Detailed Action
1. Claims 1-20 are pending in this Application.
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
2. 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
3. Applicant’s response to the last Office Action filed on 05/06/2026 has been entered and made of record.
4. Claims1 and 11 have been amended.
.
Response to Argument
5. The Applicant’s argument filed 08/06/2026 is fully consider. For Examiner response see discussion below.
a. Regarding the Applied prior art West, the Applicant substantially argue “West does not describe or suggest correcting motion in respiratory 4DCT images at all. Rather, in paragraph [0033], West states that a "dose distribution is then calculated using the motion model" and that "the motion model, together with a weighting ... according to the relative amount of time spent at each point in the motion cycle, is applied to give a dose estimate taking motion (e.g., due to respiration) into account." There is simply no suggestion of correcting motion in respiratory 4DCT images using West's motion model.”
As to above argument [a], Examiner respectfully disagrees with the Applicant’s argument, because Examiner utilized the prior art Wang not West to address the limitation of “ correcting motion in respiratory 4DCT images”.
Specifically, Examiner reject the above limitation using Wang as describes below:
“a cardiac motion model is computed during registration of the image data. In another embodiment, a respiratory motion model is generated from, for example, the respiratory-gated 4D CT image study. The computed motion is corrected using the model 732 h before the radiation is delivered based on the computed motion 714”, see [0057], [0068]-[0070], [0079], [0081],.
b. Regarding the Applied prior art West , the Applicant substantially argue “West also does not describe acquisition of cardiac 4D images (generally) or ECG-gated cardiac 4DCT images acquired while the subject was in breath hold (specifically) as recited by claim 1. ”
As to above argument [b], Examiner respectfully disagrees with the Applicant’s argument for the reason discuss below:
West specifically teaches the 4D CT scan data may be acquired in a single motion cycle, or may be acquired over multiple motion cycles. In another embodiment, two or more conventional 3D CT images may be acquired during breath hold at different points in the breathing cycle (e.g., at end inspiration and end expiration. Accordingly, the term 4D CT scan data is used herein to mean a set of two or more 3D images that represent different time points in a motion cycle regardless of the method of acquiring the scan data (see [0031]). Regarding, the limitation “ECG-gated cardiac 4DCT images” , this limitation is newly added limitation. However, after reviewing West Examiner could not find this newly added limitation.
c. Applicant argue West does not teach “ a different 4DCT set or ECG-gated cardiac 4DCT image” West teaches
As to above argument [c], the Examiner partially disagrees with the Applicant’s argument for the following reason:
i. regarding the limitation “a different 4DCT set” West teaches Accordingly, the term 4D CT scan data is used herein to mean a set of two or more 3D images that represent different time points in a motion cycle regardless of the method of acquiring the scan data (see [0031]) .
ii. regarding the newly added limitation “ECG-gated cardiac 4DCT image” Examiner agree with the Applicant’s argument. West does not teach this newly added limitation.
d. Applicant substantially argue “There is no suggestion in West of acquiring two different sets of 4DCT images of a patient acquired using two different techniques (e.g., respiratory 4DCT and ECG-gated cardiac 4DCT) and using one of the sets to correct motion in the other set of 4DCT images.
Regarding argument [d] above, the Examiner respectfully disagrees with the Applicant's argument because the claim does not include a limitation that teaches "acquiring two different sets of 4DCT images of a patient using two different techniques (e.g., respiratory 4DCT and ECG-gated cardiac 4DCT) and using one of the sets to correct motion in the other set of 4DCT images." Specifically, the claim recites “wherein the cardiac 4D images are electrocardiogram (ECG)-gated cardiac 4DCT images
e. Applicant argue “Further still, West never mentions acquiring or using ECG-gated cardiac 4DCT images acquired while the subject was in breath hold and West's only breath-hold description, in paragraphs [0031]-[0032], concerns breath holding at both ends of a breathing cycle for respiratory-phase CT images, not cardiac- phase images.”
As to above argument [e], Examiner agree with the Applicant’s argument. Wang does not teach the newly added limitation “acquiring or using ECG-gated cardiac 4DCT images”.
f. Regarding the Applied prior arts West and Wang , the Applicant substantially argue ”Thus, even assuming arguendo that it would have been obvious to have modified West based on the disclosure in Wang, the resulting system would not receive both respiratory 4DCT images
acquired while a subject was free breathing and ECG-gated cardiac 4DCT images acquired while the subject was in breath hold, would not correct motion in the respiratory 4DCT images using a cardiac motion model derived from the ECG-gated cardiac 4DCT images, and would not output the corrected respiratory 4DCT images. Therefore, the proposed combination of West and Wang would not describe or suggest each and every feature recited by claim 1.”
