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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 4/13/2026 has been entered.
Response to Amendment
This action is in response to the RCE filed on 4/13/2026. The amendments and remarks filed on 03/27/2026 have been entered. Accordingly Claims 1-2 are pending. Claims 3-8 are withdrawn as provided in the previous office action(s). The previous rejections of claims 1-2 have been withdrawn in light of Applicant’s amendments and remarks in the claim set filed 03/27/2026.
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.
Claims 1-2 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee et. al. (U.S. 20190110777, April 18, 2019)(hereinafter, “Lee”) in view of Iwama et. al. (U.S. 20160095582, April 7, 2016)(hereinafter, “Iwama”) and Arihiro (JP2015058251, March 3, 2015)(hereinafter, “Arihiro”).
Regarding Claim 1, Lee teaches: A power supply device for push wave generation (Figs. 3-5) comprising:
a power supply that outputs power supplied to a pulse generation circuit to which an ultrasound oscillator is connected (“The high voltage power source 310 may supply power to the power circuit 320 and the transmission circuit 330. When the ultrasound diagnosis apparatus 300 operates in a shear wave mode, the power circuit 320 may be charged with electric energy by receiving power from the high voltage power source 310. The power circuit 320 may supply shear wave mode power used for generating a shear wave to the transmission circuit 330 based on the electric energy.” [0066]. See Fig. 3);
a capacitor that comprises terminals ad accumulates the power supplied from the power supply (“The capacitor may be charged with electric energy for supplying shear wave mode power. Here, one end of the capacitor may be connected with the high voltage power source 310, and the other end of the capacitor may be connected to a ground.” [0067]; “…the capacitor 401 is charged with the electric energy, as illustrated in FIG. 4, since the (+) terminal of the transmission circuit 330 may be connected with the (+) terminal of the high voltage power source 310, and the (−) terminal of the transmission circuit 330 may be connected with the (−) terminal of the high voltage power source 310, the high voltage power source 310 may supply power required by the transmission circuit 330 to the transmission circuit 330.” [0088]); and
a constant voltage circuit that is provided between the capacitor and the pulse generation circuit (“The constant current circuit may be connected with the high voltage power source 310, and may supply electric energy for supplying shear wave mode power to the capacitor. The first switch may control connection between the constant current circuit and the capacitor. The second switch may control connection between the capacitor and the transmission circuit 330. Also, as illustrated in FIG. 3, a power circuit 320-1 may be connected and arranged between a (+) terminal of the high voltage power source 310 and a (+) terminal of the transmission circuit 330. Also, a power circuit 320-2 may be connected and arranged between a (−) terminal of the high voltage power source 310 and a (−) terminal of the transmission circuit 330.” [0067]. See Fig. 3),
wherein the pulse generation circuit outputs a transmission signal to the ultrasound oscillator, and the ultrasound oscillator transmits a push wave in response to the transmission signal (“The plurality of transducers may transmit ultrasound signals to an object 10 in response to transmitting signals received by the probe 20, from a transmitter 113. The plurality of transducers may receive ultrasound signals reflected from the object 10 to generate reception signals.” [0042]; “The controller 120 may control the ultrasound receiver 115 to generate ultrasound data by converting reception signals received from the probe 20 from analog to digital signals and summing the reception signals converted into digital form, based on a position and a focal point of the plurality of transducers.” [0044]; “…the transmission circuit 330 may receive power from the high voltage power source 310, generate a pulse for generating an ultrasound wave, and apply the generated pulse to a probe…” [0066]).
Lee does not explicitly teach: the constant voltage circuit outputting to the pulse generation circuit a voltage between the terminals of the capacitor, that is controlled to a target voltage.
Iwama in the field of ultrasound diagnostic systems teaches: “The transmission circuitry 21 includes one pulse generation circuitry (a pulse generation circuitry 210), pulsers … and the logic gates 212 corresponding to the respective pulsers. The logic gates 212 corresponding to the respective pulsers…are connected to the sequence controller 23.” [0057];“…the sequence controller 23 exclusively selects a power source to apply a voltage to a pulser by switching the electronic switch 32. This shortens the period during which one power source is used, thereby reducing a droop in applied voltage. In addition, reducing the capacitance of a decoupling capacitor provided to reduce a droop can achieve downsizing of a power source. In addition, it is possible to transmit driving pulse strings with stable push pulse outputs to the ultrasonic probe 2 regardless of transmission conditions for push pulses output from the ultrasonic probe 2.” [0063]. See Figs. 1-2.
