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
The amendment filed on 7/8/2026 was accepted and entered. Accordingly, claim(s) 1-2 and 6-7 has/have been amended. Claim(s) 11-20 has/have been cancelled. No claim(s) has/have been newly added. Thus, claims 1-10 are currently pending in this application.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 7/8/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant argues that Benlloch Baveria does not teach each respective one of the plurality of scintillator crystal units being configured with a substructure for decoding two or more depths within the scintillator crystal unit. The Examiner respectfully disagrees, as Benlloch Baveria teaches each respective one of the plurality of scintillator crystal units (blocks) being configured with a substructure (for example 3; Figs. 7-8; [0095-0096]) for decoding two or more depths (various interaction depths of measurement on Z axis paragraph [0065]) within the scintillator crystal unit.
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, and 8-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Benlloch Baveria et al. (US 2023/0055050).
With respect to claim 1, 11 and 20, Benlloch Baveria teaches a positron emission tomography (PET) apparatus (see Fig. 1), comprising:
a scintillation array (see Fig. 1) including a plurality of scintillator crystal units (blocks 1; [0042]; [0066]-[0067]; [0069]; [0086]) that are isolated individually (paragraph 0079, 85) with reflective material (see reflective film), each respective one of the plurality of scintillator crystal units being configured to generate scintillation light (emitted photons) in response to a gamma-ray interaction (paragraph 0037) in the scintillator crystal unit that is caused by gamma-ray irradiation from an imaging object (see image of body/brain paragraph 0103, 0003, 8, 108 ), each respective one of the plurality of scintillator crystal units being configured with a substructure (for example 3; Figs. 7-8; [0095-0096]) for decoding two or more depths ( various interaction depths of measurement on Z axis paragraph [0065]) within the scintillator crystal unit, such that gamma-ray interactions at different depths result in scintillation light that escapes from a light-escaping plane of the scintillator crystal unit with different patterns (see unique distribution of light generated paragraph 81, 86); a photosensor array (see Fig. 2: paragraph 0058) coupled to the scintillation array to convert the scintillation light received from the scintillation array into electrical signals; and processing circuitry (paraph 0022, 65) configured to extract, from the electrical signals, information representing depth-of-interaction of the gamma-ray interactions in the scintillation array, and reconstruct, based on the extracted information, an image of the imaging object (for example body brain).
With respect to claim 5, Benlloch Baveria teaches each scintillator crystal unit includes a plurality of sub-crystals (first and second crystal structures in Fig. 7-8) with reflective material and optical glue (see clear adhesive for example paragraph 0095).
With respect to claim 8, Benlloch Baveria teaches the processing circuitry is further configured to: perform, based on the electrical signals, processing to derive timing, position, and energy information (paragraph 0068) of the gamma-ray interactions in the scintillation array, and based on the derived information determine the information representing depth-of-interaction of the gamma-ray interactions in the scintillation array (paragraph 0069).
With respect to claim 9, Benlloch Baveria teaches the processing circuitry is further configured to, based on the derived information, determine information representing crystal-of-interaction (paragraph 0022), energy-of-interaction (paragraph 0022, 32), and time-of-interaction (paragraph 0034-37) of the gamma-ray interactions in the scintillation array.
With respect to claim 10, Benlloch Baveria teaches the photosensor array is configured with a finer level of granularity (see larger number of photosensors in array in Fig. 2B in comparison to crystals in Fig. 1B) compared with the scintillation array.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-4 and 6-7 are allowed. See Office Action mailed 4/24/2026 for reasons for allowance of claims 2-4 and 6-7.
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 Carolyn Fin whose telephone number is (571)270-1286. The examiner can normally be reached Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Uzma Alam can be reached at 571-272-3995. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/CAROLYN FIN/Examiner, Art Unit 2884
Prosecution Insights