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 .
Notice to Applicants
This communication is in response to the Application filed on 10/28/2024.
Claims 1-20 are pending.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 10/28/2024 has been considered by the examiner.
Double Patenting
The nonstatutory double patenting rejection is based on a judicially created doctrine grounded in public policy (a policy reflected in the statute) so as to prevent the unjustified or improper timewise extension of the “right to exclude” granted by a patent and to prevent possible harassment by multiple assignees. A nonstatutory double patenting rejection is appropriate where the conflicting claims are not identical, but at least one examined application claim is not patentably distinct from the reference claim(s) because the examined application claim is either anticipated by, or would have been obvious over, the reference claim(s). See, e.g., In re Berg, 140 F.3d 1428, 46 USPQ2d 1226 (Fed. Cir. 1998); In re Goodman, 11 F.3d 1046, 29 USPQ2d 2010 (Fed. Cir. 1993); In re Longi, 759 F.2d 887, 225 USPQ 645 (Fed. Cir. 1985); In re Van Ornum, 686 F.2d 937, 214 USPQ 761 (CCPA 1982); In re Vogel, 422 F.2d 438, 164 USPQ 619 (CCPA 1970); In re Thorington, 418 F.2d 528, 163 USPQ 644 (CCPA 1969).
A timely filed terminal disclaimer in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(c) or 1.321(d) may be used to overcome an actual or provisional rejection based on nonstatutory double patenting provided the reference application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with the examined application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement. See MPEP § 717.02 for applications subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA as explained in MPEP § 2159. See MPEP § 2146 et seq. for applications not subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . A terminal disclaimer must be signed in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(b).
The filing of a terminal disclaimer by itself is not a complete reply to a nonstatutory double patenting (NSDP) rejection. A complete reply requires that the terminal disclaimer be accompanied by a reply requesting reconsideration of the prior Office action. Even where the NSDP rejection is provisional the reply must be complete. See MPEP § 804, subsection I.B.1. For a reply to a non-final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.111(a). For a reply to final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.113(c). A request for reconsideration while not provided for in 37 CFR 1.113(c) may be filed after final for consideration. See MPEP §§ 706.07(e) and 714.13.
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Claims 1-8, 10-18 and 20 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1-8, 10-18 and 20, respectively of U.S. Patent No. 12,131,477. Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because they are anticipated.
US Application No., 18/929,251
US Patent No., 12,131,477
1. A computer implemented method for blood flow imaging comprising:
1. A computer implemented method for blood flow imaging comprising:
obtaining CT or MRI image data comprising a plurality of corresponding images capturing at least a portion of one or both an increase phase and a decline phase of a contrast agent in a cardiovasculature of interest;
obtaining CT or MRI image data comprising a plurality of corresponding images capturing at least a portion of one or both an increase phase and a decline phase of a contrast agent in a cardiovasculature of interest;
extracting at least one image feature from the CT or MRI image data;
extracting a first image feature of a measured time-enhancement curve from the CT or MRI image data;
providing the at least one image feature and an associated at least one non-image feature to a machine learning model to generate a predicted value of area under a time-enhancement curve of the contrast agent within the cardiovasculature of interest, the machine learning model trained with training inputs of the at least one image feature with the at least one non-image feature, and associated with an area under a time-enhancement curve value as ground truth;
providing the first image feature and at least one non-image feature to a machine learning model to generate a predicted value of an area under a simulated time-enhancement curve of the contrast agent within the cardiovasculature of interest, the predicted value simulating a second set of image acquisition parameters that are different than a first set of image acquisition parameters used to acquire the CT or MRI image data;
converting the predicted value of area under the time-enhancement curve to a time rate of change of contrast agent concentration in the cardiovasculature of interest;
converting the predicted value of area under the simulated time-enhancement curve to a total sum of contrast agent concentration time product in the cardiovasculature of interest;
determining a blood flow characteristic in the cardiovasculature of interest based on a ratio of mass of the contrast agent in the cardiovasculature of interest to the time rate of change of contrast agent concentration in the cardiovasculature of interest.
determining a blood flow characteristic in the cardiovasculature of interest based on a ratio of mass of the contrast agent in the cardiovasculature of interest to a total sum of contrast agent concentration time product in the cardiovasculature of interest.
Claims 9 and 19 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 8 and 18 of U.S. Patent No. 12,131,477 (hereafter, “‘477 patent”) in view of US2008/0119715 to Gonzalez Molezzi et al (hereafter, “Molezzi”). Molezzi teaches wherein a scan capturing the image data is a perfusion scan, a bolus tracking (BT) scan, a test bolus (TB) scan, a diagnostic angiography scan, or a combination thereof (paragraph [0023, 0027-0028, 0035, 0041, etc.]). It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify ‘477 patent reference to have type of image data at scan be captured of Molezzi’s reference. The suggestion/motivation for doing so would have been to determine a scan/injection protocol which coordinates image data acquisition with peak contrast enhancement time, as suggested by Molezzi at paragraph [0022]. Further, one skilled in the art could have combined the elements as described above by known method with no change in their respective functions, and the combination would have yielded nothing more than predictable results. Therefore, it would have been obvious to combine Molezzi with ‘477 patent to obtain the invention as specified in claims 9 and 19.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
US 10,166,326 discloses a system for enabling delivery of fluid in an injection procedure to be performed on a patient in connection with a diagnostic imaging procedure. The system includes a controller operably associated with at least one pressurizing mechanism though which at least one of a first and a second fluid contained within at least one fluid container is injectable into the patient. The first fluid includes a contrast enhancing agent while the second fluid does not. The controller includes a programming system for programming an injection protocol having a plurality of phases to effect enhancement of at least one region of interest of the patient over a scan duration of the diagnostic imaging procedure. The programming system includes an algorithm that enables computation of a ratio of the first and second fluids based on at least a peak enhancement that occurs in at least one region of interest. FIG. 24 illustrates a graphical representation of an embodiment of an interface for interacting with a contrast injection system.
US 2018/0242917 discloses systems and methods for determining image quality and models based on contrast injection protocols. According to an aspect, a method includes providing a contrast material injection protocol for imaging of a target portion of a subject. The method also includes determining a model of propagation of contrast material through the target portion. Further, the method includes determining quality of imaging of the target portion based on the contrast material injection protocol and model. By using analytical inverse and iterative stripping methods, the injection functions can be predicted from the targeted organ enhancement functions across all XCAT models. Applying the forward compartmental odel on IFpredict, the predicted organ enhancement (OEpredict) curves may be calculated. For both methods, the accuracy of the predicted organ enhancement results were evaluated and compared across different protocols.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SHEFALI D. GORADIA whose telephone number is (571)272-8958. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Thursday 8AM-6PM, Friday 8AM-12PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Henok Shiferaw can be reached at 571-272-4637. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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SHEFALI D. GORADIA
Primary Patent Examiner
Art Unit 2676
/SHEFALI D GORADIA/Primary Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2676
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