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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement(s) (IDS) submitted on 05/13/202 have been considered by the Examiner.
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 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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1, 6-8, 12-14, 17 and 19-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) and 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Atalar et al. (US 20180292502; hereinafter Atalar).
Regarding claim 1, Atalar discloses in figure(s) 1-10 a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system (1000; fig. 10), comprising:
a signal receiving assembly (26,38; fig. 10) configured to acquire a magnetic resonance signal of an object (10; para. 52 - RF coil 26 receives magnetic resonance signals emitted from the patient); and
a data processor (62/60) configured to generate a magnetic resonance image of the object based on the magnetic resonance signal (para. 69 - image processing unit 62 processes the magnetic resonance signal received from the RF receiving unit 38 to generate magnetic resonance image data for the object 10), wherein
the signal receiving assembly includes one or more magnetic sensors (MR sensors 115 in fig. 1 with hall sensors output 1,2,3 in fig. 7).
Regarding claim 6, Atalar discloses in figure(s) 1-10 the MRI system of claim 1, further comprising: a first monitoring assembly (42; para. 62 - system monitoring unit 42 may monitor and control a state of the static magnetic field, the state of the gradient magnetic field) including at least one second magnetic sensor configured to monitor magnetic field distribution information of a static magnetic field and/or a gradient field of the MRI system (para. 46 - Sensors 1 and 3 are sensitive to magnetic field in the same direction… three different spatial locations are sufficient to calculate the first order field distribution).
Regarding claim 7, Atalar discloses in figure(s) 1-10 the MRI system of claim 6, wherein a detection region of the at least one second magnetic sensor is configured to cover an examination region of the MRI system (para. 11 - MRI system includes a plurality of magnetic sensors …measurements include a measurement of a gradient magnetic field along a first transverse direction (i.e., “x-axis”) orthogonal to the longitudinal axis, and a measurement of a gradient magnetic field along a second transverse direction (i.e., “y-axis”) orthogonal to the longitudinal axis and the first transverse direction.), and the magnetic field distribution information includes at least one of a temporal distribution or a spatial distribution of the static magnetic field and/or the gradient field of the MRI system (para. 46 - Each individual plot is output for a different sensor…three different spatial locations are sufficient to calculate the first order field distribution).
Regarding claim 8, Atalar discloses in figure(s) 1-10 the MRI system of claim 6, wherein one of the at least one second magnetic sensor is configured to move in the static magnetic field and/or the gradient field of the MRI system (para. 29 - after initial calibration, the plurality of magnetic sensors 115 will stay perpendicular to z position when they are moved to other position).
Regarding claim 12, Atalar discloses in figure(s) 1-10 the MRI system of claim 1, further comprising: a second monitoring assembly (44,46) including one or more third magnetic sensors, wherein the second monitoring assembly is configured to monitor operation information of the MRI system (para. 63 - object monitoring unit 44 includes a camera for observing a motion or a position of the object 10, a respiration measuring unit for measuring respiration of the object 10, an ECG measurer for measuring an electrocardiogram of the object 10, or a body temperature measurer for measuring a body temperature of the object 10; para. 64 - table control unit 46 may control movement of the table 28 at which the object 10 is positioned.).
Regarding claim 13, Atalar discloses in figure(s) 1-10 the MRI system of claim 12, wherein the second monitoring assembly is provided at an edge of a scanning bed (28) or an edge of an aperture of the MRI system.
Regarding claim 14, Atalar discloses in figure(s) 1-10 the MRI system of claim 12, wherein the one or more third magnetic sensors (motion, position sensors) are different from the one or more magnetic sensors (magnetic field sensors) of the signal receiving assembly.
Regarding claim 17, Atalar discloses in figure(s) 1-10 a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) method (1000; fig. 10), comprising:
acquiring (@26,38; fig. 10) a magnetic resonance signal of an object (10; para. 52 - RF coil 26 receives magnetic resonance signals emitted from the patient) collected by one or more magnetic sensors (MR sensors 115 in fig. 1 with hall sensors output 1,2,3 in fig. 7) in an MRI device (1000);
determining K-space data based on the magnetic resonance signal (para. 12 - k-space data acquired during the MRI scan … estimate a k-space trajectory of the MRI scan); and
obtaining a magnetic resonance image of the object by image reconstruction based on the K-space data (para. 12 - computers use the k-space trajectory to reconstruct images).
Regarding claim 19, Atalar discloses in figure(s) 1-10 the method of claim 17, further comprising: monitoring magnetic field distribution information of a static magnetic field and/or a gradient field using a first monitoring assembly of the MRI device, the first monitoring assembly including at least one second magnetic sensor (115, sensors 1,2,3; figs. 1,7).
