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 .
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 10, 11, 17-19 and 21 are 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.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 7 and 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claims 7 and 9 depend on cancelled claim 2.
Claims 15 and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claims 15 and 16 recite the limitation "the tracking progress" in line 1. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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, 3-8, 12-16, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Amthor et al. (WO 2021/228541).
Regarding claims 1, 14, and 20, Amthor teaches a system/method and non-transitory computer readable medium having stored instructions for determining a need for assistance during a medical imaging examination, the instructions, when executed by at least one processor (See abstract), cause the at least one processor to:
acquire video of the medical imaging examination (See [0027]);
determine, using a state machine, a current state of the medical imaging examination from the acquired video (See [0039] and [0050]); and
displaying an indication of the determined current state of the medical imaging examination (See [0041] and [0052]); and
identify a transition from the current state of the medical imaging examination to a next
state of the medical imaging examination based on the acquired video and the state machine,
wherein the transition indicates the need for assistance during the medical imaging examination (See abstract, [0020], and [0050]).
Regarding claim 3, Amthor teaches non-transitory computer readable medium, wherein, to identify the transition, the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the at least one processor to: detecting the transition as a change in content of the acquired video from a first user interface (UI) dialog screen corresponding to the current state in the state machine to a second UI dialog screen; and determine the next state of the medical imaging examination by matching the second UI dialog screen with the next state in the state machine (See [0020] and [0043]).
Regarding claim 4, Amthor teaches determining a change in the content of the acquired video; and detecting the transition of the medical imaging examination from the current state of the medical imaging examination to the next state of the medical imaging examination based on the detected determined change in the content of the acquired video and the permissible transitions out of the current state in the state machine (See [0020] and [0043]).
Regarding claim 5, Amthor teaches wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the at least one processor to method further includes: determine an event of the medical imaging examination that triggered the transition from the current state of the medical imaging examination to the next state of the medical imaging examination based on a state transition of the state machine from the current state to the next state (See [0020] and [0043]).
Regarding claim 6, Amthor teaches wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the at least one processor to: performing an assistive action to provide assistance during the medical imaging examination based on the determined event (See [0008]).
Regarding claim 7, Amthor teaches wherein, to perform the assistive action, the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the at least one processor to includes establishing a natural communication pathway between a local operator performing the medical imaging examination and a remote expert (See [0029]).
Regarding claim 8, Amthor teaches wherein, to perform the assistive action, the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the at least one processor to includes automatically providing provide at least one of textual, graphical, video, and/or multimedia guidance respective to the determined event (See [0029]).
Regarding claim 12, Amthor teaches the displaying of to display the indication, the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the at least one processor to includes: displaying the indication of the determined current state of the medical imaging examination on a remote processing device operable by a remote expert (See abstract and [0007]-[0008]).
Regarding claim 13, Amthor teaches establishing a natural communication pathway between a local operator performing the medical imaging examination and a remote expert based on the determined current state of the medical imaging examination (See [0029]).
Regarding claim 15, Amthor teaches determining a current state of the medical imaging examination based on a user interface (UI) screen detected in the acquired video of the medical imaging examination that corresponds to a UI screen associated with the current state in the state machine detecting a transition of the medical imaging examination from the current state of the medical imaging examination by detecting a change in the acquired video feed from the first UI dialog screen to a second UI dialog screen; and determining a next state of the medical imaging examination based on matching the second UI dialog screen with a UI screen associated with a next state in the state machine for which the state machine has a transition from the current state to the next state (See [0020] and [0043]).
Regarding claim 16, Amthor teaches determining a change in the-content of the acquired video; and detecting a transition of the medical imaging examination from a current state of the medical imaging examination to a next state of the medical imaging examination based on the detected change in the content of the acquired video-feed (See [0020] and [0043]).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to THOMAS S MCCORMACK whose telephone number is (571)272-0841. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 8:30 AM - 5:00 PM.
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/THOMAS S MCCORMACK/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2686
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