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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) was submitted on 10/01/2024. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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.
Claims 1-2 and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sasaki et al. (WO 2021171809; hereinafter “Sasaki”; English translation provided by the Examiner; cited in the IDS filed on 10/01/2024) in view of Haga et al. (US 20050285060; hereinafter “Haga”).
Regarding claim 1, Sasaki teaches a biological sample measuring device (1; Figures 1-2 and 4) that measures a biological sample (60; Figures 1-2 and 4; [0035]) separated into a plurality of component regions (61 and 62; Figure 2; [0035]), the biological sample measuring device (1) comprising:
a light source (10; Figure 1; [0018, 0020]) configured to irradiate the biological sample (60) with first light (first detection light L1; [0020, 0023]) having a first wavelength component ([0020, 0023]) and second light (second detection light L2; [0020, 0023]) having a second wavelength component ([0020, 0023]);
an imaging device (Figure 6; [0035-0036]) configured to generate a captured image of the biological sample (Figure 6) using the first and the second light transmitted through the biological sample ([0035-0036]);
and an image processing unit (40; Figure 1; [0030-0031, 0044, 0048, 0050]) configured to specify, from the captured image, a target portion (61; Figure 2) which is a measurement target in the component region ([0030-0031, 0044, 0048, 0050]), wherein
the image processing unit (40; Figure 1; [0030-0031, 0044, 0048, 0050]) acquires a luminance value of the first light along a height direction of the target portion from the captured image acquired using the first light ([0036-0037, 0044, 0048, 0050]), and specifies a position of an upper surface boundary of the target portion ([0036-0037, 0044, 0048, 0050]) along the height direction by specifying an intermediate point of a change in the luminance value of the first light in a first partial region of the captured image ([0036-0037, 0044, 0048, 0050]),
the image processing unit (40; Figure 1; [0030-0031, 0044, 0048, 0050]) acquires a luminance value of the first light or the second light along the height direction from the captured image ([0032, 0034, 0044, 0048, 0050]), and specifies a position of a lower surface boundary of the target portion along the height direction ([0032, 0034, 0044, 0048, 0050]) by specifying an intermediate point of a change in the luminance value of the first light or the second light in a second partial region of the captured image ([0032, 0034, 0044, 0048, 0050]).
Sasaki teaches the image processing unit but does not expressly teach correcting the specified position of the upper surface boundary by applying a correction amount for correcting a meniscus width of the target portion to the specified position of the upper surface boundary.
However, Haga teaches that it is known in the art to correct the specified position of the upper surface boundary by applying a correction amount for correcting a meniscus width of the target portion to the specified position of the upper surface boundary ([0038, 0051, 0054]).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention Haga’s meniscus correction applied to Sasaki’s upper surface boundary measurement in order to compensate for the edge effects of the liquid against the walls of the receptacle and obtain an adequate height measurement of the fluid and even of the volume of the fluid within the receptacle, this increases the efficiency and reliability of determining the actual height/volume of the fluid (See Haga [0054]).
Regarding claim 2, Sasaki teaches wherein the image processing unit temporarily specifies the positions of the upper surface boundary (65; Figure 6) and the lower surface boundary (66) along the height direction from the captured image (Figure 6) acquired using the first light ([0036-0037, 0044, 0048, 0050]) and the second light ([0030-0031, 0044, 0048, 0050]), the image processing unit specifies the position of the upper surface boundary (65) along the height direction (Figure 6) by specifying the intermediate point of the change in the luminance value of the first light in the first partial region including the temporarily specified upper surface boundary ([0022, 0032, 0039, 0044, 0051]), and the image processing unit specifies the position of the lower surface boundary (66) along the height direction (Figure 6) by specifying the intermediate point of the change in the luminance value of the first light or the second light in the second partial region including the temporarily specified lower surface boundary ([0022, 0032, 0039, 0044, 0051]).
