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Claims 1-5, 7-14, and 16-21 remain pending, with claims 7-14 and 16-21 withdrawn, in the application in response to the applicant’s amendments to the rejections previously set forth in the Non-Final Office Action mailed 04/23/2026.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments filed 07/21/2026 with respect to claim(s) 1 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 1 is objected to because of the following informalities:
For claim 1, the examiner assumes “(xC , zFC) is a center of a transmit aperture” should be “(xC , zC) is a center of a transmit aperture” for clarity.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
For claim 1, “(xc, zFc) is a center of a transmit aperture, xc is a center of the transmit aperture” is indefinite. It is unclear how (xc, zFc) and xc are both the center of the transmit aperture. For the purpose of advancing prosecution, the examiner assumes xc is the center of the transmit aperture.
For claim 1, “(xs, zs) is a position of the transmitter” and “xs is a position of the transmitter” is indefinite. It is unclear how (xs, zs) and xs are both the position of a transmitter. For the purpose of advancing prosecution, the examiner assumes xc is the position of a transmitter.
For claim 1, “x is an argument of function g” is indefinite. It is unclear what is “x” as it relates to the claimed invention. For the purpose of advancing prosecution, the examiner assumes “x” is the position of a focal point.
For claim 1, “calculating the transmitter time delay by Equation…, Equation (6a), and Equation (6b)” and “wherein the processing unit is configured to calculate the transmitter time delay by the Equations (6a) and (6b)” is indefinite. It is unclear if the transmitter time delay is calculated using Equation…, Equation (6a), and Equation (6b), or just Equation (6a), and Equation (6b). For the purpose of advancing prosecution, the examiner assumes “wherein the processing unit is configured to calculate the transmitter time delay by the Equations (6a) and (6b)” should be “calculating the transmitter time delay by Equation…” for clarity.
Claims 2-5 are dependent of claim 1, and therefore rejected under these 112(b) rejections as well.
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 1-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kruse et al. (US 20240090867 A1, published March 21, 2024 with a priority date of October 8, 2015) in view of Haque et al. (US 20210293952 A1, published September 23, 2021 with a priority date of January 15, 2019), hereinafter referred to as Kruse and Haque, respectively.
Regarding claim 1, Kruse teaches a method of acquiring ultrasound radio-frequency (RF) data using focusing beams, comprising:
utilizing an ultrasound transducer, the ultrasound transducer including a plurality of elements acting as both transmitters and receivers (see para. 0113 "In some embodiments, the receive aperture includes one or more elements centered or approximately centered with the transmit aperture, as depicted in FIG. 5H.");
transmitting sound waves from the transmitters of the ultrasound transducer within a transmit aperture with a transmitter time delay of each element (see para. 0107 "In some embodiments, transmission is enabled on one or more transducer elements, preferably, in the case of more than one element, a contiguous group of elements, with electronic delays assigned to each to form a single focused acoustic beam, i.e., a real beam. FIG. 5E illustrates an example of such a configuration in which transmission is enabled on a contiguous group of elements.");
calculating the transmitter time delay by Equation
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, Equation (6a), and Equation (6b) (see para. 0048 – “In some implementations, the ultrasound pulse and the returned echoes transmitted and received at the transducer array can be individually delayed in time at each transducer of the array to act as a phased array.”); and
receiving the sound waves using the receivers of the ultrasound transducer, wherein the sound waves are focusing beams (see para. 0105 "focus acoustic energy both on transmission and reception along specific directions or radial vectors defined by the vectors pointing from the center of the element to the geometric center of the circular array.");
wherein the Equations (6a) and (6b) are as follows:
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and
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where (xs, zs) is a position of the transmitter, xs is a position of the transmitter (see para. 0111 "In some embodiments, the real transmit beam may be arbitrarily fired from any contiguous group of elements with the virtual center of the transmit aperture..."),
(xF, zF) is a center of a focal zone (see para. 0108 – “In one example, the real transmit beam may result from transmission on 64 contiguous elements, e.g., elements 1 through 64, where the focal point [center of focal zone] of the beam falls somewhere within the sector subtended by the arc length and angle spanned by elements 1 through 64, as depicted in the exemplary diagram of FIG. 5F.”),
(xc, zFc) is a center of a transmit aperture, xc is a center of the transmit aperture (see para. 0147 "...6DoF coordinate information about the transducer locations..."),
c is a sound speed used in setting the transmitter delay (see para. 0138 "A complete cycle of such transmissions and receptions comprises a transmission tomographic dataset from which sound speed and attenuation may be estimated and used for refining beamformer delays on both transmission and reception."),
Δx is a pitch size of the ultrasound transducer (see para. 0106 "Generally, the pitch or spacing of the elements must be limited in order to reduce or eliminate the potential for grating lobes on either transmission or reception in either real beam or synthetic aperture operation when steering is required in beam formation."),
NT is a number of the transmitters of the ultrasound transducer within the transmit aperture (see para. 0116 the number of elements involved in a transmission..."),
γ is a magnitude of an oscillation of the transmitter time delay (see para. 0116 "...the transmission amplitudes for each element..."),
x is an argument of function g (see 112(b) rejection, x is a focal point position; see para. 0108 – “In one example, the real transmit beam may result from transmission on 64 contiguous elements, e.g., elements 1 through 64, where the focal point of the beam falls somewhere within the sector subtended by the arc length and angle spanned by elements 1 through 64, as depicted in the exemplary diagram of FIG. 5F.”), and
α is a period of the oscillation (see para. 0142 "...waveforms can be transmitted with a pulse repetition-frequency (PRF) ranging arbitrarily up to about 100 kHz...");
wherein a processing unit contains a central processing unit (CPU), the CPU sends instructions to the ultrasound transducer to transmit the sound waves to the elements of the ultrasound transducer within the transmit aperture with the transmitter time delay that is specially designed for the focusing beams (Fig. 1E; see para. 0061 "The TREM 110E includes a data processing unit (e.g., processor or microcontroller, and memory) is configured to transfer data with a central processing unit (CPU) of the computer 130E, e.g., such as executable instructions on waveform synthesis or probe control, and/or acquired or processed data."); and
wherein the processing unit is configured to calculate the transmitter time delay by the Equations (6a) and (6b) (see para. 0107 "In some embodiments, transmission is enabled on one or more transducer elements, preferably, in the case of more than one element, a contiguous group of elements, with electronic delays assigned to each to form a single focused acoustic beam, i.e., a real beam. FIG. 5E illustrates an example of such a configuration in which transmission is enabled on a contiguous group of elements.").
