DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
The action is in response to the application filed on 04/07/2022.
Election/Restrictions
Claims 4 and 13 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected Species, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 12/19/2025.
Applicant’s election without traverse of Species A in the reply filed on 12/19/2025 is acknowledged.
Claims 1-3, 5-12, 14-18 are pending and examined below.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Regarding claims 10-12, 14-18, the claims are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to receiving and manipulating data without significantly more.
Claim 10 recites “An electronic device, comprising: a storage device; and at least one processor, wherein the storage device stores one or more programs, when executed by the at least one processor, the one or more programs cause the at least one processor to: obtain a pulse wave data in a first time window; determine a length of a second time window according to the pulse wave data; apply the second time window to slide on the pulse wave data in the first time window, and determine peak position within the first time window; and determine the pulse rate according to a difference of the peak position and a sampling frequency of the pulse wave data.”
This falls into a mental process grouping of abstract ideas. These limitations are either capable of being performed mentally by looking at measurements and making mental assessments thereafter or considered insignificant extra-solution activity.
The step of obtaining a pulse wave data in a first time window is insignificant extra-solution activity (mere data gathering).
The step of determining a length of a second time window according to the pulse wave data is a mental process that can be performed in a human mind or by a pencil and paper by a skilled clinician.
The step of applying the second time window to slide on the pulse wave data in the first time window, and determining peak position within the first time window is a mental process that can be performed in a human mind.
The step of determining the pulse rate according to a difference of the peak position and a sampling frequency of the pulse wave data is a mental process that can be performed in a human mind.
Additionally the judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application because the additional element of a processor/storage device for performing the steps is, at its broadest reasonable interpretation, a generic computer structure for performing the generic computer function of data processing, which does not qualify as an integration of the abstract idea into a practical application.
Finally, the claims analyzed as a whole do not provides any element, or combination of elements, sufficient to amount to significantly more than the mental process as only a processor/storage device is claimed. As noted previously, the addition of a generic computer structure for performing the generic computer function of data processing does not qualify as significantly more than the abstract idea itself.
Regarding dependent claims 11-12, 14-19, the claims also fail to add something more to the abstract independent claims as they merely further limit the abstract idea or provide insignificant extra solution activity.
Regarding claim 1, the claim is a parallel method claim to that of claim 10 and is rejected for substantially the same reasons.
Regarding dependent claims 2-3, 5-9, the claims also fail to add something more to the abstract independent claims as they merely further limit the abstract idea or provide insignificant extra solution activity.
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.
Claim(s) 1-3, 5-12, 14-18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by US 20190133535 A1 (hereinafter referred to as “Han”).
Regarding claims 1 and 10, Han, methods and systems for calculating physiological parameters, teaches a method and an electronic device (abstract), comprising:
a storage device (paragraph [0221]); and
at least one processor, wherein the storage device stores one or more programs, when executed by the at least one processor (uses a digital processor; paragraphs [0017]-[0018]), the one or more programs cause the at least one processor to:
obtain a pulse wave data in a first time window (“a section of a time domain signal is selected”; paragraph [0059]; Figure 5);
determine a length of a second time window according to the pulse wave data (paragraph [0060]; Figure 5);
apply the second time window to slide on the pulse wave data in the first time window, and determine peak position within the first time window (determines peak positions; paragraph [0060]; Figure 5); and
determine the pulse rate according to a difference of the peak position and a sampling frequency of the pulse wave data (“improve(s) the accuracy of calculating the physiological parameter (such as the pulse rate value and the blood oxygen parameter)”; “obtaining the pulse rate value according to the determined final frequency spectrum peak”; paragraph [0025]; “obtaining the pulse rate value according to the determined final frequency spectrum peak”; paragraph [0081]; paragraph [0085]).
Regarding claims 2 and 11, Han teaches wherein before obtaining a pulse wave data in the first time window, the method further comprising:
obtaining a first initial signal and determining a first alternating current (AC) signal according to the first initial signal (paragraphs [0007]-[0009]); and
sliding on the first alternating current signal by applying the first time window, and determining the first alternating current signal located in the first time window is the pulse wave data in the first time window (paragraphs [0007]-[0009], [0086]).
Regarding claims 3 and 12, Han teaches further comprising:
applying the second time window to slide on the pulse wave data in the first time window, and determining whether a value of the pulse wave data at center position of the second time window is a maximum value in the second time window, and is greater than a threshold value (paragraphs [0082], [0086]-[0087]);
determining the position belongs to a peak position if the value of the pulse wave data at the center position of the second time window is a maximum value in the second time window, and greater than the threshold value (paragraphs [0086]-[0087]); and
sliding the second time window if the value of the pulse wave data at the center position of the second time window is not a maximum value in the second time window, and is not greater than the threshold value (paragraphs [0086]-[0087]).
Regarding claim 5 and 14, Han teaches wherein after obtaining a pulse wave data in the first time window, further comprising:
obtaining the pulse wave data in a third time window, determining a maximum peak value of the peak position, and determining the threshold value according to the maximum peak value (paragraphs [0082], [0086]-[0087]); and
wherein the third time window is located in the first time window, and each first time window corresponds to an unique third time window (paragraphs [0082], [0086]-[0087]).
Regarding claim 6 and 15, Han teaches wherein after determining the pulse rate according to the difference of the peak position and the sampling frequency of the pulse wave data, further comprising:
obtaining a second initial signal and a third initial signal (paragraph [0081]); and
determining a blood oxygen saturation according to the second initial signal, the third initial signal and the first alternating current signal (paragraph [0081]).
Regarding claim 7 and 16, Han teaches further comprising:
obtaining a red light initial signal and an infrared initial signal, determining a red light direct current (DC) data and a red light alternating current signal according to the red light initial signal, determining an infrared direct current data and an infrared alternating current signal according to the infrared initial signal (paragraphs [0007]-[0009], [0081]);
determining a red light signal according to the red light direct current data and the red light alternating current signal, and determining an infrared signal according to the infrared direct current data and the infrared alternating current signal (paragraphs [0007]-[0009], [0081]);
taking the first alternating current signal as a reference signal, and filtering the red light signal and the infrared light signal adaptively to obtain a red light data and an infrared data (paragraphs [0007]-[0009], [0081]); and
determining the blood oxygen saturation according to the red light data and the infrared data (paragraphs [0007]-[0009], [0081]).
Regarding claim 8 and 17, Han teaches further comprising:
comparing the red light signal with the first alternating current signal, and determining a data corresponding to at least one component signal of the red light signal closest to the first alternating current signal is the red light data (paragraphs [0007]-[0009], [0081]); and
comparing the infrared signal with the first alternating current signal, and determining a data corresponding to at least one component signal of the infrared signal closest to the first alternating current signal is the infrared data (paragraphs [0007]-[0009], [0081]).
Regarding claim 9 and 18, Han teaches further comprising:
determining a pulse blood oxygen according to the red light data and the infrared data (paragraphs [0007]-[0009], [0081]), and determining the blood oxygen saturation according to the pulse blood oxygen query comparison table (paragraph [0121]).
Conclusion
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/ABID A MUSTANSIR/ Examiner, Art Unit 3791