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 § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claim 14 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to non-statutory subject matter. Regarding claim 14, the instant claim recites the limitation of "a computer program product comprising code.." The claims are directed toward an article of manufacture and normally would be statutory. However, the specification, at page 18 line 30, defines or exemplifies the computer program product in an open-ended and non-limiting manner such as "A computer program may be stored/distributed on a suitable medium, such as an optical storage medium or a solid-state medium supplied together with or as part of other hardware, but may also be distributed in other forms, such as via the Internet or other wired or wireless telecommunication systems" Thus under the broadest reasonable interpretation of "computer program product" the claim is directed toward non-statutory type computer-readable storage media such as transitory signals and propagating waves. Applicant is advised to amend the respective claims to exclude such transitory embodiments by adding “non-transitory” to the computer program product which would render the claims statutory.
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, 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, 3-5, 7, 14-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Welsh (U.S Pub # 20190200886) in view of Yan (U.S Pub # 20180089840).
With regards to claim 1, Welsh discloses a computer-implemented method comprising:
selecting a plurality of pre-formed image elements from a pre-defined set of pre- formed image elements, each image element being an image representation of an anatomical object or feature ([0381] anatomical projections);
defining a relative positioning of the selected plurality of image elements relative to one another and/or a size of the selected plurality of image elements ([0382] user can define an anatomical projection by inputting the point of intersection of the projection, the vector (direction and length) of the projection, and the shape of the projection);
wherein the selection of the plurality of image elements from the set, and the defining of the positioning and/or size of the image elements is performed based on user inputs received from a user interface device ({0382] user can define these anatomical projection by ways such as by adjusting the length and direction of the vector);
constructing an artificial base image based on combining the selected image elements in accordance with the defined positioning and/or size ([0381-0382] adding anatomical projections to the base model).
Welsh does not disclose however Yan discloses:
accessing an image database storing a dataset of medical images ([0041] medical database);
performing an image-based searching operation comprising searching the image database based on the base image for finding images in the database similar to the base image ([0024] Using the trained classifiers, the framework fetches medical images from large image collections with disease patterns (e.g., emphysema, cystic fibrosis) and anatomical structures similar to the input query image. [0041] image retrieval module 208 may use the first and second classifiers to retrieve images from database 209 that are most similar to a query image);
generating a data package for export to a user training system comprising at least a subset of any images identified by the image-based search ([0056] image retrieval module 208 generates a report based on the retrieved most similar image volumes. The report may be presented at, for example, workstation 203. The report may be presented in a series of interactive user interface screens to enable efficient user review of the anomalous anatomical region with potential indications of associated conditions or disease from the retrieved images. The report may relate the query image volume to the retrieved image volumes as evidence for supporting diagnostic decision, therapy and/or patient management).
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the date the current invention was effectively filed to have Welsh by Yan to search for models similar to a model created by a user.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to create a framework for automatic retrieval of medical images (Yan [0009]).
Claim 15 corresponds to claim 1 and is rejected accordingly.
With regards to claim 3, Welsh further discloses:
wherein the received user inputs further comprise an indication of a desired imaging modality for the base image ([0382] user may orient the base anatomy to a desired position).
With regards to claim 4, Welsh further discloses:
wherein the received user inputs further comprise an indication of a desired 2D/3D dimensionality of the image ([0099] can be configured to construct a 2D and/or 3D image).
With regards to claim 5, Welsh further discloses:
wherein the method comprises providing via a display of the user interface device a graphical user interface permitting input by the user of the said user inputs ([0381] editing a base anatomic model via a graphical user interface).
With regards to claim 7, Welsh further discloses:
wherein the method comprises constructing the base image in real time with receipt of each user input, and wherein the graphical user interface includes a preview pane showing the base image in a current form, and updating the base image in the preview pane following each further user input ([0385] automatically update the anatomic model when a user adds a projection).
With regards to claim 14, Welsh further discloses:
a computer program product comprising code means configured when run on a processor to cause the processor to perform a method in accordance with claim 1 ([0055] computer code).
Claims 2, 6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Welsh (U.S Pub # 20190200886) in view of Yan (U.S Pub # 20180089840) and in further view of Esham (U.S Pub # 20060242143).
With regards to claim 2, Welsh further discloses:
an input indicative of a desired anatomical structure ([0381] add one or more structures (e.g. “anatomical projections”)).
Welsh does not disclose however Esham disclose:
an input indicative of a desired pathology associated with the anatomical structure ([0023] user may select a pathology image reading template);
wherein the selection of the plurality of pre-formed image elements comprises selecting at least one image element representative of the anatomical structure and at least one image element representative of an anatomical feature associated with the pathology ([0030] selected anatomical feature and pathology).
