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 .
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.
The USPTO Internet website contains terminal disclaimer forms which may be used. Please visit www.uspto.gov/patent/patents-forms. The actual filing date of the application in which the form is filed determines what form (e.g., PTO/SB/25, PTO/SB/26, PTO/AIA /25, or PTO/AIA /26) should be used. A web-based eTerminal Disclaimer may be filled out completely online using web-screens. An eTerminal Disclaimer that meets all requirements is auto-processed and approved immediately upon submission. For more information about eTerminal Disclaimers, refer to www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/applying-online/eterminal-disclaimer.
Claims 1, 10 and 19 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 13, 1 and 18, respectively, of U.S. Patent No. 12,169,936. Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because claims 1, 10 and 19 of the current application are anticipated by claims 13, 1 and 18, respectively, of US Patent No. 12,169,936. In particular, both the current application and US patent recite a first network is used on the coarsely labeled images to produce better labels. Those improved labels can then be used to train a second network.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-20 would be allowable if rewritten or amended to overcome the double patenting rejection(s) set forth in this Office action.
In regards to claims 1, the prior art “A Teacher-Student Framework for Semi-supervised Medical Image Segmentation From Mixed Supervision” by Sun et al. (hereinafter ‘Sun’) teaches an apparatus, comprising: memory storing instructions; and at least one processor configured via the instructions to: (See Sun Section IV (B), Sun teaches processor and a system).
train a first artificial neural network to perform an operation on a first dataset according to first labels provided for the first dataset (See Sun Figure 2 and Section III(c), Sun teaches training teacher network using first set of images).
train a second artificial neural network to perform the operation on the first dataset according to first labels provided for the first dataset and to perform the operation on the second dataset according to the third labels provided for the second dataset. (See Sun Figure 2, Section III(D), Sun teaches training a student network using first image dataset and pseudo labels.)
However, Sun does not teach or suggest to perform the operation on a second dataset according to second labels provided for the second dataset; perform, using the first artificial neural network, the operation on the second dataset to generate third labels. In particular, Sun does not teach training a teacher network using both fine and coarse labeled image sets. It is for these reasons claim 1 is allowed.
Claims 10 and 19 are indicated allowable for the same reasons as claim 1.
Claims 2-9, 11-18 and 20 are indicated allowable for being dependent on claims 1, 10 and 19.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to UTPAL D SHAH whose telephone number is (571)272-5729. The examiner can normally be reached M-F: 7:30-5:30.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Vu Le can be reached at (571) 272-7332. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/UTPAL D SHAH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2668
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