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 .
Priority
This application is a 371 of PCT/CN2023/116211 filed 08/31/2023. This application further claims benefit of foreign application CN202211080231.9 filed 09/05/2022. Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted was filed on 10/30/2024. 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 Objections
Claim 23 is objected to because of the following informalities:
“…new trajectory. reconstructing, by a processor” should be corrected to:
“…new trajectory; and reconstructing, by a processor”
Claim 23 and 24 is objected to because of the following informalities:
“…to obtain filtered and beamforming” should be corrected to:
“…to obtain filtered and beamformed”
Claims 33 and 34 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Claims 33 and 34 appear to be written in an independent form, yet also refer back to claim 23. In an interpretation, claims 33 and 34 may be construed as an independent claim; and in another interpretation may also be construed as a dependent claim. In order to prevent and foreseeable ambiguity, it is suggested to bring the entire claim 23 into claims 33 and 34 to have the claim be construed as a proper independent claim; or correct the dependency of claims 33 and 34 to have the claim be construed as a proper dependent claim.
Appropriate correction is required.
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 23-34 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.
Claim 23 recites “constructing, by a processor… identifying and locating, by a processor… reconstructing, by a processor”. It is unclear whether each mention of “a processor” is a different processor or if they’re all the same processor. For purposes of examination, it will be interpreted for each mention of “a processor” to refer to the same processor.
Claim 25 similarly recites “calculating, by a processor”. It is unclear whether this is a different processor than that recited in claim 23 on which claim 25 depends upon or is the same processor used for each step. For purposes of examination, it will be interpreted for “a processor” in claim 25 to be the same processor as those recited in claim 23.
Claims 24-34 are rejected by virtue of dependency on rejected claim 23.
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.
Claims 23, 30, 33, and 34 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yin (US20220301132) in view of Needles (US20100298709), Brown (“Faster Super-Resolution Ultrasound Imaging…”), and Liang (US20200298891).
Regarding claim 23, Yin teaches a microvascular blood flow ultrasound imaging method (Fig. 7, [0011], [0026], [0030], [0133]), comprising:
transmitting, by an ultrasound imaging device, a pulse sequence to an imaging area, and acquiring multiple groups of echo signals within a preset time period to obtain contrast-enhanced ultrasound images, wherein blood vessels in the imaging area are injected with ultrasound microbubbles ([0034-0037], wherein collecting a plurality of frames of contrast-enhanced ultrasound images comprises acquiring multiple groups of echo signals, [0106-0108], wherein acquiring a set amount of frames, i.e. 500, 1000, or 1500 frames, comprises acquiring within a preset time period);
identifying and locating, by a processor, microbubbles frame by frame in each frame of the contrast-enhanced ultrasound images, and tracking microbubble trajectories based on identification and localization results ([0011], “microbubble signals of the image set to be preprocessed in a current time window are distinguished from a noise or background signals… By performing weighted calculation on the pixel values and the estimated degree of radial symmetry of the pixel points located in each frame of the sparse microbubble image… a deformation information of the s along microbubble trajectories is retained, an trajectory skeleton of the microbubble motion along vessels in each frame of the sparse microbubble image becomes clearer… a track information of the microbubbles along the moving directions is retained”, [0043], [0064], [0091], [0094], [0133]); and
reconstructing, by a processor, a super-resolution microvascular blood flow image based on the tracked microbubble trajectories ([0011], [0030], [0094], [0120]).
However, Yin fails to teach constructing, by a processor, a contrast pulse sequence containing linear imaging sequences and nonlinear amplitude-phase excitation imaging sequences; and transmitting the contrast pulse sequence to the imaging area to obtain filtered and beamforming linear ultrasound image sequences and nonlinear ultrasound image sequences.
