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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 07/28/2025 has been entered.
Response to Amendment
The amendments filed 07/28/2025 have been entered. Claims 1-2 and 11 have been amended. Claims 1-3 and 6-20 remain pending on the application. Applicant needs to underline new limitations in the claims and cross out removed limitations in accordance with USPTO policy to avoid confusion.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 07/28/2025 have been fully considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Claim Objections
Claims 1-2 and 11 objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 1 recites the limitation “setting at least other of the plurality of rear-side electrodes” in line 27-28 of the claim. It is suggested that this instead read as “setting at least one other of the plurality of rear-side electrodes” for clarity.
Regarding Claims 1-2 and 11, Amendments have been made to the claims, but the amendments have not been properly documented. When “Currently Amended” has been noted for a claim, the previous claim should be listed, with removed portions struck/crossed out (.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Interpretation
The limitation “whether the first electrode set is floating” in claim 1 line 8 and elsewhere incorporates the term “floating”, which in many electrical applications refers to an electrode which is not connected to a ground. However, in this instance from the Specification page 14 par [0056] it is clear that the term “floating” means specifically that the electrode is not in full contact with a surface.
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.
Claims 11-12, 16-17, and 20 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Pekonen (US 20190059821 A1) in view of Luna (US 20150282768 A1).
Regarding Claim 11, Pekonen discloses
A wearable electronic device (Pekonen Fig 1 (102) par [0019]), comprising:
a housing including a front surface, a rear surface opposite to the front surface and a side surface (Pekonen Fig 3A rear surface (200); Fig 3C shows front and side surface par [0080]);
three or more rear-side electrodes disposed on the rear surface of the housing configured to detect biometric information (Pekonen Fig 3A electrodes (221-224) par [0050]);
an other-side electrode located on the side surface of the housing or the front surface of the housing and configured to detect the biometric information (Pekonen Fig 3C (384) par [0080]); and
a processor disposed within the housing and electrically connected to the other-side electrode, wherein the processor is configured to (Pekonen Fig 3C (330) par [0082]):
select at least two rear-side electrodes from among the three or more rear-side electrodes (Pekonen par [0056] select electrodes),
operably connect the at least two selected rear-side electrodes to the processor (Pekonen par [0063]);
obtain biometric information using the at least two rear-side electrodes connected to the processor and the other-side electrode (Pekonen par [0053]);
detect a DC offset (Pekonen par [0079] calculate DC level to remove it from signal).
Pekonen fails to explicitly disclose
detect a DC offset using a rear-side electrode and the other-side electrode;
determining whether to change one of the selected at least two rear-side electrodes with the other-side electrode based on the DC offset.
However, Luna discloses a similar wearable device (Luna, Fig 1 (100), par [0045]), comprising: a housing including a front plate and a rear plate (Luna, Fig 1 housing (170) with rear plate facing interior and front plate facing exterior, par [0045]); three or more rear-side electrodes disposed on a rear surface of the housing (Luna, Fig 1 electrodes (110), par [0045]); an other-side electrode located on a side surface (Luna, Fig 2 (221), par [0045] sensor may be an electrode); and a processor disposed within the housing and electrically connected to the other-side electrode (Luna, Fig 1 (120), par [0050]), wherein the processor is configured to: detect information using at least one of the three or more rear-side electrodes and the other-side electrode (Luna, Fig 6 capture sensor signals (606), par [0075] determine selection of electrode sets based on sensor information), select at least two rear-side electrodes from among the three or more rear-side electrodes, operably connect the at least two selected rear-side electrodes to the processor; and obtain biometric information using the at least two rear-side electrodes connected to the processor and the other-side electrode (Luna, Fig 1 electrode sets include (105,107,109), par [0046-0047], after selection of subsets par [0060] each subset may be selected from for a drive electrode (third electrode set) and a sink electrode (fourth electrode set), Fig 6 select electrode sets based on sensor information (608,610))
wherein the information includes a direct current (DC) offset (Luna, Fig 9 element (936) receives signal from electrodes (925) and sensor (913) to generate offset signal, par [0086]) based on the rear-side electrode set and the other-side electrode (Luna, Fig 2 demonstrates biometric information (227) obtained through sensor (221) and first and second electrode sets (225) to processor at (224), par [0086] sensor may be used to generate voltage offset).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to have modified the invention of Pekonen based on the disclosure of Luna to use the other-side electrode to detect DC offset, as doing so allows for the detection and analysis of useful data by using the various inputs (Luna, par [0063]), and removing a DC offset allows for more accurate data collection (Pekonen par [0079]), and to use such the electrode that is on a side of the housing which does not contact the body as this allows the other-side electrode to be used for different measurement modalities (Pekonen par [0080]).
