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 .
Response to Amendment
Claims 1-11 are cancelled, and claims 12-26 remain pending in the application in response to the applicant’s amendments to the rejections previously set forth in the Non-Final Office Action mailed 04/06/2026.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments filed 07/06/2026 with respect to claim(s) 12 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Claim Objections
Claim 23 is objected to because of the following informalities:
For claim 23, the examiner assumes “transmit an image ultrasonic transmission signal to the object” should be “transmit an ultrasonic transmission signal to the object”, removing “image” for clarity.
Appropriate correction is required.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 12-16 and 23-26 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ryu et al. (US 20200151612 A1, published May 14, 2020) in view of Lemmerhirt et al. (US 20130096433 A1, published April 18, 2013) and Eckersley et al. (US 20210275141 A1, published September 9, 2021), hereinafter referred to as Ryu, Lemmerhirt, and Eckersley, respectively.
Regarding claim 12, Ryu teaches a blood flow measuring device (Fig. 1) comprising:
an array with sub-arrays (Fig. 1, 2D transducer array 110; see para. 0058 – “The acoustic window detection portion 171 may select transducers to be driven to be distributed and scattered to be relatively uniform within an available channel number among the transducers of the two-dimensional transducer array 110.” Selected transducers as subarrays); and
at least one processor (Fig. 1, processor 170) configured to:
cause the plurality of sub-arrays to transmit respective transmission ultrasonic signals to the object along the lines corresponding to the plurality of sub-arrays at a first time (Fig. 8; see para. 0074 – “In operation 710, an ultrasonic signal is transmitted and received by driving some of the transducers of the two-dimensional transducer array 110 at the same time…”);
determine a blood vessel region included in the object based on the reception ultrasonic signal received by the phased array (see para. 0075-0076 – “In operation 720, a transducer corresponding to a Doppler signal having highest intensity among the detected Doppler signals is confirmed. In operation 730, Doppler signals with respect to a plurality of steering vectors are detected through beam steering using a plurality of adjacent transducers including the confirmed transducer.”);
calculate an energy for a Doppler signal in the blood vessel region based on the reception ultrasonic signal (see para. 0077 – “In operation 740, a steering vector corresponding to the Doppler signal having highest intensity among the detected Doppler signals is confirmed.”);
select, from among the plurality of sub-arrays, a selected sub-array corresponding to a line crossing the blood vessel region (see para. 0078 – “In operation 750, beam steering is performed using the confirmed steering vector and a Doppler signal is detected by transmitting and receiving an ultrasonic signal using the corresponding steering vector so as to detect the Doppler signal.”); and
after the first time, cause the selected sub-array to transmit the transmission ultrasonic signal to the object at every predetermined time interval (see para. 0078 – “In operation 750, beam steering is performed using the confirmed steering vector and a Doppler signal is detected by transmitting and receiving an ultrasonic signal using the corresponding steering vector so as to detect the Doppler signal.”),
wherein, when the energy for the doppler signal calculated by the at least one processor is smaller than a predetermined reference energy, the selected sub-array transmits the transmission ultrasonic signals to the object following lines arranged vertically with respect to the sub-array from the first time (see para. 0063 – “The acoustic window detection portion 171 may detect a position of an acoustic window at once through the above operation and may detect an optimum acoustic window through a plurality of times by changing transducers to be driven as necessary. For example, when a threshold value of the intensity of a Doppler signal is determined and all of detected Doppler signals are smaller than the threshold value, transducers are changed (for example, are shifted or selected again except the already selected) to transmit and receive ultrasonic signals such that a transducer from which a Doppler signal greater than the threshold is detected may be detected.”).
Ryu teaches an array configured to transmit and receive ultrasound signals, but does not explicitly teach where the array is separated into a transmission array and a reception array.
Whereas, Lemmerhirt, in an analogous field of endeavor, teaches a transmission array divided into a plurality of sub-arrays, each of the plurality of sub-arrays being configured to transmit a transmission ultrasonic signal to an object along a line corresponding to the sub-array (see para. 0031 – “…the transmitter control subsystem 410 is configured to steer separate sets of acoustic signals 250 in multiple directions and within multiple planes, using different portions of the array of transmitter elements 200 [sub-arrays].”), and
a reception array separate from the transmission array, a reception array being disposed in a first direction or in a second direction opposite to the first direction with respect to the transmission array configured to receive a reception ultrasonic signal obtained by reflection of the transmission ultrasonic signal from the object (Fig. 1; see para. 0018 – “…wherein the array of transmitter elements 200 is arranged approximately orthogonal to the array of receiver elements 200 [300]…”; see para. 0023 – “he array of receiver elements 300 functions to receive acoustic echo signals 250 originating from the array of transmitter elements 200, each receiver element in the array 300 being capable of providing an output signal based on received acoustic signals 250.”).
