DETAILED ACTION
The Examiner acknowledges the amendments received on 10 August 2026. Claims 2, 12-15, 20-21 and 24 are cancelled; claims 19 and 22 are withdrawn; claims 1, 3-11, 16-18, 23 and 25 are pending.
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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see “Remarks”, filed 10 August 2026, with respect to the rejection(s) of claim(s) 1, 25, and their dependent claims under Yazicioglu have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of Giovangrandi.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1, 3-4, 7-11, 16-18, 23 and 25 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Giovangrandi (U.S. 2016/0374618). Giovangrandi discloses (Figures 1A-2C) a signal processing module configured to receive an analog signal as a biopotential signal input and generate another analog signal as a processed biopotential signal using the biopotential signal input (par. 0087), wherein the signal processing module processes the biopotential signal input and processed biopotential signal as analog signals; a motion artifact extraction module configured to receive the biopotential signal input and extract a motion artifact signal from the biopotential signal input (“sway movement”), wherein the motion artifact signal is an analog signal; and a subtraction module configured to generate an output by subtracting the motion artifact signal from the processed biopotential signal, wherein the processed biopotential signal propagates from the signal processing module to the subtraction module exclusively as an analog signal; and wherein the motion artifact signal propagates from the motion artifact extraction module to the subtraction module exclusively as an analog signal.
Regarding claim 3, Giovangrandi discloses (par. 0082) the motion artifact extraction module comprises a filter network configured for attenuating components of a differential mode signal of the biopotential signal input that are greater than a first frequency and configured for passing single ended components of the biopotential signal input up to a second frequency that is greater than the first frequency.
Regarding claim 4, Giovangrandi discloses (par. 0146) the motion artifact extraction module comprises :a first forward path amplifier having a first input connected to a first biopotential electrical signal input terminal, and a second input and an output connected to a first output terminal of the motion artifact extraction module; a second forward path amplifier having a first input connected to a second biopotential electrical signal input terminal, a second input and an output connected to a second output terminal of the motion artifact extraction module; and a capacitor connecting the output of the first forward path amplifier and the output of the second forward path amplifier.
Regarding claim 7, Giovangrandi discloses (par. 0148) the first forward path amplifier is implemented as a transconductance amplifier.
Regarding claim 8, Giovangrandi discloses (par. 0087) the signal processing module and the subtraction module are implemented exclusively as analog domain electronic modules.
Regarding claim 9, Giovangrandi discloses (par. 0146) the subtraction module is implemented as an instrumentation amplifier.
Regarding claim 10, Giovangrandi discloses (par. 0146) the biopotential signal input is connected to both a first input of the instrumentation amplifier and an input of the motion artifact extraction module.
Regarding claim 11, Giovangrandi discloses (par. 0146) an output of the motion artifact extraction module is connected to a second input of the instrumentation amplifier.
Regarding claim 16, Giovangrandi discloses (par. 0003) the biopotential signal input is configured to be generated by an electrocardiogram machine, an electroencephalogram machine, or an electromyogram machine.
Regarding claims 17-18, Giovangrandi discloses (par. 0140) a microchip.
Regarding claim 23, Giovangrandi discloses (par. 0087) the signal processing module and the motion artifact extraction module are both configured to receive the biopotential signal input.
Regarding claim 25, Giovangrandi discloses (Figures 1A-2C) a biopotential electrical signal input configured to receive an analog signal, wherein the analog signal is a biopotential electrical signal, and the biopotential electrical signal input couples the analog signal to: a signal processing module configured to generate a processed analog biopotential signal using the biopotential electrical signal; a motion artifact extraction module configured to extract an analog motion artifact (“sway movement”) signal from the biopotential electrical signal (par. 0087); and a subtraction module configured to receive the processed analog biopotential signal and the analog motion artifact signal, and generate an output by subtracting the analog motion artifact signal from the processed analog biopotential signal; wherein the processed analog biopotential signal propagates, and the motion artifact signal propagate exclusively as analog signals.
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 5-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Giovangrandi (U.S. 2016/0374618). Giovangrandi discloses the claimed invention except for the capacitor has a capacitance between 100 nF to 100 µF. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to provide a capacitor with this capacitance range, since it has been held that discovering the optimum or workable ranges involves only routine skill in the art. In re Aller, 105 USPQ 233.
Regarding claim 6, Giovangrandi discloses the claimed invention except for a transconductance of the first forward path amplifier has a value between 10 nS to 1000 nS. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to provide a transconductance of this range, since it has been held that discovering the optimum or workable ranges involves only routine skill in the art. In re Aller, 105 USPQ 233.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DEBORAH L MALAMUD whose telephone number is (571)272-2106. The examiner can normally be reached Mon - Fri 1:00-9:30 Eastern.
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/DEBORAH L MALAMUD/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3792
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