Regarding Claim 12, Pekonen in view of Luna discloses the wearable electronic device of claim 11. Pekonen further discloses wherein at least one of the at least two rear-side electrodes operably connected to the processor is included in a first electrode set, and wherein other rear-side electrodes are included in a second electrode set (Pekonen Fig 3B par [0053;0056]).
Regarding Claim 16, Pekonen in view of Luna discloses the wearable electronic device of claim 12. Luna further discloses an embodiment wherein the processor is configured to: based on the DC offset, select at least one of the three or more rear-side electrodes as the first electrode set, and select at least one of the three or more rear-side electrodes excluded from the first electrode set as the second electrode set (Luna, Fig 1 set with first number of electrodes (105) and set with second number of electrodes (109), Fig 6 (612) par [0045] sensor data used for electrode selection).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to have incorporated the DC offset of the embodiment of Luna with the disclosure of Luna, as doing so allows for the generation of signals conditioned to reduce clipping (Luna, par [0093]).
Regarding Claim 17, Pekonen in view of Luna discloses the wearable electronic device of claim 12. Luna further discloses wherein the processor is configured to adjust a number of rear-side electrodes included in the first electrode set based on the DC offset (Luna, Fig 1 set with first number of electrodes (105) and set with second number of electrodes (109), Fig 6 (612) par [0045] sensor data used for electrode selection).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to have modified the invention of Pekonen in view of Biel to adjust the number of electrodes based on the DC offset, as additional electrodes may be used for more accurate measurements (Luna par [0045]) or as grounding electrodes (Pekonen par [0056]).
Regarding Claim 20, Pekonen in view of Luna discloses the wearable electronic device of claim 12. Luna further discloses wherein the processor is configured to obtain the biometric information using the first electrode set, the second electrode set, and the other-side electrode when the DC offset has a value within a first predetermined threshold range (Luna, Fig 1 set with first number of electrodes (105) and set with second number of electrodes (109), Fig 6 (612) par [0045] sensor data used for electrode selection).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to have incorporated the DC offset of the embodiment of Luna with the disclosure of Luna, as doing so allows for the generation of signals conditioned to reduce clipping (Luna, par [0093]).
Claims 1-3 and 6-9 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Pekonen (US 20190059821 A1) in view of Luna (US 20150282768 A1), and further in view of Biel (US 20180168508 A1).
Regarding Claim 1, Pekonen discloses
A wearable electronic device (Pekonen Fig 1 (102) par [0019]), comprising:
a housing including a front plate and a rear plate (Pekonen Fig 3A rear plate (200); Fig 3C shows front plate par [0080]);
a light source disposed on the rear plate and configured to emit light (Pekonen Fig 3A (212) par [0051]);
a plurality of rear-side electrodes disposed on the rear plate (Pekonen Fig 3A electrodes (221-224) par [0050]);
a plurality of photodetectors configured to detect light (Pekonen Fig 3A (214) par [0051]),
wherein a first photodetector of the plurality of photodetectors corresponds to a first electrode set including at least two rear-side electrodes among the plurality of rear-side electrodes and configured to detect light (Pekonen Fig 3B photodetector (214) electrode set (221,223) par [0054-0055]), and
wherein a second photodetector of the plurality of photodetectors corresponds to a second electrode set including at least two other rear-side electrodes among the plurality of rear-side electrodes that are different from the at least two rear- side electrodes, and configured to detect light (Pekonen Fig 3B photodetector (214) electrode set (222,224) par [0056]); and
a processor disposed within the housing and operatively connected to the light source, the plurality of photodetectors and the plurality of rear-side electrodes, wherein the processor (Pekonen Fig 3B (330) par [0062]) is configured to:
obtain first information indicating whether each of the first electrode set and the second electrode set is floated from a user's body (Pekonen par [0045] detect whether electrodes are in good contact), and
detect biometric information using all of the first electrode set and the second electrode set (Pekonen Fig 5 (520) par [0101]),
wherein the processor is further configured to:
indicate that one of the first electrode set and the second electrode set is floated from the user's body (Pekonen par [0045]),
select one of the first electrode set and the second electrode set that is being contacted with the user's body (Pekonen par [0056] select electrodes),
execute an electrode combining operation by setting at least one of the plurality of rear-side electrodes included in the selected electrode set as a third electrode set, and setting at least other of the plurality of rear-side electrodes included in the selected electrode set as a fourth electrode set (Pekonen par [0056] each electrode pair is comprised of a first electrode and second electrode, and may further include a grounding electrode), and
detect biometric information using the third electrode set and the fourth electrode set (Pekonen Fig 5 (520) par [0101]).