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified an array configured to transmit and receive ultrasound signals, as disclosed in Ryu, by having the array separated into a transmission array and a reception array, as disclosed in Lemmerhirt. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to facilitate receiving acoustic signals with an adjustable acoustic aperture, as taught in Lemmerhirt (see para. 0026).
Ryu in view of Lemmerhirt teaches a transmission array and a reception array, but does not explicitly teach where the transmission array is a linear array and the reception array is a phased array.
Whereas, Eckersley, in an analogous field of endeavor, teaches the transmission array is a linear array and the reception array is a phased array (see para. 0080 – “In the example shown in FIG. 1, transducer T1 transmits a plane wave [transmission array as linear array] and T2 receives [reception array] the echo scattered from Qk on element h.”; see para. 0084 – “With the total distances computed, equation (1) can be evaluated for each pair of transmit-receive transducers, and the total beamformed [reception array as phased array] image S(Qk) can be obtained by coherently adding the individually beamformed images…”).
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified a transmission array and a reception array, as disclosed in Ryu in view of Lemmerhirt, by having the transmission array as a linear array and the reception array as a phased array, as disclosed in Eckersley. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to carry out coherent multi-transducer compounding, as taught in Eckersley (see para. 0086).
Furthermore, regarding claim 13, Ryu further teaches wherein the plurality of sub-arrays are configured to simultaneously transmit the respective transmission ultrasonic signals to the object along the lines corresponding to the plurality of sub-arrays at the first time (Fig. 3; see para. 0074 – “In operation 710, an ultrasonic signal is transmitted and received by driving some of the transducers of the two-dimensional transducer array 110 at the same time and Doppler signals are detected with respect to the driven some transducers.” Simultaneous transmission from subarrays).
Furthermore, regarding claim 14, Ryu further teaches wherein the plurality of sub-arrays comprise a first sub-array, a second sub-array, a third sub-array, and a fourth sub-array, and wherein the respective lines comprise a first line, a second line, a third line, and a fourth line corresponding to the first sub-array, the second sub-array, the third sub-array, and the fourth sub-array, respectively (Fig. 3; see para. 0074 – “In operation 710, an ultrasonic signal is transmitted and received by driving some of the transducers of the two-dimensional transducer array 110 at the same time and Doppler signals are detected with respect to the driven some transducers.” Simultaneous transmission from subarrays).
Furthermore, regarding claim 15, Ryu further teaches wherein, when the energy for the Doppler signal is smaller than a predetermined reference energy, the at least one processor is configured to cause the plurality of sub-arrays to simultaneously transmit the respective transmission ultrasonic signals to the object (see para. 0063 – “The acoustic window detection portion 171 may detect a position of an acoustic window at once through the above operation and may detect an optimum acoustic window through a plurality of times by changing transducers to be driven as necessary. For example, when a threshold value of the intensity of a Doppler signal is determined and all of detected Doppler signals are smaller than the threshold value, transducers are changed (for example, are shifted or selected again except the already selected) to transmit and receive ultrasonic signals such that a transducer from which a Doppler signal greater than the threshold is detected may be detected.”).
Furthermore, regarding claim 16, Ryu further teaches wherein the at least one processor is further configured to reselect, after the simultaneous transmission by the plurality of sub-arrays, a sub-array corresponding to a line crossing the blood vessel region (Fig. 3; see para. 0078 – “In operation 750, beam steering is performed using the confirmed steering vector and a Doppler signal is detected by transmitting and receiving an ultrasonic signal using the corresponding steering vector so as to detect the Doppler signal.”).
Furthermore, regarding claim 23, Ryu further teaches wherein the linear array is further configured to transmit an image ultrasonic transmission signal to the object and receive an image ultrasonic reception signal reflected from the object, and wherein the blood vessel region is identified according to an ultrasonic image generated based on the image ultrasonic reception signal (see para. 0069 – “Also, the Doppler processing portion 173 may obtain blood flow information such as a speed, direction, and the like of the blood flow from the detected Doppler signal and generate a Doppler image shown as colors or waveforms.”).
