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 .
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant's claim for foreign priority based on an application filed in Japan on 11/7/2023. It is noted, however, that applicant has not filed a certified copy of the JP2023-189866 application as required by 37 CFR 1.55 because electronic retrieval of the document has failed. In the interests of compact prosecution, examination has been performed assuming the 11/7/2023 priority date is given but the Examiner advises the Applicant to address the priority issue.
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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 1-2, 5, and 7-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Irisawa et al. (US20180177409, hereafter Irisawa), Abe (US20150182124) and Murphy et al. (US20240259966, hereafter Murphy).
Regarding claim 1, Irisawa discloses in Figure 1 an ultrasonic imaging system (photoacoustic image generation apparatus 10) (Irisawa, Para 42; “A photoacoustic image generation apparatus 10 includes a probe (ultrasound probe) 11, an ultrasound unit 12, a first light source (laser unit) 13, a second light source (laser unit) 14, and a puncture needle 15) comprising:
a light source (light source 13) configured to generate an optical pulse (Irisawa, Para 43; “The first light source 13 emits light with a first wavelength. The second light source 14 emits light with a second wavelength. For example, the first light source 13 and the second light source 14 emit pulsed light with a pulse energy of about 0.3 μJ to 30 μJ and a pulse time width of about 1 ns to 100 ns. The first wavelength and the second wavelength are different from each other. The first light source 13 and the second light source 14 are, for example, solid-state laser light sources. The type of light source is not particularly limited. The first light source 13 and the second light source 14 may be laser diode light sources (semiconductor laser light sources) or light amplifying laser light sources having a laser diode light source as a seed light source. In addition, light sources other than the laser light source may be used.”);
an insertion member (puncture needle 15) that is inserted into a living body (Irisawa, Para 45; “The puncture needle 15 is a needle that is inserted into a subject.”) and that includes an optical absorption element (light absorption/conversion member 51) which converts the optical pulse into a photoacoustic wave (Irisawa, Para 46-47; “FIG. 2 illustrates the vicinity of a leading end of the puncture needle 15. The puncture needle 15 has a light absorption/conversion member 51 provided in the vicinity of the leading end. […] The light absorption/conversion member 51 absorbs the light with the first wavelength emitted from the first light emitting portion 153 a and generates photoacoustic waves.”);
a probe (probe 11) including a plurality of transducers that receive the photoacoustic wave (Irisawa, Para 65; “Returning to FIG. 1, the probe 11 includes, for example, a plurality of detector elements (ultrasound transducers) which are acoustic wave detection unit and are one-dimensionally arranged. After the puncture needle 15 is inserted into the subject, the probe 11 detects the photoacoustic waves (first photoacoustic waves) generated from the light absorption/conversion member 51 (see FIG. 2) and the photoacoustic waves (second photoacoustic waves) generated by the absorption of the light with the third wavelength emitted from the light absorption/conversion member 51 by the light absorber.”);
a receiver configured to apply phase addition to a reception signal sequence consisting of a plurality of reception signals that are output in parallel from the plurality of transducers (Irisawa, Para 69; “The generation of the photoacoustic image includes, for example, image reconfiguration, such as phasing addition, detection, and logarithmic conversion. The ultrasound image generation unit 25 generates an ultrasound image (reflected acoustic image) on the basis of the detection signal of the reflected ultrasonic waves detected by the probe 11”) (Irisawa, Para 67; “The receiving circuit 21 receives a detection signal output from the probe 11 and stores the received detection signal in the receiving memory 22.”) (Irisawa, Para 68; “The data demultiplexing unit 23 reads out the sampling data of the detection signal of the photoacoustic waves from the receiving memory 22 and transmits the sampling data to the photoacoustic image generation unit 24. In addition, the data demultiplexing unit 23 reads out the sampling data of the reflected ultrasonic waves from the receiving memory 22 and transmits the sampling data to the ultrasound image generation unit (reflected acoustic image generation unit) 25.”);
a generator configured to generate a photoacoustic image representing a position of the optical absorption element in the living body based on reception information output from the receiver (Irisawa, Para 69; “The generation of the photoacoustic image includes, for example, image reconfiguration, such as phasing addition, detection, and logarithmic conversion. The ultrasound image generation unit 25 generates an ultrasound image (reflected acoustic image) on the basis of the detection signal of the reflected ultrasonic waves detected by the probe 11”).
