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 (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.
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.
Claim(s) 1, 10 and 17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tilly et al. (US 2022/0362582) hereinafter known as Tilly, and further in view of Svatos (US 6,285,969).
With regards to claim 1, 10 and 17, Tilly discloses methods for computing accumulated dose in real-time during a radiotherapy treatment fraction [0001], a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing one or more computer programs, wherein the one or more computer programs, when loaded and executed by a processor, a computer device, comprising a memory and a processor, wherein the memory stores one or more computer programs executable by the processor [0003][0041][0043], comprising:
acquiring a 3D matrix of voxels ([0087]; 3D matrix of voxels using simulated primary particles);
acquiring simulation results of a plurality of particles by performing a parallel Monte Carlo simulation on the plurality of particles sampled within the simulation region [0039][0072][0087]; and
determining a deposition dose for each of the plurality of voxels based on the simulation results of the plurality of particles [0035][0036][0088][0089].
Tilly teaches of a Monte Carlo dose calculation process to compute dose and dose accumulation. The process utilizes a 3D matrix of voxels comprising of simulated primary particles and further teaches that for the 3D matrix of voxels, each voxel contains a material composition and a mass density [0087].
Tilly do not disclose acquiring a plurality of voxels by performing a three-dimensional meshing on a simulation region.
Svatos discloses a method for modeling the precise microscopic interactions of electrons with matter (col. 1; lines 18-21) and further discloses PEREGRINE, which utilizes a Monte Carlo algorithm, and is an all-particle, first-principles 3D Monte Carlo dose calculation system designed to serve as a dose calculation engine for clinical radiation therapy treatment planning (RTP) systems (col. 2; lines 9-14)(col. 2; lines . PEREGRINE is used to track electrons, positrons and their daughter products through a transport mesh (col. 2; lines 27-36). Further, the reference teaches that the PEREGRINE Monte Carlo dose calculation process depends on four key elements wherein one of the elements is the complete material composition description of the patient as a transport mesh (col. 2; lines 27-29). The transport mesh is a Cartesian map of material composition and density determined from a patient's CT scan. The CT scan is used to identify the atomic composition and density of a corresponding transport mesh voxel (col. 2; lines 37-57). Further, during a simulation, PEREGRINE records the energy deposited in the transport mesh, and after the Monte Carlo process is finished, a dose map is created by dividing the total energy deposited in each voxel by its material mass (col. 3; lines 24-69). Further, the reference teaches that a minimum electron/positron (which are particles) transport energy is assigned to each transport voxel based on range rejection (col. 3; lines 50-59). Finally, the reference teaches “Because of its speed and simple interface with conventional treatment planning systems, PEREGRINE brings Monte Carlo radiation transport calculations to the clinical RTP desktop environment. PEREGRINE is designed to calculate dose distributions for…electron, fast neutron and proton therapy.” (col. 2; lines 21-26).
In view of Svatos, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill within the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the method of Tilly with a PEREGRINE Monte Carlo dose calculation process capable of acquiring a 3D matrix of voxels (on a simulation region) by developing a transport mesh of the patient. The motivation is to develop a transport mesh, used by the PEREGRINE Monte Carlo dose calculation process, for the purpose of tracking the energy deposition of particles I the voxels for the creation of a dose map. The dose map represents material composition and density of the transport mesh voxel and is used to perform dose calculations.
Claim(s) 2-3, 11-12 and 18-19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tilly, and further in view of Svatos and McNutt et al. (US 2011//0051893) hereinafter known as McNutt.
With regards to claim 2, 11 and 18, Tilly, in view of Svatos, discloses the method according to claim 1, 10 and 17, wherein said acquiring the simulation results of the plurality of particles by performing the parallel Monte Carlo simulation on the plurality of particles sampled within the simulation region (see the rejection of claim 1) comprises:
determining, based on each of the plurality of particles, an incident angle and incident voxels of the corresponding particle entering the simulation region (Tilly; [0051][0077])(Svatos; (col. 11; lines 52-55).
Tilly teaches of utilizing a memory and a machine-readable memory that may comprise of associated caches [0044][0103].
Modified Tilly do not disclose, acquiring, based on the incident angle and the incident voxels, the simulation result by allocating cache spaces for a portion of the voxels within the simulation region and performing a Monte Carlo simulation until the particle penetrates the simulation region, wherein the cache space is configured to store deposition energy of the particle in a corresponding voxel.
