Susan Ng et al.Download PDFPatent Trials and Appeals BoardSep 10, 201914776435 - (D) (P.T.A.B. Sep. 10, 2019) Copy Citation UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE United States Patent and Trademark Office Address: COMMISSIONER FOR PATENTS P.O. Box 1450 Alexandria, Virginia 22313-1450 www.uspto.gov APPLICATION NO. FILING DATE FIRST NAMED INVENTOR ATTORNEY DOCKET NO. CONFIRMATION NO. 14/776,435 09/14/2015 Susan Ng 112961.00101 1097 29880 7590 09/10/2019 FOX ROTHSCHILD LLP PRINCETON PIKE CORPORATE CENTER 997 LENOX DRIVE BLDG. #3 LAWRENCEVILLE, NJ 08648 EXAMINER ALLISON, ANDRAE S ART UNIT PAPER NUMBER 2668 NOTIFICATION DATE DELIVERY MODE 09/10/2019 ELECTRONIC Please find below and/or attached an Office communication concerning this application or proceeding. The time period for reply, if any, is set in the attached communication. Notice of the Office communication was sent electronically on above-indicated "Notification Date" to the following e-mail address(es): ipdocket@foxrothschild.com PTOL-90A (Rev. 04/07) UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE ____________ BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD ____________ Ex parte SUSAN NG, PETER A. RINGER, and JOHNNY KUO ____________ Appeal 2018-008458 Application 14/776,435 Technology Center 2600 ____________ Before JOHN A. JEFFERY, JOHN P. PINKERTON, and NORMAN H. BEAMER, Administrative Patent Judges. JEFFERY, Administrative Patent Judge. DECISION ON APPEAL Appellants1 appeal under 35 U.S.C. § 134(a) from the Examiner’s decision to reject claims 1 and 30. Claims 2, 3, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, 19, 20, 23, 24, 26, 28, 32, and 33 were withdrawn from consideration, and claims 4– 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 21, 22, 25, 27, 29, and 31 were cancelled. We have jurisdiction under 35 U.S.C. § 6(b). We reverse. STATEMENT OF THE CASE Appellants’ invention renders and displays images from digital x-ray tomosynthesis or tomography by displaying co-registered projection and 1 Appellants identify the real party in interest as Real Time Tomography, LLC. App. Br. 3. Appeal 2018-008458 Application 14/776,435 2 tomosynthesis images in an image volume at a same z-depth and orientation. See generally Spec. ¶¶ 2, 47–48. Claim 1 is illustrative: 1. (Previously Presented) A method of dynamically reconstructing three dimensional (3D) tomographic images from a set of projection images, the method comprising: by a processing device, executing programming instructions that are configured to cause the processing device to perform a method comprising: loading a set of projection images into a memory device; determining a reconstruction method for the set of projection images; reconstructing a 3D tomographic image from the set of projection images to be displayed to a user; rendering and causing a screen to display the reconstructed 3D tomographic image; and providing one or more enhancements for advanced image processing and manipulation of 3D tomographic data included within the reconstructed 3D tomographic image, wherein: the one or more enhancements comprise providing 2D projection image and 3D tomosynthesis image co- registration, and providing 2D projection image and 3D tomosynthesis image coregistration further comprises displaying, by the processing device display projection and tomosynthesis images that are spatially co-registered in an imaged volume at a same z- depth and orientation. Appeal 2018-008458 Application 14/776,435 3 THE REJECTION The Examiner rejected claims 1 and 30 under 35 U.S.C. § 102(a) as anticipated by Ng (US 2009/0274354 A1; published Nov. 5, 2009). Ans. 2– 3.2 FINDINGS AND CONTENTIONS The Examiner finds that Ng discloses every recited element of claim 1, including providing 2D projection image and 3D tomosynthesis image co- registration by displaying projection and tomosynthesis images that are spatially co-registered in an image volume at a same z-depth and orientation. Ans. 2–3. Appellants argue that, although Ng recreates 3D tomosynthesis images with depth by reconstructing 2D images, Ng does not co-register 2D projection and 3D tomosynthesis images as claimed, let alone spatially co- register them in an image volume at a same z-depth and orientation as claimed. App. Br. 8–12; Reply Br. 3–6. ISSUE Under § 102, has the Examiner erred in rejecting claim 1 by finding that Ng co-registers 2D projection and 3D tomosynthesis images by displaying projection and tomosynthesis images that are spatially co- registered in an image volume at a same z-depth and orientation? 2 Throughout this opinion, we refer to (1) the Appeal Brief filed March 16, 2018 (“App. Br.”); (2) the Examiner’s Answer mailed June 27, 2018 (“Ans.”); and (3) the Reply Brief filed August 24, 2018 (“Reply Br.”). Appeal 2018-008458 Application 14/776,435 4 ANALYSIS As noted above, the key issue in this appeal is whether Ng co- registers 2D projection and 3D tomosynthesis images as claimed, namely by spatially co-registering projection and tomosynthesis images in an image volume at a same z-depth and orientation. The Specification does not define the term “co-registration,” unlike other terms whose concrete definitions leave no doubt as to their meaning. See Spec. ¶ 41 (defining various terms). The term “registration,” however, is defined in the art as “[t]he process of aligning multiple images obtained from different modalities, at different timepoints, or with different