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 Interpretation
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(f):
(f) Element in Claim for a Combination. – An element in a claim for a combination may be expressed as a means or step for performing a specified function without the recital of structure, material, or acts in support thereof, and such claim shall be construed to cover the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification and equivalents thereof.
Claim limitation “one or more excitation beams, one or more interrogation beams.” have been interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, because it uses/they use a linking word “ configured to” coupled with functional language “directed toward an “ respectively recited after each of the aforementioned claim limitations, without reciting sufficient structure to achieve the function. Furthermore, the generic placeholder is not preceded by a structural modifier.
A review of the specification shows that the following appears to be the corresponding structure described in the specification for the 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph limitation: see figure 3 and corresponding text. If applicant wishes to provide further explanation or dispute the examiner’s interpretation of the corresponding structure, applicant must identify the corresponding structure with reference to the specification by page and line number, and to the drawing, if any, by reference characters in response to this Office action.
If applicant does not intend to have the claim limitation(s) treated under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) applicant may amend the claim(s) so that it/they will clearly not invoke 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or present a sufficient showing that the claim recites/recite sufficient structure, material, or acts for performing the claimed function to preclude application of 35 U.S.C. 112(f).
For more information, see MPEP § 2173 et seq. and Supplementary Examination Guidelines for Determining Compliance With 35 U.S.C. 112 and for Treatment of Related Issues in Patent Applications, 76 FR 7162, 7167 (Feb. 9, 2011).
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.
Claim(s) 21-40 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Igrashi et al (US 2007/0187632) in view of Pandey et al (US 2023/0162410)
As to claim 21, Igrashi teaches an imaging apparatus for histological and/or molecular imaging of a sample, the apparatus comprising: :one or more light source (a light generator generating light toward a region to be examined within the object, , paragraph [0021]), wherein the one or more light sources are configured to generate: i) one or more excitation beams ((ref 2a, paragraph [0311-0312]) configured to be directed toward an excitation location being focused on the sample to generate signals in the sample(figure 9 reference 39 and paragraph [0313]) and ii) one or more interrogation beams configured to be directed toward a detection location ( ref 3b, paragraph [0307]) wherein a portion of the one or more interrogation beams returning from the sample is indicative of at least some of the generated signals( ref F, paragraph [0313],[0106]);
While Igrashi meets the limitation above. Reza fails to teach” and one or more processors configured to: generate an image of the sample using radiative signals from the generated signals from the sample; and generate an image of the sample using non-radiative signals from the generated signal.” Specifically, Pandey et al. teaches The training process begins with producing a plurality of AF images (and possibly one or more reflectance images) of a tissue sample section. The method then includes generating a virtually stained image of the tissue sample section based on the AF images (and reflectance image when used) of the tissue sample. The virtually stained image is based on a selected histological stain (e.g., H&E) so that the virtually stained image is representative of the coloration that would have been produced if that tissue sample section had actually been stained by the chosen histological stain (e.g., H&E). The process of generating the virtually stained images may be described as being performed in a “generator network”(paragraph [0045-0046]). It would have been obvious to one skilled in the art before filing of the claimed invention to generate different images depending on the wavelength in order to decreases the amount of time required to produce useful histological results and one that does not require multiple tissue sections. Thus, the claimed subject matter would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
As to claim 22,Igrashi et al teaches the apparatus of claim 21, wherein the non-radiative signals consist of photothermal signals ((paragraph[0021]).
As to claim 23, Igrashi et al teaches the apparatus of claim 21, wherein the non-radiative signals consist of photoacoustic signals ((paragraph[0451]).
As to claim 24, Igrashi et al teaches the apparatus of claim 21, wherein the non-radiative signals include both photothermal signals and photoacoustic signals(paragraph[0021]).
As to claim 25, Igrashi et al teaches the apparatus of claim 21, wherein the generated image is formed based on an intensity of the non-radiative signals or time evolution features of the non- radiative signals(paragraph [0311], ref 18, paragraph [0298-0299 and figure 10)]).
As to claim 26, Igrashi et al teaches the apparatus of claim 25, wherein the generated image is formed (paragraph [0117] )based on a change in intensity of the non-radiative signals or a change in the time evolution features of the non-radiative signals following excitation (paragraph [0206][0238][0487]).
