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 .
Preliminary Amendment
The amendment submitted 9/3/2026 has been accepted and entered. Claim 1 is cancelled. No claims are amended. New claims 2-21 are added. Thus, claims 2-21 are examined.
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) 2-7, 9-15, 17, 19-21 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Smith et al (US 9,808,214 B2) in view of Lee et al (US 10,251,618 B2) and Defreitas et al (US 7443949 B2).
Regarding claim 2, Smith et al disclose an imaging system comprising: an x-ray tube assembly (108) having an x-ray source (col. 4, lines 52-53); and an immobilization assembly (upper and lower plates (104a)(104b) (col. 4, lines 42-48), the x-ray tube assembly independently rotatable relative to the immobilization assembly (col. 5, lines 4-6), the immobilization assembly comprising: a support arm; a receptor housing (110) (See Fig.7) coupled to the support arm (See Fig. 11) and housing an x-ray receptor (col. 4, lines 52-56); an immobilization device coupled to the support arm (See Figs. 7, 11) and configured to move along the support arm (1000) (See Fig. 10 and col. 10, lines 37-45) relative to the receptor housing (110) and drive assembly disposed within the support arm for moving the immobilization device relative to the receptor housing (x-ray imaging housing moved up and down column (1000) (col. 10, lines 42-43). Smith et al is silent with regards to a slide rail stage support as claimed. Lee et al discloses a digital mammography device with pressure pad pressure control comprising: a drive assembly (pressure pad driving part (70) comprising: a slide rail stage (moving block) (120) supporting the immobilization device (pressure pad coupling parts (112) and slidable along the support arm (guiding rails) (152) (col. 5, lines 21-52). Defreitas et al et al discloses a mammography system and method employing offset compression paddles, automatic collimation and retractable anti-scatter grid, comprising: a position sensor (sensor S) (col. 4, lines 50-66) configured to determine a linear position (lateral adjustments) (See Fig. 3 and col. 5, lines 9-20) of the slide rail stage. Thus, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Smith et al of an imaging system with Lee et al of a digital mammography device with pressure pad pressure control and Defreitas et al or a mammography system and method employing offset compression paddles, automatic collimation and retractable anti-scatter grid. A person of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to do this to enable smooth, low-friction motorized linear guidance while feeding back position data to a controller to precisely calculate compression thickness or biopsy depth.
Regarding claim 3, Smith et al in view of Lee et al and Defreitas et al discloses wherein the position sensor (col. 4, lines 57-60) is a rack and pinion system (lateral adjustments) (See Fig. 3 and col. 5, lines 9-20).
Regarding claim 4, Smith et al in view of Lee et al discloses wherein the drive assembly (pressure pad driving part (70) comprising: a motor (75) operatively coupled to the slide rail stage and configured to move the slide rail stage along the support arm (col. 5, lines 21-30).
Regarding claim 5, Smith et al in view of Lee et al discloses wherein the drive assembly further comprises a rotatable leadscrew coupling (middle portion connected so as to be elevatable and rotatable along the column (10)) the motor (75) to the slide rail stage (col. 4, lines 12-39).
Regarding claim 6, Smith et al in view of Lee et al discloses wherein the motor (150) is configured to control the position and speed of the immobilization device relative to the receptor housing (paragraph [0086]).
Regarding claim 7, Smith et al in view of Lee et al and Defreitas et al discloses wherein the position sensor (sensor S) (col. 4, lines 50-66) is discrete from an immobilization device (2)(11) (See Fig. 2).
Regarding claim 9, Smith et al in view of Lee et al discloses further comprising at least one sensor (50) configured to measure an immobilization force exerted on a patient’s breast via the immobilization device (col. 4, lines 65-col. 5, line 14).
Regarding claim 10, Smith et al disclose a method of immobilizing a breast for an imaging procedure on an imaging system (multi-mode breast x-ray imaging system) (col. 4, line 30) having an x-ray tube (108) assembly with an x-ray source (col. 4, lines 52-53) and an immobilization assembly (upper and lower plates (104a)(104b) (col. 4, lines 42-48), the method comprising: positioning the breast on a receptor housing (110) (See Fig.7) of the immobilization assembly, the receptor housing (110) (See Fig.7) including an x-ray receptor (col. 4, lines 52-56). Smith et al is silent with regards to a slide rail stage support as claimed. Lee et al discloses a digital mammography device with pressure pad pressure control comprising: a drive assembly (pressure pad driving part (70) comprising: a slide rail stage (moving block) (120) supporting the immobilization device (pressure pad coupling parts (112) and slidable along the support arm (guiding rails) (152) (col. 5, lines 21-52). Defreitas et al discloses a mammography system and method employing offset compression paddles, automatic collimation and retractable anti-scatter grid, comprising: a position sensor (sensor S) (col. 4, lines 50-66) configured to determine a linear position (lateral adjustments) (See Fig. 3 and col. 5, lines 9-20) of the slide rail stage. Thus, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Smith et al of an imaging system with Lee et al of a digital mammography device with pressure pad pressure control and Defreitas et al or a mammography system and method employing offset compression paddles, automatic collimation and retractable anti-scatter grid. A person of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to do this to enable smooth, low-friction motorized linear guidance while feeding back position data to a controller to precisely calculate compression thickness or biopsy depth.
