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 .
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.
Claim(s) 1-4, 8, and 23-25 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Yasuhara USPG Pub. No.: US 2003/0107376.
Regarding Claim 1, Yasuhara teaches a power supply assembly of a gradient coil (see figure 1), comprising:
a first insulation device (400), wherein the first insulation device (400) is located within a scanning channel (301) of a main magnet (300) of a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system (see figure 1, in which insulation device, comprised of 2003,2043, 2041, 2016, and 2044, is within the scanning bore of the main magnet 2001),
the first insulation device (400) is arranged with a first conductive unit (401) (see 2104a),
the first conductive unit (401) is a rigid conductor (although 2104a is a shown to be a conductive cable and may be flexible, smaller areas of the cable will be rigid locally, meeting the breadth of the claim. The degree to which the cable is rigid is also not specified in the claim, and element 2041a can be interpreted as relatively rigid),
a first end of the first conductive unit (401) is electrically connected with the gradient coil (600) of the MRI system (see figure 2, in which 2041a is connected to gradient coil 2002), and
a second end of the first conductive unit (401) is electrically connected with a cable (100) of the MRI system (see figure 3, in which cable 2042 is a second cable that is interpreted as the cable electrically connected to the conductive unit, cable 2041a).
Regarding Claim 2, Yasuhara teaches the power supply assembly of the gradient coil of claim 1, wherein the first insulation device (400) further includes an insulated fixing module (402) that wraps the first conductive unit (401) (see figure 3, in which the connection point 2043 between the first conductive unit 2041a and 2045 qualifies as an insulated fixing module).
Regarding Claim 3, Yasuhara teaches the power supply assembly of the gradient coil of claim 2, wherein the insulated fixing module (402) and the first conductive unit (401) are integrally formed (see figures 2-3).
Regarding Claim 4, Yasuhara teaches the power supply assembly of the gradient coil of claim 1, wherein the first insulation device (400) and the gradient coil (600) are integrally formed (see figures 2-3).
Regarding Claim 8, Yasuhara teaches the power supply assembly of the gradient coil of claim 2, wherein the first insulation device (400) is arranged with a cooling pipe (403) configured to cool the first conductive unit (401) (see figure 2, 2018 and [0080]).
Regarding Claim 23, Yasuhara teaches the power supply assembly of the gradient coil of claim 1, wherein the power supply assembly (200) is configured to be disposed in any radial direction of the gradient coil (600) of the MRI system (see figures 1-3).
Regarding Claim 24, Yasuhara teaches a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system, comprising:
a main magnet (300) (figure 2-3 and [0073], 2001);
a gradient coil (600) (figure 2-3 and [0074], 2002);
a power supply assembly (200) of the gradient coil (600) (discussed in [0082] and see figures 1-3 in which cable 2042 sends power to the gradient filed coil); and
a cable (100) (figure 3, 2042);
the cable (100) configured to supply power to the gradient coil through the power supply assembly of the gradient coil (discussed in [0082] and see figures 1-3 in which cable 2042 sends power to the gradient filed coil);
wherein the power supply assembly (200) of the gradient coil (600) includes a first insulation device (400),
the first insulation device (400) is located within a scanning channel (301) of the main magnet (300) (see figure 1, in which insulation device, comprised of 2003,2043, 2041, 2016, and 2044, is within the scanning bore of the main magnet 2001),
the first insulation device (400) is arranged with a first conductive unit (401) (see figure 1, in which insulation device, comprised of 2003,2043, 2041, 2016, and 2044, is within the scanning bore of the main magnet 2001),
the first conductive unit (401) is a rigid conductor (although 2104a is a shown to be a conductive cable and may be flexible, smaller areas of the cable will be rigid locally, meeting the breadth of the claim. The degree to which the cable is rigid is also not specified in the claim, and element 2041a can be interpreted as relatively rigid),
a first end of the first conductive unit (401) is electrically connected with the gradient coil (600) (see figure 2, in which 2041a is connected to gradient coil 2002), and
a second end of the first conductive unit (401) is electrically connected with the cable (100) (see figure 3, in which cable 2042 is a second cable that is interpreted as the cable electrically connected to the conductive unit, cable 2041a).
Regarding Claim 25, Yasuhara teaches a power supply assembly of a gradient coil (see figures 1-3), comprising:
an electrode insulation device and a conductive pillar insulation device matched with a gradient coil (600) of a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system (see figures 1-3 in which insulation device, comprised of 2003,2043, 2041, 2016, and 2044, is within the scanning bore of the main magnet 2001 insulates both an electrode 2043 and a conductive pillar 2041a);
wherein the electrode insulation device is arranged with an electrode (figure 3, 2043),
the conductive pillar insulation device is arranged with a conductive pillar (see figure 1, in which insulation device, comprised of 2003,2043, 2041, 2016, and 2044, is within the scanning bore of the main magnet 2001), and
the electrode is connected with the cable (100) and the conductive pillar to supply power for the gradient coil (600) (see figures 1-3, [0082], and the abstract).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5-7, 9-14, 17, 19, and 22 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.
RE Claim 5, the prior art of record does not disclose or suggest “a second supporting component (801) configured to support the first insulation device (400), the second supporting component (801) being connected with the first insulation device (400) and the first supporting component (802),” in combination with the other claim limitations. Claims 6-7 depend from base Claim 5, and therefore these claims are also allowed.
RE Claim 9, the prior art of record does not disclose or suggest “wherein the insulated fixing module (402) wraps the cooling pipe (403),” in combination with the other claim limitations.
RE Claim 10, the prior art of record does not disclose or suggest “wherein the first insulation device (400) includes an arc-shaped structure, and a radian of the arc-shaped structure is matched with a radian of the gradient coil (600),” in combination with the other claim limitations.
RE Claim 11, the prior art of record does not disclose or suggest “wherein a length of the first insulation device (400) along an axial direction of the MRI system is less than a target distance; along the axis direction, the gradient coil (600) includes a first end, and the main magnet (300) of the MRI system includes a second end; the first end of the gradient coil (600) corresponds to the second end of the main magnet (300) of the MRI system; and the target distance is a distance between the first end of the gradient coil (600) and the second end of the main magnet (300) of the MRI system along the axis direction,” in combination with the other claim limitations. Claim 12 depends from base Claim 11, and therefore this claim is also allowed.
RE Claim 13, the prior art of record does not disclose or suggest “wherein along an axial direction of the MRI system, the first insulation device (400) includes a first end and a second end; the first end of the first insulation device (400) corresponds to the first end of the first conductive unit (401), and the second end of the first insulation device (400) corresponds to the second end of the first conductive unit (401); and a size of a cross section of the first end of the first insulation device (400) is smaller than a size of a cross section of the second end of the first insulation device (400),” in combination with the other claim limitations.
RE Claim 14, the prior art of record does not disclose or suggest “the second insulation device (500) is arranged with a second conductive unit (503, 504, 505, 506, 507, 508), a first end of the second conductive unit (503, 504, 505, 506, 507, 508) is electrically connected with the cable (100) of the MRI system, and a second end of the second conductive unit (503, 504, 505, 506, 507, 508) is electrically connected with the second end of the first conductive unit (401),” in combination with the other claim limitations. Claims 17 and 19 depend from base Claim 14, and therefore these claims are also allowed.
RE Claim 22, the prior art of record does not disclose or suggest “a connecting component (804), wherein the connecting component (804) is connected with the first end of the first conductive unit (401) and is configured to prevent the first end of the first conductive unit (401) from being separated from the gradient coil (600),” in combination with the other claim limitations.
Conclusion
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/MICHAEL A HARRISON/Examiner, Art Unit 2852