Irisawa does not clearly and explicitly disclose an analyzer configured to analyze the reception signal sequence or a pseudo-reception signal sequence corresponding to the reception signal sequence to calculate a synchronization deviation between an optical pulse period in the light source and a reception period in the probe; and a controller configured to change at least one of the optical pulse period or the reception period based on the synchronization deviation.
In an analogous photoacoustic diagnostics field of endeavor Abe discloses a controller configured to change at least one of an optical pulse period or a reception period based on synchronization deviation (Abe, Para 101-110; “instability may occur during synchronization due to the propagation time of the electric signal. In the fourth embodiment, this problem is dealt with by stabilizing synchronization using a delay circuit. […] the oscillation start signal S1 is generated in synchronization with the sampling clock S3. When, at this time, a time between the sampling clock S3 and the oscillation start signal S1 is set as a delay time T4, T4 can be calculated as follows. The time T4 is obtained by adding together a time required for the sampling clock S3 to propagate from the photoacoustic reception unit 3 to the laser pulse transmission unit 1, a delay time of the laser emission synchronization control circuit 15, and a time required for the oscillation start signal S1 to propagate between the laser emission synchronization control circuit 15 and the write control circuit 351 […] The delay circuit 36 delays an input electric signal by a predetermined time, and is capable of adjusting a delay amount.”) (Abe, Para 14; “an image generation unit that generates an image representing information relating to the interior of the subject on the basis of the digital data; and a synchronization unit that synchronizes the sampling clock with the emission trigger input into the light emission unit.”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Irisawa to include a controller configured to change at least one of the optical pulse period or the reception period based on synchronization deviation in order to stabilize the measurement signal which improves precision as taught by Abe (Abe, Para 101-110 and 12-14).
In an analogous synchronization of diagnostic signals field of endeavor Murphy discloses an analyzer configured to analyze a signal sequence to calculate a synchronization deviation and adjust synchronization based on the calculated deviation (Murphy, Para 106-108; “The one or more processors 302 may be configured to receive, from the wireless mobile device, a sixth time-stamp (e.g., generated using the second clock) of a time at which a generation of the at least one measurement by at least one sensor of the wireless head-wearable sensor arrangement is (e.g., instructed to be) started to the computing system. The at least one time-stamp allocated to the at least one measurement may be indicative of a time provided by the first clock at which the generation of the at least one measurement was started, wherein the sixth time-stamp may be indicative of a time provided by the second clock at which the generation of the at least one measurement was started. That is, a deviation between the time indicated by the at least one time-stamp and the sixth time-stamp may be representative of a time misalignment between the first and the second clock at the time the generation of the at least one measurement was started. The one or more processors 302 may be configured to receive, from the wireless mobile device, an indication of this time misalignment. The one or more processors 302 may be configured to receive, from the wireless mobile device, a ninth time-stamp (e.g., generated using the second clock 206) of a (e.g. predetermined) time at which the generation of the at least one measurement was ongoing. The at least one time-stamp allocated to the at least one measurement may be indicative of a time provided by the first clock at which the generation of the at least one measurement was ongoing, wherein the ninth time-stamp may be indicative of a (e.g., corresponding) time provided by the second clock at which the generation of the at least one measurement was ongoing. That is, a deviation between the time indicated by the at least one time-stamp and the ninth time-stamp may be representative of a time misalignment between the first and the second clock at the (e.g., predetermined) time the generation of the at least one measurement was ongoing. The one or more processors 302 may be configured to receive an indication of this time misalignment from the wireless mobile device.”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Irisawa to include an analyzer configured to analyze the reception signal sequence or a pseudo-reception signal sequence corresponding to the reception signal sequence to calculate a synchronization deviation between an optical pulse period in the light source and a reception period in the probe in order to improve reliability of the information as taught by Murphy (Murphy, Para 216-220 and 4-5).
Regarding claim 2, Irisawa as modified by Abe and Murphy above discloses all of the limitations of claim 1 as discussed above.
