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 .
Response to Amendment
Claims 1, 10, and 11 are amended. Claim 6 is canceled. Claims 1-5 and 7-11 are pending in this application.
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 1-5 and 7-11 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 1 recites the limitation "the lesion" in line 8. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. It cannot be determined if “the lesion” is referring to a previously defined “a lesion” in line 4 or “a lesion” in line 6.
Claim 1 recites the limitation "the degree of certainty" in line 16. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. It cannot be determined if “the degree of certainty” is referring to a previously defined “a degree of certainty” in line 9 or “a degree of certainty” in line 14.
Claim 10 recites the limitation "the lesion" in line 7. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. It cannot be determined if “the lesion” is referring to a previously defined “a lesion” in line 3 or “a lesion” in line 5.
Claim 10 recites the limitation "the degree of certainty" in line 15. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. It cannot be determined if “the degree of certainty” is referring to a previously defined “a degree of certainty” in line 8 or “a degree of certainty” in line 13.
Claim 11 recites the limitation "the lesion" in line 8. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. It cannot be determined if “the lesion” is referring to a previously defined “a lesion” in line 4 or “a lesion” in line 6.
Claim 11 recites the limitation "the degree of certainty" in line 16. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. It cannot be determined if “the degree of certainty” is referring to a previously defined “a degree of certainty” in line 9 or “a degree of certainty” in line 14.
Claims 2-5 and 7-9 are also rejected based on their dependency of the defected parent claim 1 above.
The prior art does not appear to teach or make obvious the subject matter of the claims.
However, the 35 U.S.C. 112(b) rejection must be overcome.
Allowable Subject Matter
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
The prior art made of record and considered pertinent to the applicant's disclosure, taken individually or in combination, does not teach the claimed invention having the following limitations, in combination with the remaining claimed limitations.
Regarding independent claims 1, 10, and 11, the closest prior art does not teach or suggest the claimed invention having “derives an evaluation value for each of the regions overlapping the lesion, based on a degree of certainty of each partial image constituting the lesion in the medical image, and selects at least one region detected from the medical image based on the evaluation value, wherein the second trained model outputs, for each partial image constituting the lesion included in the medical image, a degree of certainty indicating the likelihood that the partial image is the lesion, and wherein the evaluation value is derived by integrating the degree of certainty of each partial image constituting the lesion overlapping the region”, and a combination of other limitations thereof as recited in the claims.
Regarding dependent claims 2-5 and 7-9, the claims have been found allowable due to their dependency on claim 1 above.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 08/19/2026 have been fully considered and are persuasive but the 35 U.S.C. 112(b) rejection must be overcome as stated above.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to VAN D HUYNH whose telephone number is (571)270-1937. The examiner can normally be reached 8AM-6PM.
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/VAN D HUYNH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2665