Furthermore, regarding claim 24, Ryu further teaches wherein the at least one processor is configured to select the selected sub-array among the plurality of sub-arrays based on the blood vessel region identified according to the ultrasonic image (see para. 0061 – “FIG. 5 illustrates Doppler images detected with respect to nine channels, that is, the nine transducers 1101, 1102, . . . , and 1109. Referring to FIG. 5, a Doppler signal having highest intensity is detected from a fourth channel, and a Doppler signal having intensity lower than that of the fourth channel is detected from a fifth channel.”).
Furthermore, regarding claim 25, Ryu further teaches wherein the transmission ultrasonic signal is a broad beam generated using all or some elements included in the linear array (see para. 0045 – “A delay time for determining transmission directionality may be applied to a pulse signal [broad beam] of each channel to be applied to each transducer.”).
Furthermore, regarding claim 26, Ryu further teaches wherein the broad beam is transmitted by applying delay values to all or some elements of the linear array such that energy is uniformly transmitted to a certain area (see para. 0047 – “The beam steering portion 160 may apply a transmission delay time to the pulse generation portion 140 … to perform beam steering [uniformly transmitting to certain area].”).
Claims 17-22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ryu in view of Lemmerhirt and Eckersley, as applied to claim 12 above, and in further view of Kristoffersen et al. (US 20090005684 A1, published January 1, 2009), hereinafter referred to as Kristoffersen.
Regarding claim 17, Ryu in view of Lemmerhirt and Eckersley teaches all of the elements disclosed in claim 12 above.
Ryu in view of Lemmerhirt and Eckersley teaches subarrays, but does not explicitly teach dividing the subarrays into partial arrays.
Whereas, Kristoffersen, in an analogous field of endeavor, teaches wherein the at least one processor is further configured to divide the selected sub-array into a plurality of partial arrays and control the plurality of partial arrays (see para. 0061 "Referring again to FIG. 4, the transmit sub-aperture 180 [sub-array] is divided into the first and second element groups 198 and 200 [partial arrays]...").
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the sub-arrays, as disclosed in Ryu in view of Lemmerhirt and Eckersley, by dividing the sub-arrays into partial arrays, as disclosed in Kristoffersen. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to reduce delay errors, as taught in Kristoffersen (see para. 0065).
Furthermore, regarding claim 18, Kristoffersen further teaches wherein the plurality of partial arrays comprise a first partial array, a second partial array, a third partial array, and a fourth partial array (Fig. 4, transmit element groups 198, 200, 204, 208 as partial arrays).
Furthermore, regarding claim 19, Ryu further teaches wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the plurality of partial arrays to simultaneously transmit transmission ultrasonic signals to the blood vessel region along partial lines corresponding to the plurality of partial arrays at a second time after the first time (Fig. 3; see para. 0074 – “In operation 710, an ultrasonic signal is transmitted and received by driving some of the transducers of the two-dimensional transducer array 110 at the same time and Doppler signals are detected with respect to the driven some transducers.” Simultaneous transmission from partial arrays).
Furthermore, regarding claim 20, Ryu further teaches wherein the at least one processor is configured to calculate respective energies for Doppler signals corresponding to the partial lines based on one or more reception ultrasonic signals received by the phased array after the second time (Fig. 5; see para. 0063 – “The acoustic window detection portion 171 may detect a position of an acoustic window at once through the above operation and may detect an optimum acoustic window through a plurality of times by changing transducers to be driven as necessary. For example, when a threshold value of the intensity of a Doppler signal is determined and all of detected Doppler signals are smaller than the threshold value, transducers are changed (for example, are shifted or selected again except the already selected) to transmit and receive ultrasonic signals such that a transducer from which a Doppler signal greater than the threshold is detected may be detected.”).
Furthermore, regarding claim 21, Ryu further teaches wherein the at least one processor is configured to select a selected partial array corresponding to a selected partial line having a highest energy among the respective energies for the Doppler signals corresponding to the partial lines (see para. 0063 – “The acoustic window detection portion 171 may detect a position of an acoustic window at once through the above operation and may detect an optimum acoustic window through a plurality of times by changing transducers to be driven as necessary. For example, when a threshold value of the intensity of a Doppler signal is determined and all of detected Doppler signals are smaller than the threshold value, transducers are changed (for example, are shifted or selected again except the already selected) to transmit and receive ultrasonic signals such that a transducer from which a Doppler signal greater than the threshold is detected may be detected.”).
