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 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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 16-20 and 28 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over D1 (Implementation of planar proton minibeam radiation therapy using a pencil beam scanning system: A proof of concept study. Med. Phys., 45: 5305-5316, 2018) in view of D2 (US 20180021007 A1).
With regards to claims 16 and 28, D1 discloses a radiation therapy system comprising: a single slit collimator for producing proton minibeams (section 2.C.1) and further teaches orienting the slit relative to the beam geometry (section 2B; a divergent collimator in which the slit tilt follows the beam divergence was considered). D1 does not specifically teach wherein said collimator is arranged to translate or rotate and tilt as claimed. However, D2 teaches a radiation imaging system comprising a collimator that is translated relative to its support [0046, 0049] (which necessarily teaches either along a direction parallel to the plane defined by the slit or along a direction perpendicular thereto); and tilting the collimator relative to a predefined reference axis [0044, 0048]. It would have been well known, obvious, and predictably suitable to one with ordinary skill in the art to modify D1 with the claimed configuration as taught by D2 in order to provide improved alignment of the slit relative to the treatment beam, compensate for geometric misalignment, and provide adjustable beam shaping and beam placement.
With regards to claim 17, D1 discloses in which the collimator is arranged to modulate a width of the single slit and/or a length of the single slit (section 2.B).
With regards to claims 18-20, D1 does not specifically teach the claimed collimator configuration. However, those skilled in the art recognize that such a configuration was already known and considered obvious in order to adjust the collimator aperture to a desired size and shape. Therefore, it would have been well known, obvious, and predictably suitable to one with ordinary skill in the art to modify D1 with the claimed collimator configuration in view of the recited benefit.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 21-27, 29, and 30 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:
With regards to claim 21, the prior art on record teaches translation and tilting of slit collimators, but fails to teach or suggest a collimator comprising adjustable overlapping area and/or moveable contact areas between two couples of blocks, wherein the overlapping/contact areas are arranged to modulate slit width, modulate slit length, and translate the slit relative to a support as recited.
With regards to claim 26, the prior art does not teach a support comprising a base having a through hole for propagation of an incident beam and the plate as recited.
With regards to claims 29 and 30, the prior art does not teach the steps of positioning and translating the single slit as recited.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MARCUS H TANINGCO whose telephone number is (571)272-1848. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9am-6pm EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Uzma Alam can be reached on 571-272-3995. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MARCUS H TANINGCO/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2884
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