Pekonen fails to explicitly disclose
wherein a photodetector is configured to detect light indicating whether an electrode set is floating;
obtain information about floating electrodes based on light detected through a plurality of photodetectors,
select electrode sets based upon contact information.
However, Luna discloses a similar invention (Luna, Fig 1 (100), par [0045]), comprising: a housing including a front plate and a rear plate (Luna, Fig 1 housing (170) with rear plate facing interior and front plate facing exterior, par [0045]); a light source disposed on the rear plate and configured to emit light (Luna, Fig 1 sensors (160), par [0045] plurality of sensors including optical detectors which comprise light sources and photodetectors); a plurality of rear-side electrodes disposed on the rear plate (Luna, Fig 1 electrodes (110), par [0045]); a plurality of photodetectors configured to detect light (Luna, Fig 1 sensors (160), par [0045] plurality of sensors including optical detectors which comprise light sources and photodetectors); and a processor disposed within the housing (Luna, Fig 1 (120), par [0045]) and operatively connected to the light source, the plurality of photodetectors and the plurality of rear-side electrodes (Luna, Fig 1 (120), par [0050]), wherein the processor is configured to:
based on the light detected through the plurality of photodetectors, obtain first information from each of the first electrode set and the second electrode set (Luna, Fig 6 capture sensor signals (606), par [0075] determine selection of electrode sets based on sensor information, as stated in par [0045] either/both motion detector and electrode may be optical), and detect biometric information using all of the first electrode set and the second electrode set (Luna par [0048]), wherein the processor is further configured to:
select one of the first electrode set and the second electrode set, execute an electrode combining operation by setting at least one of the rear-side electrode included in the selected electrode set as a third electrode set, and setting at least other of the rear-side electrode included in the selected electrode set as a fourth electrode set (Luna, Fig 1 electrode sets include (105,107,109), par [0046-0047], after selection of subsets par [0060] each subset may be selected from for a drive electrode (third electrode set) and a sink electrode (fourth electrode set), Fig 6 select electrode sets based on sensor information (608,610)), and detect biometric information using the third electrode set and the fourth electrode set (Luna, Fig 6 (616), par [0075] information detected using drive and sink electrodes).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to have modified the invention of Pekonen to select electrodes based upon detected information such as disclosed by Luna (Luna par [0053] determine whether to select different subsets of electrodes) as this can be used to gather information from an optimal subset of selectable electrodes (Luna par [0072]).
Furthermore, Biel discloses a wearable medical device configured to detect electrode contact associated with one or more electrodes using multiple photodetectors/emitters around electrodes to determine which part is in contact or not (Biel par [0162]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to have modified the invention of Pekonen to use photodetectors to determine contact state of electrodes such as disclosed by Biel, as Pekonen discloses using electrode information to determine contact which then is used to modify the information obtained by photodetectors (Pekonen par [0031;0045]).