Irisawa further discloses wherein the analyzer is configured to detect a plurality of photoacoustic wave signals included in the reception signal sequence or the pseudo-reception signal sequence (Irisawa, Para 69; “The generation of the photoacoustic image includes, for example, image reconfiguration, such as phasing addition, detection, and logarithmic conversion. The ultrasound image generation unit 25 generates an ultrasound image (reflected acoustic image) on the basis of the detection signal of the reflected ultrasonic waves detected by the probe 11”) (Irisawa, Para 67; “The receiving circuit 21 receives a detection signal output from the probe 11 and stores the received detection signal in the receiving memory 22.”) (Irisawa, Para 68; “The data demultiplexing unit 23 reads out the sampling data of the detection signal of the photoacoustic waves from the receiving memory 22 and transmits the sampling data to the photoacoustic image generation unit 24. In addition, the data demultiplexing unit 23 reads out the sampling data of the reflected ultrasonic waves from the receiving memory 22 and transmits the sampling data to the ultrasound image generation unit (reflected acoustic image generation unit) 25.”).
Irisawa does not clearly and explicitly disclose calculating the synchronization deviation based on a plurality of detection timings of the plurality of photoacoustic wave signals.
However, Murphy further discloses calculating synchronization deviation based on a plurality of detection timings (Murphy, Para 124; “]
The one or more processors 302 may be configured to determine at least one time-adjusted time-stamp by adjusting the at least one time-stamp allocated to the at least one measurement in time based on (e.g., all of, or at least some of) the information received from the wireless mobile device (e.g., based on one or more of the adjustment amount, the adjustment amount instruction, the time misalignment, the at least one timestamp, the sixth timestamp, the seventh timestamp, the eighth timestamp and the ninth timestamp), and determine the indicator of health, well-being or performance of the user of the wireless head-wearable sensor arrangement further based on the at least one time-adjusted time-stamp. The at least one time-stamp may be adjusted based on the predefined information on the time delay as described above. The at least one time-stamp may be adjusted such that it has a predefined relative temporal position with respect to one or more of the stimulus time points. By adjusting the at least one time-stamp, the portions of the representation of the at least one measurement associated with the at least one timestamp may be scaled.”) (Murphy, Para 88-92; “The second processor 208 may be configured to send a sixth time-stamp (e.g., generated using the second clock 206) of a time at which the generation of the at least one measurement is (e.g., instructed to be) started to the computing system. The at least one time-stamp allocated to the at least one measurement may be indicative of a time provided by the first clock at which the generation of the at least one measurement was started, wherein the sixth time-stamp may be indicative of a time provided by the second clock at which the generation of the at least one measurement was started. That is, a deviation between the time indicated by the at least one time-stamp and the sixth time-stamp may be representative of a time misalignment between the first and the second clock at the time the generation of the at least one measurement was started. The second processor 208 may be configured to send an indication of this time misalignment to the computing system. […] The at least one time-stamp allocated to the at least one measurement may be indicative of a time provided by the first clock at which the generation of the at least one measurement was ongoing, wherein the ninth time-stamp may be indicative of a time provided by the second clock at which the generation of the at least one measurement was ongoing. That is, a deviation between the time indicated by the at least one time-stamp and the ninth time-stamp may be representative of a time misalignment between the first and the second clock at the time the generation of the at least one measurement was ongoing. The second processor 208 may be configured to send an indication of this time misalignment to the computing system. […] That is, a deviation between the time indicated by the at least one time-stamp and the seventh or eighth time-stamp may be representative of a time misalignment between the first and the second clock at the time the generation of the at least one measurement was finished. The second processor 208 may be configured to send an indication of this time misalignment to the computing system.”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Irisawa to include calculating the synchronization deviation based on a plurality of detection timings of the plurality of photoacoustic wave signals in order to improve reliability of the information as taught by Murphy (Murphy, Para 216-220 and 4-5).
Regarding claim 5, Irisawa as modified by Abe and Murphy above discloses all of the limitations of claim 1 as discussed above.