image acquisition parameters.” DICTIONARY OF COMPUTER SCIENCE, ENGINEERING, AND TECHNOLOGY 416 (Phillip A. Laplante ed. 2001). Co-registering 2D projection and 3D tomosynthesis images, then, would mutually align these images consistent with this plain meaning. But claim 1 does not just co-register these images: rather, it does so in a particular way, namely by spatially co-registering the images in an imaged volume at the same z-depth and orientation. The Specification’s paragraph 47 explains that this particular form of co-registration has an advantage over conventional medical review workstations that, despite their ability to display a reconstructed tomosynthesis image corresponding to a z-depth in an imaged volume, nevertheless show projection images full screen with no correlation between how the tomosynthesis and projection images are displayed. But by co-registering the projection and reconstructed images at the same z-depth and orientation as shown in Appellants’ Figure 2, the viewer can determine the contribution of each projection image to objects that are in Appeal 2018-008458 Application 14/776,435 5 focus in the reconstructed image. Spec. ¶ 48. This co-registration, therefore, helps a clinician distinguish tissue from artifacts that may arise from reconstruction or image processing. Id. This discussion informs our understanding of the recited co- registration of 2D projection and 3D tomosynthesis images at the same z- depth and orientation—a crucial, recited limitation. Given this particular recited co-registration, the Examiner’s construing “co-registration” as any method of aligning images (Ans. 4) is, therefore, problematic, for this construction ignores the particular form of co-registration claimed, namely spatially co-registering projection and tomosynthesis images in an image volume at a same z-depth and orientation. Accord Reply Br. 5–6 (noting this point). On this record, we agree with Appellants that Ng’s paragraphs 49 and 54, on which the Examiner relies for disclosing the recited projection and tomosynthesis image spatial co-registration (Ans. 3–4), fall short of necessarily disclosing this co-registration—a crucial requirement for anticipation. See In re Robertson, 169 F.3d 743, 745 (Fed. Cir. 1999). So, even if we were to accept the Examiner’s unsupported definition of tomosynthesis as a method of registering 2D and 3D images (Ans. 4), the Examiner still has not shown that Ng necessarily discloses the particular form of co-registration claimed, namely spatially co-registering projection and tomosynthesis images in an image volume at a same z-depth and orientation. To the extent the Examiner finds that this particular form of co- registration is necessarily present in Ng to anticipate the claim, there is no evidence on this record to substantiate such a finding. And as to whether and to what extent this particular form of co-registration would have been Appeal 2018-008458 Application 14/776,435 6 obvious from Ng’s teachings, we cannot say on this record, nor will we speculate in that regard here in the first instance on appeal. Therefore, we are persuaded that the Examiner erred in rejecting independent claim 1, and, for similar reasons, independent claim 30 that recites commensurate limitations. CONCLUSION The Examiner erred in rejecting claims 1 and 30 under § 102. DECISION We reverse the Examiner’s decision to reject claims 1 and 30. REVERSED Notice of References Cited Application/Control No. Applicant(s)/Patent Under Patent Appeal No. Examiner Art Unit Page 1 of 1 U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS * Document Number Country Code-Number-Kind Code Date MM-YYYY Name Classification A US- B US- C US- D US- E US- F US- G US- H US- I US- J US- K US- L US- M US- FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS * Document Number Country Code-Number-Kind Code Date MM-YYYY Country Name Classification N O P Q R S T NON-PATENT DOCUMENTS * Include as applicable: Author, Title Date, Publisher, Edition or Volume, Pertinent Pages) U V W X *A copy of this reference is not being furnished with this Office action. (See MPEP § 707.05(a).) Dates in MM-YYYY format are publication dates. Classifications may be US or foreign. U.S. Patent and Trademark Office PTO-892 (Rev. 01-2001) Notice of References Cited Part of Paper No. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Dictionary of computer science, engineering, and technology / edited by Phillip Laplante. p. cm. ISBN 0-8493-2691-5 (alk. paper) I. Computer science-Dictionaries. 2. Engineering-Dictionaries. 3. Technology-Dictionaries. I. Laplante, Phillip A. QA76.15.D5258 2000 004'.03-dc2I 00-052882 This book contains information obtained from authentic and highly regarded sources. Reprinted material is quoted with permission, and sources are indicated. A wide variety of references are listed. Reasonable efforts have been made to publish reliable data and information, but the author and the publisher cannot assume responsibility for the validity of all materials or for the consequences of their use. Neither this book nor any part may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, microfilming, and recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. All rights reserved. