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 § 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.
Claim(s) 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hong (US 2024/0252153) in view of Duffy (US 2023/0346353).
[Claim 1]
In regard to Claim 1, Hong discloses an ultrasound imaging system configured for conducting a dual-mode guided ultrasound imaging procedure (Figure 1), the system comprising:
an ultrasound imaging probe (Figure 1 shows probe 110);
a computing system (Figure 1); and
a computer-readable storage medium, storing instructions that, when executed by a processor
of the computing system cause the ultrasound imaging system (Paragraphs 0040-0045) to:
an unprocessed first mode image of the first plurality of images to a machine learning model to determine one or more user metrics comprising a contemporaneous image quality score and/or a guided movement expected to improve an image quality of a subsequently acquired second plurality of images compared to an image quality of the first plurality of images, based at least in part on the unprocessed first mode image of the first plurality of images (Paragraphs 0042-0045 and paragraphs 0055-0060 describe the user metrics for processing of the images); however, fails to disclose
a first plurality of images comprising a first mode and a second mode, the first mode comprising a B-mode ultrasound imaging mode, and the second mode comprising a zoom ultrasound imaging mode;
wherein the one or more user metrics are provided to a user of the ultrasound imaging system.
Duffy discloses a system for ultrasound image acquisition that includes a first plurality of images comprising a first mode and a second mode, the first mode comprising a B-mode ultrasound imaging mode, and the second mode comprising a zoom ultrasound imaging mode (Paragraphs 0055-065 describes the use of using B-mode and other imaging modes for optimally zooming and focusing the image data).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to use the ultrasound system as disclosed by Hong and further incorporate a system that provides guided ultrasound imaging using B-mode, as taught by Duffy to provide improved guided image acquisition and quality assessment by optimizing image quality (Paragraph 0028-0029).
[claim 2]
In regard to Claim 2, Hong discloses teaching user metrics (Paragraph 0057-0061); however, fails to disclose conducting a dual-mode guided ultrasound imaging produce, the method comprising obtaining a first plurality of images from an ultrasound imaging system, the first plurality of images comprising a first mode and a second mode, the first mode comprising a B-mode ultrasound imaging mode, and the second mode comprising a zoom ultrasound imaging mode; submitting an unprocessed first mode image of the first plurality of images to a machine learning model to determine one or more user metrics comprising a contemporaneous image quality score and/or a guided movement expected to improve an image quality of a subsequently acquired second plurality of images compared to an image quality of the first plurality of images, based at least in part on the unprocessed first mode image of the first plurality of images; and providing the one or more user metrics to a user of the ultrasound imaging system. Duffy teaches a system for adjusting and aquiring images at different depths and magnifications to provide guided movement of the plurality of images (Paragraphs 0050-0060). The reason to combine as been previously discussed in Claim 1.
[claim 3]
In regard to Claim 3, Hong discloses an ultrasound imaging system of claim 1, wherein the first plurality of images comprises multiple, repetitive images (Paragraphs 0042, 0055, 0060-0061 describes the repetitive images used).
[claim 4]
In regard to Claim 4, Hong discloses an ultrasound imaging system of claim 1, wherein the B-mode depicts an anatomical structure (Paragraphs 0030 and 0042 describe the B-mode ultrasound imaging of anatomical structures).
[claim 5]
In regard to Claim 5, Duffy teaches an ultrasound imaging system of claim 1, wherein the zoom ultrasound imaging mode magnifies the target feature in the second plurality of images together with a user readable structural image of the first mode (Figures 2a-2b and 5a show the processing of plurarlity of images based on user selection).
[claim 6]
In regard to Claim 6, Hong discloses ultrasound imaging system of claim 1, wherein the zoom ultrasound imaging mode magnifies the target feature in a target organ (Paragraph 0051).
[claim 7]
In regard to Claim 7, Hong discloses an ultrasound imaging system of claim 1, wherein the zoom ultrasound imaging mode magnifies one or more aspects including depth, angle, and line density (Paragraphs 0051-0060 describes the settings for ultrasound imaging).
[claim 8]
In regard to Claim 8, Hong discloses an ultrasound imaging system of claim 1, wherein the improvement in image quality improves the raw image quality (Paragraphs 004, 0055-0060).
[claim 9]
In regard to Claim 9, Duffy teaches an ultrasound imaging system of claim 8, wherein the raw image quality is improved by one or more aspects including reducing pixclation, noise, clutter, or speckle, or increased clarity or contrast (Paragraphs 0058).
[claim 10]
In regard to Claim 10, Hong discloses an ultrasound imaging system of claim 8, wherein the improvement in image quality comprises an improvement in visualization of a target structural feature of a target organ of a subject (Paragraphs 0055-0061).
[claim 11]
In regard to Claim 11, Hong discloses an ultrasound imaging system of claim 1, further comprising:
(d) the first mode image of the second plurality of ultrasound images (Paragraphs 0055-0061);
(e) the unprocessed first mode image of (d) is submitted to a machine learning model to obtain one or more updated user metrics instructions (Paragraphs 0055-0061 discloses unprocessed images processed through MLM); and
(f) the updated user metrics instructions are provided to the user (Paragraph 0061 describes update from user).
[claim 12]
In regard to Claim 12, Hong discloses an 12. The ultrasound imaging system of claim 11, further comprising repeating (d) and (e) in real-time (Paragraphs 0055-0061 describes a real time situation).
[claim 13]
In regard to Claim 13, Duffy teaches an ultrasound imaging system of claim 12, wherein the user metrics are provided until a target view is reached (Figure 14).
[claim 14]
In regard to Claim 14, Duffy teaches an ultrasound imaging system of claim 13, wherein the target view is determined based at least in part on the diagnostic procedure (Paragraphs 0030-0033).
[claim 15]
In regard to Claim 15, Duffy teaches an ultrasound imaging system of claim 14, wherein the user metrics are provided until a threshold quality is reached (Paragraphs 0072-0074 teaches the threshold image quality being achieved).
[claim 16]
In regard to Claim 16, Duffy teaches an ultrasound imaging system of claim 15, wherein the threshold quality depends upon a presence of a target structural feature of an organ, a clarity of structural image quality, doppler image quality, or a combination thereof (Paragraph 0026-0030-0044 describes the threshold of quality depending on target structure (lung)).
[claim 17]
In regard to Claim 17, Duffy teaches an ultrasound imaging system of claim 16, wherein the unprocessed second mode data is used to determine the user metrics (Figure 12 and described in Pargraphs 0117-0122).
[claim 18]
In regard to Claim 18, Hong disclsoes an ultrasound imaging system of claim 1, wherein the first mode is used to determine one or more aspects including current, threshold quality, or target view; and wherein the second mode is used to determine one or more aspects including current, threshold quality, or target view (Pargraphs 0042-0062).
[claim 19]
In regard to Claim 19 Hong discloses an ultrasound imaging system of claim 1, wherein the unprocessed first mode image comprises a plurality of raw images that have not been enhanced for human-readability and are not in a displayable format; and wherein the unprocessed second mode image comprises a plurality of raw images that have not been enhanced for human-readability and are not in a
displayable format (Paragraph 0042-0050).
[claim 20]
Claim 20 has been rejected based on Claim 1.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Li et al (US 11250294)
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/JAMIE J ATALA/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2486
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