In an analogous ultrasound imaging of vascular blood flow field of endeavor, Needles teaches such a feature. Needles teaches transmitting multiple ultrasound pulses having both shifted phases and scaled amplitudes into a subject and detecting signals generated by microbubble contrast agents ([0008], [0027]). Needles teaches wherein the pulse sequence includes pairs of a standard pulse with a phase shifted and amplitude scaled pulse ([0047]). Moreover, Needles teaches obtaining linear and nonlinear ultrasound images and displaying said images overlaid or adjacent one another (Fig. 6, [0013], [0024], [0049]). Needles teaches obtaining ultrasound images from multiple pulse echo events and interleaving B-mode (linear) images frames with contrast agent (nonlinear) image frames ([0013], [0049]). Figure 6 of Needles shows a nonlinear ultrasound image sequence (right) and a linear ultrasound image sequence (left) (Fig. 6, [0075]). Needles therefore teaches constructing a contrast pulse sequence containing linear imaging sequences and nonlinear amplitude-phase excitation imaging sequences; and transmitting the contrast pulse sequence to the imaging area to obtain linear ultrasound image sequences and nonlinear ultrasound image sequences. Needles further teaches filtering and beamforming the received echoes ([0014], [0041-0042], [0044], [0047-0048], [0073]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the invention of Yin to construct and transmit a pulse sequence having a linear image sequence and a nonlinear amplitude-phase modulated imaging sequences and to obtain filtered and beamformed linear and nonlinear ultrasound image sequences as taught by Needles (Fig. 6, [0013], [0024], [0041], [0047-0049], [0075]). Microbubbles can be visualized in both linear B-mode images and nonlinear contrast images; moreover, linear B-mode images may provide a user with visualization of surrounding tissue structure as recognized by Needles ([0004], [0043], [0049], [0075]). Filtering further increases sensitivity and improves contrast-to-tissue ratio (CTR) as recognized by Needles ([0074]), and beamforming improves lateral resolution as further recognized by Needles ([0042]).
However, the modified combination noted above fails to teach wherein identifying and locating microbubbles frame by frame in each frame is of the linear ultrasound image sequences and the nonlinear ultrasound image sequences respectively.
In an analogous visualization of microvasculature field of endeavor, Brown teaches such a feature. Brown teaches combining linear B-mode ultrasound imaging with nonlinear contrast pulse sequencing (CPS) to increase microbubble detection and reduce ultrasound image acquisition time (Abstract). Brown teaches acquiring CPS images and linear B-mode images, and each set collected consisted of 2400 frames (Pages 2-3, 2.1 Ultrasound Imaging – 2.3 In vivo experiments). Brown teaches localizing microbubble centers by correlation and wherein each set of images from linear and nonlinear ultrasound imaging strategies are processed in this manner (Page 3, 2.4 SR-US image formation, “Images were then upsampled to the final resolution and MB centers localized by correlation with a 2D gaussian function fitted… Each set of images from the linear and nonlinear US imaging strategies were processed in the described manner”). Brown teaches MB detection and localization is performed by processing each imaging frame (Page 2, “One advantage of a single deep network for MB detection and localization over prior approaches is that the network processes each US imaging frame only a single time”). Brown therefore teaches wherein identifying and locating (localizing) microbubbles frame by frame in each frame is of the linear ultrasound image sequences and the nonlinear ultrasound image sequences respectively.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the invention of Yin to identify and localize microbubbles in each ultrasound imaging set, i.e. linear b-mode images and non-linear CPS images, frame by frame as taught by Brown (Abstract, Pages 2-3). Smaller diameter microbubbles may be better detected using nonlinear CPS imaging while larger diameter microbubbles may be better detected using linear B-mode ultrasound imaging, leading to increased MB detection using a combined ultrasound strategy and lower image acquisition time for generating an acceptable super-resolution ultrasound image as recognized by Brown (Page 2, left column).
However, the modified combination noted above fails to teach determining and integrating duplicate microbubble trajectories in the time-aligned linear ultrasound images of the linear ultrasound image sequences and nonlinear ultrasound images of the nonlinear ultrasound image sequences into a new trajectory; and wherein the super-resolution microvascular blood flow image is further based on the integrated new trajectories.
In an analogous determination of trajectories fields of endeavor, Liang teaches such a feature. Liang teaches predicting a path and/or trajectory of objects in motion ([0021]). Liang teaches detecting one or more candidate trajectories of objects ([0138]). Liang teaches a trajectory refinement model (514) can generate a new refined trajectory that replaces duplicate candidate trajectories ([0140]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the invention of Yin to generate a new trajectory which replaces duplicate trajectories as taught by Liang ([0140]). Duplicate trajectories are obviously redundant and therefore by creating a new trajectory replacing the duplicates, a trajectory may be refined as recognized by Liang ([0140]). Because Yin teaches wherein reconstructing the super-resolution microvascular blood flow image is the last step and is based on the tracked trajectories (Fig. 7, [0011], [0120], [0133]), Yin modified by Liang to replace duplicate trajectories with new trajectories would predictably result wherein the reconstruction is based on the tracked microbubbles trajectories and integrated new trajectories. And since Brown above teaches localizing and tracking microbubbles in both linear and nonlinear ultrasound images and Liang teaches determining duplicate trajectories, the modified combination would result in determining duplicate trajectories of the microbubbles in the time-aligned linear and nonlinear ultrasound images.