Regarding claim 20, Atalar discloses in figure(s) 1-10 the method of claim 17, further comprising: monitoring device operation information using a second monitoring assembly of the MRI device, the second monitoring assembly including one or more third magnetic sensors (115, sensors 1,2,3; figs. 1,7); and/or, performing metal detection using a third monitoring assembly of the MRI device, the third monitoring assembly including one or more fourth magnetic sensors, the metal detection including monitoring whether a redundant metal presents in a monitoring region, the monitoring region at least including a scanning bed.
Claim(s) 1-5 and 17-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) and 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by TAKESHIMA et al. (US 20190336033).
Regarding claim 1, TAKESHIMA discloses in figure(s) 1-37 a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system (para. 47 – MRI apparatus 3/9; figs. 1,3,17), comprising:
a signal receiving assembly (47-1, 25-1; fig. 17) configured to acquire a magnetic resonance signal of an object (P; para. 77 - When the medical imaging apparatus 3 is the gantry of the magnetic resonance imaging apparatus, An MR signal from the subject is released in response to the application of the RF pulse. The released MR signal is received by way of a reception coil.); and
a data processor (50-1) configured to generate a magnetic resonance image of the object based on the magnetic resonance signal (MR signal; para. 77 - received MR signal is subjected to signal processing such as A/D conversion by the reception circuitry. The A/D converted MR signal is referred to as k-space data. The k-space data is transferred as raw data to the medical data processing apparatus 1), wherein
the signal receiving assembly includes one or more magnetic sensors (para. 173 - reception coil 47-1 receives an MR signal produced from the target protons within the subject P by the action of the RF magnetic field pulse).
Regarding claim 2, TAKESHIMA discloses in figure(s) 1-37 the MRI system of claim 1, wherein the one or more magnetic sensors include a plurality of first magnetic sensors arranged non-uniformly (para. 188 - non-uniformly spaced k-space data).
Regarding claim 3, TAKESHIMA discloses in figure(s) 1-37 the MRI system of claim 1, wherein a count and/or layout of the one or more magnetic sensors is determined based on a region of interest of the object (clm. 7 - first MR data is assigned to a first region of the input vector, the second MR data is assigned to a second region of the input vector, and positions of the first region and the second region are fixed).
Regarding claim 4, TAKESHIMA discloses in figure(s) 1-37 the MRI system of claim 1, wherein the one or more magnetic sensors are arranged to form a planar structure or a three-dimensional (3D) structure (para. 285 - dynamic imaging of three-dimensional images based on radial scanning, three-dimensional radial scanning or stack-of-stars may be adopted).
Regarding claim 5, TAKESHIMA discloses in figure(s) 1-37 the MRI system of claim 1, wherein the one or more magnetic sensors are configured to monitor physiological information of the object (para. 109 - a medical image of a slice that is physically (spatially and/or temporally) close to the slice of the target input image may be selected).
Regarding claim 17, TAKESHIMA discloses in figure(s) 1-37 a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) method (para. 47 – MRI apparatus 3/9; figs. 1,3,17), comprising:
acquiring (@47-1, 25-1; fig. 17) a magnetic resonance signal of an object (P; para. 77 - When the medical imaging apparatus 3 is the gantry of the magnetic resonance imaging apparatus, An MR signal from the subject is released in response to the application of the RF pulse. The released MR signal is received by way of a reception coil) collected by one or more magnetic sensors in an MRI device;
determining K-space data based on the magnetic resonance signal (para. 281 - the validation dataset includes actual k-space data using a stack-of-stars trajectory. For each radial k-space frame, 21 spokes are assigned.); and
obtaining a magnetic resonance image of the object by image reconstruction based on the K-space data (para. 280 - processing circuitry 11 applies a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) in the stack direction as a preprocessing step. For each 2D radial k-space frame, the processing circuitry 11 reconstructs an initial image, using a non-uniform FFT (NUFFT) and parallel imaging (PI); para. 277 - processing circuitry 11 according to implementation example 1 reconstructs a video image from highly undersampled radial k-space data).
Regarding claim 18, TAKESHIMA discloses in figure(s) 1-37 the method of claim 17, wherein the acquiring a magnetic resonance signal of an object collected by one or more magnetic sensors in an MRI device includes: turning off at least one of a static magnetic field or a gradient field of the MRI device (para. 177 - sequence control circuitry 29-1 synchronously controls the gradient field power supply 21-1) during a process of acquiring the magnetic resonance signal of the object.
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.
Claim(s) 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Atalar in view of GEORGE et al. (US 20180164392).
Regarding claim 9, Atalar teaches in figure(s) 1-10 the MRI system of claim 8,
Atalar does not teach explicitly wherein a count of second magnetic sensors that are configured to move in the static magnetic field and/or the gradient field of the MRI system is less than a preset threshold.
