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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on 11/20/2025 and 05/14/2024 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are being considered by the examiner.
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant's claim for foreign priority based on an application filed in India on 03/19/2024. It seems that an attempt by the Office to electronically retrieve, under the priority document exchange program, the foreign application 202441020353 to which priority is claimed has FAILED on 08/19/2025. It is noted, however, that applicant has not filed a certified copy of the IN202441020353 application as required by 37 CFR 1.55.
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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Louvrier et al. (US PAP 2017/0231076 A1).
With respect to claim 1, Louvrier et al. teaches an X-ray system (10), comprising (see abstract; Figs. 1-7; paragraphs 0004-0010, 0018-0024, 0028-0040 and 0044-0047; claims 1 and 9-19): an X-ray tube (102) including a filament (see Fig. 3; paragraphs 0018 and 0019); and a filament drive circuit (104) configured to supply a first current from a voltage source (106) to the filament, the filament drive circuit (104) including a high-voltage transformer (112) (see Figs. 4 and 5; paragraphs 0020, 0022, 0024 and 0028), an inverter (128) (see Fig. 5; paragraph 0032), a resonant inductor (144) (see Fig. 5; paragraph 0037), and one or more diagnostic capacitors (124, 126, 134, 140, 142);
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wherein each diagnostic capacitor (124, 126, 134, 140, 142) of the one or more diagnostic capacitors (124, 126, 134, 140, 142) corresponds to a component of the filament drive circuit (104) (see abstract; Figs. 1-7; paragraphs 0004-0010, 0018-0024, 0028-0040 and 0044-0047; claims 1 and 9-19).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-11 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.
Claims 12-20 are allowed.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
With respect to claims 2-11, the most relevant prior art, Louvrier et al. (US PAP 2017/0231076 A1) in view of Herwig et al. (US Patent 4,641,330) teaches the X-ray system of claim 1 (see abstract; Figs. 1-7; paragraphs 0004-0010, 0018-0024, 0028-0040 and 0044-0047; claims 1 and 9-19);
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further comprising a controller (38) including a processor and a memory (40) storing instructions (see Fig. 2); wherein Herwig et al. further discloses generating a diagnostic voltage pulse via the inverter; measure a resonant frequency of the filament drive circuit resulting from the diagnostic voltage pulse (see abstract; Figs. 1 and 2; column 1, line 37 – column 3, line 27) but fail to explicitly teach or make obvious to identify a degradation condition of the X-ray system based on the measured resonant frequency as claimed in combination with all of the remaining limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
With respect to claims 12-17, the most relevant prior art, Herwig et al. (US Patent 4,641,330) teaches a diagnostic routine for an X-ray system, the diagnostic routine comprising: generating a voltage pulse on a filament drive circuit of an X-ray tube of the X-ray system; measuring a resonant frequency of the filament drive circuit resulting from the voltage pulse;
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(see abstract; Figs. 1 and 2; column 1, line 37 – column 3, line 27) but fail to explicitly teach or make obvious and identifying a failed component of the X-ray system based on the measured resonant frequency as claimed in combination with all of the remaining limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
With respect to claims 18-20, the most relevant prior art, Louvrier et al. (US PAP 2017/0231076 A1) in view of Herwig et al. (US Patent 4,641,330) teaches an X-ray system with a filament drive circuit; wherein Louvrier et al. teaches an X-ray system (100), comprising: an X-ray tube (102); a filament drive circuit (104) configured to supply a current to a filament of the X-ray tube (102); a first diagnostic capacitor (124) positioned at a first location within the filament drive circuit (104); a second diagnostic capacitor (126) positioned at a second location within the filament drive circuit (104); and a processor (38) and a memory (40) including instructions (see abstract; Figs. 1-7; paragraphs 0004-0010, 0018-0024, 0028-0040 and 0044-0047).
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generate a voltage pulse on the filament drive circuit.
Herwig et al. teaches a diagnostic routine for an X-ray system, the diagnostic routine comprising: generating a voltage pulse on a filament drive circuit of an X-ray tube of the X-ray system; measuring a resonant frequency of the filament drive circuit resulting from the voltage pulse (see abstract; Figs. 1 and 2; column 1, line 37 – column 3, line 27).
Louvrier et al. and Herwig et al. disclose the related X-ray system with the filament drive circuits but fail to explicitly teach or make obvious that in response to the filament drive circuit resonating at a first resonant frequency caused by the first diagnostic capacitor, set a first diagnostic flag of the X-ray system indicating a failure of a first component of the filament drive circuit; and in response to the filament drive circuit resonating at a second resonant frequency caused by the second diagnostic capacitor, the second resonant frequency different from the first resonant frequency, set a diagnostic flag of the X-ray system indicating a failure of a second component of the filament drive circuit as claimed in combination with all of the remaining limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to IRAKLI KIKNADZE whose telephone number is (571)272-6494. The examiner can normally be reached 9:00 AM - 6:00 PM. Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, David J. Makiya can be reached at 571-272-2273. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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Irakli Kiknadze
/IRAKLI KIKNADZE/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2884
/I.K./ April 6, 2026