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use, or the personal or internal use of specific clients, may be granted by CRC Press LLC, provided that $.50 per page photocopied is paid directly to Copyright clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA O 1923 USA. The fee code for users of the Transactional Reporting Service is ISBN0-8493-2691-5/01/$0.00+$.50. The fee is subject to change without notice. For organizations that have been granted a photocopy license by the CCC, a separate system of payment has been arranged. The consent of CRC Press LLC does not extend to copying for general distribution, for promotion, for creating new works, or for resale. Specific permission must be obtained in writing from CRC Press LLC for such copying. Direct all inquiries to CRC Press LLC, 2000 N.W. Corporate Blvd., Boca Raton, Florida 33431. Trademark Notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation, without intent to infringe. © 2001 by CRC Press LLC No claim to original U.S. Government works International Standard Book Number 0-8493-2691-5 Library of Congress Card Number 00-052882 Printed in the United States of America I 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 Printed on acid-free paper register file register file a collection of CPU registers addressable by number. register indirect addressing an instruction addressing method in which the register field contains a pointer to a memory location that contains the memory address of the data to be accessed or stored. register renaming dynamically allocating a location in a special register file for an instance of a destination register appearing in an instruc tion prior to its execution. Used to remove an tidependencies and output dependencies. See reorder buffer. register set a designation of a storage class in a computer represented by one or more equiv alent registers. The implementation of one reg ister set may not necessarily be disjoint from a different register set; for example, the inte ger register set and the floating-point register set may be the same physical registers in some machines and disjoint physical registers in other machines. Register sets form the basis of one of the problems in most compilers, that of allocat ing intermediate computations to storage classes which are more efficiently accessed by the ma chine instructions. register transfer notation a mathematical notation to show the movement of data from one register to another register by using a backward arrow. Notation used to describe elementary op erations that take place during the execution of a machine instruction. register window in the SPARC architecture ' a set or window of registers selected out of a larger group. registration the process of aligning multi ple images obtained from different modalities at different timepoints, or with different imag; acquisition parameters. regression the methods which use backward prediction error as input to produce an estima tion of a desired signal. Quantitatively, the re gression of yon X, denoted by r(y), is defined 416 as the first conditional moment, i.e., r(y) = E(Xly) . regression analysis a mathematical method where an empirical function is derived from a set of experimental data. regression testing the test that is performed on a system when this has been produced in a new version/release. The regression testing has to verify: (i) all of the already tested func tionalists that were correct and available in the previous version are also present in the new ver sion without any problems, (ii) that the problems solved in the new version have been effectively solved without causing second level problems. The regression testing is very important in order to verify if the new release has solved the prob lems without adding new problems at the same time. regular expression a recursive notation for a linguistic construct that can be analyzed by a finite state automaton. Equivalent to a Type 3 grammar in the Chomsky Hierarchy. regularization a procedure to add a con- straint term in the optimization process that ha a stabilizing effect on the solution. regularization-based motion detection gradient motion detection approach which con siders the optical flow estimation as an ill-posed problem according to the Hadamard theory. regular language a language that can be de scribed by some right-linear/regular grammar (or equivalently, by some regular expression). regulator a controller that is designed it maintain the state of the controlled variable at constant value, despite fluctuations of the Joa· reinforcement learning learning on the ba ·, of a signal that tells the learning system whet.Ir its actions in response to an input (or series -· inputs) are good or bad. The signal is usu a scalar, indicating how good or bad the actio-·, are, but may be binary. rejection criteria face texture, exi of-tolerance dis tute reasonable from a product li.na, relation (1) a inputs and yields may yield differe (2) formally, a - in the domain to _ range. See also relational algebra lational operator relational calculus guage for relation relational databas. collection of tab! along with sets of "' can be accessed alo-� ing the structured databases make it mation based on semantic frame. relational operator a Boolean result values. Classically erators such as less are relational opera. support them, opera ("in"), subset relati string relationship "is a substring of ) relational operator . relational schema relational type and a list of attribu -- relationship co �·� Used in entity relatio , relationship instance lationship. Given relationship instance Copy with citationCopy as parenthetical citation