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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 02/19/2026 has been entered. Claims 1 and 3-11 remain pending in the application.
Response to Amendment
Claim 2 is cancelled, and claims 1 and 3-11 remain pending in the application in response to the applicant’s amendments to the rejections previously set forth in the Final Office Action mailed 11/20/2025.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments filed 02/19/2026 with respect to claim(s) 1 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Given the amendments to claim 1, reference to Krishnan is being relied upon to teach dependent claims 3-6 and 8-11 more-consistently with the instant claim language, as shown below.
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.
Claims 4-7 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 applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claims 4-6 recites the limitation "the one ultrasonic beam". There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. For the purpose of advancing prosecution, the examiner assumes “the one ultrasonic beam” refers to any one of the plurality of ultrasonic beam transmissions.
Claim 7 is dependent of claim 6, and therefore rejected under this 112(b) rejection as well.
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.
Claims 1, 3-6, and 8-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Krishnan et al. (US 6682482 B1, published January 27, 2004), hereinafter referred to as Krishnan.
Regarding claim 1, Krishnan teaches an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus (Fig. 1, imaging system 10), comprising:
an ultrasonic probe having a plurality of elements and configured to transmit an ultrasonic beam a plurality of times (Fig. 2, transmit first, second, and third pulses from transducer array 16 (probe); see col. 4, lines 49-50 – “FIGS. 3, 4 and 5 schematically illustrate the apertures used for the first, Second and third pulses, respectively.”),
the plurality of elements being arranged as a plurality of element rows in an elevation direction (see col. 3, lines 30-32 – “Similarly, the transducer array 16 can take any desired form. The transducer array 16 can be a 1-, 1.25-, 1.5-, 1.75 or 2-dimensional array [plurality elements in a plurality of rows in elevation direction].” So the first, second, and third activated transmit elements of Fig. 3, 4, and 5 can inherently correspond to activating transmit elements of a 2D array); and
processing circuitry (Fig. 1, transmitter 14, receiver 18 included as processing circuitry) configured to
change, at each transmission of ultrasonic beams, a transmission aperture of each of the plurality of element rows arranged in the elevation direction so as to have a respective width of the elements of the ultrasonic probe in an azimuth direction for each ultrasonic beam (see col. 4, lines 49-56 – “FIGS. 3, 4 and 5 schematically illustrate the apertures used for the first, Second and third pulses, respectively. In FIG. 3, the subaperture 50 for the first pulse corresponds to the left half of the transducer array. The full aperture 52 used for the second pulse is shown as the lined region of FIG. 4. The second subaperture 54 used for the third pulse includes all of the transducer elements that are not included in the first subaperture 50.”), and
control the transmission aperture of the ultrasonic probe so as to match a total size of ultrasonic beams associated with a first transmission and a third transmission with a size of an ultrasonic beam transmitted through all elements associated with a second transmission (see col. 4, lines 30-39, 44-47- “Next, in block 42 a first pulse is transmitted with positive polarity, using only a Subset of the available transducer elements. The Subset will be referred to as a first Subaperture, and in this example the first Subaperture includes N/2 active transducer elements, i.e. 1/2 of the available transducer elements of the transducer array. Next, in block 44 a second pulse is transmitted with negative polarity (i.e. a 180 degree phase shift with respect to the first pulse), using the full aperture of N active transducer elements…Next, in block 46 a third pulse is transmitted with positive polarity, using N/2 active transducer elements. The active transducer elements for the third pulse are transducer elements that were inactive during transmission of the first pulse.”).
Furthermore, regarding claim 3, Krishnan further teaches wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to control the transmission aperture so as not to transmit the remaining ultrasonic beams from some of the elements that are adjacent to each other in the elevation direction (Fig. 3, 4, 5 as first transmission, second transmission and third transmission, respectively).
Furthermore, regarding claim 4, Krishnan further teaches wherein the ultrasonic probe includes three element rows divided in the elevation direction (see col. 3, lines 30-32 – “Similarly, the transducer array 16 can take any desired form. The transducer array 16 can be a 1-, 1.25-, 1.5-, 1.75 or 2-dimensional array [plurality of rows in elevation direction].”),
the one ultrasonic beam of the ultrasonic beams includes ultrasonic beams from all of the elements (Fig. 4, second transmission with all elements activated), and the remaining ultrasonic beams include an ultrasonic beam from one element row located at a middle portion in the azimuth direction and respective ultrasonic beams from two element rows located at end portions in the azimuth direction (Fig. 7; see col. 5, lines 33-43 – “For example, in Example 5 the first subaperture for the first positive-polarity pulse includes six transducer elements (1, 2, 13-16) [end portions], while the second subaperture for the second positive-polarity pulse includes 10 transducer elements (3-12) [middle portion]. In general, any desired subset of transducer elements can be used for the first subaperture, and the remaining subset of elements can be used for the second subaperture. Whether or not the two subapertures are equal, it is preferred that the two subapertures when added together equal the full aperture.”).