As discussed above the applied prior arts do not teach the newly added (underline)limitation “receive both respiratory 4DCT images acquired while a subject was free breathing and ECG-gated cardiac 4DCT images acquired while the subject was in breath hold.”
g. Applicant argue “Wang does not describe correcting or otherwise modifying a 4DCT image dataset using a cardiac motion model, nor does it describe outputting a corrected image dataset; the correction it describes is applied to a real-time position/motion estimate used for beam delivery, not to an image volume. Like West, Wang does not describe or suggest correcting motion in respiratory 4DCT images at all.”
As to above argument [g], Examiner respectfully disagrees with the Applicant’s argument because as discuss in section [a] above Wang teaches “a cardiac motion model is computed during registration of the image data. In another embodiment, a respiratory motion model is generated from, for example, the respiratory-gated 4D CT image study. The computed motion is corrected using the model 732 h before the radiation is delivered based on the computed motion 714”, see [0057], [0068]-[0070], [0079], [0081]).
However it noted that Wang does not teach the newly added limitation “ ECG-gated cardiac 4DCT images acquired while the subject was in breath hold.””, although Wang teaches, the cardiac cycle motion is computed during treatment planning using an ECG signal (or other cardiac motion input), as shown in FIGS. 5G and 5H (see [0081]).
After further consideration a new prior art (Ying Tong et al., )that teach the added limitation “ ECG-gated cardiac 4DCT images acquired while the subject was in breath hold.” is found. Specifically Ying Tong et al., teaches the use of electrocardiograph-gated four-dimensional CT (ECG-gated 4DCT) can provide a possibility for accurate calculation of the cardiac dose [9]. ECG-gated 4DCT combines the volume scan with the cardiac electrophysiological information, and the multi-sequence dynamic CT images showing the cardiac movements can be obtained by segmentation, which can capture the cardiac movements during the cardiac cycle the ECG-gated 4DCT combines the volume scan with the cardiac electrophysiological information, and the (see page 2 left col. 1st and 2nd pars,.). The ECG-gated 4DCT data of 21 patients based on breath-hold were analyzed(see page 2 left col. 5th par.,)
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 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.
6. Claims 1-2, 5-6, 9, 11, 12, 15-16 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over West et al., (hereafter West), US-20190217123, pub. 07/18/2019, in view of Wang et al., (hereafter Wang), US-20090180589, pub. 07/16/2009, further in view of (Ying Tong et al.,( hereafter Ying), ““Impact of deformable image registration on dose accumulation applied electrocardiograph-gated 4DCT in the heart and left ventricular myocardium during esophageal cancer radiotherapy” pub. 2018.
As to claim 1, West teaches a computer-implemented method of correcting motion in respiratory four dimensional computed tomography (4DCT) images of a subject in radiation planning (Abstract, [0009], [0029] - treatment planning using four dimensional imaging data; 4D CT scan of a patient's chest region including lungs 60; real-time compensation for respiratory motion; general-purpose processors (e.g., a microprocessor), special purpose processor such as a digital signal processor (DSP)),comprising:
receiving respiratory 4DCT images, wherein the respiratory 4DCT images were acquired while a subject was free breathing ([0028]-[0029]- obtaining four-dimensional (4D) CT data 110 of the motion, including translation, rotation, and deformation, of the target
region and surrounding structures, and developing a treatment plan using the four- dimensional CT data 120; the 4D CT scan data is a collection of three dimensional (spatial) images, with each of the three dimensional images taken at a different point in time in a motion cycle (e.g., during the respiratory cycle, cardiac cycle, artery pulsation, etc. of a patient) with known temporal relationship. FIG. 1B is a conceptual illustration of a 4D CT scan of a patient's chest region including lungs 60 and a target tumor 50); receiving cardiac four dimensional (4D) images of the subject, wherein the cardiac 4D images [0029], [0031]-[0032], [0047], two or more conventional 3D CT images may be acquired during breath hold at different points in the breathing cycle (e.g., at end inspiration and end expiration; delineation may be performed using a standard CT image acquired with breath hold (i.e., a patient holding their breath); motion (e.g., cardiac) data measured for the particular patient);
deriving a cardiac motion model based on the cardiac 4D images, wherein the cardiac motion model includes frames of images of the subject, each frame corresponding to a cardiac phase in a cardiac cycle, each frame of images including motion fields at the cardiac phase ([0047]- defined the motion model in step 122, a weight, Wi; i Wi=1, is assigned to each image, step 123. The Wi model is the relative time spent by the target region in each part of the motion cycle. The motion cycle refers to any movement, rotation, and/or deformation of the target region and nearby structures that is periodic in nature the motion is due to other factors (e.g., cardiac motion), Wi may be derived corresponding motion (e.g., cardiac) data measured for the particular patient).
