US 11369322

US patent 11369322, titled "Methods and systems for retrospective internal gating," was issued on June 28, 2022, from an application filed on December 14, 2020. The patent is currently assigned to Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and the inventor is Adam L. Kesner.

Abstract:
The patent describes a method for reconstructing respiratory-gated PET (Positron Emission Tomography) images directly from raw PET data. It achieves this by using motion information derived from the signal fluctuations within individual voxels (3D pixels) of the image data to create respiratory phase information. This approach enables the reconstruction of respiratory-gated PET images without the need for external hardware and in a fully automated manner.

Plain-language overview of independent claims:

• Claim 1 (Method for retrospective internal gating): This claim describes a multi-step method. First, image data is acquired over different time points (t1...tn) to create images of a moving object. Second, information from multiple "arrays" (which can be understood as voxels or regions of interest) within this image data is extracted. Third, this extracted information is used to generate a "time varying object motion function," essentially a profile of how the object is moving over time. Fourth, based on this motion function, the specific phase of the object's motion is determined (e.g., a particular point in a breathing cycle). Finally, an image is generated that corrects for the object's motion using this determined phase information and the original acquired image data.
• Claim 19 (Non-transitory computer-readable medium): This claim covers a computer-readable storage medium (like a hard drive or flash drive) that contains a program. When this program is run by one or more processors, it performs the exact same steps as described in Claim 1: acquiring image data, extracting array information, generating a time varying object motion function, determining motion phase information, and generating a motion-corrected image.
• Claim 20 (System): This claim describes a system comprising one or more processors and a non-transitory computer-readable medium. This medium stores instructions that, when executed by the processors, cause the system to perform the same method steps outlined in Claim 1: acquiring image data, extracting array information, generating a time varying object motion function, determining motion phase information, and generating a motion-corrected image.

A search for "CAFC 2026 dockets US11369322B2" did not yield any specific results indicating ongoing cases involving US11369322 in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit for the year 2026.