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 Rejection – 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) 1-4, 8, 11, 14, and 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Johnson (US20240020840A1), hereinafter referenced as Johnson, in view of Yamazaki (US20210295523A1), hereinafter referenced as Yamazaki, and in view of Brynolfsson (US12597127B2), hereinafter referenced as Brynolfsson.
Regarding claim 1, Johnson teaches
An apparatus configured to for mapping additional information relating to a 2D medical image of a region of interest to a 3D medical image volume of the region of interest, the apparatus comprising:
“The 2D images are matched to corresponding simulated 2D images generated from the pre-op 3D image volume. Thus, registration of a pre-op 3D image to the patient is accomplished without performing another 3D scan of the patient.” (Abstract, Johnson); “FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an imaging system 10, such as a computerized tomographic (CT) x-ray scanner, in accordance with one embodiment of the invention.” (¶ 77, Johnson);
Johnson teaches of an imaging system (reads on apparatus) for matching 2D images to corresponding simulated 2D images generated from the pre-op 3D image volume (reads on mapping additional information relating to a 2D medical image of a region of interest to a 3D medical image volume of the region of interest).
at least one processor;
“The imaging controller system 40 includes memory storage 44 such as RAM (random access memory), processor (CPU) 46” (¶ 83, Johnson);
and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to:
“For purposes of this application, the terms “code”, “software”, “program”, “application”, “software code”, “software module”, “module” and “software program” are used interchangeably to mean software instructions that are executable by a processor” (¶ 76, Johnson); “The program storage 48 stores, among others, imaging control module 54 and motion control module 51, each containing software to be executed by the processor 46.” (¶ 83, Johnson);
receive a 2D composite medical image of the region of interest;
“The system receives two or more intra-op 2D images (e.g., fluoroscopic or ultrasound) of the patient anatomy at different orientations” (¶ 23, Johnson);
Johnson teaches of receiving intra-op 2D images of the patient (reads on receive a 2D composite medical image of the region of interest)
receive a 3D medical image volume of the region of interest;
“The system receives a 3D image of a patient anatomy and registers a pose of the received 3D image relative to a dynamic reference base containing patient tracking markers” (¶ 22, Johnson);
Johnson teaches of receiving 3D image of the patient (reads on receive a 2D composite medical image of the region of interest)
decompose the 2D composite medical image into at least: a base image; and the additional information;
“2D images can be processed for segmentation to identify each vertebral level and their well-known points.” (¶ 272, Johnson);
Johnson teach the 2D images can be segmented into each vertebral level (base image) and their well-known points (reads on additional information).
evaluate a transformation of the base image which maps the base image to the representative 2D slice; and
“This DRB_X_Image transform (transform C) thus yields the relative pose between the patient's physical coordinate system via patient reference array DRB 116 in the physical space and the patient's virtual coordinate system embedded in the image IM in the image space. This is defined as the “patient registration”.” (¶ 208, Johnson);
Johnson teaches of transforming DRB_X_Image (reads on evaluate a transformation of the base image) so that the pose between the patient's physical coordinate system (reads on base image) and the patient's virtual coordinate system embedded in the image IM in the image space (reads on the representative 2D slice) are algin and registered (reads on maps the base image to the representative 2D slice).
Johnson fails to teach the following: decompose the 2D composite medical image into at least: a base image; and an additional image; identify, based on an assessment of the base image and the 3D medical image volume, a representative 2D slice of the 3D medical image volume which corresponds to the base image; combine the representative 2D slice with an image formed by applying the evaluated transformation to the additional image to produce a new composite 2D medical image of the region of interest.
But Yamazaki does. Yamazaki teaches the following:
decompose the 2D composite medical image into at least: a base image; and an additional image;
“pixel information indicating the positions of pixels corresponding to at least either the foreground or the background based on the three-dimensional rough segmentation images. The setting of the pixel information will be described with reference to FIGS. 7A and 7B. Here, how to give pixel information about the liver region that is the foreground and the regions other than the liver region that are the background in extracting the liver region will be described.” (28, Yamazaki);
Yamazaki teaches segmenting the liver image (reads on decompose the 2D composite medical image) into the foreground and the background (reads on a base image and an additional image).