It is noted that West does not teach “correcting motion in the respiratory 4DCT images using the cardiac motion model; and outputting the corrected respiratory 4DCT images."
On the other hand Wang teaches correcting motion in the respiratory 4DCT images using the cardiac motion model ([0057], [0068]-[0070], [0079], [0081], a cardiac motion model is computed during registration of the image data. In another embodiment, a respiratory motion model is generated from, for example, the respiratory-gated 4D CT image study. The computed motion is corrected using the model 732 h before the radiation is delivered based on the computed motion 714); and
outputting the corrected respiratory 4DCT images (para [0061], [0082]- graphical output of a treatment planning system displaying a slice of a CT image in which delineation may be performed; the directions of the beams and the intensity of
the beams and then the treatment planning algorithm calculates and displays the resulting dose distribution).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate motion correction model taught by Wang into
the motion model generation taught by West.
The suggestion/motivation for doing so would have been to allow user of West to significantly improves image quality by reducing artifacts, increasing signal-to-noise ratio (SNR).
However, it is noted that modified West does not specifical teaches “wherein the cardiac 4D images are electrocardiogram (ECG)-gated cardiac 4DCT images”
On the other hand Ying teaches wherein the cardiac 4D images are electrocardiogram (ECG)-gated cardiac 4DCT images (page 2 left col. 1st and 2nd pars., page 2 left col. 5th par the use of electrocardiograph-gated four-dimensional CT (ECG-gated 4DCT) can provide a possibility for accurate calculation of the cardiac dose [9]. ECG-gated 4DCT combines the volume scan with the cardiac electrophysiological information, and the multi-sequence dynamic CT images showing the cardiac movements can be obtained by segmentation, which can capture the cardiac movements during the cardiac cycle the ECG-gated 4DCT combines the volume scan with the cardiac electrophysiological information, and the (see page 2 left col. 1st and 2nd pars,.). The ECG-gated 4DCT data of 21 patients based on breath-hold were analyzed(see page 2 left col. 5th par.,)
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the ECG signal taught by Wang by incorporating the electrocardiograph-gated four-dimensional CT (ECG-gated 4DCT) taught by Ying.
A person of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification to eliminate motion artifacts by freezing the continuous motion of the beating heart. This prevents blurring that distorts small cardiac structures and provides high-resolution, sharp views of fast-moving structures such as the coronary arteries, heart valves, and the ascending aorta
As to claim 2, West teaches separating the respiratory 4DCT images into frames of respiratory 4DCT images, each frame corresponding to a respiratory phase in a respiratory cycle (para [0030]-[0032]- subsets of slices may be acquired simultaneously, there is not attempt to index the timing of the slice acquisition to physical processes, e.g., the breathing cycle, other than in optionally halting the breathing cycle by instructing the patient to cease breathing while the scan is taken; two or more conventional 3D CT images may be acquired during breath hold at different points in the breathing cycle (e.g., at end inspiration and end expiration); and
It is noted that West does not specifically teach “correcting the frame of respiratory 4DCT images using the cardiac motion model at the corresponding cardiac phase”
On the other hand Wang teaches for each frame of respiratory phase, determining a corresponding cardiac phase of the frame of respiratory 4DCT images and correcting the frame of respiratory 4DCT images using the cardiac motion model at the corresponding cardiac phase (para [0057], [0081]-registration is performed and all scans are registered to a reference image to define respiratory and/or cardiac motion relative to a reference image coordinate system; a cardiac motion model is computed during registration of the image data; the computed motion is corrected using the model 732 h).
