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 Species I in the reply filed on 7/31/2026 is acknowledged.
Claim 7 is withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected species, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 7/31/2026.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-6, 8, and 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Kurome et al. (US 7,307,421).
Regarding claim 1, Kurome et al. discloses a superconducting magnet (elements 101a, 101b, Fig. 12) comprising: a loop-shaped superconducting coil (element 11, Fig. 12) for forming a static magnetic field; and a cryostat (element 2, Fig. 12) having a top plate portion (element 54, Fig. 12) and a bottom plate portion (element 25, Fig. 12) and being a housing storing the superconducting coil (see Fig. 12), wherein in at least one of a space on an inner peripheral side or a space on an outer peripheral side of the superconducting coil, a part of at least one of the top plate portion or the bottom plate portion is bent toward an inner side of the cryostat and joined to a part of the other of the top plate portion or the bottom plate portion (see Fig. 12).
Regarding claim 2, Kurome et al. discloses a superconducting magnet, wherein a part of the bottom plate portion is bent toward the inner side of the cryostat and joined to a part of the top plate portion (see Fig. 12), and the superconducting magnet further comprises a reinforcer (element 56, Fig. 12) that is arranged in a space outside the cryostat in which the bottom plate portion is bent, the reinforcer being configured to support a load imposed on the cryostat (see Fig. 12).
Regarding claim 3, Kurome et al. discloses a superconducting magnet, wherein a part of the top plate portion is bent toward the inner side of the cryostat and joined to a part of the bottom plate portion (see Fig. 12), and the superconducting magnet further comprises a fixer that is arranged in a space outside the cryostat in which the top plate portion is bent, the fixer being configured to fix a shim capable of adjusting the static magnetic field (see col. 7, lines 16-40 and Fig. 12).
Regarding claim 4, Kurome et al. discloses a superconducting magnet, wherein both a part of the top plate portion and a part of the bottom plate portion are bent toward the inner side of the cryostat and joined to each other (see Fig. 12), with a position of a joint portion between the part of the top plate portion and the part of the bottom plate portion adjusted to create a space having a size that allows a shim capable of adjusting the static magnetic field and a fixer configured to fix the shim to be arranged (see col. 7, lines 16-40 and Fig. 12).
Regarding claim 5, Kurome et al. discloses a superconducting magnet, wherein a thickness of the top plate portion is designed based on a size of the cryostat and an expected load on the top plate portion (see col. 13, line 49 through col. 14, line 25).
Regarding claim 6, Kurome et al. discloses a superconducting magnet, wherein the superconducting coil is formed of a plurality of coils (elements 12, 13, Fig. 12) having operating temperature zones differing from each other, and the plurality of coils are arranged independently for each of the operating temperature zones (see Fig. 12), the plurality of coils being arranged in respective regions inside the cryostat that are separated from each other by the part of at least one of the top plate portion or the bottom plate portion bent toward the inner side of the cryostat and joined to the part of the other of the top plate portion or the bottom plate portion (see Fig. 12).
Regarding claim 8, Kurome et al. discloses a superconducting magnet, wherein a joint portion between the part of the top plate portion and the part of the bottom plate portion is formed by at least one of welding, adhesion, bolt tightening (see col. 7, lines 41-62).
Regarding claim 9, Kurome et al. discloses a magnetic resonance imaging apparatus comprising: a superconducting magnet (elements 101a, 102b, Fig. 12) for generating a static magnetic field; a gradient magnetic field coil (element 21, Fig. 12) for generating a gradient magnetic field; and an RF coil (element 22, Fig. 12) for irradiating a subject in an imaging space with an RF pulse, wherein the superconducting magnet comprises: a loop-shaped superconducting coil (element 11, Fig. 12) for forming the static magnetic field; and a cryostat (element 2, Fig. 12) having a top plate portion (element 54, Fig. 12) and a bottom plate portion (element 25, Fig. 12) and being a housing storing the superconducting coil (see Fig. 12), wherein in at least one of a space on an inner peripheral side or a space on an outer peripheral side of the superconducting coil, a part of at least one of the top plate portion or the bottom plate portion is bent toward an inner side of the cryostat and joined to a part of the other of the top plate portion or the bottom plate portion (see Fig. 12).