Yamazaki BASE is analogous art with respect to Johnson because they are from the same field of endeavor, namely medical image processing. Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify Johnson with the feature of Yamazaki to incorporate segmenting the liver image into the foreground and the background. A person of ordinary skill in the art would do such in order to improve accuracy of image review and analysis for diagnosis and treatment.
Johnson in view of Yamazaki fail to teach the following: identify, based on an assessment of the base image and the 3D medical image volume, a representative 2D slice of the 3D medical image volume which corresponds to the base image; combine the representative 2D slice with an image formed by applying the evaluated transformation to the additional image to produce a new composite 2D medical image of the region of interest.
But Brynolfsson does. Brynolfsson teaches the following:
identify, based on an assessment of the base image and the 3D medical image volume, a representative 2D slice of the 3D medical image volume which corresponds to the base image;
“receiving, by the processor, a 3D pelvic atlas image comprising: (A) an identification (e.g., one or more segmentation masks; e.g., one or more 3D segmentation masks, e.g., a segmentation map) of one or more pelvic lymph sub-regions in the 3D pelvic atlas image [e.g., wherein each pelvic lymph sub-region is a segmented region that identifies a particular anatomical structure” (¶ 11, Brynolfsson);
Brynolfsson teaches identifying one or more segmentation masks based of one or more pelvic lymph sub-regions in the 3D pelvic atlas image (reads on identify, based on an assessment of the base image and the 3D medical image volume) to determine the segmented region that identifies a particular anatomical structure (reads on representative 2D slice of the 3D medical image volume which corresponds to the base image).
combine the representative 2D slice with an image formed by applying the evaluated transformation to the additional image to produce a new composite 2D medical image of the region of interest.
“segmentation of a 3D anatomical image with an atlas image approach. For example, a CT image may be segmented to create a segmentation map [e.g., comprising one or more labeled regions (e.g., segmentation masks), each identifying a particular anatomical or tissue region] that identifies various regions, including pelvic bones (e.g., which can be accurately segmented within a CT image) within the CT image. The pelvic bone regions of the segmentation map are used, together with corresponding reference pelvic bone regions of a pelvic atlas image, as landmarks to determine a transformation (e.g., coordinate transformation) that co-registers the pelvic atlas image with the segmentation map.” (¶ 9, Brynolfsson);
Brynolfsson teaches using the pelvic bones from both the patient scan and the atlas as "landmarks". It calculates a mathematical shift/transformation to perfectly overlay, warp, and co-register the atlas onto the patient's exact anatomy (reads on combine the representative 2D slice with an image formed by applying the evaluated transformation to the additional image). This generates a co-registered the pelvic atlas image with the segmentation map (reads on produce a new composite 2D medical image of the region of interest).
Brynolfsson BASE is analogous art with respect to Johnson in view of Yamazaki because they are from the same field of endeavor, namely medical imaging. Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify Johnson in view of Yamazaki with the feature of Brynolfsson to incorporate identifying one or more segmentation masks based of one or more pelvic lymph sub-regions in the 3D pelvic atlas image to determine the segmented region that identifies a particular anatomical structure, and using the pelvic bones from both the patient scan and the atlas as "landmarks" to calculate a mathematical shift/transformation to perfectly overlay, warp, and co-register the atlas onto the patient's exact anatomy to generate a co-registered the pelvic atlas image with the segmentation map. A person of ordinary skill in the art would do such in order to improve accuracy of image review and analysis for diagnosis and treatment.
Regarding claim 2, Johnson in view of Yamazaki and Johnson teaches the apparatus of claim 1, and additionally teaches the following. Yamazaki teaches
wherein the 2D composite medical image of the region of interest comprises: a color image.
“the regions of the respective classes are illustrated in light color, and the regions other than those of the respective classes are in dark color. (¶ 48, Yamazaki);
Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify Johnson in view of Yamazaki and Johnson with the feature of Yamazaki to incorporate regions of the respective classes are illustrated in light color. A person of ordinary skill in the art would do such in order to improve image accuracies.