As to claim 5, Wang teaches selecting a common reference frame and registering frames of images in the cardiac motion model to the common reference frame (para [0056]-[0058], [0068]-[0070] registration is performed and all scans are registered to a reference Image to define respiratory and/or cardiac motion relative to a reference image coordinate system; Delineation can be defined in the reference image coordinate system) to derive a modified cardiac motion model and registering the respiratory 4DCT images to the modified cardiac motion model to derive the corrected respiratory 4DCT images (para [0057], [0081]- registration is performed and all scans are registered to a reference image to define respiratory and/or cardiac motion relative to a reference image coordinate system; a cardiac motion model is computed during registration of the image data; the computed motion is corrected using the model 732 h).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate motion correction model taught by Wang into
the motion model generation taught by West.
The suggestion/motivation for doing so would have been to allow user of West to significantly improves image quality by reducing artifacts, increasing signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and quantification of thoracic structures.
As to claim 6, Wang teaches deriving a cardiac motion model further comprises: separating the cardiac 4D images into frames of cardiac 4D images, each frame corresponding to a cardiac phase (para [0059], [0068]-[0070] - DRRs can be generated for multiple phases of the cardiac and/or respiratory cycle; cardiac silhouette is generally different in different phases of the cardiac cycle, and the position of the cardiac target within the cardiac silhouette is typically different during different phases);
selecting a common reference frame and registering the frames of cardiac 4D images to the common reference frame to derive the cardiac motion model (para [0056]-[0058], [0068] -[0070] registration is performed and all scans are registered to a reference image to define respiratory and/or cardiac motion relative to a reference image coordinate system; delineation can be defined in the reference image coordinate system).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate a method of separating 4D cardiac images into individual frames (3D volumes at specific cardiac phases) for motion analysis taught by Wang into West.
The suggestion/motivation for doing so would have been to allow user of West to improving temporal resolution, enhancing motion estimation accuracy of 4D cardiac images.
As to claim 9, Wang teaches determining radiation dosage based on the corrected respiratory 4DCT images (para [0080]- model may be used to optionally identify the blurring effect of cardiac motion on the dose distribution).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate a method of calculating the blurring effect of cardiac motion on radiation dose distribution taught by Wang into West.
The suggestion/motivation for doing so would have been to allow user of West to improve patient-specific estimation of dose to the heart and its substructures. Specifically the method reduces dose uncertainties by quantifying how cardiac motion blurs dose, prevents under-dosage to target volumes, and minimizes overdose to surrounding healthy tissues
As to claim 11, West teaches a radiation planning system, comprising a computing device, the computing device comprising at least one processor in communication with at least one memory device, and the at least one processor programmed to (Abstract; para [0009], [0029] - treatment planning using four dimensional imaging data; 4D CT scan of a patient's chest region including lungs 60; real-time compensation for respiratory motion; general-purpose processors (e.g., a microprocessor), special purpose processor such as a digital signal processor (DSP)):
receiving respiratory 4DCT images, wherein the respiratory 4DCT images were acquired while a subject was free breathing (para [0028]-[0029]- obtaining four-dimensional (4D) CT data 110 of the motion, including translation, rotation, and deformation, of the target region and surrounding structures, and developing a treatment plan using the four- dimensional CT data 120; the 4D CT scan data is a collection of three dimensional (spatial) Images, with each of the three dimensional images taken at a different point in time in a motion cycle (e.g., during the respiratory cycle, cardiac cycle, artery pulsation, etc. of a patient) with known temporal relationship. FIG. 1B is a conceptual illustration of a 4D CT scan of a patient's chest region including lungs 60 and a target tumor 50);
receiving cardiac four dimensional (4D) images of the subject, wherein the cardiac 4D images were acquired while the subject was in breath hold (para [0029], [0031]-[0032], [0047]-two or more conventional 3D CT images may be acquired during breath hold at different points in the breathing cycle (e.g., at end inspiration and end expiration; delineation may be performed using a standard CT image acquired with breath hold (i.e., a patient holding their breath); motion (e.g., cardiac) data measured for the particular patient);
deriving a cardiac motion model based on the cardiac 4D images, wherein the cardiac motion model includes frames of images of the subject, each frame corresponding to a cardiac phase in a cardiac cycle, each frame of images including motion fields at the cardiac phase (para [0047]- defined the motion model in step 122, a weight, Wi; i Wi=1, is assigned to each image, step 123. The Wi model is the relative time spent by the target region in each part of the motion cycle. The motion cycle refers to any movement, rotation, and/or deformation of the target region and nearby structures that is periodic in nature the motion is due to other factors (e.g., cardiac motion), Wi may be derived corresponding motion (e.g., cardiac) data measured for the particular patient).