Claims 1, 6, and 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Yu et al. (US 2022/0193450).
Regarding claim 1, Yu et al. discloses a superconducting magnet (see par. [0068]) comprising: a loop-shaped superconducting coil (elements 601, 602, Fig. 6A) for forming the static magnetic field; and a cryostat (element 603, Fig. 6C) having a top plate portion and a bottom plate portion and being a housing storing the superconducting coil (see Fig. 6C), wherein in at least one of a space on an inner peripheral side or a space on an outer peripheral side of the superconducting coil, a part of at least one of the top plate portion or the bottom plate portion is bent toward an inner side of the cryostat and joined to a part of the other of the top plate portion or the bottom plate portion (see Fig. 6C).
Regarding claim 6, Yu et al. discloses a superconducting magnet, wherein the superconducting coil is formed of a plurality of coils (elements 601, 602, Fig. 6A) having operating temperature zones differing from each other (see Fig. 6C), and the plurality of coils are arranged independently for each of the operating temperature zones (see Fig. 6C), the plurality of coils being arranged in respective regions inside the cryostat that are separated from each other by the part of at least one of the top plate portion or the bottom plate portion bent toward the inner side of the cryostat and joined to the part of the other of the top plate portion or the bottom plate portion (see Fig. 6C).
Regarding claim 9, Yu et al. discloses a magnetic resonance imaging apparatus (element 310, Fig. 3A) comprising: a superconducting magnet for generating a static magnetic field (see par. [0068]); a gradient magnetic field coil for generating a gradient magnetic field (see par. [0068]); and an RF coil for irradiating a subject in an imaging space with an RF pulse (see par. [0068]), wherein the superconducting magnet comprises: a loop-shaped superconducting coil (elements 601, 602, Fig. 6A) for forming the static magnetic field; and a cryostat (element 603, Fig. 6C) having a top plate portion and a bottom plate portion and being a housing storing the superconducting coil (see Fig. 6C), wherein in at least one of a space on an inner peripheral side or a space on an outer peripheral side of the superconducting coil, a part of at least one of the top plate portion or the bottom plate portion is bent toward an inner side of the cryostat and joined to a part of the other of the top plate portion or the bottom plate portion (see Fig. 6C).
Claims 1 and 6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Sasaki et al. (US 6,060,971).
Regarding claim 1, Sasaki et al. discloses a superconducting magnet (see Fig. 6) comprising: a loop-shaped superconducting coil (elements 2a, 2b, Fig. 6) for forming a static magnetic field; and a cryostat (element 51, Fig. 6) having a top plate portion (element 52, Fig. 6) and a bottom plate portion (elements 53, 55, 56, Fig. 6) and being a housing storing the superconducting coil, wherein in a space on an inner peripheral side of the superconducting coil, a part (element 55, Fig. 6) of the bottom plate portion is bent toward an inner side of the cryostat and joined to a part of the other of the top plate portion (see Fig. 6).
Regarding claim 6, Sasaki et al. discloses a superconducting magnet, wherein the superconducting coil is formed of a plurality of coils (elements 2a, 2b, Fig. 6) having operating temperature zones differing from each other, and the plurality of coils are arranged independently for each of the operating temperature zones (see Fig. 6), the plurality of coils being arranged in respective regions inside the cryostat that are separated from each other by the part of the bottom plate portion bent toward the inner side of the cryostat and joined to the part of the top plate portion (see Fig. 6).
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MILTON GONZALEZ whose telephone number is (571)270-7914. The examiner can normally be reached 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM.
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/WALTER L LINDSAY JR/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2852
/M.G/Examiner, Art Unit 2852
9/14/2026
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