Irisawa further discloses wherein the analyzer is configured to analyze the reception signal sequence extracted from the receiver (Irisawa, Para 69; “The generation of the photoacoustic image includes, for example, image reconfiguration, such as phasing addition, detection, and logarithmic conversion. The ultrasound image generation unit 25 generates an ultrasound image (reflected acoustic image) on the basis of the detection signal of the reflected ultrasonic waves detected by the probe 11”) (Irisawa, Para 67; “The receiving circuit 21 receives a detection signal output from the probe 11 and stores the received detection signal in the receiving memory 22.”) (Irisawa, Para 68; “The data demultiplexing unit 23 reads out the sampling data of the detection signal of the photoacoustic waves from the receiving memory 22 and transmits the sampling data to the photoacoustic image generation unit 24. In addition, the data demultiplexing unit 23 reads out the sampling data of the reflected ultrasonic waves from the receiving memory 22 and transmits the sampling data to the ultrasound image generation unit (reflected acoustic image generation unit) 25.”).
Regarding claim 7, Irisawa as modified by Abe and Murphy above discloses all of the limitations of claim 1 as discussed above.
Irisawa does not clearly and explicitly disclose wherein the controller is configured to, in a case where a photoacoustic wave signal sequence is not included in the reception signal sequence or the pseudo-reception signal sequence, change on a trial basis at least one of the optical pulse period or the reception period until the photoacoustic wave signal sequence is included in the reception signal sequence or the pseudo-reception signal sequence. However, Abe further discloses in a case where a photoacoustic wave signal sequence is not included in a reception signal sequence or a pseudo-reception signal sequence, change on a trial basis at least one of an optical pulse period or a reception period until the photoacoustic wave signal sequence is included in the reception signal sequence or the pseudo-reception signal sequence (Abe, Para 101-110; “The delay circuit 36 delays an input electric signal by a predetermined time, and is capable of adjusting a delay amount.”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Irisawa wherein the controller is configured to, in a case where a photoacoustic wave signal sequence is not included in the reception signal sequence or the pseudo-reception signal sequence, change on a trial basis at least one of the optical pulse period or the reception period until the photoacoustic wave signal sequence is included in the reception signal sequence or the pseudo-reception signal sequence in order to stabilize the measurement signal which improves precision as taught by Abe (Abe, Para 101-110 and 12-14).
Regarding claim 8, Irisawa as modified by Abe and Murphy above discloses all of the limitations of claim 1 as discussed above.
Irisawa does not clearly and explicitly disclose wherein the controller is configured to change at least one of the optical pulse period or the reception period based on the synchronization deviation in a preparation step before a main step of performing treatment or examination on the living body. However, Abe further discloses changing at least one of an optical pulse period or a reception period based on synchronization deviation in a preparation step before a main step of performing treatment or examination (Abe, Para 10-13; “This variation is smaller than the variation caused by jitter in the pulse beam, as described in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2012-005622. More specifically, the variation is no larger than a sampling clock period of the apparatus. Hence, the deviation in the image is likewise very small. However, an artifact caused by such a small deviation is not easily recognized as an artifact, and may lead to a misdiagnosis in the case of a medical photoacoustic imaging apparatus […] The present invention has been designed in consideration of this problem in the related art, and an object thereof is to provide a technique employed in a photoacoustic measurement apparatus to prevent a reduction in measurement precision caused by variation in a difference between a measuring light emission timing and a measurement data sampling start timing.”) (Abe, Para 101-110; “instability may occur during synchronization due to the propagation time of the electric signal. In the fourth embodiment, this problem is dealt with by stabilizing synchronization using a delay circuit. […] the oscillation start signal S1 is generated in synchronization with the sampling clock S3. When, at this time, a time between the sampling clock S3 and the oscillation start signal S1 is set as a delay time T4, T4 can be calculated as follows. The time T4 is obtained by adding together a time required for the sampling clock S3 to propagate from the photoacoustic reception unit 3 to the laser pulse transmission unit 1, a delay time of the laser emission synchronization control circuit 15, and a time required for the oscillation start signal S1 to propagate between the laser emission synchronization control circuit 15 and the write control circuit 351 […] The delay circuit 36 delays an input electric signal by a predetermined time, and is capable of adjusting a delay amount.”) (Abe, Para 14; “an image generation unit that generates an image representing information relating to the interior of the subject on the basis of the digital data; and a synchronization unit that synchronizes the sampling clock with the emission trigger input into the light emission unit.”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Irisawa wherein the controller is configured to change at least one of the optical pulse period or the reception period based on the synchronization deviation in a preparation step before a main step of performing treatment or examination on the living body in order to stabilize the measurement signal which improves precision as taught by Abe (Abe, Para 101-110 and 12-14).
Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Irisawa, Abe, and Murphy as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Wada et al. (US20130085372, hereafter Wada).
Regarding claim 6, Irisawa as modified by Abe and Murphy above discloses all of the limitations of claim 1 as discussed above.
Irisawa does not clearly and explicitly disclose a restorer configured to generate the pseudo-reception signal sequence corresponding to the reception signal sequence based on the reception information, wherein the analyzer is configured to analyze the pseudo-reception signal sequence.
In an analogous photoacoustic diagnostic field of endeavor Wada discloses a generating a pseudo-reception signal sequence corresponding to a reception signal sequence based on reception information, and analyzing the pseudo-reception signal sequence (Wada, Para 42-48; “a missing signal corresponding to the position may be interpolated by newly creating a signal based on the signals from surrounding positions. For example, the missing signal may be interpolated by averaging signals from elements adjacent to the position without the detection element, or the missing signal may be interpolated by shifting an original signal in the time domain taking into account the phase to perform averaging and create a pseudo-signal […] Process 3 (S131): Process of Combining Detected Signals In this process, the signal processor 80 combines detected signals. Here, the detected signals are concepts including the electrical signals acquired in S111 and S112 and the digital signals acquired in S121. […] When a signal corresponding to a specific position is missing in the combined signal, the missing signal may be interpolated by newly creating a signal based on the signals from the probes. For example, the missing signal can be interpolated by averaging signals from elements adjacent to the position without the element or by shifting an original signal in the time domain taking into account the phase to perform averaging and create a pseudo-signal […] In this process, the signal processor 80 performs image reconstruction based on the combined detected signal generated in S131 to generate image data of the inside of the subject.”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Irisawa to include a restorer configured to generate the pseudo-reception signal sequence corresponding to the reception signal sequence based on the reception information, wherein the analyzer is configured to analyze the pseudo-reception signal sequence in order to acquire a useful signal that accounts for errors or missing signals as taught by Wada (Wada, Para 42-48).
Claim 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Irisawa et al. (US20180177409, hereafter Irisawa), Nakabayashi et al. (US20190162589, hereafter Nakabayashi), Abe (US20150182124) and Murphy et al. (US20240259966, hereafter Murphy).
Regarding claim 9, Irisawa discloses in Figure 1 synchronization control method (photoacoustic image generation apparatus 10) (Irisawa, Para 42; “A photoacoustic image generation apparatus 10 includes a probe (ultrasound probe) 11, an ultrasound unit 12, a first light source (laser unit) 13, a second light source (laser unit) 14, and a puncture needle 15) comprising:
a step of, in a state in which an insertion member (puncture needle 15) including an optical absorption element (light absorption/conversion member 51) that converts an optical pulse from a light source (light source 13) (Irisawa, Para 43; “The first light source 13 emits light with a first wavelength. The second light source 14 emits light with a second wavelength. For example, the first light source 13 and the second light source 14 emit pulsed light with a pulse energy of about 0.3 μJ to 30 μJ and a pulse time width of about 1 ns to 100 ns. The first wavelength and the second wavelength are different from each other. The first light source 13 and the second light source 14 are, for example, solid-state laser light sources. The type of light source is not particularly limited. The first light source 13 and the second light source 14 may be laser diode light sources (semiconductor laser light sources) or light amplifying laser light sources having a laser diode light source as a seed light source. In addition, light sources other than the laser light source may be used.”) into a photoacoustic wave is inserted into an acoustic propagation medium (Irisawa, Para 45; “The puncture needle 15 is a needle that is inserted into a subject.”) (Irisawa, Para 46-47; “FIG. 2 illustrates the vicinity of a leading end of the puncture needle 15. The puncture needle 15 has a light absorption/conversion member 51 provided in the vicinity of the leading end. […] The light absorption/conversion member 51 absorbs the light with the first wavelength emitted from the first light emitting portion 153 a and generates photoacoustic waves.”) and a probe(probe 11), receiving the photoacoustic wave from the optical absorption element via a plurality of transducers in the probe (Irisawa, Para 65; “Returning to FIG. 1, the probe 11 includes, for example, a plurality of detector elements (ultrasound transducers) which are acoustic wave detection unit and are one-dimensionally arranged. After the puncture needle 15 is inserted into the subject, the probe 11 detects the photoacoustic waves (first photoacoustic waves) generated from the light absorption/conversion member 51 (see FIG. 2) and the photoacoustic waves (second photoacoustic waves) generated by the absorption of the light with the third wavelength emitted from the light absorption/conversion member 51 by the light absorber.”);