McNutt discloses a system for radiation therapy including a radiation planning system (Abstract). The reference teaches of, acquiring, based on the incident angle and the incident voxels ([0038][0043][0044][0046]; Total Energy Released per unit MAss (TERMA) algorithm)([0049]; TERMA calculation implemented on voxels and utilizing a energy dependent dose deposition kernel indexed by radiological distance and relative angle between the point and the kernel axis.) the simulation result by allocating cache spaces for a portion of the voxels ([0057]; cache attenuation volume)([0062]; cache memory)([0068]; The multi-resolution algorithm can be implemented using a volumetric maximum intensity projection (MIP)-map …, as it is both efficient to calculate and has good cache performance….This can prevent a TERMA voxel from contributing multiple times to the same dose voxel.”) within the simulation region and performing a Monte Carlo simulation until the particle penetrates the simulation region [0012][0045], wherein the cache space is configured to store deposition energy of the particle in a corresponding voxel ([0038][0041][0042][0045][0069]; “All input array data may be cached, generally in textures, ... Shared memory may be used to cache the array multi-resolution volume structures. Shared memory may also offer a performance improvement over registers for the multi-spectral TERMA calculation. A maximum number of 21 energy bins may be chosen as being both sufficient for high energy beams and free of bank conflicts.”).
In view of McNutt, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill within the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the method of modified Tilly with TERMA algorithm capable of interacting with Monte Carlo simulations and employing a cache space/memory to cache multi-resolution volume structures of the voxel. The TERMA algorithm is capable of being implemented on voxels and utilizes an energy dependent dose deposition kernel which are indexed by incident angle energy deposition. The motivation is to utilize a TERMA algorithm which provides a cache volume that can prevent the voxels from contributing to resolution changes multiple times to the same dose voxel. The use of cache volume leads to improved numerical accuracy of energy and density deposition spectrum within the voxels.
With regards to claim 3, 12 and 19, modified Tilly discloses the method according to claim 2, 11 and 18, wherein said acquiring, based on the incident angle and the incident voxels, the simulation result by allocating the cache spaces for the portion of the voxels within the simulation region and performing the Monte Carlo simulation until the particle penetrates the simulation region (see the rejection of claim 2), comprises:
sequentially determining, based on the incident angle and the incident voxels (see the rejection of claim 2), a deposition region corresponding to each layer of voxels of the particle in the simulation region (Svatos; col. 5-6; lines 65-6)(Svatos; col. 3; lines 24-59);
allocating a corresponding cache space for each voxel in the deposition region corresponding to each layer of voxels (see the rejection of claim 2);
performing the Monte Carlo simulation based on the incident angle and the incident voxels until the particle penetrates the simulation region and storing the deposition energy of the particle in the corresponding voxel into the cache space (see the rejection of claim 2); and
acquiring the simulation result by transferring data in the cache space to a shared storage space (McNutt; [0049][0069]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4-7, 13-16 and 20-22 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 4, 13 and 20, modified Tilly do not disclose the method according to claim 3, 12 and 19, wherein said sequentially determining, based on the incident angle and the incident voxels, the deposition region corresponding to each layer of voxels of the particle in the simulation region, and allocating the corresponding cache space for each voxel in the deposition region corresponding to each layer of voxels comprise:
determining, based on the incident angle, the incident voxels and voxels within a predetermined periphery of the incident voxels in a first layer of voxels as a first layer of deposition region corresponding to the particle in the first layer of voxels;
allocating a corresponding cache space for each voxel in the first layer of deposition region to store deposition energy of each voxel in the first layer of deposition region;
determining, in a case that the particle enters a next layer of voxels, voxels within a region of the next layer of voxels corresponding to the first layer of deposition region and voxels within a predetermined periphery thereof as a second layer of deposition region corresponding to the particle in the next layer of voxels;
allocating a corresponding cache space for each voxel in the second layer of deposition region to store deposition energy of each voxel in the second layer of deposition region; and
sequentially determining a deposition region when the particle entering each layer of voxels and allocating a corresponding cache space to store deposition energy of each voxel in a corresponding deposition region.
With regards to claim 5, 14 and 21, modified Tilly do not disclose the method according to claim 3, 12 and 19, wherein said acquiring the simulation result by transferring the data in the cache space to the shared storage space comprises: releasing, in response to the particle entering a nth layer of the simulation region, a cache space corresponding to each voxel in a deposition region corresponding to each layer of voxels before a mth layer, wherein m is a positive integer less than n; and transferring data stored in the released cache space to the shared storage space.
Claims 6-7, 15-16 and 21-22 are objected due to being dependent on objected base claim 5, 14 and 20.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Kaufman et al. (US 2004/0125103)
Mercier et al. (US 2013/0030762)
Bowers et al. (US 2008/0243452)
Yeo et al. (US 2007/0071169)
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/HUGH MAUPIN/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2884