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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claims 1, 14, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to mathematical concepts and mental processes without significantly more. Claims 2-13 and 15 – 19 do not recite more than an abstract idea and are also rejected for similar reasons noted. The claim(s) recite(s) features such as “determining a first score of the digital medical image based on the detected centers of the first and second landmarks, the first score representing a degree of laxity between the first landmark and the second landmark”; “determining a composite score based on the first score and the second score”; “comparing the composite score to an image selection threshold”; “determining, based on the comparing of the composite score to the image selection threshold, the digital medical image is an optimal medical image for diagnosis”. This judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application because each of these processes can be done mathematically or mentally. The claim(s) does/do not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception because as claimed, “applying a first machine learning system” and “applying a first classifier” are recited at a high level of generality without specifying a particular architecture or improvement to the functioning of the computer itself. Claims 2-13 and 15 – 19 do not recite more than an abstract idea and are also rejected for similar reasons noted above.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim 7 recites the limitation "”detecting the first region of interest in the digital medical further includes…" and it appears the word “image” is missing. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Note: Claims 1, 14, 20 recites “determining… the digital medical image is an optimal medical image for diagnosis”. The term “optimal” could be considered a relative/subjective term, however, the specification defines “optimal” in context as a composite score meeting or exceeding a threshold (¶[0091]), providing an objective standard.
Conclusion
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/AMANDEEP SAINI/
Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2662
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