a step of analyzing a reception signal sequence consisting of a plurality of reception signals output in parallel from the plurality of transducers or a pseudo-reception signal sequence corresponding to the reception signal sequence (Irisawa, Para 69; “The generation of the photoacoustic image includes, for example, image reconfiguration, such as phasing addition, detection, and logarithmic conversion. The ultrasound image generation unit 25 generates an ultrasound image (reflected acoustic image) on the basis of the detection signal of the reflected ultrasonic waves detected by the probe 11”) (Irisawa, Para 67; “The receiving circuit 21 receives a detection signal output from the probe 11 and stores the received detection signal in the receiving memory 22.”) (Irisawa, Para 68; “The data demultiplexing unit 23 reads out the sampling data of the detection signal of the photoacoustic waves from the receiving memory 22 and transmits the sampling data to the photoacoustic image generation unit 24. In addition, the data demultiplexing unit 23 reads out the sampling data of the reflected ultrasonic waves from the receiving memory 22 and transmits the sampling data to the ultrasound image generation unit (reflected acoustic image generation unit) 25.”)
Irisawa does not clearly and explicitly disclose wherein the probe is in contact with the acoustic propagation medium, a step of analyzing a reception signal sequence consisting of a plurality of reception signals output in parallel from the plurality of transducers or a pseudo-reception signal sequence corresponding to the reception signal sequence to calculate a synchronization deviation between an optical pulse period in the light source and a reception period in the probe; and a step of changing at least one of the optical pulse period or the reception period based on the synchronization deviation.
In an analogous photoacoustic diagnostics field of endeavor Nakabayashi discloses wherein a probe is in contact with an acoustic propagation medium (Nakabayashi, Para 5; “To this end, the light irradiating unit should desirably be attached and detached while the photoacoustic probe is in contact with the object in the configuration disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2016-049215.”) (Nakabayashi, Para 8; “a probe body including a receiving portion which receives a photoacoustic wave generated from the object in response to irradiation of the light emitted from the light source on the object and a contact portion which contacts the object; and an attachment to which the probe body and the light source are attached, wherein the light source is attachable to and detachable from the attachment from a side different from the object side where the contact portion contacts the object.”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Irisawa wherein the probe is in contact with the acoustic propagation medium as taught by Nakabayashi in order to improve SNR.
In an analogous photoacoustic diagnostics field of endeavor Abe discloses a controller configured to change at least one of an optical pulse period or a reception period based on synchronization deviation (Abe, Para 101-110; “instability may occur during synchronization due to the propagation time of the electric signal. In the fourth embodiment, this problem is dealt with by stabilizing synchronization using a delay circuit. […] the oscillation start signal S1 is generated in synchronization with the sampling clock S3. When, at this time, a time between the sampling clock S3 and the oscillation start signal S1 is set as a delay time T4, T4 can be calculated as follows. The time T4 is obtained by adding together a time required for the sampling clock S3 to propagate from the photoacoustic reception unit 3 to the laser pulse transmission unit 1, a delay time of the laser emission synchronization control circuit 15, and a time required for the oscillation start signal S1 to propagate between the laser emission synchronization control circuit 15 and the write control circuit 351 […] The delay circuit 36 delays an input electric signal by a predetermined time, and is capable of adjusting a delay amount.”) (Abe, Para 14; “an image generation unit that generates an image representing information relating to the interior of the subject on the basis of the digital data; and a synchronization unit that synchronizes the sampling clock with the emission trigger input into the light emission unit.”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Irisawa to include a step of changing at least one of the optical pulse period or the reception period based on the synchronization deviation in order to stabilize the measurement signal which improves precision as taught by Abe (Abe, Para 101-110 and 12-14).