Regarding claim 3, Johnson in view of Yamazaki and Johnson teaches the apparatus of claim 1, and additionally teaches the following. Johnson teaches
wherein the 2D composite medical image comprises: a 2D summary image of the 3D medical image volume representative of the region of interest.
“In the case of an x-ray medical imaging device, the simulated image is a DRR (digitally reconstructed radiograph) of the pre-op 3D image. In the embodiment shown, the DRR is a simulated 2D fluoroscopic image at a selected orientation and angle, which has been digitally reconstructed from the pre-op 3D image (e.g., a set/stack of 2D slices of the 3D image volume).” (¶ 14, Johnson);
Johnson teaches of a DRR (digitally reconstructed radiograph) of the pre-op 3D image which is a synthetic 2D composite image (reads on a 2D summary image) created by mathematically projecting or summarizing the volumetric data of the 3D image stack/slices, (reads on the 3D medical image volume representative of the region of interest) from a specific angle and orientation to mimic a real 2D X-ray or fluoroscopic image.
Regarding claim 4, Johnson in view of Yamazaki and Brynolfsson teaches the apparatus of claim 1, and additionally teaches the following. Yamazaki teaches
wherein the 2D composite medical image comprises: additional information
“Here, how to give pixel information about the liver region that is the foreground and the regions other than the liver region that are the background in extracting the liver region will be described.” (28, Yamazaki);
Yamazaki teaches segmenting the liver image (reads on 2D composite medical image) into the liver region foreground and the background (reads additional information).
Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify Johnson in view of Yamazaki and Brynolfsson with the feature of Yamazaki to incorporate teaches segmenting the liver image into the liver region foreground and the background. A person of ordinary skill in the art would do such in order to improve image accuracies.
Brynolfsson further teaches:
additional information relating to a treatment or procedure performed upon the region of interest.
“The physician can use this information to provide a recommended course of treatment to the patient and to track the progression of disease.” (¶ 4, Brynolfsson);
Brynolfsson teaches of information regarding a recommended course of treatment to the patient and to track the progression of disease (reads on additional information relating to a treatment or procedure performed upon the region of interest).
Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify Johnson in view of Yamazaki and Brynolfsson with the feature of Brynolfsson to incorporate information regarding a recommended course of treatment to the patient and to track the progression of disease. A person of ordinary skill in the art would do such in order to improve accuracy of image review and analysis for diagnosis and treatment.
Regarding claim 8, Johnson in view of Yamazaki and Brynolfsson teaches the apparatus of claim 1, and additionally teaches the following. Brynolfsson teaches
wherein the additional information comprises: one or more annotation comprising: an outline of a feature of interest; or an or a marker of a feature of interest; or a measurement of a feature of interest.
“In certain embodiments, the 3D pelvic atlas image comprises (e.g., as the identification of the one or more pelvic lymph sub-regions) one or more reference markers [e.g., 2D surfaces (e.g., planar surfaces, e.g., curved surfaces)], each of which demarks a boundary between two or more of the pelvic lymph sub-regions, thereby identifying the one or more pelvic lymph sub-regions within the 3D pelvic atlas image.” (¶ 16, Brynolfsson);
Brynolfsson teaches the 3D pelvic atlas image (reads on additional information) comprises one or more reference markers demarking a boundary between two or more of the pelvic lymph sub-regions (reads on marker of a feature of interest).
Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify Johnson in view of Yamazaki and Brynolfsson with the feature of Brynolfsson to incorporate a 3D pelvic atlas image comprises one or more reference markers demarking a boundary between two or more of the pelvic lymph sub-regions. A person of ordinary skill in the art would do such in order to improve medical imaging accuracies.