Regarding Claim 2, Pekonen in view of Luna and Biel discloses the wearable electronic device of claim 1. Luna further discloses wherein the processor is configured to: obtain second information indicating whether the biometric information detected is valid based the third electrode set and the fourth electrode set; and re-set the third electrode set and the fourth electrode set based on the second information (Luna, Fig 6 based on second information (612,614) select a different set of electrodes (618), par [0053] cycle through multiple combinations of sink and drive electrodes).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to have modified the invention of Pekonen to determine validity of the electrode sets, as this is a good way to get more accurate results if the information is determined to be inaccurate (Luna par [0053])
Regarding Claim 3, Pekonen in view of Luna and Biel discloses the wearable electronic device of claim 1. Biel further discloses wherein the first information includes light quantity information (Biel Fig 17-18 par [0152;0162]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to have modified the device of Pekonen to use light quantity information, as this can be used to determine electrode distance or falloff (Biel Fig 18 par [0162]).
Regarding Claim 6, Pekonen in view of Luna and Biel discloses the wearable electronic device of claim 1. Pekonen further discloses where some of the plurality of rear-side electrodes less than an entirety thereof are included when executing the electrode combining operation (Pekonen, par [0041;0050]).
Regarding Claim 7, Pekonen in view of Luna and Biel discloses the wearable electronic device of claim 1. Pekonen further discloses an other-side electrode located on one side of the housing and electrically connected to the processor, wherein the processor is configured to obtain the biometric information through at least two of the third electrode set, the fourth electrode set, and the other-side electrode (Pekonen Fig 3C par [0080]).
Regarding Claim 8, Pekonen in view of Luna and Biel discloses the wearable electronic device of claim 2. Pekonen further discloses wherein second information includes a direct current (DC) offset (Pekonen Fig 6 par [0079]).
Pekonen further discloses an other-side electrode located on one side of the housing and electrically connected to the processor (Pekonen Fig 3C (384) par [0080]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to have used an electrode that is on a side of the housing which does not contact the body to determine DC offset, as this allows the other-side electrode to be used for different measurement modalities (Pekonen par [0080]).
Regarding Claim 9, Pekonen in view of Luna and Biel discloses the wearable electronic device of claim 8.
Luna further discloses an embodiment wherein the processor is configured to set a first number of rear-side electrodes for inclusion in the third electrode set, and a second number of rear-side electrodes for inclusion in the fourth electrode set based on the DC offset (Luna, Fig 1 set with first number of electrodes (105) and set with second number of electrodes (109), Fig 6 (612) par [0045] sensor data used for electrode selection).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to have incorporated the DC offset of the device of Pekonen with the disclosure of Luna, as doing so allows for the generation of signals conditioned to reduce clipping (Luna, par [0093]).
Regarding Claim 13, Pekonen in view Luna discloses the wearable electronic device of claim 12. Pekonen further discloses a light source disposed on the rear surface and configured to emit light (Pekonen Fig 3A (212) par [0051]); and
a plurality of photodetectors configured to detect light, wherein the processor is further configured to obtain light information detected by each of the plurality of photodetectors (Pekonen Fig 3A (214) par [0051]).
Pekonen fails to explicitly disclose wherein the first information includes light quantity information.
However, Biel discloses a wearable medical device wherein the first information includes light quantity information (Biel Fig 17-18 par [0152;0162]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to have modified the device of Pekonen to use light quantity information, as this can be used to determine electrode distance or falloff (Biel Fig 18 par [0162]).
Regarding Claim 14, Pekonen in view of Luna and Biel discloses the wearable electronic device of claim 13. Luna further discloses wherein the processor is configured to: based on first information, select at least one of the three or more rear-side electrodes as the first electrode set, and select at least one of the three or more rear- side electrodes excluded from the first electrode set as the second electrode set (Luna, Fig 1 electrode sets (107,109a) exclude one or more of the electrodes, see also par [0130]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to have modified the invention of Pekonen to use data to preferentially select electrodes for use, as this allows for more accurate measurements by using suitable electrode placement (Luna par [00130]).
Regarding Claim 15, Pekonen in view of Luna and Biel discloses the wearable electronic device of claim 14. Moon further discloses wherein at least one rear-side electrode adjacent to at least one photodetector, in which a light quantity exceeding a maximum light quantity threshold is detected, among the plurality of photodetectors is excluded from the first and second electrode sets (Moon Fig 14 par [0142]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to have swapped the relative functions of the electrode for contact sensing and photodetector for biosignals sensing as disclosed by Moon to work with the biosensing electrode and contact sensing photodetector of the invention of Luna, as such an arrangement allows for monitoring of biosignals while also determining signal quality from the contact state (Moon par [0132],[0185]).