Kruse teaches calculating a transmitter time delay using parameters of the Equation, Equation (6a), and Equation (6b), and inherently teaches calculating a transmitter time delay by using an equation, but does not explicitly teach calculating a transmitter time delay using a transmitter time delay equation.
Whereas, Haque, in an analogous field of endeavor, teaches calculating a transmitter time delay via a transmitter time delay equation (see para. 0159-0160 – “…the effective delay for an array element elei,j can be the summation of the group column delay, τj, the linear coarse row delay, τi,coarse, and the fine row delay, τi,fine as following…In equations (5)-(7), the focal point on transmit is at position (x,y,z) and the delays can be calculated independently for the element at position xj, yi. The variable c is the assumed speed of sound in the propagating medium.”).
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 calculating a transmitter time delay using parameters of the Equation, Equation (6a), and Equation (6b), as disclosed in Kruse, by having calculating the transmitter time delay via a transmitter time delay equation, as disclosed in Hague. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to improve the transmit delay calculation, as taught in Haque (see para. 0161).
Furthermore, regarding claim 2, Kruse further teaches providing another ultrasound transducer including a plurality of elements acting as receivers; and receiving the sound waves using the receivers of the another ultrasound transducer (see para. 0117 "This can be seen with from the example diagram in FIG. 5I, where f-number of 1 is maintained for two focal points that are at 1 cm and 3 cm, respectively, from the transmit/receive apertures on two sides of the array.").
Furthermore, regarding claim 3, Kruse further teaches wherein the ultrasound transducer is a linear transducer, a curved transducer, or a matrix array transducer (see para. 0103 "Different transducer array configurations and geometries may be envisioned. Arrays may include hundreds or thousands of elements arranged in a circular or ellipsoidal or curved aperture that is either open or closed. For example, instead of using a single element to focus an acoustic beam, focusing may be achieved using suitably delayed transmissions from several small transducers elements arranged in one or more 1D, 1.25D, 1.5D, 1.75D, 2D, or 3D linear or phased arrays, as consistent with the current state-of-the-art in clinical ultrasound scanners.").
Furthermore, regarding claim 4, Kruse further teaches wherein after the transmitters of the ultrasound transducer are turned off, the receivers of the ultrasound transducer are turned on with or without any time delay (see para. 0140 "Acoustic (e.g., ultrasound) pulses are transmitted from the plurality of acoustic transducer elements 111 of the structure 110, e.g., including sequentially one-at-a time, simultaneously, or in a time-staggered or time-delayed pattern. Each transmission is accompanied by receptions of acoustic echoes on one or more of the transducer elements 111 corresponding to a single transmission." inherent for an array of transceivers).
Furthermore, regarding claim 5, Kruse further teaches wherein the receivers of the another ultrasound transducer are turned on regardless of the transmitters of the ultrasound transducer are on or off (see para. 0117 "This can be seen with from the example diagram in FIG. 5I, where f-number of 1 is maintained for two focal points that are at 1 cm and 3 cm, respectively, from the transmit/receive apertures on two sides of the array.").
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Liao et al. (US 20220163662 A1, May 26, 2022 with a priority date of September 2, 2021) discloses transmitting delay times are calculated by the following formula (1), and the receiving-delay times are calculated according to the following formulas (3), (4), and (5).
Katsuyama (US 20160178738 A1, published June 23, 2016) discloses by taking a difference between the arrival time from each element j to the focus F and the arrival time in the center element of the transmission and reception opening, the delay time of each element j is calculated, and a transmission delay pattern used in the transmission focusing processing is calculated.
Yoo et al. (KR 20190007322 A, published January 22, 2019) discloses the reception delay time is based on the coordinate of the virtual wave circle, the coordinate of the image point, k number array device, and speed of ultrasonic wave at medium.
Yoo et al. (KR 20190044758 A, published May 2, 2019) discloses calculating the transmission delay time and the reception delay time using equations 1 and 2.
Bae (US 6231511 B1, published May 15, 2001) discloses a focusing delay amount is calculated by an equation in order to be added to the received signal to reinforce the reference signal from the target point on the transmission scan line.
Park et al. (US 20160074016 A1, published March 17, 2016) discloses a transmission delay time T, may be calculated by using Equation (1), where delay times may be calculated as necessary or calculated in advance and stored in the form of a table.
Nakata (US 20100081936 A1, published April 1, 2010) discloses the determination of a delay time for each fundamental transmitting beam is executed by using a predetermined formula.
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.
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, Pascal Bui-Pho can be reached on 571-272-2714. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/N.C./Examiner, Art Unit 3798
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