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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 1/16/2025 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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 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.
Claims 1-4 and 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yoshii (US 2009/0323890 A1) in view of Kudo (JP 5820162 B2, pagination according to provided translation).
Regarding claim 1, Yoshii discloses an x-ray CT apparatus (Figs.1A, 1B and 5); including:
a) a fixed frame 3;
b) a rotation frame 4 that is rotatable with respect to the fixed frame 3 and includes an x-ray source 6 and an x-ray detector 7;
c) a slip ring 1 that rotates in synchronization with the rotation frame 4;
d) a power supply brush 2 and a signal transmission brush 2 that are in contact with the slip ring 1 (pars.0038-0039);
e) a cover 11 that covers the slip ring 1, the power supply brush 2 and the signal transmission brush 2 (Fig.5); and
f) a collection container 13 provided in the cover 11 and has an opening portion 12 and collects an abrasion powder and in which the opening portion 12 is positioned below the power supply brush 2 in a direction of gravitational force (Fig.5).
Further regarding claim 1, Yoshii does not specifically disclose that the collection container 13 extends to a side of a forward direction of an air flow occurring due to a rotation of the slip ring. Yoshii disclosed actively encouraging air flow in the direction of rotation for collecting the abrasion powder into the collection container more efficiently (Fig.1A); however, the structural details of the collection container 13 are not disclosed.
Kudo teaches the practice of providing an abrasion powder collection container 44 extending to a side of a forward direction of an air flow occurring due to a rotation of a slip ring 28 (Figs.1 and 4). In this manner, the abrasion powder is collected more efficiently by following the air flow (bottom of p.4).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention for Yoshii to have the collection container extend to a side of a forward direction of an air flow occurring due to a rotation of the slip ring in order to improve the efficiency of abrasion powder collection for improved operation and longevity of the CT system, as taught by Kudo.
With respect to claim 2, Yoshii does not specifically disclose the structural details of the opening 12.
Kudo teaches the practice of providing an opening 431 in the cover 43 that spreads toward the cover 43 (wider at the opening 431 than in the duct 441 toward the filter 443, Fig.4) for unimpeded air flow into the collection container 44, and thus efficient abrasion powder collection for improved operation and longevity of the CT system.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention for Yoshii to have the opening in the cover spreading toward the cover in order to improve the efficiency of abrasion powder collection for improved operation and longevity of the CT system, as taught by Kudo.
With respect to claim 3, Yoshii does not specifically disclose the structural details of the collection container 13.
Kudo teaches the practice of providing the collection container 44 extending in a tangential direction with respect to an outer periphery of the cover 43 (Fig.4) in order to improve the efficiency of abrasion powder collection by going with the flow.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention for Yoshii to have the collection container extend in a tangential direction with respect to an outer periphery of the cover for further optimizing the collection of abrasion powder for improved operation and longevity of the CT system, as taught by Kudo.
With respect to claim 4, Yoshii does not specifically disclose the structural details of the collection container 13.
Kudo teaches the practice of providing the collection container 44 with a porous member 442 for convenient trapping and removal of the abrasion powder (Fig.4; also see bottom of p.4, removable filter 442).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention for Yoshii to provide the collection container with a porous member in order to more efficiently collect and dispose of the abrasion powder, as taught by Kudo.
With respect to claim 9, Yoshii further discloses that the cover 11 is disposed on a side opposite to the fixed frame 3 with respect to the slip ring 1 (Fig.5).
Claims 1-3, 5 and 8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tsujita (JP 6883961 B2, pagination according to provided translation), in view of Yoshii (US 2009/0323890 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Tsujita discloses an x-ray CT apparatus (Figs.1-5, 9, 17 and 18), including:
a) a fixed frame 53;
b) a rotation frame 51 that is rotatable with respect to the fixed frame 53;
c) a slip ring 71 that rotates in synchronization with the rotation frame 51;
d) a power supply brush 73 in contact with the slip ring 71;
e) a cover 753 that covers the slip ring 71 and the power supply brush 73 (Fig.7); and
f) a collection container 81 which is provided in the cover 753 and has an opening portion (not labelled, see Fig.9) and collects an abrasion powder (see at least bottom half of p.6), the opening portion being positioned below the power supply brush in a direction of gravitational force and extends to a side of a forward direction of an air flow occurring due to a rotation of the slip ring (Figs.4, 5 and 9, longest dimension of container 81 runs along the peripheral edge of the cover parallel to the direction of air flow).
Further regarding claim 1, Tsujita does not specifically disclose a signal transmission brush. Tsujita does not disclose how control signals and/or projection data is transferred from the rotor to the stator.
Yoshii teaches the practice of providing a signal transmission brush 2 as part of the power supply brush 2 (par.0039) as a known means of suppling control signals and/or projection data from the rotor to the stator.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention for Tsujita to include a signal transmission brush in order to effect transmission of control signals and/or projection data as known in the art.
With respect to claim 2, Tsujita further discloses that the opening portion is spread toward the cover 753 (the full top of the collection container 81 is open to the slip ring area, Fig.9).
With respect to claim 3, Tsujita further discloses that the collection container 81 extends in a tangential direction with respect to an outer periphery of the cover 753 (Figs.5 and 9).
With respect to claim 5, Tsujita further discloses that the power supply brush 73 is positioned below an imaginary horizontal line passing through a rotation axis of the rotation frame in the direction of gravitational force (Figs.3 and 5).
With respect to claim 8, Tsujita, in combination with the teachings of Yoshii, results in the power supply brush and the signal transmission brush being disposed at the same position in a circumferential direction of the slip ring (Yoshii teaches that the brush 2 may contain both power and signal transmission brushes, pars.0038-0039).
Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tsujita and Yoshii, as applied to claim 5 above, in view of Deucher (US 5,220,588).
With respect to claim 6, neither Tsujita nor Yoshiii specifically disclose separate brushes for power supply and signal transmission.
Deucher teaches the routine practice of providing separate brushes for power supply 26 and for signal transmission 28 at different positions in a circumferential direction of the slip ring (Figs.1 and 2) or more, as needed for a large number of data and power channels (col.3, lines 46-64), where the brushes are separately located with assemblies optimized for the relative differences in the electrical load carried by the power supply brushes (Fig.6) versus the signal transmission brushes (Fig.3).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention for Tsujita, in combination with Yoshii, to have the power supply brush and the signal transmission brush disposed at different positions in a circumferential direction of the slip ring in order to optimize each assembly for reliable operation for their respective electrical loads, as taught by Deucher.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 7 is 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: the prior art neither teaches nor reasonably suggests the additional limitation that the signal transmission brush is disposed on an upstream side of the power supply brush in a rotation direction of the slip ring, as required by the combination as claimed. Deucher does not disclose a preferred direction of rotation while noting that gantries may rotate in opposite directions (col.1, lines 45-47).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure: the remaining prior art cited in the attached PTO-892 teach additional examples of abrasion powder collection or mitigation for CT slip rings.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to THOMAS R ARTMAN whose telephone number is (571)272-2485. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Thursday 10am-6:30pm.
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THOMAS R. ARTMAN
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2884
/THOMAS R ARTMAN/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2884
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