DETAILED ACTION
This office action is in response to the communication received on May 28, 2026 concerning application No. 18/924,343 filed on October 23, 2024.
Claims 1-3, 5-6, 8-9, and 15 are currently pending.
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 Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 05/28/2026 regarding the drawings objection have been fully considered. The amendments to the specification have been entered and overcome the drawings objection previously set forth.
Applicant's arguments filed 05/28/2026 regarding the claim objections have been fully considered. The amendments to the claims have been entered and overcome the claim objections previously set forth.
Applicant's arguments filed 05/28/2026 regarding the 35 USC 112 rejection have been fully considered. The amendments to the claims have been entered and overcome the 35 USC 112 rejections of claims 6, 9, and 11 previously set forth.
Applicant's arguments filed 05/28/2026 regarding the prior art rejection have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. In response to the applicant’s arguments that the prior art fails to teach “a storage device that stores a first ultrasonic image set as a reference image to be acquired by the ultrasound probe, in association with reference operation information representing a position and/or posture of the ultrasound probe when the first ultrasonic image data was acquired”, “a processing circuit configured acquire second ultrasonic image data by ultrasonic scanning using the ultrasound probe, and acquire operation information representing a position and/or a posture of the ultrasound probe when the second ultrasonic image data is acquired; generate guide information for guiding an operation of the ultrasound probe based on a difference between the operation information and the reference operation information; and display the first ultrasonic image data, the second ultrasonic image data, and the guide information on the display”, examiner respectfully disagrees. See the rejection of the claims below for how Mienkina is being relied upon for teaching the newly filed claim limitations recited above.
Applicant's arguments filed 05/28/2026 regarding the 35 USC 101 rejection have been fully considered. The amendments to the claims have been entered and overcome the 35 USC 101 rejection previously set forth.
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-3, 5-6, and 15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being unpatentable by Mienkina et al. (US 20180344286, hereinafter Mienkina).
Regarding claim 1, Mienkina teaches an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus (ultrasound system 100 and 200 in figs. 1-2), comprising:
an ultrasound probe (probe 101 in figs. 1-2);
a display (display 236 in fig. 2);
a storage device (memory 234 and storage 214 in fig. 2); and
a processing circuit (the electronic circuitry of system 100/200 in figs. 1-2),
wherein the storage device stores a first ultrasonic image data set as a reference image to be acquired by the ultrasound probe, in association with reference operation information representing a position and/or a posture of the ultrasound probe when the first ultrasonic image data was acquired ([0041] “The target plane may be identified in a previous imaging session by a physician or other clinician and the position of the target plane may be stored in memory of the client device executing method 500”. [0047] “The target position of the probe at the target scan plane may be specified during a prior imaging session conducted by a clinician, for example, and stored in memory of the computing device coupled to (and configured to drive) the ultrasound probe”. also see [0049] and [0059]), and
the processing circuit is configured to, in an examination (the method of fig. 4 is considered the exam):
acquire second ultrasonic image data by ultrasonic scanning using the ultrasound probe ([0045] discloses ultrasound image data is acquired at step 416), and acquire operation information representing a position and/or a posture of the ultrasound probe when the second ultrasonic image data is acquired ([0044]-[0045] disclose obtaining probe position data when the ultrasound image data is acquired);
generate guide information for guiding an operation of the ultrasound probe based on a difference between the operation information and the reference operation information ([0043] discloses generating instructions for guiding the probe based on the position of the probe compared to the target position. [0050] “The user interface may further include instructions 518 to guide the user to adjust the probe”); and
display the first ultrasonic image data, the second ultrasonic image data, and the guide information on the display ([0050] and fig. 5 disclose displaying the reference image 502, the real time image 504 and the guide information 518 on the display 500).
Regarding claim 2, Mienkina teaches the apparatus of claim 1, as set forth above. Mienkina further teaches the guide information includes at least one of a scan position for acquiring a cross section represented by the first ultrasonic image data, an ultrasound probe scan policy, and an anatomical schema ([0043] discloses the guide instructions include at least a target position (scan position) for acquiring a target image (cross section)).
Regarding claim 3, Mienkina teaches the apparatus of claim 1, as set forth above. Mienkina further teaches the processing circuit is further configured to determine a cross section that the first ultrasonic image data represents, based on a trained model having been trained with labeled data ([0037] “the target plane may be identified automatically by the computing device using image recognition trained via machine learning”), and generate the guide information as information enabling a user to acquire the cross section ([0043] discloses the guide instructions are generated to enable a user to acquire the target image (cross section)).