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the date the current invention was effectively filed to have Welsh and Yan by Esham to indicate pathologies as well as anatomical structures on a model.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to associate images derived from multiple different modality devices based on pathology and on anatomic layout (Esham [0010]).
With regards to claim 6, Welsh does not disclose however Esham disclose:
wherein the graphical user interface comprises a set of input fields permitting input by the user of the desired anatomical structure and desired pathology (Esham [0019] user selected anatomy and pathology).
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the date the current invention was effectively filed to have Welsh and Yan by Esham to indicate pathologies as well as anatomical structures on a model.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to associate images derived from multiple different modality devices based on pathology and on anatomic layout (Esham [0010]).
Claims 8-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Welsh (U.S Pub # 20190200886) in view of Yan (U.S Pub # 20180089840) and in further view of McNutt (U.S Pub # 20070133848).
With regards to claim 8, Welsh does not disclose however McNutt discloses:
wherein the method comprises defining at least a relative positioning of the selected plurality of image elements, and wherein the graphical user interface provides control functionality permitting drag-and-drop by a user of the selected image elements relative to one another, for thereby indicating the relative positioning of the image elements relative to one another ([0019] dragging and dropping a model over a subject anatomy).
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the date the current invention was effectively filed to have Welsh and Yan by McNutt to allow a user to customize a base anatomical model in various ways.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to segment medical diagnostic images (McNutt [0003]).
With regards to claim 9, Welsh does not disclose however McNutt discloses:
wherein the combining of the image elements to form the base images comprises overlaying at least one of the selected image elements atop at least one other of the selected image elements such that the base image has a layered formation ([0022] layers).
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the date the current invention was effectively filed to have Welsh and Yan by McNutt to allow a user to customize a base anatomical model in various ways.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to segment medical diagnostic images (McNutt [0003]).
Claims 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Welsh (U.S Pub # 20190200886) in view of Yan (U.S Pub # 20180089840) and in further view of Motiian (U.S Pub # 11216505) and Lee (U.S Pub # 20240242338).
With regards to claim 10, Welsh does not disclose however Motiian discloses:
responsive to determining that the number of images identified by the image-based search falls below a threshold number ([Col. 17 lines 28-43] if the matching module 144 is not able to determine a prescribed number of images that satisfy the constraint according to the distance threshold, matching module 144 communicates to search module 142 to obtain additional candidate images).
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the date the current invention was effectively filed to have Welsh and Yan by Motiian to determine if there are enough images that satisfy a search condition.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to select a number of candidate images for a query image (Motiian [Col. 2 lines 8-20]).
Welsh does not disclose however Lee discloses:
accessing from a datastore a generative adversarial network (GAN) which is configured to receive as input the base image and to generate as output one or more simulated images; supplying the base image to the GAN to generate one or more simulated images; and including the generated one or more simulated images in the data package for export ([0218] These results support the ability to use a generative model trained as part of a GAN to generate simulated functional image datasets from a non-contrast CT image to obtain clinically relevant representations of metabolic activity within patients).
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the date the current invention was effectively filed to have Welsh, Yan and Motiian by Lee to simulate additional medical images.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to use generative models for producing images based on an input CT image (Lee [0020]).
Claim 13 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Welsh (U.S Pub # 20190200886) in view of Yan (U.S Pub # 20180089840) and in further view of Baym (U.S Pub # 20140322683).
With regards to claim 13, Welsh does not disclose however Baym disclose:
receiving a training results report from the user training system, the results report indicative of a level of user training success in relation to one or more anatomical structures and/or pathologies of anatomical structures ([0148] generate a set of training results for the user based on input from training device);
determine based on the training results report one or more anatomical structures and/or pathologies of anatomical structures for which a level of user success is below a pre-defined threshold ([0123] user failing to meet the performance threshold);
wherein the selection of the plurality of image elements from the set is performed based on the said determined one or more anatomical structures and/or pathologies of anatomical structures ([0149-0150] image capture with training device for anatomical features).
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the date the current invention was effectively filed to have Welsh and Yan by Baym to train a classifier based off anatomical features.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to provide training to the user in proper use of the agent-dispensing device (Baym [0008]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 11-12 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. The closest disclosed references of Welsh in view of Yan, Motiian, Lee disclose a system of generating images through a generative adversarial network but fail to disclose the limitations of “comparing each of the one or more simulated images output from the GAN network against the base image; presenting on the user interface an output indicative of a result of the comparison for each image; and receiving a user input from the user interface indicative, for each of the simulated images, of user acceptance of the image or user rejection of the image; wherein only images which are accepted by the user are included in said data package for export.
Conclusion
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/TONY WU/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2166