Claim 10 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Pekonen (US 20190059821 A1) in view of Luna (US 20150282768 A1) and Biel (US 20180168508 A1), and further in view of Youm (US 20170238865 A1).
Regarding Claim 10, Pekonen in view of Luna and Biel discloses the wearable electronic device of claim 9. Luna further discloses wherein the processor is configured to adjust the selection of rear-side electrodes of the third electrode set (Luna, Fig 6 (618), par [0075] determine selection of electrode sets based on sensor information).
Pekonen in view of Biel and Luna fails to explicitly disclose determining when a DC offset is higher that a first voltage value, or when a DC offset is lower than a second voltage value.
However, Youm discloses a biometric signal processing circuit (Youm, Fig 1 (100) par [0015]) which can determine when a DC offset is higher that a first voltage value or when a DC offset is lower than a second voltage value (Youm, par [0023]).
Furthermore, when adjusting the selection of electrodes in a set, the only options are to increase the number, decrease the number, or use the same number of electrodes. Thus, it can be considered as obvious to try to either reduce or increase the third number of electrodes when changing the electrode set (MPEP, 2143), as a different number of electrodes in a set will give an expectation of an improved set of electrodes (Luna, par [0075]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to have incorporated the voltage determination of Youm with the device of Pekonen in view of Luna and Biel, as doing so allows for protection from overly high voltages (Youm, par [0006-0007]).
Claim 18-19 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Pekonen (US 20190059821 A1) in view of Luna (US 20150282768 A1), and further in view of Youm (US 20170238865 A1).
Regarding Claim 18-19, Pekonen in view of Luna discloses the wearable electronic device of claim 17.
Luna further discloses wherein the processor is configured to adjust the selection of rear-side electrodes of the first electrode set (Luna, Fig 6 (618), par [0075] determine selection of electrode sets based on sensor information).
Pekonen in view of Luna fails to explicitly disclose determining when a DC offset is higher that a first voltage value, or when a DC offset is lower than a second voltage value. However, when adjusting the selection of electrodes in a set, the only options are to increase the number, decrease the number, or use the same number of electrodes. Thus, it can be considered as obvious to try to either reduce or increase the first number of electrodes when changing the electrode set (MPEP, 2143), as a different number of electrodes in a set will give an expectation of an improved set of electrodes (Luna, par [0075]).
Furthermore, Youm discloses a biometric signal processing circuit (Youm, Fig 1 (100) par [0015]) which can determine when a DC offset is higher that a first voltage value or when a DC offset is lower than a second voltage value (Youm, par [0023]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to have incorporated the voltage determination of Youm with the disclosure of Pekonen in view of Luna, as doing so allows for protection from overly high voltages (Youm, par [0006-0007]).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Dinther (US 20170215747 A1) discloses a wearable device (Dinther Fig 1) using photodetectors to determine a state of contact (Dinther par [0032]).
Karnik (US 20150342527 A1) discloses a similar device (Karnik Fig 1) using photodetectors to determine a state of contact (Karnik Fig 2 par [0017]).
Martin (US 20190378615 A1) discloses a similar wearable electronic device comprising multiple electrodes, a DC threshold, and selecting electrodes in a manner which is relevant to the instant application.
Sunderland (US 8755873 B2) discloses Fig 11-12 col 20 line 4-7 selecting electrodes to test then re-selecting; col 21 line 15-46 selecting electrodes based on quality of contact.
Chen (US 20100041975 A1) discloses automatic electrode selection based on skin contact par [0044]; periodically monitor signal strength sensed by the electrodes of the array and to actively change the selected electrodes to maintain optimization of physiological data par [0009].
Taniike (US 20050159678 A1) discloses multiple sensors for detecting different degrees of skin contact.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Matthew Becton whose telephone number is (571)272-9570. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9am-5pm ET.
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/MATTHEW DAVID BECTON/Examiner, Art Unit 3794
/JOANNE M RODDEN/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3794
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