Regarding claim 30, Yin in view of Needles, Brown, and Liang teaches the invention as claimed above in claim 23.
However, Yin fails to teach wherein the nonlinear imaging sequence comprises linear sequence and modulation sequence pairs, the modulation sequence in the linear sequence and modulation sequence pair is obtained by performing a preset modulation method on the linear sequence, wherein the preset modulation method comprises one or more of the following: pulse inversion, amplitude modulation, amplitude-phase modulation.
In an analogous ultrasound imaging of vascular blood flow field of endeavor, Needles teaches such a feature. Needles teaches transmitting multiple ultrasound pulses having both shifted phases and scaled amplitudes into a subject and detecting signals generated by microbubble contrast agents ([0008], [0027]). Needles teaches extracting nonlinear signals from microbubbles ([0044]). Needles teaches wherein the pulse sequence includes pairs of a standard pulse (linear sequence) with a phase shifted and/or amplitude scaled pulse (modulation sequence) ([0047]). Needles teaches forming a contrast (nonlinear) image based on the pulse sequence ([0047]). Needles therefore teaches wherein a nonlinear imaging sequence comprises linear sequence (standard pulse) and modulation sequence (modulated pulse) pairs, the modulation sequence (modulated pulse) in the linear sequence and modulation sequence pair is obtained by performing a preset modulation method on the linear sequence, wherein the preset modulation method comprises amplitude-phase modulation (“a phase shifted and/or amplitude scaled pulse”) ([0047]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the invention of Yin to have the nonlinear imaging sequence comprise a linear sequence and modulation sequence pairs, wherein the modulation sequence is amplitude-phase modulated as taught by Needles ([0047]). By applying the pulse sequence, receiving the echoes, and filtering the signal, a contrast image may be formed, thereby visualizing microbubbles as recognized by Needles ([0044-0047]).
Regarding claim 33, Yin in view of Needles, Brown, and Liang teaches the method of claim 23 above.
Yin further teaches a microvascular blood flow ultrasound imaging device (1200) ([0009], [0035], “ultrasound probe”, [0143], “electronic device 1200”), comprising:
a memory (1202), for storing computer executable instructions ([0009], [0143], [0145], [0154]); and,
a processor (1201), for implementing the steps in the method of claim 23 when executing the computer executable instructions ([0009], [0143-0145], [0153]).
Regarding claim 34, Yin in view of Needles, Brown, and Liang teaches the method of claim 23 above.
Yin further teaches a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium ([0010], [0153]), wherein the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium stores computer executable instructions, and when the computer executable instructions are executed by a processor, the steps in the method of claim 23 are implemented ([0010], [0153]).
Claims 24 and 27 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yin (US20220301132) in view of Needles (US20100298709), Brown (“Faster Super-Resolution Ultrasound Imaging…”), and Liang (US20200298891) as applied to claim 23 above, and further in view of Chiao (US6074348).
Regarding claim 24, Yin in view of Needles, Brown, and Liang teaches the invention as claimed above in claim 23.
Yin further teaches wherein the acquiring multiple groups of echo signals within a preset time period to obtain filtered and beamforming linear ultrasound image sequences and nonlinear ultrasound image sequences further comprises:
acquiring multiple groups of echo signals within a preset time period to form an echo signal group sequence ([0036], [0111-0113], [0118], wherein selecting a second preset quantity (4) of frames at an interval of a first preset quantity (1) of frames among a plurality of frames comprises forming an echo signal group sequence… e.g. image set 1 = frames 1, 2, 3, 4, image set 2 = frames 2, 3, 4, 5, image set 3 = frames 3, 4, 5, 6 and so on).
However, Yin fails to teach using a linear filter to sequentially perform linear filtering processing and beamforming on each group of echo signals in the echo signal group sequence, and using a nonlinear filter to sequentially perform nonlinear filtering processing and beamforming on each group of echo signals in the echo signal group sequence, to obtain a corresponding linear ultrasound image sequence and nonlinear ultrasound image sequence.
