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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of group I species IA in the reply filed on 06/09/2026 is acknowledged.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 of this title, 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, 7 and 8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over
Atia et al. (US 20090059970 A1 hereinafter Atia) and in further view of Daniel et al. (Line-field parallel swept source MHz OCT for structural and functional retinal imaging, Biomedical Optics express, filed in IDS).
As to claim 1, Atia teaches an optical coherence tomography system (title) comprising:
a swept laser source (abstract) configured to emit light with a wavelength that tunes across a scanband (abstract),
a sensor comprising array of pixels configured to detect interference signals corresponding to light scattered from a sample and reference light ([0006] and [0011]);
a frequency reference disposed to interact with a portion of the light emitted by the swept laser source and produce a reference pattern across the scanband, the periodic reference pattern being detected by pixels in the line-field sensor ([0027]);
a computer configured to:
(a) determine a resampling curve based on the reference pattern to correct non-linearities in the tuning of the swept laser source (Fig. 8 step 1012 and 1014 and claim 21);
(b) apply the resampling curve to k-linearize the interference signals detected by the line-field sensor (Fig. 8 step 1014, k-linearize: equally space frequency grid); and
(c) perform an inverse Fourier transform on the k-linearized interference signals to generate depth profiles (Fig. 8 step 1016); and
a display configured to render tomographic images generated from the depth profiles ([0036]).
However, Atia does not explicitly disclose a line-field sensor comprising a linear array of pixels.
Daniel teaches use of a line-field sensor comprising a linear array of pixels for the swept source OCT (title and page 719 end of first paragraph and 721 “The line-field interferometric signal ( , ) I kξ is recorded by a linear sensor”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to modify the system of Atia by having a line-field sensor comprising a linear array of pixels for the benefit including ultra fast frame rate, near-cellular resolution and fewer motion artifacts.
As to claim 2, Atia when modified by Daniel teaches the system of claim 1.
Atia further teaches the frequency reference comprises an etalon configured to produce a periodic interference pattern as the swept laser source tunes across the scanband ([0027]).
As to claim 7, Atia when modified by Daniel teaches the system of claim 1.
Atia further teaches the computer is further configured to update a tuning function of the swept laser source ([0006] simultaneous high-speed tuning).
As to claim 8, Atia when modified by Daniel teaches the system of claim 1.
Atia teaches tomographic images are formed from a series of k-linearized depth profiles acquired (abstract and Fig. 8).
However, Atia does not explicitly disclose a scanning mechanism configured to move the line of illumination across the sample, wherein the profile acquired at different lateral positions.
Daniel teaches a scanning mechanism configured to move the line of illumination across the sample, wherein the profile acquired at different lateral positions (page.719 second paragraph, utilizing a commercially available swept source and line scan camera. Besides line-focus illumination and detection, and Fig. 1).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to modify the system of Atia by having a scanning mechanism configured to move the line of illumination across the sample, wherein the profile acquired at different lateral positions for the benefit including enhancing acquisition speed and reducing motion caused artifacts.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-6 are 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.
As to claim 3, none of the prior art alone or in combination disclose or teach of the etalon is positioned so that it covers only a portion of the linear array of pixels, defining a set of reference pixels dedicated to detecting the periodic reference pattern along with other limitations in the claim.
Claim 4 is indicated as allowable due to their dependencies only.
AS to claim 5, Koerner et al. (US 20150077760 A1) teaches in regard OCT, the swept laser source comprises a cat’s-eye configuration (FIG. 58 and 59 and [0098] and [0099]).
However, none of the prior art alone or in combination disclose or teach of a cat’s-eye configuration including a bandpass filter and an angle control actuator for tilt-tuning the filter to achieve the wavelength sweep in OCT along with other limitations in the claim.
AS to claim 6, none of the prior art alone or in combination disclose or teach of the computer is configured to recalculate the resampling curve periodically after a predetermined number of sweeps, thereby maintaining or improving the k-linearity over time along with other limitations in the claim.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SUNGHEE Y GRAY whose telephone number is (571)270-3211. The examiner can normally be reached on M-R, 8:00 am-4:00 pm and F 8 :00 to 2:00 pm.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Kara Geisel can be reached on (571) 272-2416. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-270-4211.
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/SUNGHEE Y GRAY/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2886
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