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 .
Status of Claims
Claims 2-6 are pending.
Information Disclosure Statement
The Information Disclosure Statement filed on 09/23/2024 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97 and have been considered. An initialed copy of the Form 1449 is enclosed herewith.
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.
Claims 2-4 and 6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ohta et al., US 2014/0232841 in view of FUDEYA, et al., "Visualization of Laryngopharynx during Swallowing of Negative Contrast Media (Air) with Cine Mode 64-row MDCT", Japanese Society of Radiological Technology, 2010, vol. 66, pp. 535.
Regarding claim 2, Ohta discloses an image processing apparatus (radiographic image capture device, paragraph 51) comprising a hardware processor (control section, paragraph 51) configured to:
obtain, by radiography, a radiographic image of a subject in a motion (control section controls the display section so as to display frame images up until a predetermined frame number in a state combined with a still or video (motion) radiographic image(s) obtained by radiographic image capture, paragraphs 51, 61, 63).
Ohta fails to explicitly disclose a radiographic image of a subject in a motion of feeding and swallowing; and exaggerate image signal components of a structure relating to feeding and swallowing in the radiographic image.
However, Fudeya teaches a radiographic image of a subject in a motion of feeding and swallowing; and exaggerate image signal components of a structure relating to feeding and swallowing in the radiographic image (radiographic image is obtained by photographing the throat while swallowing air as a negative contrast agent such that the treatment is performed under the condition that the soft tissue and the pharyngeal cavity can be distinguished from each other in the sagittal image and the hyoid bone, the base of the tongue, the epiglottis, the posterior pharyngeal wall, etc. can be observed in this sagittal radiographic image cine (i.e., same as emphasizing the image signal components of the structure related to feeding and swallowing), see abstract, page 535).
Ohta and Fudeya are combinable because they both are in the same field of endeavor dealing with performing image processing on radiographic images.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the application to combine the teachings of Ohta with the teachings of Fudeya for the benefit of efficiently visualizing the laryngopharynx during swallowing and feeding of negative contrast air using effective 64-row multi-detector computed tomography used in radiographic imaging as taught by Fudeya at abstract, page 535.
Regarding claim 3, Combination of Ohta with Fudeya further teaches wherein the hardware processor (Fudeya, CT detector) exaggerates the image signal components of a hyoid, an epiglottis, and a structure of a food-passing channel, as the structure relating to feeding and swallowing (Fudeya, the hyoid bone, the base of the tongue, the epiglottis, the posterior pharyngeal wall, etc. can be observed in this sagittal radiographic image cine (i.e., same as emphasizing the image signal components of the structure related to feeding and swallowing), see abstract, page 535).
Ohta and Fudeya are combinable because they both are in the same field of endeavor dealing with performing image processing on radiographic images.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the application to combine the teachings of Ohta with the teachings of Fudeya for the benefit of efficiently visualizing the laryngopharynx during swallowing and feeding of negative contrast air using effective 64-row multi-detector computed tomography used in radiographic imaging as taught by Fudeya at abstract, page 535.
Regarding claim 4, Combination of Ohta with Fudeya further teaches wherein the hardware processor exaggerates the image signal components of the structure relating to feeding and swallowing by performing spatial-frequency exaggeration processing on the radiographic image, thereby exaggerating frequency components of a spatial frequency band corresponding to the structure relating to feeding and swallowing (Fudeya, “video fluoroscopic examination of swallowing generally needs a contrast media such as a barium sulfate. Since the examination is usually performed in patients with dysphasia, there is a risk of aspiration. We tried to visualize the laryngopharynx during swallowing of negative contrast air with 64-row multi-detector computed tomography. Cine mode 64-MDCT was performed to visualize the laryngopharynx in 4 healthy volunteers during swallowing of negative contrast air. The data were converted to three-dimensional images of 2 conditions (air and bone) and sagittal images of the soft tissue condition at a workstation. These images were sent to a personal computer and modeled to 3D cine images with Digital Imaging and Communication in Medicine Viewer and Quick Time Player. 3D cine images demonstrated movements of the epiglottis, vallecula, piriform sinus, tongue, pharyngeal wall, hyoid bone and thyroid cartilage (i.e., same as emphasizing the image signal components of the structure related to feeding and swallowing with appropriately emphasizing the spatial frequency band corresponding to observation volunteers for sagittal cine image), see abstract, page 535).
Ohta and Fudeya are combinable because they both are in the same field of endeavor dealing with performing image processing on radiographic images.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the application to combine the teachings of Ohta with the teachings of Fudeya for the benefit of efficiently visualizing the laryngopharynx during swallowing and feeding of negative contrast air using effective 64-row multi-detector computed tomography used in radiographic imaging as taught by Fudeya at abstract, page 535.
Regarding claim 6, which recites a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium version of claim 1, see rationale as applied above. Note that non-transitory computer-readable storage medium is taught by Ohta in paragraphs 42, 70.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 5 is 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: cited prior arts fail to teach all the limitations of claim 5 such as “The image processing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the hardware processor exaggerates the image signal components of the structure relating to feeding and swallowing by: (i) resolving the radiographic image into multiple frequency-component images having different spatial frequency bands; (ii) multiplying a frequency-component image having a spatial frequency band corresponding to the structure relating to feeding and swallowing, from among the multiple frequency-component images, by an exaggeration parameter for exaggerating the frequency-component image; and (iii) combining the multiple frequency-component images and the radiographic image”.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Sato, JP 2004-086802
Jockel et al., WO 2014/033614
Hwang et al., US 2015/0289848
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/PAWAN DHINGRA/Examiner, Art Unit 2683
/BENNY Q TIEU/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2682
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