Furthermore, regarding claim 5, Krishnan further teaches wherein the plurality of transmissions of the ultrasonic beams are three transmissions of an ultrasonic beams (Fig. 3, 4, 5 as first transmission, second transmission and third transmission, respectively),
the one ultrasonic beam of the ultrasonic beams are transmitted second (Fig. 4, second transmission), and
the processing circuitry is further configured to invert a phase for each transmission (Fig. 2, {1, -2, 1} pulse sequence; see col. 4, lines 30-39, 44-47- “Next, in block 42 a first pulse is transmitted with positive polarity, using only a Subset of the available transducer elements. The Subset will be referred to as a first Subaperture, and in this example the first Subaperture includes N/2 active transducer elements, i.e. 1/2 of the available transducer elements of the transducer array. Next, in block 44 a second pulse is transmitted with negative polarity (i.e. a 180 degree phase shift with respect to the first pulse), using the full aperture of N active transducer elements…Next, in block 46 a third pulse is transmitted with positive polarity, using N/2 active transducer elements. The active transducer elements for the third pulse are transducer elements that were inactive during transmission of the first pulse.”).
Furthermore, regarding claim 6, Krishnan further teaches wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to generate a contrast enhanced image based on a differential signal between an echo signal corresponding to the one ultrasonic beam of the ultrasonic beams and an echo signal corresponding to the remaining ultrasonic beams (Fig. 6; see col. 5, lines 1-9 – “In block 60, first, Second and third echo Signals are received in response to the first, second and third pulses of FIG. 2, respectively [from {1, -2, 1} pulse sequence]. In block 62, the first, Second and third echo Signals are coherently Summed [differential signal] using unity Summing weights to form a display Signal. In block 64, the display Signal is processed for display on a monitor. AS explained below, the fundamental components of the display Signal are cancelled while higher order harmonic components of the display Signal are preserved [contrast enhanced image].”).
Furthermore, regarding claim 8, Krishnan further teaches wherein the plurality of times are not less than three (Fig. 3, 4, 5 as first transmission, second transmission and third transmission, respectively).
Furthermore, regarding claim 9, Krishnan further teaches wherein the remaining ultrasonic beams include a plurality of ultrasonic beams having respectively different patterns (Fig. 3, 4, 5 as first transmission, second transmission and third transmission, respectively).
Furthermore, regarding claim 10, Krishnan further teaches wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to set the transmission aperture of each ultrasonic beam so as to group a plurality of elements adjacent to each other in an azimuth direction of the ultrasonic probe into element groups for transmission of the ultrasonic beam, set an interval corresponding to at least two elements between the element groups adjacent to each other in the azimuth direction, and set the element groups in a checker pattern in the elevation direction (see col. 5, lines 16-20 – “Example 2 of FIG. 7 is closely related to Example 1, but in this case the first Subaperture for the first positive-polarity pulse includes all even-numbered transducer elements [checker pattern], and the Second Subaperture for the Second positive-polarity pulse includes all odd-numbered transducer elements [checker pattern].”).
Furthermore, regarding claim 11, Krishnan further teaches wherein the element group includes a plurality of elements adjacent to each other in the elevation direction (see col. 3, lines 30-32 – “Similarly, the transducer array 16 can take any desired form. The transducer array 16 can be a 1-, 1.25-, 1.5-, 1.75 or 2-dimensional array [plurality elements in a plurality of rows in elevation direction].”).
Claim 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, 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 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Krishnan in view of Patil et al. (US 20210128114A1, published May 6, 2021), hereinafter referred to as Patil.
Regarding claim 7, Krishnan teaches all of the elements disclosed in claim 6 above.
Krishnan teaches generating a contrast-enhanced image, but does not explicitly teach changing a transmission aperture control scheme when a bioacoustic shadow is in the image.
Whereas, Patil, in an analogous field of endeavor, teaches wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to: determine whether or not a bioacoustics shadow has occurred in the contrast enhanced image; and change a transmission aperture control scheme of the ultrasonic probe when the bioacoustic shadow has occurred in the contrast enhanced image (see para. 0035 "Beamformer parameters, as referred to herein, include both transmit and receive beamforming parameters, such as a number and position of activated and deactivated transducer elements, transducer element weights, delays, beam angles, and the like. In various embodiments, the parameter adjustment processor 160 may be operable to adjust the beamformer parameters to go around or otherwise avoid acoustically hard anatomies detected by the enhancement detection processor 150 to enhance regions below the acoustically hard anatomies by eliminating shadows and dark regions.").
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified generating a contrast-enhanced image, as disclosed in Krishnan, by also changing a transmission aperture control scheme when a bioacoustic shadow is in the image, as disclosed in Patil. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to further improve image contrast and/or sharpness of an anatomy of interest, as taught in Patil (see para. 0035).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Yoshiara et al. (US 20150087985 A1, published March 26, 2015) discloses ultrasound transmission for the first firing is performed in an even number of channels, ultrasound transmission for the second firing is performed in all channels, and ultrasound transmission for the third firing is performed in an odd number of channels (see para. 0054).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Nyrobi Celestine whose telephone number is 571-272-0129. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday - Thursday, 7:00AM - 5:00PM EST.
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/N.C./Examiner, Art Unit 3798
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