It is noted that West does not specifically teach correcting motion in the respiratory 4DCT images using the cardiac motion model; and outputting the corrected respiratory 4DCT images.”
On the other hand Wang teaches correcting motion in the respiratory 4DCT images using the cardiac motion model (para [0081]- the computed motion is corrected using the model 732 h before the radiation is delivered based on the computed motion 714); and
outputting the corrected respiratory 4DCT images (para [0061], [0082]- graphical output of a treatment planning system displaying a slice of a CT image in which delineation may be performed; the directions of the beams and the intensity of
the beams and then the treatment planning algorithm calculates and displays the resulting dose distribution).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate motion correction model taught by Wang into
the motion model generation taught by West.
The suggestion/motivation for doing so would have been to allow user of West to significantly improves image quality by reducing artifacts, increasing signal-to-noise ratio (SNR
However, it is noted that modified West does not specifical teaches “wherein the cardiac 4D images are electrocardiogram (ECG)-gated cardiac 4DCT images”
On the other hand Ying teaches wherein the cardiac 4D images are electrocardiogram (ECG)-gated cardiac 4DCT images (page 2 left col. 1st and 2nd pars., page 2 left col. 5th par the use of electrocardiograph-gated four-dimensional CT (ECG-gated 4DCT) can provide a possibility for accurate calculation of the cardiac dose [9]. ECG-gated 4DCT combines the volume scan with the cardiac electrophysiological information, and the multi-sequence dynamic CT images showing the cardiac movements can be obtained by segmentation, which can capture the cardiac movements during the cardiac cycle the ECG-gated 4DCT combines the volume scan with the cardiac electrophysiological information, and the (see page 2 left col. 1st and 2nd pars,.). The ECG-gated 4DCT data of 21 patients based on breath-hold were analyzed(see page 2 left col. 5th par.,)
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the ECG signal taught by Wang by incorporating the electrocardiograph-gated four-dimensional CT (ECG-gated 4DCT) taught by Ying.
A person of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification to eliminate motion artifacts by freezing the continuous motion of the beating heart. This prevents blurring that distorts small cardiac structures and provides high-resolution, sharp views of fast-moving structures such as the coronary arteries, heart valves, and the ascending aorta
Claim 12 is rejected the same as claim 2 except claim 12 is directed to a system claim. Thus, argument analogous to that presented above for claim 2 is applicable to claim 12.
Claim 15 is rejected the same as claim 5 except claim 15 is directed to a system claim. Thus, argument analogous to that presented above for claim 5 is applicable to claim 15.
Claim 16 is rejected the same as claim 6 except claim 16 is directed to a system claim. Thus, argument analogous to that presented above for claim 6 is applicable to claim 16.
Claim 19 is rejected the same as claim 9 except claim 19 is directed to a system claim. Thus, argument analogous to that presented above for claim 9 is applicable to claim 19.
7. Claims 3 and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over West, US-20190217123, in view of Wang, US-20090180589, further in view of still in view of Ying further in view of Lu et al., (hereafter Lu) US 2015/0091563 A1, pub.04/02/2015.
Regarding claim 3, while the combination of West and Wang teaches claim 1, but it fails to teach calim3.
