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 .
DETAILED ACTION
1. The following Office action is in response to communications filed on 6/25/2026. Claims 1, 3-7, and 9-10 are currently pending within this application.
Claim Rejections
2. The previous rejections of the claims under 35 USC 101, 35 USC 102, and 35 USC 103 are withdrawn in response to amended claims filed on 6/25/2026.
Response to Arguments
3. Applicant’s arguments with respect to the clams have been fully considered but they are moot in view of new ground(s) of rejection necessitated by Applicant’s amendments to the previously pending claims.
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.
4. Claims 9-10 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 pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention.
Independent claims 9 and 10 currently recite the limitations of "the region of interest”, “the morphology of the region of interest”, “the treatment device”, and “the morphology of the treatment device”; however, there is insufficient antecedent basis for these claimed limitations. Appropriate correction is required.
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)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
5. Claims 1 and 7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Kowarschik (US PGPub 2018/0014884) [hereafter Kow].
6. As to claim 1, Kow discloses a medical image processing apparatus (computing device 21 shown in Figure 8 performing operational steps shown in Figure 3) comprising processing circuitry (internal components 18-21) configured to: extract a region of interest (segmentation of particular organ) from a medical image (three-dimensional image data set); identify a reference plane or a reference line (centerline) based on the region of interest; set a candidate placement position (overlay position as shown in Figure 4) for a treatment device (guide device 4 shown in Figures 4-7); and correct the identified reference plane or the identified reference line based on a relationship between a morphology of the treatment device in a case where the treatment device is placed at the candidate placement position and a morphology of the region of interest (as shown in Figure 5) (Paragraphs 0028-0034, 0036-0037, a three dimensional image data set is segmented to a three dimensional model of a particular organ which includes centerlines of the organ, then a two-dimensional image of a guide device introduced into the corresponding organ is overlaid onto the segmented three-dimensional model of the organ and a corrected position of the organ is calculated using the overlaying of the three-dimensional model and the two-dimensional image of the guide device based on the morphology of the guide device when placed at the overlaid position of the three-dimensional model and the morphology of the organ of the three-dimensional model such that the centerlines and shape of the three-dimensional model are adjusted, as shown between Figures 4-5 and 6-7, in order to accommodate the guide device).
7. As to claim 7, Kow discloses a method (operations shown in Figure 3 executed by computing device of Figure 8) comprising: extracting a region of interest (segmentation of particular organ) from a medical image (three-dimensional image data set); identifying a reference plane or a reference line (centerline) based on the region of interest; setting a candidate placement position (overlay position as shown in Figure 4) for a treatment device (guide device 4 shown in Figures 4-7); and correcting the identified reference plane or the identified reference line based on a relationship between a morphology of the treatment device in a case where the treatment device is placed at the candidate placement position and a morphology of the region of interest (as shown in Figure 5) (Paragraphs 0028-0034, 0036-0037, a three dimensional image data set is segmented to a three dimensional model of a particular organ which includes centerlines of the organ, then a two-dimensional image of a guide device introduced into the corresponding organ is overlaid onto the segmented three-dimensional model of the organ and a corrected position of the organ is calculated using the overlaying of the three-dimensional model and the two-dimensional image of the guide device based on the morphology of the guide device when placed at the overlaid position of the three-dimensional model and the morphology of the organ of the three-dimensional model such that the centerlines and shape of the three-dimensional model are adjusted, as shown between Figures 4-5 and 6-7, in order to accommodate the guide device).
16Claim 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 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.
8. Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C 103 as being unpatentable over Kowarschik (US PGPub 2018/0014884) [hereafter Kow] in view of Kim (US PGPub 2010/0328304) [hereafter Kim].
9. As to claim 6, it is noted that Kow fails to particularly disclose the processing circuitry is further configured to identify a structure of interest included in the region of interest, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to correct the reference plane or the reference line based on the morphology of the region of interest and a morphology of the structure of interest.
On the other hand, Kim discloses a medical image processing apparatus (computer system shown in Figure 1) comprising processing circuitry (control section 1) configured to: extract a region of interest (region of image including original landmarks and user specified landmarks as shown in Figures 4-8 and 16-19) from a medical image (medical three-dimensional image as shown in Figures 2-3); identify a reference plane or a reference line (plane or line connecting user specified landmarks) based on the region of interest; and correct the identified reference plane or the identified reference line based on a morphology of the region of interest (alignment of region of interest with respect to reference horizontal plane HP, vertical reference plane VP1, and median plane VP2) (Paragraphs 0053-0062, 0064-0084, 0087-0102, 0106-0113, 0115-0118, a region of interest of a medical image including user specified landmarks is extracted within a three dimensional medical image in order to identify a connecting line/plane between the specified landmarks and modify the angle/orientation of the connecting lines/planes based on the positioning of the user selected landmarks with respect to original landmarks within the medical image that are used to generate reference axes/planes),
Wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to identify a structure of interest (region of image including original landmarks) included in the region of interest, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to correct the reference plane or the reference line based on the morphology of the region of interest and a morphology of the structure of interest (Paragraphs 0057, 0060, 0062, 0064-0065, 0068-0072, 0074-0084, 0088, 0092, 0108-0113, 0116-0118, original landmarks within the portion of the medical image and their corresponding lines/planes are used in conjunction with the lines/planes associated with the user selected landmarks in order to correct the lines/planes associated with the user selected landmarks).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to identify a structure of interest included in the region of interest, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to correct the reference plane or the reference line based on the morphology of the region of interest and a morphology of the structure of interest as taught by Kim with the apparatus of Kow because the cited prior art references are directed towards segmenting three dimensional medical images and adjusting the orientations of lines/planes of regions of interest within the medical images and because each of the claimed limitations are disclosed within the combination of the prior art references and would yield predictable results of enabling the reference planes or reference lines to vary according to particular
user selected regions of interest with respect to the insertion/introduction of a medical device for the purposes of treating said region of interest with minimal damage to the medical device and the patient being treated.
Claim Objections
10. Claims 3-5 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.
Conclusion
11. 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 extension fee 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 date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MICHAEL S OSINSKI whose telephone number is (571) 270-3949. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday - Friday, 10:00am - 6:00pm. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Oneal Mistry can be reached on (313) 446-4912. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
MO
/MICHAEL S OSINSKI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2674
7/30/2026
Prosecution Insights