However, GEORGE teaches in figure(s) 1-14 wherein a count of second magnetic sensors that are configured to move in the static magnetic field and/or the gradient field of the MRI system is less than a preset threshold (para. 182 - breast coil 172 is moved in direction A, the hall effect sensors 171a and 171b detect a hall voltage value generated by the hall effect, and transmit the hall voltage value to the RF coil position detector 124; figs. 9).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Atalar by having wherein a count of second magnetic sensors that are configured to move in the static magnetic field and/or the gradient field of the MRI system is less than a preset threshold as taught by GEORGE in order to provide simpler configurations and specialized single-target surface coils as evidenced by "a processor configured to determine whether the RF reception coil is placed in a normal position based on the voltage value transmitted from the magnetic sensor when the RF reception coil enters the inner space of the magnetic assembly" (abstract).
Claim(s) 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Atalar in view of Tiernan et al. (US 20090187096).
Regarding claim 10, Atalar teaches in figure(s) 1-10 the MRI system of claim 8,
Atalar does not teach explicitly wherein the one of the at least one second magnetic sensor is configured to move in an axial direction or a circumferential direction along an aperture of the MRI system.
However, Tiernan teaches in figure(s) 2-9 wherein the one of the at least one second magnetic sensor is configured to move in an axial direction or a circumferential direction along an aperture of the MRI system (para. 55 - four rows of sensors can extend axially along probe 300 and be positioned circumferentially around probe 300 in 90 degree increments; fig. 2).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Atalar by having wherein the one of the at least one second magnetic sensor is configured to move in an axial direction or a circumferential direction along an aperture of the MRI system as taught by Tiernan in order to provide "sensors are attached to an expandable member, for example a balloon, which can be inflated to urge the probe sensors radially outward to position the sensors near the tissue structures." (abstract).
Claim(s) 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Atalar in view of Zevenhoven et al. (US 20220365155).
Regarding claim 11, Atalar teaches in figure(s) 1-10 the MRI system of claim 6,
Atalar does not teach explicitly wherein a second magnetic sensor configured to monitor the static magnetic field has a different measurement accuracy and/or a different sampling rate than a second magnetic sensor configured to monitor the gradient field.
However, Zevenhoven teaches in figure(s) 1-5 wherein a second magnetic sensor configured to monitor the static magnetic field has a different measurement accuracy (para. 66 - system may be configured to cause a low enough magnetic field and the corresponding Larmor frequency so that the sensitivity profiles of the sensors are stable and that they can be modeled to a sufficient accuracy) and/or a different sampling rate than a second magnetic sensor configured to monitor the gradient field.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Atalar by having wherein a second magnetic sensor configured to monitor the static magnetic field has a different measurement accuracy and/or a different sampling rate than a second magnetic sensor configured to monitor the gradient field as taught by Zevenhoven in order to provide "determining a sensorwise agreement of the data with determined sensitivity profiles, and determining a mapping between the image frame and a sensor frame, such that the sensorwise agreement has been fulfilled." (abstract).
Claim(s) 15-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Atalar in view of McClure et al. (US 20030083588).
Regarding claim 15, Atalar teaches in figure(s) 1-10 the MRI system of claim 1,
Atalar does not teach explicitly further comprising: a third monitoring assembly including one or more fourth magnetic sensors, wherein the third monitoring assembly is configured to perform metal detection.
However, McClure teaches in figure(s) 1-13 further comprising: a third monitoring assembly including one or more fourth magnetic sensors (9 in fig. 7; para. 16 - ferromagnetic foreign body detection system designed to screen patients before the commencement of magnetic resonance imaging), wherein the third monitoring assembly is configured to perform metal detection.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Atalar by having further comprising: a third monitoring assembly including one or more fourth magnetic sensors, wherein the third monitoring assembly is configured to perform metal detection as taught by McClure in order to provide "A method for pre-screening a patient for the presence of a ferromagnetic foreign body, prior to performance of an MRI procedure, using a low power portion of the MRI field to magnetize the foreign body for detection purposes" (abstract).
Regarding claim 16, Atalar in view of McClure teaches the MRI system of claim 15,
McClure additionally teaches in figure(s) 1-13 wherein the third monitoring assembly is provided within a scanning chamber, at the edge of the scanning bed, or on a frame of the MRI system (para. 27 - FFB detection by moving the sensor system transversely with respect to the fringing axial magnetic field of the MRI, or to move the sensor system in other areas of the non-axial fringing magnetic field of the MRI).
Prior Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
MARUYAMA et al. (US 20250060438) discloses "mri apparatus and mri method".
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to AKM ZAKARIA whose telephone number is (571)270-0664. The examiner can normally be reached on 8-5 PM (PST).
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Judy Nguyen can be reached on (571) 272-2258. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/AKM ZAKARIA/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2858
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