Regarding claim 11, Johnson in view of Yamazaki and Brynolfsson teaches the apparatus of claim 1, and additionally teaches the following. Brynolfsson teaches
wherein identifying a representative 2D slice of the 3D medical image volume which corresponds to the base image comprises assessing one or more plane image forming the 3D medical image volume against the base image
“receiving, by the processor, a 3D pelvic atlas image comprising: (A) an identification (e.g., one or more segmentation masks; e.g., one or more 3D segmentation masks, e.g., a segmentation map) of one or more pelvic lymph sub-regions in the 3D pelvic atlas image [e.g., wherein each pelvic lymph sub-region is a segmented region that identifies a particular anatomical structure” (¶ 11, Brynolfsson);
Brynolfsson teaches identifying one or more segmentation masks based of one or more pelvic lymph sub-regions in the 3D pelvic atlas image (reads on identifying a representative 2D slice of the 3D medical image volume which corresponds to the base image) to determine the segmented region that identifies a particular anatomical structure (assessing one or more plane image forming the 3D medical image volume against the base image).
and selecting a plane image of the assessed one or more plane image that best matches the base image.
selecting, by the processor, a particular one of the prospective 3D pelvic atlas images as a best-fit 3D pelvic atlas image [e.g., based on one or more performance metrics computed for each of the prospective 3D pelvic atlas images (e.g., based on the transformed version of each of the prospective 3D pelvic atlas images)]
Brynolfsson teaches selecting a particular one of the prospective 3D pelvic atlas images (reads on selecting a plane image of the assessed one or more plane image) which is the best-fit 3D pelvic atlas image (reads on best matches the base image).
Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify Johnson in view of Yamazaki and Brynolfsson with the feature of Brynolfsson to incorporate identifying one or more segmentation masks based of one or more pelvic lymph sub-regions in the 3D pelvic atlas image to determine the segmented region that identifies a particular anatomical structure and selecting a particular one of the prospective 3D pelvic atlas images which is the best-fit 3D pelvic atlas image. A person of ordinary skill in the art would do such in order to improve accuracy of image review and analysis for diagnosis and treatment.
Claim 14 is rejected using the same rationale or bases as applied to claim 1 and the mentioned structure.
Additionally, claim 14 recites the following structure:
A computer implemented method, for mapping additional information relating to a 2D image of a region of interest to a 3D medical image volume of the region of interest, the method comprising:
“System and method of registering a medical image of a patient in an imaging space to the patient in a physical space preferably without the use of any embedded radiopaque fiducials in medical images is provided. In one way, intra-op 2D medical images are used to register a pre-op unregistered 3D medical image.” (Abstract, Johnson);
Claim 18 is rejected using the same rationale or bases as applied to claim 11.
Claims 5-7, and 15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Johnson view of Yamazaki, Brynolfsson, and Vilsmeier (US9195798B2), hereinafter referenced as Vilsmeier.
Regarding claim 5, Johnson in view of Yamazaki and Brynolfsson teaches the apparatus of claim 1, and additionally teaches the following. Yamazaki teaches
additional information related to the medical image
“Here, how to give pixel information about the liver region that is the foreground and the regions other than the liver region that are the background in extracting the liver region will be described.” (28, Yamazaki);
Yamazaki teaches segmenting the liver image into the liver region foreground and the background (reads additional information related to the medical image).
Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify Johnson in view of Yamazaki and Brynolfsson with the feature of Yamazaki to incorporate segmenting the liver image into the liver region foreground and the background. A person of ordinary skill in the art would do such in order to improve accuracy of image review and analysis for diagnosis and treatment.
wherein the additional information comprises: a geometrical distribution of a dosage of a therapy applied to the region of interest.
“the present invention provides a data processing method of determining a distribution of isolines to be used for displaying a radiation dose distribution in tissue of a patient” (¶ 4, Vilsmeier);
Vilsmeier teaches of a data processing method (reads on additional information) for determining a distribution of isolines (reads on a geometrical distribution of a dosage of a therapy) used for displaying a radiation dose distribution in tissue of a patient (reads on region of interest).
Vilsmeier BASE is analogous art with respect to Johnson in view of Yamazaki and Brynolfsson because they are from the same field of endeavor, namely medical. Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify Johnson in view of Yamazaki and Brynolfsson with the feature of Vilsmeier to incorporate a data processing method for determining a distribution of isolines used for displaying a radiation dose distribution in tissue of a patient. A person of ordinary skill in the art would do such in order to improve medical treatment.
Regarding claim 6, Johnson in view of Yamazaki, Brynolfsson, and Vilsmeier teaches the apparatus of claim 5, and additionally teaches the following. Vilsmeier teaches
wherein the therapy comprises radiotherapy.