Regarding claim 5, Mienkina teaches the apparatus of claim 1, as set forth above. Mienkina further teaches the reference operation information and/or the operation information are based on at least one of information obtained from a position sensor, information obtained from a pressure sensor, and a camera image ([0038] discloses the probe position data is tracked using one or more probe position sensors when the target plane is being acquired).
Regarding claim 6, Mienkina teaches the apparatus of claim 1, as set forth above. Mienkina further teach the processing circuit is further configured to display examination procedures in execution order on the display during the examination ([0052]-[0054] and figs. 5-6 disclose displaying instructions 518 and 618 which correspond to examination procedures being displayed in execution order on the display during the examination).
Regarding claim 15, Mienkina teaches an ultrasonic diagnostic method (methods shown in figs. 3-4) comprising:
storing, in a storage device, first ultrasonic image data set as a reference image to be acquired by an ultrasound probe, in association with reference operation information representing a position and/or posture of the ultrasound probe when the first ultrasonic image data was acquired ([0041] “The target plane may be identified in a previous imaging session by a physician or other clinician and the position of the target plane may be stored in memory of the client device executing method 500”. [0047] “The target position of the probe at the target scan plane may be specified during a prior imaging session conducted by a clinician, for example, and stored in memory of the computing device coupled to (and configured to drive) the ultrasound probe”. also see [0049] and [0059]);
in an examination, acquiring second ultrasonic image data by ultrasonic scanning using the ultrasound probe ([0045] discloses ultrasound image data is acquired at step 416) and acquiring operation information representing a position and/or a posture of the ultrasound probe when the second ultrasonic image data is acquired ([0044]-[0045] disclose obtaining probe position data when the ultrasound image data is acquired);
generating guide information for guiding operation of the ultrasound probe based on a difference between the operation information and the reference operation information ([0043] discloses generating instructions for guiding the probe based on the position of the probe compared to the target position. [0050] “The user interface may further include instructions 518 to guide the user to adjust the probe”); and
displaying the first ultrasonic image data, the second ultrasonic image data, and the guide information on a display ([0050] and fig. 5 disclose displaying the reference image 502, the real time image 504 and the guide information 518 on the display 500).
Claim(s) 8-9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mienkina in view of Ohtake (US20050119569).
Regarding claim 8, Mienkina teaches the apparatus of claim 1, as set forth above. Mienkina further teaches the processing circuit is configured to acquire a first camera image capturing the position of the ultrasound probe and a subject when the first ultrasonic image data was acquired ([0029] discloses a camera 238 configured for acquiring visible light images of the environment).
Mienkina does not specifically teach the storage device further stores a first camera image capturing the position of the ultrasound probe and a subject when the first ultrasonic image data was acquired and the processing circuit is configured to display the first camera image.
However,
Ohtake in a similar field of ultrasound probe guidance teaches storing a first camera image capturing the position of the ultrasound probe and a subject when the first ultrasonic image data was acquired ([0049] discloses using a digital camera to generate a digital image of a body mark (subject ) and a probe mark (probe position) which represent the position of the probe and subject during a past examination. Also see [0017] and [0041] which disclose the reference image is recorded (stored)) and displaying the first camera image ([0062] and fig. 5 discloses displaying the reference image 68 which includes the body mark and recorded probe mark).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to substitute the displaying of guide information of Mienkina for the displaying of the first camera image of Ohtake because it amounts to simple substitution of one known element for another to obtain the predictable results of guiding the user to move the ultrasound probe to the correct position and orientation for the examination.
Regarding claim 9, Mienkina in view of Ohtake teaches the apparatus of claim 8, as set forth above. Ohtake further teaches the processing circuit is further configured:
display an icon representing a current position and orientation of the ultrasound probe in a manner superimposed over the first camera image based on the operation information ([0062] and fig. 5 disclose displaying the reference image which includes the body mark and recorded probe mark (first camera image) and a current probe mark 72 (icon) superimposed on the body mark. The current probe mark represents the current position and orientation of the ultrasound probe).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to substitute the displaying of guide information of Mienkina in view of Ohtake for the displaying of an icon representing a current position and orientation of the ultrasound probe in a manner superimposed over the first camera image of Ohtake because it amounts to simple substitution of one known element for another to obtain the predictable results of guiding the user to move the ultrasound probe to the correct position and orientation for the examination.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). 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 ANDREW BEGEMAN whose telephone number is (571)272-4744. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Thursday 8:30-5:00.
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, Keith Raymond can be reached at 5712701790. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ANDREW W BEGEMAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3798
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