Furthermore, regarding claim 22, Ryu further teaches wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the selected partial array to transmit the transmission ultrasonic signal to the blood vessel region at every predetermined time interval after the second time (see para. 0063 – “The acoustic window detection portion 171 may detect a position of an acoustic window at once through the above operation and may detect an optimum acoustic window through a plurality of times by changing transducers to be driven as necessary. For example, when a threshold value of the intensity of a Doppler signal is determined and all of detected Doppler signals are smaller than the threshold value, transducers are changed (for example, are shifted or selected again except the already selected) to transmit and receive ultrasonic signals such that a transducer from which a Doppler signal greater than the threshold is detected may be detected.”).
The motivation for claim 18 was shown previously in claim 17.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Foster et al. (US 20190069879 A1, published March 7, 2019) discloses a dual frequency transducer array includes one or more low frequency transducer arrays and a high frequency transducer array.
Fukukita (US 20090048517 A1, published February 19, 2009) discloses a transducer array in which a plurality of transducers for transmitting an ultrasonic wave to a Subject and receiving a reflected wave therefrom are arrayed, and delay addition units for performing parallel reception by adding a delay time to signals from the transducer array.
Zhang et al. (US 20220257218 A1, published August 18, 2022) discloses acquiring a blood flow velocity measuring interest region and a number of transmitting sub-apertures; determining, according to the number of transmitting sub-apertures, inclination angle of a plane wave in each of the transmitting sub-aperture; determining, according to inclination angle, array element excitation delay time in each of the transmitting sub-aperture; controlling, according to array element excitation delay time, all of transmitting sub-apertures to synchronously transmit plane waves, and receiving echo signals with a full aperture.
Kim (US 20160089108 A1, published March 31, 2016) discloses trans mitting an ultrasound signal to Scanlines in an object; receiving echo signals respectively corresponding to the scan lines from the object, the echo signals forming echo signal groups; and generating a B-flow image by partially overlapping the echo signal groups that are acquired by repeatedly performing the transmitting the ultrasound signal and the receiving the echo signals.
Ramaswamy et al. (US20230397903 A1, published December 14, 2023 with a priority date of June 9, 2022) discloses performing fetal localization by adjusting (e.g., via one or more algorithms) the focusing of the transducer elements and/or the timing (e.g. of the firing or triggering) of the transducer elements.
Specht et al. (US 20130144166 A1, published June 6, 2013) discloses transmitting a Doppler ping from a transmit aperture, receiving echoes of the Doppler ping with one or more separate receive apertures, detecting Doppler signals and determining the speed of moving reflectors.
Li et al. (US 20180338744 A1, published November 29, 2018) discloses a first transducer configured to transmit a first ultrasound signal along a scan line, a second transducer configured to sweep a second ultrasound signal along the scan line such that the first and second ultrasound signals intersect at a plurality of voxels, and a third transducer configured to receive echoes associated with interactions of the first and second ultrasound signals at the plurality of voxels.
Hattinger et al. (US 20210338202 A1, published November 4, 2021) discloses two or more types of ultrasound probes selected from the following group: a linear ultrasound probe, a convex ultrasound probe, a phased array ultrasound probe, or any other type of ultrasound probe capable of transmitting and receiving ultrasound sound pulses.
Van Alphen et al. (US 20170258445 A1, published September 14, 2017) discloses automatically selecting the appropriate array for the user to scan with based on the intended exam and / or location of the probe on the body of a patient.
Hall et al. (US 5398216 A, published March 14, 1995) discloses both groups of receiving transducers would simultaneously be dynamically steered to the same location to track the ultrasound signal along the transmitted line of sight at a predetermined range.
Lepage (US 20220252547 A1, published August 11, 2022) discloses the probe assembly can include a transmit probe and a receive probe.
Phillips et al. (US 5522393 A, published June 4, 1996) discloses a phased array transducer which is electronically and/or mechanically divided into two or more independently controlled sub-apertures and adapted for transmitting ultrasonic pulse beams from one of the two or more sub-apertures and for receiving the reflected echoes with at least two of the two or more sub-apertures.
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). 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 Nyrobi Celestine whose telephone number is 571-272-0129. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday - Thursday, 7:00AM - 5:00PM EST.
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/N.C./Examiner, Art Unit 3798
/PASCAL M BUI PHO/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3798
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