In an analogous synchronization of diagnostic signals field of endeavor Murphy discloses an analyzer configured to analyze a signal sequence to calculate a synchronization deviation and adjust synchronization based on the calculated deviation (Murphy, Para 106-108; “The one or more processors 302 may be configured to receive, from the wireless mobile device, a sixth time-stamp (e.g., generated using the second clock) of a time at which a generation of the at least one measurement by at least one sensor of the wireless head-wearable sensor arrangement is (e.g., instructed to be) started to the computing system. The at least one time-stamp allocated to the at least one measurement may be indicative of a time provided by the first clock at which the generation of the at least one measurement was started, wherein the sixth time-stamp may be indicative of a time provided by the second clock at which the generation of the at least one measurement was started. That is, a deviation between the time indicated by the at least one time-stamp and the sixth time-stamp may be representative of a time misalignment between the first and the second clock at the time the generation of the at least one measurement was started. The one or more processors 302 may be configured to receive, from the wireless mobile device, an indication of this time misalignment. The one or more processors 302 may be configured to receive, from the wireless mobile device, a ninth time-stamp (e.g., generated using the second clock 206) of a (e.g. predetermined) time at which the generation of the at least one measurement was ongoing. The at least one time-stamp allocated to the at least one measurement may be indicative of a time provided by the first clock at which the generation of the at least one measurement was ongoing, wherein the ninth time-stamp may be indicative of a (e.g., corresponding) time provided by the second clock at which the generation of the at least one measurement was ongoing. That is, a deviation between the time indicated by the at least one time-stamp and the ninth time-stamp may be representative of a time misalignment between the first and the second clock at the (e.g., predetermined) time the generation of the at least one measurement was ongoing. The one or more processors 302 may be configured to receive an indication of this time misalignment from the wireless mobile device.”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Irisawa to include a step of analyzing a reception signal sequence consisting of a plurality of reception signals output in parallel from the plurality of transducers or a pseudo-reception signal sequence corresponding to the reception signal sequence to calculate a synchronization deviation between an optical pulse period in the light source and a reception period in the probe in order to improve reliability of the information as taught by Murphy (Murphy, Para 216-220 and 4-5).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-4 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:
The prior art does not disclose the limitations set forth in claim 3. Specifically the prior art does not disclose an ultrasonic imaging system comprising: a light source configured to generate an optical pulse; an insertion member that is inserted into a living body and that includes an optical absorption element which converts the optical pulse into a photoacoustic wave; a probe including a plurality of transducers that receive the photoacoustic wave; a receiver configured to apply phase addition to a reception signal sequence consisting of a plurality of reception signals that are output in parallel from the plurality of transducers; a generator configured to generate a photoacoustic image representing a position of the optical absorption element in the living body based on reception information output from the receiver; an analyzer configured to analyze the reception signal sequence or a pseudo-reception signal sequence corresponding to the reception signal sequence to calculate a synchronization deviation between an optical pulse period in the light source and a reception period in the probe; and a controller configured to change at least one of the optical pulse period or the reception period based on the synchronization deviation, wherein the analyzer is configured to detect a plurality of photoacoustic wave signals included in the reception signal sequence or the pseudo-reception signal sequence, calculate the synchronization deviation based on a plurality of detection timings of the plurality of photoacoustic wave signals, calculate a plurality of apparent propagation times from a reception period start timing to the plurality of detection timings, and calculate the synchronization deviation based on the plurality of apparent propagation times as set forth in the claims.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to John Li whose telephone number is (313)446-4916. The examiner can normally be reached Monday to Thursday; 5:30 AM to 3:30 PM Eastern.
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/JOHN D LI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3798