Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 1-5, 7-11, and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Taguchi et al. (2014/0321603)
Regarding claim 1, Taguchi discloses a voltage generator for providing operating power for an X-ray source of an X-ray imaging system (Fig. 2, item 26), the voltage generator comprising a trigger system configured to: in response to receiving a start cycle trigger, trigger the voltage generator to start transitioning to a first value of an output voltage of the voltage generator (operation of switch 26d providing signal to 26e); and in response to determining that the output voltage passes a predetermined threshold during the transitioning to the first value, trigger a start of a data acquisition of a detector of the X-ray imaging system for a first integration period of a data acquisition cycle of the detector (operation of DAS 24 in response to comparator 26g).
Regarding claim 2, Taguchi further discloses the trigger system is further configured to, in response to the determining that the output voltage passes the predetermined threshold, start a timer with a predetermined time interval. (Taguchi, [0047], “timing controller” 26c)
Regarding claim 3, Taguchi further discloses the trigger system is further configured to, in response to expiry of the timer, output a transition trigger configured to trigger the voltage generator to start transitioning from the first value to a second value of the output voltage. (Taguchi, [0047], [0074])
Regarding claim 4, Taguchi further discloses the threshold is a first threshold and the trigger system is further configured to, subsequently to triggering the start of data acquisition for the first integration period, in response to determining that the output voltage passes a predetermined second threshold, trigger an end of the data acquisition of the first integration period and trigger a start of a data acquisition for a second integration period of the data acquisition cycle, wherein the first threshold is different from the second threshold. (Taguchi, [0044],[0045])
Regarding claim 5, Taguchi further discloses transitioning to the first value of the output voltage comprises increasing the output voltage, and wherein triggering the start of the data acquisition of the detector for the first integration period of the data acquisition cycle is performed in response to determining that the output voltage exceeds the threshold, and wherein transitioning from the first value to a second value of the output voltage comprises decreasing the output voltage, in particular, wherein triggering an end of the data acquisition of the first integration period, and triggering a start of a data acquisition for a second integration period of the data acquisition cycle, is performed in response to determining that the output voltage falls below the predetermined second threshold. (Taguchi, [0076])
Claims 7-11 and 13 are rejected on the same grounds as claims 1-5 as they contain the same substantive limitations.
Conclusion
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/EDWIN C GUNBERG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2884
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