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 § 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) 1-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Rousseau et al (Pub. No.: US 2024/0238061) in view of Boctor et al (Pub. No.: US 2015/0359512) and further in view of Fujisawa (Pub. No.: US 2021/0093303).
Regarding claim 1-2, 4, Rousseau et al disclose a robot-arm assisted extended ultrasonic image acquisition method which is a method of acquiring an extended ultrasonic image using a multi-axis robotic arm equipped with an ultrasonic probe [see 0171], a computer, and a three-dimensional (3D) image capturing device,
The robot-arm assisted extended ultrasonic image acquisition method comprising:
photographing, by the 3D image capturing device (camera), an ultrasound scan area of a patient [see 0170, claim 3] by disclosing the system may comprise a camera configured to take images and/or a video of the medical examination and/or treatment [see 0170];
controlling, by the computer, a robotic arm equipped with the ultrasonic probe to move the ultrasonic probe along the generated ultrasound scan path and acquire the plurality of ultrasonic image frames [see 0019, 0040];
Rousseau et al don’t disclose receiving, by the computer, an image of the ultrasound scan area from the 3D image capturing device and generating 3D shape data;
generating, by the computer, an extended image plane for acquiring an extended ultrasonic image from the generated 3D shape data;
Nonetheless, Fujisawa discloses receiving, by the computer, an image of the ultrasound scan area from the 3D image capturing device and generating 3D shape data [see 0077]
generating, by the computer, an extended image plane for acquiring an extended ultrasonic image (continuously imaged) from the generated 3D shape data [see 0082].
Rousseau et al and Fujisawa don’t disclose generating, by the computer, an ultrasound scan path for acquiring a plurality of ultrasonic image frames including an overlapping area with respect to the extended image plane
Nonetheless, Boctor et al disclose selecting, by the computer, ultrasonic image frames corresponding to the extended image plane from among the plurality of acquired ultrasonic image frames [see 0037, 0064, 0149, 0151];
generating, by the computer, the extended ultrasonic image by synthesizing overlapping portions of the plurality of selected ultrasonic image frames [see 0064, 0191, 0217]
Therefore, it is obvious to one skilled in the art at the time the invention was filed and would have been motivated to combine Rousseau et al and Fujisawa by receiving, by the computer, an image of the ultrasound scan area from the 3D image capturing device and generating 3D shape data;
generating, by the computer, an extended image plane for acquiring an extended ultrasonic image from the generated 3D shape data; for deriving an organ shape and the imaged organ region in the subject from the ultrasonic image data of multiple cross-sections and their position data [see 0077, Fujisawa] and by generating, by the computer, an ultrasound scan path for acquiring a plurality of ultrasonic image frames including an overlapping area with respect to the extended image plane; to provide a final image.
Regarding claim 3, Rousseau et al disclose wherein an ultrasound gel supply device mounted on the multi-axis robotic arm is further provided [see 0171-0172];
the acquiring of the plurality of ultrasonic image frames includes controlling, by the computer, the multi-axis robotic arm, the ultrasonic probe mounted on the multi-axis robotic arm, and the ultrasound gel supply device [see 0171],
discharging ultrasound gel forward in a movement direction of the ultrasonic probe and simultaneously acquiring the ultrasonic images while the ultrasonic probe moves along the ultrasound scan path [see 0171]
Regarding claim 5, Rousseau et al disclose wherein the ultrasound scan path generated by the computer is formed such that an end portion of the ultrasonic probe is spaced a certain distance (G1) from a surface of the ultrasound scan area of the patient [see fig 1].
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JOEL F BRUTUS whose telephone number is (571)270-3847. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Sat, 11:00 AM to 7:00 PM.
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/JOEL F BRUTUS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3797