In an analogous imaging of blood flow field of endeavor, Chiao teaches such a feature. Chiao teaches separate filtering techniques to produce linear B-mode flow images and nonlinear harmonic image (Figs. 3-4, Column 6 line 62 – Column 7 line 41). Chiao teaches perturbing a wall filter’s weightings to produce B-mode images (Column 6 line 66 – Column 7 line 3). Whereas, Chiao teaches centering a bandpass filter at a harmonic frequency and subsequently using a (unperturbed) wall filter to extract harmonic flow signals; Chiao teaches the harmonic flow filter (nonlinear filter) comprises two stages (Column 7 line 8-41). Chiao therefore teaches a linear filter to produce linear B-mode ultrasound images and a nonlinear harmonic filter to produce nonlinear harmonic images. Chiao further teaches a receive beamformer (44) to receive and sum echo signals and providing the summed received signals to the wall filter 46 (Fig. 2, Column 5 lines 39-61).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the invention of Yin to use separate filters for producing filtered and beamformed B-mode images and nonlinear contrast images as taught by Chiao (Figs. 2-4, Column 5 lines 39-61, Column 6 line 62 – Column 7 line 41). Beamforming and filtering the beamformed imaging data in such a way may predictably allow for the production of linear B-mode images which contain fundamental components and nonlinear contrast images which contain harmonic components. Because ultrasound images are sequentially acquired, Yin modified by the teachings of Chiao would predictably result in sequentially performing the linear and nonlinear filtering processing and beamforming.
Regarding claim 27, Yin in view of Needles, Brown, and Liang teaches the invention as claimed above in claim 23.
Yin further teaches wherein the acquiring multiple groups of echo signals within a preset time period to obtain filtered and beamformed linear ultrasound image sequences and nonlinear ultrasound image sequences further comprises:
imaging based on echoes, and acquiring ultrasound image sequence within a preset time period ([0034-0036], [0108], wherein transmitting ultrasound at an ultrasound frequency to acquire contrast-enhanced ultrasound images implies imaging based on ultrasound echoes, and wherein obtaining a set amount of frames comprises acquiring an ultrasound image sequence within a preset time period).
However, Yin fails to teach using a linear filter to sequentially perform linear filtering processing on each frame of the ultrasound image sequence to obtain a corresponding linear ultrasound image sequence, and using a nonlinear filter to sequentially perform nonlinear filtering processing on each frame of the ultrasound image sequence to obtain a nonlinear ultrasound image sequence.
In an analogous imaging of blood flow field of endeavor, Chiao teaches such a feature. Chiao teaches separate filtering techniques to produce linear B-mode flow images and nonlinear harmonic image (Figs. 3-4, Column 6 line 62 – Column 7 line 41). Chiao teaches perturbing a wall filter’s weightings to produce B-mode images (Column 6 line 66 – Column 7 line 3). Whereas, Chiao teaches centering a bandpass filter at a harmonic frequency and subsequently using a (unperturbed) wall filter to extract harmonic flow signals; Chiao teaches the harmonic flow filter (nonlinear filter) comprises two stages (Column 7 line 8-41). Chiao therefore teaches a linear filter to produce linear B-mode ultrasound images and a nonlinear harmonic filter to produce nonlinear harmonic images.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the invention of Yin to use separate filters for producing filtered B-mode images and nonlinear contrast images as taught by Chiao (Figs. 3-4, Column 6 line 62 – Column 7 line 41). Filtering the imaging data in such a way may predictably allow for the production of linear B-mode images which contain fundamental components and nonlinear contrast images which contain harmonic components. Because ultrasound images are sequentially acquired, Yin modified by the teachings of Chiao would predictably result in sequentially performing the linear and nonlinear filtering processing.
Claim 31 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yin (US20220301132) in view of Needles (US20100298709), Brown (“Faster Super-Resolution Ultrasound Imaging…”), and Liang (US20200298891) as applied to claim 23 above, and further in view of Hope (US20210353251).
Regarding claim 31, Yin in view of Needles, Brown, and Liang teaches the invention as claimed above in claim 23.
However, Yin fails to teach wherein the nonlinear imaging sequence comprises multiple identical pulse signals; when transmitting the contrast pulse sequence to the imaging area, further comprising: dividing ultrasound array elements into multiple groups, and transmitting the multiple identical pulse signals to the imaging area by alternating transmission of the multiple groups.
In an analogous ultrasound imaging field of endeavor, Hope teaches such a feature. Hope teaches employing a scheme (800) for microbubble contrast imaging ([0067]). Hope teaches wherein aperture modulation may be used by using similar mechanisms in scheme (800) ([0069]). Hope teaches an interleaved transmit sequence for aperture modulation comprising a first transmit sequence with every second element of each base sequence (410) transmit aperture active, a second transmit sequence identical to a base sequence, and a third transmit sequence with every second element of each base sequence (410) transmit aperture active in a manner complimentary to the first transmit sequence ([0069]). Hope basically teaches forming synthetic apertures comprising a group of odd elements and a group of complementary even elements and interleaving (alternating) between the groups or apertures for transmitting an identical pulse.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the invention of Yin to form multiple synthetic apertures and interleave transmit of an identical pulse between them as taught by Hope ([0069]). By using aperture modulation, linear components may be canceled out while nonlinear signals from microbubbles remain when summing the received echoes, thereby allowing for a nonlinear contrast image to be formed.