Regarding claim 11, Smith et al in view of Lee et al discloses further comprising based on the determined position of the slide rail stage, determining a position of the immobilization device relative to the receptor housing (paragraph [0094]).
Regarding claim 12, Smith et al in view of Lee et al discloses further comprising a thickness of the breast based at least in part of the determined position of the immobilization device (compression paddle (131) (paragraph [0077]).
Regarding claim 13, Smith et al in view of Lee et al discloses wherein the motor (150) is configured to control the position and speed of the immobilization device relative to the receptor housing (paragraph [0086]).
Regarding claim 14, Smith et al in view of Lee et al discloses wherein the speed of the immobilization device is at least partially based on position relative to receptor housing (paragraph [0086]).
Regarding claim 15, Smith et al in view of Lee et al discloses further comprising at least one sensor (50) configured to measure an immobilization force exerted on a patient’s breast via the immobilization device (col. 4, lines 65-col. 5, line 14).
Regarding claim 17, Smith et al disclose an imaging system (multi-mode breast x-ray imaging system) (col. 4, line 30) comprising: a rotatable x-ray tube assembly (108); and a rotatable immobilization assembly comprising: an immobilization device assembly (upper and lower plates (104a)(104b) (col. 4, lines 42-48); a receptor housing (110) (See Fig.7) disposed opposite the immobilization device; and an immobilization drive for moving the immobilization device towards the receptor housing. Smith et al is silent with regards to a slide rail stage support as claimed. Lee et al discloses a digital mammography device with pressure pad pressure control comprising: a drive assembly (pressure pad driving part (70) comprising: a slide rail stage (moving block) (120) supporting the immobilization device (pressure pad coupling parts (112) and slidable along the support arm (guiding rails) (152) (col. 5, lines 21-52). Defreitas et al discloses a mammography system and method employing offset compression paddles, automatic collimation and retractable anti-scatter grid, comprising: a position sensor (sensor S) (col. 4, lines 50-66) configured to determine a linear position (lateral adjustments) (See Fig. 3 and col. 5, lines 9-20) of the slide rail stage. Thus, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Smith et al of an imaging system with Lee et al of a digital mammography device with pressure pad pressure control and Defreitas et al or a mammography system and method employing offset compression paddles, automatic collimation and retractable anti-scatter grid. A person of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to do this to enable smooth, low-friction motorized linear guidance while feeding back position data to a controller to precisely calculate compression thickness or biopsy depth.
Regarding claim 19, Smith et al in view of Lee et al and Defreitas et al discloses wherein the position sensor (col. 4, lines 57-60) is a rack and pinion system (lateral adjustments) (See Fig. 3 and col. 5, lines 9-20).
Regarding claim 20, Smith et al in view of Lee et al discloses wherein the motor (150) is configured to control the position and speed of the immobilization device relative to the receptor housing (paragraph [0086]).
Regarding claim 21, Smith et al in view of Lee et al discloses further comprising at least one sensor (50) configured to measure an immobilization force exerted on a patient’s breast via the immobilization device (col. 4, lines 65-col. 5, line 14).
Claim(s) 8, 16, 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Smith et al (US 9,808,214 B2) in view of Lee et al (US 10,251,618 B2) and Defreitas et al (US 7443949 B2), as applied to claims 2, 10, 17 above, and further in view of Goldenberg et al (US 6636197 B1).
Regarding claims 8, 16, 18, Smith et al and Lee et al discloses all of the limitations of claims 2, 10, 17 as describes supra however, Smith et al and Lee et al are silent with regards to the knob configuration as claimed. Goldenberg et al discloses varying a knob’s (26) mechanical/torque resistance based on a state or position of a system (col. 5, lines 6-46). Thus, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Smith et al of an imaging system and Lee et al of a digital mammography device with pressure pad pressure control and Defreitas et al or a mammography system and method employing offset compression paddles, automatic collimation and retractable anti-scatter grid with the teaching of Goldenberg et al of a control knob mechanical/torque resistance. A person of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to do this to improve safety, precision, and efficiency during medical imaging.
Conclusion
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/F.P.B./Examiner, Art Unit 2884
/UZMA ALAM/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2884
