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 Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see pages 5-9, filed 1/30/2026, with respect to the rejection(s) of claim(s) 1-12 under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of Dafni et al (US 2010/0215142 A1).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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(s) 1-12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Dafni et al (US 2010/0215142 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Dafni et al discloses a CT imaging system (See Fig. 2A), comprising: a scanning channel (152) disposed in a first direction to allow an object to be inspected to pass into and out of the CT imaging system through the scanning channel; a radiation source (34) (See Fig. 2A) component disposed on one side of the scanning channel, wherein the radiation source (34) component is configured to emit radiation beams (34); a detector component disposed on another side of the scanning channel (126), wherein the detector component is disposed opposite to the radiation source component and configured to receive the radiation beams, and the radiation beams forms an imaging region between the radiation source component and the detector component, wherein the detector component (32)(36) comprises at least two detection regions and at least one blank region (central portion of cone beam (38) (detector (132) in wings (141)(142) separated by dead areas (150) (paragraph [0053]), the imaging region has a central cross-section of the radiation beams extending through the radiation source component (i.e. dashed line (144) illuminate central region (140) (See Fig. 2A and paragraph [0053]), and a position of the detection region and a position of the blank region are complementary with respect to the central cross-section of the radiation beams (i.e. configurations of X-ray detectors in wings 141 and 142 are mirror images of each other. Optionally, configurations of X-ray detectors in wings 141 and 142 are such that regions of one of the wings that have detectors are homologous with regions of the other wing that do not have detectors. "Complimentary" wing configurations for which homologous regions are "negatives" of each other can be advantageous. For a same total number of X-ray detectors "negative" detector configurations can provide data from more regions of an imaging region than mirror image detector configurations”) (paragraph [0055]).
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Regarding claim 2, Dafni et al discloses wherein one of the at least two detection regions is disposed at the central cross-section of the radiation beams, and the other one of the at least two detection regions is disposed on one side of the one of the at least two detection regions (See Fig. 2B).
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Regarding claim 3, Dafni et al discloses wherein the one of the at least two detection regions is disposed at the central cross-section of the radiation beams and is evenly divided by the central cross-section of the radiation beams (i.e. fan angle, equals 2(See Fig. 2B and paragraph [0053]).
Regarding claim 4, Dafni et al discloses wherein the other one of the at least two detection regions is adjacent to the one of the at least two detection regions (See Fig. 2B).
Regarding claim 5, Dafni et al discloses wherein the other one of the at least two detection regions is separated from the one of the at least two detection regions by the blank region (i.e. empty non-squared regions) (See Fig. 2B).
Regarding claim 6, Dafni et al discloses wherein the detection region comprises at least one detector, and a size of the blank region is not less than a size of a detector pixel (See Fig. 2B).
Regarding claim 7, Dafni et al discloses wherein the CT imaging system has a first position where a radiation beam covers a first blank region and a second position where a radiation beam covers a first detection region, and image data output from the first position is the same as image data output from the second position (“configurations of X-ray detectors in wings 141 and 142 are mirror images of each other. Optionally, configurations of X-ray detectors in wings 141 and 142 are such that regions of one of the wings that have detectors are homologous with regions of the other wing that do not have detectors. "Complimentary" wing configurations for which homologous regions are "negatives" of each other can be advantageous. For a same total number of X-ray detectors "negative" detector configurations can provide data from more regions of an imaging region than mirror image detector configurations) (See Figs. 2A, 2B and paragraph [0055]).
Regarding claim 8, Dafni et al discloses wherein a plurality of rows of detector components are provided, and the plurality of rows of detector components are arranged in the first direction (See Fig. 2B).
Regarding claim 9, Dafni et al discloses wherein the radiation beams comprises a first emission angle and a second emission angle, and a range covered by the first emission angle and the second emission angle is an emission range of the radiation beams (See Fig. 2B and paragraphs [0045], [0053]).
Regarding claim 10, Dafni et al discloses wherein the at least two detection regions are covered within the emission range (See Fig. 2B and paragraphs [0045], [0053]).
Regarding claim 11, Dafni et al discloses wherein further comprising a carrying platform (couch (46)), wherein the carrying platform is slidably disposed on the scanning channel to allow the object to be inspected to pass into and out of the CT imaging system through the scanning channel (See Fig. 2B and paragraph [0047]).
Regarding claim 12, Dafni et al discloses wherein an adjusting platform is provided between the carrying platform (46) and the object to be inspected, and the adjusting platform is configured to adjust a posture of the object to be inspected (“the controller (not shown) of CT scanner 120 adjusts the position of couch 46 so that liver 171 is substantially centered on the z-axis before and during translation of patient 122 through FOV 152. As a result, during scanning of patient 122 with the scanner when imaging region 170 of the patient passes through FOV 152, the liver is completely within HR-FOV 161 and high resolution data is acquired for the liver. FIG. 3B schematically, shows patient 22 passing through FOV 152 and the patient's liver centered in HR-FOV 161”) (paragraph [0066]).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Silver et al (US 20130016805 A1) discloses an image processing method and system for acquiring and or processing sparse channel data. The sparse channel is implemented in a data acquisition system having a predetermined wider pitch between the adjacent detector cells than that in the currently available imaging systems at least in one predetermined channel direction. The sparse channel is also defined to encompass various imaging modalities including CT, positron emission tomography (PET) and positron emission tomography-computed tomography (PET/CT). The sparse channel data is acquired by the sparse channel data acquisition system, and an image is reconstructed from the sparse channel data according to a predetermined iterative reconstruction technique.
Hsieh et al (US 2007/0116172 A1) discloses a method is provided for performing computed tomography (CT) imaging. The method includes obtaining EKG gating information from an object and obtaining attenuation measurements from the object utilizing a detector that is rotated in a scan plane around the object. The method further includes performing a first reconstruction based on a first portion of the attenuation measurements that are collected by a first region of the detector, where the first reconstruction is performed independent of the EKG gating information to obtain a first reconstruction data set. A second reconstruction is performed based on a second port of the attenuation measurements that are collected by a second region of the detector, where the second reconstruction is performed based on the EKG gating information to obtain a second reconstruction data set.
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/F.P.B./Examiner, Art Unit 2884
/UZMA ALAM/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2884