Claim 32 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yin (US20220301132) in view of Needles (US20100298709), Brown (“Faster Super-Resolution Ultrasound Imaging…”), and Liang (US20200298891) as applied to claim 23 above, and further in view of Doyle (US20180279995).
Regarding claim 32, Yin in view of Needles, Brown, and Liang teaches the invention as claimed above in claim 23.
However, Yin fails to explicitly teach wherein the sampling frequency for transmitting the contrast pulse sequence and receiving echoes comprises the Nyquist frequency.
In an analogous ultrasound imaging field of endeavor, Doyle teaches such a feature. Doyle teaches a portable ultrasound device including a transducer assembly (540) ([0104]). Doyle teaches a signal conditioning circuitry (560) configured to receive a signal from a receive element of the transducer assembly (540) ([0105]). Doyle teaches the signal conditioning circuitry (560) passes the signal to an analog to digital converter (570) ([0105], [0108]). Doyle teaches wherein the analog to digital converter (570) can sample the signal at a rate equal to the Nyquist rate ([0105]). Doyle therefore teaches sampling received echoes at a sample frequency equal to the Nyquist frequency.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the invention of Yin to sample the received ultrasound signals at a sampling frequency equal to the Nyquist frequency as taught by Doyle ([0105]). Sampling an ultrasound signal at the Nyquist frequency predictably allows for the ultrasound signal or image to be fully and accurately reconstructed without aliasing or loss of information.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 25-26 and 28-29 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 and if the associated 112(b) issues are corrected. The following are statements of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Regarding claims 25 and 28, the prior arts cited fail to teach determining the two microbubble trajectories as duplicates if the absolute value of the velocity difference between the two trajectories in the linear and nonlinear ultrasound images is less than a first preset threshold and the average Euclidean distance of the point-by-point positions of the two trajectories is less than a second preset threshold.
The most relevant prior arts cited are Yin (US20220301132), Needles (US20100298709), and Liang (US20200298891). Yin teaches performing ultrasound imaging to obtain contrast-enhanced ultrasound images of microbubbles in the microvasculature and reconstructing a super-resolution image based on trajectories of the microbubbles (Abstract, [0004], [0035], [0090-0094]), Needles teaches interleaving linear B-mode imaging and nonlinear contrast imaging to visualize microbubbles (Fig. 6, [0024], [0049], [0075]), and Liang teaches detecting one or more candidate trajectories of objects ([0138]) and generating a new refined trajectory that replaces duplicate candidate trajectories ([0140]). However, Liang fails to teach calculating the velocity differences between the trajectories of the microbubbles in the linear and nonlinear ultrasound image sequences and also the average Euclidean distance of the two trajectories. The closest reference to teaching such a feature is Shigezumi (US20160091326). Shigezumi teaches integrating substantially similar or duplicate trajectories into new trajectories based on velocities and distance between trajectories (Fig. 5, [0058-0059]). Moreover, Shigezumi teaches wherein Euclidean distance may be used ([0171]). However, Shigezumi fails to teach performing the process described on microbubble trajectories found in both the linear and nonlinear ultrasound image sequences. Therefore, the prior arts cited and Shigezumi fail to teach the subject matter as described in claims 25 and 28.
Regarding claims 26 and 29, the prior arts cited fail to teach performing Fourier transform on each group of echo signals, extracting the fundamental frequency, using a least squares method or gradient descent method to calculate a fundamental wave amplitude correction coefficient, and applying the fundamental wave amplitude correction coefficient.
The most relevant prior arts cited are Yin (US20220301132) and Needles (US20100298709). Yin teaches performing ultrasound imaging to obtain contrast-enhanced ultrasound images of microbubbles in the microvasculature and reconstructing a super-resolution image based on trajectories of the microbubbles (Abstract, [0004], [0035], [0090-0094]). Needles teaches interleaving linear B-mode imaging and nonlinear contrast imaging to visualize microbubbles (Fig. 6, [0024], [0049], [0075]). However, neither references teach performing a Fourier transform on echo signals to extract a fundamental frequency nor calculating and applying a fundamental wave amplitude correction coefficient.
Conclusion
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/TOMMY T LY/ Examiner, Art Unit 3797
/SERKAN AKAR/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3797
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