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 (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 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(s) 1-7 and 9-13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over KR 10-2020-0029221A cited by applicant. Regarding claim 1, KR 10-2020-0029221A discloses a magnetic nanoparticle heating device using resonance, the apparatus comprising a controller (210) for controlling a magnetic field to be applied to magnetic nanoparticles (100) in a magnet system (250, par, 0001); a manipulator (230) comprising an input device for receiving input to control the magnetic nanoparticle (100) heating apparatus, and an image display device (par. 0137-par. 0139); and the magnet system (250) for applying the magnetic field to the magnetic nanoparticles, wherein the magnet system comprises: a static field applier for applying a first magnetic field, which is a direct current (DC) magnetic field, to the magnetic nanoparticles to make the magnetic nanoparticles have a resonance frequency (par. 0082); a gradient field applier for forming a gradient field within a specific plane (par. 0144); and a radio-frequency (RF) coil for applying a second magnetic field, which is an alternating current (AC) magnetic field or pulsed magnetic field having a frequency corresponding to the resonance frequency of the magnetic nanoparticles, to the magnetic nanoparticles (par. 0087-par. 0088). KR 10-2020-0029221A does not disclose the controller controls the magnetic field conditions to make a temperature change rate of magnetic nanoparticles greater than at least 10K/s. However, said difference could be derived by a person skill in the art by optimization through repeated experiments in light of the features described in KR 10-2020-0029221A wherein the controller analyzes a comment received though the manipulation unit and controls the magnet system, and temperature change, caused by the heat generated by the particles and transferred to the tumor, of 15K is required to remove a tumor, and a heat generation rate for achieving the temperature change is 2 kW/g (par. 0138, par. 0150 and par. 0154). Regarding claim 2, KR 10-2020-0029221A discloses the static filed coil unit applies the first magnetic field to the magnetic nanoparticles and thus the magnetic nanoparticles have a resonance frequency, and the RF coil unit applies the second magnetic field, which is equal to the resonance frequency of the magnetic nanoparticles, to the magnetic nanoparticles (par. 0081, par. 0082, par. 0087, par. 0088). Regarding claim 3, KR 10-2020-0029221A discloses the first magnetic field has a magnitude of about 100 Oe (par. 0069 and par. 0075). Regarding claim 4, KR 10-2020-0029221A discloses the second magnetic field has a frequency of 281 MHz and 50 MHz (par. 0069 and par. 0075). Regarding claim 5, the pulse width of the second magnetic field applied to the magnetic nanoparticles by the RF coil is 0.05 sec. to 10 sec. It would have been obvious to one ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the invention was made to have a pulse width of the second magnetic field applied to the magnetic nanoparticles by the RF coil is 0.05 sec. to 10 sec in order to suit user specific application. Regarding claim 6, KR 10-2020-0029221A discloses the second magnetic field has a magnitude of about 10Oe (par. 0069 and par. 0075). Regarding claim 7, KR 10-2020-0029221A discloses a change in the frequency of the second magnetic field cause a significantly higher amount of heat generation at the resonance frequency than in other frequency bands, and the amount of heat generation increases as the strength of the alternating magnetic field increases (par. 0104 and 0127). Regarding claim 9, KR 10-2020-0029221A discloses the magnetic nanoparticles have a magnetic vortex structure comprising a magnetic vortex core component, a horizontal magnetization component, and spiral magnetization component (par. 0054). Regarding claim 10, KR 10-2020-0029221A discloses the magnetic nanoparticles are Permalloy, Maghemite, Magnetite, Barium Ferrite, or CoFe2O4 (par. 0039). Regarding claim 11, KR 10-2020-0029221A discloses the magnetic nanoparticles are adsorbed onto a treatment area not to exceed at least a concentration of 1 mg/cm3, and wherein the controller controls the magnet system in such a manner that heat generated by the magnetic nanoparticles causes a temperature change of 5K to 15K in the treatment area (par. 0148, par. 0154). Regarding claim 12, KR 10-2020-0029221A discloses the amount of heat generation before the magnetic nanoparticles are saturated is proportional to the product of the strength of the first magnetic field and the attenuation constant of the magnetic nanoparticles, and the maximum amount of heat generation saturated is controlled by adjusting the strength of the first magnetic field (see claims 1 and 5). Regarding claim 13, KR 10-2020-0029221A discloses the amount of heat generation of the magnetic nanoparticles increases until the strength of the second magnetic field become smaller than the product of the strength of the first magnetic field and the attenuation constant of the magnetic nanoparticle (see claim 7).
Claim(s) 8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over KR 10-2020-0029221A, in view of KR 10-2019-0030088A both cited by applicant. Regarding claim 8, KR 10-2020-0029221A discloses substantially all features of the claimed invention except a temperature measurer for measuring temperature of a treatment area onto which the magnetic nanoparticles are adsorbed, wherein the controller controls the magnet system not to excite the magnetic nanoparticles when temperature measured by the temperature measurer reaches the preset temperature of the treatment area. KR 10-2019-0030088A discloses an alternating current magnetic field generation device for hyperthermia comprises a temperature detection unit for detecting a temperature inside a living body into which magnetic particles are injected; and a control unit for receiving a detection signal from the temperature detection unit and controlling an alternating magnetic field generation unit for applying an alternating magnetic field to the magnetic particles so that the temperature inside the living body is maintained within a preset temperature range (par. 0025) and claim 1). It would have been obvious to one ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the invention was made to utilize in KR 10-2020-0029221A a temperature measurer for measuring temperature of a treatment area onto which the magnetic nanoparticles are adsorbed, wherein the controller controls the magnet system not to excite the magnetic nanoparticles when temperature measured by the temperature measurer reaches a preset temperature of the treatment area as taught by KR 10-2019-0030088A in order to be added and achieved by a person skill in the art depending on the purpose.
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure: Zahn (US 8,093,896) discloses uniform magnetic field spherical coil for MRI. Burdick, Jr. et al (US 7,982,570) discloses high performance low volume inductor and method of making same.
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/QUANG T VAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3761 September 9, 2026
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