On the other hand Lu in the same field of endeavor a method of three-dimensional cine, magnetic resonance imaging of a volume undergoing repetitive motion of Lu teaches the respiratory 4DCT images further include stacks of respiratory 4DCT images, each stack corresponding to a portion of a slice coverage of the respiratory 4DCT images, and correcting motion further comprises: for each stack, determining a corresponding cardiac phase of the stack of respiratory 4DCT images (para [0010], [0034]-[0036], [0051]-[0052] operations include obtaining source MR slice data indicative of a stack of source slices of the volume during the repetitive motion, obtaining anchor MR slice data indicative of a plurality of anchor slices of the volume during the repetitive motion, each anchor slice of the plurality of anchor slices intersecting the stack; 3D+time cine data via reconstruction of a volume for each phase (e.g., cardiac phase) of the repetitive motion. The procedure used to reconstruct the volume for each phase includes a number of processing stages or modules); and
correcting the stack of respiratory 4DCT images using the cardiac motion model at the corresponding cardiac phase and generating the corrected respiratory 4DCT images by combining stacks of corrected respiratory 4DCT images (para [0028], [0037], [0061]-[0063]- artifacts due to other motion (e.g., non-cardiac motion, such as respiratory motion) are not present in the reconstructed images. The slice data may be affected by extraneous motion, such as respiratory motion in cardiac cases, head motion in speech cases, and joint displacement in joint cases, Respiratory motion may be monitored by a respiratory belt or other sensor; rigid transformation may then be calculated for correction. In non-rigid motion cases, a non-rigid registration with a large regularization term may be applied in a manner similar to that described below for motion correction).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention incorporate a method of correcting extraneous motion such as respiratory motion that affect slice data taught by Lu into modified West.
The suggestion/motivation for doing so would have been to allow user of modified West to improves image quality by reducing image blurring effect caused by respiratory motion.
Claim 13 is rejected the same as claim 3 except claim 13 is directed to a system claim. Thus, argument analogous to that presented above for claim 3 is applicable to claim 13.
8. Claims 4 and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over West, US-20190217123, in view of Wang, US-20090180589, further in view of Ying still further in view of THRUVENKADAM et al., (hereinafter THRUVENKADAM), US-20120305780, pub. 12/06/2012
Regarding claim 4, while the combination of West and Wang teaches claim 1, but it fails to teach calim4.
On the other hand in the same field of endeavor a method of correcting outliers medical image data of THRUVENKADAM teaches detecting outliers across frames of the cardiac 4D images at the same voxel (para [0011], [0040]- average image or the weighted average image is generated using an estimator that identifies outliers in the plurality of registered images and discards or down weights the identified outliers; image data outliers due to motion and/or other image acquisition artifacts, such as due to attenuation mismatch and/or scatter estimation issues,);
generating a weight map based on the detected outliers, wherein voxels corresponding to the outliers have reduced weights and reducing artifacts in the corrected respiratory 4DCT images by downweighing the corrected respiratory 4DCT images with the weight map (para [0035], [0058]-[0060], [0066]-[0067] extent that the derivation or use of motion data or motion fields is discussed herein (such as to correct for motion, perform registration of gated images, and/or Identify outliers), the motion data or fields may be derived from image data acquired by either a primary image modality for which the image data is being reconstructed or from the image data acquired by a secondary image modality. The variance of the non-outlier data is within observed variance trends in a neighborhood of the voxel. Integral In equation (19) attributes the same weight to all voxels in the patch. In another embodiment, the integral is modified with a weight function that decreases to zero for voxels at the edge of the patch).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention incorporate a method of Reducing outliers caused by respiratory motion in cardiac imaging taught by THRUVENKADAM into modified West.
The suggestion/motivation for doing so would have been to allow user of modified West to improves image quality, diagnostic accuracy, and clinical workflow efficiency. It is known that . Outliers, often resulting from sudden deep breaths or irregular breathing, introduce significant motion artifacts.
Claim 14 is rejected the same as claim 4 except claim 14 is directed to a system claim. Thus, argument analogous to that presented above for claim 4 is applicable to claim 14.
9. Claims 7-8 and 17-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over West, US-20190217123, in view of Wang, US-20090180589, further in view of Ying still further in view of Punithakumar et al., (hereinafter Punithakumar) US-20130251210-A1, pub. 09/26/2013
As to claim 7, West teaches the cardiac 4D images were acquired at a different imaging session or using a different modality from the respiratory 4DCT images, wherein: deriving a cardiac motion model further comprises (para [0032]-[0035]- delineation may be performed on an image of a different modality, for example, using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI.) Referring still to FIG. 1A, next, a motion (e.g., deformation) model is defined so that the movement of target region and surrounding structures within the treatment region known, step 122. The model may be defined, for example, using non-rigid registration techniques); registering the segmented respiratory 4DCT images using the cardiac motion model (para [0056]-[0058], [0068]-[0070]).