Regarding claim 13, Sasaki teaches wherein a label (51; Figure 4; [0017, 0040]) is attached to a side surface of a container (50; Figure 4; [0017, 0040]) for accommodating the biological sample (60; [0017, 0040]), and the biological sample measuring device (1; [0017, 0040]) acquires the captured image by the imaging device without adjusting a positional relationship between the imaging device and the label (the label 51 has no effect on the determination of the different interfaces/boundaries of the sample 60; furthermore, Sasaki is silent in regards to changing the positional relationship between the imaging device and the label).
Claim 12 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over the combination of Sasaki and Haga in further view of Takasu et al. (JP 4472442; hereinafter “Takasu”; English translation provided by the Examiner).
Regarding claim 12, the combination of Sasaki and Haga teaches the image processing unit but does not expressly teach measuring a liquid amount of the target portion based on the specified position of the upper surface boundary and the specified position of the lower surface boundary.
However, Takasu teaches measuring a liquid amount of the target portion based on the specified position of the upper surface boundary and the specified position of the lower surface boundary ([0015, 0074]).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have Takasu’s liquid amount determination using Sasaki and Haga’s upper surface boundary and lower surface boundary in order to determine the precise volume of a portion of the sample within the receptacle when the portion of the sample is at a different location other than the bottom of the receptacle.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-11 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.
In claim 3, the specific limitations of “the imaging device generates a first captured image of the biological sample by using the first wavelength component of the first light, the imaging device generates a second captured image of the biological sample by using the second wavelength component of the second light, the image processing unit calculates a difference between a portion generated using the first wavelength component in the first captured image and a portion generated by using the second wavelength component in the second captured image, and the image processing unit temporarily specifies the positions of the upper surface boundary and the lower surface boundary by specifying a portion at which the difference is equal to or larger than a threshold" in combination with the remaining limitations as claimed are neither anticipated nor made obvious over the prior art made of record.
Claims 10-11 would also be allowed for depending on claim 3.
In claim 4, the specific limitations of "wherein the imaging device is an area camera that generates a two-dimensional image of the biological sample as the captured image by using the first or second light transmitted through the biological sample, and the image processing unit acquires, in a central region of the biological sample along a horizontal direction orthogonal to the height direction, a one-dimensional signal of the first light or the second light by statistically processing a pixel value of the two-dimensional image along the horizontal direction" in combination with the remaining limitations as claimed are neither anticipated nor made obvious over the prior art made of record.
In claim 5, the specific limitations of "the image processing unit acquires a primary differential of the luminance value with respect to a position along the height direction, and specifies the position of the upper surface boundary or the position of the lower surface boundary by specifying a peak of the primary differential" in combination with the remaining limitations as claimed are neither anticipated nor made obvious over the prior art made of record.
In claim 6, the specific limitations of "the image processing unit obtains a maximum value and a minimum value of the luminance value in a region including the upper surface boundary specified in the first partial region or the lower surface boundary specified in the second partial region, and the image processing unit specifies, as the position of the upper surface boundary or the position of the lower surface boundary, a position in the height direction corresponding to the luminance value obtained by adding a predetermined ratio of a difference between the maximum value and the minimum value to the minimum value" in combination with the remaining limitations as claimed are neither anticipated nor made obvious over the prior art made of record.
In claim 7, the specific limitations of "the image processing unit calculates the correction amount by multiplying the meniscus width by a correction coefficient, and the image processing unit corrects the specified position of the upper surface boundary by applying the correction amount to the specified position of the upper surface boundary" in combination with the remaining limitations as claimed are neither anticipated nor made obvious over the prior art made of record.
Claims 8-9 would also be allowed for depending on claim 7.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANTHONY W MEGNA FUENTES whose telephone number is (571)272-6456. The examiner can normally be reached M-F: 8AM-4PM.
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/ANTHONY W MEGNA FUENTES/Examiner, Art Unit 2855
/LAURA MARTIN SWEENEY/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2855
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