tumor 502 (e.g., the lobulated mass 106, FIG. 1B) is changing in volume 504 over multiple time points. The interface may include a statistical representation of the tissue types, possibly including but not limited to a histogram bar chart to depict the volume (e.g., number of voxels per unit volume) of the different types of tissue within the cursor, distinct markings for different types of tissue such as, but not limited to, color coding the bars of the histogram bar chart; [0040] a respective unique false color could be selected for each different tissue type, or tissue types of particular interest or concern, and/or additional features of concern, e.g., irregular margin, indistinct margin, spiculation, etc. In the illustrated example, the background material 104 (fat) is depicted in light gray, the artery 110 is depicted in red, the vein 108 is depicted in blue, and the lobulated mass 106 is multicolored. Different colors may be selected or used to indicate stability of the lobulated mass 106 over time).
Regarding Claims 11, 14-16, 19 and 20, Douglas in view of SCHMIDT teaches a display device (Douglas Abst: An interactive 3D cursor facilitates selection and manipulation of a three-dimensional volume from a three-dimensional image). The metes and bounds of the claims substantially correspond to the limitations set forth in Claims 1, 4-6, 9 and 10; thus they are rejected on similar grounds and rationale as their corresponding limitations.
Claim(s) 3, 7, 8, 13, 17, 18 and 21 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Douglas et al. (US 20200409480 A1), referred herein as Douglas in view of SCHMIDT (US 20130227493 A1), referred herein as SCHMIDT and Dobo et al. (US 20230245636 A1), referred herein as Dobo.
Regarding Claim 3, Douglas in view of SCHMIDT teaches the device of claim 2, but does not teach the claimed limitations herein.
However, Dobo teaches teaches further comprising: increasing the first brightness as a duration extends, the duration referring to a period during which a position corresponding to the position information remains within the three-dimensional object display areas (Dobo [0038] the indicator, which may highlight a section of an entire musical notation sequence, may represent a constant duration (representation of a time period), a dynamic duration, or an adaptive duration. A static duration indicator represents a predetermined time interval length that remains constant. A dynamic temporal length indicator represented a time interval that may be forcefully changed, for example, throughout a certain music piece (e.g., each bar), and an adaptive duration indicator may change based on or in response to changes in characteristics of audio data generated by the user and processed by the system).
Dobo discloses a method and system for indicating musical notations for at least one user, which is analogous to the present patent application.
It would have been obvious for a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Douglas to incorporate the teachings of Dobo, and apply the method of changing brightness of attention area based on duration of time period into the interactive 3D cursor that facilitates selection and manipulation of a three-dimensional volume from a three-dimensional image.
Doing so would enable to guide a user based on the user's own attention period.
Regarding Claim 7, Douglas in view of SCHMIDT teaches the device of claim 1. However, in view of Dobo, the prior art teaches wherein displaying the three-dimensional object in the three-dimensional object display areas according to the adjusted illumination information includes: displaying a motion animation of the three-dimensional object in the three-dimensional object display areas according to the adjusted illumination information (Dobo [0038] A dynamic temporal length indicator represented a time interval that may be forcefully changed, for example, throughout a certain music piece (e.g., each bar), and an adaptive duration indicator may change based on or in response to changes in characteristics of audio data generated by the user and processed by the system). The same motivation as claim 3 applies here.
Regarding Claim 8, Douglas in view of SCHMIDT and Dobo teaches the device of claim 7, and further teaches wherein a motion amplitude of the three-dimensional object is determined according to a duration, which refers to a period durn which a position corresponding to the position information remain within the three-dimensional object display areas (Dobo [0039] Additionally, or alternatively, the time interval represented by the indicator may depend, for example, on the tempo of a selected musical piece displayed to the user for playing thereby. For example, a time interval indication may be longer for a musical piece that is to be played at a first, greater speed or tempo (beats per minute), than the time interval indication displayed for a musical piece to be played at a second, comparatively slower tempo. For example, a time interval indication may be shorter for a musical piece that is to be played at a first, greater speed or tempo (beats per minute), than the time interval indication displayed for a musical piece to be played at a second, comparatively slower tempo). The time interval reach on motion amplitude, and the tempo read on duration.
Regarding Claims 13, 17 and 18, Douglas in view of SCHMIDT teaches the display device according to claim 11. The metes and bounds of the claims substantially correspond to the limitations set forth in Claims 3, 7 and 8; thus they are rejected on similar grounds and rationale as their corresponding limitations.
Regarding Claims 21, Douglas in view of SCHMIDT teaches a display method (Douglas Abst: An interactive 3D cursor facilitates selection and manipulation of a three-dimensional volume from a three-dimensional image). The metes and bounds of the claims substantially correspond to the limitations set forth in Claims 1, 4 and 7; thus they are rejected on similar grounds and rationale as their corresponding limitations.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see page 9, filed on 05 January 2026, with respect to claim objection for informalities have been fully considered and are persuasive. The objection of 19 November 2025 has been withdrawn.
Applicant's arguments filed on 05 January 2026, with respect to the 103 rejection have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
On page 3, Applicant's Remarks, with respect to amended claim 1, the applicant recited “Neither passage of Douglas discloses or suggests increasing the brightness of a defined target area relative to a non-target area.” The Examiner respectfully disagrees with this argument. The recitation “The tissues to be filtered (removed from view) may be selected based on geometric shape, color, brightness, density, and any other of a variety of available image data” of Douglas implicitly disclosed that the brightness of tissues are different. In order to enhance viewing experience, false colors and transparency levels are applied to different tissues (see par 40). Pixel brightness is actually adjusted based on the color value and gray level. Therefore, the adjustment function of the cited art equates the function as claimed, and would be able to achieve the same result of making the target area more visible than non-target area. Regarding the first argument, it is respectfully noted that, Douglas in view of SCHMIDT teaches the amended limitation from claim 2 of original filed.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Samantha (Yuehan) Wang whose telephone number is (571)270-5011. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday, 8am-5pm.
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/Samantha (YUEHAN) WANG/
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2617
Prosecution Insights