It is noted that modified West does not specifically teach segmenting the cardiac 4D images into segmented cardiac 4D images having anatomical segments, wherein the anatomical segments correspond to standardized myocardial segments in a standardized segment model; and deriving the cardiac motion model based on the segmented cardiac 4D images; and correcting motion further comprises: segmenting the respiratory 4DCT images into segmented respiratory 4DCT images having the anatomical segments.
On the other hand Punithakumar teaches segmenting the cardiac 4D images into segmented cardiac 4D images having anatomical segments, wherein the anatomical segments correspond to standardized myocardial segments in a standardized segment model (para [0006], [0023]-[0024], [0033]- cardiac images may be segmented into one or more regions; the cavity and myocardium regions in the first frame I1, denoted respectively by C1 and M, are provided by a user of the example diagnostic imaging workstation 105.); and deriving the cardiac motion model based on the segmented cardiac 4D images (para [0008], [0030]-[0033]- adapting a state of a state-space model based on a plurality of cardiac images to characterize motion of a heart); and
correcting motion further comprises: segmenting the respiratory 4DCT images into segmented respiratory 4DCT images having the anatomical segments (para [0020], [0028]-[0030]).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention incorporate a method of Segmenting cardiac images into cavity and myocardium regions taught by Punithakumar into modified West.
The suggestion/motivation for doing so would have been to allow user of modified West to carry out precise motion analysis by separating blood pool dynamics from muscular contraction.
Claim 17 is rejected the same as claim 7 except claim 17 is directed to a system claim. Thus, argument analogous to that presented above for claim 7 is applicable to claim 17.
Regarding claim 8, Punithakumar teaches segmenting the cardiac 4D images further comprises: detecting anatomical features of a heart of the subject in the cardiac 4D images (para [0020]-[0021]- selected images to detect the boundary of the left-ventricle heart cavity in each selected image);
deriving keypoint features based on the detected anatomical features and mapping the standardized segment model to the cardiac 4D Images to derive the segmented cardiac 4D images using the keypoint features (para [0030]-[0033], [0038]-[0040]- compute filter coefficients and/or parameters of a state model that predicts the future position and/or movement of left ventricular cavity points).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention incorporate a method of Segmenting cardiac images into cavity and myocardium regions taught by Punithakumar into modified West.
The suggestion/motivation for doing so would have been to allow user of modified West to carry out precise motion analysis by separating blood pool dynamics from muscular contraction.
It is noted that the combination of modified West and Wang Punithakumar does not specifically teach “using a neural network model”.
Official Notice is taken that it was well known in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate a well-known a neural network model for anatomical feature recognition to improve the efficiency of the system by providing automated, high-accuracy, and fast analysis of the 4D medical image data
Claim 18 is rejected the same as claim 8 except claim 18 is directed to a system claim. Thus, argument analogous to that presented above for claim 8 is applicable to claim 18.
10. Claims 10 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over West, US-20190217123, in view of Wang, US-20090180589, further in view of Ying still further in view of Riker et al., (hereinafter Riker), US 2005/0111621, pub 05/26/2025.
Regarding claim 10, while the combination of West and Wang teaches claim 9, but it fails to teach calim10.
On the other hand Riker teaches determining radiation dosage further comprises: for each frame of the corrected respiratory 4DCT images, calculating a radiation dose corresponding to the frame and combining radiation doses across the frames into a cumulative radiation dose in a radiation plan (para [0018], [0038], [0040], [0047] the user identifies tissue anatomically, typically slice-by-slice, separating what the user wants treated from that which the user wants to spare; the image slice, graphical objects, and a graphical representation of radiation dose distribution for each proposed radiation beam arrangement. The radiation dose can be in a form of an isodose plot including a plurality of isodose contours, graphically displaying radiation dose for the target tumor volume and the non-target structure volume on the image slice and in the form of an isodose plot including a plurality of isodose contours).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention incorporate a method of graphically displaying radiation dose using isodose plots on anatomical CT slices taught by Riker into modified West.
The suggestion/motivation for doing so would have been to provide user of modified West significant advantages in radiotherapy treatment planning by providing a direct visual correlation between dose distribution, target tumor volumes, and adjacent healthy, non-target structures.
Claim 20 is rejected the same as claim 10 except claim 20 is directed to a system claim. Thus, argument analogous to that presented above for claim 10 is applicable to claim 20.
Conclusion
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 nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) 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 mailing date of this final action.
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/MEKONEN T BEKELE/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2699
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