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
The preliminary amendment filed on 8 July 2024 has been accepted and entered. Claims 15, 16, 20, and 24-30 are canceled. Claims 1-14, 17-19, and 21-23 are pending.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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.
Claim(s) 1-5 and 8-14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Jackson et al (US 2019/0231296 A1, cited by Applicant).
With respect to claim 1, Jackson discloses: a method implemented on at least one machine each of which has at least one processor and at least one storage device for imaging (computing device 216 with mass storage 218, Fig. 2), comprising: obtaining current information of a target subject, the current information including information relating to current radiation attenuation of the target object (by modeling material composition of subject, 312, par. [0042]); obtaining reference information of the target subject (calculation of increase or decrease of P from a previous time, wherein P represent patient’s attenuation, par. [0042]), the reference information including information relating to historical radiation attenuation of the target object (attenuation from a prior scanning session, par. [0042]); determining, based on the current information and the reference information, at least one current parameter of the target subject (optimal scan and reconstruction settings are based on attenuation, par. [0042]); and obtaining, based on the at least one current parameter, a target image of the target subject (318, Fig. 13).
With respect to claim 14, Jackson discloses: a method implemented on at least one machine each of which has at least one processor and at least one storage device for image processing (computing device 216 with mass storage 218, Fig. 2), comprising: building a personal database of a target subject, the personal database being configured to store historical scanning data of the target subject (storage of prior scanning sessions, par. [0042]), the historical scanning data including at least one historical parameter of the target subject (x-ray attenuation information stored from previous scanning session, par. [0042]), at least one historical image of the target subject, and reference information of the target subject (par. [0039]), the reference information including information relating to historical radiation attenuation of the target object (x-ray attenuation information stored from previous scanning session, par. [0042]); obtaining current scanning data of the target subject (318, par. [0045]); and generating a quantitative comparison result by comparing the current scanning data and the historical scanning data (multiple scans are compared for tracking of changes, par. [0050]).
With respect to claim 2, Jackson discloses that the current information and reference information may relate to body fat of a subject (par. [0042]).
With respect to claim 3, Jackson discloses comparing target images and historical images for tracking of changes in the images (par. [0050]).
With respect to claims 4, 5, 8, 9, 11, 12, and 13, Jackson discloses: determining, based on the current information and the reference information, at least one current or historical parameter of the target subject including (scan parameters are determined based on current attenuation values, par. [0042]): obtaining at least one historical parameter corresponding to the reference information (prior scan parameters, par. [0042]); and determining, based on the current information, the reference information, and the at least one historical parameter, the at least one current parameter (determining scan/processing parameters based on previous scan parameters are change in attenuation values, par. [0042]).
With respect to claim 10, Jackson discloses: obtaining scan data by scanning the target subject based on the current scanning parameter; and obtaining the target image of the target subject by processing the scan data based on the historical processing parameter (“determining scan and reconstruction parameters for a current scan based on these prior scan and reconstruction parameters”, par. [0046]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 17-19 and 21-23 are allowed.
Claims 6 and 7 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
With respect to claims 6 and 7, the cited prior art does not appear to disclose or reasonably suggest updating at least one initial parameter iteratively based on the information variation until a predicted image generated based on the at least one updated parameter and the historical image satisfy a preset condition, as claimed.
With respect to claims 17-19 and 21-23, the cited prior art does not appear to disclose or reasonably suggest the claimed method using a photon counting computed tomography device. Jackson discloses only a computed tomography device.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MARK R GAWORECKI whose telephone number is (571)272-8540. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8 AM-6 PM.
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/MARK R GAWORECKI/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2884 20 April 2026
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