Therefore, it would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the constant voltage circuit of Lee to output to the pulse generation circuit a voltage controlled to a target voltage as taught in Iwama to allow execution of “…control to change the value of the open voltage of an inactive power source.” and “…the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus 1 can generate a B-mode image with higher sensitivity…” (Iwama, [0080]).
The combination of references does not explicitly teach the constant voltage circuit outputting to the pulse generation circuit a voltage between the terminals of the capacitor.
Arihiro in the field of ultrasound power source circuits teaches: “…a variable voltage power source 2; a first power source line which connects an output terminal of the variable voltage power source 2 to a power source terminal of a transmission circuit 102 through an energy accumulation circuit containing capacitors 4, 8 and constant current circuits 3, 7; a second power source line which directly connects the output terminal of the variable voltage power source 2 to the power source terminal of the transmission circuit 102; and a control part 11 which, based on a transmission condition of ultrasonic wave…”.
Therefore, it would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the combination of references such that the pulse generation circuit is outputted a voltage between the terminals of the capacitor as taught in Arihiro to accumulate the electric charge of the capacitor and transmission of the push wave in response to the transmission signal (Arihiro).
Regarding Claim 2, the combination of Lee, Iwama and Arihiro teach the claim limitations as noted above.
Lee further teaches: wherein, each time the pulse generation circuit outputs the transmission signal to the ultrasound oscillator over a plurality of times, the power supply charges the capacitor with a voltage higher than an output voltage of the constant voltage circuit (“…as the time elapses, since the electric energy with which the capacitor 401 is charged is reduced, and power supplied per unit time from the power circuit 320 to the transmission circuit 330 is reduced, the transmission circuit 330 cannot generate a distortion-free pulse by using only the shear wave mode power supplied from the power circuit 320. Therefore, when the electric energy with which the capacitor 401 is charged is reduced, the high voltage power source 310 may be controlled such that power is additionally supplied to the transmission circuit 330 as much as a reduced amount of the power supplied per unit time.”[0092]; “…when the power circuit 320 performs an operation of supplying shear wave mode power to the transmission circuit 330, the power circuit 320 may supply shear wave mode power to the transmission circuit 330 based on the electric energy with which the capacitor 401 is charged. Also, as the time elapses, when power per unit time supplied from the power circuit 320 to the transmission circuit 330 is reduced, the high voltage power source 310 may be controlled to supply insufficient power of the shear wave mode power to the transmission circuit 330 based on the electric energy with which the capacitor is charged. For example, the high voltage power source 310 may supply insufficient power of the shear wave mode power to the capacitor 401 in the power circuit 320 to complement the reduced energy of the capacitor 401. The power circuit 320 may be controlled such that the shear wave mode power is constantly supplied from the power circuit 320 to the transmission circuit 330 based on the complemented electric energy.” [0093]).
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments regarding 35 U.S.C. 103 have been considered but are moot because of the new ground of rejections.
Applicant’s arguments regarding claims 7-8 withdrawal of the restriction due to dependency from claim 1 has been considered but Examiner respectfully disagrees. The claim subject matter are a species to claim 1 that is independent or distinct from the invention originally claimed as it introduces new configurations and components that are provided in embodiments with additional functionality. The originally examined claims do not require the particulars of an ultrasound diagnostic apparatus and current cutoff/adjuster to perform the claimed functions as required in claims 7-8. Further, as previously “pertain to subject matter previously non-elected as provided in the 5/19/25 Restriction and 7/2/25 Non-Final.” Examiner respectfully maintains claims 7-8 are withdrawn from consideration at this time.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Peterson et. al. U.S. 20230285006 teaches a power supply for ultrasound imaging with a switched capacitor to provide power.
Ledoux et. al. U.S. 20180289361 teaches an ultrasound transducer probe system.
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/AMAL ALY FARAG/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3798
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