“When planning a radiotherapy treatment for a specific patient, the distribution of the radiation dose in tissue of the patient's body is generally determined before the treatment starts.” (¶ 2, Vilsmeier)
Vilsmeier teaches of radiotherapy treatment for the patient.
Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify Johnson in view of Yamazaki, Brynolfsson, and Vilsmeier with the feature of Vilsmeier to incorporate radiotherapy treatment for the patient. A person of ordinary skill in the art would do such in order to improve medical treatment.
Regarding claim 7, Johnson in view of Yamazaki and Brynolfsson teaches the apparatus of claim 1, and Vilsmeier teaches the following:
wherein the geometrical distribution comprises: isodose lines or color mapped dosage information.
“the information about the dose distribution is normally displayed by using a scheme of isodose lines located at predetermined (i.e. fixed) dose intervals.” (¶ 2, Vilsmeier);
Vilsmeier teaches the dose distribution (reads on the geometrical distribution) is normally displayed by using a scheme of isodose lines located at predetermined dose intervals (reads on isodose lines).
Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify Johnson in view of Yamazaki and Brynolfsson with the feature of Vilsmeier to incorporate the dose distribution display using a scheme of isodose lines located at predetermined dose intervals. A person of ordinary skill in the art would do such in order to improve medical treatment.
Claim 15 is rejected using the same rationale or bases as applied to claim 1 and the mentioned structure.
Additionally, claim 15 recites the following structure:
A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored a computer program comprising instructions, which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to:
“Within the framework of the invention, computer program elements can take the form of a computer program product which can be embodied by a computer-usable, in particular computer-readable data storage medium comprising computer-usable, in particular computer-readable program instructions, “code” or a “computer program” embodied in said data storage medium for use on or in connection with the instruction-executing system. Such a system can be a computer; a computer can be a data processing device comprising means for executing the computer program elements and/or the program in accordance with the invention, in particular a data processing device comprising a digital processor.” (¶ 6, Vilsmeier); “The invention also relates to a program which, when running on a computer or when loaded onto a computer, causes the computer to perform one or more or all of the method steps described herein and/or to a program storage medium on which the program is stored (in particular in a non-transitory form) and/or to a computer on which the program is running” (¶ 34, Vilsmeier);
Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify Johnson in view of Yamazaki and Brynolfsson with the feature of Vilsmeier to incorporate a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored a computer program comprising instructions executed by a processor. A person of ordinary skill in the art would do such in order to improve medical imaging capabilities.
Claims 9-10 and 16-17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Johnson view of Yamazaki, Brynolfsson, and Masera (US20030103065A1), hereinafter referenced as Masera.
Regarding claim 9, Johnson in view of Yamazaki and Brynolfsson teaches the apparatus of claim 1, and additionally teaches the following. Johnson teaches
wherein decomposing the 2D composite medical image comprises: decompose the 2D composite medical image into at least: a base image; and the additional information;
“2D images can be processed for segmentation to identify each vertebral level and their well-known points.” (¶ 272, Johnson);
Johnson teach the 2D images can be segmented into each vertebral level (base image) and their well-known points (reads on additional information).
Yamazaki also teaches:
wherein decomposing the 2D composite medical image comprises: decompose the 2D composite medical image into at least: a base image; and the additional image comprising the additional information;
“pixel information indicating the positions of pixels corresponding to at least either the foreground or the background based on the three-dimensional rough segmentation images. The setting of the pixel information will be described with reference to FIGS. 7A and 7B. Here, how to give pixel information about the liver region that is the foreground and the regions other than the liver region that are the background in extracting the liver region will be described.” (28, Yamazaki);
Yamazaki teaches segmenting the liver image (reads on decompose the 2D composite medical image) into the foreground and the background (reads on a base image; and the additional image). The background comprising of information regarding regions other than the liver region (reads on additional image comprising the additional information).
Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify Johnson in view of Yamazaki and Brynolfsson with the feature of Yamazaki to incorporate segmenting the liver image into the foreground and the background. A person of ordinary skill in the art would do such in order to improve accuracy of image review and analysis for diagnosis and treatment.
greyscale base image
“The coordinates are stored for example in the form of a greyscale image, in which each marker identifying a subject of interest is defined by a particular greyscale; this greyscale of the marker is differentiated from the greyscale of the image background. The coordinates of the marker of the subject of interest correspond to the pixels representing the point 18 or the line 19 in the original image 12. In the rest of the description, for simplification, the coordinates of the marker of the subject of interest will be called "coordinates of the subject of interest"” (24, Masera)
Masera teaches of subject of interest of the medical image is in greyscale.
Masera BASE is analogous art with respect to Johnson in view of Yamazaki and Brynolfsson because they are from the same field of endeavor, namely the medical field. Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify Johnson in view of Yamazaki and Brynolfsson with the feature of Masera to incorporate the subject of interest of the medical image in greyscale. A person of ordinary skill in the art would do such in order to improve accuracy medical diagnosis and treatment.
Regarding claim 10, Johnson in view of Yamazaki and Brynolfsson teaches the apparatus of claim 1, and additionally teaches the following. Johnson teaches
wherein decomposing the 2D composite medical image comprises: analysis of pixels of the 2D
composite medical image to determine a base image and the additional information.
“2D images can be processed for segmentation to identify each vertebral level and their well-known points.” (¶ 272, Johnson);
Johnson teach the 2D images can be processed (reads on analysis of pixels of the 2Dcomposite medical image) into each vertebral level (base image) and their well-known points (reads on additional information).
Yamazaki also teaches:
wherein decomposing the 2D composite medical image comprises: decompose the 2D composite medical image into at least: a base image; and the additional image comprising the additional information;
“pixel information indicating the positions of pixels corresponding to at least either the foreground or the background based on the three-dimensional rough segmentation images. The setting of the pixel information will be described with reference to FIGS. 7A and 7B. Here, how to give pixel information about the liver region that is the foreground and the regions other than the liver region that are the background in extracting the liver region will be described.” (28, Yamazaki);
Yamazaki teaches segmenting the liver image (reads on decompose the 2D composite medical image) into the foreground and the background (reads on a base image; and the additional image). The background comprising of information regarding regions other than the liver region (reads on additional image comprising the additional information).
Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify Johnson in view of Yamazaki and Brynolfsson with the feature of Yamazaki to incorporate analyzing pixels of the liver image to segment into the foreground and the background. A person of ordinary skill in the art would do such in order to improve accuracy of image review and analysis for diagnosis and treatment.
Masera also teaches:
analysis of pixels of the 2D composite medical image to determine a greyscale base image
“The coordinates are stored for example in the form of a greyscale image, in which each marker identifying a subject of interest is defined by a particular greyscale; this greyscale of the marker is differentiated from the greyscale of the image background. The coordinates of the marker of the subject of interest correspond to the pixels representing the point 18 or the line 19 in the original image 12. In the rest of the description, for simplification, the coordinates of the marker of the subject of interest will be called "coordinates of the subject of interest"” (24, Masera)
Masera teaches analysis of pixels of subject of interest of the medical image determine coordinates of the marker in greyscale (reads on analysis of pixels of the 2D composite medical image to determine a greyscale base image)
Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify Johnson in view of Yamazaki and Brynolfsson with the feature of Masera to incorporate analyzing pixels of subject of interest of the medical image determine coordinates of the marker in greyscale. A person of ordinary skill in the art would do such in order to improve medical diagnosis and treatment.
Claim 16 is rejected using the same rationale or bases as applied to claim 9.
Claim 17 is rejected using the same rationale or bases as applied to claim 10.
Claims 12-13 and 19-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Johnson view of Yamazaki, Brynolfsson, and Frank (US7570791B2), hereinafter referenced as Frank.
Regarding claim 12, Johnson in view of Yamazaki and Brynolfsson teaches the apparatus of claim 1, and additionally teaches the following. Brynolfsson teaches
wherein identifying the representative 2D slice of the 3D medical image volume and evaluating a transformation of the base image which maps the base image to the representative 2D slice comprises using a slice to volume or 3D to 3D registration image registration technique.