As to claim 27, Igrashi et al teaches the apparatus of claim 21, wherein the generated image is formed based on an intensity of the radiative signals or time evolution features of the radiative signals( The object information producer 106' has an image former configured to make and display the image of the scatted information and the like at each point, scanned in two or three dimension, of the target area in the object to be examined, paragraph [0429])
As to claim 28, Igrashi et al teaches the apparatus of claim 27, wherein the generated image is formed based on a change in intensity of the radiative signals or change in the time evolution features of the radiative signals following excitation (the absorption coefficient a corresponds to an inverse of a propagated distance in which incident beam intensity is reduced to 1/e. By extracting the amplitude modulation components caused by the ultrasound waves from formulas (6) and (7), the absorption coefficient .alpha. of the ultrasound convergence region can be indirectly calculated; paragraphs [0206] [0230], [0237]).
As to claim 29, Pandey et al teaches the apparatus of claim 21, wherein the generated image of the sample uses radiative signals that are separated by wavelength (each AF image of the plurality of images produced by interrogating the tissue sample at an AF excitation wavelength configured to produce AF emissions at an AF emission wavelength, wherein the AF excitation wavelength and the AF emission wavelength used to produce each AF image of the plurality of AF images is different from the AF excitation wavelength and the AF emission wavelength used to produce the other AF images of the plurality of AF images, abstract).
As to claim 30, Igrashi et al teaches the apparatus of claim 21, wherein the non-radiative signals are measured in a range of 1 femtosecond to 500 milliseconds of an excitation event caused by the one or more excitation beams(The signal of formula (11) is inputted to the oscilloscope 5a having a function of a phase meter, so that the oscilloscope 5a can detect the phase difference in the AC components. In other words, it is so arranged that the amount of scattering can also be measured, paragraph [0217]).
As to claim 31, Pandey et al teaches the apparatus of claim 21, wherein the one or more light sources includes a first excitation light source configured to emit light at a first wavelength, and a second excitation light source configured to emit light at a second wavelength different than the first wavelength (The excitation light source may be configured to produce excitation light centered at a plurality of distinct wavelengths or may include a white light source coupled with filtering that enables distinct wavelengths to be produced. The excitation wavelengths are those that will produce useful AF emissions and/or useful reflectance signals from a tissue sample section; e.g., wavelengths based on the photometric properties associated with one or more biomolecules (or tissue type, etc.) of interest. Excitation light at wavelengths in the ultraviolet (UV) region (e.g., about 100-400 nm) and in the visible region (e.g., 400-700 nm) are non-limiting examples of excitation light that produce useful AF emissions and/or useful reflectance signals from a tissue sample section. Non-limiting examples of acceptable excitation light sources include lasers and light emitting diodes (LEDs) that may be centered at particular wavelengths, or a tunable excitation light source configured to selectively produce light centered at respective different wavelengths., paragraph [0037]).
As to claim 32, Igrashi et al teaches the apparatus of claim 31, wherein the one or more processors are configured to generate an absorption differential image based on relative differentials of 1) the non-radiative and/or radiative signals from excitation using only the first wavelength, and 2) the non-radiative and/or radiative signals from excitation using only the second wavelength(each piece of information associated with the absorption characteristics and the scattering characteristics in a region proximate to a position "z" can be detected from the amplitude components and the phase components (more particularly, phase difference) in the AC components, paragraph [0217][0237]).
As to claim 33, Igrashi et al teaches the apparatus of claim 21, wherein the one or more processors are configured to generate a transmission and reflection attenuation map via optical scattering contrast image of the one or more excitation beams or the one or more interrogation beams(The system controller may be in communication with system components to control the operation of the respective component and/or to receive signals from and/or transmit signals to that component to perform the functions described herein. The system controller may include any type of computing device, computational circuit, processor(s), CPU, computer, or the like capable of executing a series of instructions that are stored in memory. The instructions may include an operating system, and/or executable software modules such as program files, system data, buffers, drivers, utilities, and the like. The executable instructions may apply to any functionality described herein to enable the system to accomplish the same algorithmically and/or coordination of system components, paragraph [0039]).
As to claim 34, Pandey et al teaches apparatus of claim 21, wherein the sample includes one or more of freshly resected tissue specimens, preserved tissue specimens, prepared tissue specimens, extracted tissue specimens, cell specimens, in vitro samples, or in vivo tissue (generate virtual histological images directly from the freshly excised tissue samples [1-3]. For instance, microscopic techniques such as single-photon confocal fluorescence microscopy and non-linear fluorescence techniques require staining with a dye such as acridine orange., paragraph [004]).
The limitation of claim 36-40 has been addressed above.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 35 is 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.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to NANCY BITAR whose telephone number is (571)270-1041. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Friday from 8:00 am to 5:00 p.m..
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NANCY . BITAR
Examiner
Art Unit 2664
/NANCY BITAR/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2664
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