“an identification (e.g., one or more segmentation masks; e.g., one or more 3D segmentation masks, e.g., a segmentation map) of one or more reference pelvic bone regions in the 3D pelvic atlas image, wherein at least a portion of the one or more reference pelvic bone regions in the 3D pelvic atlas image corresponds to (e.g., depicts a same particular pelvic bone or group of one or more pelvic bones) one or more of the pelvic bone regions of the 3D segmentation map; (d) transform (e.g., apply a coordinate transform to) the 3D pelvic atlas image to co-register it with the 3D segmentation map using (i) the one or more reference pelvic bone regions identified within the pelvic atlas image and (ii) the one or more pelvic bone regions of the 3D segmentation map (e.g., as landmarks), thereby creating a transformed 3D pelvic atlas image comprising the identified one or more pelvic lymph sub-regions thereby aligned to the 3D anatomical image and segmentation thereof (e.g., the 3D segmentation map);” (¶ 11, Brynolfsson);
Brynolfsson teaches identifying one or more segmentation masks of one or more reference pelvic bone regions in the 3D pelvic atlas image (reads on identifying the representative 2D slice of the 3D medical image volume) and transforming the 3D pelvic atlas image (reads on base image) to co-register it with the 3D segmentation map (reads on representative 3D slice) using the one or more reference pelvic bone regions identified within the pelvic atlas image (reads evaluating a transformation of the base image which maps the base image to the representative 2D slice comprises using a slice to volume or 3D to 3D registration image registration technique).
Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify Johnson in view of Yamazaki and Brynolfsson with the feature of Brynolfsson to incorporate identifying one or more segmentation masks of one or more reference pelvic bone regions in the 3D pelvic atlas image and transforming the 3D pelvic atlas to co-register it with the 3D segmentation map using the one or more reference pelvic bone regions identified within the pelvic atlas image. A person of ordinary skill in the art would do such in order to improve accuracy of image review and analysis for diagnosis and treatment.
Transforming using a slice to volume or 2D to 2D registration image registration technique.
“The method further includes generating a digitally reconstructed radiograph that substantially corresponds to the two-dimensional image, performing intensity adjustment of the two-dimensional image to reduce the effect of an interfering object, and aligning the two-dimensional image with the digitally reconstructed radiograph using a similarity/cost measure.” (¶ 11, Frank);
Frank teaches adjusting and aligning (reads on transforming) with the digitally reconstructed radiograph using a similarity/cost measure (reads on using a slice to volume or 2D to 2D registration image registration technique).
Frank BASE is analogous art with respect to Johnson in view of Yamazaki and Brynolfsson because they are from the same field of endeavor, namely medical imaging. Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify Johnson in view of Yamazaki and Brynolfsson with the feature of Frank to incorporate adjusting and aligning with the digitally reconstructed radiograph using a similarity/cost measure. A person of ordinary skill in the art would do such in order to improve the overall accuracy of the medical images.
Regarding claim 13, Johnson in view of Yamazaki and Brynolfsson teaches the apparatus of claim 1. Frank additionally teaches the following.
wherein evaluating a transformation of the base image which maps the base image to the
representative 2D slice comprises evaluating one or more difference between these
images resulting from one or more of: rotation, translation, deformation, or scaling.
“By aligning both the two-dimensional DRR and the two-dimensional fluoro lateral image, updated or refined rotation and X/Y translation information (orientation and position) is generated for use later during the refinement process.” (¶ 49, Frank);
Frank teaches aligning both the two-dimensional DRR and the two-dimensional fluoro lateral image (reads on evaluating a transformation of the base image which maps the base image to the
representative 2D slice) via rotation and translation refinement (reads on evaluating one or more difference between these images resulting from one or more of: rotation, translation, deformation, or scaling).
Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify Johnson in view of Yamazaki and Brynolfsson with the feature of Frank to incorporate aligning both the two-dimensional DRR and the two-dimensional fluoro lateral image via rotation and translation refinement. A person of ordinary skill in the art would do such in order to improve the overall accuracy of the medical images.
Claim 19 is rejected using the same rationale or bases as applied to claim 12.
Claim 20 is rejected using the same rationale or bases as applied to claim 13.
Conclusion
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/DUNE NGOC NGUYEN/Examiner, Art Unit 2618
/DEVONA E FAULK/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2618
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